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Dionysian ecstatic cults in early Rome
University of Gothenburg ^
| June 21, 2010
| Unknown
Posted on 06/22/2010 6:04:02 PM PDT by decimon
A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that, in contrast to traditional scholarly claims, Dionysian cultic activities may very well have occurred in archaic Rome in the decades around 500 BC.
A strong scholarly tradition rooted in the 19th century denies the presence of Dionysian ecstatic rites, cults, and satyr plays in Roman society. Although people in nearby societies evidently engaged in such behaviour around the same time in history, the Romans simply did not, according to early scholars. British scholars often stressed how much their people had in common with the Romans, not least as statesmen and colonists.
'They even claimed that they had the same mentality. This perception is reflected in modern research on the Roman society and religion as well', says the author of the thesis Carina Håkansson.
Religious research has also been influenced by the Christian tradition. For example Dionysian cults have had problems gaining acceptance as a 'real' religion since the possibility that religion could ever be connected with bawdy behaviour and drunkenness has generally been rejected. This argument alone was enough to make early scholars neglect and reject the thought of Dionysian cult as religion proper.
Alternative interpretations
Our modern secularised view of the world offers alternative interpretations, and this is something Håkansson is eager to stress.
'However, there is no doubt that this secularised perspective will sooner or later be criticised and questioned – that's the nature of research', says Håkansson.
While Dionysos is associated mainly with the Greek region, various forms of wine gods were worshipped across the entire region of Greece-Etruria-Rome. Håkansson therefore uses findings from the Greek and Etruscan areas for comparative purposes.
Satyrs are strongly linked to the Dionysian cult, and Håkansson shows that satyrs presumably were present in archaic Rome, and furthermore formed a link between ritual and theatre/performance. Håkansson concludes that the Dionysian sphere in Rome may very well constitute the seed of the subsequent Roman dramatic tradition.
Cross-disciplinary theories and methods
The study is designed as a case study and is of a multidisciplinary nature; Håkansson used theory and methods from for example iconography, archaeology, philosophy and religious studies. The sources upon which the study is based include texts by the Roman historian Livius and the Greek writer Dionysius from Halicarnassus and iconographic material such as vase paintings and architectonic terracottas.
'My thesis targets an international research association and aims at contributing to the debate on how a paradigm shift in religious research may change our view of the Romans and their contemporary society', says Håkansson.
###
Title of the doctoral thesis: In search of Dionysos. Reassessing a Dionysian context in early Rome
TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: agriculture; dionysus; faithandphilosophy; godsgravesglyphs; grapes; greece; oenology; romanempire; winemaking; zymurgy
1
posted on
06/22/2010 6:04:06 PM PDT
by
decimon
To: SunkenCiv
2
posted on
06/22/2010 6:04:44 PM PDT
by
decimon
To: decimon
The Dionysian Mysteries were a ritual of ancient Greece and Rome which used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques, such as dance and music, to remove inhibitions and artificial societal constraints, liberating the individual to return to a more natural and primal state. It also afforded a degree of liberation for the marginals of Greek society: women, slaves and foreigners.
3
posted on
06/22/2010 6:11:40 PM PDT
by
Jack Hydrazine
(It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
To: Jack Hydrazine
The Dionysian Mysteries were a ritual of ancient Greece and Rome which used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques, such as dance and music, to remove inhibitions and artificial societal constraints, liberating the individual to return to a more natural and primal state.Today that's called 'lobbying.'
4
posted on
06/22/2010 6:18:45 PM PDT
by
decimon
To: Jack Hydrazine
Animalizing.
Those restraints against murder and rape and such are definitely artificial in nature.
5
posted on
06/22/2010 6:29:20 PM PDT
by
GeronL
(Political Correctness Kills)
To: decimon; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 240B; 24Karet; ...
6
posted on
06/22/2010 6:31:47 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
To: decimon
7
posted on
06/22/2010 6:34:33 PM PDT
by
dr_who
To: GeronL
And the Left thinks of freedom and liberty as removing those artificial restraints.
8
posted on
06/22/2010 6:38:20 PM PDT
by
Jack Hydrazine
(It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
To: decimon
9
posted on
06/22/2010 6:40:27 PM PDT
by
GOP Poet
(Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
To: decimon
10
posted on
06/22/2010 6:40:27 PM PDT
by
GOP Poet
(Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
To: decimon
An elementary definition of Dionysos would be "the god of wine" or "the god of partying". The following is a snippet from Tom Horn's book "Nephilim Stargates: The Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers". By the way, his latest book is "Apollyon Rising" which also touches on this subject.
In "Nephilim Stargates: The Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers," Thomas Horn ties moral abandonment to an ancient spirit, known in antiquity as the Greek god Dionysus (Roman Bacchus) who represented the personification of unrestrained sexuality.
"Followers of Dionysus imagined him as the presence that is otherwise defined within man as the craving that longs to 'let itself go' and to 'give itself over' to outlaw desires," says Horn. "What puritans might resist as the lustful wants of the carnal man or the temptations of the Devil, the followers of Dionysus embraced as the incarnate power that would, in the afterlife, liberate man's soul from the constraints of the present world and from customs which sought to define respectability through obedience to moral law."
