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:
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The Refreshing Water of Osiris
Diana Delia
Among believers, rite is a symbolic act accom-
plished by means of gestures and words. In a
curious sepulchral inscription that attracted my
attention at the Graeco-Roman Museum in Al-
exandria, reference to a particular rite is made:
Ei3\|/i3xi
TaXaziave
L K8
Aoi ooi
6 "Oaeipic;
TO \|A)XpOVi)5cop3
The deceased, Galatianos, is exhorted to be of
good cheer and the wish is expressed that Osiris
will offer him vj/uxpov
55o)p, cool water. Seven-
teen parallels have been published; six of these
likewise came from Alexandria, thirteen from
other sites in Egypt, Carthage, and Italy.4 The
formula appears on sepulchral stelae of males
and females, ten to thirty-five years of age, pos-
sessing 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
"Ooeipic;
to \|/DXp6v
i)5cop
("may Osiris offer you
cool water") developed among Greeks in Ro-
man Egypt pursuant 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 Princi-
pate, Egyptian religious customs continued to
thrive not only among Egyptians but also
among Greeks and Romans residing in Egypt
and abroad. Accordingly, this evidence chal-
lenges the proclivity of ancient historians to
view cultural syncretism in the Hellenistic world
as being essentially one-dimensional by focus-
ing on the Hellenization of indigenous popula-
tions while ignoring the impact that the latter
had on their Greek and Roman conquerors.
1 Earlier versions of this paper were delivered at a Sym- posium on Religion in Classical Antiquity hosted by Texas A&M University on 20 October 1987, at the 1989 annual meeting of the American Society of Papyrologists and American Philological Association in Baltimore, MD, and at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Research Center 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. Corcoran for her collaboration concerning the Fayum mummy portraits.
See, for example, J. Ries, "Les rites d'initiation et sacre," in Les rites d'initiation, Actes du Colloque de Liege et de Louvain-la-Neuve, 20-21 novembre 1984 (Louvain, 1986), 32.
3
Funerary stele, ed. E. Breccia, Catalogue general des an-
tiquites Egyptiennes au Musee d'Alexandrie, nos. 1-568: iscrizioni
greche e latine (Cairo, 1911), no. 341 (Alexandria: Minet el- Bassel), see fig. 1. I am grateful to Mme. Doreya Said, Direc- tor of the Graeco-Roman Museum at Alexandria, for this photo and permission to publish it herein.
For the convenience of readers, these are listed in an appendix that follows this paper.
5 Cf. the prayer inscribed on a late Ptolemaic statue: "may you receive the cold water:" H. de Meulenaere and B. V. Bothmer, "Une statue thebaine de la fin de l'epoque ptolemaique," ZAS 101 (1974), 110 and pl. 4.
Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality Among
the Greeks (New York, 1966), II 576 n. 152. Conversely, I. Levy believed that the prayer derived from relatively recent demotic or aramaic prototypes: "Les inscriptions arameennes de Memphis et l'epigraphie funeraire de l'Egypte greco-romaine," Journal Asiatique 211 (1927), 305. For the most recent editions of the Carpentras stele (CIS 141) on which Levy's thesis was based, see P. Grelot, Docu- ments arameens d'Egypte (Paris, 1972), no. 86, and E. Lipinski, "North-west Semitic inscriptions," OLPS (1977), 112-17.
182
JARCE XXIX (1992)
Fig. 1. Funerary stela from 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
Pyramid Texts were carved on the pyramid of
Unas, last pharaoh of Dynasty V, 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
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 nether-
world and judge of the dead by the Middle
Kingdom. It was also during this period that the
Pyramid Text spells, hitherto exclusive to royal
burials, began to be written on the coffins of
affluent Egyptians in what has been described
as a "democratization of the hereafter."9 Dur-
ing the New Kingdom, similar spells were writ-
ten on papyri, known as the Book of the Dead.
From the end of the second millennium B.C.
down through the Roman period, Osiris func-
tioned as the central figure of Egyptian funer-
ary belief and practices by virtue of his dying
and reviving capacities 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
Egyptians equated Osiris with the Nile river, es-
pecially its fructifying and regenerative dTC7iopr|
(efflux).10 Since Egyptians tended to express
abstract concepts in concrete form, regenera-
tion 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 Egyptians might refer to the
Nile as H'apy or Osiris, whom they worshipped
as distinct yet associated divinities.11
In several of the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts,
the Osirian dead king is offered a libation of
cool (kbhw) or fresh (rnpy) water. The purpose
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, Reallexikon der dgyp- tischen Religionsgeschichte2 (Berlin, 1971), 620-23.
8 P. Chester Beatty I recto (Thebes, reign of Ramses V), tr. M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, II: The New Kingdom
(Univ. California: Berkeley, 1976), 215-23; Plutarch, Mor.
366c-67b, ed. with commentary by J. Gwyn Griffiths, De hide et Osiride (Cambridge, 1970).
y The proliferation of Coffin Texts was succinctly ex- plained by J. Wilson as follows: "any man who was prominent enough and rich enough to afford an inscribed coffin and priestly services at his funeral had magic and religion work- ing for his deification at death. He would become an Osiris on entry into the next world." The Culture of Ancient Egypt (Chicago, 1951), 116. See also, Cerny, 87-88, and S. Morenz, Egyptian Religion, tr. A. E. Keep (Ithaca, 1973) 220.
