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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §1.20.1-1.20.6

Osiris's European Campaign and His Deification

Passage 21 of 406 · Greek

Summary

The narrative details the continuation of Osiris's campaign from Asia into Europe, his appointment of rulers and agricultural administrators, and his subsequent return to Egypt, where he is deified and his cult is established by Isis and Hermes.

§1.20.1γενέσθαι δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἐλεφάντων θήραν, καὶ στήλας πανταχοῦ καταλιπεῖν τῆς ἰδίας στρατείας.
And they say that he also engaged in the hunting of elephants, and left behind pillars of his own campaign everywhere.
ἐπελθεῖν δὲ καὶ τἄλλα τὰ κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ἔθνη, καὶ περαιωθῆναι κατὰ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην.
He also traversed the other nations of Asia, and crossed over into Europe at the Hellespont.
§1.20.2καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν Θρᾴκην Λυκοῦργον τὸν βασιλέα τῶν βαρβάρων ἐναντιούμενον τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πραττομένοις ἀποκτεῖναι, Μάρωνα δὲ γηραιὸν ἤδη καθεστῶτα καταλιπεῖν ἐπιμελητὴν τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ χώρᾳ φυτευομένων, καὶ κτίστην αὐτὸν ποιῆσαι τῆς ἐπωνύμου πόλεως, ἣν ὀνομάσαι Μαρώνειαν.
And in Thrace, he killed Lycurgus, the king of the barbarians, who opposed his undertakings; but Maron, who was already old, he left behind as superintendent of the plants cultivated in this land, and made him the founder of the city named after him, which he called Maroneia.
§1.20.3καὶ Μακεδόνα μὲν τὸν υἱὸν ἀπολιπεῖν βασιλέα τῆς ἀπʼ ἐκείνου προσαγορευθείσης Μακεδονίας, Τριπτολέμῳ δʼ ἐπιτρέψαι τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀττικὴν γεωργίας.
He also left his son Macedon as king of Macedonia, which was named after him, and entrusted the agriculture of Attica to Triptolemus.
τέλος δὲ τὸν Ὄσιριν πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπελθόντα τὸν κοινὸν βίον τοῖς ἡμερωτάτοις καρποῖς εὐεργετῆσαι.
Finally, Osiris, having traversed the whole inhabited world, benefited the common life of mankind with the most cultivated crops.
§1.20.4εἰ δέ τις χώρα τὸ φυτὸν τῆς ἀμπέλου μὴ προσδέχοιτο, διδάξαι τὸ ἐκ τῆς κριθῆς κατασκευαζόμενον πόμα, λειπόμενον οὐ πολὺ τῆς περὶ τὸν οἶνον εὐωδίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως.
And if any land did not admit the cultivation of the vine, he taught them the drink prepared from barley, which was not much inferior to wine in its fragrance and strength.
§1.20.5ἐπανελθόντα δʼ εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον συναποκομίσαι δῶρά τε πανταχόθεν τὰ κράτιστα καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν συμπεφωνημένην λαβεῖν παρὰ πᾶσι τὴν ἀθανασίαν καὶ τὴν ἴσην τοῖς οὐρανίοις τιμήν.
Upon returning to Egypt, he brought back with him the best gifts from all quarters, and because of the magnitude of his benefactions, he received by universal consent immortality and honor equal to that of the heavenly gods.
§1.20.6μετὰ δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων εἰς θεοὺς μεταστάντα τυχεῖν ὑπὸ Ἴσιδος καὶ Ἑρμοῦ θυσιῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων τιμῶν.
After this, having departed from among men to the gods, he received from Isis and Hermes sacrifices and the other most distinguished honors.
τούτους δὲ καὶ τελετὰς καταδεῖξαι καὶ πολλὰ μυστικῶς εἰσηγήσασθαι, μεγαλύνοντας τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν δύναμιν.
And these two also instituted initiatory rites and introduced many things mystically, magnifying the power of the god.

Notes

  1. 1.20.1γενέσθαι — An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect discourse continuing from 1.19 (governed by a reporting verb like φασί). The subject accusative is omitted but understood as Osiris (τὸν Ὄσιριν) from the context.
  2. 1.20.2ἐναντιούμενον — Present participle modifying Lycurgus (Λυκοῦργον), which governs the dative τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ πραττομένοις ('the things being done by him', i.e., Osiris).
  3. 1.20.4εἰ δέ τις χώρα τὸ φυτὸν τῆς ἀμπέλου μὴ προσδέχοιτο, διδάξαι — A conditional sentence in indirect discourse; the protasis uses the optative προσδέχοιτο (representing either a past general condition or a future less vivid condition shifted into indirect speech), and the apodosis is the infinitive διδάξαι.
  4. 1.20.6τούτους δὲ — The demonstrative pronoun τούτους refers back to Isis and Hermes (Ἴσιδος καὶ Ἑρμοῦ) and serves as the subject accusative of the infinitives καταδεῖξαι and εἰσηγήσασθαι.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §1.20.1-1.20.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc5:1.20.1-1.20.6

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