The Refreshing Water of Osiris Author(s): Diana Delia Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 29 (1992), pp. 181-190 Published by: American Research Center in Egypt Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40000492 . Accessed: 23/03/2012 10:41 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
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The Refreshing Water of Osiris Diana Delia
Among believers, rite is a symbolic act accomplished by means of gestures and words. In a curious sepulchral inscription that attracted my attention at the Graeco-RomanMuseum in Alexandria, reference to a particularrite is made: Ei3\|/i3xi TaXaziave L K8 Aoi ooi 6 "Oaeipic; TO \|A)XpOV
i)5cop3 The deceased, Galatianos, is exhorted to be of good cheer and the wish is expressed that Osiris will offer him vj/uxpov55o)p,cool water. Seventeen parallels have been published; six of these likewise came from Alexandria, thirteen from other sites in Egypt, Carthage, and Italy.4 The 1 Earlierversions of this paper were delivered at a Symposium on Religion in ClassicalAntiquityhosted by Texas A&MUniversityon 20 October 1987, at the 1989 annual meeting of the American Society of Papyrologists and AmericanPhilologicalAssociationin Baltimore,MD, and at the 1991 annual meeting of the AmericanResearchCenter in Egypt in Boston, MA. I am grateful to Jan Quaegebeur, who read it in draft and offered many helpful comments thereon, and to Lorelei H. Corcoranfor her collaboration concerning the Fayummummyportraits. See, for example, J. Ries, "Les rites d'initiation et sacre,"in Les ritesd'initiation,Actes du Colloque de Liege et de Louvain-la-Neuve,20-21 novembre 1984 (Louvain, 1986), 32. 3 Funerarystele, ed. E. Breccia, Cataloguegeneraldes antiquitesEgyptiennesau Musee d'Alexandrie,nos. 1-568: iscrizioni
grechee latine(Cairo, 1911), no. 341 (Alexandria:Minet elBassel),see fig. 1. I am gratefulto Mme. DoreyaSaid, Director of the Graeco-RomanMuseum at Alexandria, for this photo and permissionto publish it herein. For the convenience of readers, these are listed in an appendix that follows this paper.
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formula appears on sepulchral stelae of males and females, ten to thirty-fiveyears of age, possessing Egyptian,Greek, and Roman names. All of the inscriptions date within the first three centuries of the Roman Principate.5 Rohde suggested that the formula 5oir|ooi 6 to \|/DXp6v i)5cop("mayOsiris offer you "Ooeipic; cool water") developed among Greeks in Roman Egyptpursuant to earlier Greek traditions, particularly the so-called "Orphic" lamellae. Those who would favor Greek origin, however, ignore the Egyptian evidence that establishes beyond all reasonable doubt that this formula derives from ancient Egyptian religious ritual and belief. Indeed the number and scattered provenance of these cool water inscriptions demonstrate that, well into the Roman Principate, Egyptian religious customs continued to thrive not only among Egyptians but also among Greeks and Romans residing in Egypt and abroad. Accordingly, this evidence challenges the proclivity of ancient historians to view cultural syncretismin the Hellenistic world as being essentially one-dimensional by focusing on the Hellenization of indigenous populations while ignoring the impact that the latter had on their Greek and Roman conquerors. 5 Cf. the prayer inscribed on a late Ptolemaic statue: "mayyou receive the cold water:"H. de Meulenaere and B. V. Bothmer, "Une statue thebaine de la fin de l'epoque ptolemaique,"ZAS101 (1974), 110 and pl. 4. Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in ImmortalityAmong
the Greeks(New York, 1966), II 576 n. 152. Conversely,I. Levybelieved that the prayerderived from relativelyrecent demotic or aramaic prototypes: "Les inscriptions arameennes de Memphis et l'epigraphie funeraire de l'Egypte greco-romaine,"JournalAsiatique211 (1927), 305. For the most recent editions of the Carpentrasstele (CIS 141) on which Levy'sthesis was based, see P. Grelot, Documentsarameens (Paris,1972), no. 86, and E. Lipinski, d'Egypte "North-westSemiticinscriptions,"OLPS(1977), 112-17.
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Fig. 1. Funerarystelafrom Minet el-Bassel,Alexandria.
