8. Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 640, 700-741, 786-818, 851 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Hellenization of Egyptian institutions, in Herodotus • initiate • initiation • initiator
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 441; Gagne (2021), Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece, 276; Manolaraki (2012), Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus, 143
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640 οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως ὑμῖν ἀπιστῆσαί με χρή,700 τὴν πρίν γε χρείαν ἠνύσασθʼ ἐμοῦ πάρα 701 κούφως· μαθεῖν γὰρ τῆσδε πρῶτʼ ἐχρῄζετε 702 τὸν ἀμφʼ ἑαυτῆς ἆθλον ἐξηγουμένης· 703 τὰ λοιπὰ νῦν ἀκούσαθʼ, οἷα χρὴ πάθη 704 τλῆναι πρὸς Ἥρας τήνδε τὴν νεάνιδα. 705 σύ τʼ Ἰνάχειον σπέρμα, τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους 706 θυμῷ βάλʼ, ὡς ἂν τέρματʼ ἐκμάθῃς ὁδοῦ. 707 πρῶτον μὲν ἐνθένδʼ ἡλίου πρὸς ἀντολὰς 708 στρέψασα σαυτὴν στεῖχʼ ἀνηρότους γύας· 709 Σκύθας δʼ ἀφίξῃ νομάδας, οἳ πλεκτὰς στέγας 710 πεδάρσιοι ναίουσʼ ἐπʼ εὐκύκλοις ὄχοις 711 ἑκηβόλοις τόξοισιν ἐξηρτυμένοι· 712 οἷς μὴ πελάζειν, ἀλλʼ ἁλιστόνοις πόδας 713 χρίμπτουσα ῥαχίαισιν ἐκπερᾶν χθόνα. 714 λαιᾶς δὲ χειρὸς οἱ σιδηροτέκτονες 715 οἰκοῦσι Χάλυβες, οὓς φυλάξασθαί σε χρή. 716 ἀνήμεροι γὰρ οὐδὲ πρόσπλατοι ξένοις. 717 ἥξεις δʼ Ὑβριστὴν ποταμὸν οὐ ψευδώνυμον, 718 ὃν μὴ περάσῃς, οὐ γὰρ εὔβατος περᾶν, 719 πρὶν ἂν πρὸς αὐτὸν Καύκασον μόλῃς, ὀρῶν 720 ὕψιστον, ἔνθα ποταμὸς ἐκφυσᾷ μένος 721 κροτάφων ἀπʼ αὐτῶν. ἀστρογείτονας δὲ χρὴ 722 κορυφὰς ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἐς μεσημβρινὴν 723 βῆναι κέλευθον, ἔνθʼ, Ἀμαζόνων στρατὸν 724 ἥξεις στυγάνορʼ, αἳ Θεμίσκυράν ποτε 725 κατοικιοῦσιν ἀμφὶ Θερμώδονθʼ, ἵνα 726 τραχεῖα πόντου Σαλμυδησσία γνάθος 727 ἐχθρόξενος ναύταισι, μητρυιὰ νεῶν· 728 αὗταί σʼ ὁδηγήσουσι καὶ μάλʼ ἀσμένως. 729 ἰσθμὸν δʼ ἐπʼ αὐταῖς στενοπόροις λίμνης πύλαις 730 Κιμμερικὸν ἥξεις, ὃν θρασυσπλάγχνως σε χρὴ 731 λιποῦσαν αὐλῶνʼ ἐκπερᾶν Μαιωτικόν· 732 ἔσται δὲ θνητοῖς εἰσαεὶ λόγος μέγας 733 τῆς σῆς πορείας, Βόσπορος δʼ ἐπώνυμος 734 κεκλήσεται. λιποῦσα δʼ Εὐρώπης πέδον 735 ἤπειρον ἥξεις Ἀσιάδʼ·. ἆρʼ, ὑμῖν δοκεῖ 736 ὁ τῶν θεῶν τύραννος ἐς τὰ πάνθʼ ὁμῶς 737 βίαιος εἶναι; τῇδε γὰρ θνητῇ θεὸς 738 χρῄζων μιγῆναι τάσδʼ ἐπέρριψεν πλάνας. 739 πικροῦ δʼ ἔκυρσας, ὦ κόρη, τῶν σῶν γάμων 740 μνηστῆρος. οὓς γὰρ νῦν ἀκήκοας λόγους, 741 εἶναι δόκει σοι μηδέπω ʼν προοιμίοις. Ἰώ
786 ἐπεὶ προθυμεῖσθʼ, οὐκ ἐναντιώσομαι 787 τὸ μὴ οὐ γεγωνεῖν πᾶν ὅσον προσχρῄζετε. 788 σοὶ πρῶτον, Ἰοῖ, πολύδονον πλάνην φράσω, 789 ἣν ἐγγράφου σὺ μνήμοσιν δέλτοις φρενῶν. 790 ὅταν περάσῃς ῥεῖθρον ἠπείροιν ὅρον, 791 πρὸς ἀντολὰς φλογῶπας ἡλιοστιβεῖς 792 793 πόντου περῶσα φλοῖσβον, ἔστʼ ἂν ἐξίκῃ 794 πρὸς Γοργόνεια πεδία Κισθήνης, ἵνα 795 αἱ Φορκίδες ναίουσι δηναιαὶ κόραι 795 τρεῖς κυκνόμορφοι, κοινὸν ὄμμʼ ἐκτημέναι, 796 μονόδοντες, ἃς οὔθʼ ἥλιος προσδέρκεται 797 ἀκτῖσιν οὔθʼ ἡ νύκτερος μήνη ποτέ. 798 πέλας δʼ ἀδελφαὶ τῶνδε τρεῖς κατάπτεροι, 799 δρακοντόμαλλοι Γοργόνες βροτοστυγεῖς, 800 ἃς θνητὸς οὐδεὶς εἰσιδὼν ἕξει πνοάς. 801 τοιοῦτο μέν σοι τοῦτο φρούριον λέγω· 802 ἄλλην δʼ ἄκουσον δυσχερῆ θεωρίαν· 803 ὀξυστόμους γὰρ Ζηνὸς ἀκραγεῖς κύνας 804 γρῦπας φύλαξαι, τόν τε μουνῶπα στρατὸν 805 Ἀριμασπὸν ἱπποβάμονʼ, οἳ χρυσόρρυτον 806 οἰκοῦσιν ἀμφὶ νᾶμα Πλούτωνος πόρου· 807 τούτοις σὺ μὴ πέλαζε. τηλουρὸν δὲ γῆν 808 ἥξεις, κελαινὸν φῦλον, οἳ πρὸς ἡλίου 809 ναίουσι πηγαῖς, ἔνθα ποταμὸς Αἰθίοψ. 810 τούτου παρʼ ὄχθας ἕρφʼ, ἕως ἂν ἐξίκῃ 811 καταβασμόν, ἔνθα Βιβλίνων ὀρῶν ἄπο 812 ἵησι σεπτὸν Νεῖλος εὔποτον ῥέος. 813 οὗτός σʼ ὁδώσει τὴν τρίγωνον ἐς χθόνα 814 Νειλῶτιν, οὗ δὴ τὴν μακρὰν ἀποικίαν, 815 Ἰοῖ, πέπρωται σοί τε καὶ τέκνοις κτίσαι. 816 τῶν δʼ εἴ τί σοι ψελλόν τε καὶ δυσεύρετον, 817 ἐπανδίπλαζε καὶ σαφῶς ἐκμάνθανε· 818 σχολὴ δὲ πλείων ἢ θέλω πάρεστί μοι. Χορός
851 τέξεις κελαινὸν Ἔπαφον, ὃς καρπώσεται ' None | sup>
640 I do not know how to refuse you. You shall learn in truthful speech all that you would like to know. Yet I am ashamed to tell about the storm of calamity sent by Heaven, of the marring of my form, and of the source from which it swooped upon me, wretched that I am.700 You gained your former request easily from me; for you first desired the story of her ordeal from her own lips. Hear now the sequel, the sufferings this maid is fated to endure at Hera’s hand. 705 And may you, daughter of Inachus, lay to heart my words so that you may learn the end of your wanderings. First, from this spot, turn yourself toward the rising sun and make your way over untilled plains; and you shall reach the Scythian nomads, who dwell 710 in thatched houses, perched aloft on strong-wheeled wagons and are equipped with far-darting bows. Do not approach them, but keeping your feet near the rugged shore, where the sea breaks with a roar, pass on beyond their land. On the left hand dwell the workers in iron, 715 the Chalybes, and you must beware of them, since they are savage and are not to be approached by strangers. Then you shall reach the river Hybristes, Ὑβριστής, Violent from ὕβρις, violence. which does not belie its name. Do not cross this, for it is hard to cross, until you come to Caucasus itself, 720 loftiest of mountains, where from its very brows the river pours out its might in fury. You must pass over its crests, which neighbor the stars, and enter upon a southward course, where you shall reach the host of the Amazons, who loathe all men. They shall in time to come 725 inhabit Themiscyra on the Thermodon, where, fronting the sea, is Salmydessus’ rugged jaw, evil host of mariners, step-mother of ships. The Amazons will gladly guide you on your way. Next, just at the narrow portals of the harbor, you shall reach 730 the Cimmerian isthmus. This you must leave with stout heart and pass through the channel of Maeotis; and ever after among mankind there shall be great mention of your passing, and it shall be called after you the Βόσπορος, by popular etymology derived from βοῦς and πόρος, passing of the cow, is, according to Wecklein, a Thracian form of Φωσφόρος, light-bearing, an epithet of the goddess Hecate. The dialectical form, once misunderstood, was then, it is conjectured, transferred from the Thracian (cp. Aesch. Pers. 746 ) to the Crimean strait. In the Suppliants Aeschylus makes Io cross the Thracian Bosporus . Then, leaving the soil of Europe, 735 you shall come to the Asian continent. Does it not seem to you that the tyrant of the gods is violent in all his ways? For this god, desirous of union with this mortal maid, has imposed upon her these wanderings. Maiden, you have gained a cruel suitor 740 for your hand. As to the tale you now have heard— understand that it has not even passed the introduction. Io
786 Well, since you are bent on this, I will not refuse to proclaim all that you still crave to know. First, to you, Io, will I declare your much-vexed wandering, and may you engrave it on the recording tablets of your mind. 790 When you have crossed the stream that bounds the two continents, toward the flaming east, where the sun walks,...... crossing the surging sea until you reach the Gorgonean plains of Cisthene, where the daughters of Phorcys dwell, ancient maids, 795 three in number, shaped like swans, possessing one eye amongst them and a single tooth; neither does the sun with his beams look down upon them, nor ever the nightly moon. And near them are their three winged sisters, the snake-haired Gorgons, loathed of mankind, 800 whom no one of mortal kind shall look upon and still draw breath. Such is the peril that I bid you to guard against. But now listen to another and a fearsome spectacle. Beware of the sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that do not bark, the gryphons, 805 and the one-eyed Arimaspian folk, mounted on horses, who dwell about the flood of Pluto’s Πλούτον is an abbreviation of Πλουτοδότης or Πλουτοδοτήρ, giver of wealth ; hence the apparent confusion with Πλούτος . stream that flows with gold. Do not approach them. Then you shall come to a far-off country of a dark race that dwells by the waters of the sun, where the river Aethiop is. 810 Follow along its banks until you reach the cataract, where, from the Bybline mountains, 815 O Io, and for your children to found your far-off colony. If anything of this is confusing to you and hard to understand, may you question me yet again, and gain a clear account; for I have more leisure than I crave. Chorus
851 And you shall bring forth dark Epaphus,, 201
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36.26 וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת־לֵב הָאֶבֶן מִבְּשַׂרְכֶם וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב בָּשָׂר׃'' None | sup>
36.26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.'' None |
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10. Xenophanes, Fragments, None (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • eschatology. See mystery initiations and entries under Empedocles, Euripides, Homer, Parmenides, Pindar, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, aethereal
Found in books: Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 71; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 244
| b7 And now I will turn to another tale and point the way. . . . Once they say that he Pythagoras) was passing by when a dog was being beaten and spoke this word: Stop! don\'t beat it! For it is the soul of a friend that I recognised when I heard its voice.""'' None |
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11. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, in indigenous Australia • mystic initiation, thunder, lightning and earthquake in • rites, initiation
Found in books: Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti (2022), The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse, 279; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 335
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12. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation • initiation and divination
Found in books: Johnston (2008), Ancient Greek Divination, 97; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 212
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13. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Hellenization of Egyptian institutions, in Herodotus • Orphic initiation
Found in books: Manolaraki (2012), Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus, 143; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 43
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14. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • eschatology. See mystery initiations and entries under Empedocles, Euripides, Homer, Parmenides, Pindar, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, aethereal • initiation • mystery initiations
Found in books: Iribarren and Koning (2022), Hesiod and the Beginnings of Greek Philosophy, 98; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 255, 351, 356
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15. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiates • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, Dionysiac • mystic initiation, language of
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 36; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 392; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 116, 400
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16. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiates • mystery initiations
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 101; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 255; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 1; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 235
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17. Euripides, Bacchae, 34, 70, 94-114, 156, 286-299, 470, 474, 485, 526-529, 585, 733, 748, 811-813, 944 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate, career in Rome • Initiation • Money, needed for initiation, indicated by Isis, profit in forum through advocates speeches • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiate • initiates • initiation, initiatory rites • initiations (private cults) • makarismos, in mystic initiation • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, disorientation in • mystic initiation, in indigenous Australia • mystic initiation, thunder, lightning and earthquake in • mystic initiation, transition to joy in • phrissein (of initiation) • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 35, 134; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 17, 40, 141, 162, 273, 310, 321, 322, 338, 341, 343; Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 336; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 325; Peels (2016), Hosios: A Semantic Study of Greek Piety, 173, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 45, 220, 335, 336, 340, 375; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 3, 128
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34 σκευήν τʼ ἔχειν ἠνάγκασʼ ὀργίων ἐμῶν,
70 ἅπας ἐξοσιούσθω·
94 λοχίοις δʼ αὐτίκα νιν δέξατο 95 θαλάμαις Κρονίδας Ζεύς, 96 κατὰ μηρῷ δὲ καλύψας 97 χρυσέαισιν συνερείδει 98 περόναις κρυπτὸν ἀφʼ Ἥρας. 99 ἔτεκεν δʼ, ἁνίκα Μοῖραι 100 τέλεσαν, ταυρόκερων θεὸν'101 στεφάνωσέν τε δρακόντων 102 στεφάνοις, ἔνθεν ἄγραν θηροτρόφον 103 μαινάδες ἀμφιβάλλονται 104 πλοκάμοις. Χορός 105 ὦ Σεμέλας τροφοὶ Θῆβαι, word split in text 106 στεφανοῦσθε κισσῷ· 107 βρύετε βρύετε χλοήρει 108 μίλακι καλλικάρπῳ 109 καὶ καταβακχιοῦσθε δρυὸς 110 ἢ ἐλάτας κλάδοισι, 111 στικτῶν τʼ ἐνδυτὰ νεβρίδων 112 στέφετε λευκοτρίχων πλοκάμων 113 μαλλοῖς· ἀμφὶ δὲ νάρθηκας ὑβριστὰς 114 ὁσιοῦσθʼ· αὐτίκα γᾶ πᾶσα χορεύσει—' 286 287 μηρῷ; διδάξω σʼ ὡς καλῶς ἔχει τόδε. 288 ἐπεί νιν ἥρπασʼ ἐκ πυρὸς κεραυνίου 289 Ζεύς, ἐς δʼ Ὄλυμπον βρέφος ἀνήγαγεν θεόν, 290 Ἥρα νιν ἤθελʼ ἐκβαλεῖν ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ· 291 Ζεὺς δʼ ἀντεμηχανήσαθʼ οἷα δὴ θεός. 292 ῥήξας μέρος τι τοῦ χθόνʼ ἐγκυκλουμένου 293 αἰθέρος, ἔθηκε τόνδʼ ὅμηρον ἐκδιδούς, 2
94 Διόνυσον Ἥρας νεικέων· χρόνῳ δέ νιν 295 βροτοὶ ῥαφῆναί φασιν ἐν μηρῷ Διός, 296 ὄνομα μεταστήσαντες, ὅτι θεᾷ θεὸς 297 Ἥρᾳ ποθʼ ὡμήρευσε, συνθέντες λόγον. 298 299 καὶ τὸ μανιῶδες μαντικὴν πολλὴν ἔχει· 4
70 ὁρῶν ὁρῶντα, καὶ δίδωσιν ὄργια. Πενθεύς
474 οὐ θέμις ἀκοῦσαί σʼ, ἔστι δʼ ἄξιʼ εἰδέναι. Πενθεύς
485 τὰ δʼ ἱερὰ νύκτωρ ἢ μεθʼ ἡμέραν τελεῖς; Διόνυσος
526 Ἴθι, Διθύραμβʼ, ἐμὰν ἄρσενα word split in text 527 τάνδε βᾶθι νηδύν· 528 ἀναφαίνω σε τόδʼ, ὦ Βάκχιε, word split in text 529 Θήβαις ὀνομάζειν.
585 σεῖε πέδον χθονὸς Ἔννοσι πότνια. Χορός
733 ἕπεσθε θύρσοις διὰ χερῶν ὡπλισμέναι.
748 χωροῦσι δʼ ὥστʼ ὄρνιθες ἀρθεῖσαι δρόμῳ
811 βούλῃ σφʼ ἐν ὄρεσι συγκαθημένας ἰδεῖν; Πενθεύς 812 μάλιστα, μυρίον γε δοὺς χρυσοῦ σταθμόν. Διόνυσος 813 τί δʼ εἰς ἔρωτα τοῦδε πέπτωκας μέγαν; Πενθεύς
944 αἴρειν νιν· αἰνῶ δʼ ὅτι μεθέστηκας φρενῶν. Πενθεύς ' None | sup>
34 a trick of Kadmos’, for which they boasted that Zeus killed her, because she had told a false tale about her marriage. Therefore I have goaded them from the house in frenzy, and they dwell in the mountains, out of their wits; and I have compelled them to wear the outfit of my mysteries.
70 peaking propitious things. For I will celebrate Dionysus with hymns according to eternal custom. Choru
94 the thunder of Zeus flying upon her, his mother cast from her womb, leaving life by the stroke of a thunderbolt. Immediately Zeus, Kronos’ son, 95 received him in a chamber fit for birth, and having covered him in his thigh shut him up with golden clasps, hidden from Hera.And he brought forth, when the Fate 100 had perfected him, the bull-horned god, and he crowned him with crowns of snakes, for which reason Maenads cloak their wild prey over their locks. Choru'101 had perfected him, the bull-horned god, and he crowned him with crowns of snakes, for which reason Maenads cloak their wild prey over their locks. Choru 105 O Thebes , nurse of Semele, crown yourself with ivy, flourish, flourish with the verdant yew bearing sweet fruit, and crown yourself in honor of Bacchus with branches of oak 110 or pine. Adorn your garments of spotted fawn-skin with fleeces of white sheep, and sport in holy games with insolent thyrsoi The thyrsos is a staff that is crowned with ivy and that is sacred to Dionysus and an emblem of his worship. . At once all the earth will dance—
156 ing of Dionysus, beneath the heavy beat of drums, celebrating in delight the god of delight with Phrygian shouts and cries,
286 o that by his means men may have good things. And do you laugh at him, because he was sewn up in Zeus’ thigh? I will teach you that this is well: when Zeus snatched him out of the lighting-flame, and led the child as a god to Olympus , 290 Hera wished to banish him from the sky, but Zeus, as a god, had a counter-contrivance. Having broken a part of the air which surrounds the earth, he gave this to Hera as a pledge protecting the real A line of text has apparently been lost here. Dionysus from her hostility. But in time, 295 mortals say that he was nourished in the thigh of Zeus, changing the word, because a god he had served as a hostage for the goddess Hera, and composing the story. The account given in lines 292f. of the development of this legend is based on the similarity between the Greek words for hostage ( ὅμηρος ) and thigh ( μηρός ). But this god is a prophet—for Bacchic revelry and madness have in them much prophetic skill. 4
70 Seeing me just as I saw him, he gave me sacred rites. Pentheu
474 It is not lawful for you to hear, but they are worth knowing. Pentheu
485 Do you perform the rites by night or by day? Dionysu
526 crying out: Go, Dithyrambus, enter this my male womb. I will make you illustrious, Bacchus, in Thebes , so that they will call you by this name.
