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132.

As for the cow, it is covered with a purple robe, only the head and neck exposed, encrusted with a very thick layer of gold. Between the horns is the golden figure of the sun's orb. [2] It does not stand, but kneels; it is as big as a live cow of great size. This image is carried out of the chamber once every year, whenever the Egyptians mourn the god whose name I omit in speaking of these matters: [3] then the cow is brought out into the light; for they say that before she died she asked her father, Mycerinus, that she see the sun once a year1.

1 The cow-worship is no doubt the cult of Isis, honored at Saïs under the name Nit.

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  • Commentary references to this page (1):
    • Walter Leaf, Commentary on the Iliad (1900), 24.710
  • Cross-references to this page (1):
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.1
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