Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

9698

Porphyry, On The Cave Of The Nymphs, 6

nan This world, then, is sacred and pleasant to souls wno nave now proceeded into nature, and to natal daemons, though it is essentially dark and obscure; from which some have suspected that souls also are of an obscure nature and essentially consist of air. Hence a cavern, which is both pleasant and dark, will be appropriately consecrated to souls on the earth, conformably to its similitude to the world, in which, as in the greatest of all temples, souls reside. To the nymphs likewise, who preside over waters, a cavern, in which there are perpetually flowing streams, is adapted. Let, therefore, this present cavern be consecrated to souls, and among the more partial powers, to nymphs that preside over streams and fountains, and who, on this account, are called fontal and naiades. Waat, therefore, are the different symbols, some of which are adapted to souls, but others to the aquatic powers, in order that we may apprehend that this cavern is consecrated in common to |19 both? Let the stony bowls, then, and the amphorae be symbols of the aquatic nymphs. For these are, indeed, the symbols of Bacchus, but their composition is fictile, i.e., consists of baked earth, and these are friendly to the vine, the gift of God; since the fruit of the vine is brought to a proper maturity by the celestial fire of the sun. But the stony bowls and amphorae are in the most eminent degree adapted to the nymphs who preside over the water that flows from rocks. And to souls that descend into generation and are occupied in corporeal energies, what symbol can be more appropriate than those instruments pertaining to weaving? Hence, also, the poet ventures to say, "that on these, the nymphs weave purple webs, admirable to the view." For the formation of the flesh is on and about the bones, which in the bodies of animals resemble stones. Hence these instruments of weaving consist of stone, and not of any other matter. But the purple webs will evidently be the flesh which is woven from the blood. For purple woollen garments are tinged from blood. and wool is dyed from animal juice. The generation of flesh, also, is through and from blood. Add, too, that |20 the body is a garment with which the soul is invested, a thing wonderful to the sight, whether this refers to the composition of the soul, or contributes to the colligation of the soul (to the whole of a visible essence). Thus, also, Proserpine, who is the inspective guardian of everything produced from seed, is represented by Orpheus as weaving a web (note 7), and the heavens are called by the ancients a veil, in consequence of being,as it were, the vestment of the celestial Gods.

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1. Plato, Symposium, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) 210a. but I doubt if you could approach the rites and revelations to which these, for the properly instructed, are merely the avenue. However I will speak of them, she said, and will not stint my best endeavors; only you on your part must try your best to follow. He who would proceed rightly in this business must not merely begin from his youth to encounter beautiful bodies. In the first place, indeed, if his conductor guides him aright, he must be in love with one particular body, and engender beautiful converse therein;
2. Dio Chrysostom, Orations, 36.39-36.54 (1st cent. CE 36.39.  "Moreover, there is besides a myth which arouses admiration as sung in secret rites by the Magi, who extol this god of ours as being the perfect and original driver of the most perfect chariot. For the chariot of Helius, they claim, is relatively recent when compared with that of Zeus, though visible to the many because its course is run in full view. Therefore, they say, the chariot of Helius has enjoyed a reputation with all mankind, since the poets, beginning practically with the earliest times, so it would seem, are always telling of its rising and its setting, all in the same manner describing the yoking of the horses and Helius himself mounting his car. 36.41.  And thereafter, so they say, Zoroaster has associated, not with them all, but only with such as are best endowed with regard to the truth, and are best able to understand the god, men whom the Persians have named Magi, that is to say, people who know how to cultivate the divine power, not like the Greeks, who in their ignorance use the term to denote wizards. And all else that those Magi do is in accordance with sacred sayings, and in particular they maintain for Zeus a team of Nisaean horses  â€” and these horses are the finest and largest to be found in Asia — but for Helius they maintain only a single horse. 36.42.  "These Magi narrate their myth, not in the manner of our prophets of the Muses, who merely present each detail with much plausibility, but rather with stubborn insistence upon its truthfulness. For they assert that the universe is constantly being propelled and driven along a single path, as by a charioteer endowed with highest skill and power, and that this movement goes on unceasingly in unceasing cycles of time. And the coursing of Helius and Selenê, according to their account, is the movement of portions of the whole, and for that reason it is more clearly perceived by mankind. And they add that the movement and revolution of the universe as a whole is not perceptible to the majority of mankind, but that, on the contrary, they are ignorant of the magnitude of this contest. 36.43.  "What follows regarding the horses and their driving I really am ashamed to tell in the manner in which the Magi set it forth in their narrative, since they are not very much concerned to secure consistency at all points in their presentation of the picture. In fact, quite possibly I may appear absurd when, in contrast with Greek lays of grace and charm, I chant one that is barbarian; but still I must make the venture. "According to the Magi, that one of the horses which is the highest in the heavens is immeasurably superior in beauty, size, and speed, since it has the outside track and runs the longest course, a horse sacred to Zeus himself. Furthermore, it is a winged creature, brilliant in colour with the brilliance of the purest flame; and in it Helius and Selenê are to be seen as conspicuous signs or marks — like, I fancy, the marks which horses bear here on earth, some crescent-shaped and some of other patterns. 36.44.  