Wherefore to this day each of the
priests imagines that Osiris is buried in his country, and they
honour the beasts that were consecrated in the beginning, and when
the animals die the priests renew at their burial the mourning for
Osiris. But the sacred bulls, the one called Apis and the other
Mnevis, were dedicated to Osiris, and it was ordained that they
should be worshipped as gods in common by all the Egyptians, since
these animals above all others had helped the discoverers of corn in
sowing the seed and procuring the universal benefits of
agriculture."
Such is the myth or legend of Osiris, as told by Greek writers and
eked out by more or less fragmentary notices or allusions in native
Egyptian literature. A long inscription in the temple at Denderah
has preserved a list of the god's graves, and other texts mention
the parts of his body which were treasured as holy relics in each of
the sanctuaries. Thus his heart was at Athribis, his backbone at
Busiris, his neck at Letopolis, and his head at Memphis. As often
happens in such cases, some of his divine limbs were miraculously
multiplied.
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