Clearly the unilateral nature of such a social perspective remains its most serious flaw. By the time that the earliest Old Kingdom PyramidTextswere carved on the pyramid of Unas, last pharaoh of DynastyV, the deceased Egyptian king was identified with the deity Osiris. For the Egyptians believed that Osiris, who had ruled Egypt as king, was slain by his brother, Seth. Upon attaining manhood, Osiris' son, Horus, avenged the murder of his father and secured the throne of Egypt for himself.8 7 The Pyramid of Unas, ed. and tr. A. Piankoff (Princeton, 1968) and ed. R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts translated into English (Oxford, 1969): utt. 271 spell 388, utt. 317 spells 507-8. See also J. Cerny, Ancient Egyptian Religion (London, 1952), 85; H. Bonnet, Reallexikonder dgyptischen Religionsgeschichte2(Berlin, 1971), 620-23. 8 P. Chester BeattyI recto (Thebes, reign of Ramses V), tr. M. Lichtheim, AncientEgyptianLiterature,II: TheNew Kingdom
(Univ. California: Berkeley, 1976), 215-23; Plutarch, Mor.
Thereafter, during their lifetimes, Egyptian pharaohs identified with Horus; upon death they identified with his father, Osiris, in whose resurrection after death they hoped thereby to share. Osiris first appeared as ruler of the netherworld and judge of the dead by the Middle Kingdom. It was also during this period that the PyramidTextspells, hitherto exclusive to royal burials, began to be written on the coffins of affluent Egyptians in what has been described as a "democratizationof the hereafter."9During the New Kingdom, similar spells were written on papyri, known as the Bookof theDead. From the end of the second millennium B.C. down through the Roman period, Osiris functioned as the central figure of Egyptian funerary belief and practices by virtue of his dying and revivingcapacities as well as his position as judge and ruler in netherworld. The former are described at length by Plutarch in his treatise, On his and Osiris,composed during the early second century a.d., in which it is stated that Egyptiansequated Osiris with the Nile river, especially its fructifying and regenerative dTC7iopr| (efflux).10 Since Egyptians tended to express abstract concepts in concrete form, regeneration was symbolized not only by Osiris but also by the Nile. Moreover, viewing the universe as composed of interchangeable elements, at one and the same time Egyptiansmight refer to the Nile as H'apy or Osiris, whom they worshipped as distinct yet associated divinities.11 In several of the Old Kingdom PyramidTexts, the Osirian dead king is offered a libation of cool (kbhw)or fresh (rnpy)water. The purpose 366c-67b, ed. with commentary by J. Gwyn Griffiths,De hide et Osiride(Cambridge,1970). y The proliferation of Coffin Texts was succinctly explained byJ. Wilsonas follows:"anymanwho wasprominent enough and rich enough to afford an inscribed coffin and priestlyservicesat his funeral had magic and religion working for his deification at death. He would become an Osiris on entry into the next world." The Cultureof AncientEgypt (Chicago,1951), 116. See also, Cerny,87-88, and S. Morenz, EgyptianReligion,tr. A. E. Keep (Ithaca, 1973) 220. 1UNeiJioveivai xov"Oaipiv:Mor.364A-366D. 11Plutarch,Mor.355 B-C. See also Bonnet, 527-28; W. Helck, "Osiris,"RESupp. IX (Stuttgart,1962), 499-500; and J. A. Wilson,"Egypt:the Function of the State,"in H. Frankfort et al., BeforePhilosophy (Hammondsworth,1949), 72-73.