And they say that these 'marks' appear to us to be in close array, as it were great sparks of fire darting about in the midst of brilliant light, and yet that each has its own independent motion. Furthermore, the other stars also which are visible through that Horse of Zeus, one and all being natural parts of it, in some instances revolve along with it and have the same motion, and in others follow different tracks. And they add that among men these stars which are associated with the Horse of Zeus have each its own particular name; whereas the rest are treated collectively in groups, distributed so as to form certain figures or patterns. 36.45.  "Well then, the horse that is most brilliant and most spangled with stars and dearest to Zeus himself, being praised by the Magi in their hymns for some such attributes as these, quite properly stands first in sacrifice and worship as being truly first. Next in order after that, in closest contact with the Horse of Zeus, comes one that bears the name of Hera, a horse obedient to the rein and gentle, but far inferior in strength and speed. In colour this horse is of its own nature black, but that portion which receives the light of Helius is regularly bright, whereas where it is in shadow in its revolution it has its own proper colour. 36.46.  Third comes a horse that is sacred to Poseidon, still slower than the second. Regarding this steed the poets have a myth to the effect that its counterpart appeared among men — he whom they call Pegasus, methinks — and they claim that he caused a fountain to burst forth at Corinth by pawing with his hoof. But the fourth is the strangest conception of them all, a horse both firm and immovable, to say nothing of its having no wings, and it is named after Hestia. However, the Magi do not shrink from its portrayal; on the contrary, they state that this steed also is harnessed to the chariot, and yet it remains immovable, champing its adamantine curb. 36.47.  And from all sides the other horses press close to him with their bodies and the pair that are his neighbours swerve toward him abreast, falling upon him, as it were, and crowding him, yet the horse that is farthest off is ever first to round that stationary steed as horses round the turn in the hippodrome."Now for the most part the horses continue in peace and friendship, unharmed by one another. But on one occasion in the past, in the course of a long space of time and many revolutions of the universe, a mighty blast from the first horse fell from on high, and, as might have been expected from such a fiery-tempered steed, inflamed the others, and more especially the last in order; and the fire encompassed not alone its mane, which formed its personal pride, but the whole universe as well. 36.48.  And the Magi say that the Greeks, recording this experience as an isolated occurrence, connect it with the name of Phaethon, since they are unable to criticize the driving of Zeus and are loath to find fault with the coursings of Helius. And so they relate that a younger driver, a mortal son of Helius, desiring a sport that was to prove grievous and disastrous for all mankind, besought his father to let him mount his car and, plunging along in disorderly fashion, consumed with fire everything, both animals and plants, and finally was himself destroyed, being smitten by too power­ful a flame. 36.49.  "Again, when at intervals of several years the horse that is sacred to Poseidon and the Nymphs rebels, having become panic-stricken and agitated beyond his wont, he overwhelms with copious sweat that same steed, since they two are yoke-mates. Accordingly it meets with fate which is the opposite of the disaster previously mentioned, this time being deluged with a mighty flood. And the Magi state that here again the Greeks, through youthful ignorance and faulty memory, record this flood as a single occurrence and claim that Deucalion, who was then king, saved them from complete destruction. 36.50.  "According to the Magi, these rare occurrences are viewed by mankind as taking place for their destruction, and not in accord with reason or as a part of the order of the universe, being unaware that they occur quite properly and in keeping with the plan of the preserver and governor of the world. For in reality it is comparable with what happens when a charioteer punishes one of his horses, pulling hard upon the rein or pricking with the goad; and then the horse prances and is thrown into a panic but straightway settles down to its proper gait. "Well then, this is one kind of driving of which they tell, attended by violence but not involving the complete destruction of the universe. 36.51.  On the other hand, they tell also of a different kind that involves the movement and change of all four horses, one in which they shift among themselves and interchange their forms until all come together into one being, having been overcome by that one which is superior in power. And yet this movement also the Magi dare to liken to the guidance and driving of a chariot, though to do so they need even stranger imagery. For instance, it is as if some magician were to mould horses out of wax, and then, subtracting and scraping off the wax from each, should add a little now to this one and now to that, until finally, having used up all the horses in constructing one from the four, he should fashion a single horse out of all his material. 36.52.  They state, however, that in reality the process to which they refer is not like that of such iimate images, in which the craftsman operates and shifts the material from without, but that instead the transformation is the work of these creatures themselves, just as if they were striving for victory in a contest that is great and real. And they add that the victory and its crown belong of necessity to that horse which is first and best in speed and prowess and general excellence, I mean to that one which we named in the beginning of our account as the special steed of Zeus. 36.53.  For that one, being most valiant of all and fiery by nature, having speedily used up the others — as if, methinks, they were truly made of wax — in no great span of time (though to us it seems endless according to our reckoning) and having appropriated to itself all the substance of them all, appeared much greater and more brilliant than formerly; not through the aid of any other creature, either mortal or immortal, but by itself and its own efforts proving victor in the greatest contest. And, standing tall and proud, rejoicing in its victory, it not only seized the largest possible region but also needed larger space at that time, so great was its strength and its spirit. 36.54.  "Having arrived at that stage in their myth, the Magi are embarrassed in search of a name to describe the nature of the creature of their own invention. For they say that now by this time it is simply the soul of the charioteer and master; or, let us say, merely the intellect and leadership of that soul. (Those, in fact, are the terms we ourselves employ when we honour and reverence the greatest god by noble deeds and pious words).