1U NeiJiov eivai xov "Oaipiv: Mor. 364A-366D.
11 Plutarch, Mor. 355 B-C. See also Bonnet, 527-28; W. Helck, "Osiris," RE Supp. IX (Stuttgart, 1962), 499-500; and J. A. Wilson, "Egypt: the Function of the State," in H. Frank- fort et al., Before Philosophy (Hammondsworth, 1949), 72-73.
THE REFRESHING
WATER OF OSIRIS
183
of this funeral libation was lustral, to revitalize
the dead king, causing him to become youth-
ful (rnp) again.12 The dead king is thus ad-
dressed, "Raise yourself, o king . . . wash [your
hands in this] fresh [water] which your father
Osiris has given to you."13 The fresh water is
the Nile efflux, rdw; it is both the Nile flood and
the life force of the Nile deity, Osiris.14 This li-
bation 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
Egyptian funerary practices, was performed in
imitation of rites associated with the burial of
Osiris. Indeed, the Pyramid Texts and similar
spells may actually have been recited by mor-
tuary priests wearing masks of the appropriate
divinities as they prepared a corpse for inter-
ment; perhaps it was believed that proper reci-
tation of the formulae and discharge of ritual
would cause the real deities to perform the
same services on behalf of the spirit of the de-
ceased in the realm of the dead.
Likewise, in the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts,
the deceased, once bathed in the fresh or cool
water that issued from Osiris, is identified with
him.18 The 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
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 na- tron." 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 Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian (Oxford, 1962), 150 and A. Erman and H. Grapow, edd., Worterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache (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 tom- beaux egyptiens," Etudes de mythologie et d'archeologie egypti- ennesd, 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. Texts utt. 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. Texts utt. 213 spell 134: "O King, you have not de- parted 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 succes- sor of Osiris." See also Pyr. Texts utt. 537 spell 1298 and utt. 667A spell 1944 as well as A. M. Blackman, "The Signifi- cance 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, Considerations sur les religions egyptiennes (Neucha- tel, 1946), 54-56; and Morenz (1973), 39.
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 hellenis-
tique 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 Encyclopaedia of Reli- gion 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."
184
JARCE XXIX (1992)
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 Coffin Texts that the first mention of
the thirsting dead occurs: "I will 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 in-
spired by desert burial practice. Nevertheless, by
the Middle Kingdom, conflation of traditional
spells for food offerings with sacramental asso-
ciation 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 marks a significant varia-
tion 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 fu-
nerary and temple rituals. At the temple of
Osiris at Abydos, Horus and Thoth are repre-
sented 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.24 Likewise, an-
other 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, "Pure is King Men-
ma'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
lustration with 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: "I will not be thirsty, my lips will not be dry, I have quenched my thirst with that great efflux of my father Osiris." However, cf. CT spell 359, V 10-11: "Men bring to him for the meeting (?) of his needs, men approach for the quenching (?) of his thirst. Ho, N! Your . . . are opened by Neper, water is measured out to you by the Nile-god, Neith will come to you with her atten- dants," 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 it " CT spell 226, III 257-58; CT spell 358, V 10-11 and CTspell644,VI265.
J1 Food offerings: CT spell 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 Egyptian practice of burial in the desert: (1970) 96.
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 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 identification of Osiris with the Nile, see P. Louvre 3079.94-97, ed. J. C. Goyon, "Le ceremonial de glorification d'Osiris du papyrus de Louvre I 3079," BIFAO65 (1967), 101; The Book of the Dead, spell 69; "Hymn to Osiris" (reign of Ramses IV), ed. K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Ins. VI. 1 (Oxford,
1969), 20-25; "Hymn to Osiris" (reign of Ramses IX), ed. A. Erman, "Gebete eines ungerecht Verfolgten und anderen Ostraka aus den Konigsbrabern," ZAS 38 (1900), 32, trans, idem, The Ancient Egyptians: A Sourcebook of their Writings (New York, 1927); E. Naville, The Festival Hall of Oserkon II in the Great Temple ofBubastis, EES Memoir 10 (London, 1892), 24, pl. XI.
Second hypostyle wall, West wall, right and left jambs: A. R. David, A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos (Warmin- ster, 1981), 32 and figure on p. 33. Cf. East wall, door lEb: David, 42 and fig. on p. 43. Also note the cartonnage inner coffin of Tjentmutengebtyu on which Horus and Thoth purify the Theban princess with streams of ankh and was symbols: C. Andrews, Egyptian Mummies (London, 1984), 14, fig. 10; an amulet on which Anubis is depicted purifying a mummy: G. A. Reisner, Catalogue generale des antiquites au Musee du Caire, nos. 12528-13595: Amulets II (Cairo, 1958) no. 13580 and pl. 20; and the tomb of Mutirdis at Asasif, dated to the second half of the seventh century B.C., in which Osiris directs Horus to give Mutirdis pure water (kbhw) - this is written over a scene in which Horus pours a stream of water over the deceased from a libation vessel. See J. Assmann, Das Grab der Mutirdis. Grabung im Asasif, 1963-1970 (Mainz am Rhein, 1977), VI 57-58, line 23 and plates 20-20A. See also A. H. Gardiner, "The Baptism of Pharaoh/'^EA 36 (1956), 12.
lb East Wall, Sety shrine: David (1981), 142 and fig. on p. 143 = B. Porter and R. L. B. Moss, Topographical Bibliogra- phy of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings, VI: Upper Egypt, Chief Temples (Oxford, 1970), 21 (192).