THE REFRESHINGWATEROF OSIRIS of this funeral libation was lustral, to revitalize the dead king, causing him to become youthful (rnp) again.12 The dead king is thus addressed, "Raiseyourself, o king . . . wash [your hands in this] fresh [water] which your father Osiris has given to you."13The fresh water is the Nile efflux, rdw;it is both the Nile flood and the life force of the Nile deity, Osiris.14This libation was not intended to assuage the thirst of the dead in the manner of funerary offerings but was sacramental in nature. Lustration in Nile water purified the dead king's body and ritually consecrated it. By absorbing the vital fluid of Osiris, the deceased might partake of the god's immortality. This ablution, like all 12
Pyr. Texts utt. 32 spell 22: "This cold water of yours, O Osiris, this cold water of yours, O King. . . . Take the efflux which issued from you . . . cold water and two pellets of natron." See also Pyr. Texts utt. 33 spells 24-25, utt. 357 spell 589, utt. 423 spell 765, utt. 482 spell 1002, and utt. 676 spell 2010. On rnpy, see R. O. Faulkner, A ConciseDictionary of Middle Egyptian (Oxford, 1962), 150 and A. Erman and H. Grapow, edd., Worterbuchder aegyptischenSprache(Berlin, repr. 1971, henceforth cited as Wb.)II 443, 25. For kbhw,see Faulkner, Diet. 211 and Wb.V 22 and 26-28. For the lustral purposes of cool water that was identified with Osiris and the Nile, see J. Maspero, "La table d'offerandes des tombeaux egyptiens," Etudes de mythologieet d'archeologieegyptiennesd, Bibl. Eg. 28 (Paris, 1912), 331 and 337; Bonnet, 571; and J. Gwyn Griffiths, The Origins of Osiris, MAS 9 (Berlin, 1966), 100. 13 Pyr. Texts utt. 619 spells 1747-48; see also Pyr. Texts utt. 436 spells 788-89: "You have your water, you have your flood, the flood which issued from the god, the exudation which issued from Osiris. Your hands have been washed, your ears have opened. This mighty one has been made a spirit for the benefit of (?) his soul. Wash yourself so that your double may wash himself. ..." 14 Pyr. Textsutt. 460 spell 868: "O king, your cold water is the great flood which issued from you." However, cf. Pyr. Texts utt. 85 spell 2063-68. On rdw, see Faulkner, Diet. 156 and Wb.II 469. 15 Pyr. Textsutt. 213 spell 134: "O King, you have not departed dead, you have departed alive; sit on the throne of Osiris, your scepter in your hand, that you may give orders to the living;" Pyr. Texts utt. 422 spell 754: "O King, go that you may be a spirit and have power as a god, as the successor of Osiris." See also Pyr. Textsutt. 537 spell 1298 and utt. 667A spell 1944 as well as A. M. Blackman, "The Significance of Incense and Libations in Funerary and Temple Ritual," ZAS 50 (1912), 71 and 73; idem, "Sacramental Ideas and Usages in Ancient Egypt," Recueil de Trav. 39 (1921), 59-60, and "Osiris and the Sun God," JEA 11 (1925), 208; J. Jequier, Considerationssur les religions egyptiennes(Neuchatel, 1946), 54-56; and Morenz (1973), 39.
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Egyptian funerary practices, was performed in imitation of rites associated with the burial of Osiris. Indeed, the PyramidTextsand similar spells may actually have been recited by mortuary priests wearing masks of the appropriate divinities as they prepared a corpse for interment; perhaps it was believed that proper recitation of the formulae and discharge of ritual would cause the real deities to perform the same services on behalf of the spirit of the deceased in the realm of the dead. Likewise,in the Middle Kingdom CoffinTexts, the deceased, once bathed in the fresh or cool water that issued from Osiris, is identified with him.18The deceased claims: I am this great soul of Osiris whom the gods commanded to copulate with him. ... I have remade Osiris from the efflux which was in his flesh, from the seed which issued from 16 Herodotus (2.85-86) relates that the lustral washing of the corpse took place after its removal from the natron bath and prior to being annointed and wrapped. The lustral washing of Osiris by Horus is recalled in Pyr. Texts, utt. 670 spells 1978-80. See also Blackman (1921), 49-50; Cerny, 105; and Griffiths (1966), 48. On the parallelism between Osiris and the deceased, see also S. Morenz, "Das Problem des Werdens zu Osiris in der griechisch-romischen Zeits Agyptens," in P. Derchain, ed., Religions en Egypte hellenistique et romaine, Colloque de Strasbourg 16-18 mai 1967 (Paris, 1969), 75-91, and J. Quaegebeur, "La stele Brooklyn 71.37.3 reconsideree," GM 119 (1990), 73-89. A. M. Blackman, "Sacramental Ideas and Usages in Ancient Egypt," PSBA 40 (1918), 66; idem, "Some Notes on the Ancient Egyptian Practice of Washing the Dead,"yEA 5 (1918), 117-18; "Purification" Hastings Encyclopaediaof Religion and Ethics 10 (New York, 1919), 478-79; and (1921), 49-50 and 57. 18 The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, ed. and tr. R. O. Faulkner, 3 vols. (Warminster, 1973-78): Identification with Osiris: CT spell 94, II 67-69; spell 190, III 98; spell 317, IV 110; spells 318-20, IV 136-46; spell 330, IV 68; spell 660, VI 251; spell 664, VI 265; spell 766, VI 396; and spell 1119, VI 452. Lustration: CT spell 149, II 253; spell 61, II 257; spell 62, II 269; spell 74, II 307; spell 74, II 311; spell 235, II 302; spell 327, IV 163; spell 345, IV 369 = spell 346, IV 377; spell 523, VI 115-16; spell 547, VI 143; spell 598, VI 215; spell 754, VI 318; spell 840, VII 45; spell 856, VII 59; spell 895, VII 104-5; spell 936, VII 137. See also The Ancient Egyptian Book of Two Ways,ed. L. H. Lesko (Berkeley, 1972) spell 356 (p. 88): "I have come to you, Osiris, that I may worship you, that I may be clean through your effluvium, which I have raised."
