Title: Oracles and Mystery Cults
1Oracles and Mystery Cults
2Summary
- Another Approach to the Gods
- Apollo and the Delphic Oracle
- Dionysus and the Bacchic Cult
- Discussion Questions
3Human-Divine Relations
- Characterized by distance and alienation
- Alienation assuaged by acts of sacrifice
- Anxiety re will of the gods
- Humans seek way of direct/closer communion with
gods
4Other Ways of Approaching The Gods
- Oracles
- Mystery Cults
- Direct Confrontation or Contact
5Oracles
- Oracle etymologically derived from Oraculum
- Greek Chresmos (a service to those in search of
counsel) - Chresterion or Manteion the place where
chresmos is sought
6Significant Oracles in the Greek World
- Dodona Oracle of Zeus at Epirus (Great Oak Tree
of Zeus) - Oracle of Zeus Amon (Libya)
- Oracle of the Dead at Ephyra
- Oracle of Trophonios Oracle of the Dead at
Lebadeia - The Sibyl of Cumae Oracle of Apollo in Magna
Graecia - Oracle of Pythian Apollo at Delphi
7Talking to the Gods
- Methods of communication vary with local cultic
practices - Enthousiasmos God speaks directly through a
medium (i.e. possession) - Incubation God speaks to inquirer in a dream
(i.e. Cult of Aesclapius) - Katabasis lit. a going down (i.e. ritual
descent into underworld common in oracles of
the dead)
8The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi
http//www.timelessmyths.com/classical/gallery/apo
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9The Far Archer Apollo - Review
- Not an old god (no linear b references)
- Probably comes from Lycia in Asia Minor (note
oracles probably a near eastern tradition) - Son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis
- Epithet He who strikes from afar
- Iconography The bow and the lyre
- Associated with youth (ephebos) healing
(iatros), disease/pollution (miasma), and
oracles poets, bards, arts, music (Mousagetes) - By 5th century BCE he was conflated with Helios
(the Sun) - Two major cult centers at Delos and Delphi
- 5 main festivals (1. Delia, 2. Thargelia, 3.
Pyanopsia, 4. Daphnephoria, 5. Pythian Games)
10The Oracle At Delphi
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11The Cult Center at Delphi
- Cult center for the worship of Apollo Pythios
(Apollo who slew Python) - Evidence for cult activity starting from c. 1000
BCE - Evidence of habitation from ca. 860 BCE
- Seat of an oracle Eclipsed the oracle of Zeus
at Olympia - Pan-Hellenic oracle
- Location of the Omphalos (Navel)
- Omphalos 1. The center of the earth, 2. The
stone Rheia gave to Kronos
12Temple of Apollo at Delphi
http//www.students.sbc.edu/hart06/Apollo20Temple
20Images/Delphi20Temple20of20Apollo20from20a
bove,20tb051303076.jpg
13The Omphalos
www.sikyon.com/Delphi/Monuments/omphalos.jpg
14Earliest References to the Delphic Oracle
Odyssey, 8.72-81 ca. 750 BCE
- But when they had put from them the desire of
food and drink, the Muse moved the minstrel to
sing of the glorious deeds of warriors, from that
lay the fame whereof had then reached broad
heaven, 75 even the quarrel of Odysseus and
Achilles, son of Peleus, how once they strove
with furious words at a rich feast of the gods,
and Agamemnon, king of men, was glad at heart
that the best of the Achaeans were quarrelling
for thus Phoebus Apollo, in giving his response,
had told him that it should be, 80 in sacred
Pytho, when he passed over the threshold of stone
to enquire of the oracle. For then the beginning
of woe was rolling upon Trojans and Danaans
through the will of great Zeus. (A.T. Murray,
1919) - http//www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?docP
erseus3Atext3A1999.01.01363Abook3D83Acard3D4
6
15Function of the Delphic Oracle
- Provide divine sanction for policies (i.e.