585 Shake the world’s plain, lady Earthquake! Choru
733 abandoning the ambush where I had hidden myself. But she cried out: O my fleet hounds, we are hunted by these men; but follow me! follow armed with your thyrsoi in your hands! We fled and escaped
748 dragged down by countless young hands. The garment of flesh was torn apart faster then you could blink your royal eyes. And like birds raised in their course, they proceeded along the level plains, which by the streams of the Asopu
811 Ah! Do you wish to see them sitting together in the mountains? Pentheu 812 Certainly. I’d give an enormous amount of gold for that. Dionysu 813 Why do you desire this so badly? Pentheu
944 You must hold it in your right hand and raise your right foot in unison with it. I praise you for having changed your mind. Pentheu ' None |
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18. Euripides, Hippolytus, 25, 948-957 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Orphic, initiation rituals • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiates • initiation • initiations (private cults) • initiations, fees for • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • music, in the Orphic initiation rituals
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 133; Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 9; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 325; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 259; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 3, 9
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25 σεμνῶν ἐς ὄψιν καὶ τέλη μυστηρίων948 σὺ δὴ θεοῖσιν ὡς περισσὸς ὢν ἀνὴρ 949 ξύνει; σὺ σώφρων καὶ κακῶν ἀκήρατος; 950 οὐκ ἂν πιθοίμην τοῖσι σοῖς κόμποις ἐγὼ 951 θεοῖσι προσθεὶς ἀμαθίαν φρονεῖν κακῶς.' "952 ἤδη νυν αὔχει καὶ δι' ἀψύχου βορᾶς" "953 σίτοις καπήλευ' ̓Ορφέα τ' ἄνακτ' ἔχων" '954 βάκχευε πολλῶν γραμμάτων τιμῶν καπνούς:' "955 ἐπεί γ' ἐλήφθης. τοὺς δὲ τοιούτους ἐγὼ" '956 φεύγειν προφωνῶ πᾶσι: θηρεύουσι γὰρ 957 σεμνοῖς λόγοισιν, αἰσχρὰ μηχανώμενοι. ' None | sup>
25 to witness the solemn mystic rites and be initiated therein in Pandion’s land, i.e. Attica. Phaedra, his father’s noble wife, caught sight of him, and by my designs she found her heart was seized with wild desire.948 by my dead wife. Now, since thou hast dared this loathly crime, come, look thy father in the face. Art thou the man who dost with gods consort, as one above the vulgar herd? art thou the chaste and sinless saint? 950 Thy boasts will never persuade me to be guilty of attributing ignorance to gods. Go then, vaunt thyself, and drive1 Hippolytus is here taunted with being an exponent of the Orphic mysteries. Apparently Orpheus, like Pythagoras, taught the necessity of total abstinence from animal food. thy petty trade in viands formed of lifeless food; take Orpheus for thy chief and go a-revelling, with all honour for the vapourings of many a written scroll, 955 eeing thou now art caught. Let all beware, I say, of such hypocrites! who hunt their prey with fine words, and all the while are scheming villainy. She is dead; dost think that this will save thee? Why this convicts thee more than all, abandoned wretch! ' None |
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19. Euripides, Ion, 1074 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiate
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 281; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 381
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1074 αἰσχύνομαι τὸν πολύυ-'' None | sup>
1074 I blush for that god of song,'' None |
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20. Euripides, Orestes, 1507-1508 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • institutions
Found in books: Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 43; Papadodima (2022), Ancient Greek Literature and the Foreign: Athenian Dialogues II, 14
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1507 προσκυνῶ ς', ἄναξ, νόμοισι βαρβάροισι προσπίτνων."1508 οὐκ ἐν ̓Ιλίῳ τάδ' ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ἐν ̓Αργείᾳ χθονί." "" None | sup>
1507 Before you I prostrate myself, lord, and supplicate you in my foreign way. Oreste'1508 We are not in Ilium , but the land of Argos . Phrygian ' None |
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21. Euripides, Suppliant Women, 470 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • Initiation, Initiate(s)
Found in books: Bricault and Bonnet (2013), Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire, 138; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 375
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470 λύσαντα σεμνὰ στεμμάτων μυστήρια'' None | sup>
470 drive him forth in disregard of the holy suppliant Reading ἰκτήρια with Nauck. bough he bears, ere sinks yon blazing sun, and attempt not violently to take up the dead, seeing thou hast naught to do with the city of Argos. And if thou wilt hearken to me, thou shalt bring thy barque of state into port unharmed by the billows; but if not, fierce shall the surge of battle be,'' None |
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22. Herodotus, Histories, 1.26, 1.65, 2.81, 2.171.2, 4.13, 4.78-4.80, 4.95, 5.92, 6.91, 6.135, 8.38-8.39, 8.65, 8.65.1, 9.78-9.79 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Austrian Archaeological Institute • Initiation • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiation/Rite of passage • Sparta, and Athens, institutions • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • grain-supply, elite initiatives • initiate • initiates • initiates, and funerary epitaphs • initiation • initiation (rite of passage for children) • initiation and divination • initiation, initiatory rites • institution • institutions • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • mystery cults, stringent purity regulations as a prerequisite for a mystery initiation • myth and numbers of initiates • myth and repeat initiation? • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 134, 135; Athanassaki and Titchener (2022), Plutarch's Cities, 285; Bednarek (2021), The Myth of Lycurgus in Aeschylus, Naevius, and beyond, 19; Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 7, 126; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 134, 148, 154, 273, 279; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 379; Gagne (2021), Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece, 253; Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 100, 633; Immendörfer (2017), Ephesians and Artemis : The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus As the Epistle's Context 89; Johnston (2008), Ancient Greek Divination, 97; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 215; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 149; McClay (2023), The Bacchic Gold Tablets and Poetic Tradition: Memory and Performance. 79; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 71, 166, 247, 313; Papadodima (2022), Ancient Greek Literature and the Foreign: Athenian Dialogues II, 14; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 275, 348; Peels (2016), Hosios: A Semantic Study of Greek Piety, 39; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 57; Stroumsa (1996), Hidden Widsom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. 171
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1.26 τελευτήσαντος δὲ Ἀλυάττεω ἐξεδέξατο τὴν βασιληίην Κροῖσος ὁ Ἀλυάττεω, ἐτέων ἐὼν ἡλικίην πέντε καὶ τριήκοντα· ὃς δὴ Ἑλλήνων πρώτοισι ἐπεθήκατο Ἐφεσίοισι. ἔνθα δὴ οἱ Ἐφέσιοι πολιορκεόμενοι ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἀνέθεσαν τὴν πόλιν τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι, ἐξάψαντες ἐκ τοῦ νηοῦ σχοινίον ἐς τὸ τεῖχος. ἔστι δὲ μεταξὺ τῆς τε παλαιῆς πόλιος, ἣ τότε ἐπολιορκέετο, καὶ τοῦ νηοῦ ἑπτὰ στάδιοι. πρώτοισι μὲν δὴ τούτοισι ἐπεχείρησε ὁ Κροῖσος, μετὰ δὲ ἐν μέρεϊ ἑκάστοισι Ἰώνων τε καὶ Αἰολέων, ἄλλοισι ἄλλας αἰτίας ἐπιφέρων, τῶν μὲν ἐδύνατο μέζονας παρευρίσκειν, μέζονα ἐπαιτιώμενος, τοῖσι δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ φαῦλα ἐπιφέρων.
1.65 τοὺς μέν νυν Ἀθηναίους τοιαῦτα τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ἐπυνθάνετο ὁ Κροῖσος κατέχοντα, τοὺς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίους ἐκ κακῶν τε μεγάλων πεφευγότας καὶ ἐόντας ἤδη τῷ πολέμῳ κατυπερτέρους Τεγεητέων. ἐπὶ γὰρ Λέοντος βασιλεύοντος καὶ Ἡγησικλέος ἐν Σπάρτῃ τοὺς ἄλλους πολέμους εὐτυχέοντες οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸς Τεγεήτας μούνους προσέπταιον. τὸ δὲ ἔτι πρότερον τούτων καί κακονομώτατοι ἦσαν σχεδὸν πάντων Ἑλλήνων κατά τε σφέας αὐτοὺς καὶ ξείνοισι ἀπρόσμικτοι· μετέβαλον δὲ ὧδε ἐς εὐνομίην. Λυκούργου τῶν Σπαρτιητέων δοκίμου ἀνδρὸς ἐλθόντος ἐς Δελφοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ χρηστήριον, ὡς ἐσήιε ἐς τὸ μέγαρον, εὐθὺς ἡ Πυθίη λέγει τάδε. ἥκεις ὦ Λυκόοργε ἐμὸν ποτὶ πίονα νηόν Ζηνὶ φίλος καὶ πᾶσιν Ὀλύμπια δώματʼ ἔχουσι. δίζω ἤ σε θεὸν μαντεύσομαι ἢ ἄνθρωπον. ἀλλʼ ἔτι καὶ μᾶλλον θεὸν ἔλπομαι, ὦ Λυκόοργε. οἳ μὲν δή τινες πρὸς τούτοισι λέγουσι καὶ φράσαι αὐτῷ τὴν Πυθίην τὸν νῦν κατεστεῶτα κόσμον Σπαρτιήτῃσι. ὡς δʼ αὐτοὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι λέγουσι, Λυκοῦργον ἐπιτροπεύσαντα Λεωβώτεω, ἀδελφιδέου μὲν ἑωυτοῦ βασιλεύοντος δὲ Σπαρτιητέων, ἐκ Κρήτης ἀγαγέσθαι ταῦτα. ὡς γὰρ ἐπετρόπευσε τάχιστα, μετέστησε τὰ νόμιμα πάντα, καὶ ἐφύλαξε ταῦτα μὴ παραβαίνειν· μετὰ δὲ τὰ ἐς πόλεμον ἔχοντα, ἐνωμοτίας καὶ τριηκάδας καὶ συσσίτια, πρός τε τούτοισι τοὺς ἐφόρους καὶ γέροντας ἔστησε Λυκοῦργος.
2.81 ἐνδεδύκασι δὲ κιθῶνας λινέους περὶ τὰ σκέλεα θυσανωτούς, τοὺς καλέουσι καλασίρις· ἐπὶ τούτοισι δὲ εἰρίνεα εἵματα λευκὰ ἐπαναβληδὸν φορέουσι. οὐ μέντοι ἔς γε τὰ ἱρὰ ἐσφέρεται εἰρίνεα οὐδὲ συγκαταθάπτεταί σφι· οὐ γὰρ ὅσιον. ὁμολογέουσι δὲ ταῦτα τοῖσι Ὀρφικοῖσι καλεομένοισι καὶ Βακχικοῖσι, ἐοῦσι δὲ Αἰγυπτίοισι καὶ Πυθαγορείοισι· οὐδὲ γὰρ τούτων τῶν ὀργίων μετέχοντα ὅσιον ἐστὶ ἐν εἰρινέοισι εἵμασι θαφθῆναι. ἔστι δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἱρὸς λόγος λεγόμενος.' 4.13 ἔφη δὲ Ἀριστέης ὁ Καϋστροβίου ἀνὴρ Προκοννήσιος ποιέων ἔπεα, ἀπικέσθαι ἐς Ἰσσηδόνας φοιβόλαμπτος γενόμενος, Ἰσσηδόνων δὲ ὑπεροικέειν Ἀριμασποὺς ἄνδρας μουνοφθάλμους ὕπερ δὲ τούτων τοὺς χρυσοφύλακας γρῦπας, τούτων δὲ τοὺς Ὑπερβορέους κατήκοντας ἐπὶ θάλασσαν. τούτους ὦν πάντας πλὴν Ὑπερβορέων, ἀρξάντων Ἀριμασπῶν, αἰεὶ τοῖσι πλησιοχώροισι ἐπιτίθεσθαι, καὶ ὑπὸ μὲν Ἀριμασπῶν ἐξωθέεσθαι ἐκ τῆς χώρης Ἰσσηδόνας, ὑπὸ δὲ Ἰσσηδόνων Σκύθας, Κιμμερίους δὲ οἰκέοντας ἐπὶ τῇ νοτίῃ θαλάσσῃ ὑπὸ Σκυθέων πιεζομένους ἐκλείπειν τὴν χώρην. οὕτω οὐδὲ οὗτος συμφέρεται περὶ τῆς χώρης ταύτης Σκύθῃσι.
4.78 οὗτος μέν νυν οὕτω δὴ ἔπρηξε διὰ ξεινικά τε νόμαια καὶ Ἑλληνικὰς ὁμιλίας. πολλοῖσι δὲ κάρτα ἔτεσι ὕστερον Σκύλης ὁ Ἀριαπείθεος ἔπαθε παραπλήσια τούτῳ. Ἀριαπείθεϊ γὰρ τῷ Σκυθέων βασιλέι γίνεται μετʼ ἄλλων παίδων Σκύλης· ἐξ Ἰστριηνῆς δὲ γυναικὸς οὗτος γίνεται καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἐγχωρίης· τὸν ἡ μήτηρ αὕτη γλῶσσάν τε Ἑλλάδα καὶ γράμματα ἐδίδαξε. μετὰ δὲ χρόνῳ ὕστερον Ἀριαπείθης μὲν τελευτᾷ δόλῳ ὑπὸ Σπαργαπείθεος τοῦ Ἀγαθύρσων βασιλέος, Σκύλης δὲ τήν τε βασιληίην παρέλαβε καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πατρός, τῇ οὔνομα ἦν Ὀποίη· ἦν δὲ αὕτη ἡ Ὀποίη ἀστή, ἐξ ἧς ἦν Ὄρικος Ἀριαπείθεϊ παῖς. βασιλεύων δὲ Σκυθέων ὁ Σκύλης διαίτῃ οὐδαμῶς ἠρέσκετο Σκυψικῇ, ἀλλὰ πολλὸν πρὸς τὰ Ἑλληνικὰ μᾶλλον τετραμμένος ἦν ἀπὸ παιδεύσιος τῆς ἐπεπαίδευτο, ἐποίεέ τε τοιοῦτο· εὖτε ἀγάγοι τὴν στρατιὴν τὴν Σκυθέων ἐς τὸ Βορυσθενειτέων ἄστυ ʽοἱ δὲ Βορυσθενεῗται οὗτοι λέγουσι σφέας αὐτοὺς εἶναι Μιλησίουσ̓, ἐς τούτους ὅκως ἔλθοι ὁ Σκύλης, τὴν μὲν στρατιὴν καταλίπεσκε ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ, αὐτὸς δὲ ὅκως ἔλθοι ἐς τὸ τεῖχος καὶ τὰς πύλας ἐγκλῄσειε, τὴν στολὴν ἀποθέμενος τὴν Σκυθικὴν λάβεσκε ἂν Ἑλληνίδα ἐσθῆτα, ἔχων δʼ ἂν ταύτην ἠγόραζε οὔτε δορυφόρων ἑπομένων οὔτε ἄλλου οὐδενός· τὰς δὲ πύλας ἐφύλασσον, μή τίς μιν Σκυθέων ἴδοι ἔχοντα ταύτην τὴν στολήν· καὶ τά τε ἄλλα ἐχρᾶτο διαίτη Ἑλληνικῇ καὶ θεοῖσι ἱρὰ ἐποίεε κατὰ νόμους τοὺς Ἑλλήνων. ὅτε δὲ διατρίψειε μῆνα ἡ πλέον τούτου, ἀπαλλάσσετο ἐνδὺς τὴν Σκυθικὴν στολήν. ταῦτα ποιέεσκε πολλάκις καὶ οἰκία τε ἐδείματο ἐν Βορυσθένεϊ καὶ γυναῖκα ἔγημε ἐς αὐτὰ ἐπιχωρίην. 4.79 ἐπείτε δὲ ἔδεέ οἱ κακῶς γενέσθαι, ἐγίνετο ἀπὸ προφάσιος τοιῆσδε. ἐπεθύμησε Διονύσῳ Βακχείῳ τελεσθῆναι· μέλλοντι δέ οἱ ἐς χεῖρας ἄγεσθαι τὴν τελετὴν ἐγένετο φάσμα μέγιστον. ἦν οἱ ἐν Βορυσθενεϊτέων τῇ πόλι οἰκίης μεγάλης καὶ πολυτελέος περιβολή, τῆς καὶ ὀλίγῳ τι πρότερον τούτων μνήμην εἶχον, τὴν πέριξ λευκοῦ λίθου σφίγγες τε καὶ γρῦπες ἕστασαν· ἐς ταύτην ὁ θεὸς ἐνέσκηψε βέλος. καὶ ἣ μὲν κατεκάη πᾶσα, Σκύλης δὲ οὐδὲν τούτου εἵνεκα ἧσσον ἐπετέλεσε τὴν τελετήν. Σκύθαι δὲ τοῦ βακχεύειν πέρι Ἕλλησι ὀνειδίζουσι· οὐ γὰρ φασὶ οἰκὸς εἶναι θεὸν ἐξευρίσκειν τοῦτον ὅστις μαίνεσθαι ἐνάγει ἀνθρώπους. ἐπείτε δὲ ἐτελέσθη τῷ Βακχείῳ ὁ Σκύλης, διεπρήστευσε τῶν τις Βορυσθενειτέων πρὸς τοὺς Σκύθας λέγων “ἡμῖν γὰρ καταγελᾶτε, ὦ Σκύθαι, ὅτι βακχεύομεν καὶ ἡμέας ὁ θεὸς λαμβάνει· νῦν οὗτος ὁ δαίμων καὶ τὸν ὑμέτερον βασιλέα λελάβηκε, καὶ βακχεύει τε καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μαίνεται. εἰ δέ μοι ἀπιστέετε, ἕπεσθε, καὶ ὑμῖν ἐγὼ δέξω.” εἵποντο τῶν Σκύθεων οἱ προεστεῶτες, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀναγαγὼν ὁ Βορυσθενεΐτης λάθρῃ ἐπὶ πύργον κατεῖσε. ἐπείτε δὲ παρήιε σὺν τῷ θιάσῳ ὁ Σκύλης καὶ εἶδόν μιν βακχεύοντα οἱ Σκύθαι, κάρτα συμφορὴν μεγάλην ἐποιήσαντο, ἐξελθόντες δὲ ἐσήμαινον πάσῃ τῇ στρατιῇ τὰ ἴδοιεν. 4.80 ὡς δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐξήλαυνε ὁ Σκύλης ἐς ἤθεα τὰ ἑωυτοῦ, οἱ Σκύθαι προστησάμενοι τὸν ἀδελφεὸν αὐτοῦ Ὀκταμασάδην, γεγονότα ἐκ τῆς Τήρεω θυγατρός, ἐπανιστέατο τῷ Σκύλῃ. ὁ δὲ μαθὼν τὸ γινόμενον ἐπʼ ἑωυτῷ καὶ τὴν αἰτίην διʼ ἣν ἐποιέετο, καταφεύγει ἐς τὴν Θρηίκην. πυθόμενος δὲ ὁ Ὀκταμασάδης ταῦτα ἐστρατεύετο ἐπὶ τὴν Θρηίκην. ἐπείτε δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ Ἴστρῳ ἐγένετο, ἠντίασάν μιν οἱ Θρήικες, μελλόντων δὲ αὐτῶν συνάψειν ἔπεμψε Σιτάλκης παρὰ τὸν Ὀκταμασάδην λέγων τοιάδε. “τι δεῖ ἡμέας ἀλλήλων πειρηθῆναι; εἶς μέν μευ τῆς ἀδελφεῆς παῖς, ἔχεις δέ μευ ἀδελφεόν. σὺ δέ μοι ἀπόδος τοῦτον, καὶ ἐγὼ σοὶ τὸν σὸν Σκύλην παραδίδωμι· στρατιῇ δὲ μήτε σὺ κινδυνεύσῃς μήτʼ ἐγώ.” ταῦτά οἱ πέμψας ὁ Σιτάλκης ἐπεκηρυκεύετο· ἦν γὰρ παρὰ τῷ Ὀκταμασάδη ἀδελφεὸς Σιτάλκεω πεφευγώς. ὁ δὲ Ὀκταμασάδης καταινέει ταῦτα, ἐκδοὺς δὲ τὸν ἑωυτοῦ μήτρωα Σιτάλκη ἔλαβε τὸν ἀδελφεὸν Σκύλην. καὶ Σιτάλκης μὲν παραλαβὼν τὸν ἀδελφεὸν ἀπήγετο, Σκύλεω δὲ Ὀκταμασάδης αὐτοῦ ταύτῃ ἀπέταμε τὴν κεφαλήν. οὕτω μὲν περιστέλλουσι τὰ σφέτερα νόμαια Σκύθαι, τοῖσι δὲ παρακτωμένοισι ξεινικοὺς νόμους τοιαῦτα ἐπιτίμια διδοῦσι.
