TRANSFORMATION 167 



are the subject of a similar legend among the Aztecs 

 or Pipiles of Central America. 1 A scene portrayed on 

 the walls of a chamber in the great temple of Isis at 

 Phite represents the dead body of Osiris with stalks 

 of corn springing from it while a priest waters the 

 stalks from a pitcher in his hand. This representation 

 suggests that the sacred legend of Osiris was much to 

 the same effect. It was probably only one of several 

 such myths, for a manuscript in the Louvre refers to 

 the cedar as sprung from him ; his soul is elsewhere 

 represented as inhabiting the tamarisk ; he is spoken of 

 as " the solitary one in the acaciaj" ; on the monuments 

 he sometimes appears as a mummy covered with a tree 

 or with plants, and trees are represented as growing 

 from his grave. 2 



In classical legends we meet everywhere cases of 

 transformation, either before or after death, of men and 

 women into trees or plants or into some of the lower 

 animals. Indeed, Ovid's poetical compendium of 

 mythical history derives its name and substance 

 from the number and variety of these cases. One of 

 the most famous is that of Attis, whose worship, 

 together with that of Cybele, the Mother of the Gods, 

 was introduced from Phrygia to Rome in the year B.C. 

 204. We have already seen that the god's birth was 

 caused by pomegranate -fruit which his mother laid in 

 her bosom,. He. died, according to one account, by the 

 attack of a boar ; according to another, by loss of 

 blood from self-mutilation in an access of frenzy. In 



1 C. V. Hartman, Journ. Am. F. L. xx. 144. 



2 Frazer, Adonis. 323, 342, citing and discussing several 

 authorities. The adventures of Osiris as Bata have already been 

 referred to, supra t p. 14. 