THE REFRESHING
WATER OF OSIRIS
185
through Roman times. The rite of pouring
water on corn-Osiris figures interred with the
deceased, first attested during the New King-
dom, appears to have symbolized a similar re-
vival of the god.
The same beliefs and practices persevered
throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
In the demotic Papyrus Rhind, lustral water is
described as having come from Elephantine,
near the First Cataract, which ancient Egyptians
considered as the source of the Nile because the
body of Osiris was believed to have been buried
beneath Biga Island.29 Moreover, on several
Ptolemaic funerary stelae, cool water from Ele-
phantine appears as a libation intended for
consumption by the Osirian deceased for the
purpose of rejuvenation.30
Elsewhere cool water
was associated with the Nile, revival of the de-
ceased, and immortality.31 Hence the signifi-
cance of the flasks or cups that prominently
appear on some Fayum mummy portraits.32
Ibid., 124; idem, The Ancient Egyptians: Religious Beliefs and Practices (London, 1982), 110. Nile water was carried in mummiform ("canopic") jars during the Choiak procession: Dendera, Temple of Hathor: roof, east Osiris chapel (also called south): Porter-Moss VI. 99 (66-77). See also H. Bein- lich, Die "Osirisreliquien": Zum Motiv der Korperzergliederung in der altdgyptischen Religion (Wiesbaden, 1984), passim; E. Chassinat, Le mystere d'Osiris au mois de Choiak, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1966-68), passim, and F. Dunand, "Les mysteres egyptiens aux epoques hellenistique et romaine," in Mysteres et syn- cretismes, Universite des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg, Centre de Recherches d'Histoire des Religions, Etudes d'Histoire des Religions 2 (Paris, 1975), 21-24.
Note the Late Egyptian sarcophagus at Besancon on which Osiris is depicted pouring water from a long-spouted hydrion onto the outstretched hands and into the mouth of the decedent kneeling before him: R. V. Lanzone, "Osiris," Dizionario di mitologia egizia (Turin, 1881-85), III 294, repro- duced in R. Reitzenstein, "Eros als Osiris," Nachricht von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, phil-hist. Klasse (1930), 406, and repr. in G. Binder and R. Merkelbach, edd., Amor und Psyche (Darmstadt, 1968), 312. See also Louvre E 3229: ed. J. H. Johnson, "Louvre E 3229: A Demotic Magical Text," Enchoria 7 (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 tombeau de Petosiris (Cairo, 1923-24), I, 131, inscr. no. 82, plates 28 and 31-32; R. O. Faulkner, ed. and tr., "The Papyrus Bremner-Rhind (BM. 10188)," Bibl Aegypt. 3 (Brussels, 1933), tr. idem, "The Bremner-Rhind Papyrus, I" JEA 22 (1936), 121-40 (4th c. B.C.); Ankh-Maat-Re stele (Memphis, mid. 2nd c. B.C.), ed. W. Spiegelberg, "Demotis- che Miscellen, XLI: Eine hieroglyphisch-demotische Stele der Bibliotheque Nationale," Recueilde Trav. 30 (1908), 144- 47; P. Pamenthoes, ed. F. Lexa, Papyrus de Pamenthoes: Das de- motische Totenbuch der pariser Nationalbibliothek (Leipzig, 1910), I 1.2 (a.d. 63); P. Rhind I, 2 hier. 10 and I, 2 dem. 9, ed. G. Moller, Die beiden Totenpapyren Rhind aus des Museums zu Edinburgh (Leipzig, 1913, late Ptolemaic/early Roman); and Levy (1927), 302. See also P. Louvre 5158.1-2 and 19-21 (Roman date) and G. Maspero, "Memoire sur quelques pa- pyrus du Louvre: le ritual de l'embaument," Notice et extraits des ms. de la Bibliotheque Nationale 24 (Paris, 1883), 27-29; J-C. Goyon, "La fete de Sokaris a Edfou a la lumiere d'un texte liturgique remontant au Nouvel Empire," BIFAO 78 (1978), 425-26. As late as the fifth century a.d., Osiris is de- scribed as "he draws cold water and will relieve your souls" (Kai epi to \j/ux6v i)5(op K<xi dvcurauariTai u^wv xac, yu^ac;) in an
erotic love charm: R. W. Daniel and F. Maltomini, edd., SuppL Mag I: Pap. Colon. 16.1 (Koln, 1989), 45.12-13 (North of Assiut); see also Dierk Wortmann, ed., "Neue magische Texte," Bonnerjb. 168 (1968) 93-94.
