Note 412 — TAPH, TUPH, TAPHOS.

He was at times supposed to have been a native of Troas, of Crete, of Thebes, of Arcadia, of Elis: but the whole arose from the word ταφος being, through length of time, misunderstood: for there would have been no legend about the birth of Jupiter, had there been no mistake about his funeral. It was a common notion of the Magnesians, that Jupiter was buried in their country upon Mount Sipylus. Pausanias says, that he ascended the mountain, and beheld the tomb, which was well worthy of [412]admiration. The tomb of [413]Isis in like manner was supposed to be at Memphis, and at Philæ in Upper Egypt: also at Nusa in Arabia. Osiris was said to have been buried in the same places: likewise at Taphosiris, which is thought by Procopius to have had its name, [414]because it was the place of sepulture of Osiris. The same is said of another city, which was near the mouth of the Nile, and called Taphosiris parva. But they each of them had their name from the worship, and not from the interment of the Deity. This is plain from the account given of the ταφος Οσιριδος, or high altar of Osiris, by Diodorus; from whom we learn that Busiris and Osiris were the same. [415]The Grecians, says this author, have a notion, that Busiris in Egypt used to sacrifice strangers: not that there was ever such a king as Busiris; but the ταφος, or altar, of Osiris had this name in the language of the natives. In short, Busiris was only a variation for Osiris: both were compounded of the Egyptian term [416]Sehor, and related to the God of day. Hence the altars of the same Deity were called indifferently the altars of Osiris, or Busiris, according as custom prevailed.