something Other than itself, which is its substance, its meaning.
Now in this abstract relation of things the history of Osiris is the inner essential history of the Natural too—of the nature of Egypt. To this belong the sun, its course in the heavens, the Nile, which fertilises and which fluctuates. The history of Osiris is therefore the history of the sun; the sun goes onward till it reaches its culminating point, then it returns; its rays, its strength, become feeble, but afterwards it begins to lift itself up again—it is born anew.
Thus Osiris signifies the sun and the sun Osiris, the sun being conceived of as this cycle. The year is considered as the single subject, which in its own history runs its course through these diverse states. In Osiris what belongs to nature is conceived of as being a symbol of the subject’s history.
Thus Osiris is the Nile, which increases, renders everything fruitful, overflows, and through the heat—here the evil principle comes into play—becomes small and impotent, then again recovers its strength. The year, the sun, the Nile are conceived as this cycle which returns into itself.
The special aspects of such a course are represented as existing momentarily apart and in independence, as a multitude of gods who indicate particular aspects or moments of this cycle. Now, if it be said that the Nile is the inner element, that the meaning of Osiris is the sun, the Nile, and the other gods are calendar deities, such a statement would not be without truth. The one is the kernel, the other what outwardly represents it, the sign, the signifier, by means of which this inner element manifests itself externally. At the same time, however, the course of the Nile is universal history, and they may be taken as standing to each other in a reciprocal relation, the one as the inner element and the other as the form of representation or of apprehension. What