29 P. Rhind I, 6 hier. 3 and I, 6 dem. 3 (late Ptolemaic/ early Roman). Cf. Herodotus 2.28.
30
Brooklyn 71.37.2 (3rd-lst c. B.C.): see the photo of this stele published in GM 114 (1990), 62, along with the transla- tion and commentary by J. Quaegebeur, "La stele Brooklyn 71.37.2 reconsideree," GM 119 (1990), 73-89; Turin 1595 (late Ptolemaic/early Roman), ed. P. Munro, Die spdtdgyp- tischen Totenstelen (Gliickstadt, 1973), 246-47 and pl. 21, no. 74; and Louvre E 13074 (mid 2nd c. B.C.?): see J. Quae- gebeur, "Inventaire des steles funeraires memphites d'epoque ptolemaique," CdE 49 (1974), 71. On the thirsting dead, see W. Deonna, "Croyances funeraires, la soif des morts: Le mort musician," Annales Musee Guimet: Revue His- torique des Religions 119 (1939), 53-77; and also J. Quaege- beur, "P. Brux. Dem. E 8258: une lettre de recommandation pour l'au-dela," in S. Israelit-Groll, ed., Studies in Egyptology presented to Miriam Lichtheim (Jerusalem, 1990), II, lines 6-8.
61 P. Berl 30085, 10, 12: "Lamentations of Isis and Nepthys," ed. R. O. Faulkner, MIFAO 66 (1935), 337-48; M. G. Daressy, ed., "Un decret d'Amon en faveur d'Osiris," ASAE 18 (1919), 222; P. Berl. hier. 3162, ed. J. Frank- Kamenetzky, "Der Papyrus nr. 3162 des berlin. Museums," Orientalische Literaturzeitung 17 (1914), col. 150; see also Levy (1927), 302, n. 2, and PGM XII 234: syco el^i "Oaipi<; 6 Ka?ioi3-
(18 VO^ l)5(0p.
C. C. Edgar, Catalogue generale des antiquites egyptiennes du Musee du Caire, nos. 33101-33285 (Cairo, 1905), nos. 33280 and 33281 (pl. XLVII). V. von Gonzenbach, Unter- suchungen zu den Knabenweihen im Isiskult der romischen Kaiser- zeit, Antiquitas 1.4 (Bonn, 1957), pl. I (K33). K. Parlasca, Ritratti di mummia, in A. Adriani, ed. Repertorio d'arte delVEg- itto greco-Romano, Serie B (Roma, 1977-80) II nos. 397 (pl. 98.3) and 422 (pl. 105.2); III nos. 587 (pl. 140.6), 589 (pl. 141.2), 601 (pl. 143.1), 625 (pl. 148.4), 618 (pl. 147.1), 620 (pl. 147.3), 625 (pl. 148.4), 629 (pl. 149.4), and 633 (pl. 150.4). D. L. Thompson, Mummy Portraits in the]. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu, 1982) p. 57, no. 11. S. D'Auria, P. Laco- vara and C. H. Roehrig, Mummies and Magic (Boston, 1988),
186
TARCE
XXIX (1992)
On the 22nd of Choiak, symbols of the gods
were carried on procession in celebration of
the mysteries of Osiris. Among these was an
effigy of Osiris which Apuleius describes as a
hollowed-out urn of burnished gold, possessing
a rounded bottom, a long spout on one side
and a handle on the other; the exterior was
covered with hieroglyphic writing. The peculiar
shape and spout suggest that it was a hydreion,
containing Nile water. Apuleius praises the
urn as "worthy of devotion because of its skillful
craftsmanship and originality"; but it is owing
to its contents that he proclaims it to be "an
indescribable religious proof that should be
veiled in deep silence.' Likewise, the Nesna-
khetiou situla was inscribed "you will receive
the water," as its function was to contain Nile
water for the sacramental revitalization of the
deceased.35 It is interesting to note that Osiris
became so closely associated with the hydreion
that he was actually worshipped as Hydreios, a
mummiform personification of his sacred Nile
water vessel, on the island of Delos.
Scores of classical writers discoursed on the
subject of the Nile, commenting on its alleged
progenitive qualities and its sweetness in con-
trast to the bitterness of salt sea water. It was
claimed that Ptolemy II Philadelphos regularly
sent Nile water to his daughter, Berenike, in
OQSyria, lest she drink from any other source.
Hence it is not at all surprising that persons or
animals immersed in the Nile were believed to
have acquired divinity. Antinoiis, the Emperor
Hadrian's companion who drowned in the
Nile in a.d. 130, no doubt remains the most
well-known example of this type of apotheosis.
Accordingly, the Egyptian word, hsi, meaning
"immersed in water," was equivalent to the
Greek eKBecoaeoBai
and the Latin consecrare,
sig-
OQ
nifying "to become divine."
no. 165, North Carolina Museum of Art inv. no. 78.1.8. The iconography is fairly standard: the right hand of the de- ceased holds a cup or flask and the left hand holds a floral garland or wreath; cf., however, Mummies and Magic no. 162. K. Parlasca had supposed that the vessels contained wine: Mummienportrdts und verwandte Denkmdler (Wiesbaden, 1966). The Osirian nature of these vessels, however, was demon- strated by L. H. Corcoran in her paper delivered at the 1991 annual meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt (Boston, MA), and also in her study, Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt (Diss., University of Chicago, 1988), 125-37, in which she investigates the Osirian iconography of the mummy portraits.