4.95 ὡς δὲ ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι τῶν τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον οἰκεόντων Ἑλλήνων καὶ Πόντον, τὸν Σάλμοξιν τοῦτον ἐόντα ἄνθρωπον δουλεῦσαι ἐν Σάμῳ, δουλεῦσαι δὲ Πυθαγόρῃ τῷ Μνησάρχου, ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ αὐτὸν γενόμενον ἐλεύθερον χρήματα κτήσασθαι μεγάλα, κτησάμενον δὲ ἀπελθεῖν ἐς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ. ἅτε δὲ κακοβίων τε ἐόντων τῶν Θρηίκων καὶ ὑπαφρονεστέρων, τὸν Σάλμοξιν τοῦτον ἐπιστάμενον δίαιτάν τε Ἰάδα καὶ ἤθεα βαθύτερα ἢ κατὰ Θρήικας, οἷα Ἕλλησι τε ὁμιλήσαντα καὶ Ἑλλήνων οὐ τῷ ἀσθενεστάτῳ σοφιστῇ Πυθαγόρη, κατασκευάσασθαι ἀνδρεῶνα, ἐς τὸν πανδοκεύοντα τῶν ἀστῶν τοὺς πρώτους καὶ εὐωχέοντα ἀναδιδάσκειν ὡς οὔτε αὐτὸς οὔτε οἱ συμπόται αὐτοῦ οὔτε οἱ ἐκ τούτων αἰεὶ γινόμενοι ἀποθανέονται, ἀλλʼ ἥξουσι ἐς χῶρον τοῦτον ἵνα αἰεὶ περιεόντες ἕξουσι τὰ πάντα ἀγαθά. ἐν ᾧ δὲ ἐποίεε τὰ καταλεχθέντα καὶ ἔλεγε ταῦτα, ἐν τούτῳ κατάγαιον οἴκημα ἐποιέετο. ὡς δέ οἱ παντελέως εἶχε τὸ οἴκημα, ἐκ μὲν τῶν Θρηίκων ἠφανίσθη, καταβὰς δὲ κάτω ἐς τὸ κατάγαιον οἴκημα διαιτᾶτο ἐπʼ ἔτεα τρία· οἳ δὲ μιν ἐπόθεόν τε καὶ ἐπένθεον ὡς τεθνεῶτα. τετάρτω δὲ ἔτεϊ ἐφάνη τοῖσι Θρήιξι, καὶ οὕτω πιθανά σφι ἐγένετο τὰ ἔλεγε ὁ Σάλμοξις. ταῦτα φασί μιν ποιῆσαι.
5.92 Ἠετίωνι δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ παῖς ηὐξάνετο, καί οἱ διαφυγόντι τοῦτον τὸν κίνδυνον ἀπὸ τῆς κυψέλης ἐπωνυμίην Κύψελος οὔνομα ἐτέθη. ἀνδρωθέντι δὲ καὶ μαντευομένῳ Κυψέλῳ ἐγένετο ἀμφιδέξιον χρηστήριον ἐν Δελφοῖσι, τῷ πίσυνος γενόμενος ἐπεχείρησέ τε καὶ ἔσχε Κόρινθον. ὁ δὲ χρησμὸς ὅδε ἦν. ὄλβιος οὗτος ἀνὴρ ὃς ἐμὸν δόμον ἐσκαταβαίνει, Κύψελος Ἠετίδης, βασιλεὺς κλειτοῖο Κορίνθου αὐτὸς καὶ παῖδες, παίδων γε μὲν οὐκέτι παῖδες. τὸ μὲν δὴ χρηστήριον τοῦτο ἦν, τυραννεύσας δὲ ὁ Κύψελος τοιοῦτος δή τις ἀνὴρ ἐγένετο· πολλοὺς μὲν Κορινθίων ἐδίωξε, πολλοὺς δὲ χρημάτων ἀπεστέρησε, πολλῷ δέ τι πλείστους τῆς ψυχῆς.
5.92 Κορινθίοισι γὰρ ἦν πόλιος κατάστασις τοιήδε· ἦν ὀλιγαρχίη, καὶ οὗτοι Βακχιάδαι καλεόμενοι ἔνεμον τὴν πόλιν, ἐδίδοσαν δὲ καὶ ἤγοντο ἐξ ἀλλήλων. Ἀμφίονι δὲ ἐόντι τούτων τῶν ἀνδρῶν γίνεται θυγάτηρ χωλή· οὔνομα δέ οἱ ἦν Λάβδα. ταύτην Βακχιαδέων γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἤθελε γῆμαι, ἴσχει Ἠετίων ὁ Ἐχεκράτεος, δήμου μὲν ἐὼν ἐκ Πέτρης, ἀτὰρ τὰ ἀνέκαθεν Λαπίθης τε καὶ Καινείδης. ἐκ δέ οἱ ταύτης τῆς γυναικὸς οὐδʼ ἐξ ἄλλης παῖδες ἐγίνοντο. ἐστάλη ὦν ἐς Δελφοὺς περὶ γόνου. ἐσιόντα δὲ αὐτὸν ἰθέως ἡ Πυθίη προσαγορεύει τοῖσιδε τοῖσι ἔπεσι. Ἠετίων, οὔτις σε τίει πολύτιτον ἐόντα. Λάβδα κύει, τέξει δʼ ὀλοοίτροχον· ἐν δὲ πεσεῖται ἀνδράσι μουνάρχοισι, δικαιώσει δὲ Κόρινθον. ταῦτα χρησθέντα τῷ Ἠετίωνι ἐξαγγέλλεταί κως τοῖσι Βακχιάδῃσι, τοῖσι τὸ μὲν πρότερον γενόμενον χρηστήριον ἐς Κόρινθον ἦν ἄσημον, φέρον τε ἐς τὠυτὸ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἠετίωνος καὶ λέγον ὧδε. αἰετὸς ἐν πέτρῃσι κύει, τέξει δὲ λέοντα καρτερὸν ὠμηστήν· πολλῶν δʼ ὑπὸ γούνατα λύσει. ταῦτά νυν εὖ φράζεσθε, Κορίνθιοι, οἳ περὶ καλήν Πειρήνην οἰκεῖτε καὶ ὀφρυόεντα Κόρινθον.
5.92 Περίανδρος δὲ συνιεὶς τὸ ποιηθὲν καὶ νόῳ ἴσχων ὥς οἱ ὑπετίθετο Θρασύβουλος τοὺς ὑπειρόχους τῶν ἀστῶν φονεύειν, ἐνθαῦτα δὴ πᾶσαν κακότητα ἐξέφαινε ἐς τοὺς πολιήτας. ὅσα γὰρ Κύψελος ἀπέλιπε κτείνων τε καὶ διώκων, Περίανδρος σφέα ἀπετέλεσε, μιῇ δὲ ἡμέρῃ ἀπέδυσε πάσας τὰς Κορινθίων γυναῖκας διὰ τὴν ἑωυτοῦ γυναῖκα Μέλισσαν. πέμψαντι γάρ οἱ ἐς Θεσπρωτοὺς ἐπʼ Ἀχέροντα ποταμὸν ἀγγέλους ἐπὶ τὸ νεκυομαντήιον παρακαταθήκης πέρι ξεινικῆς οὔτε σημανέειν ἔφη ἡ Μέλισσα ἐπιφανεῖσα οὔτε κατερέειν ἐν τῷ κέεται χώρῳ ἡ παρακαταθήκη· ῥιγοῦν τε γὰρ καὶ εἶναι γυμνή· τῶν γάρ οἱ συγκατέθαψε ἱματίων ὄφελος εἶναι οὐδὲν οὐ κατακαυθέντων· μαρτύριον δέ οἱ εἶναι ὡς ἀληθέα ταῦτα λέγει, ὅτι ἐπὶ ψυχρὸν τὸν ἰπνὸν Περίανδρος τοὺς ἄρτους ἐπέβαλε. ταῦτα δὲ ὡς ὀπίσω ἀπηγγέλθη τῷ Περιάνδρῳ, πιστὸν γάρ οἱ ἦν τὸ συμβόλαιον ὃς νεκρῷ ἐούσῃ Μελίσσῃ ἐμίγη, ἰθέως δὴ μετὰ τὴν ἀγγελίην κήρυγμα ἐποιήσατο ἐς τὸ Ἥραιον ἐξιέναι πάσας τὰς Κορινθίων γυναῖκας. αἳ μὲν δὴ ὡς ἐς ὁρτὴν ἤισαν κόσμῳ τῷ καλλίστῳ χρεώμεναι, ὃ δʼ ὑποστήσας τοὺς δορυφόρους ἀπέδυσε σφέας πάσας ὁμοίως, τάς τε ἐλευθέρας καὶ τὰς ἀμφιπόλους, συμφορήσας δὲ ἐς ὄρυγμα Μελίσσῃ ἐπευχόμενος κατέκαιε. ταῦτα δέ οἱ ποιήσαντι καὶ τὸ δεύτερον πέμψαντι ἔφρασε τὸ εἴδωλον τὸ Μελίσσης ἐς τὸν κατέθηκε χῶρον τοῦ ξείνου τὴν παρακαταθήκην. τοιοῦτο μὲν ὑμῖν ἐστὶ ἡ τυραννίς, ὦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, καὶ τοιούτων ἔργων. ἡμέας δὲ τοὺς Κορινθίους τότε αὐτίκα θῶμα μέγα εἶχε ὅτε ὑμέας εἴδομεν μεταπεμπομένους Ἱππίην, νῦν τε δὴ καὶ μεζόνως θωμάζομεν λέγοντας ταῦτα, ἐπιμαρτυρόμεθά τε ἐπικαλεόμενοι ὑμῖν θεοὺς τοὺς Ἑλληνίους μὴ κατιστάναι τυραννίδας ἐς τὰς πόλις. οὔκων παύσεσθε ἀλλὰ πειρήσεσθε παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον κατάγοντες Ἱππίην· ἴστε ὑμῖν Κορινθίους γε οὐ συναινέοντας.”
5.92 ἄρξαντος δὲ τούτου ἐπὶ τριήκοντα ἔτεα καὶ διαπλέξαντος τὸν βίον εὖ, διάδοχός οἱ τῆς τυραννίδος ὁ παῖς Περίανδρος γίνεται. ὁ τοίνυν Περίανδρος κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἦν ἠπιώτερος τοῦ πατρός, ἐπείτε δὲ ὡμίλησε διʼ ἀγγέλων Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ Μιλήτου τυράννῳ, πολλῷ ἔτι ἐγένετο Κυψέλου μιαιφονώτερος. πέμψας γὰρ παρὰ Θρασύβουλον κήρυκα ἐπυνθάνετο ὅντινα ἂν τρόπον ἀσφαλέστατον καταστησάμενος τῶν πρηγμάτων κάλλιστα τὴν πόλιν ἐπιτροπεύοι. Θρασύβουλος δὲ τὸν ἐλθόντα παρὰ τοῦ Περιάνδρου ἐξῆγε ἔξω τοῦ ἄστεος, ἐσβὰς δὲ ἐς ἄρουραν ἐσπαρμένην ἅμα τε διεξήιε τὸ λήιον ἐπειρωτῶν τε καὶ ἀναποδίζων τὸν κήρυκα κατὰ τὴν ἀπὸ Κορίνθου ἄπιξιν, καὶ ἐκόλουε αἰεὶ ὅκως τινὰ ἴδοι τῶν ἀσταχύων ὑπερέχοντα, κολούων δὲ ἔρριπτε, ἐς ὃ τοῦ ληίου τὸ κάλλιστόν τε καὶ βαθύτατον διέφθειρε τρόπῳ τοιούτω· διεξελθὼν δὲ τὸ χωρίον καὶ ὑποθέμενος ἔπος οὐδὲν ἀποπέμπει τὸν κήρυκα. νοστήσαντος δὲ τοῦ κήρυκος ἐς τὴν Κόρινθον ἦν πρόθυμος πυνθάνεσθαι τὴν ὑποθήκην ὁ Περίανδρος· ὁ δὲ οὐδέν οἱ ἔφη Θρασύβουλον ὑποθέσθαι, θωμάζειν τε αὐτοῦ παρʼ οἷόν μιν ἄνδρα ἀποπέμψειε, ὡς παραπλῆγά τε καὶ τῶν ἑωυτοῦ σινάμωρον, ἀπηγεόμενος τά περ πρὸς Θρασυβούλου ὀπώπεε.
5.92 ἔδει δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἠετίωνος γόνου Κορίνθῳ κακὰ ἀναβλαστεῖν. ἡ Λάβδα γὰρ πάντα ταῦτα ἤκουε ἑστεῶσα πρὸς αὐτῇσι τῇσι θύρῃσι· δείσασα δὲ μή σφι μεταδόξῃ καὶ τὸ δεύτερον λαβόντες τὸ παιδίον ἀποκτείνωσι, φέρουσα κατακρύπτει ἐς τὸ ἀφραστότατόν οἱ ἐφαίνετο εἶναι, ἐς κυψέλην, ἐπισταμένη ὡς εἰ ὑποστρέψαντες ἐς ζήτησιν ἀπικνεοίατο πάντα ἐρευνήσειν μέλλοιεν· τὰ δὴ καὶ ἐγίνετο. ἐλθοῦσι δὲ καὶ διζημένοισι αὐτοῖσι ὡς οὐκ ἐφαίνετο, ἐδόκεε ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι καὶ λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς ἀποπέμψαντας ὡς πάντα ποιήσειαν τὰ ἐκεῖνοι ἐνετείλαντο. οἳ μὲν δὴ ἀπελθόντες ἔλεγον ταῦτα.
5.92 οἳ μὲν ταῦτα ἔλεγον, τῶν δὲ συμμάχων τὸ πλῆθος οὐκ ἐνεδέκετο τοὺς λόγους. οἱ μέν νυν ἄλλοι ἡσυχίην ἦγον, Κορίνθιος δὲ Σωκλέης ἔλεξε τάδε.
5.92 τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τοῖσι Βακχιάδῃσι πρότερον γενόμενον ἦν ἀτέκμαρτον· τότε δὲ τὸ Ἠετίωνι γενόμενον ὡς ἐπύθοντο, αὐτίκα καὶ τὸ πρότερον συνῆκαν ἐὸν συνῳδὸν τῷ Ἠετίωνος. συνέντες δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εἶχον ἐν ἡσυχίῃ, ἐθέλοντες τὸν μέλλοντα Ἠετίωνι γίνεσθαι γόνον διαφθεῖραι. ὡς δʼ ἔτεκε ἡ γυνὴ τάχιστα, πέμπουσι σφέων αὐτῶν δέκα ἐς τὸν δῆμον ἐν τῷ κατοίκητο ὁ Ἠετίων ἀποκτενέοντας τὸ παιδίον. ἀπικόμενοι δὲ οὗτοι ἐς τὴν Πέτρην καὶ παρελθόντες ἐς τὴν αὐλὴν τὴν Ἠετίωνος αἴτεον τὸ παιδίον· ἡ δὲ Λάβδα εἰδυῖά τε οὐδὲν τῶν εἵνεκα ἐκεῖνοι ἀπικοίατο, καὶ δοκέουσα σφέας φιλοφροσύνης τοῦ πατρὸς εἵνεκα αἰτέειν, φέρουσα ἐνεχείρισε αὐτῶν ἑνί. τοῖσι δὲ ἄρα ἐβεβούλευτο κατʼ ὁδὸν τὸν πρῶτον αὐτῶν λαβόντα τὸ παιδίον προσουδίσαι. ἐπεὶ ὦν ἔδωκε φέρουσα ἡ Λάβδα, τὸν λαβόντα τῶν ἀνδρῶν θείῃ τύχῃ προσεγέλασε τὸ παιδίον, καὶ τὸν φρασθέντα τοῦτο οἶκτός τις ἴσχει ἀποκτεῖναι, κατοικτείρας δὲ παραδιδοῖ τῷ δευτέρῳ, ὁ δὲ τῷ τρίτῳ. οὕτω δὴ διεξῆλθε διὰ πάντων τῶν δέκα παραδιδόμενον, οὐδενὸς βουλομένου διεργάσασθαι. ἀποδόντες ὦν ὀπίσω τῇ τεκούσῃ τὸ παιδίον καὶ ἐξελθόντες ἔξω, ἑστεῶτες ἐπὶ τῶν θυρέων ἀλλήλων ἅπτοντο καταιτιώμενοι, καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ πρώτου λαβόντος, ὅτι οὐκ ἐποίησε κατὰ τὰ δεδογμένα, ἐς ὃ δή σφι χρόνου ἐγγινομένου ἔδοξε αὖτις παρελθόντας πάντας τοῦ φόνου μετίσχειν.
5.92 ‘ἦ δὴ ὅ τε οὐρανὸς ἔνερθε ἔσται τῆς γῆς καὶ ἡ γῆ μετέωρος ὑπὲρ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἄνθρωποι νομὸν ἐν θαλάσσῃ ἕξουσι καὶ ἰχθύες τὸν πρότερον ἄνθρωποι, ὅτε γε ὑμεῖς ὦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἰσοκρατίας καταλύοντες τυραννίδας ἐς τὰς πόλις κατάγειν παρασκευάζεσθε, τοῦ οὔτε ἀδικώτερον ἐστὶ οὐδὲν κατʼ ἀνθρώπους οὔτε μιαιφονώτερον. εἰ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτό γε δοκέει ὑμῖν εἶναι χρηστὸν ὥστε τυραννεύεσθαι τὰς πόλις, αὐτοὶ πρῶτοι τύραννον καταστησάμενοι παρὰ σφίσι αὐτοῖσι οὕτω καὶ τοῖσι ἄλλοισι δίζησθε κατιστάναι· νῦν δὲ αὐτοὶ τυράννων ἄπειροι ἐόντες, καὶ φυλάσσοντες τοῦτο δεινότατα ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ μὴ γενέσθαι, παραχρᾶσθε ἐς τοὺς συμμάχους. εἰ δὲ αὐτοῦ ἔμπειροι ἔατε κατά περ ἡμεῖς, εἴχετε ἂν περὶ αὐτοῦ γνώμας ἀμείνονας συμβαλέσθαι ἤ περ νῦν.
6.91 ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ὕστερον ἐγίνετο. Αἰγινητέων δὲ οἱ παχέες ἐπαναστάντος τοῦ δήμου σφι ἅμα Νικοδρόμῳ ἐπεκράτησαν, καὶ ἔπειτα σφέας χειρωσάμενοι ἐξῆγον ἀπολέοντες. ἀπὸ τούτου δὲ καὶ ἄγος σφι ἐγένετο, τὸ ἐκθύσασθαι οὐκ οἶοί τε ἐγένοντο ἐπιμηχανώμενοι, ἀλλʼ ἔφθησαν ἐκπεσόντες πρότερον ἐκ τῆς νήσου ἤ σφι ἵλεον γενέσθαι τὴν θεόν. ἑπτακοσίους γὰρ δὴ τοῦ δήμου ζωγρήσαντες ἐξῆγον ὡς ἀπολέοντες, εἷς δέ τις τούτων ἐκφυγὼν τὰ δεσμὰ καταφεύγει πρὸς πρόθυρα Δήμητρος θεσμοφόρου, ἐπιλαμβανόμενος δὲ τῶν ἐπισπαστήρων εἴχετο· οἳ δὲ ἐπείτε μιν ἀποσπάσαι οὐκ οἷοί τε ἀπέλκοντες ἐγίνοντο, ἀποκόψαντες αὐτοῦ τὰς χεῖρας ἦγον οὕτω, αἱ χεῖρες δὲ ἐκεῖναι ἐμπεφυκυῖαι ἦσαν τοῖσι ἐπισπαστῆρσι.
