Egyptologist Wim Van Den Dungen, in an essay entitled "Hermes the Egyptian", admits "the direct influence of Ancient Egyptian literature on Archaic Greece has never been fully acknowledged". There are many reasons for that. Dungen, like many Professors, speaks of the "Hellenocentrism" that proclaimed the Greek World superior to any other. It is also common knowledge among Classics students that Ancient Egypt, despite praise for its accomplishments, is often overshadowed by critics favouring Greece's intellectual grandeur.
How, then, did it come to pass that the Demeter Myth should bear striking similarities to the story of Osiris and Isis? Greek scholars, traders, and mercenaries had settled in Egypt prior to Alexander's invasion and had been permitted to witness "festivals" and ceremonies throughout (Van den Dungen). Herodotus, the ancient historian, had written extensively about Egyptian customs, foreign affairs and religious beliefs for his Greek readers.
What the essay elucidates is the great intellectual drive within the Greek mind for universal truth and philosophical insight. Myth no longer stimulated the intelligentsia. Egyptian spirituality and religion lent itself as a wellspring of insight for Greek philosophers and intellectuals (Van den Dungen). Dark Age Greece "had no literature" beyond the "oral tradition". Through Egypt, they enhanced their "intellectual and technical skills"(Van den Dungen). But it was the "rich cosmogonies of Egyptian myth" and its "sapiental discourses" that proved especially insightful to the "Greek author"(Van den Dungen).
The Role of the Saviour God / Goddess Archetype
Myths, like fables, are by-products of a given "cultural environment" and are constructed with shared "motifs or themes" found "among many different"(Guerin et al. 149) oral traditions. Both the Osiris-Isis and Demeter stories are concerned with a cosmological balance that must be maintained, a balance threatened by conspiring deities (Demeter) or depraved humans and gods (Osiris). When chaos ensues, Osiris and Demeter respectively must act to save a fallen world from self-destruction.
Following Ra's departure in "Osiris and Isis", dystopia is manifold. Men had "been taught warfare, [and] battled against each other and feasted upon human flesh"(Dee 32). The land is awash in civil unrest and divine laws have been impeached. Osiris's birth is hailed by signs and portents. He is called "the Lord of all" because he will bring the "light" of justice and civilization. Osiris creates "laws", teaches people "to till the land" and "pick fruit from trees"(Dee 33).
In contrast, the Demeter myth begins in a state of tranquility. Earth is a "green and flowering land"(Hamilton 57); the paradicial homeland of Core, "maiden of the spring"(57), who picks narcissus flowers in the valleys. Demeter, "Goddess of the corn", is also an agricultural deity but has no authority over divine laws. Her control of earth is evident. The goddess’s ensuing grief over her daughter’s abduction leads her to reduce the earth to a mere "icebound and lifeless"(Hamilton 57) tundra.
The Redeemer's Character
Both Osiris and Demeter promote a positive work ethic in humanity. Osiris becomes the architect of a global community who goes forth "to bring his gifts to all others who dwelt under the light of Ra"(Dee 33). Demeter is also a loving supporter of humankind. She is "not [worshipped] like other gods by the bloody sacrifices..., but in every humble act that made the farm fruitful"(Hamilton 54). Without such guidance, humans inevitably face destruction.
The Quest and Sacrifice Motifs
The onslaught of chaos and villainy necessitates action by the heroes and heroines. In both myths, resolution demands a quest and a sacrifice to restore order. When Set and his followers murder Osiris by suffocating him in the sarcophagus, they subvert the universal balance. All Osiris's restoration is undone , civilization crumbles, and "the people [labour] beneath [Set's] tyranny"(Dee 37). Isis's attempts through magic and trickery to place her son, Horus, on the throne echo the primordial search for a paradise lost forever.
The kidnapping of Core (Persephone) by Hades with Zeus's consent means that their sinful transgression in itself requires blood atonement. Blood appeases the universe. By sacrificing a victim scapegoat, such as Persephone and Osiris, primitive society believes it purges "corruption" and achieves moral and spiritual renewal (Guerin et al. 157-158). To save humans from the "famine" Demeter wreaks, Zeus appeases her but yields to Hades. Persephone will spend "four months" in the "world of the dead"(Hamilton 62-63) and the rest of the year with Demeter.
Thematic dissimilarity in the texts determines the difference between a physical restoration and a spiritual one. Osiris can never be "restored" to "earthly existence"(Dee 44); it falls to Horus to "utterly...defeat the vile Set" and rule justly. What this implies is that the Egyptians fear a spiritual and moral vacancy more than the physical elements. Persephone must "die" to encourage physical restoration, implying early society's preoccupation with less metaphysical horrors.
The Osiris myth is only one such example of the inspirational legacy Ancient Egypt had on neighbouring oral and literary traditions.
Works Cited
Dee, Jonathan. Chronicles of Ancient Egypt. London: Propero Press, 1998.
Dungen, Van den, W. "Hermes the Egyptian: The Influence of Egyptian Thought on Thales, Anaximander, and Pythagoras", in : Webpublications of Sofia Topia, Antwerp, 2002, URL: Maat Sofia Topia - Hermes 1.
Guerin, Wilfred, et al. Eds. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1992.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York: Back Bay Books, 1998.
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