Colonization Declaration of war or peace Major
political decisions etc.) - Pan-Hellenic Cult (i.e. Expression of Greek unity
and cultural identity) - Healing/Cleansing/Purification of miasma (i.e.
pollution, especially blood guilt)
16Consulting the Delphic Oracle
- Services originally given only in the Spring
- Popularity resulted in services year round
- Visitor comes to sanctuary with an unblemished
goat - The Pythia (Priestess of Apollo) baths in
Castalian Spring - Sacrifices Goat
- Enters Temple
- Pythia takes seat on Tripod suspended over
volcanic chasm - Pythia enters ethousiasmos or trance
(Self-induced? Volcanic fumes?) - Incomprehensible utterances transcribed by priest
into dactylic hexameter
17Pythia on the Tripod
18The Delphic Oracle and ColonizationThe
Colonization of Cyrene
- Grinnus the son of Aesanius, who was a descendant
of Theras and king of the island of Thera,
arrived in Delphi with a hecatomb. He was
accompanied by a number of ordinary
citizens.King Grinnus was consulting the oracle
on other matters when the oracle declared that he
would found another community in Libya. Lord,
he replied, I am already too old and weighed
down to take off like that. Please give the job
to one of the younger men here. As he was saying
this he waved in the direction of Battus. This
was all that happened then, and later, after
their return home, they took no account of the
oracle. They did not know where Libya was, and
they were not so foolhardy as to send a
colonization expedition off to some unknown
destination. For the next seven years, however,
no rain fell on Thera, and all their trees, with
a single exception, had withered. The islanders
consulted the oracle, and the Pythia reminded
them that they were supposed to colonize Libya
(Herodotus, Histories, 4.150-151. Trans. R.
Waterfield, 1998)
19The Oracle At Delphi and Political AffairsThe
Spartan Conquest of Tegea
- Since they had good land and many men, they
immediately flourished and prospered. They were
not content to live in peace, but, confident that
they were stronger than the Arcadians, asked the
oracle at Delphi about gaining all the Arcadian
land. 2 She replied in hexameter -
- You ask me for Arcadia? You ask too much I
grant it not. There are many men in Arcadia,
eaters of acorns, Who will hinder you. But I
grudge you not. I will give you Tegea to beat
with your feet in dancing, And its fair plain to
measure with a rope. -
- 3 When the Lacedaemonians heard the oracle
reported, they left the other Arcadians alone and
marched on Tegea carrying chains, relying on the
deceptive oracle. They were confident they would
enslave the Tegeans, but they were defeated in
battle. (Herodotus, Histories, 1.66.1-3, A.D.
Godley, 1920)
20Myths of Apollo
- Benefactor of humanity (esp. through oracles)
- God of civilization as Apollo Mousagetes
- Unrequited love or love lost
- Guilt and redemption (Aeschylus, Oresteia)
21Apollo and HyacinthusOvid, Metamorphoses,
10.162-219
22Apollo and the Unfaithful CoronisorThe Birth of
AesclapiusOvid, Metamorphoses, 2. 600-634
23Mystery Cults
- Most cultic practices in ancient Greece are
public cults - Mystery cults only open to initiates (mystes)
- Cult activities (mysteria) are conducted in
secret difficult to attain knowledge - Mysteria involve orgia or exalted celebration
24Characteristics of Mystery Cults
- Secrecy
- Open to anyone wishing initiation
- Adults only
- Pronounced sexual aspect (i.e. ubiquitous genital
symbols exposure of the body orgies) - Connection between agrarian magic, sexuality,
overcoming death - Psychedelic aspect (i.e. use of mind altering
substances techniques etc.) - Suffering and terror induced and then dispelled
by ritual - Accompanied by secret tales (i.e. myths known
only to initiates) - Many promise eternal life to initiates
25Important Mystery Cults in Ancient Greece
- Eleusinian Mysteries in honor of Demeter
- Orphic Mysteries in honor of Orpheus
- The Great Mother (Asia Minor)
- Bacchic Mysteries in honor of Dionysus
26The Cult of Dionysus
27Dionysus
- God of Wine and Ecstasy also a fertility god a
god of vital creative energy - Polar opposite of Apollo (irrational v. rational)
- The human need for ecstasis (i.e. to stand
outside oneself to lose control surrender) and
enthousiasmos - Brings release from illness and grievous
affliction - The double gift of madness and wine
- Both Apollo and Dionysus inspire music, poetry
and dance - Apollo inspires melody, balance, harmony etc.