3. New Testament, John, 4.10-4.14 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) 4.10. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. 4.11. The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water? 4.12. Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his sons, and his cattle? 4.13. Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again 4.14. but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
4. Clement of Alexandria, Excerpts From Theodotus, 74.2 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
5. Nag Hammadi, Allogenes, 60.37 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
6. Nag Hammadi, The Apocalypse of Adam, 85.22-85.31 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
7. Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of The Egyptians, 44.22-44.24, 66.11 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
8. Nag Hammadi, The Three Steles of Seth, 127.20 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
9. Nag Hammadi, Trimorphic Protennoia, 37.31, 48.11-48.35 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
10. Nag Hammadi, Zostrianos, 53.15-54.1 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
11. Origen, Against Celsus, 6.20-6.24, 6.27, 6.29-6.31, 6.33-6.34, 7.40 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) 6.20. Now, to those who are capable of understanding him, the apostle manifestly presents to view things which are the objects of perception, calling them things seen; while he terms unseen, things which are the object of the understanding, and cognisable by it alone. He knows, also, that things seen and visible are temporal, but that things cognisable by the mind, and not seen, are eternal; and desiring to remain in the contemplation of these, and being assisted by his earnest longing for them, he deemed all affliction as light and as nothing, and during the season of afflictions and troubles was not at all bowed down by them, but by his contemplation of (divine) things deemed every calamity a light thing, seeing we also have a great High Priest, who by the greatness of His power and understanding has passed through the heavens, even Jesus the Son of God, who has promised to all that have truly learned divine things, and have lived lives in harmony with them, to go before them to the things that are supra-mundane; for His words are: That where I go, you may be also. And therefore we hope, after the troubles and struggles which we suffer here, to reach the highest heavens, and receiving, agreeably to the teaching of Jesus, the fountains of water that spring up unto eternal life, and being filled with the rivers of knowledge, shall be united with those waters that are said to be above the heavens, and which praise His name. And as many of us as praise Him shall not be carried about by the revolution of the heaven, but shall be ever engaged in the contemplation of the invisible things of God, which are no longer understood by us through the things which He has made from the creation of the world, but seeing, as it was expressed by the true disciple of Jesus in these words, then face to face; and in these, When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 6.21. The Scriptures which are current in the Churches of God do not speak of seven heavens, or of any definite number at all, but they do appear to teach the existence of heavens, whether that means the spheres of those bodies which the Greeks call planets, or something more mysterious. Celsus, too, agreeably to the opinion of Plato, asserts that souls can make their way to and from the earth through the planets; while Moses, our most ancient prophet, says that a divine vision was presented to the view of our prophet Jacob, - a ladder stretching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord supported upon its top - obscurely pointing, by this matter of the ladder, either to the same truths which Plato had in view, or to something greater than these. On this subject Philo has composed a treatise which deserves the thoughtful and intelligent investigation of all lovers of truth. 6.22. After this, Celsus, desiring to exhibit his learning in his treatise against us, quotes also certain Persian mysteries, where he says: These things are obscurely hinted at in the accounts of the Persians, and especially in the mysteries of Mithras, which are celebrated among them. For in the latter there is a representation of the two heavenly revolutions - of the movement, viz., of the fixed stars, and of that which take place among the planets, and of the passage of the soul through these. The representation is of the following nature: There is a ladder with lofty gates, and on the top of it an eighth gate. The first gate consists of lead, the second of tin, the third of copper, the fourth of iron, the fifth of a mixture of metals, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold. The first gate they assign to Saturn, indicating by the 'lead' the slowness of this star; the second to Venus, comparing her to the splendour and softness of tin; the third to Jupiter, being firm and solid; the fourth to Mercury, for both Mercury and iron are fit to endure all things, and are money-making and laborious; the fifth to Mars, because, being composed of a mixture of metals, it is varied and unequal; the sixth, of silver, to the Moon; the seventh, of gold, to the Sun - thus imitating the different colors of the two latter. He next proceeds to examine the reason of the stars being arranged in this order, which is symbolized by the names of the rest of matter. Musical reasons, moreover, are added or quoted by the Persian theology; and to these, again, he strives to add a second explanation, connected also with musical considerations. But it seems to me, that to quote the language of Celsus upon these matters would be absurd, and similar to what he himself has done, when, in his accusations against Christians and Jews, he quoted, most inappropriately, not only the words of Plato; but, dissatisfied even with these, he adduced in addition the mysteries of the Persian Mithras, and the explanation of them. Now, whatever be the case with regard to these - whether the Persians and those who conduct the mysteries of Mithras give false or true accounts regarding them - why did he select these for quotation, rather than some of the other mysteries, with the explanation of them? For the mysteries of Mithras do not appear to be more famous among the Greeks than those of Eleusis, or than those in Ægina, where individuals are initiated in the rites of Hecate. But if he must introduce barbarian mysteries with their explanation, why not rather those of the Egyptians, which are highly regarded by many, or those of the Cappadocians regarding the Comanian Diana, or those of the Thracians, or even those of the Romans themselves, who initiate the noblest members of their senate? But if he deemed it inappropriate to institute a comparison with any of these, because they furnished no aid in the way of accusing Jews or Christians, why did it not also appear to him inappropriate to adduce the instance of the mysteries of Mithras? 