CHAP. XV. FESTIVALS OF THE SUN. 315 



Small tablets in the tombs sometimes represent 

 a black bull, bearing the corpse of a man to its 

 final abode in the regions of the dead. The name 

 of this bull is shown by the sculptures in the Oasis 

 to be Apis, the type oF Osiris ; it is therefore not 

 unreasonable to suppose it in some way related to 

 this fable.* 



There were several festivals in honour of the 

 Sun. Plutarch t states that a sacrifice was per- 

 formed to it on the fourth day of every month, 

 as related in the books of the genealogy of Horus, 

 by whom that custom was said to have been in- 

 stituted. So great was the veneration paid to 

 this luminary, that, in order to propitiate it, they 

 burnt incense three times a day — resin at its first 

 rising, myrrh when in the meridian, and a mix- 

 ture called Kuphi at the time of setting. The 

 principal worship of Re was at Heliopolis and 

 other cities, of which he was the presiding Deity ; 

 and every city had its holy days peculiarly conse- 

 crated to its patron, as well as those common to 

 the whole country. Another festival in honour of 

 the Sun was held on the 30th day of Epiphi, called 

 the birth-day of Horus's eyest, when the Sun and 

 Moon were supposed to be in the same right line 

 with the earth ; and "on the 22d day of Phaophi, 

 after the autumnal equinox, was a similar one, to 

 which, according to Plutarch, they gave the name 

 of 'the nativity of the staves of the Sun:' intimating 



* Vide siqyra, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 35!). 



■\ Plut. s. 52. and 80. 



i Plut. s. 52. ; and siqvd. Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 400. 