56 Note Clement Alex., Strom. 6.4: rcpocpavsc; to u5peTov syKeKO>jua}A8Voc;. See also J. Gwyn Griffiths, ed. and comm., Apuleius ofMadauros, The Isis-Book, EPRO 39 (Leiden, 1975),
227-33.
34 Met. 11.11: "sollerti repertu etiam ipsa novitate rever- endam, altioris utcumque et magno silentio tegendae reli- gionis argumentum ineffabile." Nonnus: 25.229.34: "summi numinis venerenda effigies."
C. J. Evrard-Derriks and J. Quaegebeur, "La situle de- coree de Nesnakhetiou au Musee Royal de Mariemont," CdE 54 (1979), 42 (3rd century B.C.). Cf. the situla depicted on the funerary stele of Nepherosbab (51 B.C.): H. P. Blok, "Drei Stelen aus der Spatzeit im Haagner Museum," Acta Orientalia 8 (1930), 194-209.
36 CED 173 (Serapeion C, predates 88 B.C.). Dedications made to Hydreios alone: CED 175A and 179 (Serapeion C, post 166 B.C.); 152 (Serapeion C, 105-3 B.C.). For Hydreios as a personification of the vessel which contained the sacred
Nile water, see P. Roussel, Les cultes egyptiens a Delos du IIP au Ier siecle av. J.-C." (Nancy, 1916), 165 and 284-89; also see P. Perdrizet, Bronzes grecques d'Egypte de la collection Fouquet (Paris, 1911), 49. For mummiform water jars, which like their "canopic" prototype symbolized continued life, see J. Vogt, ed., Ausgrabungen in Alexandria, II. 2: Die griechische- aegyptische Sammlung E. von Sieglin (Leipzig, 1924), pl. 1.2; F. von Bissing, "Das heilige Bild von Kanopos," BSAA 24 (1929), 39-59; E. Breccia, ed., Monuments de VEgypte greco- romaine, III: Terrecotte greche e greco-egizie del Museo di Alessan- dria (Bergamum, 1930), pl. 27.3; A. Adriani, "Sanctuaire de l'epoque romaine a Ras el Soda," Annuaire du Musee Greco- Romain, 1935-39, 143-44 and pl. LII-LIII; and A. Fouquet, "Quelques representations d' Osiris Canope au Musee du Louvre," BIFAO 73 (1973), 61-69. See also W. Weber, Drei Untersuchungen zur dgyptischen-greichischen Religion (Heidel- berg, 1911), 29-48; F. Dunand, Religion populaire en Egypte romaine: Les terres cuites isiaques du Musee du Caire, EPRO 66 (Leiden, 1979), 88-89; Griffiths (1975), 228; and R. A. Wild, Water in the Cultic Worship of Isis and Sarapis, EPRO 87 (Lei- den, 1981), 69.
37
Progenitive: Diod. Sic. 1.10.6-7; Strabo 15.22-23; Pliny, HN 7.3.33 and 9.84.179; Pomponius Mela, De chorographia 1.9.52; Seneca, Quaes. nat. 3.25.11; Plut., Mor. 353A; Aelian, NA 3.33; Avienus, Descr. orbis terrae 337-41. See also Griffiths (1970), 274.
Sweetness: Aesch., Prom. des. 812; Diod Sic. 1.40.4; Sen., Quaes. nat. 4.2.30; Ael. Aristides, or. 36.119 (Behr); Achilles Tatius 4.18; HA: Pesc. Niger 7.1; Porphyry cited in Euseb., Praep. Evang. 9.10.413a. See also Wild, 231 n. 37, and note The Book of Two Ways 305 and 502 (p. 58), in which the de- ceased are said to live on the sweetness of Osiris; note ibid., 6.192 (pp. 91-92): "I embalm those who are in sweetness," and cf. 355 (p. 92), and 367 (p. 94).
38 Athen. 2.45C.
39 Herodotus 2.90; cf. A. B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book II: Com- mentary, EPRO 43 (Leiden, 1976), I, 366. On hsi, see Wb. Ill, 154-56 and 160; P. Leid. Magic. VI. 12, tr. F. L. Griffith
THE REFRESHING
WATER OF OSIRIS
187
The foregoing leads us back to our funerary
formula, 5oir| aoi 6 "Oaeipic;
to vj/uxpov
D5cop.
The
cool water can be none other than Nile water,
hence, by extension, Osiris. The formula con-
stitutes a prayer that a particular rite will take
place: that Osiris will offer cool water to the
deceased. Regardless of whether lustration or
potation was envisaged, absorption of the vital
fluid of Osiris was believed to bestow the god's
immortality. The wording of the prayer suggests
a pun involving vj/ux'H
(the immortal spirit of
Osiris) and vj/uxpov (the means by which it
may be conveyed).
^Foxpov
\35cop,
therefore,
signifies a very special kind of cool water, one
that bestows eternal life.
