Footnotes
[1.] See Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 12-20; R. V. Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia (Turin, 1881-1884), vol. ii. pp. 692 sqq.; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum (Tübingen, n.d.), pp. 365-369; id., Die ägyptische Religion2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 38 sqq.; A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter (Münster i. W. 1890), pp. 109 sqq.; id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1897), pp. 207 sqq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 172 sqq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians (London, 1904), ii. 123 sqq.; id., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection (London, 1911), i. 1 sqq. [2.] J. H. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (London, 1912), pp. vii. sq., 77 sqq., 84 sqq., 91 sqq. Compare id., History of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1908), p. 68; Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 116 sq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection (London, 1911), i. 100 sqq. The first series of the texts was discovered in 1880 when Mariette's workmen penetrated into the pyramid of King Pepi the First. Till then it had been thought by modern scholars that the pyramids were destitute of inscriptions. The first to edit the Pyramid Texts was Sir Gaston Maspero. [3.] J. H. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp. 91 sq. Among the earlier works referred to in the Pyramid Texts are “the chapter of those who ascend” and “the chapter of those who raise themselves up” (J. H. Breasted, op. cit. p. 85). From their titles these works would seem to have recorded a belief in the resurrection and ascension of the dead. [4.] This has been done by Professor J. H. Breasted in his Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp. 18 sqq. [5.] In Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 12, we must clearly read ἑβδομηκοστὸν δεύτερον with Scaliger and Wyttenbach for the ἑβδομηκοστόν of the MSS. [6.] Herodotus, ii. 4, with A. Wiedemann's note; L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie (Berlin, 1825-1826), i. 94 sqq.; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, pp. 468 sq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 208 sq. [7.] The birth of the five deities on the five supplementary days is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (i. 13. 4) as well as by Plutarch (Isis et Osiris, 12). The memory of the five supplementary days seems to survive in the modern Coptic calendar of Egypt. The days from the first to the sixth of Amshir (February) are called “the days outside the year” and they are deemed unlucky. “Any child begotten during these days will infallibly be misshapen or abnormally tall or short. This also applies to animals so that cattle and mares are not covered during these days; moreover, some say (though others deny) that neither sowing nor planting should be undertaken.” However, these unlucky days are not the true intercalary days of the Coptic calendar, which occur in the second week of September at the end of the Coptic year. See C. G. Seligmann, “Ancient Egyptian Beliefs in Modern Egypt,” Essays and Studies presented to William Ridgeway (Cambridge, 1913), p. 456. As to the unluckiness of intercalary days in general, see The Scapegoat, pp. 339 sqq. [8.] Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 13; Diodorus Siculus, i. 14, 17, 20; Tibullus, i. 7. 29 sqq. [9.] Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 13 sq. [10.] A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, p. 366; id., Die ägyptische Religion2 (Berlin, 1909), p. 40; A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1897), pp. 213 sq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, i. 487 sq., ii. 206-211; id., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection (London, 1911), i. 92-96, ii. 84, 274-276. These incidents of the scorpions are not related by Plutarch but are known to us from Egyptian sources. The barbarous legend of the begetting of Horus by the dead Osiris is told in unambiguous language in the Pyramid Texts, and it is illustrated by a monument which represents the two sister goddesses hovering in the likeness of hawks over the god, while Hathor sits at his head and the Frog-goddess Heqet squats in the form of a huge frog at his feet. See J. H. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 28, with note 2; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 280. Harpocrates is in Egyptian Her-pe-khred, “Horus the child” (A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 223). Plutarch, who appears to distinguish him from Horus, says that Harpocrates was begotten by the dead Osiris on Isis, and that he was born untimely and was weak in his lower limbs (Isis et Osiris, 19). Elsewhere he tells us that Harpocrates “was born, incomplete and youthful, about the winter solstice along with the early flowers and blossoms” (Isis et Osiris, 65). [11.] Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 8, 18. [12.] Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 18. [13.] Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 18. Compare Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium, v. 7, p. 142, ed. L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1859). [14.] Diodorus Siculus, i. 21. 5-11; compare id., iv. 6. 3; Strabo, xvii. 1. 23, p. 803. [15.] H. Brugsch, “Das Osiris-Mysterium von Tentyra,” Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde, xix. (1881) pp. 77 sqq.; V. Loret, “Les fêtes d'Osiris au mois de Khoiak,” Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, iii. (1882) pp. 43 sqq.; R. V. Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, pp. 697 sqq.; A. Wiedemann, Herodots zweites Buch (Leipsic, 1890), pp. 584 sqq.; id., Die Religion der alten Ägypter, p. 115; id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 215 sqq.; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, pp. 367 sq. [16.] J. Rendel Harris, The Annotators of the Codex Bezae (London, 1901), p. 104, note 2, referring to Dulaure. [17.] A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion2 (Berlin, 1909), pp. 39 sq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, ii. 59 sqq. [18.] A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 211. [19.] A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 39 sq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 176; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, ii. 140, 262; id., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 70-75, 80-82. On Osiris as king of the dead see Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 79. [20.] Miss Margaret A. Murray, The Osireion at Abydos (London, 1904), pp. 8, 17, 18. [21.] On Osiris as judge of the dead see A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter, pp. 131 sqq.; id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 248 sqq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 187 sqq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Book of the Dead2 (London, 1909), i. pp. liii. sqq.; id., The Gods of the Egyptians, ii. 141 sqq.; id., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 305 sqq.; A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 116 sqq. [22.] The Book of the Dead, ch. cxxv. (vol. ii. pp. 355 sqq. of Budge's translation; P. Pierret, Le Livre des Morts, Paris, 1882, pp. 369 sqq.); R. V. Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, pp. 788 sqq.; A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter, pp. 132-134; id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 249 sqq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 188-191; A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 117-121; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 337 sqq.; J. H. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp. 297 sqq. [23.] A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 p. 121. Compare A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter, pp. 134 sq.; id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 253. [24.] A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 254; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 305 sqq.; G. Maspero, op. cit. i. 194 sq.; A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 121 sqq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 97 sq., 100 sqq.; E. Lefébure, “Le Paradis Egyptien,” Sphinx, iii. (Upsala, 1900) pp. 191 sqq. [25.] A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 249. Compare A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 117, 121; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 317, 328. [26.] G. Maspero, “Le rituel du sacrifice funéraire,” Études de Mythologie et d'Archéologie Égyptiennes (Paris, 1893-1912), i. 291 sq. [27.] G. Maspero, op. cit. pp. 300-316. Compare A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter, pp. 123 sqq.; id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 234 sqq.; E. A. Wallis Budge, The Book of the Dead2 (London, 1909), i. pp. iiii. sqq.; id., The Gods of the Egyptians, ii. 126, 140 sq.; id., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 66 sqq., 101 sq., 176, 305, 399 sq.; A. Moret, Du Caractère religieux de la Royauté Pharaonique (Paris, 1902), p. 312; id., Kings and Gods of Egypt (New York and London, 1912), pp. 91 sqq.; id., Mystères Égyptiens (Paris, 1913), pp. 37 sqq. “In one of the ceremonies of the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ the deceased was temporarily placed in a bull's skin, which was probably that of one of the bulls which were offered up during the celebration of the service. From this skin the deceased obtained further power, and his emergence from it was the visible symbol of his resurrection and of his entrance into everlasting life with all the strength of Osiris and Horus” (E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 400). [28.] A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, p. 416; J. H. Breasted, History of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 149 sq.; Margaret A. Murray, The Osireion at Abydos (London, 1904), p. 31. Under the earlier dynasties only kings appear to have been identified with Osiris. [29.] A. Moret, Mystères Égyptiens (Paris, 1913), p. 40. [30.] A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 111-113. However, in later times the body with which the dead came to life was believed to be a spiritual, not a material body; it was called sāhu. See E. A. Wallis Budge, The Book of the Dead,2 i. pp. lvii. sqq.; id., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, ii. 123 sq. [31.] Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 19 and 55; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, p. 368; id., Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 41 sq.; A. Wiedemann, Die Religion der alten Ägypter, p. 114; id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 214 sq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 176-178; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 62 sq., 64, 89 sqq., 309 sqq. [32.] The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 290 sqq. [33.] A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 217. For details see E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 30 sqq. [34.] J. H. Breasted, History of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1908), p. 61; id., Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 38; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 37, 67, 81, 210, 212, 214, 290, ii. 1, 2, 8-13, 82-85; A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 21, 23, 110; A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 289; Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 70, 96, 97. It appears to be now generally held that the original seat of the worship of Osiris was at Busiris, but that at Abydos the god found a second home, which in time eclipsed the old one in glory. According to Professors Ed. Meyer and A. Erman, the god whom Osiris displaced at Abydos was Anubis. [35.] Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 20; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, p. 417; J. H. Breasted, History of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1908), pp. 148 sq.; Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. p. 209; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 68 sq., ii. 3. [36.] Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. p. 125. [37.] J. H. Breasted, History of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 43, 50 sq. The excavations were begun by E. Amélineau and continued by W. M. Flinders Petrie (Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. p. 119). See E. Amélineau, Le Tombeau d'Osiris (Paris, 1899); W. M. Flinders Petrie, The Royal Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties, Part ii. (London, 1901). The excavations of the former have been criticized by Sir Gaston Maspero (Études de Mythologie et d'Archéologie Égyptiennes, vi. (Paris, 1912) pp. 153-182). [38.] Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 119, 124; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, ii. 8. The place is now known by the Arabic name of Umm al-Ka'âb or “Mother of Pots” on account of the large quantity of pottery that has been found there. [39.] Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 119, 125, 127, 128, 129, 209. The king's Horus name has sometimes been read Zer, but according to Professor Meyer (op. cit. p. 128) and Dr. Budge (Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, ii. 83) the true reading is Khent (Chent). The king's personal name was perhaps Ka (Ed. Meyer, op. cit. p. 128). [40.] E. Amélineau, Le Tombeau d'Osiris (Paris, 1899), pp. 107-115; W. M. Flinders Petrie, The Royal Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties, Part ii. (London, 1901) pp. 8 sq., 16-19, with the frontispiece and plates lx. lxi.; G. Maspero, Études de Mythologie et d'Archéologie Égyptiennes (Paris, 1893-1912), vi. 167-173; J. H. Breasted, History of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1908), pp. 50 sq., 148; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, ii. 8-10, 13, 83-85. The tomb, with its interesting contents, was discovered and excavated by Monsieur E. Amélineau. The masses, almost the mountains, of broken pottery, under which the tomb was found to be buried, are probably remains of the vessels in which pious pilgrims presented their offerings at the shrine. See E. Amélineau, op. cit. pp. 85 sq.; J. H. Breasted, op. cit. pp. 51, 148. The high White Crown, worn by Osiris, was the symbol of the king's dominion over Upper Egypt; the flat Red Crown, with a high backpiece and a projecting spiral, was the symbol of his dominion over Lower Egypt. On the monuments the king is sometimes represented wearing a combination of the White and the Red Crown to symbolize his sovereignty over both the South and the North. White was the distinctive colour of Upper, as red was of Lower, Egypt. The treasury of Upper Egypt was called “the White House”; the treasury of Lower Egypt was called “the Red House.” See Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 103 sq.; J. H. Breasted, History of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1908), pp. 34 sq., 36, 41. [41.] A. Moret, Mystères Égyptiens (Paris, 1913), pp. 159-162, with plate iii. Compare Victor Loret, “L'Égypte au temps du totémisme,” Conférences faites au Musée Guimet, Bibliothèque de Vulgarisation, xix. (Paris, 1906) pp. 179-186. Both these writers regard the hawk as the totem of the royal clan. This view is rejected by Prof. Ed. Meyer, who, however, holds that Horus, whose emblem was the hawk, was the oldest national god of Egypt (Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 102-106). He prefers to suppose that the hawk, or rather the falcon, was the emblem of a god of light because the bird flies high in the sky (op. cit. p. 73; according to him the bird is not the sparrow-hawk but the falcon, ib. p. 75). A similar view is adopted by Professor A. Wiedemann (Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 26). Compare A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 pp. 10, 11. The native Egyptian name of Hawk-town was Nechen, in Greek it was Hieraconpolis (Ed. Meyer, op. cit. p. 103). Hawks were worshipped by the inhabitants (Strabo, xvii. 1. 47, p. 817). [42.] According to the legend the four sons of Horus were set by Anubis to protect the burial of Osiris. They washed his dead body, they mourned over him, and they opened his cold lips with their fingers. But they disappeared, for Isis had caused them to grow out of a lotus flower in a pool of water. In that position they are sometimes represented in Egyptian art before the seated effigy of Osiris. See A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,2 p. 43; E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 40, 41, 327. [43.] See above, pp. [9] sq. [44.] E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, i. 16 sq. [45.] Cyril of Alexandria, In Isaiam, lib. ii. Tomus iii. (Migne's Patrologia Graeca, lxx. 441). [46.] As to the Egyptian calendar see L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie (Berlin, 1825-1826), i. 93 sqq.; Sir J. G. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1878), ii. 368 sqq.; R. Lepsius, Die Chronologie der Aegypter, i. (Berlin, 1849) pp. 125 sqq.; H. Brugsch, Die Ägyptologie (Leipsic, 1891), pp. 347-366; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, pp. 468 sq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 207-210; Ed. Meyer, “Aegyptische Chronologie,” Abhandlungen der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1904, pp. 2 sqq.; id., “Nachträge zur ägyptischen Chronologie,” Abhandlungen der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1907, pp. 3 sqq.; id., Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 28 sqq., 98 sqq.; F. K. Ginzel, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. (Leipsic, 1906) pp. 150 sqq. [47.] Herodotus, ii. 4, with A. Wiedemann's note; Geminus, Elementa Astronomiae, 8, p. 106, ed. C. Manitius (Leipsic, 1898); Censorinus, De die natali, xviii. 10. [48.] Geminus, Elementa Astronomiae, 8, pp. 106 sqq., ed. C. Manitius. [49.] Diodorus Siculus, i. 50. 