Edwards, Amelia B.: A thousand miles up the Nile (New York, [1888])

204 A THOUSAND MILES UP TUB NILE.

But in this temple dedicated not only to Isis, but to the
memory of Osiris and the worship of Horns their son,
there is one chamber which we may be quite sure was
shown neither to Strabo nor Diodorus, nor to any stranger
of alien faith, be his rejnite or station what it might; a
chamber holy above all others; holier even than the sanc-
tuary—the chamber sacred to Osiris. We, however, un-
restricted, unforbidden, are free to go where we list; and
our books tell us that this mysterious chamber is some-
where overhead. So, emerging once again into the day-
light, we go up a well-worn staircase leading out upon the
roof.

This roof is an intricate, up-and-down place, and the
room is not easy to find. It lies at the bottom of a little
flight of steps—a small stone cell some twelve feet square,
lighted only from the doorway. The walls are covered
with sculptures representing the shrines,the mummification
and the resurrection of Osiris.* These shrines, containing

* The story of Osiris—the beneficent god, the friend of man, slain
and dismembered by Typhon; buried in a score of graves: sought
by Isis; recovered limb by limb; resuscitated in the flesh; trans-
ferred from earth to reign over the dead in the world of shades—is
one of the most complex of Egyptian legends. Osiris under some
aspects is the Nile. He personifies abstract good, and is entitled
Unnefer, or " The Good Being." He appears as a myth of the solar
year. He bears a notable likeness to Prometheus and to the Indian
Bacchus.

"Osiris, dit-on, etait autrefois descendu sur la terre. Etre bon
par excellence, il avait adouci les moeurs des homines par la per-
suasion et la bienf'aisance. Maisil avait succombe sous les ernbuches
de Typhon, son frere, le genie du mal, et pendant que ses deux
scours, Isis et Nephthys, recueillaient son corps qui avait ete jete
dans le rleuve, le dieu ressuscitait d'entre les morts et apparaissait a
son fils Horus, qu'il instituait son vengeur. C'est ce sacrifice
qu'il avait autrefois accompli en faveur des homines qu' Osiris
renouvelle ici eu faveur de l'iime degagee de ses liens ter-
restres. Non seulement il devient son guide, mais il s'identifie a
elle; il l'absorbe en son propre sein. C'est lui alors qui, devenu lo
defunt lui meme, se soumet a toutes les epreuves que celui-ci doit
subir avant d'etre proclaim' juste; c'est lui qui, a chaque iime qu'il
doit sauver, flechit les gardiens des demeures infernales et combat
les monstres compagnons de la unit et de la mort; c'est lui enfin qui,
vainqueur des tenebres, avec l'assistance d'Horus, s'assied au tribunal
de la supreme justice et ouvre a l'ame drclaree pure les portes
du sejour eternel. I/image de la mort aura ete empruntee au soleil
qui disparait a l'horizon du soir: le soleil respleudissant du matin