6.23. If one wished to obtain means for a profounder contemplation of the entrance of souls into divine things, not from the statements of that very insignificant sect from which he quoted, but from books - partly those of the Jews, which are read in their synagogues, and adopted by Christians, and partly from those of Christians alone - let him peruse, at the end of Ezekiel's prophecies, the visions beheld by the prophet, in which gates of different kinds are enumerated, which obscurely refer to the different modes in which divine souls enter into a better world; and let him peruse also, from the Apocalypse of John, what is related of the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and of its foundations and gates. And if he is capable of finding out also the road, which is indicated by symbols, of those who will march on to divine things, let him read the book of Moses entitled Numbers, and let him seek the help of one who is capable of initiating him into the meaning of the narratives concerning the encampments of the children of Israel; viz., of what sort those were which were arranged towards the east, as was the case with the first; and what those towards the south-west and south; and what towards the sea; and what the last were, which were stationed towards the north. For he will see that there is in the respective places a meaning not to be lightly treated, nor, as Celsus imagines, such as calls only for silly and servile listeners: but he will distinguish in the encampments certain things relating to the numbers that are enumerated, and which are specially adapted to each tribe, of which the present does not appear to us to be the proper time to speak. Let Celsus know, moreover, as well as those who read his book, that in no part of the genuine and divinely accredited Scriptures are seven heavens mentioned; neither do our prophets, nor the apostles of Jesus, nor the Son of God Himself, repeat anything which they borrowed from the Persians or the Cabiri. 6.24. After the instance borrowed from the Mithraic mysteries, Celsus declares that he who would investigate the Christian mysteries, along with the aforesaid Persian, will, on comparing the two together, and on unveiling the rites of the Christians, see in this way the difference between them. Now, wherever he was able to give the names of the various sects, he was nothing loth to quote those with which he thought himself acquainted; but when he ought most of all to have done this, if they were really known to him, and to have informed us which was the sect that makes use of the diagram he has drawn, he has not done so. It seems to me, however, that it is from some statements of a very insignificant sect called Ophites, which he has misunderstood, that, in my opinion, he has partly borrowed what he says about the diagram. Now, as we have always been animated by a love of learning, we have fallen in with this diagram, and we have found in it the representations of men who, as Paul says, creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with various lusts; ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. The diagram was, however, so destitute of all credibility, that neither these easily deceived women, nor the most rustic class of men, nor those who were ready to be led away by any plausible pretender whatever, ever gave their assent to the diagram. Nor, indeed, have we ever met any individual, although we have visited many parts of the earth, and have sought out all those who anywhere made profession of knowledge, that placed any faith in this diagram. 6.27. After the matter of the diagram, he brings forward certain monstrous statements, in the form of question and answer, regarding what is called by ecclesiastical writers the seal, statements which did not arise from imperfect information; such as that he who impresses the seal is called father, and he who is sealed is called young man and son; and who answers, I have been anointed with white ointment from the tree of life,- things which we never heard to have occurred even among the heretics. In the next place, he determines even the number mentioned by those who deliver over the seal, as that of seven angels, who attach themselves to both sides of the soul of the dying body; the one party being named angels of light, the others 'archontics;' and he asserts that the ruler of those named 'archontics' is termed the 'accursed' god. Then, laying hold of the expression, he assails, not without reason, those who venture to use such language; and on that account we entertain a similar feeling of indignation with those who censure such individuals, if indeed there exist any who call the God of the Jews- who sends rain and thunder, and who is the Creator of this world, and the God of Moses, and of the cosmogony which he records - an accursed divinity. Celsus, however, appears to have had in view in employing these expressions, not a rational object, but one of a most irrational kind, arising out of his hatred towards us, which is so unlike a philosopher. For his aim was, that those who are unacquainted with our customs should, on perusing his treatise, at once assail us as if we called the noble Creator of this world an accursed divinity. He appears to me, indeed, to have acted like those Jews who, when Christianity began to be first preached, scattered abroad false reports of the Gospel, such as that Christians offered up an infant in sacrifice, and partook of its flesh; and again, that the professors of Christianity, wishing to do the 'works of darkness,' used to extinguish the lights (in their meetings), and each one to have sexual intercourse with any woman whom he chanced to meet. These calumnies have long exercised, although unreasonably, an influence over the minds of very many, leading those who are aliens to the Gospel to believe that Christians are men of such a character; and even at the present day they mislead some, and prevent them from entering even into the simple intercourse of conversation with those who are Christians. 