2 O S I 
nufus; others Pluto ; many take him for Zeus, or Jupi¬ 
ter; and many for Pan. “ This was an unnecefl’ary em- 
barralfment, (fays Bryant;) for they were all titles of 
the fame god.” 
Though the original Ofiris was undoubtedly the fun, 
or the intelligence actuating the fun, yet there is reafon 
to believe that there was a fecondary Ofiris, who at a very 
early period reigned in Egypt, and was deified after his 
death for the benefits he had rendered to his country. 
This is indeed fo generally admitted, as to have occa- 
fioned great controverfies among the learned refpedling 
the time when he flourifiied, and whether he was the ci¬ 
vilizer of rude barbarians, or the vidlorious fovereign of a 
polilhed nation. The illuftrious Newton, it is well known, 
lias adopted the latter opinion ; and with much plausibi¬ 
lity endeavoured to prove, that Ofiris was the fame with 
Seloftris, or Sefac: but it mull be confefied, that his con¬ 
clusion is contrary to all the moll authentic records of 
antiquity; and that it would be eafy, by the Same mode 
of arguing, to give a Show of identity to two perfonsuni- 
verlally known to have flourished in very diftant ages. 
The annals of Egypt, as may be feen in the writings of 
Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Plutarch, and 
others, who copied from thofe annals, exprefsly aSTerted 
the diftindt personality of Ofiris and Sefoftris, and placed 
them in eras vaftly dillant from each other. Ofiris, if any 
credit be due to thofe hiflorians, was the founder of the 
Egyptian monarchy; and, as was cuftomary in thofe 
days, having either received the name of the fun, or 
communicated his own to that luminary, was, after his 
death, deified, for the benefits which he had rendered to his 
country; and, being at firft worshipped as a demigod, 
was, in procefs of time, advanced to full divinity, and con¬ 
founded with his heavenly godfather. 
Since the above article was compiled, we have been fa¬ 
voured with an original communication on the fame fub- 
jeft from another hand, with the drawings which appear 
on the annexed Engraving. Though it mull neceSlarily 
caufe fome repetitions, perhaps fome contradictions, yet 
we have thought it beft to prei'ent it to our readers entire 
as we received it. 
Clouds of obfcurity and doubt hang fo heavily over 
this Egyptian deity, that it is almoft impoflible to decide 
whether he was a god or a man, or whether he ever existed 
at all. Armies of ancient historians and mythographers, 
fupported by their Still more numerous auxiliaries, the 
commentators, with their lexicons and gloflaries, multcr 
very Strong; but, as they, of courfe, never agree, the en¬ 
quirers are Sadly puzzled, and the fubjedt becomes neu¬ 
tralized; that is to fay, vanishes by degrees from their 
fight, and, like the diamond placed in the burning focus 
of concentrically-refleCting mirrors, lofes all claim to 
Substantiality. To reconcile them, and bring their va¬ 
rious opinions to an indifputable thefis, would be a more 
than Herculean talk, which we do not intend to under¬ 
take ; but we Shall endeavour to place in a clear point of 
view what has been faid of Ofiris, leaving each reader at 
liberty to adopt the explanation wliich beft agrees with 
his refpeftive tafte. 
i. According to Tacitus and others, Ofiris was the 
moft ancient divinity to whom the Egyptians paid the 
public and private honours of worShip, (Tacit. Hift. lib. 
iv. c. 84.) and it appears that, by him, they understood in 
the abStraCt Omne prinripiumfacilitateliumettaiulipraditum; 
“ all principle endowed with the faculty of creating moif- 
ture.” This definition feems to blow our Skiff far from 
the land of difcovery; fince we are foon to find Ofiris 
identified with the fun. It feems that he was originally 
black, Homo niger , /u,EX«y;£fovs; and this countenances 
the opinion of thofe who, from the name of Adam, (which 
in Hebrew means dark, brown, the colour of the earth 
out of which man was made by the plaftic hand of the 
Almighty,) pretend that the firft-created human being 
was a perfeCl Negro, and that the fair complexion of the 
R I S. 
white is but an alteration from the original tint of the Skin, 
occafioned by the fun having receded from the arCtic pole, 
or having loft a great deal of its native heat. 
