CHAP. XIII. FORM OF OSIRIS. 341 



and when Judge of Amenti, he has the form of a 

 mLimmied figure, holding in his crossed hands the 

 crook and flagellum. He is clad in pure white, and 

 wears on his head the cap of Upper Egypt decked 

 with ostrich feathers ; which head-dress, if not ex- 

 clusively, at least peculiarly, belongs to this Deity.* 

 In the sculptures, a spotted skin is sometimes sus- 

 pended near him, —an emblem supposed to connect 

 him with the Greek Bacchus t; and occasionally 

 assuming the character of " stability," he appears 

 with his head and even face covered with the four- 

 barred symbol t, wliich in hieroglyphics has that 

 signification, and wliich may also refer to the in- 

 tellect of the Deity. 



In former times, the four-barred symbol of sta- 

 bility was mistaken for a " Nilometer," as the sign 

 of life (or crux ansata) was compelled to submit 

 to the unintelligible name of " Key of the Nile. 

 80 far, however, is the latter from any connec- 

 tion with the river, that it is less frequently seen 

 in the hand of the God Nilus than any Deity of the 

 Egyptian Pantheon ; and the former never occurs 

 among the numerous emblems or offerings he bears. 

 It is represented as a sort of stand or support in 

 workmen's shops, where, for the sake of the goods 

 they wished to sell, we may charitably ho])e it 

 required no graduated Nilometer to measure the 

 height of the intrusive inundation. 



* Vide Plate 33. fig. 3. 



-f- Vide Dioclor. i. 1 1 . The skin is usually representee! without the 

 liead ; but some instances where this is introduceil siiow it to be the 

 leopard or panther ; which, as well as the nebris, belonged to Bacchus. 



X Vide Plate 33. fig. 5.; and .snprd, p. •^.■)3. 



z 3 