Soon after the Macedonian conquest of
Egypt, a new religious cult was introduced to
Egypt. Its deity, Sarapis, was a composite that
blended together characteristics of many Helle-
nistic gods, particularly Zeus, Pluto, Asclepius,
and Osiris. His name, as well, was borrowed
from the Egyptian deity, Oserapis, himself a
compound of Osiris and Apls.42 In time, Sarapis
came to be associated, as Osiris before 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 administrations in Egypt. It was this
official triad of Sarapis, Isis, and Harpokrates
or Anubis that spread throughout the Mediter-
ranean 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
Sarapis was not distinct from Osiris in any way,
besides the heterogenous iconography of the
two divinities, hybrid Sarapis never succeeded
in displacing Osiris.44 Sarapis was the publicly
celebrated protector of Ptolemaic dynasts, re-
plete with oracular and healing powers, but
the Egyptian mystery cult remained essentially
and H. Thompson, The Leyden Papyrus: An Egyptian Magical Book (London, 1904); also see their note to line 31.
On apotheosis by immersion, see J. Quaegebeur, "Les 'saints' Egyptiens prechretiens," Orientalia Lovaniensia Peri- odica 8 (1977), 138-39; idem, "Note sur l'heresieion d'Anti- noe," ZPE 24 (1977), 246-50, and Evrard-Derriks and J. Quaegebeur (1979), 42. Earlier scholars had interpreted hsi as signifying apotheosis by drowning: F. L. Griffith, "Herod- otus 11.90: Apotheosis by Drowning," ZAS 46 (1909-10), 132-33; M. A. Murray, "The Cult of the Drowned in Egypt," ZAS 51 (1913), 135; W. Spiegelberg, "Demotische Miszellen, 7: Zu dem Ausdruck hsj fur die durch Ertrinken im Nil bewirkte Apotheose," ZAS 53 (1917), 124-25; A. Rowe, "Newly Identified Monuments in the Egyptian Museum Showing the Deification of the Dead," ASAE 40 (1940), 3- 30; L. V. Zabkar, "Herodotus and the Egyptian Idea of Im- mortality, "JNES 22 (1963), 57-63; and H. Kees, "Apotheosis by Drowning," in H. Kees, ed., Studies presented to F. L.
Griffith (London, 1932), 402-5.
u That this formula constitutes a prayer is demonstrated by its stability throughout the course of three centuries at sites scattered across the Mediterranean; it is further dem- onstrated by one stele of Roman provenance in which the Greek formula was transliterated into Roman characters; in other words, the very sounds of the formula were considered to be efficacious: IGXYV 1705 = CIL VI 20616 (Rome).
Also observed by A. Dieterich, Nekiya: Beitrdge zur Er- kldrung der neuentdeckten Petrusapokalypse 5 (Stuttgart, 1969), 95. Needless to say, early attempts at postulating similarity between 5oirj aoi 6 "Oaeipic; to \j/i>xP0V u5cop and the Christian formula, spiritum tuum dominion refrigeret, appear to have been misguided inasmuch as refrigium or refrigerare were used metaphorically to denote a state of beatitude, when the soul has been refreshed, but not necessarily purified or be- come divine. See T. D. Neroutsos, L'ancienne Alexandrie: Etude archeologique et topographique (Paris, 1888), 94; F. Cu- mont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism (London, 1911), 101-2; idem, Afterlife in Roman Paganism (New Haven, 1922), 20; Rohde, II 576, n. 152; cf., however, C. Mohrmann, "Lo- cus refrigerii," Etudes sur le latin des Chretiens II (Rome, 1961), 81-91.
42 On the origin of this cult, see, for example, C. Brad- ford Welles, "The Discovery of Sarapis and the Foundation of Alexandria," Historia 11 (1962), 271-98; P. M. Fraser, "Two Studies on the Cult of Sarapis in the Hellenistic World," Opusc. Athen. 3 (1960), 1-20; "Current Problems Concerning the Early History of the Cult of Sarapis," Opusc. Athen. 7 (1967), 25-45; and Ptolemaic Alexandria (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., Hommages a M.J. Vermaseren (Leiden, 1978), II 821-32.
4:5 On the cult of Sarapis at Delos, see Roussel (1916), 273; Fraser (1960), 21-54; and M.-F. Baslez, Recherches sur les conditions de penetration et de diffusion des religions orientales a Delos (Paris, 1977). See also T. A. Brady, "The Reception of the Egyptian Cults by the Greeks (330-30 b.c.)," University of Missouri Studies 10.1 (January 1935), 1-88; F. Dunand, "Cultes egyptiens hors d'Egypte: nouvelles voies d'approche et d'interpretation," Studia Hellenistica 27 (1983), 75-98. On the association of 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 Niedergang des romischen Welt (Berlin, 1984), II. 17.3, 1710-38.
J. E. Stambaugh, Sarapis Under the Early Ptolemies, EPRO 24 (Leiden, 1972), 45-47. Pace G. Lafaye, "Histoire du culte des divinites d'Alexandrie: Serapis, Isis, Harpocrates et Anubis hors de l'Egypte," BEFAR 33 (1884), 17-18; Roussel, CED 275.
188
TARCE XXIX (1992)
Osirian.45 In short, the ancient Egyptian rituals
originally confined to the tombs of Old King-
dom 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 sig-
nificance of a mystery cult rests on the preserva-
tion of mysteria, or "secret doctrines," imparted
only to the initiated, Apuleius is understand-
ably guarded as to the details that he reveals.