- Dionysus inspires wild music, erratic and furious
rhythms (Dithyramb)
28The Cult of Dionysos Baccheios
- Dionysus mentioned in Linear B texts (ca. 1250
BCE) - Greeks ambivalent toward Dionysus (i.e. at times
denied its Hellenic origins worship thought to
contain anti-social/immoral elements) - Public and private cultic worship
- Not tied to a specific priesthood or clan
- Priests are itinerant
- Mystai anyone who wishes to be initiated
- Bakchoi the initiated (they are all Bacchus)
- Women and Men initiated separately
- Private worshippers not tied to a schedule or
calendar of festivals
29Characteristics of the Cult
- Information hard to come by
- Rituals are nocturnal
- Rhythmic dance
- Maenads and Thyiades, societies of raving women
undertake oreibasia (frenzied procession into the
mountains) Phallic processions - Orgia
- Omophagy (eating of raw flesh) climax of
proceedings - Ecstasis induced through 1.Consumption of wine,
2.Sexual excitement - Promise of afterlife
30Villa Dei Misteri(Pompeii, ca. 1st century BCE)
www.arssacra.org/images/misteri_2wall.jpg
31Villa Dei Misteri(Pompeii, ca. 1st century BCE)
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_dei_Misteri
32Hope for the AfterlifeThe Hipponion-Vibo Text
(ca. 400 BCE)
- In the house of Hades there is a spring to the
right, by it stands a white cypress here the
souls, descending, are cooled. Do not approach
this spring! Further you will find cool water
flowing from the lake of recollection. Guardians
stand over it who will ask you in their sensible
mind why you are wandering through the darkness
of corruptible Hades. Answer I am a son of the
earth and the starry sky but I am desiccated
with thirst and am perishing therefore quickly
give me water from the lake of recollection. And
then the subjects of the Chthonian King (?) will
have pity and will give you to drink from the
lake of recollectionAnd indeed you are going a
long, sacred way which also other mystai and
bacchoi gloriously walk. (W. Burkert 1985 293)
33Characteristics of the Myth of Dionysus
- Born to Zeus and Semele
- Associated with the city of Thebes (i.e.
Euripides, Bacchae) - Is a wandering god
- Seen as a foreign deity
- Rejected wherever he goes must prove his
divinity - Frequently involves a sparagmos
34The Birth of DionysusOvid, Metamorphoses,
3.252-315
35A God RejectedThe Daughters of MinyasOvid,
Metamorphoses, 4.1-54, 389-415
36A God Revenged Dionysus and LycurgusApollodorus,
Bibl. 3.5.1
- Dionysus invented the making of wine from grapes
and, after he was driven mad by Hera, wandered
about in Egypt and Syria. Proteus, king of Egypt,
received him first but later he came to Cybela in
Phrygia. There he was purified by Rhea, learned
the rites of initiation and, after receiving from
her the robe of an initiate, hastened through
Thrace. Lycurgus, son of Dryas and king of the
Edonians, who live beside the river Strymon, was
the first to treat him with contempt and expel
him. Dionysus took refuge in the sea with Thetis,
the daughter of Nereus, but his devotees, the
Bacchae, and the group of Satyrs who attended
him, were taken prisoner. The Bacchae were later
suddenly released. Dionysus drove Lycurgus
insane, who in madness struck and killed his son
Dryas with an axe, thinking that he was chopping
a branch from a grapevine. After he had cut off
his sons extremities, he regained his sanity.
When the land remained barren, the god declared
in an oracle that it would be bear fruit if
Lycurgus were put to death. On hearing this the
Edonians led him to Mt. Pangaeum and bound him.