6.135 Μιλτιάδης μέν νυν φλαύρως ἔχων ἀπέπλεε ὀπίσω, οὔτε χρήματα Ἀθηναίοισι ἄγων οὔτε Πάρον προσκτησάμενος, ἀλλὰ πολιορκήσας τε ἓξ καὶ εἴκοσι ἡμέρας καὶ δηιώσας τὴν νῆσον. Πάριοι δὲ πυθόμενοι ὡς ἡ ὑποζάκορος τῶν θεῶν Τιμὼ Μιλτιάδῃ κατηγήσατο, βουλόμενοί μιν ἀντὶ τούτων τιμωρήσασθαι, θεοπρόπους πέμπουσι ἐς Δελφούς ὥς σφεας ἡσυχίη τῆς πολιορκίης ἔσχε· ἔπεμπον δὲ ἐπειρησομένους εἰ καταχρήσωνται τὴν ὑποζάκορον τῶν θεῶν τὴν ἐξηγησαμένην τοῖσι ἐχθροῖσι τῆς πατρίδος ἅλωσιν καὶ τὰ ἐς ἔρσενα γόνον ἄρρητα ἱρὰ ἐκφήνασαν Μιλτιάδῃ. ἡ δὲ Πυθίη οὐκ ἔα, φᾶσα οὐ Τιμοῦν εἶναι τὴν αἰτίην τούτων, ἀλλὰ δεῖν γὰρ Μιλτιάδεα τελευτᾶν μὴ εὖ, φανῆναί οἱ τῶν κακῶν κατηγεμόνα.
8.38 συμμιγέντων δὲ τούτων πάντων, φόβος τοῖσι βαρβάροισι ἐνεπεπτώκεε. μαθόντες δὲ οἱ Δελφοὶ φεύγοντας σφέας, ἐπικαταβάντες ἀπέκτειναν πλῆθός τι αὐτῶν. οἱ δὲ περιεόντες ἰθὺ Βοιωτῶν ἔφευγον. ἔλεγον δὲ οἱ ἀπονοστήσαντες οὗτοι τῶν βαρβάρων, ὡς ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι, ὡς πρὸς τούτοισι καὶ ἄλλα ὥρων θεῖα· δύο γὰρ ὁπλίτας μέζονας ἢ κατʼ ἀνθρώπων φύσιν ἔχοντας ἕπεσθαί σφι κτείνοντας καὶ διώκοντας. 8.39 τούτους δὲ τοὺς δύο Δελφοὶ λέγουσι εἶναι ἐπιχωρίους ἥρωας, Φύλακόν τε καὶ Αὐτόνοον, τῶν τὰ τεμένεα ἐστὶ περὶ τὸ ἱρόν, Φυλάκου μὲν παρʼ αὐτὴν τὴν ὁδὸν κατύπερθε τοῦ ἱροῦ τῆς Προναίης, Αὐτονόου δὲ πέλας τῆς Κασταλίης ὑπὸ τῇ Ὑαμπείῃ κορυφῇ. οἱ δὲ πεσόντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Παρνησοῦ λίθοι ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἡμέας ἦσαν σόοι, ἐν τῷ τεμένεϊ τῆς Προναίης Ἀθηναίης κείμενοι, ἐς τὸ ἐνέσκηψαν διὰ τῶν βαρβάρων φερόμενοι. τούτων μέν νυν τῶν ἀνδρῶν αὕτη ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱροῦ ἀπαλλαγὴ γίνεται.
8.65 ἔφη δὲ Δίκαιος ὁ Θεοκύδεος, ἀνὴρ Ἀθηναῖος φυγάς τε καὶ παρὰ Μήδοισι λόγιμος γενόμενος τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον, ἐπείτε ἐκείρετο ἡ Ἀττικὴ χώρη ὑπὸ τοῦ πεζοῦ στρατοῦ τοῦ Ξέρξεω ἐοῦσα ἔρημος Ἀθηναίων, τυχεῖν τότε ἐὼν ἅμα Δημαρήτῳ τῷ Λακεδαιμονίῳ ἐν τῷ Θριασίῳ πεδίῳ, ἰδεῖν δὲ κονιορτὸν χωρέοντα ἀπʼ Ἐλευσῖνος ὡς ἀνδρῶν μάλιστά κῃ τρισμυρίων, ἀποθωμάζειν τε σφέας τὸν κονιορτὸν ὅτεων κοτὲ εἴη ἀνθρώπων, καὶ πρόκατε φωνῆς ἀκούειν, καί οἱ φαίνεσθαι τὴν φωνὴν εἶναι τὸν μυστικὸν ἴακχον. εἶναι δʼ ἀδαήμονα τῶν ἱρῶν τῶν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι γινομένων τὸν Δημάρητον, εἰρέσθαί τε αὐτὸν ὅ τι τὸ φθεγγόμενον εἴη τοῦτο. αὐτὸς δὲ εἰπεῖν “Δημάρητε, οὐκ ἔστι ὅκως οὐ μέγα τι σίνος ἔσται τῇ βασιλέος στρατιῇ· τάδε γὰρ ἀρίδηλα, ἐρήμου ἐούσης τῆς Ἀττικῆς, ὅτι θεῖον τὸ φθεγγόμενον, ἀπʼ Ἐλευσῖνος ἰὸν ἐς τιμωρίην Ἀθηναίοισί τε καὶ τοῖσι συμμάχοισι. καὶ ἢν μέν γε κατασκήψῃ ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, κίνδυνος αὐτῷ τε βασιλέι καὶ τῇ στρατιῇ τῇ ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἔσται, ἢν δὲ ἐπὶ τὰς νέας τράπηται τὰς ἐν Σαλαμῖνι, τὸν ναυτικὸν στρατὸν κινδυνεύσει βασιλεὺς ἀποβαλεῖν. τὴν δὲ ὁρτὴν ταύτην ἄγουσι Ἀθηναῖοι ἀνὰ πάντα ἔτεα τῇ Μητρὶ καὶ τῇ Κούρῃ, καὶ αὐτῶν τε ὁ βουλόμενος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων μυεῖται· καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τῆς ἀκούεις ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὁρτῇ ἰακχάζουσι.” πρὸς ταῦτα εἰπεῖν Δημάρητον “σίγα τε καὶ μηδενὶ ἄλλῳ τὸν λόγον τοῦτον εἴπῃς· ἢν γάρ τοι ἐς βασιλέα ἀνενειχθῇ τὰ ἔπεα ταῦτα, ἀποβαλέεις τὴν κεφαλήν, καὶ σε οὔτε ἐγὼ δυνήσομαι ῥύσασθαι οὔτʼ ἄλλος ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ εἶς. ἀλλʼ ἔχʼ ἥσυχος, περὶ δὲ στρατιῆς τῆσδε θεοῖσι μελήσει.” τὸν μὲν δὴ ταῦτα παραινέειν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κονιορτοῦ καὶ τῆς φωνῆς γενέσθαι νέφος καὶ μεταρσιωθὲν φέρεσθαι ἐπὶ Σαλαμῖνος ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων. οὕτω δὴ αὐτοὺς μαθεῖν ὅτι τὸ ναυτικὸν τὸ Ξέρξεω ἀπολέεσθαι μέλλοι. ταῦτα μὲν Δίκαιος ὁ Θεοκύδεος ἔλεγε, Δημαρήτου τε καὶ ἄλλων μαρτύρων καταπτόμενος.
9.78 ἐν δὲ Πλαταιῇσι ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ τῶν Αἰγινητέων ἦν Λάμπων Πυθέω, Αἰγινητέων ἐὼν τὰ πρῶτα· ὃς ἀνοσιώτατον ἔχων λόγον ἵετο πρὸς Παυσανίην, ἀπικόμενος δὲ σπουδῇ ἔλεγε τάδε. “ὦ παῖ Κλεομβρότου, ἔργον ἔργασταί τοι ὑπερφυὲς μέγαθός τε καὶ κάλλος, καί τοι θεὸς παρέδωκε ῥυσάμενον τὴν Ἑλλάδα κλέος καταθέσθαι μέγιστον Ἑλλήνων τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. σὺ δὲ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοισι ποίησον, ὅκως λόγος τε σὲ ἔχῃ ἔτι μέζων καί τις ὕστερον φυλάσσηται τῶν βαρβάρων μὴ ὑπάρχειν ἔργα ἀτάσθαλα ποιέων ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Λεωνίδεω γὰρ ἀποθανόντος ἐν Θερμοπύλῃσι Μαρδόνιός τε καὶ Ξέρξης ἀποταμόντες τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀνεσταύρωσαν· τῷ σὺ τὴν ὁμοίην ἀποδιδοὺς ἔπαινον ἕξεις πρῶτα μὲν ὑπὸ πάντων Σπαρτιητέων, αὖτις δὲ καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων· Μαρδόνιον γὰρ ἀνασκολοπίσας τετιμωρήσεαι ἐς πάτρων τὸν σὸν Λεωνίδην.” 9.79 ὃ μὲν δοκέων χαρίζεσθαι ἔλεγε τάδε, ὃ δʼ ἀνταμείβετο τοῖσιδε. “ὦ ξεῖνε Αἰγινῆτα, τὸ μὲν εὐνοέειν τε καὶ προορᾶν ἄγαμαί σευ, γνώμης μέντοι ἡμάρτηκας χρηστῆς· ἐξαείρας γάρ με ὑψοῦ καὶ τὴν πάτρην καὶ τὸ ἔργον, ἐς τὸ μηδὲν κατέβαλες παραινέων νεκρῷ λυμαίνεσθαι, καὶ ἢν ταῦτα ποιέω, φὰς ἄμεινόν με ἀκούσεσθαι· τὰ πρέπει μᾶλλον βαρβάροισι ποιέειν ἤ περ Ἕλλησι· καὶ ἐκείνοισι δὲ ἐπιφθονέομεν. ἐγὼ δʼ ὦν τούτου εἵνεκα μήτε Αἰγινήτῃσι ἅδοιμι μήτε τοῖσι ταῦτα ἀρέσκεται, ἀποχρᾷ δέ μοι Σπαρτιήτῃσι ἀρεσκόμενον ὅσια μὲν ποιέειν, ὅσια δὲ καὶ λέγειν. Λεωνίδῃ δέ, τῷ με κελεύεις τιμωρῆσαι, φημὶ μεγάλως τετιμωρῆσθαι, ψυχῇσί τε τῇσι τῶνδε ἀναριθμήτοισι τετίμηται αὐτός τε καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι οἱ ἐν Θερμοπύλῃσι τελευτήσαντες. σὺ μέντοι ἔτι ἔχων λόγον τοιόνδε μήτε προσέλθῃς ἔμοιγε μήτε συμβουλεύσῃς, χάριν τε ἴσθι ἐὼν ἀπαθής.”'' None | sup>
1.26 After the death of Alyattes, his son Croesus, then thirty-five years of age, came to the throne. The first Greeks whom he attacked were the Ephesians. ,These, besieged by him, dedicated their city to Artemis; they did this by attaching a rope to the city wall from the temple of the goddess, which stood seven stades away from the ancient city which was then besieged. ,These were the first whom Croesus attacked; afterwards he made war on the Ionian and Aeolian cities in turn, upon different pretexts: he found graver charges where he could, but sometimes alleged very petty grounds of offense.
1.65 So Croesus learned that at that time such problems were oppressing the Athenians, but that the Lacedaemonians had escaped from the great evils and had mastered the Tegeans in war. In the kingship of Leon and Hegesicles at Sparta, the Lacedaemonians were successful in all their other wars but met disaster only against the Tegeans. ,Before this they had been the worst-governed of nearly all the Hellenes and had had no dealings with strangers, but they changed to good government in this way: Lycurgus, a man of reputation among the Spartans, went to the oracle at Delphi . As soon as he entered the hall, the priestess said in hexameter: ,
2.81 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. ,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.
2.171.2 Let me preserve a discreet silence, too, concerning that rite of Demeter which the Greeks call
4.13 There is also a story related in a poem by Aristeas son of Caüstrobius, a man of Proconnesus . This Aristeas, possessed by Phoebus, visited the Issedones; beyond these (he said) live the one-eyed Arimaspians, beyond whom are the griffins that guard gold, and beyond these again the Hyperboreans, whose territory reaches to the sea. ,Except for the Hyperboreans, all these nations (and first the Arimaspians) are always at war with their neighbors; the Issedones were pushed from their lands by the Arimaspians, and the Scythians by the Issedones, and the Cimmerians, living by the southern sea, were hard pressed by the Scythians and left their country. Thus Aristeas' story does not agree with the Scythian account about this country. " "
4.78 This, then, was how Anacharsis fared, owing to his foreign ways and consorting with Greeks; and a great many years afterward, Scyles, son of Ariapithes, suffered a like fate. Scyles was one of the sons born to Ariapithes, king of Scythia; but his mother was of Istria, and not native-born; and she taught him to speak and read Greek. ,As time passed, Ariapithes was treacherously killed by Spargapithes, king of the Agathyrsi, and Scyles inherited the kingship and his father's wife, a Scythian woman whose name was Opoea, and she bore Scyles a son, Oricus. ,So Scyles was king of Scythia; but he was in no way content with the Scythian way of life, and was much more inclined to Greek ways, from the upbringing that he had received. So this is what he would do: he would lead the Scythian army to the city of the Borysthenites (who say that they are Milesians), and when he arrived there would leave his army in the suburb of the city, ,while he himself, entering within the walls and shutting the gates, would take off his Scythian apparel and put on Greek dress; and in it he would go among the townsfolk unattended by spearmen or any others (who would guard the gates, lest any Scythian see him wearing this apparel), and in every way follow the Greek manner of life, and worship the gods according to Greek usage. ,When he had spent a month or more like this, he would put on Scythian dress and leave the city. He did this often; and he built a house in Borysthenes, and married a wife of the people of the country and brought her there. " '4.79 But when things had to turn out badly for him, they did so for this reason: he conceived a desire to be initiated into the rites of the Bacchic Dionysus; and when he was about to begin the sacred mysteries, he saw the greatest vision. ,He had in the city of the Borysthenites a spacious house, grand and costly (the same house I just mentioned), all surrounded by sphinxes and griffins worked in white marble; this house was struck by a thunderbolt. And though the house burnt to the ground, Scyles none the less performed the rite to the end. ,Now the Scythians reproach the Greeks for this Bacchic revelling, saying that it is not reasonable to set up a god who leads men to madness. ,So when Scyles had been initiated into the Bacchic rite, some one of the Borysthenites scoffed at the Scythians: “You laugh at us, Scythians, because we play the Bacchant and the god possesses us; but now this deity has possessed your own king, so that he plays the Bacchant and is maddened by the god. If you will not believe me, follow me now and I will show him to you.” ,The leading men among the Scythians followed him, and the Borysthenite brought them up secretly onto a tower; from which, when Scyles passed by with his company of worshippers, they saw him playing the Bacchant; thinking it a great misfortune, they left the city and told the whole army what they had seen. ' "4.80 After this Scyles rode off to his own place; but the Scythians rebelled against him, setting up his brother Octamasades, son of the daughter of Teres, for their king. ,Scyles, learning what had happened concerning him and the reason why it had happened, fled into Thrace; and when Octamasades heard this he led his army there. But when he was beside the Ister, the Thracians barred his way; and when the armies were about to engage, Sitalces sent this message to Octamasades: ,“Why should we try each other's strength? You are my sister's son, and you have my brother with you; give him back to me, and I will give up your Scyles to you; and let us not endanger our armies.” ,Such was the offer Sitalces sent to him; for Sitalces' brother had fled from him and was with Octamasades. The Scythian agreed to this, and took his brother Scyles, giving up his own uncle to Sitalces. ,Sitalces then took his brother and carried him away, but Octamasades beheaded Scyles on the spot. This is how closely the Scythians guard their customs, and these are the penalties they inflict on those who add foreign customs to their own. " 4.95 I understand from the Greeks who live beside the Hellespont and Pontus, that this Salmoxis was a man who was once a slave in Samos, his master being Pythagoras son of Mnesarchus; ,then, after being freed and gaining great wealth, he returned to his own country. Now the Thracians were a poor and backward people, but this Salmoxis knew Ionian ways and a more advanced way of life than the Thracian; for he had consorted with Greeks, and moreover with one of the greatest Greek teachers, Pythagoras; ,therefore he made a hall, where he entertained and fed the leaders among his countrymen, and taught them that neither he nor his guests nor any of their descendants would ever die, but that they would go to a place where they would live forever and have all good things. ,While he was doing as I have said and teaching this doctrine, he was meanwhile making an underground chamber. When this was finished, he vanished from the sight of the Thracians, and went down into the underground chamber, where he lived for three years, ,while the Thracians wished him back and mourned him for dead; then in the fourth year he appeared to the Thracians, and thus they came to believe what Salmoxis had told them. Such is the Greek story about him.
