Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 12

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[12] Here follows the story related in the briefest possible words with the omission of everything that is merely unprofitable or superfluous:

They say that the Sun, when lie became aware of Rhea’s intercourse with Cronus,¹ invoked a curse upon her that she should not give birth to a child in any month or any year; but Hermes, being enamoured of the goddess, consorted with her. Later, playing at draughts with the moon, he won from her the seventieth part of each of her periods of illumination,² and from all the winnings he composed five days, and intercalated them as an addition to the three hundred and sixty days. The Egyptians even now call these five days intercalated³ and celebrate them as the birthdays of the gods. They relate that on the first of these days Osiris was born, and at the hour of his birth a voice issued forth saying, The Lord of All advances to the light. But some relate that a certain Pamyles,⁴ while he was drawing water in Thebes, heard a voice issuing from the shrine of Zeus, which bade him proclaim with a loud voice that a mighty and beneficent king, Osiris, had been born; and for this Cronus entrusted to him the child Osiris, which he brought up. It is in his honour that the festival of Pamylia is celebrated, a festival which resembles the phallic processions. On the second of these days Ar ueris was born whom they call Apollo, and some call him also the elder Horus. On the third day Typhon was born, but not in due season or manner, but with a blow he broke through his mother s side and leapt forth. On the fourth day Isis was born in the regions that are ever moist⁵; and on the fifth Nephthys, to whom they give the name of Finality⁶ and the name of Aphroditê, and some also the name of Victory. There is also a tradition that Osiris and Arueris were sprung from the Sun, Isis from Hermes,⁷ and Typhon and Nephthys from Cronus. For this reason the kings considered the third of the intercalated days as inauspicious, and transacted no business on that day, nor did they give any attention to their bodies until nightfall. They relate, moreover, that Nephthys became the wife of Typhon⁸; but Isis and Osiris were enamoured of each other⁹ and consorted together in the darkness of the womb before their birth. Some say that Arueris came from this union and was called the elder Horus by the Egyptians, but Apollo by the Greeks.

De Iside et Osiride. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Current edition Perseus

Isis and Osiris (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. V. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ Ἴσιδος και Ὀσίριδος Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 12 focus

[12] λέγεται δʼ ὁ μῦθος οὗτος¹ ἐν βραχυτάτοις 25 ὡς ἔνεστι μάλιστα, τῶν ἀχρήστων σφόδρα καὶ περιττῶν ἀφαιρεθέντων. τῆς Ῥέας φασὶ κρύφα τῷ Κρόνῳ συγγενομένης, αἰσθόμενον ἐπαράσασθαι τὸν Ἥλιον αὐτῇ μήτε μηνὶ μήτʼ ἐνιαυτῷ τεκεῖν ἐρῶντα δὲ τὸν Ἑρμῆν τῆς θεοῦ συνελθεῖν, εἶτα παίξαντα πέττια πρὸς τὴν Σελήνην καὶ ἀφελόντα τῶν φώτων ἑκάστου 5 τὸ ἑβδομηκοστόν,² ἐκ πάντων ἡμέρας πέντε συνελεῖν³ 355e καὶ ταῖς ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίαις ἐπαγαγεῖν,⁴ ἃς νῦν ἐπαγομένας Αἰγύπτιοι καλοῦσι καὶ τῶν θεῶν γενεθλίους ἄγουσι. τῇ μὲν πρώτῃ τὸν Ὄσιριν γενέσθαι, καὶ φωνὴν αὐτῷ τεχθέντι συνεκπεσεῖν, ὡς ὁ πάντων⁵ 10 κύριος εἰς φῶς πρόεισιν. ἔνιοι δὲ Παμύλην τινὰ λέγουσιν ἐν Θήβαις ὑδρευόμενον⁶ ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τοῦ Διὸς φωνὴν ἀκοῦσαι διακελευομένην ἀνειπεῖν μετὰ βοῆς, ὅτι μέγας βασιλεὺς εὐεργέτης Ὄσιρις γέγονε· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θρέψαι τὸν Ὄσιριν, ἐγχειρίσαντος⁷ 15 αὐτῷ τοῦ Κρόνου, καὶ τὴν τῶν Παμυλίων⁸ ἑορτὴν αὐτῷ τελεῖσθαι, Φαλληφορίοις ἐοικυῖαν. τῇ δὲ δευτέρᾳ 355f τὸν Ἀρούηριν, ὃν Ἀπόλλωνα, ὃν καὶ⁹ πρεσβύτερον Ὧρον ἔνιοι καλοῦσι· τῇ τρίτῃ δὲ Τυφῶνα μὴ καιρῷ μηδὲ κατὰ χώραν, ἀλλʼ ἀναρρήξαντα πληγῇ 20 διὰ τῆς πλευρᾶς ἐξαλέσθαι·¹⁰ τετάρτῃ δὲ τὴν Ἶσιν ἐν πανύγροις¹¹ γενέσθαι· τῇ δὲ πέμπτῃ Νέφθυν, ἣν καὶ Τελευτὴν καὶ Ἀφροδίτην, ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ Νίκην ὀνομάζουσιν. εἶναι δὲ τὸν μὲν Ὄσιριν ἐξ Ἡλίου καὶ τὸν Ἀρούηριν, ἐκ δὲ Ἑρμοῦ τὴν Ἶσιν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Κρόνου τὸν Τυφῶνα καὶ τὴν Νέφθυν, διὸ καὶ τὴν 356a τρίτην¹² τῶν ἐπαγομένων ἀποφράδα νομίζοντες οἱ βασιλεῖς οὐκ ἐχρημάτιζον οὐδʼ ἐθεράπευον αὑτοὺς 5 μέχρι νυκτός. γήμασθαι¹³ δὲ τῷ Τυφῶνι τὴν Νέφθυν. Ἶσιν δὲ καὶ Ὄσιριν ἐρῶντας ἀλλήλων καὶ πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι κατὰ γαστρὸς ὑπὸ σκότῳ συνεῖναι. ἔνιοι δέ φασι καὶ τὸν Ἀούηριν οὕτω γεγονέναι καὶ καλεῖσθαι πρεσβύτερον Ὧρον ὑπʼ Αἰγυπτίων, Ἀπόλλωνα 10 δʼ ὑφʼ Ἑλλήνων.¹⁴