2; Strabo, xvii. i. 46, p. 816. According to H. Brugsch (Die Ägyptologie, pp. 349 sq.), the Egyptians would seem to have denoted the movable year of the calendar and the fixed year of the sun by different written symbols. For more evidence that they were acquainted with a four years' period, corrected by intercalation, see R. Lepsius, Chronologie der Aegypter, i. 149 sqq. [50.] Geminus, Elementa Astronomiae, 8, p. 106, ed. C. Manitius. The same writer further (p. 108) describes as a popular Greek error the opinion that the Egyptian festival of Isis coincided with the winter solstice. In his day, he tells us, the two events were separated by an interval of a full month, though they had coincided a hundred and twenty years before the time he was writing. [51.] Scholia in Caesaris Germanici Aratea, p. 409, ed. Fr. Eyssenhardt, in his edition of Martianus Capella (Leipsic, 1866). [52.] Copies of the decree in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek have been found inscribed on stones in Egypt. See Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques (Brussels, 1900), pp. 415 sqq., No. 551; W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (Leipsic, 1903-1905), vol. i. pp. 91 sqq., No. 56; J. P. Mahaffy, The Empire of the Ptolemies (London, 1895), pp. 205 sqq., 226 sqq. The star mentioned in the decree is the Dog-star (Sirius). See below, pp. [34] sqq. [53.] W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. i. pp. 140 sqq., No. 90, with note 25 of the editor. [54.] On the Alexandrian year see L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. 140 sqq. That admirable chronologer argued (pp. 153-161) that the innovation was introduced not, as had been commonly supposed, in 25 b.c., but in 30 b.c., the year in which Augustus defeated Mark Antony under the walls of Alexandria and captured the city. However, the question seems to be still unsettled. See F. K. Ginzel, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. 226 sqq., who thinks it probable that the change was made in 26 b.c. For the purposes of this study the precise date of the introduction of the Alexandrian year is not material. [55.] In demotic the fixed Alexandrian year is called “the year of the Ionians,” while the old movable year is styled “the year of the Egyptians.” Documents have been found which are dated by the day and the month of both years. See H. Brugsch, Die Ägyptologie, pp. 354 sq. [56.] L. Ideler, op. cit. i. 149-152. Macrobius thought that the Egyptians had always employed a solar year of 365-¼ days (Saturn. i. 12. 2, i. 14. 3). The ancient calendar of the Mexicans resembled that of the Egyptians except that it was divided into eighteen months of twenty days each (instead of twelve months of thirty days each), with five supplementary days added at the end of the year. These supplementary days (nemontemi) were deemed unlucky: nothing was done on them: they were dedicated to no deity; and persons born on them were considered unfortunate. See B. de Sahagun, Histoire générale des choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), pp. 50, 164; F. S. Clavigero, History of Mexico (London, 1807), i. 290. Unlike the Egyptian calendar, however, the Mexican appears to have been regularly corrected by intercalation so as to bring it into harmony with the solar year. But as to the mode of intercalation our authorities differ. According to the positive statement of Sahagun, one of the earliest and best authorities, the Mexicans corrected the deficiency of their year by intercalating one day in every fourth year, which is precisely the correction adopted in the Alexandrian and the Julian calendar. See B. de Sahagun, op. cit. pp. 286 sq., where he expressly asserts the falsehood of the view that the bissextile year was unknown to the Mexicans. This weighty statement is confirmed by the practice of the Indians of Yucatan. Like the Aztecs, they reckoned a year to consist of 360 days divided into 18 months of 20 days each, with 5 days added so as to make a total of 365 days, but every fourth year they intercalated a day so as to make a total of 366 days. See Diego de Landa, Relation des choses de Yucatan (Paris, 1864), pp. 202 sqq. On the other hand the historian Clavigero, who lived in the eighteenth century, but used earlier authorities, tells us that the Mexicans “did not interpose a day every four years, but thirteen days (making use here even of this favourite number) every fifty-two years; which produces the same regulation of time” (History of Mexico, Second Edition, London, 1807, vol. i. p. 293). However, the view that the Mexicans corrected their year by intercalation is rejected by Professor E. Seler. See his “Mexican Chronology,” in Bulletin 28 of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington, 1904), pp. 13 sqq.; and on the other side Miss Zelia Nuttall, “The Periodical Adjustments of the Ancient Mexican Calendar,” American Anthropologist, N.S. vi. (1904) pp. 486-500. [57.] Herodotus, ii. 36, with A. Wiedemann's note; Diodorus Siculus, i. 14-1, i. 17. 1; Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 57 sq., xviii. 60; Sir J. Gardiner Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1878), ii. 398, 399, 418, 426 sq.; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, pp. 577 sqq.; A. de Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants (London, 1884), pp. 354 sq., 369, 381; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 66. [58.] Herodotus, ii. 14; Diodorus Siculus, i. 36; Strabo, xvii. 1. 3, pp. 786-788; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii. 167-170; Seneca, Natur. Quaest. iv. 2. 1-10; E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (Paisley and London, 1895), pp. 17 sq., 495 sqq.; A. Erman, op. cit. pp. 21-25; G. Maspero, op. cit. i. 22 sqq. However, since the Suez Canal was cut, rain has been commoner in Lower Egypt (A. H. Sayce on Herodotus, ii. 14). [59.] G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 22-26; A. Erman, Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum, p. 23. According to Lane (op. cit. pp. 17 sq.) the Nile rises in Egypt about the summer solstice (June 21) and reaches its greatest height by the autumnal equinox (September 22). This agrees exactly with the statement of Diodorus Siculus (i. 36. 