300 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XV. 



does indeed represent Egypt *, and always occurs 

 on the altar of Khemt ; but it is not in any way 

 connected with Osiris, and the statues mentioned 

 by Plutarch t evidently refer to the Egyptian Pan.§ 

 According toHerodotusH, the only tw^o festivals, 

 in which it was lawful to sacrifice pigs, were those 

 of the Moon and Bacchus (or Osiris) : the reason 

 of which restriction he attributes to a sacred reason, 

 which he does not think it right to mention. " In 

 sacrificing a pig to the Moon, they killed it ; and 

 when they had put together the end of the tail, 

 the spleen, and the caul, and covered them with 

 all the fat from the inside of the animal, they 

 burnt them ; the rest of the victim being eaten on 

 the day of the full Moon, which was the same on 

 which the sacrifice was offered, for on no other day 

 were they allowed to eat the flesh of the pig. Poor 

 people who had barely the means of subsistence 

 made a paste figure of a pig, which being baked, 

 they offered as a sacrifice." The same kind of sub- 

 stitute was, doubtless, made for other victims, by 

 those who could not afford to purchase them : and 

 some of the small clay figures of animals, found in 

 tlie tombs, have probably served for tliis purpose. 

 *' On tlie fete of Bacchus, every one immolated a 

 pig before the door of his liouse, at the hour of 



* Vide Plate 7fl. ; supra, p. 48.; and Vol. II. (1st Scries) p. 185, 18G. 



+ Vi(k- Plate 20. fig. 1. J Pint. s. 51. and .'56. 



$ Some phallic figures liave been fonnd, wliicb, fi'oni tlieir hcad-c'ress 

 and face oi' ^rcni wax, appear to represent Osiris. Tiiey are fiUeil with 

 grain, probably first fruits, and arc buried iu the ground near the Ne- 

 cropolis of Theiies ; but I know oC no similar figure of Osiris on the 

 monuments. 



II Ilerodot. ii. 48. 