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his phallus at the going out into the day that he might copulate with it. I am the son of Osiris, his heir within his rank, I am the soul within his blood. ... It is in the CoffinTextsthat the first mention of the thirsting dead occurs: "Iwill not be thirsty, my lips will not be dry,I have quenched my thirst with that great efflux of my father Osiris.' The desire to avoid dehydration was doubtlessly inspired by desert burial practice. Nevertheless,by the Middle Kingdom, conflation of traditional spells for food offerings with sacramentalassociation with Osiris by means of ritual lustration had occurred.21 Although provision of Nile water as a libation for the thirsting dead does not figure prominently in the Coffin Texts,its occurrence at this time marksa significantvariation on the original lustral theme. During the New Kingdom and Late periods, Osiris continued to be identified with the Nile and the deceased with Osiris. Lustration con-
tinued to be practiced in connection with funerary and temple rituals. At the temple of Osiris at Abydos, Horus and Thoth are represented pouring water over deified King Sety from a libation vessel. The water is depicted as streams of ankh and was signs, conferring life and divine power, respectively.24Likewise, another scene represents Horus purifying Osirian Sety with water; Horus says: "Thy purifications are the purifications of Horus and vice versa." Above Horus are the words, "Pureis King Menma'atre, given life; he has censed himself with his bodily eye and his flesh is pure and his image is divine." Clearly, ancient Egyptians associated water with life, and the ritual act of lustrationwith Nile water signified rejuvenation and immortality. Perhaps as early as the reign of Ramses III, purification rites of Osiris were celebrated every autumn during the month of Choiak, as soon as the Nile inundation began to recede, in order to revitalize the god's limbs; these rites continued to be celebrated down
19 CT spell 94, 1167-69. ^ CT spell 362, V 17-22: "Iwill not be thirsty,my lips will not be dry, I have quenched my thirstwith that great efflux of my father Osiris."However, cf. CT spell 359, V 10-11: "Menbring to him for the meeting (?) of his needs, men approach for the quenching (?) of his thirst. Ho, N! Your. . . are opened by Neper, wateris measuredout to you by the Nile-god, Neith will come to you with her attendants," which distinguishes thirst proper from lustration with Nile water. See also CT spell 30, I 88-90; spell 34, I 117-19; spell 36, I 137-38; and spell 37, I 149-50: "The young god is born of the beautiful West, having come here from the land of the living;he has got rid of his dust, he has filled his body with magic, he has quenched his thirst with " CT it spell 226, III 257-58; CTspell 358, V 10-11 and CTspell644,VI265. J1Food offerings: CTspell 240, II 326; spell 239, II 321; spell 179, III 66-71; spell 604, VI 218; spell 725, VI 335. Spells for power over water in the realm of the dead: CT spell 356, V 8 and spell 359, V 12. Cf. Griffiths'comments on the Egyptianpractice of burialin the desert: (1970) 96. TheAncientEgyptianBookof theDead,ed. and tr. R. O. Faulkner(London, 1985): Spells for food offerings:spells 58 and 110. Spells for power over water:spells 57 and 62. Lustration:spells 45, 182, and 183; see also spell 152. For identificationof Osiriswith the Nile, see P. Louvre 3079.94-97, ed. J. C. Goyon, "Leceremonialde glorification d'Osirisdu papyrusde LouvreI 3079,"BIFAO65(1967), 101; TheBookof theDead, spell 69; "Hymnto Osiris"(reign of RamsesIV), ed. K. A. Kitchen, RamessideIns. VI.1 (Oxford,