6.29. In the next place, as if it were the Christians whom he was calumniating, he continues his accusations against those who termed the God of Moses and of his law an accursed divinity; and imagining that it is the Christians who so speak, he expresses himself thus: What could be more foolish or insane than such senseless wisdom? For what blunder has the Jewish lawgiver committed? And why do you accept, by means, as you say, of a certain allegorical and typical method of interpretation, the cosmogony which he gives, and the law of the Jews, while it is with unwillingness, O most impious man, that you give praise to the Creator of the world, who promised to give them all things; who promised to multiply their race to the ends of the earth, and to raise them up from the dead with the same flesh and blood, and who gave inspiration to their prophets; and, again, you slander Him! When you feel the force of such considerations, indeed, you acknowledge that you worship the same God; but when your teacher Jesus and the Jewish Moses give contradictory decisions, you seek another God, instead of Him, and the Father! Now, by such statements, this illustrious philosopher Celsus distinctly slanders the Christians, asserting that, when the Jews press them hard, they acknowledge the same God as they do; but that when Jesus legislates differently from Moses, they seek another god instead of Him. Now, whether we are conversing with the Jews, or are alone with ourselves, we know of only one and the same God, whom the Jews also worshipped of old time, and still profess to worship as God, and we are guilty of no impiety towards Him. We do not assert, however, that God will raise men from the dead with the same flesh and blood, as has been shown in the preceding pages; for we do not maintain that the natural body, which is sown in corruption, and in dishonour, and in weakness, will rise again such as it was sown. On such subjects, however, we have spoken at adequate length in the foregoing pages. 6.30. He next returns to the subject of the Seven ruling Demons, whose names are not found among Christians, but who, I think, are accepted by the Ophites. We found, indeed, that in the diagram, which on their account we procured a sight of, the same order was laid down as that which Celsus has given. Celsus says that the goat was shaped like a lion, not mentioning the name given him by those who are truly the most impious of individuals; whereas we discovered that He who is honoured in holy Scripture as the angel of the Creator is called by this accursed diagram Michael the Lion-like. Again, Celsus says that the second in order is a bull; whereas the diagram which we possessed made him to be Suriel, the bull-like. Further, Celsus termed the third an amphibious sort of animal, and one that hissed frightfully; while the diagram described the third as Raphael, the serpent-like. Moreover, Celsus asserted that the fourth had the form of an eagle; the diagram representing him as Gabriel, the eagle-like. Again, the fifth, according to Celsus, had the countece of a bear; and this, according to the diagram, was Thauthabaoth, the bear-like. Celsus continues his account, that the sixth was described as having the face of a dog; and him the diagram called Erataoth. The seventh, he adds, had the countece of an ass, and was named Thaphabaoth or Onoel; whereas we discovered that in the diagram he is called Onoel, or Thartharaoth, being somewhat asinine in appearance. We have thought it proper to be exact in stating these matters, that we might not appear to be ignorant of those things which Celsus professed to know, but that we Christians, knowing them better than he, may demonstrate that these are not the words of Christians, but of those who are altogether alienated from salvation, and who neither acknowledge Jesus as Saviour, nor God, nor Teacher, nor Son of God. 6.31. Moreover, if any one would wish to become acquainted with the artifices of those sorcerers, through which they desire to lead men away by their teaching (as if they possessed the knowledge of certain secret rites), but are not at all successful in so doing, let him listen to the instruction which they receive after passing through what is termed the fence of wickedness, - gates which are subjected to the world of ruling spirits. (The following, then, is the manner in which they proceed): I salute the one-formed king, the bond of blindness, complete oblivion, the first power, preserved by the spirit of providence and by wisdom, from whom I am sent forth pure, being already part of the light of the son and of the father: grace be with me; yea, O father, let it be with me. They say also that the beginnings of the Ogdoad are derived from this. In the next place, they are taught to say as follows, while passing through what they call Ialdabaoth: You, O first and seventh, who art born to command with confidence, you, O Ialdabaoth, who art the rational ruler of a pure mind, and a perfect work to son and father, bearing the symbol of life in the character of a type, and opening to the world the gate which you closed against your kingdom, I pass again in freedom through your realm. Let grace be with me; yea, O father, let it be with me. They say, moreover, that the star Ph non is in sympathy with the lion-like ruler. They next imagine that he who has passed through Ialdabaoth and arrived at Iao ought thus to speak: You, O second Iao, who shines by night, who art the ruler of the secret mysteries of son and father, first prince of death, and portion of the innocent, bearing now my own beard as symbol, I am ready to pass through your realm, having strengthened him who is born of you by the living word. Grace be with me; father, let it be with me. They next come to Sabaoth, to whom they think the following should be addressed: O governor of the fifth realm, powerful Sabaoth, defender of the law of your creatures, who are liberated by your grace through the help of a more powerful Pentad, admit me, seeing the faultless symbol of their art, preserved by the stamp of an image, a body liberated by a Pentad. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. And after Sabaoth they come to Astaph us, to whom they believe the following prayer should be offered: O Astaph us, ruler of the third gate, overseer of the first principle of water, look upon me as one of your initiated, admit me who am purified with the spirit of a virgin, you who sees the essence of the world. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. After him comes Alo us, who is to be thus addressed: O Alo us, governor of the second gate, let me pass, seeing I bring to you the symbol of your mother, a grace which is hidden by the powers of the realms. Let grace be with me, O father, let it be with me. And last of all they name Hor us, and think that the following prayer ought to be offered to him: You who fearlessly leaped over the rampart of fire, O Hor us, who obtained the government of the first gate, let me pass, seeing you behold the symbol of your own power, sculptured on the figure of the tree of life, and formed after this image, in the likeness of innocence. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. 6.33. Celsus next relates other fables, to the effect that certain persons return to the shapes of the archontics, so that some are called lions, others bulls, others dragons, or eagles, or bears, or dogs. We found also in the diagram which we possessed, and which Celsus called the square pattern, the statements made by these unhappy beings concerning the gates of Paradise. The flaming sword was depicted as the diameter of a flaming circle, and as if mounting guard over the tree of knowledge and of life. Celsus, however, either would not or could not repeat the harangues which, according to the fables of these impious individuals, are represented as spoken at each of the gates by those who pass through them; but this we have done in order to show to Celsus and those who read his treatise, that we know the depth of these unhallowed mysteries, and that they are far removed from the worship which Christians offer up to God. 6.34. After finishing the foregoing, and those analogous matters which we ourselves have added, Celsus continues as follows: They continue to heap together one thing after another - discourses of prophets, and circles upon circles, and effluents from an earthly church, and from circumcision; and a power flowing from one Prunicos, a virgin and a living soul; and a heaven slain in order to live, and an earth slaughtered by the sword, and many put to death that they may live, and death ceasing in the world, when the sin of the world is dead; and, again, a narrow way, and gates that open spontaneously. And in all their writings (is mention made) of the tree of life, and a resurrection of the flesh by means of the 'tree,' because, I imagine, their teacher was nailed to a cross, and was a carpenter by craft; so that if he had chanced to have been cast from a precipice, or thrust into a pit, or suffocated by hanging, or had been a leather-cutter, or stone-cutter, or worker in iron, there would have been (invented) a precipice of life beyond the heavens, or a pit of resurrection, or a cord of immortality, or a blessed stone, or an iron of love, or a sacred leather! Now what old woman would not be ashamed to utter such things in a whisper, even when making stories to lull an infant to sleep? In using such language as this, Celsus appears to me to confuse together matters which he has imperfectly heard. For it seems likely that, even supposing that he had heard a few words traceable to some existing heresy, he did not clearly understand the meaning intended to be conveyed; but heaping the words together, he wished to show before those who knew nothing either of our opinions or of those of the heretics, that he was acquainted with all the doctrines of the Christians. And this is evident also from the foregoing words. 7.40. Next to the remarks of Celsus on which we have already commented, come others which he addresses to all Christians, but which, if applicable to any, ought to be addressed to persons whose doctrines differ entirely from those taught by Jesus. For it is the Ophians who, as we have before shown, have utterly renounced Jesus, and perhaps some others of similar opinions who are the impostors and jugglers, leading men away to idols and phantoms; and it is they who with miserable pains learn off the names of the heavenly doorkeepers. These words are therefore quite inappropriate as addressed to Christians: If you seek one to be your guide along this way, you must shun all deceivers and jugglers, who will introduce you to phantoms. And, as though quite unaware that these impostors entirely agree with him, and are not behind him in speaking ill of Jesus and His religion, he thus continues, confounding us with them: otherwise you will be acting the most ridiculous part, if, while you pronounce imprecations upon those other recognised gods, treating them as idols, you yet do homage to a more wretched idol than any of these, which indeed is not even an idol or a phantom, but a dead man, and you seek a father like to himself. That he is ignorant of the wide difference between our opinions and those of the inventors of these fables, and that he imagines the charges which he makes against them applicable to us, is evident from the following passage: For the sake of such a monstrous delusion, and in support of those wonderful advisers, and those wonderful words which you address to the lion, to the amphibious creature, to the creature in the form of an ass, and to others, for the sake of those divine doorkeepers whose names you commit to memory with such pains, in such a cause as this you suffer cruel tortures, and perish at the stake. Surely, then, he is unaware that none of those who regard beings in the form of an ass, a lion, or an amphibious animal, as the doorkeepers or guides on the way to heaven, ever expose themselves to death in defense of that which they think the truth. That excess of zeal, if it may be so called, which leads us for the sake of religion to submit to every kind of death, and to perish at the stake, is ascribed by Celsus to those who endure no such sufferings; and he reproaches us who suffer crucifixion for our faith, with believing in fabulous creatures - in the lion, the amphibious animal, and other such monsters. If we reject all these fables, it is not out of deference to Celsus, for we have never at any time held any such fancies; but it is in accordance with the teaching of Jesus that we oppose all such notions, and will not allow to Michael, or to any others that have been referred to, a form and figure of that sort.