5.92 These were the words of the Lacedaemonians, but their words were ill-received by the greater part of their allies. The rest then keeping silence, Socles, a Corinthian, said, ,“In truth heaven will be beneath the earth and the earth aloft above the heaven, and men will dwell in the sea and fishes where men dwelt before, now that you, Lacedaemonians, are destroying the rule of equals and making ready to bring back tyranny into the cities, tyranny, a thing more unrighteous and bloodthirsty than anything else on this earth. ,If indeed it seems to you to be a good thing that the cities be ruled by tyrants, set up a tyrant among yourselves first and then seek to set up such for the rest. As it is, however, you, who have never made trial of tyrants and take the greatest precautions that none will arise at Sparta, deal wrongfully with your allies. If you had such experience of that thing as we have, you would be more prudent advisers concerning it than you are now.” ,The Corinthian state was ordered in such manner as I will show.There was an oligarchy, and this group of men, called the Bacchiadae, held sway in the city, marrying and giving in marriage among themselves. Now Amphion, one of these men, had a crippled daughter, whose name was Labda. Since none of the Bacchiadae would marry her, she was wedded to Eetion son of Echecrates, of the township of Petra, a Lapith by lineage and of the posterity of Caeneus. ,When no sons were born to him by this wife or any other, he set out to Delphi to enquire concerning the matter of acquiring offspring. As soon as he entered, the Pythian priestess spoke these verses to him:
6.91 But this happened later. The rich men of Aegina gained mastery over the people, who had risen against them with Nicodromus, then made them captive and led them out to be killed. Because of this a curse fell upon them, which despite all their efforts they could not get rid of by sacrifice, and they were driven out of their island before the goddess would be merciful to them. ,They had taken seven hundred of the people alive; as they led these out for slaughter one of them escaped from his bonds and fled to the temple gate of Demeter the Lawgiver, where he laid hold of the door-handles and clung to them. They could not tear him away by force, so they cut off his hands and carried him off, and those hands were left clinging fast to the door-handles. ' "
6.135 So Miltiades sailed back home in a sorry condition, neither bringing money for the Athenians nor having won Paros; he had besieged the town for twenty-six days and ravaged the island. ,The Parians learned that Timo the under-priestess of the goddesses had been Miltiades' guide and desired to punish her for this. Since they now had respite from the siege, they sent messengers to Delphi to ask if they should put the under-priestess to death for guiding their enemies to the capture of her native country, and for revealing to Miltiades the rites that no male should know. ,But the Pythian priestess forbade them, saying that Timo was not responsible: Miltiades was doomed to make a bad end, and an apparition had led him in these evils. " 8.38 All of this together struck panic into the barbarians, and the Delphians, perceiving that they fled, descended upon them and killed a great number. The survivors fled straight to Boeotia. Those of the barbarians who returned said (as I have been told) that they had seen other divine signs besides what I have just described: two men-at-arms of stature greater than human,they said, had come after them, slaying and pursuing. ' "8.39 These two, say the Delphians, were the native heroes Phylacus and Autonous, whose precincts are near the temple, Phylacus' by the road itself above the shrine of Athena Pronaea, and Autonous' near the Castalian spring, under the Hyarapean Peak. ,The rocks that fell from Parnassus were yet to be seen in my day, lying in the precinct of Athena Pronaea, from where their descent through the foreigners' ranks had hurled them. Such, then, was the manner of those men's departure from the temple. " "
8.65.1 Dicaeus son of Theocydes, an Athenian exile who had become important among the Medes, said that at the time when the land of Attica was being laid waste by Xerxes' army and there were no Athenians in the country, he was with Demaratus the Lacedaemonian on the Thriasian plain and saw advancing from Eleusis a cloud of dust as if raised by the feet of about thirty thousand men. They marvelled at what men might be raising such a cloud of dust and immediately heard a cry. The cry seemed to be the “Iacchus” of the mysteries, " "
8.65 Dicaeus son of Theocydes, an Athenian exile who had become important among the Medes, said that at the time when the land of Attica was being laid waste by Xerxes' army and there were no Athenians in the country, he was with Demaratus the Lacedaemonian on the Thriasian plain and saw advancing from Eleusis a cloud of dust as if raised by the feet of about thirty thousand men. They marvelled at what men might be raising such a cloud of dust and immediately heard a cry. The cry seemed to be the “Iacchus” of the mysteries, ,and when Demaratus, ignorant of the rites of Eleusis, asked him what was making this sound, Dicaeus said, “Demaratus, there is no way that some great disaster will not befall the king's army. Since Attica is deserted, it is obvious that this voice is divine and comes from Eleusis to help the Athenians and their allies. ,If it descends upon the Peloponnese, the king himself and his army on the mainland will be endangered. If, however, it turns towards the ships at Salamis, the king will be in danger of losing his fleet. ,Every year the Athenians observe this festival for the Mother and the Maiden, and any Athenian or other Hellene who wishes is initiated. The voice which you hear is the ‘Iacchus’ they cry at this festival.” To this Demaratus replied, “Keep silent and tell this to no one else. ,If these words of yours are reported to the king, you will lose your head, and neither I nor any other man will be able to save you, so be silent. The gods will see to the army.” ,Thus he advised, and after the dust and the cry came a cloud, which rose aloft and floated away towards Salamis to the camp of the Hellenes. In this way they understood that Xerxes' fleet was going to be destroyed. Dicaeus son of Theocydes used to say this, appealing to Demaratus and others as witnesses. " "
9.78 There was at Plataea in the army of the Aeginetans one Lampon, son of Pytheas, a leading man of Aegina. He hastened to Pausanias with really outrageous counsel and coming upon him, said to him: ,“son of Cleombrotus, you have done a deed of surpassing greatness and glory; the god has granted to you in saving Hellas to have won greater renown than any Greek whom we know. But now you must finish what remains for the rest, so that your fame may be greater still and so that no barbarian will hereafter begin doing reckless deeds against the Greeks. ,When Leonidas was killed at Thermopylae, Mardonius and Xerxes cut off his head and set it on a pole; make them a like return, and you will win praise from all Spartans and the rest of Hellas besides. For if you impale Mardonius, you will be avenged for your father's brother Leonidas.” " '9.79 This is what Lampon, thinking to please, said. Pausanias, however, answered him as follows: “Aeginetan, I thank you for your goodwill and forethought, but you have missed the mark of right judgment. First you exalt me and my fatherland and my deeds, yet next you cast me down to mere nothingness when you advise me to insult the dead, and say that I shall win more praise if I do so. That would be an act more proper for barbarians than for Greeks and one that we consider worthy of censure even in barbarians. ,No, as for myself, I would prefer to find no favor either with the people of Aegina or anyone else who is pleased by such acts. It is enough for me if I please the Spartans by righteous deeds and speech. As for Leonidas, whom you would have me avenge, I think that he has received a full measure of vengeance; the uncounted souls of these that you see have done honor to him and the rest of those who died at Thermopylae. But to you this is my warning: do not come again to me with words like these nor give me such counsel. Be thankful now that you go unpunished.” '' None
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23. Plato, Apology of Socrates, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation • initiation ritual
Found in books: Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 221; Edmonds (2004), Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets, 206
| 23b τῷ ἐμῷ ὀνόματι, ἐμὲ παράδειγμα ποιούμενος, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ εἴποι ὅτι οὗτος ὑμῶν, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, σοφώτατός ἐστιν, ὅστις ὥσπερ Σωκράτης ἔγνωκεν ὅτι οὐδενὸς ἄξιός ἐστι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πρὸς σοφίαν. ταῦτʼ οὖν ἐγὼ μὲν ἔτι καὶ νῦν περιιὼν ζητῶ καὶ ἐρευνῶ κατὰ τὸν θεὸν καὶ τῶν ἀστῶν καὶ ξένων ἄν τινα οἴωμαι σοφὸν εἶναι· καὶ ἐπειδάν μοι μὴ δοκῇ, τῷ θεῷ βοηθῶν ἐνδείκνυμαι ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι σοφός. καὶ ὑπὸ ταύτης τῆς ἀσχολίας οὔτε τι τῶν τῆς πόλεως πρᾶξαί μοι σχολὴ γέγονεν ἄξιον λόγου οὔτε τῶν οἰκείων, ἀλλʼ ἐν'' None | 23b and makes me an example, as if he were to say: This one of you, O human beings, is wisest, who, like Socrates, recognizes that he is in truth of no account in respect to wisdom. Therefore I am still even now going about and searching and investigating at the god’s behest anyone, whether citizen or foreigner, who I think is wise; and when he does not seem so to me, I give aid to the god and show that he is not wise. And by reason of this occupation I have no leisure to attend to any of the affairs of the state worth mentioning, or of my own, but am in vast poverty'' None |
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24. Plato, Cratylus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • Orphic, initiation rituals • initiate • initiates • initiation rites • initiation, initiatory rites
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 36; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 396; Ebrey and Kraut (2022), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd ed, 257; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 260; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 90
| 400c σῆμά τινές φασιν αὐτὸ εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς τεθαμμένης ἐν τῷ νῦν παρόντι· καὶ διότι αὖ τούτῳ σημαίνει ἃ ἂν σημαίνῃ ἡ ψυχή, καὶ ταύτῃ σῆμα ὀρθῶς καλεῖσθαι. δοκοῦσι μέντοι μοι μάλιστα θέσθαι οἱ ἀμφὶ Ὀρφέα τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα, ὡς δίκην διδούσης τῆς ψυχῆς ὧν δὴ ἕνεκα δίδωσιν, τοῦτον δὲ περίβολον ἔχειν, ἵνα σῴζηται, δεσμωτηρίου εἰκόνα· εἶναι οὖν τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦτο, ὥσπερ αὐτὸ ὀνομάζεται, ἕως ἂν ἐκτείσῃ τὰ ὀφειλόμενα, τὸ σῶμα, καὶ οὐδὲν δεῖν παράγειν οὐδʼ ἓν γράμμα.'' None | 400c ign ( σῆμα ). But I think it most likely that the Orphic poets gave this name, with the idea that the soul is undergoing punishment for something; they think it has the body as an enclosure to keep it safe, like a prison, and this is, as the name itself denotes, the safe ( σῶμα ) for the soul, until the penalty is paid, and not even a letter needs to be changed.'' None |
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25. Plato, Gorgias, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiates • initiation • initiation ritual • institution
Found in books: Athanassaki and Titchener (2022), Plutarch's Cities, 142; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 392; Edmonds (2004), Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets, 198, 200, 201, 202, 205, 206, 207, 216; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 180
| 493b τῶν δʼ ἀνοήτων τοῦτο τῆς ψυχῆς οὗ αἱ ἐπιθυμίαι εἰσί, τὸ ἀκόλαστον αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ στεγανόν, ὡς τετρημένος εἴη πίθος, διὰ τὴν ἀπληστίαν ἀπεικάσας. τοὐναντίον δὴ οὗτος σοί, ὦ Καλλίκλεις, ἐνδείκνυται ὡς τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου—τὸ ἀιδὲς δὴ λέγων—οὗτοι ἀθλιώτατοι ἂν εἶεν, οἱ ἀμύητοι, καὶ φοροῖεν εἰς τὸν τετρημένον πίθον ὕδωρ ἑτέρῳ τοιούτῳ τετρημένῳ κοσκίνῳ. τὸ δὲ κόσκινον ἄρα λέγει, ὡς ἔφη ὁ πρὸς ἐμὲ'525a ἐπιορκιῶν καὶ ἀδικίας, ΣΩ. ἃ ἑκάστη ἡ πρᾶξις αὐτοῦ ἐξωμόρξατο εἰς τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ πάντα σκολιὰ ὑπὸ ψεύδους καὶ ἀλαζονείας καὶ οὐδὲν εὐθὺ διὰ τὸ ἄνευ ἀληθείας τεθράφθαι· καὶ ὑπὸ ἐξουσίας καὶ τρυφῆς καὶ ὕβρεως καὶ ἀκρατίας τῶν πράξεων ἀσυμμετρίας τε καὶ αἰσχρότητος γέμουσαν τὴν ψυχὴν εἶδεν· ἰδὼν δὲ ἀτίμως ταύτην ἀπέπεμψεν εὐθὺ τῆς φρουρᾶς, οἷ μέλλει ἐλθοῦσα ἀνατλῆναι τὰ προσήκοντα πάθη. ' None | 493b in these uninitiate that part of the soul where the desires are, the licentious and fissured part, he named a leaky jar in his allegory, because it is so insatiate. So you see this person, Callicles, takes the opposite view to yours, showing how of all who are in Hades—meaning of course the invisible—these uninitiate will be most wretched, and will carry water into their leaky jar with a sieve which is no less leaky. And then by the sieve,'525a where every act has left its smirch upon his soul, where all is awry through falsehood and imposture, and nothing straight because of a nurture that knew not truth: or, as the result of an unbridled course of fastidiousness, insolence, and incontinence, he finds the soul full fraught with disproportion and ugliness. Beholding this he sends it away in dishonor straight to the place of custody, where on its arrival it is to endure the sufferings that are fitting. ' None |
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26. Plato, Phaedo, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Orphic initiation • Orphic, initiation rituals • Pindar, on death and initiation • Plato, on mystery initiations • Plutarch, on mystery initiations • Ritual, initiation ritual • initiate • initiates • initiation • initiation rites • initiation ritual • initiation, initiatory rites • mystery initiations • mystic initiation, anxiety in • mystic initiation, transition to joy in
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 146, 393, 394, 396; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 4; Ebrey and Kraut (2022), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd ed, 257; Edmonds (2004), Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets, 206; Leão and Lanzillotta (2019), A Man of Many Interests: Plutarch on Religion, Myth, and Magic, 132; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 260; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 192; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 371; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 269, 270; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 39; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 172, 283
| 62b καὶ γὰρ ἂν δόξειεν, ἔφη ὁ Σωκράτης, οὕτω γ’ εἶναι ἄλογον: οὐ μέντοι ἀλλ’ ἴσως γ’ ἔχει τινὰ λόγον. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις λεγόμενος περὶ αὐτῶν λόγος, ὡς ἔν τινι φρουρᾷ ἐσμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ οὐ δεῖ δὴ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ ταύτης λύειν οὐδ’ ἀποδιδράσκειν, μέγας τέ τίς μοι φαίνεται καὶ οὐ ῥᾴδιος διιδεῖν: οὐ μέντοι ἀλλὰ τόδε γέ μοι δοκεῖ, ὦ Κέβης, εὖ λέγεσθαι, τὸ θεοὺς εἶναι ἡμῶν τοὺς ἐπιμελουμένους καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἓν τῶν κτημάτων τοῖς θεοῖς εἶναι. ἢ σοὶ οὐ δοκεῖ οὕτως; ἔμοιγε, φησὶν ὁ Κέβης . 67e παρασκευάζονθ’ ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῷ βίῳ ὅτι ἐγγυτάτω ὄντα τοῦ τεθνάναι οὕτω ζῆν, κἄπειθ’ ἥκοντος αὐτῷ τούτου ἀγανακτεῖν; /γελοῖον: πῶς δ’ οὔ; τῷ ὄντι ἄρα, ἔφη, ὦ Σιμμία, οἱ ὀρθῶς φιλοσοφοῦντες ἀποθνῄσκειν μελετῶσι, καὶ τὸ τεθνάναι ἥκιστα αὐτοῖς ἀνθρώπων φοβερόν. ἐκ τῶνδε δὲ σκόπει. ΦΑΙΔ. εἰ γὰρ διαβέβληνται μὲν πανταχῇ τῷ σώματι, αὐτὴν δὲ καθ’ αὑτὴν ἐπιθυμοῦσι τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχειν, τούτου δὲ γιγνομένου εἰ φοβοῖντο καὶ ἀγανακτοῖεν, οὐ πολλὴ ἂν ἀλογία εἴη, εἰ μὴ 69c κάθαρσίς τις τῶν τοιούτων πάντων καὶ ἡ σωφροσύνη καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀνδρεία, καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ φρόνησις μὴ καθαρμός τις ᾖ. καὶ κινδυνεύουσι καὶ οἱ τὰς τελετὰς ἡμῖν οὗτοι καταστήσαντες οὐ φαῦλοί τινες εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι πάλαι αἰνίττεσθαι ὅτι ὃς ἂν ἀμύητος καὶ ἀτέλεστος εἰς Ἅιδου ἀφίκηται ἐν βορβόρῳ κείσεται, ὁ δὲ κεκαθαρμένος τε καὶ τετελεσμένος ἐκεῖσε ἀφικόμενος μετὰ θεῶν οἰκήσει. εἰσὶν γὰρ δή, ὥς φασιν οἱ περὶ τὰς τελετάς, ναρθηκοφόροι 80e ἄνθρωποι; πολλοῦ γε δεῖ, ὦ φίλε Κέβης τε καὶ Σιμμία, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὧδ’ ἔχει: ἐὰν μὲν καθαρὰ ἀπαλλάττηται, μηδὲν τοῦ σώματος συνεφέλκουσα, ἅτε οὐδὲν κοινωνοῦσα αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βίῳ ἑκοῦσα εἶναι, ἀλλὰ φεύγουσα αὐτὸ καὶ συνηθροισμένη αὐτὴ εἰς ἑαυτήν, ἅτε μελετῶσα ἀεὶ τοῦτο — τὸ δὲ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἢ ὀρθῶς φιλοσοφοῦσα καὶ τῷ ὄντι 81a τεθνάναι μελετῶσα ῥᾳδίως: ἢ οὐ τοῦτ’ ἂν εἴη μελέτη θανάτου; ΦΑΙΔ. παντάπασί γε. /οὐκοῦν οὕτω μὲν ἔχουσα εἰς τὸ ὅμοιον αὐτῇ τὸ ἀιδὲς ἀπέρχεται, τὸ θεῖόν τε καὶ ἀθάνατον καὶ φρόνιμον, οἷ ἀφικομένῃ ὑπάρχει αὐτῇ εὐδαίμονι εἶναι, πλάνης καὶ ἀνοίας καὶ φόβων καὶ ἀγρίων ἐρώτων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων κακῶν τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἀπηλλαγμένῃ, ὥσπερ δὲ λέγεται κατὰ τῶν μεμυημένων, ὡς ἀληθῶς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον μετὰ θεῶν διάγουσα; οὕτω φῶμεν, ὦ Κέβης, ἢ ἄλλως; οὕτω νὴ Δία, ἔφη ὁ Κέβης . 108a μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῆν οἶμόν φησιν εἰς Ἅιδου φέρειν, ἡ δ᾽ οὔτε ἁπλῆ οὔτε μία φαίνεταί μοι εἶναι. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν ἡγεμόνων ἔδει: οὐ γάρ πού τις ἂν διαμάρτοι οὐδαμόσε μιᾶς ὁδοῦ οὔσης. νῦν δὲ ἔοικε σχίσεις τε καὶ τριόδους πολλὰς ἔχειν: ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν τε καὶ νομίμων τῶν ἐνθάδε τεκμαιρόμενος λέγω. ἡ μὲν οὖν κοσμία τε καὶ φρόνιμος ψυχὴ ἕπεταί τε καὶ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ τὰ παρόντα: ἡ δ’ ἐπιθυμητικῶς τοῦ σώματος ἔχουσα, ὅπερ ἐν τῷ ἔμπροσθεν εἶπον, περὶ ἐκεῖνο πολὺν'' None | 62b but perhaps there is some reason in it. Now the doctrine that is taught in secret about this matter, that we men are in a kind of prison and must not set ourselves free or run away, seems to me to be weighty and not easy to understand. But this at least, Cebes, I do believe is sound, that the gods are our guardians and that we men are one of the chattels of the gods. Do you not believe this? Yes, said Cebes, 67e in a state of death as he could, should then be disturbed when death came to him. Would it not be absurd? of course. In fact, then, Simmias, said he, the true philosophers practice dying, and death is less terrible to them than to any other men. Consider it in this way. Phaedo. They are in every way hostile to the body and they desire to have the soul apart by itself alone. Would it not be very foolish if they should be frightened and troubled when this very thing happens, and if they should not be glad to go to the place where there is hope of attaining 69c from all these things, and self-restraint and justice and courage and wisdom itself are a kind of purification. And I fancy that those men who established the mysteries were not unenlightened, but in reality had a hidden meaning when they said long ago that whoever goes uninitiated and unsanctified to the other world will lie in the mire, but he who arrives there initiated and purified will dwell with the gods. For as they say in the mysteries, the thyrsus-bearers are many, but the mystics few ; 80e Far from it, dear Cebes and Simmias, but the truth is much rather this—if it departs pure, dragging with it nothing of the body, because it never willingly associated with the body in life, but avoided it and gathered itself into itself alone, since this has always been its constant study—but this means nothing else than that it pursued philosophy rightly and 81a really practiced being in a state of death: or is not this the practice of death? Phaedo. By all means. Then if it is in such a condition, it goes away into that which is like itself, into the invisible, divine, immortal, and wise, and when it arrives there it is happy, freed from error and folly and fear and fierce loves and all the other human ills, and as the initiated say, lives in truth through all after time with the gods. Is this our belief, Cebes, or not? Assuredly, said Cebes. But, I think, 108a for he says a simple path leads to the lower world, but I think the path is neither simple nor single, for if it were, there would be no need of guides, since no one could miss the way to any place if there were only one road. But really there seem to be many forks of the road and many windings; this I infer from the rites and ceremonies practiced here on earth. Now the orderly and wise soul follows its guide and understands its circumstances; but the soul that is desirous of the body, as I said before, flits about it, and in the visible world for a long time,'' None |
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27. Plato, Phaedrus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiation, Philosophical • Plutarch, on mystery initiations • hearth-initiate • initiate • initiation • initiation (epopteia, ἐποπτεία)/mystagogy (mustagôgia, μυσταγωγία; teletê, τελετή) • initiation rites • initiation, initiatory rites • mystery initiations • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, disorientation in • mystic initiation, isolation of initiand • mystic initiation, transition to joy in
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 10; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 391, 396; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 387; Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 549; Ebrey and Kraut (2022), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd ed, 257; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 14; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 175, 221, 375; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 268; d'Hoine and Martijn (2017), All From One: A Guide to Proclus, 229, 231