There he was destroyed by horses through the will
of Dionysus. (M. Simpson, 1976)
37Foreign AssociationsHerodotus 2.49.1-3
- Now then, it seems to me that Melampus son of
Amytheon was not ignorant of but was familiar
with this sacrifice. For Melampus was the one who
taught the Greeks the name of Dionysus and the
way of sacrificing to him and the phallic
procession he did not exactly unveil the subject
taking all its details into consideration, for
the teachers who came after him made a fuller
revelation but it was from him that the Greeks
learned to bear the phallus along in honor of
Dionysus, and they got their present practice
from his teaching. 2 I say, then, that Melampus
acquired the prophetic art, being a discerning
man, and that, besides many other things which he
learned from Egypt, he also taught the Greeks
things concerning Dionysus, altering few of them
for I will not say that what is done in Egypt in
connection with the god and what is done among
the Greeks originated independently for they
would then be of an Hellenic character and not
recently introduced. 3 Nor again will I say
that the Egyptians took either this or any other
custom from the Greeks. But I believe that
Melampus learned the worship of Dionysus chiefly
from Cadmus of Tyre and those who came with
Cadmus from Phoenicia to the land now called
Boeotia. (A.D. Godley, 1920)
38Dionysus in the Orphic Tradition
- Emerged in the 6th century BCE
- Believed to be based on the teaching of Orpheus
- Variant myth of Dionysus birth
- Born to Zeus and Persephone A unification of
Heaven and Hades - Hera orders the Titans to rip him to shreds and
devour him (i.e. sparagmos) - Athene saves the heart Zeus swallows it
impregnates Semele Reborn as Dionysus Zagreus - Titans blasted by thunderbolt and humans spring
from the ashes accounts for the dual nature of
humanity - Dionysus travels to Hades to bring Semele to Mt.
Olympus Shown the way by Prosymnus (origin of
the Phallic processions) - Through act of ritual sacrifice, initiates
symbolically consumed the body and blood of
Dionysus initiated them into the afterlife
39Cultic Associations Between Orpheus and
DionysusHerodotus, 2.81.1-2
- They wear linen tunics with fringes hanging about
the legs, called calasiris, and loose white
woolen mantles over these. But nothing woolen is
brought into temples, or buried with them that
is impious. 2 They agree in this with practices
called Orphic and Bacchic, but in fact Egyptian
and Pythagorean for it is impious, too, for one
partaking of these rites to be buried in woolen
wrappings. There is a sacred legend about this.
(A.D. Godley, 1920)
40Orpheus, Dionysus, and Apollo in MythOvid,
Metamorphoses 11.1-84
41 The Stories of Dionysus and Jesus
Dionysus Jesus
- Son of Zeus
- Born of virgin, Semele
- Hera attempts to kill the infant
- Performs miracles
- Battles evil (Titans)
- Rejected at home
- Wine is his gift to the world
- Suffers and dies at the hands of the Titans
- Descends to the underworld
- Apotheosis
- Travels the world seeking converts
- Punishes those who deny his divinity
- Son of God
- Born of virgin Mary
- Herod attempts to kill infant
- Performs miracles
- Battles demons
- Rejected at home
- Wine made sacred through communion
- Suffers and dies at the hands of the Romans
- Descends to the underworld
- Apotheosis
- Sends apostles to convert the lost sheep of
Israel - Will return to punish non-believers
42Discussion Questions
- Why is Apollo described as the quintessentially
Greek deity? - How did Apollo come to be associated with guilt
and purification? - What kind of myth is contained in the Homeric
Hymn to Apollo? - Why are Apollos erotic encounters always
unfulfilled? - What is the significance of oracles to Greek
religious thought? - What is the significance of enthousiasmos and
ecstasis? - How are Dionysus and Apollo similar?
- How is Dionysus associated with the afterlife?
- How is Dionysus connected with the natural world
and with human psychology? How does the nature of
his followers connect him to these things? - Why is Dionysus depicted as wandering abroad and
facing rejection wherever he goes? - How are Dionysus, Orpheus, Apollo, and Prometheus
connected and why? - Why are Apollo and Dionysus depicted as youthful?
- How would you account for the similarities
between Dionysus and Jesus of Nazareth?