Plutarch De Iside et Osiride 37

[37] Moreover, the Greeks are wont to consecrate the ivy ¹ to Dionysus, and it is said that among the Egyptians the name for ivy is chenosiris, the meaning of the name being, as they say, the plant of Osiris. Now, Ariston, ² the author of Athenian Colonization, happened upon a letter of Alexarchus, in which it is recorded that Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Isis, and is called not Osiris, but Arsaphes, spelled with an a, the name denoting virility. Hermaeus, ³ too, makes this statement in the first volume of his book The Egyptians; for he says that Osiris, properly interpreted, means sturdy. I leave out of account Mnaseas’s ⁴ annexation of Dionysus, Osiris, andSerapis to Epaphus, as well as Anticleides’ ⁵ statement that Isis was the daughter of Prometheus ⁶ and was wedded to Dionysus. ⁷ The fact is that the peculiarities already mentioned regarding the festival and sacrifices carry a conviction more manifest than any testimony of authorities.

[37] Moreover, the ivy, which the Greeks use to consecrate to Bacchus, is called by the Egyptians chenosiris, which word (as they tell us) signifies in their language Osiris’s tree. Ariston therefore, who wrote of the colony of the Athenians, lighted upon a certain epistle of Alexarchus, in which it is related that Bacchus, the son of Jupiter and Isis, is not called Osiris by the Egyptians, but Arsaphes, which denotes valiant. This is hinted at by Hermaeus also, in his first book about the Egyptians; for he saith, the name of Osiris is to be interpreted stout. I shall now pass by Mnaseas, who joins Bacchus, Osiris, and Serapis together, and makes them the same with Epaphus. I shall also omit Anticlides, who saith that Isis was the daughter of Prometheus, and that she was married to Bacchus. For the fore-mentioned proprieties of their festivals and sacrifices afford us a much more clear evidence than the authorities of writers.