| 247a κατὰ ἕνδεκα μέρη κεκοσμημένη. μένει γὰρ Ἑστία ἐν θεῶν οἴκῳ μόνη· τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ὅσοι ἐν τῷ τῶν δώδεκα ἀριθμῷ τεταγμένοι θεοὶ ἄρχοντες ἡγοῦνται κατὰ τάξιν ἣν ἕκαστος ἐτάχθη. πολλαὶ μὲν οὖν καὶ μακάριαι θέαι τε καὶ διέξοδοι ἐντὸς οὐρανοῦ, ἃς θεῶν γένος εὐδαιμόνων ἐπιστρέφεται πράττων ἕκαστος αὐτῶν τὸ αὑτοῦ, ἕπεται δὲ ὁ ἀεὶ ἐθέλων τε καὶ δυνάμενος· φθόνος γὰρ ἔξω θείου χοροῦ ἵσταται. ὅταν δὲ δὴ πρὸς δαῖτα καὶ ἐπὶ θοίνην ἴωσιν, ἄκραν ἐπὶ τὴν' 250c μακαριωτάτην, ἣν ὠργιάζομεν ὁλόκληροι μὲν αὐτοὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀπαθεῖς κακῶν ὅσα ἡμᾶς ἐν ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ ὑπέμενεν, ὁλόκληρα δὲ καὶ ἁπλᾶ καὶ ἀτρεμῆ καὶ εὐδαίμονα φάσματα μυούμενοί τε καὶ ἐποπτεύοντες ἐν αὐγῇ καθαρᾷ, καθαροὶ ὄντες καὶ ἀσήμαντοι τούτου ὃ νῦν δὴ σῶμα περιφέροντες ὀνομάζομεν, ὀστρέου τρόπον δεδεσμευμένοι. 251a οὐδʼ αἰσχύνεται παρὰ φύσιν ἡδονὴν διώκων· ὁ δὲ ἀρτιτελής, ὁ τῶν τότε πολυθεάμων, ὅταν θεοειδὲς πρόσωπον ἴδῃ κάλλος εὖ μεμιμημένον ἤ τινα σώματος ἰδέαν, πρῶτον μὲν ἔφριξε καί τι τῶν τότε ὑπῆλθεν αὐτὸν δειμάτων, εἶτα προσορῶν ὡς θεὸν σέβεται, καὶ εἰ μὴ ἐδεδίει τὴν τῆς σφόδρα μανίας δόξαν, θύοι ἂν ὡς ἀγάλματι καὶ θεῷ τοῖς παιδικοῖς. ἰδόντα δʼ αὐτὸν οἷον ἐκ τῆς φρίκης μεταβολή τε 265b ΦΑΙ. πάνυ γε. ΣΩ. τῆς δὲ θείας τεττάρων θεῶν τέτταρα μέρη διελόμενοι, μαντικὴν μὲν ἐπίπνοιαν Ἀπόλλωνος θέντες, Διονύσου δὲ τελεστικήν, Μουσῶν δʼ αὖ ποιητικήν, τετάρτην δὲ ἀφροδίτης καὶ Ἔρωτος, ἐρωτικὴν μανίαν ἐφήσαμέν τε ἀρίστην εἶναι, καὶ οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπῃ τὸ ἐρωτικὸν πάθος ἀπεικάζοντες, ἴσως μὲν ἀληθοῦς τινος ἐφαπτόμενοι, τάχα δʼ ἂν καὶ ἄλλοσε παραφερόμενοι, κεράσαντες οὐ παντάπασιν ἀπίθανον λόγον, ' None | 247a He is followed by an army of gods and spirits, arrayed in eleven squadrons; Hestia alone remains in the house of the gods. of the rest, those who are included among the twelve great gods and are accounted leaders, are assigned each to his place in the army. There are many blessed sights and many ways hither and thither within the heaven, along which the blessed gods go to and fro attending each to his own duties; and whoever wishes, and is able, follows, for jealousy is excluded from the celestial band. But when they go to a feast and a banquet,' 250c the most blessed of mysteries, which we celebrated in a state of perfection, when we were without experience of the evils which awaited us in the time to come, being permitted as initiates to the sight of perfect and simple and calm and happy apparitions, which we saw in the pure light, being ourselves pure and not entombed in this which we carry about with us and call the body, in which we are imprisoned like an oyster in its shell. So much, then, in honor of memory, on account of which I have now spoken at some length, through yearning for the joys of that other time. But beauty, 251a he makes licence his companion and is not afraid or ashamed to pursue pleasure in violation of nature. But he who is newly initiated, who beheld many of those realities, when he sees a godlike face or form which is a good image of beauty, shudders at first, and something of the old awe comes over him, then, as he gazes, he reveres the beautiful one as a god, and if he did not fear to be thought stark mad, he would offer sacrifice to his beloved as to an idol or a god. And as he looks upon him, a reaction from his shuddering comes over him, with sweat and unwonted heat; 265b Phaedrus. Certainly. Socrates. And we made four divisions of the divine madness, ascribing them to four gods, saying that prophecy was inspired by Apollo, the mystic madness by Dionysus, the poetic by the Muses, and the madness of love, inspired by Aphrodite and Eros, we said was the best. We described the passion of love in some sort of figurative manner, expressing some truth, perhaps, and perhaps being led away in another direction, and after composing a somewhat ' None |
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28. Plato, Republic, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiation • initiation rites • initiations • initiations (private cults) • initiations, fees for • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • myth and repeat initiation? • private initiators • washing initiatory
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 80, 130; Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 29; Ebrey and Kraut (2022), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd ed, 257; Edmonds (2004), Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets, 201; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 120, 121, 325, 361; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 10, 14, 278; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 235, 343, 360
| 363d ἤδη διάγειν μεθύοντας, ἡγησάμενοι κάλλιστον ἀρετῆς μισθὸν μέθην αἰώνιον. οἱ δʼ ἔτι τούτων μακροτέρους ἀποτείνουσιν μισθοὺς παρὰ θεῶν· παῖδας γὰρ παίδων φασὶ καὶ γένος κατόπισθεν λείπεσθαι τοῦ ὁσίου καὶ εὐόρκου. ταῦτα δὴ καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα ἐγκωμιάζουσιν δικαιοσύνην· τοὺς δὲ ἀνοσίους αὖ καὶ ἀδίκους εἰς πηλόν τινα κατορύττουσιν ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀναγκάζουσι φέρειν, ἔτι τε ζῶντας 364e λοιβῇ τε κνίσῃ τε παρατρωπῶσʼ ἄνθρωποι λισσόμενοι, ὅτε κέν τις ὑπερβήῃ καὶ ἁμάρτῃ. Hom. Il. 9.497 βίβλων δὲ ὅμαδον παρέχονται Μουσαίου καὶ Ὀρφέως, Σελήνης τε καὶ Μουσῶν ἐκγόνων, ὥς φασι, καθʼ ἃς θυηπολοῦσιν, πείθοντες οὐ μόνον ἰδιώτας ἀλλὰ καὶ πόλεις, ὡς ἄρα λύσεις τε καὶ καθαρμοὶ ἀδικημάτων διὰ θυσιῶν καὶ' ' None | 363d they entertain the time henceforth with wine, as if the fairest meed of virtue were an everlasting drunk. And others extend still further the rewards of virtue from the gods. For they say that the children’s children of the pious and oath-keeping man and his race thereafter never fail. Such and such-like are their praises of justice. But the impious and the unjust they bury in mud in the house of Hades and compel them to fetch water in a sieve, and, while they still live, 364e And incense and libation turn their wills Praying, whenever they have sinned and made transgression. Hom. Il. 9.497 And they produce a bushel of books of Musaeus and Orpheus, the offspring of the Moon and of the Muses, as they affirm, and these books they use in their ritual, and make not only ordinary men but states believe that there really are remissions of sins and purifications for deeds of injustice, by means of sacrifice and pleasant sport for the living,' ' None |
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29. Plato, Symposium, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiate • initiation (μύησις) • initiation rites • initiation, initiatory rites
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 397; Ebrey and Kraut (2022), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd ed, 206; Schibli (2002), Hierocles of Alexandria, 192; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 1
| 218b Ἐρυξιμάχους, Παυσανίας, Ἀριστοδήμους τε καὶ Ἀριστοφάνας· Σωκράτη δὲ αὐτὸν τί δεῖ λέγειν, καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι; πάντες γὰρ κεκοινωνήκατε τῆς φιλοσόφου μανίας τε καὶ βακχείας—διὸ πάντες ἀκούσεσθε· συγγνώσεσθε γὰρ τοῖς τε τότε πραχθεῖσι καὶ τοῖς νῦν λεγομένοις. οἱ δὲ οἰκέται, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος ἐστὶν βέβηλός τε καὶ ἄγροικος, πύλας πάνυ μεγάλας τοῖς ὠσὶν ἐπίθεσθε.' ' None | 218b a Pausanias, an Aristodemus, and an Aristophanes—I need not mention Socrates himself—and all the rest of them; every one of you has had his share of philosophic frenzy and transport, so all of you shall hear. You shall stand up alike for what then was done and for what now is spoken. But the domestics, and all else profane and clownish, must clap the heaviest of doors upon their ears.' ' None |
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30. Sophocles, Ajax, 571 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Orphic initiation • gods, initiate action
Found in books: Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 192; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 33
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571 o that he may become the comfort of their age into eternity until they come to the deep hollows of the god below . And order him that no commissioners of games, nor he who is my destroyer, should make my arms a prize for the Greeks. No, you take this for my sake, Son, my broad shield from which you have your name.'' None |
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31. Sophocles, Antigone, 152-154, 1121 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiate • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, in indigenous Australia • mystic initiation, thunder, lightning and earthquake in • mythical initiates
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 48, 273; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 341; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 335
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152 let us make for ourselves forgetfulness after the recent wars, and visit all the temples of the gods with night-long dance and song. And may Bacchus, who shakes the earth of Thebes , rule our dancing!
1121 in the valleys of Eleusinian Deo where all find welcome! O Bacchus, denizen of Thebes , the mother-city of your Bacchants, dweller by the wet stream of Ismenus on the soil'' None |
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32. Sophocles, Oedipus At Colonus, 681 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiation, initiatory rites
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 381; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 390
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681 And, fed on heavenly dew, the narcissus blooms day by day with its fair clusters; it is the ancient crown of the Great Goddesses.'' None |
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33. Sophocles, Oedipus The King, 387 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiates • initiation, initiatory rites
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 35; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 317
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387 Creon the trustworthy, Creon, my old friend, has crept upon me by stealth, yearning to overthrow me, and has suborned such a scheming juggler as this, a tricky quack, who has eyes only for profit, but is blind in his art!'' None |
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34. Xenophon, Hellenica, 1.4.12-1.4.14, 1.4.18, 1.4.20 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • democratic institutions • initiation and divination
Found in books: Athanassaki and Titchener (2022), Plutarch's Cities, 143; Johnston (2008), Ancient Greek Divination, 148; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 330
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1.4.12 And when he found that the temper of the Athenians was kindly, that they had chosen him general, and that his friends were urging him by personal messages to return, he sailed in to Piraeus, arriving on the day when the city was celebrating the Plynteria When the clothing of the ancient wooden statue of Athena Polias was removed and washed ( πλύνειν ). and the statue of Athena was veiled from sight,—a circumstance which some people imagined was of ill omen, both for him and for the state; for on that day no Athenian would venture to engage in any serious business. 1.4.13 When he sailed in, the common crowd of Piraeus and of the city gathered to his ships, filled with wonder and desiring to see the famous Alcibiades. Some of them said that he was the best of the citizens; that he alone was banished without just cause, but rather because he was plotted against by those who had less power than he and spoke less well and ordered their political doings with a view to their own private gain, whereas he was always 407 B.C. advancing the common weal, both by his own means and by the power of the state.
1.4.18 Meanwhile Alcibiades, who had come to anchor close to the shore, did not at once disembark, through fear of his enemies; but mounting upon the deck of 407 B.C. his ship, he looked to see whether his friends were present.
1.4.20 And after he had spoken in his own defence before the Senate and the Assembly, saying that he had not committed sacrilege and that he had been unjustly treated, and after more of the same sort had been said, with no one speaking in opposition because the Assembly would not have tolerated it, he was proclaimed general-in-chief with absolute authority, the people thinking that he was the man to recover for the state its former power; then, as his first act, he led out all his troops and conducted by land the procession From Athens to the temple of Demeter at Eleusis. of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which the Athenians had been conducting by sea on account of the war;' ' None |
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35. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • institution • myth and slaves initiated • slaves initiated in Mysteries
Found in books: Athanassaki and Titchener (2022), Plutarch's Cities, 142; Bricault and Bonnet (2013), Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire, 138; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 166; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 169
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36. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • initiates
Found in books: Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 71; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 265
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37. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiates • initiation, initiatory rites • mystery initiations • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 103, 134; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 381; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 255
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38. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiation/Rite of passage • Orphic initiation • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • initiate • initiates • initiation, initiatory rites • myth and numbers of initiates • myth and repeat initiation?
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 36; Bednarek (2021), The Myth of Lycurgus in Aeschylus, Naevius, and beyond, 80; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 281, 373; Bricault and Bonnet (2013), Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire, 138; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 379; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 313; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 348; Peels (2016), Hosios: A Semantic Study of Greek Piety, 234; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 36, 43; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 165, 180, 181, 293, 294
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39. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • initiation, iniatory rite • initiation, initiatory rites • institutions
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 381; Nissinen and Uro (2008), Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity, 151, 152; Papadodima (2022), Ancient Greek Literature and the Foreign: Athenian Dialogues II, 14; Peels (2016), Hosios: A Semantic Study of Greek Piety, 173
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40. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • hearth-initiate • initiation • myth and numbers of initiates
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 9; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 377; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 343; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 3
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41. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Orphic initiation • initiation
Found in books: Iribarren and Koning (2022), Hesiod and the Beginnings of Greek Philosophy, 96; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 44
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42. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiates • initiations (private cults)
Found in books: Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 325; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 9
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43. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiation/rites of passage
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 381; Henderson (2020), The Springtime of the People: The Athenian Ephebeia and Citizen Training from Lykourgos to Augustus, 238
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44. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiates • mythical initiates
Found in books: Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 341; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 180
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45. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation
Found in books: Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 331; Jedan (2009), Stoic Virtues: Chrysippus and the Religious Character of Stoic Ethics, 110
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46. Aeschines, Letters, 3.130 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • shark, eats initiate
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 378; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 109
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3.130 But did not the gods forewarn us, did they not admonish us, to be on our guard, all but speaking with human voice? No city have I ever seen offered more constant protection by the gods, but more inevitably ruined by certain of its politicians. Was not that portent sufficient which appeared at the Mysteries—the death of the celebrants? In view of this did not Ameiniades warn you to be on your guard, and to send messengers to Delphi to inquire of the god what was to he done? And did not Demosthenes oppose, and say that the Pythia had gone over to Philip? Boor that he was, gorged with his feast of indulgence from you!'' None |
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47. None, None, nan (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • Orphic, initiation rituals • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiations, fees for • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • music, in the Orphic initiation rituals • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 131; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 259; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 275; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 235
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48. None, None, nan (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Sparta/Spartans, male initiation ceremonies • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • initiation/rites of passage • life-change rituals, male initiation ceremonies
Found in books: Eidinow and Kindt (2015), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion, 530; Henderson (2020), The Springtime of the People: The Athenian Ephebeia and Citizen Training from Lykourgos to Augustus, 4, 235; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 265
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49. None, None, nan (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation
Found in books: Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 30; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 91
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50. Septuagint, 3 Maccabees, 2.29 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Hellenistic, institutions and practices • initiate • initiation, initiatory rites
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 455, 456, 457; Gera (2014), Judith, 445
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2.29 those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status."'' None |
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51. Septuagint, Judith, 12.8 (2nd cent. BCE - 0th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Hellenistic, institutions and practices • initiation • washing initiatory
Found in books: Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 44; Gera (2014), Judith, 296
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12.8 When she came up from the spring she prayed the Lord God of Israel to direct her way for the raising up of her people.'' None |
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52. None, None, nan (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Spirit, effects of, initiation into community • initiation • washing initiatory
Found in books: Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 44, 45; Levison (2009), Filled with the Spirit, 211, 216
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53. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 1.22.7, 5.49.5, 5.75.4, 12.10.3-12.10.4 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Isis urges, and life obtained by grace, ibid. • Life, obtained by grace, and manner of initiation • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiation • initiation, initiatory rites • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 81, 136, 137; Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 6; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 424, 561; Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 280; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 149; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 313
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1.22.7 \xa0Consequently the Greeks too, inasmuch as they received from Egypt the celebrations of the orgies and the festivals connected with Dionysus, honour this member in both the mysteries and the initiatory rites and sacrifices of this god, giving it the name "phallus."
5.49.5 \xa0Now the details of the initiatory rite are guarded among the matters not to be divulged and are communicated to the initiates alone; but the fame has travelled wide of how these gods appear to mankind and bring unexpected aid to those initiates of theirs who call upon them in the midst of perils. <
5.75.4 \xa0As for Dionysus, the myths state that he discovered the vine and its cultivation, and also how to make wine and to store away many of the autumn fruits and thus to provide mankind with the use of them as food over a long time. This god was born in Crete, men say, of Zeus and Persephonê, and Orpheus has handed down the tradition in the initiatory rites that he was torn in pieces by the Titans. And the fact is that there have been several who bore the name Dionysus, regarding whom we have given a detailed account at greater length in connection with the more appropriate period of time.
