A complete dictionary of the Greek and Roman antiquities explaining the obscure places in classic authors and ancient historians relating to the religion, mythology, history, geography and chronology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their ... rites and customs, laws, polity, arts and engines of war : also an account of their navigations, arts and sciences and the inventors of them : with the lives and opinions of their philosophers / compiled originally in French ... by Monsieur Danet ; made English, with the addition of very useful mapps.

OSIRIS,

was a God and King among the Egyptians, to whom they gave also divers other Names: Diodorus Siculus says, that some took him for Serapis, others for Bacchus, Pluto, Am∣mon, Jupiter and Pan. After that Osiris King of Egypt, who was the fifth of the Gods that reigned in that Country, after, I say, Osiris was killed by his Brother Typhon, it was believed his Soul went into the Body of the Ox Apis, and into all the rest which were successively sub∣stituted in his Stead, and this Ox was looked upon as the Image and Soul of Osiris, according to the Testimony of Diodorus Siculus; and as there were Two sacred Oxen in Egypt, the one named Apis in the City of Memphis, and the other called Mnevis in Heliopolis, the same Diodorus says, they were both consecrated to Osiris; Tan∣ros sacros tam Apim quam Mnevim Osiridi sacros & dicatos esse, & pro Diis coli, apud universos pro∣miscuè Aegyptios sancitum est. Diodorus after∣wards sets forth at large how the Worship and Mysteries of Osiris were carried from Egypt to Creece under the Name of Bacchus the Son of Semele the Daughter of Cadmus, originally de∣scended from Thebes in Egypt; for the Daughter of Gadmus having had a Bastard Child that was very like unto Osiris, Cadmus to save the Honour of his Daughter deified her Son after his Death, making him to pass for another Osiris the Son of Jupiter: Orpheus a little after went to Egypt, and in Acknowledgment of the Kindness he had re∣ceived from Cadmus his Family, he publish'd these same Mysteries in Greece but so as to attribute to Semele's Son, all that had been said of the truc Osiris several Ages before; and so the Osiris of Egypt, and Bacchus of Creece, the Mysteries of the Egyptian Osiris, and those of the Greclan Bacchus, were one and the same. Herodotus at∣tributes the bringing of this Name, History, and Mysteries of Osiris or the Egyptian Ba∣chus into Greece, to Melampus, who was anti∣enter than Orpheus.

The Egyptian Tradition, according to Diodo∣rus Siculus, was, that Osiris, Isis and Typhon were the Sons of Saturn and Rhea, or rather of Jupi∣ter and Juno; that Osiris is the same with Bac∣chus, and Isis the same as Ceres, that Osiris and Isis reigned with extraordinary Mildness, and conferred great Benefits on their Subjects, that they hindred Men to eat one another any more; that Isis inveated the Sowing and Use of Corn,

and made several excellent Laws; that Osiris was brought up at Nysa in Arabia Felix, and go∣ing for one of Jupiter's Sons, they called him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that he applied himself to Agricul∣ture, and first taught how to plant Vines: That Hermes or Mercury was his Secretary in sacred Things; that he was minded to travel all over the World to teach Mankind the use of Corn and Wine; and in his Absence recommended Mercury to the Service of Isis, to Hercules the Government of Egypt, to Busiris that of Phoeni∣cia; and Lybia to Anteus; that he was accompa∣nied by Apollo his Brother; Anubis, Macedo, Pan and Triptolemus; that having passed over Africa Asia and Europe, he built the City of Nysa in the Indies, defeated Lycurgus in Thrace, and at last returned home; he was killed by his Brother Typhon; that Isis and Orus his Sons reveng'd his Death, and having slain Typhon, they paid Di∣vine Honours to Osiris, whose Members Isis very carefully gathered together, which Typhon had divided between the Murderers. Plutarch ob∣serves that the Egyptians took Osiris for a good Genius, and Typhon for an evil Genius, and the Principle of all Evil. Plutarch wrote a particu∣lar Treatise concerning Isis and Osiris; where in an Account is given of the Birth, and great Exploits of Osiris, of his Conquests, Benefits to Mankind, the secret Contrivances of Typhon a∣gainst him, his Death, and the Care taken by Ises for his Deification. At last he pretends that Osiris and Isis, from good Genii as they were, became Gods, as a just Reward of their Vertue, and that Osiris is Pluo, and Isis, Proferpina.

Synesius, Bishop of Cyrene, who wrote a Trea∣tise concerning Providence, confines himself al∣most wholly therein to the Explaining of the Fable or History of Osiris: He begins with this Reflection, That if the same be a Fable, its full of Wit, since the Egyptians were the Authors thereof; and if it be more than a Fable, it de∣serves our Pains to make a further Inspection into it; he afterwards gives the same Account as other Writers have done, of Osiris and Typhon; and says, that their Father was a King, Priest and a God, because the Egyptians pretended they had been govern'd by the Gods before the Kingdom fell into the Hands of Men: After∣wards he gives a Description of the Reign of Osiris, which was a Reign of Justice, Piety, Cle∣mency and Liberality it self. Typhon dethroned and banish'd him, and assuming the Government, reigned in all manner of Vices, and with all ima∣ginable Cruelty. But the Patience of the Peo∣ple being worn out, they recalled Osiris. Typhon was punished by the Gods, and Osiris recovered the Crown. M. Spon in his Searches after Anti∣quity, gives an Account of an Idol of Osiris:

I remember, says he, that being formerly at Leyden, I saw among the Curiosities of their Anatomy-School, two small Idols: The first is an Osiris, that was a famous Deity among the Egyptians, having a Miter on his Head, at the lower part whereof there was an Ox's Horn on each side; for he was thus worshipped in the Form of an Ox, because he had taught Mankind the Art of Tillage; in his Left Hand he held a Staff bent at the End, and in his Right a Triangular Instrument: This last was very like unto a Whip with three Cords. Plutarch says, that Osiris commanded over the Dead, and might not this Whip be the Ensign of his Authority, as the Furies are represented with a Whip and Torches?