2). Herodotus says (ii. 19) that the rise of the river lasted for a hundred days from the summer solstice. Compare Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 57, xviii. 167; Seneca, Nat. Quaest. iv. 2. 1. According to Prof. Ginzel the Nile does not rise in Egypt till the last week of June (Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. 154). For ancient descriptions of Egypt in time of flood see Herodotus, ii. 97; Diodorus Siculus, i. 36. 8 sq.; Strabo, xvii. 1. 4, p. 788; Aelian, De natura animalium, x. 43; Achilles Tatius, iv. 12; Seneca, Natur. Quaest. iv. 2. 8 and 11. [60.] Sir J. Gardiner Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1878), ii. 365 sq.; E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (Paisley and London, 1895), pp. 498 sqq.; G. Maspero, Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, i. 23 sq., 69. The last-mentioned writer says (p. 24) that the dams are commonly cut between the first and sixteenth of July, but apparently he means August. [61.] Sir J. D. Wilkinson, op. cit. ii. 398 sq.; Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, cited above, vol. i. p. 231, note 3. According to Pliny (Nat. Hist. xviii. 60) barley was reaped in Egypt in the sixth month from sowing, and wheat in the seventh month. Diodorus Siculus, on the other hand, says (i. 36. 4) that the corn was reaped after four or five months. Perhaps Pliny refers to Lower, and Diodorus to Upper Egypt. Elsewhere Pliny affirms (Nat. Hist. xviii. 169) that the corn was sown at the beginning of November, and that the reaping began at the end of March and was completed in May. This certainly applies better to Lower than to Upper Egypt. [62.] Pausanias, x. 32. 18. [63.] E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, ii. 278. [64.] N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, De Bare'e-sprekende Toradjas van Midden-Celebes (Batavia, 1912), i. 273. The more civilized Indians of tropical America, who practised agriculture and had developed a barbaric art, appear to have commonly represented the rain-god in human form with tears streaming down from his eyes. See T. A. Joyce, “The Weeping God,” Essays and Studies presented to William Ridgeway (Cambridge, 1913), pp. 365-374. [65.] This we learn from inscriptions at Silsilis. See A. Moret, Mystères Égyptiens (Paris, 1913), p. 180. [66.] E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (Paisley and London, 1895), ch. xxvi. pp. 495 sq. [67.] L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. 124 sqq.; R. Lepsius, Die Chronologie der Aegypter, i. 168 sq.; F. K. Ginzel, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, i. 190 sq.; Ed. Meyer, “Nachträge zur ägyptischen Chronologie,” Abhandlungen der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1907 (Berlin, 1908), pp. 11 sq.; id., Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 28 sq., 99 sqq. The coincidence of the rising of Sirius with the swelling of the Nile is mentioned by Tibullus (i. 7. 21 sq.) and Aelian (De natura animalium, x. 45). In later times, as a consequence of the precession of the equinoxes, the rising of Sirius gradually diverged from the summer solstice, falling later and later in the solar year. In the sixteenth and fifteenth century b.c. Sirius rose seventeen days after the summer solstice, and at the date of the Canopic decree (238 b.c.) it rose a whole month after the first swelling of the Nile. See L. Ideler, op. cit. i. 130; F. K. Ginzel, op. cit. i. 190; Ed. Meyer, “Nachträge zur ägyptischen Chronologie,” pp. 11 sq. According to Censorinus (De die natali, xxi. 10), Sirius regularly rose in Egypt on the twentieth of July (Julian calendar); and this was true of latitude 30° in Egypt (the latitude nearly of Heliopolis and Memphis) for about three thousand years of Egyptian history. See L. Ideler, op. cit. i. 128-130. But the date of the rising of the star is not the same throughout Egypt; it varies with the latitude, and the variation within the limits of Egypt amounts to seven days or more. Roughly speaking, Sirius rises nearly a whole day earlier for each degree of latitude you go south. Thus, whereas near Alexandria in the north Sirius does not rise till the twenty-second of July, at Syene in the south it rises on the sixteenth of July. See R. Lepsius, op. cit. i. 168 sq.; F. K. Ginzel, op. cit. i. 182 sq. Now it is to be remembered that the rising of the Nile, as well as the rising of Sirius, is observed earlier and earlier the further south you go. The coincident variation of the two phenomena could hardly fail to confirm the Egyptians in their belief of a natural or supernatural connexion between them. [68.] Diodorus Siculus, i. 27. 4; Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 21, 22, 38, 61; Porphyry, De antro nympharum, 24; Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, ii. 517; Canopic decree, lines 36 sq., in W. Dittenberger's Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. i. p. 102, No. 56 (lines 28 sq. in Ch. Michel's Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, p. 417, No. 551); R. V. Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, pp. 825 sq. On the ceiling of the Memnonium at Thebes the heliacal rising of Sirius is represented under the form and name of Isis (Sir J. G. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, London, 1878, iii. 102). [69.] Porphyry and the Canopic decree, ll.cc.; Censorinus, De die natali, xviii. 10, xxi. 10. In inscriptions on the temple at Syene, the modern Assuan, Isis is called “the mistress of the beginning of the year,” the goddess “who revolves about the world, near to the constellation of Orion, who rises in the eastern sky and passes to the west perpetually” (R. V. Lanzone, op. cit. p. 826). According to some, the festival of the rising of Sirius and the beginning of the sacred year was held on the nineteenth, not the twentieth of July. See Ed. Meyer, “Ägyptische Chronologie,” Abhandlungen der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1904, pp. 22 sqq.; id., “Nachträge zur ägyptischen Chronologie,” Abhandlungen der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1907, pp. 7 sqq.; id., Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 28 sqq., 98 sqq. [70.]