12.10.3 \xa0And shortly thereafter the city was moved to another site and received another name, its founders being Lampon and Xenocritus; the circumstances of its founding were as follows. The Sybarites who were driven a second time from their native city dispatched ambassadors to Greece, to the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, requesting that they assist their repatriation and take part in the settlement. 12.10.4 \xa0Now the Lacedaemonians paid no attention to them, but the Athenians promised to join in the enterprise, and they manned ten ships and sent them to the Sybarites under the leadership of Lampon and Xenocritus; they further sent word to the several cities of the Peloponnesus, offering a share in the colony to anyone who wished to take part in it.'' None |
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54. Dionysius of Halycarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 2.6.1-2.6.2 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • auspication, initial • auspication,acquired through initial auspication • institutions
Found in books: Konrad (2022), The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic, 45, 46; Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 364
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2.6.1 \xa0When Romulus, therefore, upon the occasion mentioned had received the sanction of Heaven also, he called the people together in assembly; and having given them an account of these omens, he was chosen king by them and established it as a custom, to be observed by all his successors, that none of them should accept the office of king or any other magistracy until Heaven, too, had given its sanction. And this custom relating to the auspices long continued to be observed by the Romans, not only while the city was ruled by kings, but also, after the overthrow of the monarchy, in the elections of their consuls, praetors and other legal magistrates; <' "2.6.2 \xa0but it has fallen into disuse in our days except as a certain semblance of it remains merely for form's sake. For those who are about to assume the magistracies pass the night out of doors, and rising at break of day, offer certain prayers under the open sky; whereupon some of the augurs present, who are paid by the State, declare that a flash of lightning coming from the left has given them a sign, although there really has not been any. <"' None |
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55. Philo of Alexandria, On The Cherubim, 48 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation
Found in books: Stroumsa (1996), Hidden Widsom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. 69; Werline et al. (2008), Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry Into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity, 92
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48 Now I bid ye, initiated men, who are purified, as to your ears, to receive these things, as mysteries which are really sacred, in your inmost souls; and reveal them not to any one who is of the number of the uninitiated, but guard them as a sacred treasure, laying them up in your own hearts, not in a storehouse in which are gold and silver, perishable substances, but in that treasurehouse in which the most excellent of all the possessions in the world does lie, the knowledge namely of the great first Cause, and of virtue, and in the third place, of the generation of them both. And if ever you meet with any one who has been properly initiated, cling to that man affectionately and adhere to him, that if he has learnt any more recent mystery he may not conceal it from you before you have learnt to comprehend it thoroughly. '' None |
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56. Philo of Alexandria, On The Special Laws, 3.4 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Sparta, and Athens, institutions • initiation
Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 40; Werline et al. (2008), Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry Into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity, 103
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3.4 But though I groan at my fate, I still hold out and resist, retaining in my soul that desire of instruction which has been implanted in it from my earliest youth, and this desire taking pity and compassion on me continually raises me up and alleviates my sorrow. And it is through this fondness for learning that I at times lift up my head, and with the eyes of my soul, which are indeed dim (for the mist of affairs, wholly inconsistent with their proper objects, has overshadowed their acute clear-sightedne'' None |
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57. Philo of Alexandria, On The Contemplative Life, 26 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiation • washing initiatory
Found in books: Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 44; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 409
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26 Therefore they always retain an imperishable recollection of God, so that not even in their dreams is any other object ever presented to their eyes except the beauty of the divine virtues and of the divine powers. Therefore many persons speak in their sleep, divulging and publishing the celebrated doctrines of the sacred philosophy. '' None |
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58. Philo of Alexandria, Against Flaccus, 29, 39 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Septuagint, initiative for translation of Hebrew Scripture • Theriomorphism, trademark institution of Egypt, criticized by authors • pogrom/riots of, initiated by Egyptians
Found in books: Manolaraki (2012), Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus, 40; Schliesser et al. (2021), Alexandria: Hub of the Hellenistic World. 45, 273
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29 But the men of Alexandria being ready to burst with envy and ill-will (for the Egyptian disposition is by nature a most jealous and envious one and inclined to look on the good fortune of others as adversity to itself), and being at the same time filled with an ancient and what I may in a manner call an innate enmity towards the Jews, were indigt at any one's becoming a king of the Jews, no less than if each individual among them had been deprived of an ancestral kingdom of his own inheritance. "
39 Then from the multitude of those who were standing around there arose a wonderful shout of men calling out Maris; and this is the name by which it is said that they call the kings among the Syrians; for they knew that Agrippa was by birth a Syrian, and also that he was possessed of a great district of Syria of which he was the sovereign; ' "' None |
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59. Philo of Alexandria, On The Embassy To Gaius, 338 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Septuagint, initiative for translation of Hebrew Scripture • Theriomorphism, trademark institution of Egypt, criticized by authors
Found in books: Manolaraki (2012), Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus, 40; Schliesser et al. (2021), Alexandria: Hub of the Hellenistic World. 3
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338 And he was intending to do this while on his voyage along the coast during the period which he had allotted for his sojourn in Egypt. For an indescribable desire occupied his mind to see Alexandria, to which he was eager to go with all imaginable haste, and when he had arrived there he intended to remain a considerable time, urging that the deification about which he was so anxious, might easily be originated and carried to a great height in that city above all others, and then that it would be a model to all other cities of the adoration to which he was entitled, inasmuch as it was the greatest of all the cities of the east, and built in the finest situation in the world. For all inferior men and nations are eager to imitate great men and great states. '' None |
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60. None, None, nan (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Bacchic rites, initiation into • Initiators
Found in books: Panoussi(2019), Brides, Mourners, Bacchae: Women's Rituals in Roman Literature, 118; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 235
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61. Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3.4.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiate • initiates • initiation • initiation, initiatory rites • rites, initiation
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 15, 132; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti (2022), The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse, 279; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 128
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3.4.3 Σεμέλης δὲ Ζεὺς ἐρασθεὶς Ἥρας κρύφα συνευνάζεται. ἡ δὲ ἐξαπατηθεῖσα ὑπὸ Ἥρας, κατανεύσαντος αὐτῇ Διὸς πᾶν τὸ αἰτηθὲν ποιήσειν, αἰτεῖται τοιοῦτον αὐτὸν ἐλθεῖν οἷος ἦλθε μνηστευόμενος Ἥραν. Ζεὺς δὲ μὴ δυνάμενος ἀνανεῦσαι παραγίνεται εἰς τὸν θάλαμον αὐτῆς ἐφʼ ἅρματος ἀστραπαῖς ὁμοῦ καὶ βρονταῖς, καὶ κεραυνὸν ἵησιν. Σεμέλης δὲ διὰ τὸν φόβον ἐκλιπούσης, ἑξαμηνιαῖον τὸ βρέφος ἐξαμβλωθὲν ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἁρπάσας ἐνέρραψε τῷ μηρῷ. ἀποθανούσης δὲ Σεμέλης, αἱ λοιπαὶ Κάδμου θυγατέρες διήνεγκαν λόγον, συνηυνῆσθαι θνητῷ τινι Σεμέλην καὶ καταψεύσασθαι Διός, καὶ ὅτι 1 -- διὰ τοῦτο ἐκεραυνώθη. κατὰ δὲ τὸν χρόνον τὸν καθήκοντα Διόνυσον γεννᾷ Ζεὺς λύσας τὰ ῥάμματα, καὶ δίδωσιν Ἑρμῇ. ὁ δὲ κομίζει πρὸς Ἰνὼ καὶ Ἀθάμαντα καὶ πείθει τρέφειν ὡς κόρην. ἀγανακτήσασα δὲ Ἥρα μανίαν αὐτοῖς ἐνέβαλε, καὶ Ἀθάμας μὲν τὸν πρεσβύτερον παῖδα Λέαρχον ὡς ἔλαφον θηρεύσας ἀπέκτεινεν, Ἰνὼ δὲ τὸν Μελικέρτην εἰς πεπυρωμένον λέβητα ῥίψασα, εἶτα βαστάσασα μετὰ νεκροῦ τοῦ παιδὸς ἥλατο κατὰ βυθοῦ. 1 -- καὶ Λευκοθέα μὲν αὐτὴν καλεῖται, Παλαίμων δὲ ὁ παῖς, οὕτως ὀνομασθέντες ὑπὸ τῶν πλεόντων· τοῖς χειμαζομένοις γὰρ βοηθοῦσιν. ἐτέθη δὲ ἐπὶ Μελικέρτῃ ὁ 2 -- ἀγὼν τῶν Ἰσθμίων, Σισύφου θέντος. Διόνυσον δὲ Ζεὺς εἰς ἔριφον ἀλλάξας τὸν Ἥρας θυμὸν ἔκλεψε, καὶ λαβὼν αὐτὸν Ἑρμῆς πρὸς νύμφας ἐκόμισεν ἐν Νύσῃ κατοικούσας τῆς Ἀσίας, ἃς ὕστερον Ζεὺς καταστερίσας ὠνόμασεν Ὑάδας.'' None | sup>
3.4.3 But Zeus loved Semele and bedded with her unknown to Hera. Now Zeus had agreed to do for her whatever she asked, and deceived by Hera she asked that he would come to her as he came when he was wooing Hera. Unable to refuse, Zeus came to her bridal chamber in a chariot, with lightnings and thunderings, and launched a thunderbolt. But Semele expired of fright, and Zeus, snatching the sixth-month abortive child from the fire, sewed it in his thigh. On the death of Semele the other daughters of Cadmus spread a report that Semele had bedded with a mortal man, and had falsely accused Zeus, and that therefore she had been blasted by thunder. But at the proper time Zeus undid the stitches and gave birth to Dionysus, and entrusted him to Hermes. And he conveyed him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to rear him as a girl. But Hera indigtly drove them mad, and Athamas hunted his elder son Learchus as a deer and killed him, and Ino threw Melicertes into a boiling cauldron, then carrying it with the dead child she sprang into the deep. And she herself is called Leucothea, and the boy is called Palaemon, such being the names they get from sailors; for they succour storm-tossed mariners. And the Isthmian games were instituted by Sisyphus in honor of Melicertes. But Zeus eluded the wrath of Hera by turning Dionysus into a kid, and Hermes took him and brought him to the nymphs who dwelt at Nysa in Asia, whom Zeus afterwards changed into stars and named them the Hyades.'' None |
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62. Dio Chrysostom, Orations, 12.33 (1st cent. CE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation • religious practices, initiation into the mysteries
Found in books: Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 93; Segev (2017), Aristotle on Religion, 67
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12.33 \xa0So it is very much the same as if anyone were to place a man, a Greek or a barbarian, in some mystic shrine of extraordinary beauty and size to be initiated, where he would see many mystic sights and hear many mystic voices, where light and darkness would appear to him alternately, and a\xa0thousand other things would occur; and further, if it should be just as in the rite called enthronement, where the inducting priests are wont to seat the novices and then dance round and round them â\x80\x94 pray, is it likely that the man in this situation would be no whit moved in his mind and would not suspect that all which was taking place was the result of a more than wise intention and preparation, even if he belonged to the most remote and nameless barbarians and had no guide and interpreter at his side â\x80\x94 provided, of course, that he had the mind of a human being? <'' None |
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63. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 14.242, 16.164 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Antioch, synagogue, communal institution (first century c.e.) • Cities, institutions • Ethnic boundary making model, institutional frameworks • initiates • knowledge, acquired in the initiation
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 135; Eliav (2023), A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse: Cultural Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean, 182; Levine (2005), The Ancient Synagogue, The First Thousand Years, 405; van Maaren (2022), The Boundaries of Jewishness in the Southern Levant 200 BCE–132 CE, 179
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14.242 ἵνα τά τε σάββατα αὐτοῖς ἐξῇ ἄγειν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἱερὰ ἐπιτελεῖν κατὰ τοὺς πατρίους νόμους, ὅπως τε μηδεὶς αὐτοῖς ἐπιτάσσῃ διὰ τὸ φίλους αὐτοὺς ἡμετέρους εἶναι καὶ συμμάχους, ἀδικήσῃ τε μηδὲ εἷς αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ἐπαρχίᾳ, ὡς Τραλλιανῶν τε ἀντειπόντων κατὰ πρόσωπον μὴ ἀρέσκεσθαι τοῖς περὶ αὐτῶν δεδογμένοις ἐπέταξας ταῦτα οὕτως γίνεσθαι: παρακεκλῆσθαι δέ σε, ὥστε καὶ ἡμῖν γράψαι περὶ αὐτῶν.
16.164 ἐὰν δέ τις φωραθῇ κλέπτων τὰς ἱερὰς βίβλους αὐτῶν ἢ τὰ ἱερὰ χρήματα ἔκ τε σαββατείου ἔκ τε ἀνδρῶνος, εἶναι αὐτὸν ἱερόσυλον καὶ τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ ἐνεχθῆναι εἰς τὸ δημόσιον τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων.'' None | sup>
14.242 wherein they desire that the Jews may be allowed to observe their Sabbaths, and other sacred rites, according to the laws of their forefathers, and that they may be under no command, because they are our friends and confederates, and that nobody may injure them in our provinces. Now although the Trallians there present contradicted them, and were not pleased with these decrees, yet didst thou give order that they should be observed, and informedst us that thou hadst been desired to write this to us about them.
16.164 But if any one be caught stealing their holy books, or their sacred money, whether it be out of the synagogue or public school, he shall be deemed a sacrilegious person, and his goods shall be brought into the public treasury of the Romans.'' None |
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64. New Testament, 1 John, 4.3 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initial Text, Ps.-Ignatius • faith/belief, initial faith
Found in books: Doble and Kloha (2014), Texts and Traditions: Essays in Honour of J. Keith Elliott, 281; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 242
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4.3 καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη.'' None | sup>
4.3 and every spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. "" None |
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65. New Testament, 1 Peter, 3.20-3.22 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Christian
Found in books: Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 235; Stuckenbruck (2007), 1 Enoch 91-108, 95
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3.20 ἀπειθήσασίν ποτε ὅτε ἀπεξεδέχετο ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ μακροθυμία ἐν ἡμέραις Νῶε κατασκευαζομένης κιβωτοῦ εἰς ἣν ὀλίγοι, τοῦτʼ ἔστιν ὀκτὼ ψυχαί, διεσώθησαν διʼ ὕδατος. 3.21 ὃ καὶ ὑμᾶς ἀντίτυπον νῦν σώζει βάπτισμα, οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ῥύπου ἀλλὰ συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς ἐπερώτημα εἰς θεόν, διʼ ἀναστάσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 3.22 ὅς ἐστινἐν δεξιᾷ θεοῦπορευθεὶς εἰς οὐρανὸν ὑποταγέντωναὐτῷ ἀγγέλων καὶ ἐξουσιῶν καὶ δυνάμεων.'' None | sup>
3.20 who before were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 3.21 This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you - not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 3.22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. '' None |
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66. New Testament, 1 Corinthians, 6.11, 7.10, 10.16, 11.21, 11.23-11.26, 15.1 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Baptism, Initiate’s affinity with baptizer • Initiation, Christian • Initiators • Paul, spiritual initiation of • Words of Institution • initiation • institution narrative • seal (σφραγίς), initiation rite
Found in books: Ashbrook Harvey et al. (2015), A Most Reliable Witness: Essays in Honor of Ross Shepard Kraemer, 5; Berglund Crostini and Kelhoffer (2022), Why We Sing: Music, Word, and Liturgy in Early Christianity, 87; Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 107; Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 235; McGowan (1999), Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals, 205, 240; Potter Suh and Holladay (2021), Hellenistic Jewish Literature and the New Testament: Collected Essays, 553; Rüpke and Woolf (2013), Religious Dimensions of the Self in the Second Century CE. 76; Visnjic (2021), The Invention of Duty: Stoicism as Deontology, 436, 437, 448, 450, 451; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 346
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6.11 Καὶ ταῦτά τινες ἦτε· ἀλλὰ ἀπελούσασθε, ἀλλὰ ἡγιάσθητε, ἀλλὰ ἐδικαιώθητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν.
7.10 Τοῖς δὲ γεγαμηκόσιν παραγγέλλω, οὐκ ἐγὼ ἀλλὰ ὁ κύριος, γυναῖκα ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς μὴ χωρισθῆναι,—
10.16 Τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας ὃ εὐλογοῦμεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία ἐστὶν τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ χριστοῦ; τὸν ἄρτον ὃν κλῶμεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ σώματος τοῦ χριστοῦ ἐστίν;
11.21 ἕκαστος γὰρ τὸ ἴδιον δεῖπνον προλαμβάνει ἐν τῷ φαγεῖν, καὶ ὃς μὲν πεινᾷ, ὃς δὲ μεθύει.
11.23 ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑμῖν, ὅτι ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ παρεδίδετο ἔλαβεν ἄρτον καὶ εὐχαριστήσας ἔκλασεν καὶ εἶπεν 11.24 Τοῦτό μού ἐστιν τὸ σῶμα τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ ποτήριον μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι, λέγων 11.25 Τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴδιαθήκηἐστὶν ἐντῷἐμῷαἵματι·τοῦτο ποιεῖτε, ὁσάκις ἐὰν πίνητε, εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. 11.26 ὁσάκις γὰρ ἐὰν ἐσθίητε τὸν ἄρτον τοῦτον καὶ τὸ ποτήριον πίνητε, τὸν θάνατον τοῦ κυρίου καταγγέλλετε, ἄχρι οὗ ἔλθῃ.
15.1 Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, ὃ καὶ παρελάβετε, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστήκατε,' ' None | sup>
6.11 Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified.But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spiritof our God.
7.10 But to the married I command-- not I, but the Lord -- that the wife not leave her husband' "
10.16 Thecup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a communion of the blood ofChrist? The bread which we break, isn't it a communion of the body ofChrist?" 11.21 For in your eatingeach one takes his own supper before others. One is hungry, and anotheris drunken.
11.23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered toyou, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed tookbread. 11.24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "Take,eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory ofme." 11.25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper,saying, "This cup is the new covet in my blood. Do this, as often asyou drink, in memory of me."' "11.26 For as often as you eat this breadand drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." 15.1 Now I declare to you, brothers, the gospel which I preachedto you, which also you received, in which you also stand,' ' None |
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67. New Testament, Acts, 8.10, 9.3-9.7, 10.48, 16.25-16.27, 16.30-16.31, 22.21, 26.14 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Baptism, Initiate’s affinity with baptizer • Paul, spiritual initiation of • Spirit, effects of, initiation into community • baptism of Jesus, as commissioning or spiritual initiation • faith/belief, initial faith • initiation • initiation, as component of spiritual biography of first-century sage • initiation, rite of • mystic initiation • seal (σφραγίς), initiation rite
Found in books: Ashbrook Harvey et al. (2015), A Most Reliable Witness: Essays in Honor of Ross Shepard Kraemer, 4, 5; Berglund Crostini and Kelhoffer (2022), Why We Sing: Music, Word, and Liturgy in Early Christianity, 209; Levison (2009), Filled with the Spirit, 231; Potter Suh and Holladay (2021), Hellenistic Jewish Literature and the New Testament: Collected Essays, 553; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 333; Stroumsa (1996), Hidden Widsom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. 74; Werline et al. (2008), Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry Into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity, 186, 189; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 201, 225
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8.10 ᾧ προσεῖχον πάντες ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου λέγοντες Οὗτός ἐστιν ἡ Δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ καλουμένη Μεγάλη.
9.3 Ἐν δὲ τῷ πορεύεσθαι ἐγένετο αὐτὸν ἐγγίζειν τῇ Δαμασκῷ, ἐξέφνης τε αὐτὸν περιήστραψεν φῶς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, 9.4 καὶ πεσὼν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἤκουσεν φωνὴν λέγουσαν αὐτῷ Σαούλ Σαούλ, τί με διώκεις; 9.5 εἶπεν δέ Τίς εἶ, κύριε; ὁ δέ Ἐγώ εἰμι Ἰησοῦς ὃν σὺ διώκεις· 9.6 ἀλλὰ ἀνάστηθι καὶ εἴσελθε εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ λαληθήσεταί σοι ὅτι σε δεῖ ποιεῖν. 9.7 οἱ δὲ ἄνδρες οἱ συνοδεύοντες αὐτῷ ἱστήκεισαν ἐνεοί, ἀκούοντες μὲν τῆς φωνῆς μηδένα δὲ θεωροῦντες.
10.48 προσέταξεν δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ βαπτισθῆναι. τότε ἠρώτησαν αὐτὸν ἐπιμεῖναι ἡμέρας τινάς.
16.25 Κατὰ δὲ τὸ μεσονύκτιον Παῦλος καὶ Σίλας προσευχόμενοι ὕμνουν τὸν θεόν, ἐπηκροῶντο δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ δέσμιοι· 16.26 ἄφνω δὲ σεισμὸς ἐγένετο μέγας ὥστε σαλευθῆναι τὰ θεμέλια τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου, ἠνεῴχθησαν δὲ παραχρῆμα αἱ θύραι πᾶσαι, καὶ πάντων τὰ δεσμὰ ἀνέθη. 16.27 ἔξυπνος δὲ γενόμενος ὁ δεσμοφύλαξ καὶ ἰδὼν ἀνεῳγμένας τὰς θύρας τῆς φυλακῆς σπασάμενος τὴν μάχαιραν ἤμελλεν ἑαυτὸν ἀναιρεῖν, νομίζων ἐκπεφευγέναι τοὺς δεσμίους.
16.30 καὶ προαγαγὼν αὐτοὺς ἔξω ἔφη Κύριοι, τί με δεῖ ποιεῖν ἵνα σωθῶ; 16.31 οἱ δὲ εἶπαν Πίστευσον ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν, καὶ σωθήσῃ σὺ καὶ ὁ οἶκός σου.
22.21 καὶ εἶπεν πρός με Πορεύου, ὅτι ἐγὼ εἰς ἔθνη μακρὰν ἐξαποστελῶ σε.
26.14 πάντων τε καταπεσόντων ἡμῶν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἤκουσα φωνὴν λέγουσαν πρός με τῇ Ἐβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ Σαούλ Σαούλ, τί με διώκεις; σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν.' ' None | sup>
8.10 to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is that great power of God."
9.3 As he traveled, it happened that he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him. 9.4 He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 9.5 He said, "Who are you, Lord?"The Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 9.6 But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do." 9.7 The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.
10.48 He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.
16.25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ' "16.26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were loosened. " '16.27 The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
16.30 and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 16.31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
22.21 "He said to me, \'Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.\'"' "
26.14 When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' " ' None |
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68. New Testament, Colossians, 2.18 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Elements, carried through all, in initiation, Mystery-cult of, at Colossae • institutions,
Found in books: Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 303; Huttner (2013), Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 301, 303
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2.18 μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω θέλων ἐν ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ θρησκείᾳ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἃ ἑόρακεν ἐμβατεύων, εἰκῇ φυσιούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ,'' None | sup>
2.18 Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, '' None |
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69. New Testament, Ephesians, 1.9-1.10, 2.21-2.22, 4.4, 5.25, 5.32 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Baptism, Initiate’s affinity with baptizer • Initiation • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiation, needed, pledged to rites of • Money, needed for initiation, indicated by Isis, scarcity of, a hindrance • Mysteries, divine, throngs initiated into, to be prepared for poor man from Madauros • Pledged, to Isis, by favour that could not be repaid, to rites of initiation • Spirit, effects of, initiation into community • faith/belief, initial faith
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 498; Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 334; Immendörfer (2017), Ephesians and Artemis : The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus As the Epistle's Context 237, 268, 269, 270, 272; Levison (2009), Filled with the Spirit, 307; Potter Suh and Holladay (2021), Hellenistic Jewish Literature and the New Testament: Collected Essays, 553; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 202
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1.9 ἧς ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ φρονήσει γνωρίσας ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν αὐτοῦ ἣν προέθετο ἐν αὐτῷ 1.10 εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ χριστῷ, τὰ ἐπὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ἐν αὐτῷ,
2.21 ἐν ᾧ πᾶσα οἰκοδομὴ συναρμολογουμένη αὔξει εἰς ναὸν ἅγιον ἐν κυρίῳ, 2.22 ἐν ᾧ καὶ ὑμεῖς συνοικοδομεῖσθε εἰς κατοικητήριον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν πνεύματι.
4.4 ἓν σῶμα καὶ ἓν πνεῦμα, καθὼς καὶ ἐκλήθητε ἐν μιᾷ ἐλπίδι τῆς κλήσεως ὑμῶν·
5.25 Οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας, καθὼς καὶ ὁ χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς,
5.32 τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν, ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν.'' None | sup>
1.9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 1.10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;
2.21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 2.22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
4.4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
5.25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;
5.32 This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the assembly. '' None |
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70. New Testament, Galatians, 3.27, 4.19 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Baptism, Initiate’s affinity with baptizer • Day of initiation, indicated by will of goddess • Endurance, reverent, urged by priest in regard to initiation • Initiation, Isis urges, day indicated by will of goddess • Initiation, Isis urges, priest for rites chosen by her foresight • Isis and initiation, urges it, day indicated by her will • Isis and initiation, urges it, indicates sum needed for ceremonies • Isis and initiation, urges it, priest for rites chosen by her foresight • Money, needed for initiation, indicated by Isis • Priest, of initiation rites, chosen by foresight of Isis • faith/belief, initial faith • initiation
Found in books: Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 279; Nicklas and Spittler (2013), Credible, Incredible : The Miraculous in the Ancient Mediterranean. 101; Potter Suh and Holladay (2021), Hellenistic Jewish Literature and the New Testament: Collected Essays, 553; Rüpke and Woolf (2013), Religious Dimensions of the Self in the Second Century CE. 77; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 103, 257
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3.27 ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε·
4.19 τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω μέχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν·'' None | sup>
3.27 For as many of you as werebaptized into Christ have put on Christ.
4.19 My little children, of whom I am again in travail untilChrist is formed in you-- '' None |
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71. New Testament, Romans, 5.21, 6.3-6.5, 8.38-8.39, 11.25, 11.36 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Baptism, Initiate’s affinity with baptizer • Happier face, befits white cloak of initiate • Hesitancy, of Lucius before initiation • Initial Text, Ps.-Ignatius • Initiation • Initiation, Christian • Initiation, Initiate(s) • faith/belief, initial faith • initiation
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 247; Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 237; Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 342, 343, 344, 348, 350, 351, 362; Doble and Kloha (2014), Texts and Traditions: Essays in Honour of J. Keith Elliott, 281, 291; Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 52, 251; Immendörfer (2017), Ephesians and Artemis : The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus As the Epistle's Context 268; Potter Suh and Holladay (2021), Hellenistic Jewish Literature and the New Testament: Collected Essays, 553; Werline et al. (2008), Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry Into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity, 203; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 38, 107
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5.21 ἵνα ὥσπερ ἐβασίλευσεν ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ, οὕτως καὶ ἡ χάρις βασιλεύσῃ διὰ δικαιοσύνης εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν.
