Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 28

It is perhaps necessary, following the previous discussion, to say a few words about the names of the gods. Herodotus and Alexander son of Philip — who, in his letter to his mother, both claim to have reached Heliopolis, Memphis, and Thebes and conversed with the priests there — report that they learned from those priests that the gods were originally men. Herodotus writes that the very images of these figures already showed them to be such men, far removed from divinity. Earlier, the rulers in Egypt were regarded as gods, not existing simultaneously as human beings, and one of them always held power. Later, Horus son of Osiris — whom the Greeks call Apollo — became king after defeating Typhon and was the last king of Egypt. In Greek, Osiris is Dionysus. From these Egyptian rulers the names of the gods passed to the Greeks. Herodotus himself says Apollo is the son of Dionysus and Isis, and that Apollo and Artemis are the children of Dionysus and Isis, with Leto serving as their nurse and savior. Having become heavenly, these figures were the first kings; they were considered gods partly through ignorance of true reverence for the divine, and partly through the prestige of their rule, together with their wives. All Egyptians sacrifice clean bulls and male calves, but they are not permitted to sacrifice females, for these are sacred to Isis, whose image is a woman with a cow’s head, just as the Greeks depict Io. Who would be more credible in reporting these things than those who have received the tradition by descent, son from father, as they have inherited both the priesthood and the history? It is not plausible that the makers of sacred images would falsely claim that these figures were men. If Herodotus spoke of the gods as men, he also says he is unwilling to recount the divine stories he heard except for their bare names, so as not to be thought a myth-maker. But since Alexander and Hermes Trismegistus, along with countless others, have claimed an eternal lineage for these figures, there is no longer any argument that they were kings and not considered gods. The fact that they were men is also shown by the wisest Egyptians, who call air, earth, sun, and moon gods, but regard all other men as mortal and consider the tombs of these rulers sacred; Apollodorus confirms this in his work On the Gods. Herodotus further says their sufferings are mysteries. In the city of Busiris, when they celebrate the festival of Isis, I have mentioned before that all the people — many thousands of them — beat themselves after the sacrifice; the manner of their beating is not right for me to describe. If they are gods and immortal, yet they are beaten and their sufferings are mysteries, then they are men, as Herodotus himself says. There are also the tombs, which I do not think it right to name in such a matter: in Sais, in the temple of Athena, behind the shrine, adjoining the wall of Athena’s temple. A lake lies there, encircled by a stone embankment, its size, as it seems to me, like the circular lake in Delos. On this lake the Egyptians enact the representations of his sufferings at night, calling them mysteries. Not only is the tomb of Osiris shown, but also his embalmed body. When a corpse is brought to them, they show the bearers wooden effigies of the dead, painted to resemble the real thing; and they say the most honored among them is the one whose name I do not think it right to mention in such a matter.