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Article THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES ← Page 7 of 11 →
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The Ancient Mysteries
copings and neatly brought into a circular form , and about the same size , as far as I can judge , as the lake at Delos , which . is called rpo-xpeidfi Q ( trbehoeides ) , or wheel-shaped . And on the lake they go through a representation of Ms sufferings [ that is to say , the sufferings of Osiris , but here again he refuses to mention that name , which , tho ugh- he elsewhere makes use of it , he considers too sacred
to mention m connection with the mysteries ] , which the Egyptians call mysteries . But with regard to these , although I am intimately acquainted with the details of each portion of them , let me observe a reverential silence . [ Here , again , we see in what very great reverence the mysteries were held , both those celebrated 'in Egypt , and , from what immediately follows , the Grecian also , and the
inviolable secrecy with which they were surrounded . ] And with regard also to the initiation into the mysteries of Geres , which the Grreekscall' Thesmophoria / although this is known to me , yet about this also let me keep a reverential silence , exceptihg so far as it is holy and lawful to mention it . They were the daughters of Danaus who brought this mystery out of Egypt , and taught it to the Pelasgic women . But in after times , when all the ancient inhabitants of the
Peloponnesus were driven out by the Dorians , the mystery was lost , excepting by the Arcadians , who alone of the inhabitants of the Peloponnesus were not expelled , and who , remaining in their own territories , preserved it . '' On turning to another chapter in the same book ( ch . 62 ) , we find some account of the proceedings , at Sais ,
at a festival in honour of Minerva , which , though not connected immediately with the mj ^ steries of Osiris , is worth noticing . "When they assemble , " he says , " for sacrifice at Sais , on an appointed night they all burn lamps in a circle round their houses in the open air . And the lamps are small flat saucers filled with salt and olive oil , and on the top is the wick of the lamp ; and this burns all night
long . And the name of the festival is Avyi'oicaui , ( Lychnokaia ) , or the burning of lamps . And all the Egyptians who cannot come to the assembly for the festival , nevertheless observe the night of the sacrifice , and burn lamps also . And this is done not only at Sais , but throughout Egypt . "
Now the whole of the above account of the mysteries of Isis and Osiris , although interesting as a relic of antiquity , appears , doubtless , rather without meaning to many of our readers , and tends to give no very exalted idea of the intellectual powers of the people who
could practice such ceremonies . Let us then give , by way of explanation , an abridgment of a chapter on this subject in Sir Gardner Wilkinson ' s valuable work on Egyptian Antiquities , which certainly places the matter in a different light . Plutarch , by the way , gives a slight comment on these mysteries . Osiris , he says , is the Nile ;
Isis , that part of Egypt which the Nile overflows ; and Typho , the sea , which , receiving the outpouring of the Nile , tears it in pieces and destroys it , excepting so much of it as in its passage over the earth is received into its bosom , and so fertilizes the soil . Osiris is eaid by some writers to have been born on the right side of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ancient Mysteries
copings and neatly brought into a circular form , and about the same size , as far as I can judge , as the lake at Delos , which . is called rpo-xpeidfi Q ( trbehoeides ) , or wheel-shaped . And on the lake they go through a representation of Ms sufferings [ that is to say , the sufferings of Osiris , but here again he refuses to mention that name , which , tho ugh- he elsewhere makes use of it , he considers too sacred
to mention m connection with the mysteries ] , which the Egyptians call mysteries . But with regard to these , although I am intimately acquainted with the details of each portion of them , let me observe a reverential silence . [ Here , again , we see in what very great reverence the mysteries were held , both those celebrated 'in Egypt , and , from what immediately follows , the Grecian also , and the
inviolable secrecy with which they were surrounded . ] And with regard also to the initiation into the mysteries of Geres , which the Grreekscall' Thesmophoria / although this is known to me , yet about this also let me keep a reverential silence , exceptihg so far as it is holy and lawful to mention it . They were the daughters of Danaus who brought this mystery out of Egypt , and taught it to the Pelasgic women . But in after times , when all the ancient inhabitants of the
Peloponnesus were driven out by the Dorians , the mystery was lost , excepting by the Arcadians , who alone of the inhabitants of the Peloponnesus were not expelled , and who , remaining in their own territories , preserved it . '' On turning to another chapter in the same book ( ch . 62 ) , we find some account of the proceedings , at Sais ,
at a festival in honour of Minerva , which , though not connected immediately with the mj ^ steries of Osiris , is worth noticing . "When they assemble , " he says , " for sacrifice at Sais , on an appointed night they all burn lamps in a circle round their houses in the open air . And the lamps are small flat saucers filled with salt and olive oil , and on the top is the wick of the lamp ; and this burns all night
long . And the name of the festival is Avyi'oicaui , ( Lychnokaia ) , or the burning of lamps . And all the Egyptians who cannot come to the assembly for the festival , nevertheless observe the night of the sacrifice , and burn lamps also . And this is done not only at Sais , but throughout Egypt . "
Now the whole of the above account of the mysteries of Isis and Osiris , although interesting as a relic of antiquity , appears , doubtless , rather without meaning to many of our readers , and tends to give no very exalted idea of the intellectual powers of the people who
could practice such ceremonies . Let us then give , by way of explanation , an abridgment of a chapter on this subject in Sir Gardner Wilkinson ' s valuable work on Egyptian Antiquities , which certainly places the matter in a different light . Plutarch , by the way , gives a slight comment on these mysteries . Osiris , he says , is the Nile ;
Isis , that part of Egypt which the Nile overflows ; and Typho , the sea , which , receiving the outpouring of the Nile , tears it in pieces and destroys it , excepting so much of it as in its passage over the earth is received into its bosom , and so fertilizes the soil . Osiris is eaid by some writers to have been born on the right side of the