Eudoxi ars astronomica, qualis in charta Aegyptiaca superest, ed. F. Blass (Kiliae, 1887), p. 14, οἱ δὲ ἀσ[τρο]λ[ό]γοι καὶ οἱ ἱερογραμμ[ατεῖς] χ[ρῶν]ται ταῖς κατὰ σελή[ν]ἠ[ν] ἡμ[έ]ραις καὶ ἄγουσι πανδημ[ι]κὰς ἕ[ορ]τας τινὰς μὲν ὡς ἐνομί[σθ]ἠ τὰ δὲ καταχυτήρια καὶ κυνὸς ἀνατολὴν καὶ σεληναῖα κατὰ θεό[ν], ἀναλεγόμενοι τὰς ἡμέρας ἐκ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων. This statement of Eudoxus or of one of his pupils is important, since it definitely proves that, besides the shifting festivals of the shifting official year, the Egyptians celebrated other festivals, which were dated by direct observation of natural phenomena, namely, the annual inundation, the rise of Sirius, and the phases of the moon. The same distinction of the fixed from the movable festivals is indicated in one of the Hibeh papyri, but the passage is unfortunately mutilated. See The Hibeh Papyri, part i., edited by B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt (London, 1906), pp. 145, 151 (pointed out to me by my friend Mr. W. Wyse). The annual festival in honour of Ptolemy and Berenice was fixed on the day of the rising of Sirius. See the Canopic decree, in W. Dittenberger's Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, No. 56 (vol. i. pp. 102 sq.).
The rise of Sirius was carefully observed by the islanders of Ceos, in the Aegean. They watched for it with arms in their hands and sacrificed on the mountains to the star, drawing from its aspect omens of the salubrity or unhealthiness of the coming year. The sacrifice was believed to secure the advent of the cool North winds (the Etesian winds as the Greeks call them), which regularly begin to blow about this time of the year, and mitigate the oppressive heat of summer in the Aegean. See Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. ii. 516-527, with the notes of the Scholiast on vv. 498, 526; Theophrastus, De ventis, ii. 14; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. vi. 3. 29, p. 753, ed. Potter; Nonnus, Dionys. v. 269-279; Hyginus, Astronomica, ii. 4; Cicero, De divinatione, i. 57. 130; M. P. Nilsson, Griechische Feste (Leipsic, 1906), pp. 6-8; C. Neumann und J. Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland (Breslau, 1885), pp. 96 sqq. On the top of Mount Pelion in Thessaly there was a sanctuary of Zeus, where sacrifices were offered at the rising of Sirius, in the height of the summer, by men of rank, who were chosen by the priest and wore fresh sheep-skins. See [Dicaearchus,] “Descriptio Graeciae,” Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller, i. 107; Historicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. C. Müller, ii. 262.
