Section 2. Osiris a Tree-spirit.
BUT Osiris was more than a spirit of the corn; he was also a
tree-spirit, and this may perhaps have been his primitive
character, since the worship of trees is naturally older in the
history of religion than the worship of the cereals. The character of
Osiris as a tree-spirit was represented very graphically in a
ceremony described by Firmicus Maternus. A pine-tree having
been cut down, the centre was hollowed out, and with the wood
thus excavated an image of Osiris was made, which was then
buried like a corpse in the hollow of the tree. It is hard to imagine
how the conception of a tree as tenanted by a personal being
could be more plainly expressed. The image of Osiris thus made
was kept for a year and then burned, exactly as was done with
the image of Attis which was attached to the pine-tree. The
ceremony of cutting the tree, as described by Firmicus Maternus,
appears to be alluded to by Plutarch. It was probably the ritual
counterpart of the mythical discovery of the body of Osiris
enclosed in the erica-tree. In the hall of Osiris at Denderah the
coffin containing the hawk-headed mummy of the god is clearly
depicted as enclosed within a tree, apparently a conifer, the trunk
and branches of which are seen above and below the coffin. The
scene thus corresponds closely both to the myth and to the
ceremony described by Firmicus Maternus. 1
It accords with the character of Osiris as a tree-spirit that his
worshippers were forbidden to injure fruit-trees, and with his
character as a god of vegetation in general that they were not
allowed to stop up wells of water, which are so important for the
irrigation of hot southern lands. According to one legend, he
taught men to train the vine to poles, to prune its superfluous
foliage, and to extract the juice of the grape. In the papyrus of
Nebseni, written about 1550 B.C., Osiris is depicted sitting in a
shrine, from the roof of which hang clusters of grapes; and in the
papyrus of the royal scribe Nekht we see the god enthroned in
front of a pool, from the banks of which a luxuriant vine, with many
bunches of grapes, grows towards the green face of the seated
deity. The ivy was sacred to him, and was called his plant
because it is always green. 2
