The resurrection of
the god could hardly be portrayed more graphically. Even more
instructive, however, is another representation of the same event in
a chamber dedicated to Osiris in the great temple of Isis at Philae.
Here we see the dead body of Osiris with stalks of corn springing
from it, while a priest waters the stalks from a pitcher which he
holds in his hand. The accompanying inscription sets forth that
"this is the form of him whom one may not name, Osiris of the
mysteries, who springs from the returning waters." Taken together,
the picture and the words seem to leave no doubt that Osiris was
here conceived and represented as a personification of the corn
which springs from the fields after they have been fertilised by the
inundation. This, according to the inscription, was the kernel of
the mysteries, the innermost secret revealed to the initiated. So in
the rites of Demeter at Eleusis a reaped ear of corn was exhibited
to the worshippers as the central mystery of their religion. We can
now fully understand why at the great festival of sowing in the
month of Khoiak the priests used to bury effigies of Osiris made of
earth and corn.
Pages:
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064