I.The
extraordinary Experience
A.
Secrecy and initiation:Muein
(to shut up); telete (rite; ordeal)
B.
Eleusis as Model
C.
Enthusiasm and Ecstasy:individual
experience; divine spirit poured in; stand outside self
D.
Violence? Sex? Drugs?
Rite
of Passage (ordeal); Fertility / sexuality; Divine Sympathy
II. The Mysteries
of Dionysos (Bacchus)
A.
Myth:son
of Zeus and Semele (mortal); travels to east (India); not accepted at home
so drives women mad
B.
Ritual:Frenzy
(flesh eating) >> Villa of the Mysteries:caning;
dancing;
phallus in liknon (winnowing
fan); immortality
C.
Spread:for
Romans = "Greek / foreign"; suppression in 186 BC; state control
III. Magna
Mater / Cybele (the Great Mother)
A.
Myth;from
Pessinus in Phrygia; Attis = lover / castrates self
B.
Spread:Greece
in 3rd C; Rome in 204 (aniconic stone); castrating priests; controlled
by city; Eunous and the Sicilian slave revolt (religion = unifier but also
danger)
C.
Ritual:
Public
Ritual:Galli;
women’s clothing; self-flagellation; only Phrygian priests (no Romans)
Private
Ceremony:Tauroblium (bull
striking = blood bath)
IV. Unity
Organization
(Shared but not Communal)
Theology
(Death and Rebirth)
