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They say that the sun and moon do not use chariots, but boats1 in which to sail round in their courses ; and by this they intimate that the nourishment and origin of these heavenly bodies is from moisture. They think also that Homer,2 like Thales, had gained his knowledge from the Egyptians, when he postulated water as the source and origin of all things; for, according to them, Oceanus is Osiris, and Tethys is Isis, since she is the kindly nurse and provider for all things. In fact, the Greeks call emission apousia 3 and coition synousia, and the son (hyios) from water (hydor) and rain (hysai) ; Dionysus also they call Hyes4 since he is lord of the nature of moisture ; and he is no other than Osiris.5 In fact, Hellanicus seems [p. 85] to have heard Osiris pronounced Hysiris by the priests, for he regularly spells the name in this way, deriving it, in all probability, from the nature of Osiris and the ceremony of finding him.6

1 Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, v. 41. 2 (p. 566 Potter); Eusebius, Praepar. Evang. iii. 11. 48.

2 Il. xiv. 201.

3 Cf. Artemidorus, Oneirocritica, i. 78.

4 Cf. the name Hyades of the constellation.

5 Cf. 356 b, 362 b, supra, and 365 a, infra.

6 See 366 f, infra.

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