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Eudoxus says that, while many tombs of Osiris
are spoken of in Egypt, his body lies in Busiris; for
this was the place of his birth; moreover, Taphosiris1
requires no comment, for the name itself means ‘the
tomb of Osiris.’ I pass over the cutting of wood,2 the
rending of linen, and the libations that are offered,
for the reason that many of their secret rites are
involved therein. In regard not only to these gods,
but in regard to the other gods, save only those
whose existence had no beginning and shall have no
end, the priests say that their bodies, after they have
done with their labours, have been placed in the
keeping of the priests and are cherished there, but
that their souls shine as the stars in the firmament,
and the soul of Isis is called by the Greeks the Dog-star, but by the Egyptians Sothis,3 and the soul of
Horus is called Orion, and the soul of Typhon the
Bear. Also they say that all the other Egyptians pay
the agreed assessment for the entombment of the
[p. 55]
animals held in honour,4 but that the inhabitants of
the Theban territory only do not contribute because
they believe in no mortal god, but only in the god
whom they call Kneph, whose existence had no
beginning and shall have no end.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 5.
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