CHAP. Xiri. ISIS THE DOG-STAR. 87I 



the allegory of the rising of the Nile, where she is 

 the land of Egypt irrigated by the waters of the 

 inundation. With the same spirit, and in con- 

 tinuation of her fabulous history, it was said that 

 her soul was transferred after death to Sirius or 

 the Dog-star, " which the Egyptians call Sothis."* 

 That she had the name of Isis-Sothis, and was sup- 

 posed to represent Sirius, is perfectly true, as the 

 sculptures themselves abundantly prove t ; and the 

 heliacal rising of that star is represented on the ceil- 

 ing of the Memnonium at Thebes, under the form 

 and name of tliis Goddess. It was not, however, 

 in consequence of a belief entertained in Egypt, — 

 at least, by the initiated, — that the soul of Isis had 

 been transferred to the Do^-star : this was looked 

 upon in the same light as the connection between 

 the God Thoth and the Moon, who in one of his 

 characters answered to the Lunus of the Egyptians ; 

 and in another corresponded to Mercury. In 

 like manner, Isis and other Deities assumed on dif- 

 ferent occasions various characters ; and Sothis, the 

 Dog-star, was one of those assigned to the sister 

 of Osiris. This adaptation of Isis, and other Dei- 

 ties, to the planetary system, led to the remark of 

 Eusebius t, "that the Egyptians esteem the Sun 

 to be the Demiurgus ; and hold the legends about 

 Osiris and Isis, and all their other mythological 

 fables, to have reference to the Stars, their appear- 

 ances and occultations, and tlie periods of their 



* Plut. de Is. ss. 21. and 61. 



f Vide Plate 3-i. Hierog. No. 5. 



j Euseb. Pr. Evan. iii. c. 4. Vide supra, p. 291. 



B B 2 