He does, however, relate that prior to induc-
tion, he was required to fast and to bathe; there-
after, 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 an-
other 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 king-
dom of Osiris. In these respects, Apuleius' ac-
count 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 over-
come obstacles and gain entry to the nether-
world. 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 cyl-
inder attached to a gold chain worn like an
amulet around the neck of the corpse.
The
original purpose of the gold leaves was to in-
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 neces-
sary 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 Ro-
man period and that potency continued to be
attributed to it.50 It reads:
Eupf]Gi<;
5' X(5ao 56ucov
tn dpiaxepa
Kpf)vr|v,
Trap 5'auxf|i >,£i)Kf]v £axr)Ki)iav KUTrdpioaov xauxri^ xf|(; Kpf)vr|(; ur)5£ a%e56v £U7i£^da£iac;. Evprpzic, 5i exspav, xfj<; Mvr)uoa6vr|(; anb Xi\xvr\c, \j/i)Kp6v u5cop Ttpopsov (puXctKec; 5' etuttogQev saaiv. Elite iv "Fife Tiaic; dui Kal Oupavou aaxepoevxcx;" aoxdp £[ioi ysvoc; oupdviov x65s 5' taxe Kal auxoi. Slvj/rji 5'dui aur) Kal an6Xk\)\iav dMid 56x' ai\|/a \|/uxpov u5cop Tcpopsov xfj<; Mvr)uoai5vr|(; anb A,iuvr)<;." Kai>x[o]i aoi 6(6oouoi nielv Qeir\c, arc [6 Kpf|]vr|(;, Kai xox £7T£ix' a [XXoiai jieBi] f]pco£aaiv dvd^£i[<;. . . . You will find to the left of the House of Hades a
spring,
and standing by its side a white cypress.
Do not approach near to this spring,
but you will find another, from the Lake of
Memory,
cold water flowing forth, and there are guardians
before it.
45 See also Morenz, 246, who suggested that Serapis did not appeal to Egyptians who continued to worship the tradi- tional Osiris-Isis-Horus triad, and Dunand (1983), 90.
45 Met. 11.23.
47 /GXIV 638: Zuntz, 355-59 ("Bl").
48 The standard edition of lamellae was edited by
G. Zuntz, Persephone: Three Essays on Religion and Thought in
Magna Graecia (Oxford, 1971). For new texts, see G. Foti and G. Pugliese Carratelli, "Un sepolchro di Hipponium e un nuovo testo orfico," Par. Pas. 29 (1974), 91-126; cf. S. Guettel Cole, "New Evidence for the Mysteries of Diony- sos," GRBS 21 (1980), 223-38; R. Merkelbach, ZPE 25 (1977), 276, and K. Tsantsanoglou and G. M. Parassoglou, "Two Gold Lamellae from Thessaly," Hellenika 38 (1987), 3- 16. On the interrelation of the texts, see R. Janko, "Forget- fulness in the Golden Tablets of Memory," CQ 34 (1984), 89-100. Cf. M. L. West, The Orphic Poems (Oxford, 1983).
49 Pace W. K. C. Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion: A Study in the Orphic Movement2 (New York, 1966), 172.
50 The Petelia lamella: IG XIV 638: Zuntz, 355-59 (B 1), with parallels from Eleutherna, Hipponium and Pharsalus: Zuntz, 360-67 and Foti and Carratelli, 91-126.
THE REFRESHING
WATER OF OSIRIS
189
Say, "I am a child of the Earth and starry Heaven;
but my race
is of Heaven (alone). This you yourselves know.
But I am parched with thirst and I perish. Give me
quickly the
cold water flowing forth from the Lake of
Memory."
And of themselves they will permit you to drink of
the holy spring,
and thereafter you will be lord among the other
heroes.
Immediately apparent is the fact that these
lamellae
impart the theme of the thirsting dead.
The dead of the lamellae,
however, seek the fresh
water of the Lake of Mnemosyne not merely to
appease their thirst but because it will permit
them to join the company of the blessed. Accord-
ingly, cool water serves an analogous purpose on
lamellae
and in our prayer. Other characteristics
of the leaves suggest Egyptian influence as well:
the didactic format of instructions likewise found
in the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and Book of the
Dead and the fact that they were buried along
with the deceased or placed on corpses in the
manner of Egyptian amulets.
During the seventh through fifth centuries
B.C., Greeks advanced commercial and cultural
contacts with Egypt by means of the Greek settle-
ments at Naukratis and trading posts along the
Nile. It is also patent from the curiosity and ad-
miration for all things Egyptian exhibited by He-
rodotus and Hecataeus of Abdera that educated
Greeks of the classical and Hellenistic age were
intrigued by Egyptian culture. Precisely because
the Egyptian traditions are older and continued
in their own right to be perpetuated down
through the Roman Principate, it is likely that
the cool water symbolism of the lamellae
and their
magical context echo Egyptian funerary beliefs
and practices, not vice versa. Moreover, ancient
testimonia on Pythagoras concur that from circa
535 to 525 B.C.,
the young philosopher resided in
Egypt, where he learned the native language, vis-
ited sanctuaries, underwent initiation into reli-
gious mysteries and learned about the sacred
rites and lore.51 Hence the "B" texts, which are
indisputably Pythagorean, reflect this philoso-
pher's debt to Egypt.52
Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans residing in
Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman eras
cherished the ancient religious beliefs which
for millennia had attached to their terra sacra.