12. Papyri, Papyri Graecae Magicae, 4.487-4.510, 4.547-4.555, 4.587-4.600, 4.668-4.669 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
13. Plotinus, Enneads, 6.7.36 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
14. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 4.16 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) 4.16. 16.Among the Persians, indeed, those who are wise in divine concerns, and worship divinity, are called Magi; for this is the signification of Magus, in the Persian tongue. But so great and so venerable are these men thought to be by the Persians, that Darius, the son of Hystaspes, had among other things this engraved on his tomb, that he had been the master of the Magi. They are likewise divided into three genera, as we are informed by Eubulus, who wrote the history of Mithra, in a treatise consisting of many books. In this work he says, that the first and most learned class of the Magi neither eat nor slay any thing animated, but adhere to the ancient abstinence from animals. The second class use some animals indeed [for food], but do not slay any that are tame. Nor do those of the third class, similarly with other men, lay their hands on all animals. For the dogma with all of them which ranks as the first is this, that there is a transmigration of souls; and this they also appear to indicate in the mysteries of Mithra. For in these mysteries, obscurely signifying our having something in common with brutes, they are accustomed to call us by the names of different animals. Thus they denominate the males who participate in the same mysteries lions, but the females lionesses, and those who are ministrant to these rites crows. With respect to their fathers also, they adopt the same mode. For these are denominated by them eagles and hawks. And he who is initiated in the Leontic mysteries, is invested with all-various forms of animals 16; of which particulars, Pallas, in his treatise concerning Mithra, assigning the cause, says, that it is the common opinion that these things are to be referred to the circle of the zodiac, but that truly and accurately speaking, they obscurely signify some thing pertaining to human souls, which, according to the Persians, are invested with bodies of all-various forms. For the Latins also, says Eubulus, call some men, in their tongue, boars and scorpions, lizards, and blackbirds. After the same manner likewise the Persians denominate the Gods the demiurgic causes of these: for they call Diana a she-wolf; but the sun, a bull, a lion, a |128 dragon, and a hawk; and Hecate, a horse, a bull, a lioness, and a dog. But most theologists say that the name of Proserpine (της φερεφαττης) is derived from nourishing a ringdove, (παρα το φερβειν την φατταν) for the ringdove is sacred to this Goddess. Hence, also the priests of Maia dedicate to her a ringdove. And Maia is the same with Proserpine, as being obstetric, and a nurse 17. For this Goddess is terrestrial, and so likewise is Ceres. To this Goddess, also a cock is consecrated; and on this account those that are initiated in her mysteries abstain from domestic birds. In the Eleusinian mysteries, likewise, the initiated are ordered to abstain from domestic birds, from fishes and beans, pomegranates and apples; which fruits are as equally defiling to the touch, as a woman recently delivered, and a dead body. But whoever is acquainted with the nature of divinely-luminous appearances knows also on what account it is requisite to abstain from all birds, and especially for him who hastens to be liberated from terrestrial concerns, and to be established with the celestial Gods. Vice, however, as we have frequently said, is sufficiently able to patronize itself, and especially when it pleads its cause among the ignorant. Hence, among those that are moderately vicious, some think that a dehortation of this kind is vain babbling, and, according to the proverb, the nugacity of old women; and others are of opinion that it is superstition. But those who have made greater advances in improbity, are prepared, not only to blaspheme those who exhort to, and demonstrate the propriety of this abstinence, but calumniate purity itself as enchantment and pride. They, however, suffering the punishment of their sins, both from Gods and men, are, in the first place, sufficiently punished by a disposition [i.e. by a depravity] of this kind. We shall, therefore, still farther make mention of another foreign nation, renowned and just, and believed to be pious in divine concerns, and then pass on to other particulars. |129 SPAN
15. Porphyry, On The Cave of The Nymphs, 18, 20, 24, 5, 7, 15 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) 15. One particular, however, remains to be explained, and that is the symbol of the olive planted at the top of the cavern, since Homer appears to indicate something very admirable by giving it such a position. For he does not merely say that an olive grows in this place, but that it flourishes on the summit of the cavern. "High at the head a branching olive grows, Beneath, a gloomy grotto s cool recess.." But the growth of the olive in such a situation is not fortuitous, as some one may suspect, but contains the enigma of the cavern. For |37 since the world was not produced rashly and casually, but is the work of divine wisdom and an intellectual nature; hence an olive, the symbol of this wisdom flourishes near the present cavern, which is an image of the world. For the olive is the plant of Minerva, and Minerva is wisdom. But this Goddess being produced from the head of Jupiter, the theologist has discovered an appropriate place for the olive by consecrating it at the summit of the port; signifying by this that the universe is not the effect of a casual event and the work of irrational fortune, but that it is the offspring of an intellectual nature and divine wisdom, which is separated indeed from it (by a difference of essence), but yet is near to it, through being established on the summit of the whole port (i.e., from the dignity and excellence of its nature governing the whole with consummate wisdom). Since, however, an olive is ever-flourishing, it possesses a certain peculiarity in the highest degree adapted to the revolutions of souls in the world, for to such souls this cave (as we have said) is sacred. For in summer the white leaves of the olive tend upwards, but in winter the whiter leaves are bent downward. On |38 this account also in prayers and supplications, men extend the branches of an olive, ominating from this that they shall exchange the sorrowful darkness of danger for the fair light of security and peace. The olive, therefore being naturally ever-flourishing, bears fruit which is the auxiliary of labour (by being its reward, it is sacred to Minerva; supplies the victors in athletic labours with crowns and affords a friendly branch to the suppliant petitioner. Thus, too, the world is governed by an intellectual nature, and is conducted by a wisdom eternal and ever-flourishing; by which the rewards of victory are conferred on the conquerors in the athletic race of life, as the reward of severe toil and patient perseverance. And the Demiurgus who connects and contains the world (in ineffable comprehensions) invigorates miserable and suppliant souls.