1969), 20-25; "Hymnto Osiris"(reign of Ramses IX), ed. A. Erman,"Gebeteeines ungerechtVerfolgtenund anderen Ostrakaaus den Konigsbrabern,"ZAS38 (1900), 32, trans, A Sourcebook idem, TheAncientEgyptians: (New of theirWritings York, 1927); E. Naville, TheFestivalHall of OserkonII in the GreatTempleofBubastis,EESMemoir 10 (London, 1892), 24, pl. XI. Second hypostylewall, Westwall, right and left jambs: A. R. David, A Guideto ReligiousRitual at Abydos(Warminster, 1981), 32 and figure on p. 33. Cf. Eastwall, door lEb: David,42 and fig. on p. 43. Also note the cartonnage inner coffin of Tjentmutengebtyuon which Horus and Thoth purify the Theban princess with streams of ankh and was symbols:C. Andrews,EgyptianMummies(London, 1984), 14, fig. 10; an amulet on which Anubis is depicted purifyinga mummy:G. A. Reisner, Cataloguegeneraledes antiquitesau Museedu Caire,nos. 12528-13595: AmuletsII (Cairo, 1958) no. 13580 and pl. 20; and the tomb of Mutirdisat Asasif, dated to the second half of the seventh century B.C.,in which Osiris directs Horus to give Mutirdis pure water - this is writtenover a scene in which Horus pours a (kbhw) stream of water over the deceased from a libation vessel. See J. Assmann, Das Grabder Mutirdis.Grabungim Asasif, 1963-1970 (Mainzam Rhein, 1977), VI 57-58, line 23 and plates 20-20A. See also A. H. Gardiner, "The Baptism of Pharaoh/'^EA36 (1956), 12. lb East Wall, Sety shrine: David (1981), 142 and fig. on p. 143 = B. Porterand R. L. B. Moss, Topographical BibliograTexts,ReliefsandPaintings, phyofAncientEgyptianHieroglyphic VI:Upper Egypt,Chief Temples (Oxford, 1970), 21 (192). ^ David(1981), 58 and 68.
THE REFRESHINGWATEROF OSIRIS through Roman times. The rite of pouring water on corn-Osiris figures interred with the deceased, first attested during the New Kingdom, appears to have symbolized a similar revival of the god. The same beliefs and practices persevered throughoutthe Hellenisticand Romanperiods. In the demotic PapyrusRhind, lustral water is Ibid., 124; idem, TheAncientEgyptians:ReligiousBeliefs and Practices(London, 1982), 110. Nile waterwas carried in mummiform("canopic")jars during the Choiakprocession: Dendera, Temple of Hathor: roof, east Osiris chapel (also called south): Porter-MossVI. 99 (66-77). See also H. BeinZumMotivderKorperzergliederung in lich, Die "Osirisreliquien": der altdgyptischen Religion (Wiesbaden, 1984), passim; E. d'Osirisau moisde Choiak,2 vols. (Cairo, Chassinat,Le mystere 1966-68), passim, and F. Dunand, "Lesmysteresegyptiens aux epoques hellenistique et romaine," in Mystereset synUniversite des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg, cretismes, Centre de Recherches d'Histoire des Religions, Etudes d'Histoiredes Religions 2 (Paris,1975), 21-24. Note the Late Egyptiansarcophagusat Besancon on which Osirisis depicted pouring waterfrom a long-spouted hydriononto the outstretchedhands and into the mouth of the decedent kneeling before him: R. V. Lanzone, "Osiris," Dizionariodi mitologiaegizia(Turin, 1881-85), III 294, reproduced in R. Reitzenstein,"Erosals Osiris,"Nachrichtvon der der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen,phil-hist. Klasse Gesellschaft (1930), 406, and repr. in G. Binderand R. Merkelbach,edd., Amorund Psyche(Darmstadt,1968), 312. See also Louvre E 3229:ed. J. H. Johnson, "LouvreE 3229:A Demotic Magical Text,"Enchoria7 (1977), col. 3, 10-11 at p. 61. Cf. Papyrus Bremner-Rhind, 9, 26 (4th c. B.C.).For lustration, note the tomb of Petosiris (Tuna el-Gebel, 4th c. B.C.):G. Lefebvre, "Textes du tombeau de Petosiris,"ASAE(1920), 222-23; idem, Le tombeaude Petosiris(Cairo, 1923-24), I, 131, inscr. no. 82, plates 28 and 31-32; R. O. Faulkner, ed. and tr., "The PapyrusBremner-Rhind(BM. 10188),"Bibl Aegypt.3 (Brussels,1933), tr. idem, "TheBremner-RhindPapyrus,I" JEA 22 (1936), 121-40 (4th c. B.C.);Ankh-Maat-Restele (Memphis,mid. 2nd