The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

310 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)The key to themysteries of Osirisfurnished by thelamentations of thereapers for theannual death of thecorn-spirit.[264]black the colour of Osiris. 813 The answer to this objection mustbe reserved for the present. Meantime it may be pointed out thatif Osiris is often represented on the monuments as black, he isstill more commonly depicted as green, 814 appropriately enoughfor a corn-god, who may be conceived as black while the seed isunder ground, but as green after it has sprouted. So the Greeksrecognised both a Green and a Black Demeter, 815 and sacrificedto the Green Demeter in spring with mirth and gladness. 816Thus, if I am right, the key to the mysteries of Osiris isfurnished by the melancholy cry of the Egyptian reapers, whichdown to Roman times could be heard year after year soundingacross the fields, announcing the death of the corn-spirit, therustic prototype of Osiris. Similar cries, as we have seen,were also heard on all the harvest-fields of Western Asia. Bythe ancients they are spoken of as songs; but to judge fromthe analysis of the names Linus and Maneros, they probablyconsisted only of a few words uttered in a prolonged musicalnote which could be heard for a great distance. Such sonorousand long-drawn cries, raised by a number of strong voices inconcert, must have had a striking effect, and could hardly fail toarrest the attention of any wayfarer who happened to be withinhearing. The sounds, repeated again and again, could probably bedistinguished with tolerable ease even at a distance; but to a Greektraveller in Asia or Egypt the foreign words would commonlyconvey no meaning, and he might take them, not unnaturally,for the name of some one (Maneros, Linus, Lityerses, Bormus)upon whom the reapers were calling. And if his journey ledhim through more countries than one, as Bithynia and Phrygia,or Phoenicia and Egypt, while the corn was being reaped, he813 Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 22, 30, 31, 33, 73.814 Sir J. G. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (ed.1878), iii. 81.815 Pausanias, i. 22. 3, viii. 5. 8, viii. 42. i.816 Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium, 28. See above, p. 42.