Translations (1)

Of Isis and Osiris, or of the Ancient Religion and Philosophy of Egypt. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. IV. Goodwin, William W., editor; Baxter, William, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 12 focus

[12] The story is thus told after the most concise manner, the most useless and unnecessary parts being cut off. They tell us how that once on a time, Rhea having accompanied with Saturn by stealth, the Sun found them out, and pronounced a solemn curse against her, containing that she should not be delivered in any month or year; but that Hermes, afterwards making his court to the goddess, obtained her favor, in requital of which he went and played at dice with the Moon, and won of her the seventieth part from each day, and out of all these made five new days, which he added to the three hundred and sixty other days of the year; and these the Egyptians therefore to this day call the Epagomenae (or the superadded days), and they observe them as the birthdays of their Gods. Upon the first of these, as they say, Osiris was born, and a voice came into the world with him, saying, The Lord of all things is now born. There are others that affirm that one Pamyles, as he was fetching water at Thebes, heard a voice out of the temple of Jupiter, bidding him to publish with a loud voice that Osiris, the great and good king, was now born; and that he thereupon got to be foster-father to Osiris, Saturn entrusting him with the charge of him, and that the feast called Pamylia (resembling the Priapeian procession which the Greeks call Phallephoria) was instituted in honor of him. Upon the second day Arueris was born, whom some call Apollo, and others the elder Horus. Upon the third Typhon was born, who came not into the world either in due time or by the right way, but broke a hole in his mother’s side, and leaped out at the wound. Upon the fourth Isis was born in Panygra. And upon the fifth Nephthys, whom they sometimes call the end, and sometimes Venus, and sometimes also Victory. Of these they say Osiris and Arueris were begot by the Sun, Isis by Hermes, and Typhon and Nephthys by Saturn. For which reason their kings, looking upon the third of the Epagomenae as an inauspicious day, did no business upon it, nor took any care of their bodies until the evening. They say also that Nephthys was married unto Typhon, and that Isis and Osiris were in love with one another before they were born, and enjoyed each other in the dark before they came into the world. Some add also that Arueris was thus begotten, and that he was called by the Egyptians the elder Horus, and by the Greeks Apollo.

Notes on the current edition

Isis and Osiris

1. Cf. Moralia, 429 f; Diodorus, i. 13. 4; Eusebius, Praeparatio Evang. ii. 1. 1-32.

2. Plutarch evidently does not reckon the ἕνη καὶ νέα (the day when the old moon changed to the new) as a period of illumination, since the light given by the moon at that time is practically negligible. An intimation of this is given in his Life of Solon, chap. xxv. (92 c). Cf. also Plato, Cratylus, 409 b, and the scholium on Aristophanes’ Clouds, 1186. One seventieth of 12 lunar months of 29 days each (348 days) is very nearly five days.

3. Cf. Herodotus, ii. 4.

4. What is known about Pamyles (or Paamyles or Pammyles), a Priapean god of the Egyptians, may be found in Kock, Com. Att. Frag. ii. p. 289. Cf. also 365 b, infra.

5. The meaning is doubtful, but Isis as the goddess of vegetation, of the Nile, and of the sea, might very naturally be associated with moisture.

6. Cf. 366 b and 375 b, infra.

7. Cf. 352 a, supra.

8. Cf. 375 b, infra.

9. Cf. 373 b, infra.

Plutarch De Iside et Osiride 12

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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