c. B.C.),ed. W. Spiegelberg, "Demotische Miscellen, XLI: Eine hieroglyphisch-demotischeStele der BibliothequeNationale,"RecueildeTrav.30 (1908), 144ed. F. Lexa, PapyrusdePamenthoes: Das de47; P. Pamenthoes, motischeTotenbuchder pariser Nationalbibliothek (Leipzig, 1910), I 1.2 (a.d. 63); P. RhindI, 2 hier. 10 and I, 2 dem. 9, ed. G. Moller,Die beidenTotenpapyren Rhindaus desMuseums zu Edinburgh(Leipzig, 1913, late Ptolemaic/earlyRoman); and Levy(1927), 302. See also P. Louvre5158.1-2 and 19-21 (Roman date) and G. Maspero,"Memoiresur quelques papyrusdu Louvre:le ritual de l'embaument,"Noticeet extraits des ms. de la Bibliotheque Nationale24 (Paris, 1883), 27-29; J-C. Goyon, "Lafete de Sokarisa Edfou a la lumiere d'un texte liturgique remontant au Nouvel Empire,"BIFAO78 (1978), 425-26. As late as the fifth centurya.d., Osirisis described as "he drawscold water and will relieve your souls" (Kaiepi to \j/ux6vi)5(opKxP0V and the Christian between 5oirjaoi 6 "Oaeipic; u5cop formula, spiritumtuum dominionrefrigeret, appear to have been misguided inasmuch as refrigiumor refrigerare were used metaphoricallyto denote a state of beatitude,when the soul has been refreshed, but not necessarilypurified or become divine. See T. D. Neroutsos, L'ancienneAlexandrie: et topographique Etudearcheologique (Paris, 1888), 94; F. Cumont, OrientalReligionsin RomanPaganism(London, 1911), 101-2; idem, Afterlifein RomanPaganism(New Haven, 1922), 20; Rohde, II 576, n. 152; cf., however,C. Mohrmann,"Locus refrigerii,"Etudessur le latin des ChretiensII (Rome, 1961), 81-91.
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Soon after the Macedonian conquest of Egypt, a new religious cult was introduced to Egypt. Its deity, Sarapis, was a composite that blended together characteristicsof many Hellenistic gods, particularlyZeus, Pluto, Asclepius, and Osiris. His name, as well, was borrowed from the Egyptian deity, Oserapis, himself a compound of Osirisand Apls.42In time, Sarapis came to be associated,as Osirisbefore him, with Isis, Horus (known to Greeks and Romans as Harpokrates), and Anubis as an official cult par excellence, promoted by the Ptolemaic and later Roman administrationsin Egypt.It was this official triad of Sarapis, Isis, and Harpokrates or Anubis that spread throughout the Mediterranean world and came to enjoy a considerable following and no fewer than three chapels on the Aegean island of Delos by the early second century B.C.43 Although it has been alleged that was not distinct from Osiris in any way, Sarapis besides the heterogenous iconography of the two divinities, hybrid Sarapis never succeeded in displacing Osiris.44Sarapiswas the publicly celebrated protector of Ptolemaic dynasts, replete with oracular and healing powers, but the Egyptian mysterycult remained essentially 42 On the origin of this cult, see, for example, C. Bradford Welles, "The Discoveryof Sarapisand the Foundation of Alexandria,"Historia11 (1962), 271-98; P. M. Fraser, "Two Studies on the Cult of Sarapis in the Hellenistic World," Opusc.Athen.3 (1960), 1-20; "CurrentProblems Concerning the EarlyHistoryof the Cult of Sarapis,"Opusc. Athen.7 (1967), 25-45; and PtolemaicAlexandria(Oxford, 1972), I 246-76. See also G. Mussies, "Some Notes on the Name of Sarapis,"in M. de Boer and T. A. Edridge, edd., a M.J. Vermaseren (Leiden, 1978), II 821-32. Hommages 4:5On the cult of Sarapis at Delos, see Roussel (1916), sur les 273; Fraser(1960), 21-54; and M.-F.Baslez,Recherches conditionsdepenetration et de diffusiondesreligionsorientalesa Delos(Paris, 1977). See also T. A. Brady,"The Reception of the EgyptianCults by the Greeks (330-30 b.c.),"University of MissouriStudies 10.1 (January1935), 1-88; F. Dunand, "Cultesegyptienshors d'Egypte:nouvellesvoies d'approche et d'interpretation,"StudiaHellenistica27 (1983), 75-98. On the associationof these deities as a triad, see V. Tran Tarn Tinh, "Etat des etudes iconographiques relatives a Isis, Serapis et Sunnaoi Theoi," in H. Temporini, ed., Aufstieg und Niedergangdes romischenWelt(Berlin, 1984), II.17.3, 1710-38. J. E. Stambaugh, Sarapis Under the Early Ptolemies, EPRO 24 (Leiden, 1972), 45-47. PaceG. Lafaye, "Histoire du culte des divinites d'Alexandrie: Serapis, Isis, Harpocrateset Anubis hors de l'Egypte,"BEFAR33 (1884), 17-18; Roussel, CED275.
