EGYPT — NEWBERRY 451 



zontally spreading branches. These are the cedar {Gedrus libani), 

 the Cilician fir, the Pinus laHcio, and the horizontal-branched 

 cypress {Cupressus sempervirens var. horizontales) . Much mis- 

 conception at present exists with regard to the Lebanon cedar, be- 

 cause the name "cedar" is applied to a large number of woods 

 which are quite distinct from it, and the wood which we generally 

 call cedar (e. g., the cedar of our " cedar " pencils) is not true cedar 

 at all, but Virginian juniper. The wood of Gedrus libani is light 

 and spongy, of a reddish-white color, very apt to shrink and warp 

 badly, by no means durable, and in no sense is it valuable. Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, who visited the Lebanon in 1860, notes that the 

 lower slopes of that mountain region bordering the sea were covered 

 with magnificient forests of pine, juniper, and cypress, "so that 

 there was little inducement for the timber hewers of ancient times 

 to ascend 6,000 feet through 20 miles of a rocky mountain valley 

 to obtain cedar wood which had no particular quality to recom- 

 mend it. The cypress, pine, and tall, fragrant juniper of the 

 Lebanon, with its fine red heartwood, would have been far more 

 prized on every account than the cedar." The s<5?-tree was, I believe, 

 the horizontal-branched cypress which is common in the wild state. 

 In the Middle Ages this tree was believed to be the male tree, while 

 the tapering conical-shaped cypress was considered to be the female. 

 This is an interesting fact, because there is some evidence to show 

 that the tapering variety was the symbol of Hathor-Isis, while the 

 horizontal-branched one was the symbol of Osiris. 



In the Pyramid Age there are several records of the priests of the 

 Ded column. They were called "priests of the venerable Ded 

 column." The seat of the cult was Dedu, or, as it was sometimes 

 called, Pr-Wsr, "the House of Osiris," the Greek Busiris in the 

 Central Delta. At this city was celebrated annually a great festival 

 in honor of Osiris. It lasted many days, and the culmination of 

 a long series of ceremonies was the raising of the Ded column into 

 an erect position. Osiris is intimately connected with this column; 

 the Egyptians called it his backbone. In the myth of Osiris, as 

 recorded by Plutarch, a pillar played an important part. Plutarch 

 says that the coffer containing the body of Osiris was washed up 

 by the sea at Byblos, the port of the Lebanon, and that a tree grew 

 up and concealed the coffin within itself. This sacred tree was cut 

 down by Isis and j)resented to the people of Byblos wrapped in a 

 linen cloth, and anointed with myrrh like a corpse. It therefore 

 represented the dead god, and this dead god was Osiris. 



Not far from Dedu, the city of Osiris in the Delta, was Hebyt, the 

 modern Behbeyt el Hagar. Its sacred name was Neter. The 

 Romans called it Iseum, or Isidis oppidum. It was the ancient seat 

 of Isis worship in Egypt, and the ruins of its temple to that goddess 



