Page:Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, Vol. 32--Legends of the Gods.pdf/122

 times during the long history of Egypt, and that a thousand years before he lived the Egyptians them­selves had forgotten what the original form of the legend was. They preserved a number of ceremonies, and performed very carefully all the details of an ancient ritual at the annual commemoration festival of Osiris which was held in November and December, but the evidence of the texts makes it quite clear that the meaning and symbolism of nearly all the details were unknown alike to priests and people.

An important modification of the cult of Isis and Osiris, took place in the third century before Christ, when the Ptolemies began to consolidate their rule in Egypt. A form of religion which would be acceptable both to Egyptians and Greeks had to be provided, and this was produced by modifying the characteristics of Osiris and calling him Sarapis, and identifying him with the Greek Pluto. To Isis were added many of the attributes of the great Greek goddesses, and into her worship were introduced “mysteries” derived from non-Egyptian cults, which made it acceptable to the people everywhere. Had a high priest of Osiris who lived at Abydos under the XVIIIth Dynasty witnessed the celebration of the great festival of Isis and Osiris in any large town in the first century before Christ, it is tolerably certain that he would have regarded it as a lengthy act of worship of strange gods, in which there appeared, here and there, ceremonies and phrases which reminded him of the ancient Abydos ritual. When the f