We know from Censorinus (De die natali, xxi. 10) that the first of Thoth coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius on July 20 (Julian calendar) in the year 139 a.d. Hence reckoning backwards by Sothic periods of 1460 solar years we may infer that Sirius rose on July 20th (Julian calendar) in the years 1321 b.c., 2781 b.c., and 4241 b.c.; and accordingly that the civil or vague Egyptian year of 365 days was instituted in one of these years. In favour of supposing that it was instituted either in 2781 b.c. or 4241 b.c., it may be said that in both these years the rising of Sirius nearly coincided with the summer solstice and the rising of the Nile; whereas in the year 1321 b.c. the summer solstice, and with it the rising of the Nile, fell nineteen days before the rising of Sirius and the first of Thoth. Now when we consider the close causal connexion which the Egyptians traced between the rising of Sirius and the rising of the Nile, it seems probable that they started the new calendar on the first of Thoth in a year in which the two natural phenomena coincided rather than in one in which they diverged from each other by nineteen days. Prof. Ed. Meyer decides in favour of the year 4241 b.c. as the date of the introduction of the Egyptian calendar on the ground that the calendar was already well known in the Old Kingdom. See L. Ideler, op. cit. i. 125 sqq.; F. K. Ginzel, op. cit. i. 192 sqq.; Ed. Meyer, “Nachträge zur ägyptischen Chronologie,” Abhandlungen der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1907 (Berlin, 1908), pp. 11 sq.; id., Geschichte des Altertums,2 i. 2. pp. 28 sqq., 98 sqq. When the fixed Alexandrian year was introduced in 30 b.c. (see above, pp. [27] sq.) the first of Thoth fell on August 29, which accordingly was thenceforth reckoned the first day of the year in the Alexandrian calendar. See L. Ideler, op. cit. i. 153 sqq. The period of 1460 solar or 1461 movable Egyptian years was variously called a Sothic period (Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i. 21. 136, p. 401 ed. Potter), a Canicular year (from Canicula, “the Dog-star,” that is, Sirius), a heliacal year, and a year of God (Censorinus, De die natali, xviii. 10). But there is no evidence or probability that the period was recognized by the Egyptian astronomers who instituted the movable year of 365 days. Rather, as Ideler pointed out (op. cit. i. 132), it must have been a later discovery based on continued observations of the heliacal rising of Sirius and of its gradual displacement through the whole length of the official calendar. Brugsch, indeed, went so far as to suppose that the period was a discovery of astronomers of the second century a.d., to which they were led by the coincidence of the first of Thoth with the heliacal rising of Sirius in 139 a.d. (Die Ägyptologie, p. 357). But the discovery, based as it is on a very simple calculation (365 × 4 = 1460), could hardly fail to be made as soon as astronomers estimated the length of the solar year at 365-¼ days, and that they did so at least as early as 238 b.c. is proved conclusively by the Canopic decree. See above, pp. 25 sq., 27. As to the Sothic period see further R. Lepsius, Die Chronologie der Aegypter, i. 165 sqq.; F. K. Ginzel, op. cit. i. 187 sqq.
For the convenience of the reader I subjoin a table of the Egyptian months, with their dates, as these fell, (1) in a year when the first of Thoth coincided with July 20 of the Julian calendar, and (2) in the fixed Alexandrian year.
Egyptian Months, Sothic Year beginning July 20, Alexandrian Year.
1 Thoth, 20 July, 29 August
1 Phaophi, 19 August, 28 September
1 Atbyr, 18 September, 28 October
1 Khoiak, 18 October, 27 November
1 Tybi, 17 November, 27 December
1 Mechir, 17 December, 26 January
1 Phamenoth, 16 January, 25 February
1 Pharmuthi, 15 February, 27 March
1 Pachon, 17 March, 26 April
1 Payni, 16 April, 26 May
1 Epiphi, 16 May, 25 June
1 Mesori, 15 June, 25 July
1 Supplementary, 15 July, 24 August
See L. Ideler, op. cit. i. 143 sq.; F. K. Ginzel, op. cit. i. 200.
Theoretically the shift should have been 40, or rather 42 days, that being the interval between July 20 and August 29 or 31 (see the preceding note). If that shift was actually made, the calendar date of any festival in the old vague Egyptian year could be found by adding 40 or 42 days to its date in the Alexandrian year. Thus if the death of Osiris fell on the 17th of Athyr in the Alexandrian year, it should have fallen on the 27th or 29th of Khoiak in the old vague year; and if his resurrection fell on the 19th of Athyr in the Alexandrian year, it should have fallen on the 29th of Khoiak or the 1st of Tybi in the old vague year. These calculations agree nearly, but not exactly, with the somewhat uncertain indications of the Denderah calendar (above, p. [88]), and also with the independent evidence which we possess that the resurrection of Osiris was celebrated on the 30th of Khoiak (below, pp. [108] sq.). These approximate agreements to some extent confirm my theory that, with the adoption of the fixed Alexandrian year, the dates of the official Egyptian festivals were shifted from their accidental places in the calendar to their proper places in the natural year.
Since I published in the first edition of this book (1906) my theory that with the adoption of the fixed Alexandrian year in 30 b.c. the Egyptian festivals were shifted about a month backward in the year, Professor Ed. Meyer has shown independent grounds for holding “that the festivals which gave rise to the later names of the (Egyptian) months were demonstrably held a month later in earlier ages, under the twentieth, eighteenth, indeed partly under the twelfth dynasty; in other words, that after the end of the New Kingdom the festivals and the corresponding names of the months were displaced one month backwards. It is true that this displacement can as yet be proved for only five months; but as the names of these months and the festivals keep their relative position towards each other, the assumption is inevitable that the displacement affected not merely particular festivals but the whole system equally.” See Ed. Meyer, Nachträge zur ägyptischen Chronologie (Berlin, 1908), pp. 3 sqq. (Abhandlungen der königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften vom Jahre 1907). Thus it is possible that the displacement of the festivals by a month backward in the calendar took place a good deal earlier than I had supposed. In the uncertainty of the whole question I leave my theory as it stood.
