Busiris
- I Masc., a king of Egypt, who sacrificed strangers, and was himself slain by Hercules, Cic. Rep. 3, 9, 15; Verg. G. 3, 5; Mythogr. Lat. 1, 65; 2, 157; Ov. Tr. 3, 11, 39; Macr. S. 3, 5, 9.—
- II Fem., a considerable town in Lower Egypt, with a temple of Isis, now Abousir, Plin. 5, 10, 11, § 64.—
- B A village near the Great Pyramid, Plin. 36, 12, 16, § 76.
(Βούσιρις), according to Apollodorus (2.1.5), a son of Aegyptus, who was killed by the Danaid Automate; but according to Diodorus (1.17), he was the governor whom Osiris, on setting out on his expedition through the world, appointed over the north eastern portion of Egypt, which bordered on the sea and Phoenicia. In another place (1.45) he speaks of Busiris as an Egyptian king, who followed after the 52 successors of Menas, and states that Busiris was succeeded by eight kings, who descended from him, and the last of whom likewise bore the name of Busiris. This last Busiris is described as the founder of the city of Zeus, which the Greeks called Thebes. Apollodorus, too (2.5.11), mentions an Egyptian king Busiris, and calls him a son of Poseidon and Lysianassa, the daughter of Epaphus. Concerning this Busiris the following remarkable story is told :--Egypt had been visited for nine years by uninterrupted scarcity, and at last there came a soothsayer from Cyprus of the name of Phrasius, who declared, that the scarcity would cease if the Egyptians would sacrifice a foreigner to Zeus every year. Busiris made the beginning with the prophet himself, and afterwards sacrificed all the foreigners that entered Egypt. Heracles on his arrival in Egypt was likewise seized and led to the altar, but he broke his chains and slew Busiris, together with his son Amphidamas or Iphidamas, and his herald Chalbes. (Apollod. l.c.; Schol. ad Apollon. 4.1396; comp. Hdt. 2.45; Gel. 2.6; Macr. 6.7; Hyg. Fab. 31.) This story gave rise to various disputes in later times, when a friendly intercourse between Greece and Egypt was established, both nations being anxious to do away with the stigma it attached to the Egyptians. Herodotus (l.c.) expressly denies that the Egyptians ever offered human sacrifices, and Isocrates (Bus. 15) endeavours to upset the story by shewing, that Heracles must have lived at a much later time than Busiris. Others again said, that it was a tale invented to shew up the inhospitable character of the inhabitants of the town of Busiris, and that there never was a king of that name. (Strab. xvii. p.802.) Diodorus (1.88) relates on the authority of the Egyptians themselves that Busiris was not the name of a king, but signified the tomb of Osiris, and that in ancient times the kings used to sacrifice at this grave men of red colour (the colour of Typhon), who were for the most part foreigners. Another story gives a Greek origin to the name Busiris, by saying that when Isis had collected the limbs of Osiris, who had been killed by Typhon, she put them together in a wooden cow (βοῦς), whence the name of the town of Busiris was derived (Diod. 1.85), which contained the principal sanctuary of Isis. (Hdt. 2.59.) If we may judge from the analogy of other cases, the name of the town of Busiris was not derived from a king of that name; and indeed the dynasties of Manethon do not mention a king Busiris, so that the whole story may be a mere invention of the Greeks, from which we can scarcely infer anything else than that, in ancient times, the Egyptians were hostile towards all foreigners, and in some cases sacrificed them. Modern scholars, such as Creuzer and G. Hermann, find a deeper meaning in the mythus of Busiris than it can possibly suggest. [L.S]
BUSI´RIS (Βούσιρις, Hdt. 1.59, 61,165; Strab. 17. p. 802; Plut. Is. et Osir. 30; Ptol. 4.5.51; Plin. Nat. 5.9. s. 11: Hierocl. p. 725; Steph. B. s. v.: Eth. Βουσιρίτης), the modern Busyr or Abousir, of which considerable ruins are still extant, was the chief town of the nome Busirites. in Egypt, and stood S. of Sais, near the Phatnitic mouth and on the western bank of the Nile. The town and nome of Busiris were allotted to the Hermotybian division of the Egyptian militia. It was regarded as one of the birthplaces of Osiris, as perhaps, etymologically, the name itself implies. The festival of Isis at Busiris came next in splendour and importance to that of Artemis at Bubastis in the Egyptian calendar. The temple of Isis, indeed, with the hamlet which sprang up around it, stood probably at a short distance without the walls of Busiris itself, for Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.10. s. 11) mentions Isidis oppidumi n the neighbourhood of the town. The ruins of the temple are still visible, a little to the N. of Abousir, at the hamlet of Bahheyt. (Pococke, Travels, vol. 1. p. 34; Minutoli, p. 304.)
Busiris was also the name of a town in Middle Egypt, in the neighbourhood of Memphis and the Great Pyramid. Its site is marked by the modern village of Abousir in that district. There are considerable catacombs near the ancient town (Pliny (Plin. Nat. 36.12. s. 16): indeed to the S. of Busiris one great cemetery appears to have stretched over the plain. The Heptanomite Busiris was in fact a hamlet standing at one extremity of the necropolis of Memphis.
[W.B.D](Βούσιρις). (1) A reputed king of Egypt, son of Poseidon and Lysianassa, daughter of Epaphus, or (as Plutarch states, from the Samian Agatho ) of Poseidon and Anippé, daughter of the Nile. This king, in consequence of an oracle, offered up strangers on the altar of Zeus; for Egypt having been afflicted with a dearth for nine years, a native of Cyprus named Thrasius, a great soothsayer, came thither, and said that it would cease if they sacrificed a stranger every year to Zeus. Busiris sacrificed the prophet himself first of all, and then continued the practice. When Heracles, in the course of his wanderings, came into Egypt, he was seized and dragged to the altar; but he burst his bonds, and slew Busiris, his son Amphidamas, and his herald Chalbes. Historically, there is no such king as Busiris, and the myth is in all probability only a legend of the former sacrifice of human victims to Osiris (q.v.), of which name Busiris is only a corruption.
(2) There were several cities named Busiris in ancient Egypt, the most celebrated being placed by Herodotus in the middle of the Delta. It possessed a noble temple of Isis. See Herod. ii. 59.
- Hdt. 2.59, Hdt. 2.61
- Busirite province: Hdt. 2.165
- husband of Automate: Apollod. 2.1.4
- king of Egypt, wants to sacrifice strangers on an altar: Apollod. 2.5.11
- slain by Herakles: Apollod. 2.5.11