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Osirian.45 In short, the ancient Egyptian rituals originally confined to the tombs of Old Kingdom pharaohs were now being perpetuated by a cult celebrated by the living. In Book XI of his Metamorphoses,Apuleius describes his own initiation into the mysteries of Isis and Osiris that transpired towards the middle of the second century a.d. Since the significance of a mystery cult rests on the preservation of mysteria,or "secret doctrines," imparted only to the initiated, Apuleius is understandably guarded as to the details that he reveals. He does, however, relate that prior to induction, he was required to fast and to bathe; thereafter, he underwent ablutions of the purest kind poured on him by the high priest of the cult.46 Hence not only funerary practices but also initiation rites into the cult of Osiris were patterned after the Osirian myth in which the deity's corpse was washed by one or another of the gods. Apuleius obliquely describes the religious experience that he underwent in the course of initiation; his account suggests that a description of the netherworld journey was imparted to him as well as the appropriate formulaic responses necessary to proceed past numerous gods in order to arrive at the kingdom of Osiris. In these respects, Apuleius' account is reminiscent of the New Kingdom Book of the Dead as well as the so-called "Orphic" lamellae insofar as all three preserved magical spells intended to enable the deceased to overcome obstacles and gain entry to the netherworld. Ironically, in real life, the author was prosecuted for allegedly engaging in magical practices, but was acquitted (Apol. de magica). Lamellae are thin sheets of gold leaf, rather like foil, on which Greek texts were inscribed. They have been found in Italy, on mainland Greece, and on Crete, folded up alongside buried skeletons or placed in their hands. One lamella had been rolled up and encased in a cylinder attached to a gold chain worn like an amulet around the neck of the corpse. The leaves was inof the to gold original purpose struct the deceased concerning the paths to
travel in the netherworld, what he or she is to say, and what responses ought to be expected. The instructions appear to be magical insofar as they impart to the deceased formulae necessary to attain to goals in the hereafter.49 One group of gold leaves, in particular, is reminiscent of our Osirian prayer. These are the lamellae cataloged as group "B"by Zuntz in the most recent cumulative edition of the Greek texts. The "B"texts date between the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C.,although the cylinder in which the longest text was encased dates to the 2nd or 3rd century a.d., suggesting that the gold leaf had been recovered and reused in the Roman period and that potency continued to be attributed to it.50 It reads:
45 See also Morenz, 246, who suggested that Serapisdid not appeal to Egyptianswho continued to worshipthe traditional Osiris-Isis-Horustriad,and Dunand (1983), 90. 45 Met.11.23. 47 /GXIV 638: Zuntz,355-59 ("Bl").
49 Pace W. K. C. Guthrie, Orpheus and GreekReligion: A Study in the OrphicMovement2(New York, 1966), 172.
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