Ofiris was the huSband, the brother, and the fon, of 
ISis; a fort of enigma which the Egyptian priefts had 
folved, in fuppofing that Ifis was made pregnant by Ofiris 
in the womb of their mother; an allegory which probably 
alluded to the heat of the fun operating upon the earth, 
and rendering it fit for agriculture. However Typhon, 
who is an emblem of exceffive drought, killed Ofiris, the 
principle of moifture, and cut his body into feveral pieces, 
which Ills, after long fearch, fortunately found, except 
the private parts, which She caufed to be imitated and ex¬ 
posed to the veneration of the Egyptians, under the name 
of Phallus, and instituted the Pamylia, festivals in which 
was carried about this Jimulacltrum, of a Size three times 
as big as nature ; a.iS'oion r^iTrXoariov. Plut. de Ifid. and Ofir. 
We mult obferve, that ancient writers aflert that no fort 
of indecent idea was then attached to this Agalma or idol. 
In an ancient medal defcribed by Reufch, Ofiris is re- 
prefented with along robe; in allufion to which, Tibullus, 
who relates his fate in a moft elegant manner. Says, Fufa 
fed adteneros lutea palla pedes ; and this deep-yellow gown 
was adopted to reprefent the golden blaze of the fun. 
(See the annexed Plate, fig. 1.) for Ofiris was a fymbol 
of the fun, according to other authors, while Ifis was 
intended to reprefent the moon. Agreeable to this idea, 
we find him among ancient Ahraxea, under the difguife of 
afparrow-hawk, or, at leaft, with the head of this bird upon 
a human body; (fee fig. 2.) becaufe the hawk was, on'ac¬ 
count of his fleetnefs through the air, and his excellent ken, 
dedicated to the god of day. But here we are puzzled again, 
on account of the crefcent with which he is crefted; but, 
to efcape from this difficulty, commentators pretend that 
it is the calathus, or balket, a fymbol of that fecundity 
which Ofiris, as the fun, naturally caufes. Ofiris is alfo 
armed with a whip; fome lay, becaufe he wasentrufted with 
the government of departed fouls; and, confequently, 
becomes Mercury, whole duty it was to conduft droves 
of “ gibberiffi” ghofts (OdylT.) to the infernal regions ; 
others, in allufion to his being the fame as the great cha¬ 
rioteer Apollo. Horus or Orus, and Harpocrates, have 
been often fuppofed to be the fame as Ofiris. 
2. Thus far we have confidered Ofiris as an Egyptian 
god; and mythology has done her duty. But, in confi- 
dering him as a man, hiftory will not, we are afraid, affift 
us in any comfortable way. Tacitus, (Hift. v. 2.) who 
wrote a great deal of curious nonfenfe, in relating what 
was the opinion about the Jews in his time, roundly aflerts 
that they left Egypt when Ofiris and Ifis were fitting on 
the throne of that kingdom. Ofiris, therefore, mull; be 
the fame as Pharaoh. The Romans hated the Egyptians, 
Chaldeans, and Jews, as we do gypfeys and fortune¬ 
tellers; but they did alfo, as fome of our contemporaries 
do, pay thefe foothlayers, and abufe them, as a fort of in¬ 
demnification for the lofs of their money. Lucan, lib. viih 
v. 833. fays : 
Nos in templa tuam Romana accepimus Ifin, 
Semideofque canes, et Siftra jubentia ludfus, 
Et quern tu plangens hominem teftaris Ofirim. 
“ Your Ifis we received into our Roman temples, with 
your demi-gods of canine breed, and yourdoleful Siftrum, 
and Ofiris, whom, by mourning for him, you declare to 
be (not a god but) a man.” 
3. We are come now to the confideration of Ofiris as 
being neither a god nor a man; and, indeed, he appears 
to have been but an hieroglyphic fymbol of the Sun, ac¬ 
cording to Herodotus, Diodorus, and many others; whereas 
Plutarch takes him to be the image of the lunar orb. 
But this laft opinion mull be wrong, fince we find him in 
contrapofition with the Moon ; and that, moft indifputa- 
bly, in a very curious and excellent bas-relief preferved 
in the Albani Villa at Rome. Our readers will be pleafed 
with an exaft defcription of this myftical piece of anti¬ 
quity. 