According to Horn, worshippers of Dionysus attempted to bring themselves into union with the god through ritual casting off of the bonds of sexual denial and primal constraint by seeking to attain a "higher state of ecstasy."
The uninhibited rituals of ecstasy (Greek for "outside the body") employed lascivious behavior, ecstatic communal dancing to the drums and flute, flicking of the head backward (as found in most trance inducing cults), and overt consumption of wine to bring the followers of Dionysus into a supernatural condition which enabled them to escape the temporary limitations of the body and mind and to achieve an orgiastic state of "enthousiasmos", or "outside the body and inside the god."
In this sense, Dionysus represented a dichotomy in the Greek religion, as the primary maxim of the Greek culture was one of moderation; "nothing too extreme." Yet Dionysus embodied the absolute extreme in that he sought to inflame the forbidden passions of human desire.
"As students of psychology will understand," Horn continues, "the willful abandonment of social restraints, which defined Dionysus-worship, actually gave the god of wine and revelry a stronger allure, not weaker, among many ancients who otherwise tried in so many ways to suppress and control the secret lusts of the human heart. Dionysus was a craving that demanded one partake of 'the forbidden fruit' and who threatened madness upon those who denied him free expression. Conversely, persons giving themselves over to the will of Dionysus were promised the lie of unlimited psychological and physical delights."
In Nephilim Stargates, Horn records how the Dionystic idea of mental disease resulting from suppression of secret inner desires, especially aberrant sexual desires, was later reflected in the teachings of Sigmund Freud. Freudianism is therefore the grandchild of the cult of Dionysus, Horn concludes.
Such mythical systems of mental punishment and physical rewards based on resistance and/or submission to Dionysus were symbolically and literally illustrated in the cult rituals of the Bacchae, as the Bacchae women (married and unmarried Greek women had the legal right to participate in the mysteries of Dionysus) migrated in frenzied hillside groups, dressed transvestite in fawn skins and accompanied by screaming, music, dancing, and omnisexual behavior.
When for instance a baby animal was too young and lacking in instinct to sense the danger and run away from the revelers, it was picked up and suckled by bare-breasted women who participated in the hillside rituals. Yet when older animals sought to escape the marauding Bacchae, they were considered "resistant" to the will of Dionysus and were torn apart and eaten alive as a part of the fevered ritual.
Horn points to parallels of this condition in today's United States. "What at one time would have been unthinkable – deviant sex acts conducted openly in major U.S. cities – is become acceptable, while 'resisters' of the new Dionysian cult are increasingly labeled enemies of free expression and threatened with hate-crime legislation."
Before the ancient Greek/Roman festival was outlawed in 186 BC by a decree of the Senate – the so-called "Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus"—as having become too debauched, human participants were increasingly subject to public orgiastic extremes, as the rule of the Bacchanalia became "anything goes," including public sex acts, S&M type torture, bestiality, and even pedophilia.
According to Horn, the devil was literally in the details, and the tempter was seeking souls for destruction.
"The Hebrew people considered Hades – the Greek god of the underworld – to be equal with Hell and/or the Devil, and many ancients likewise saw no difference between Hades, in this sense the Devil, and Dionysus. Euripedes echoed this sentiment in the Hecuba, and referred to the followers of Dionysus as the 'Bacchants of Hades.' Heraclitus agreed, writing that, 'Hades and Dionysus, for whom they go mad and rage, are one and the same.'"
Horn wonders if the 'god' Dionysus, a spirit historically identified with Satan, is rising from the underworld in modern Bacchanalian eroticism. "Is a psychological or supernatural force behind the growing flood of debauchery? Are we seeing evil supernaturalism in the birth pangs of a new occult Dionysianism?"
11
posted on
06/22/2010 6:45:35 PM PDT
by
tang-soo
(Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks - Read Daniel Chapter 9)
To: tang-soo
I prefer Nietzsche’s interpretation of the Dionysian spirit - it confronts the conventional wisdom and herd mentality.
12
posted on
06/22/2010 6:56:02 PM PDT
by
kingcoal
To: Jack Hydrazine
used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques, such as dance and music, to remove inhibitions and artificial societal constraints
To: tang-soo
ecstatic communal dancing to the drums and flute, flicking of the head backward (as found in most trance inducing cults)
To: decimon
The Romans must have had a cult of Bacchus to some extent, or we wouldn’t have the name “Bacchus” to distinguish the Roman iteration of “Dionysios.” However, this article is full of weasel-words like “must,” “might,” and “can be assumed.” I hate that! “Always be positive, even if you’re wrong!” as OldTax-lady says.
15
posted on
06/22/2010 7:09:48 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
(Anoreth, alma de Espana y diosa guerrera. Cuidados!)
To: decimon
Here's my latest sidebar configuration, it had been some time since I'd messed with it. I'd actually removed the History topic and keyword for a while, because a lot of stuff that clearly wasn't history was winding up in it. Ah well.
16
posted on
06/22/2010 7:25:09 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
To: decimon; SunkenCiv
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