Abroad, those who had been initiated into
the mysteries of Osiris continued to participate
in his cult. The prayer, 5otr| aoi 6 "Oaeipic;
to \j/d-
Xpov i35cop,
testifies to the transmission and dis-
semination of ancient Egyptian religious ritual
and practice by initiates into the cult of Osiris
who sought relief from the hardships of every-
day life and to triumph over their fates:
En ecce pristinis aerumnis
absolutus
Isidis
magnae
providentia
gaudens
Lucius
de sua
fortuna triumphat.
Texas A&M University
Parallels
1. Marble altar of Ammonia from the West-
ern necropolis of Alexandria, ed. Breccia, no.
332 and pl. LIV 131-131a: SB I, 3467, 5 (el-
Qabbari).
A6[ir|]ao[t "Oaipu;
| to vj/uxpov
f)5cop.
2. Pillar inscription from a tomb in the
Western necropolis of Alexandria, ed. G. Botti,
"Etudes topographiques dans la necropole de
Gabbari," BSAA 2 (1899), 50 no. 7: SBl 335 (el-
Qabbari):
[Aoir]
aot]| "Oatpu;
| to vj/uxpwv
(sic!) | i)5oop.
3. Stele of Sarapias, also from the Western
necropolis of Alexandria (mid 2nd c. a.d.), copied
by T. D. Neroutsos, Rev. Arch. 3 (1887) 199-201,
51
Isocrates, Bus. 28; Strabo 14.1.16; Plut. Mor. 354e; Diog. Laert. 8.3; Clement Alex., Strom. 1.66; Porphyry, Vita Pythag. 7-8 and 11-12; Iamblichus, Vit. Pythag. 18ff., Hesychius and Suda, s.v. nuGayopat;. See also P. Gorman, Pythagoras (Lon-
don, 1979), 43-63. On the Pythagorean tetraktys of the four interchangeable elements as a basis for a redemption ritual of the soul, see C. A. Wilson, "Philosophers, Iosis and the Water of Life," Proc. Leeds Philos. Soc. 19.5 (1984), 124 and 148. On the significance of distilling theion hudor as a re- demption ritual, idem 148-49 and passim.
2 Cf. Herod. 2.81 on Orphic and Bacchic borrowings from Pythagorean and Egyptian religious rites.
"Behold Lucius, freed from his former hardships, re- joicing in the providence of great Isis, triumphs over his
190
JARCE XXIX (1992)
no. 2: E. Bernand, ed., Inscriptions metriques de
VEgypte
greco-romaine
(Paris, 1969) no. 52 (el Mex):
goi 5s "OasipiSoc;
dyvov i)5cop | Eigic;
Xapiaauo
(May Isis bestow on you the sacred water of
Osiris.)
4. Stele of Basilissa, ed. SBl 1415 (Alexandria):
Kcd 5oi [o]oi 6 "Ooipeic; to vj/uxpov i)5[cop].
5. Stele of Isidora, ed. A. Lukaszewicz, ZPE
77 (1989) 195-96 and pl. VIb (Kom el-Dikka,
Alexandria):
5ol goi 6 "Qa[£i]|pi(; to [xj/oxpov |u5cop]
6. Stele of Heroi's, ed. Bernand, Inscriptions
metriques, no. 47: SB I 5718, 6 (Alexandria, late
empire?):
KXka koviv ooi | Koi3cpr|v
Kal 5o(r| vj/uxpov
"OaeipK;
u5cop.
(May Osiris turn you into fine dust and
offer you cool water.)
7. Stele of Taesis, ed. Breccia, Catalogue, no.
375: SB I 5037, 4 (Saqqara):
Kal Korea
yf]c; 5coK8
\j/ux|pov "Ooipic;
i)5oop.
(And in the netherworld Osiris gave the
cool water.)
8. Stele of Posis, ed. E. Breccia, "Note epi-
grafiche," BSAA 20 (1924) 276, no. 21: SB III
6941, 3 (Theadelphia):
Ei3\|/i3xi
| Tlooi 5oi | ooi co (sic!) "Oaipu; to
|\j/i)XP0V
V^t^pl-
9. Stele from Carthage, ed. Malaise, Inventaire,
311: SEGIX829.
[5oir| aoi 6 "Oai]pi(; to [yDx]p°v SScop.
10. Marble urn of Julia Politice, ed. IG XIV
1705: CIGVL 20616 (Rome):
Doe se | Osiris | to psycron | hydor.
11. Stele of Korellia Aigle, ed. IG XIV 1782
(Rome).
Ao(ir|) goi "Ooipic; | to yuxpov i)5op (sic!).
12. Stele of Olympia, ed. IGXYV 1890 (Rome):
Yuxfj 5i\|/coar|
v|/uxpov i)5cop
ji£Ta5[6](;.
(Share the cool water with a thirsting soul.)
13. Stele of Flavia Servanda alias Agrippina,
ed. IG XIV 2098 (Rome):
euij/uxi ji£T& toC 'Oo8ipi5o(;.
