DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0103
93
ISO. The allegorical tales of the loves and misfortunes of Isis
and Osiris are an exact counterpart of those of Venus and Adonis;1
which signify the alternate exertion of the generative and destruc-
tive attributes. Adonis or Adonai was an oriental title of the Sun,
signifying Lord ; and the boar, supposed to have killed him, was
the emblem of Winter ; 1 during which the productive powers of
nature being suspended, Venus was said to lament the loss of
Adonis until he was again restored to life: whence both the
Syrian and Argive women annually mourned his death, and cele-
brated his resurrection ;3 and the mysteries of Venus and Adonis
at Byblus in Syria were held in similar estimation with those of
Ceres and Bacchus at Eleusis, and Isis and Osiris in iEgypt.*
Adonis was said to pass six months with Proserpine, and six with
Venus;5 whence, some learned persons have conjectured that the
allegory was invented near the pole : where the sun disappears
during so long a time : e but it may signify merely the decrease and
increase of the productive powers of nature as the sun retires and
advances. The Vistnoo or Jaggernautof the Hindoos is equally said
to lie in a dormant state during the four rainy months of that climate:3
and the Osiris of the ^Egyptians was supposed to be dead or absent
forty days in each year, during which the people lamented his loss, as
the Syrians did that of Adonis,9 and the Scandinavians that of
1 Offipiy ovra Kai ASwvtv dp.ov Kara /xvariK-rjif OeoKpaatav. Suidas iu voce Siayvu-
HOiV.
x Hesycli. in v. Macrob. Sat. i. c. xx. rov Se ASwui ov-£ krepov, a\\a
Atovvaov eivai voju^ovaiv. Plutarch. Sympos. lib. iv. qu. v.
3 Lucian. de Dea Syria. Pausan. Corinth, c. xx. s. 5.
+ Lucian. ib. s. 6.
5 Aeyovcrt 5e irepi rov A5covi5oy, bri Kai ajroflctiw, e| pnqvas sironi&tv ev ayica\ais
A<ppob~iTijs, utrnep Kai ep rais ayKa\ais rrjs Uepae^oyris. Srllol. in Theocrit. Idyll.
111.
6 01. Rudbeck. Atlantic. No. ii. c. iii. p. 34. Baillie Hist, de l'Astrono-
mie Ancienne.
7 $pvye$ 5e rov Oeov ow/xevoi xer/xwyos KaQevStiv, depovs 5' eypyyopevai, Tore p:ev
Karewao-fiovs, Tore 5' aveyepaeis, Jn«x™™ avTV re\ou<ri, Tla<pAayaves Se Kara-
SeiaOat, Kai KareiyvvirOai xe'Pa»'as< Ws 56 KiveurBai Kai ava\ve<x8ai, <pa<TKov<ri.
Plutarch, de Is. et Osir. Ut lacrymare cultrices Veneris sa:pe spectantur
in sollemnibus Adonidis sacris, quod simulacrum aliquod esse frugum adul-
tarum religioncs rnystica; docent. Am. Marcellin. lib. xix. c. 1.
8 Holvvell, Part ii. p. 123.
9 Theophil. ad Autolyc. lib. i. p. 75.
ISO. The allegorical tales of the loves and misfortunes of Isis
and Osiris are an exact counterpart of those of Venus and Adonis;1
which signify the alternate exertion of the generative and destruc-
tive attributes. Adonis or Adonai was an oriental title of the Sun,
signifying Lord ; and the boar, supposed to have killed him, was
the emblem of Winter ; 1 during which the productive powers of
nature being suspended, Venus was said to lament the loss of
Adonis until he was again restored to life: whence both the
Syrian and Argive women annually mourned his death, and cele-
brated his resurrection ;3 and the mysteries of Venus and Adonis
at Byblus in Syria were held in similar estimation with those of
Ceres and Bacchus at Eleusis, and Isis and Osiris in iEgypt.*
Adonis was said to pass six months with Proserpine, and six with
Venus;5 whence, some learned persons have conjectured that the
allegory was invented near the pole : where the sun disappears
during so long a time : e but it may signify merely the decrease and
increase of the productive powers of nature as the sun retires and
advances. The Vistnoo or Jaggernautof the Hindoos is equally said
to lie in a dormant state during the four rainy months of that climate:3
and the Osiris of the ^Egyptians was supposed to be dead or absent
forty days in each year, during which the people lamented his loss, as
the Syrians did that of Adonis,9 and the Scandinavians that of
1 Offipiy ovra Kai ASwvtv dp.ov Kara /xvariK-rjif OeoKpaatav. Suidas iu voce Siayvu-
HOiV.
x Hesycli. in v. Macrob. Sat. i. c. xx. rov Se ASwui ov-£ krepov, a\\a
Atovvaov eivai voju^ovaiv. Plutarch. Sympos. lib. iv. qu. v.
3 Lucian. de Dea Syria. Pausan. Corinth, c. xx. s. 5.
+ Lucian. ib. s. 6.
5 Aeyovcrt 5e irepi rov A5covi5oy, bri Kai ajroflctiw, e| pnqvas sironi&tv ev ayica\ais
A<ppob~iTijs, utrnep Kai ep rais ayKa\ais rrjs Uepae^oyris. Srllol. in Theocrit. Idyll.
111.
6 01. Rudbeck. Atlantic. No. ii. c. iii. p. 34. Baillie Hist, de l'Astrono-
mie Ancienne.
7 $pvye$ 5e rov Oeov ow/xevoi xer/xwyos KaQevStiv, depovs 5' eypyyopevai, Tore p:ev
Karewao-fiovs, Tore 5' aveyepaeis, Jn«x™™ avTV re\ou<ri, Tla<pAayaves Se Kara-
SeiaOat, Kai KareiyvvirOai xe'Pa»'as< Ws 56 KiveurBai Kai ava\ve<x8ai, <pa<TKov<ri.
Plutarch, de Is. et Osir. Ut lacrymare cultrices Veneris sa:pe spectantur
in sollemnibus Adonidis sacris, quod simulacrum aliquod esse frugum adul-
tarum religioncs rnystica; docent. Am. Marcellin. lib. xix. c. 1.
8 Holvvell, Part ii. p. 123.
9 Theophil. ad Autolyc. lib. i. p. 75.