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Moreover, the Greeks are wont to consecrate
the ivy1 to Dionysus, and it is said that among the
Egyptians the name for ivy is chenosiris, the meaning
of the name being, as they say, ‘the plant of Osiris.’
Now, Ariston,2 the author of Athenian Colonization,
happened upon a letter of Alexarchus, in which it is
recorded that Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Isis,
and is called not Osiris, but Arsaphes, spelled with an
‘a,’ the name denoting virility. Hermaeus,3 too,
makes this statement in the first volume of his book
The Egyptians ; for he says that Osiris, properly interpreted, means ‘sturdy.’ I leave out of account
Mnaseas's4 annexation of Dionysus, Osiris, andSerapis
to Epaphus, as well as Anticleides'5 statement that
Isis was the daughter of Prometheus6 and was wedded
to Dionysus.7 The fact is that the peculiarities
already mentioned regarding the festival and sacrifices carry a conviction more manifest than any
testimony of authorities.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 5.
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