E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America, i. (Oxford, 1892) p. 495. In his remarks on the origin of moon-worship this learned and philosophical historian has indicated (op. cit. i. 493 sqq.) the true causes which lead primitive man to trace the growth of plants to the influence of the moon. Compare Sir E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture2 (London, 1873), i. 130. Payne suggests that the custom of naming the months after the principal natural products that ripen in them may have contributed to the same result. The custom is certainly very common among savages, as I hope to show elsewhere, but whether it has contributed to foster the fallacy in question seems doubtful.
The Indians of Brazil are said to pay more attention to the moon than to the sun, regarding it as a source both of good and ill. See J. B. von Spix und C. F. von Martius, Reise in Brasilien (Munich, 1823-1831), i. 379. The natives of Mori, a district of Central Celebes, believe that the rice-spirit Omonga lives in the moon and eats up the rice in the granary if he is not treated with due respect. See A. C. Kruijt, “Eenige ethnografische aanteekeningen omtrent de Toboengkoe en de Tomori,” Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap, xliv. (1900) p. 231.
A. Moret, Mystères Égyptiens (Paris, 1913), pp. 187-190. For a detailed account of the Egyptian evidence, monumental and inscriptional, on which M. Moret bases his view of the king's rebirth by deputy from the hide of a sacrificed animal, see pp. 16 sqq., 72 sqq. of the same work. Compare his article, “Du sacrifice en Égypte,” Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, lvii. (1908) pp. 93 sqq. In support of the view that the king of Egypt was deemed to be born again at the Sed festival it has been pointed out that on these solemn occasions, as we learn from the monuments, there was carried before the king on a pole an object shaped like a placenta, a part of the human body which many savage or barbarous peoples regard as the twin brother or sister of the new-born child. See C. G. Seligmann and Margaret A. Murray, “Note upon an early Egyptian standard,” Man, xi. (1911) pp. 165-171. The object which these writers take to represent a human placenta is interpreted by M. Alexandre Moret as the likeness of a human embryo. As to the belief that the afterbirth is a twin brother or sister of the infant, see above, vol. i. p. 93, and below, pp. [169] sq.; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 82 sqq.
Professor J. H. Breasted thinks that the Sed festival is probably “the oldest religious feast of which any trace has been preserved in Egypt”; he admits that on these occasions “the king assumed the costume and insignia of Osiris, and undoubtedly impersonated him,” and further that “one of the ceremonies of this feast symbolized the resurrection of Osiris”; but he considers that the significance of the festival is as yet obscure. See J. H. Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (London, 1912), p. 39.
Lactantius, Divin. Instit. iv. 3, “Itaque et Jupiter a precantibus pater vocatur, et Saturnus, et Janus, et Liber, et ceteri deinceps, quod Lucilius in deorum consilio irridet:
Ut nemo sit nostrum, quin aut pater optimus divum
Ut Neptunus pater, Liber, Saturnus pater, Mars,
Janus, Quirinus pater nomen dicatur ad unum.”
Compare Aulus Gellius, v. 12. 5; Servius, on Virgil, Georg. ii. 4. Roman goddesses who received the title of Mother were Vesta, Earth, Ops, Matuta, and Lua. As to Mother Vesta see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 229; as to Mother Earth see H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Nos. 3950-3955, 3960; as to Mother Ops see Varro, De lingua Latina, v. 64; as to Mother Matuta see L. Preller, Römische Mythologie,3 i. 322 sqq.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer,2 pp. 110 sqq.; id., s.v. “Mater Matuta,” in W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. 2462 sqq. I cite these passages only to prove that the Romans commonly applied the titles “father” and “mother” to their deities. The inference that these titles implied paternity or maternity is my own, but in the text I have given some reasons for thinking that the Romans themselves accepted the implication. Mr. W. Warde Fowler, on the other hand, prefers to suppose that the titles were employed in a merely figurative sense to “imply the dependence of the human citizen upon his divine protector”; but he admits that what exactly the Romans understood by pater and mater applied to deities is not easy to determine (The Religious Experience of the Roman People, pp. 155-157). He makes at the same time the important observation that the Romans never, so far as he is aware, applied the terms Father and Mother to foreign gods, but “always to di indigetes, those on whom the original Roman stock looked as their fellow-citizens and guardians.” The limitation is significant and seems more naturally explicable on my hypothesis than on that of my learned friend.