16. Epiphanius, Panarion, 40.7.6 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)

Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
aion	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 454
angel	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
angels	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
animals, lion	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
anointing	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245, 257
antonine baths (rome), mithraeum	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83
aphrodite	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
archaeology	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
archon	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
artagnes heracles ares astronomy, astrology, and astral lore	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 30, 34
ascent, cultic (sethian)	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
associations (thiasus)	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 115
astronomy/astrology	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 94, 101
astronomy	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 213
atlas	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 87
attis	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
axioms	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 5
babylon	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
banquet scene mithraic	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23
baptism, polemics	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
baptism, sethian	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
baptism	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
barbelo	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
barbeloite, modern definitions	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
beck, roger	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 110
beliefs	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
birds, eagle	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
birth	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 213
bremmer, jan n.	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
burkert, walter	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
cave	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 17, 41, 42, 43, 44
celsus	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
christ, see also jesus	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
christianism	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
christianity	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 115
cognition	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 24
cognitive/intellectual capacities	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
composition as star map	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 34
cosmos	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 213
creation	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 213
creator archons, archons	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
creator archons, yhwh (	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
cult meal mithraic	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23
cursing, of the creator	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
cybele	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
death	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
death and the afterlife, hades (underworld)	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
descent, of the soul	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
descent/ascent	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448, 453, 454
diotima	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
doctrine	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 17, 23, 24, 41, 42, 43, 44
dog	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23
dualism, gnostic	Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74
ekroth, gunnel	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
ennoia	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245, 257
epigraphy	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
eschatology	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
ethos and world view, soul, descent and ascent of	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 17, 24, 41, 42, 43, 44
euboulos	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
festival	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
five seals, see also baptism	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
frescoes	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 115
fruits, vegetarian food	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
gate, heavenly/paradisiacal	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
gate	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
gnostic traditions	Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74
gods and goddesses, chthonian	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
gods and goddesses, olympian/chthonian binary concepts	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
gods and goddesses, olympian	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
grades, mithraic	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23, 30
heliodromos	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 115
helios	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
henrichs, albert	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
hermetism, hermetic	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448
icon and/or mythic event	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 17, 23, 34
iconography	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 17, 23, 24, 26, 30, 34
image	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
image of the cosmos	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 5, 16, 17, 34, 41, 42, 43, 44
initiation, initiate	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448
initiatory hierarchy	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 453, 454
interpretatio	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
isokrates	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
jesus, mithraic	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
jesus, platonic	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
kelsos	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
knowledge	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
life, tree of	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
light	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 453, 454
magi	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 101
magic	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448
marsanes/marsianos (person)	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
merkelbach, r.	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23
metempsychosis	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
mithra	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
mithraea	Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74
mithraeum	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 5, 16, 17, 24, 34, 41, 42, 43, 44
mithraic	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 94
mithraic grades	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 110, 115
mithras, as creator	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16
mithras, grades	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
mithras, mithraeum	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
mithras, theology	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
mithras	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 110, 115; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448
mithras liturgy, the	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
mithras liturgy	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448, 453, 454
mithrea, dieburg	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
moon/luna	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 30
mysteries, hellenistic	Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74
mysteries, mithras	Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74
mysteries	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448, 453, 454
myth	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83, 87, 94, 101; Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
myth mithraic	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 17
name, divine	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 454
name, magical	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 454
neoplatonists	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
numenios of apamea	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
numenius	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 94
ogdoad	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
ohrmazd	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 213
oil	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
one, the	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
ophites, the diagram	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
pallas, author	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
paradise	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
parker, robert c. t.	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
password	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245, 257
pentad	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
persia	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212, 213
phaethon	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212, 213
planets	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 30; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
plato, platonic tradition	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212, 213
plato	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
plotinus	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
poetovio, mithraeum iii	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 101
polytheism	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
porphyry	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83, 87, 94; Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 213
porphyry on mithraism	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 17, 23, 24, 41, 42, 43, 44
post-mortality belief, belief, mithras context	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212, 213
purity	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
pythagoras, pythagoreans	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212
rappaport, r.	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 5, 43
raven	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23
reason/rationality	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
religion, hellenistic religions	Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74
religion/theology, olympian/chthonian binary concepts'	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
ritual	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 17, 41, 42, 43; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448, 453, 454
rock-birth, of agdistis, ; of mithras	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83, 94
rome, mithraeum of santa prisca	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 115
rome	Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 115
salvation/soteriology	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245, 257
sarcophagi	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212, 213
schlesier, renate	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
scorpion	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23
scorpion (natural), ; mithraic	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 87
scullion, scott	Eidinow and Kindt, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion (2015) 358
seal, ophite	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
semantics/semiotics	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 24
seth	Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74
sethians, sethianism	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245, 257
snake	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 23
social status	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
soteriology	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
soul, individual	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
soul	Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212, 213
spiritual, baptism	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
springs (water), ; (season	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83
stars, as signs	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 30, 34
stars	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83
stoicism, stoic	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448
sun/sol	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 5, 30
sun	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
symbols symbol systems/complexes	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 34, 41
taurobolium	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
theissen, gerd	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 5
theologians, ancient pagan	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
theology	Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157
theriomorphism	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245
transitus dei	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 87
trier	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 87
turcan, r.	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83, 87, 94, 101; Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 26
uboulus	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 83, 94
unconquered	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 5
verbal performance (chanting, singing, hymning, glossolalia)	Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 454
vulgar, the	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
water, baptismal/ritual	Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 257
wise, the	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44
wise and the vulgar initiation, rites of	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 41, 42, 43
yaš	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 101
zodiac and signs of the	Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 30
zoroaster	Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 94; Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16