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τὰ λύχνα. For this ‘feast of lamps’ cf. Plut. I. et O. 39 βοῦν διάχρυσον (cf. 132. 1) ἱματίῳ μέλανι περιβάλλοντες ἐπὶ πένθει τῆς θεοῦ (Isis) δεικνύουσι for four days; then on the 19th of Athyr (November) the body of Osiris is found with loud shouts. Cf. Juv. viii. 29 ‘Exclamare libet populus quod clamat Osiri Invento’ (cf. Mayor's notes for references). The lights, then, are to assist the goddess in her search; the story is splendidly used by Milton in the Areopagitica, where he compares the search for Truth to the search of Isis for Osiris. Others, however, see in the ‘lights’ simply a reference to Osiris as ‘lord of the Sun’ (Bähr). Brugsch and Sourdille (R 85-7) identify the ‘feast of lights’ with another Osiris feast, that in the month Choiak, at the time of the winter solstice. Cf. Inscrip. of Denderah, R. T. E. et A. iii. 49, iv. 27 for the ‘34 boats’ and their ‘365 lights’. As the feast described by H. is clearly connected with Osiris, either of these views is more probable than that of Maspero (p. 794), that it is the Egyptian ‘All Souls Day’ (the 17th of Thoth) that is here referred to. The festivals of cc. 61 and 62, though both Osiris feasts, are probably distinct from each other. ἐμβάφιον: a ‘vessel’ full of salt steeped with oil; hence the wick burned slowly. It seems better to explain it thus than to suppose a reference to the oil of the σιλλικύπρια (c. 94), which is separated from the moisture it contains by the use of salt (cf. Plin. xv. 25 ‘sine igni et aqua sale aspersum exprimitur’). For the story of Osiris cf. Plut. I. et O. cc. 13-19 and Erman, R. p. 32 seq. (mainly from Egyptian sources). It is, briefly, as follows (the references in H. ii are inserted after each point): Osiris, the beneficent ruler and civilizer, was killed by his brother Set (Typhon). (For Osiris' πάθεα cf. c. 171.) His wife, Isis, set out to search for his body, leaving her son, Horus (Apollo), at Buto to be protected from Set (c. 156). The body of Osiris was found, but Set again obtained possession of it, and cut it into fourteen pieces, which were only rediscovered by Isis after long and patient search (cf. cc. 47, 48, 62 nn.). Wherever she found a part she erected a tomb; but the various members were reunited, and restored magically to life by the jackal god Anubis. As Osiris, however, could not rule a second time on earth, he became lord of the other world, Amenti, ‘the hidden place’ (cf. cc. 86 n., 123). His son, Horus, after a long struggle, defeated Set (iii. 5) and reigned in his stead (c. 144) Almost all these points are referred to by H., but always with reserve (cf. c. 3 n.). It is noticeable that H. thinks of Osiris as buried at Sais (c. 171), and never even mentions Abydos in Upper Egypt, which was especially considered his tomb, and where, accordingly, wealthy Egyptians had themselves buried, φιλοτιμουμένους ὁμοτάφους εἶναι τοῦ σώματος Ὀσίριδος (Plut. u. s. c. 20). For the whole Osiris myth in H. cf. Sourdille (R. c. 3, especially pp. 87-9).
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