6.3 ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε ὅτι ὅσοι ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ἐβαπτίσθημεν; 6.4 συνετάφημεν οὖν αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἰς τὸν θάνατον, ἵνα ὥσπερ ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς ἐκ νεκρῶν διὰ τῆς δόξης τοῦ πατρός, οὕτως καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσωμεν. 6.5 εἰ γὰρ σύμφυτοι γεγόναμεν τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐσόμεθα·
8.38 πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ζωὴ οὔτε ἄγγελοι οὔτε ἀρχαὶ οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα οὔτε μέλλοντα οὔτε δυνάμεις 8.39 οὔτε ὕψωμα οὔτε βάθος οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.
11.25 Οὐ γὰρ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ μυστήριον τοῦτο, ἵνα μὴ ἦτε ἐν ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι, ὅτι πώρωσις ἀπὸ μέρους τῷ Ἰσραὴλ γέγονεν ἄχρι οὗ τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ, καὶ οὕτως πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται·
11.36 ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ διʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα· αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν.' ' None | sup>
5.21 that as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ' "
6.3 Or don't you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? " '6.4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. 6.5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
8.38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8.39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ' "
11.25 For I don't desire, brothers, to have you ignorant of this mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, " 11.36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. ' ' None |
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72. New Testament, John, 1.1, 1.3-1.4, 1.9-1.14, 3.6, 6.53-6.55, 6.58, 6.63, 14.6, 15.5 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initial Text, Ps.-Ignatius • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiatory hierarchy • Septuagint, initiative for translation of Hebrew Scripture • Words of Institution • faith/belief, initial faith • infants, initiation • initiate • initiation
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 468; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 32, 241, 242, 498; Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 331; Doble and Kloha (2014), Texts and Traditions: Essays in Honour of J. Keith Elliott, 281; Penniman (2017), Raised on Christian Milk: Food and the Formation of the Soul in Early Christianity, 196; Schliesser et al. (2021), Alexandria: Hub of the Hellenistic World. 36; Visnjic (2021), The Invention of Duty: Stoicism as Deontology, 444, 451; Werline et al. (2008), Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry Into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity, 115, 116; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 57, 100, 125, 134, 163, 164, 172, 173, 174, 184, 221, 225; Černušková, Kovacs and Plátová (2016), Clement’s Biblical Exegesis: Proceedings of the Second Colloquium on Clement of Alexandria , 74
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1.1 ΕΝ ΑΡΧΗ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
1.3 πάντα διʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. 1.4 ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·
1.9 Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.
1.10 ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος διʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω.
1.11 Εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον.
1.12 ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,
1.13 οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς ἀλλʼ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν.
1.14 Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας·?̔
3.6 τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστιν, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν.
6.53 εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν μὴ φάγητε τὴν σάρκα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πίητε αὐτοῦ τὸ αἷμα, οὐκ ἔχετε ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς. 6.54 ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον, κἀγὼ ἀναστήσω αὐτὸν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ· 6.55 ἡ γὰρ σάρξ μου ἀληθής ἐστι βρῶσις, καὶ τὸ αἷμά μου ἀληθής ἐστι πόσις.
6.58 οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, οὐ καθὼς ἔφαγον οἱ πατέρες καὶ ἀπέθανον· ὁ τρώγων τοῦτον τὸν ἄρτον ζήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
6.63 τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν τὸ ζωοποιοῦν, ἡ σὰρξ οὐκ ὠφελεῖ οὐδέν· τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λελάληκα ὑμῖν πνεῦμά ἐστιν καὶ ζωή ἐστιν·
14.6 λέγει αὐτῷ Ἰησοῦς Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ διʼ ἐμοῦ.
15.5 ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ οὗτος φέρει καρπὸν πολύν, ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν.' ' None | sup>
1.1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1.3 All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. 1.4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
1.9 The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world. ' "
1.10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him. " "
1.11 He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him. " "
1.12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name: " 1.13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
1.14 The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
6.53 Jesus therefore said to them, "Most assuredly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don\'t have life in yourselves. 6.54 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 6.55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
6.58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven -- not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever."
6.63 It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
14.6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
15.5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ' ' None |
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73. New Testament, Luke, 3.21-3.22, 11.13, 22.15-22.16, 22.18 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initial Text, Ps.-Ignatius • Initiation, Christian • Jesus, Messianic initiation • Spirit, effects of, initiation into community • Words of Institution • institution narrative
Found in books: Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 234; Doble and Kloha (2014), Texts and Traditions: Essays in Honour of J. Keith Elliott, 281; Levison (2009), Filled with the Spirit, 231; McGowan (1999), Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals, 241, 242; Ruzer (2020), Early Jewish Messianism in the New Testament: Reflections in the Dim Mirror, 75; Visnjic (2021), The Invention of Duty: Stoicism as Deontology, 443, 449, 450, 451
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3.21 Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ βαπτισθῆναι ἅπαντα τὸν λαὸν καὶ Ἰησοῦ βαπτισθέντος καὶ προσευχομένου ἀνεῳχθῆναι τὸν οὐρανὸν 3.22 καὶ καταβῆναι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον σωματικῷ εἴδει ὡς περιστερὰν ἐπʼ αὐτόν, καὶ φωνὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ γενέσθαι Σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα.
11.13 εἰ οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροὶ ὑπάρχοντες οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθὰ διδόναι τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δώσει πνεῦμα ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτόν.
22.15 καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς Ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα τοῦτο τὸ πάσχα φαγεῖν μεθʼ ὑμῶν πρὸ τοῦ με παθεῖν· 22.16 λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐ μὴ φάγω αὐτὸ ἕως ὅτου πληρωθῇ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ.
22.18 λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ πίω ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ γενήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου ἕως οὗ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἔλθῃ.'' None | sup>
3.21 Now it happened, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened, 3.22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying "You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased."
11.13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
22.15 He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, 22.16 for I tell you, I will no longer by any means eat of it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God."
22.18 for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God comes."'' None |
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74. New Testament, Mark, 1.11, 14.26 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Christian • Jesus, Messianic initiation • Words of Institution • initiation
Found in books: Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 234; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 96; Ruzer (2020), Early Jewish Messianism in the New Testament: Reflections in the Dim Mirror, 75; Visnjic (2021), The Invention of Duty: Stoicism as Deontology, 443
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1.11 καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν Σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα.
14.26 Καὶ ὑμνήσαντες ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὸ Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν.'' None | sup>
1.11 A voice came out of the sky, "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
14.26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. '' None |
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75. New Testament, Matthew, 3.17, 26.30, 28.19 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Christian • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Jesus, Messianic initiation • Words of Institution • initiation • seal (σφραγίς), initiation rite
Found in books: Berglund Crostini and Kelhoffer (2022), Why We Sing: Music, Word, and Liturgy in Early Christianity, 87; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 498; Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 234; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 96; Ruzer (2020), Early Jewish Messianism in the New Testament: Reflections in the Dim Mirror, 75; Visnjic (2021), The Invention of Duty: Stoicism as Deontology, 443
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3.17 καὶ ἰδοὺ ἠνεῴχθησαν οἱ οὐρανοί, καὶ εἶδεν πνεῦμα θεοῦ καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν ἐρχόμενον ἐπʼ αὐτόν· καὶ ἰδοὺ φωνὴ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν λέγουσα Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα.
26.30 Καὶ ὑμνήσαντες ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὸ Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν.
28.19 πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος,'' None | sup>
3.17 Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
26.30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
28.19 Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, '' None |
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76. Plutarch, Alcibiades, 16.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • democratic institutions • gift-exchange, non-institutional/informal
Found in books: Athanassaki and Titchener (2022), Plutarch's Cities, 143, 155; Gygax (2016), Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City: The Origins of Euergetism, 55; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 330
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16.3 ἐπιδόσεις γὰρ καὶ χορηγίαι καὶ φιλοτιμήματα πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ὑπερβολὴν μὴ ἀπολείποντα καὶ δόξα προγόνων καὶ λόγου δύναμις καὶ σώματος εὐπρέπεια καὶ ῥώμη μετʼ ἐμπειρίας τῶν πολεμικῶν καὶ ἀλκῆς πάντα τἆλλα συγχωρεῖν ἐποίει καὶ φέρειν μετρίως τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, ἀεὶ τὰ πρᾳότατα τῶν ὀνομάτων τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι τιθεμένους, παιδιὰς καὶ φιλοτιμίας.' ' None | sup>
16.3 And indeed, his voluntary contributions of money, his support of public exhibitions, his unsurpassed munificence towards the city, the glory of his ancestry, the power of his eloquence, the comeliness and vigor of his person, together with his experience and prowess in war, made the Athenians lenient and tolerant towards everything else; they were forever giving the mildest of names to his transgressions, calling them the product of youthful spirits and ambition. ' ' None |
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77. Plutarch, On The Obsolescence of Oracles, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiation, initiatory rites • knowledge, acquired in the initiation
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 35, 136; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 179
| 417c in which it is possible to gain the clearest reflections and adumbrations of the truth about the demigods, 'let my lips be piously sealed,' as Herodotus says; but as for festivals and sacrifices, which may be compared with ill-omened and gloomy days, in which occur the eating of raw flesh, rending of victims, fasting, and beating of breasts, and again in many places scurrilous language at the shrines, and Frenzy and shouting of throngs in excitement With tumultuous tossing of heads in the air, Ishould say that these acts are not performed for any god, but are soothing and appeasing rites for the averting of evil spirits. Nor is it credible that the gods demanded or welcomed the human sacrifices of ancient days,"" None |
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78. Plutarch, On Isis And Osiris, 27, 68 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Charge of initiation rites • Initiation • Initiation, Initiate(s) • wise and the vulgar initiation, rites of
Found in books: Beck (2006), The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun, 62; Bricault and Bonnet (2013), Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire, 179; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 463; Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 283
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27 Stories akin to these and to others like them they say are related about Typhon; how that, prompted by jealousy and hostility, he wrought terrible deeds and, by bringing utter confusion upon all things, filled the whole Earth, and the ocean as well, with ills, and later paid the penalty therefor. But the avenger, the sister and wife of Osiris, after she had quenched and suppressed the madness and fury of Typhon, was not indifferent to the contests and struggles which she had endured, nor to her own wanderings nor to her manifold deeds of wisdom and many feats of bravery, nor would she accept oblivion and silence for them, but she intermingled in the most holy rites portrayals and suggestions and representations of her experiences at that time, and sanctified them, both as a lesson in godliness and an encouragement for men and women who find themselves in the clutch of like calamities. She herself and Osiris, translated for their virtues from good demigods into gods, Cf. 363 e, infra . as were Heracles and Dionysus later, Cf. Moralia, 857 d. not incongruously enjoy double honours, both those of gods and those of demigods, and their powers extend everywhere, but are greatest in the regions above the earth and beneath the earth. In fact, men assert that Pluto is none other than Serapis and that Persephonê is Isis, even as Archemachus Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iv. p. 315, no. 7. of Euboea has said, and also Heracleides Ponticus Ibid. ii. 198 or Frag. 103, ed. Voss. who holds the oracle in Canopus to be an oracle of Pluto.68 Wherefore in the study of these matters it is especially necessary that we adopt, as our guide in these mysteries, the reasoning that comes from philosophy, and consider reverently each one of the things that are said and done, so that, to quote Theodorus, Cf. Moralia, 467 b. who said that while he offered the good word with his right hand some of his auditors received it in their left, we may not thus err by accepting in a different spirit the things that the laws have dictated admirably concerning the sacrifices and festivals. The fact that everything is to be referred to reason we may gather from the Egyptians themselves; for on the nineteenth day of the first month, when they are holding festival in honour of Hermes, they eat honey and a fig; and as they eat they say, A sweet thing is Truth. The amulet Cf. 377 b, supra . of Isis, which they traditionally assert that she hung about her neck, is interpreted a true voice. And Harpocrates is not to be regarded as an imperfect and an infant god, nor some deity or other that protects legumes, but as the representative and corrector of unseasoned, imperfect, and inarticulate reasoning about the gods among mankind. For this reason he keeps his finger on his lips in token of restrained speech or silence. In the month of Mesorê they bring to him an offering of legumes and say, The tongue is luck, the tongue is god. of the plants in Egypt they say that the persea is especially consecrated to the goddess because its fruit resembles a heart and its leaf a tongue. The fact is that nothing of mans usual possessions is more divine than reasoning, especially reasoning about the gods; and nothing has a greater influence toward happiness. For this reason we give instructions to anyone who comes down to the oracle here to think holy thoughts and to speak words of good omen. But the mass of mankind act ridiculously in their processions and festivals in that they proclaim at the outset the use of words of good omen, The regular proclamation ( εὐφημεῖτε ) used by the Greeks at the beginning of any ceremony. but later they both say and think the most unhallowed thoughts about the very gods. ' None |
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79. Plutarch, Pericles, 6.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • initiates, hope of the initiates • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 81; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 313
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6.2 λέγεται δέ ποτε κριοῦ μονόκερω κεφαλὴν ἐξ ἀγροῦ τῷ Περικλεῖ κομισθῆναι, καὶ Λάμπωνα μὲν τὸν μάντιν, ὡς εἶδε τὸ κέρας ἰσχυρὸν καὶ στερεὸν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ μετώπου πεφυκός, εἰπεῖν ὅτι δυεῖν οὐσῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει δυναστειῶν, τῆς Θουκυδίδου καὶ Περικλέους, εἰς ἕνα περιστήσεται τὸ κράτος παρʼ ᾧ γένοιτο τὸ σημεῖον· τὸν δʼ Ἀναξαγόραν τοῦ κρανίου διακοπέντος ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸν ἐγκέφαλον οὐ πεπληρωκότα τὴν βάσιν, ἀλλʼ ὀξὺν ὥσπερ ὠὸν ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς ἀγγείου συνωλισθηκότα κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ὅθεν ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ κέρατος εἶχε τὴν ἀρχήν.'' None | sup>
6.2 A story is told that once on a time the head of a one-horned ram was brought to Pericles from his country-place, and that Lampon the seer, when he saw how the horn grew strong and solid from the middle of the forehead, declared that, whereas there were two powerful parties in the city, that of Thucydides and that of Pericles, the mastery would finally devolve upon one man,—the man to whom this sign had been given. Anaxagoras, however, had the skull cut in two, and showed that the brain had not filled out its position, but had drawn together to a point, like an egg, at that particular spot in the entire cavity where the root of the horn began.'' None |
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80. Plutarch, Phocion, 28.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • institution • shark, eats initiate
Found in books: Athanassaki and Titchener (2022), Plutarch's Cities, 214; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 108
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28.4 ἡ μὲν οὖν φρουρὰ διὰ Μένυλλον οὐδὲν ἠνίασε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· τῶν δὲ ἀποψηφισθέντων τοῦ πολιτεύματος διὰ πενίαν ὑπὲρ μυρίους καὶ δισχιλίους γενομένων οἵ τε μένοντες ἐδόκουν σχέτλια καὶ ἄτιμα πάσχειν, οἵ τε διὰ τοῦτο τὴν πόλιν ἐκλιπόντες καὶ μεταστάντες εἰς Θρᾴκην, Ἀντιπάτρου γῆν καὶ πόλιν αὐτοῖς παρασχόντος, ἐκπεπολιορκημένοις ἐῴκεσαν.'' None | sup>
28.4 '' None |
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81. Plutarch, Themistocles, 1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Sparta, and Athens, institutions • grain-supply, elite initiatives • initiates
Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 32, 40; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 216; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 4
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1 Thus Probably Plutarch began with his favourite tale of Themistocles’ remark (dealing with the festival day and the day after) to the generals who came after him; cf. 270 c, supra, and the note. rightly spoke the great Themistocles to the generals who succeeded him, for whom he had opened a way for their subsequent exploits by driving out the barbarian host and making Greece free. And rightly will it be spoken also to those who pride themselves on their writings; for if you take away the men of action, you will have no men of letters. Take away Pericles’ statesmanship, and Phormio’s trophies for his naval victories at Rhium, and Nicias’s valiant deeds at Cythera and Megara and Corinth, Demosthenes’ Pylos, and Cleon’s four hundred captives, Tolmides’ circumnavigation of the Peloponnesus, and Myronides’ Cf. Thucydides, i.
108; iv. 95. victory over the Boeotians at Oenophyta-take these away and Thucydides is stricken from your list of writers. Take away Alcibiades ’ spirited exploits in the Hellespontine region, and those of Thrasyllus by Lesbos, and the overthrow by Theramenes of the oligarchy, Thrasybulus and Archinus and the uprising of the Seventy Cf. Xenophon, Hellenica, ii. 4. 2. from Phyle against the Spartan hegemony, and Conon’s restoration of Athens to her power on the sea - take these away and Cratippus An historian who continued Thucydides, claiming to be his contemporary (see E. Schwartz, Hermes, xliv. 496). is no more. Xenophon, to be sure, became his own history by writing of his generalship and his successes and recording that it was Themistogenes Cf. Xenophon, Hellenica, iii.
1. 2; M. MacLaren, Trans. Amer. Phil. Assoc. lxv. (
1934) pp. 240-247. the Syracusan who had compiled an account of them, his purpose being to win greater credence for his narrative by referring to himself in the third person, thus favouring another with the glory of the authorship. But all the other historians, men like Cleitodemus, Diyllus, Cf. Moralia, 862 b; Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. ii. 360-36
1. Philochorus, Phylarchus, have been for the exploits of others what actors are for plays, exhibiting the deeds of the generals and kings, and merging themselves with their characters as tradition records them, in order that they might share in a certain effulgence, so to speak, and splendour. For there is reflected from the men of action upon the men of letters an image of another’s glory, which shines again there, since the deed is seen, as in a mirror, through the agency of their words.'' None |
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82. Seneca The Younger, Letters, 90.28 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chrysippus, on initiation • Cleanthes, on initiates • initiate (telestēs), Cleanthes on • initiation • initiation (teletē), and perfection • perfection (teleutē), and initiation • sage, as initiate
Found in books: Brouwer (2013), The Stoic Sage: The Early Stoics on Wisdom, Sagehood and Socrates, 65; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 92
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90.28 But it is our vices that bring us to despair; for the second class of rational being, man, is of an inferior order, – a guardian, as it were, who is too unstable to hold fast to what is best, his judgment still wavering and uncertain. He may require the faculties of sight and hearing, good health, a bodily exterior that is not loathsome, and, besides, greater length of days conjoined with an unimpaired constitution. 90.28 She shows us what things are evil and what things are seemingly evil; she strips our minds of vain illusion. She bestows upon us a greatness which is substantial, but she represses the greatness which is inflated, and showy but filled with emptiness; and she does not permit us to be ignorant of the difference between what is great and what is but swollen; nay, she delivers to us the knowledge of the whole of nature and of her own nature. She discloses to us what the gods are and of what sort they are; what are the nether gods, the household deities, and the protecting spirits; what are the souls which have been endowed with lasting life and have been admitted to the second class of divinities,18 where is their abode and what their activities, powers, and will. Such are wisdom's rites of initiation, by means of which is unlocked, not a village shrine, but the vast temple of all the gods – the universe itself, whose true apparitions and true aspects she offers to the gaze of our minds. For the vision of our eyes is too dull for sights so great. " '" None |
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83. Suetonius, Nero, 34.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiation
Found in books: Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 30; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 378
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34.4 Trustworthy authorities add still more gruesome details: that he hurried off to view the corpse, handled her limbs, criticising some and commending others, and that becoming thirsty meanwhile, he took a drink. Yet he could not either then or ever afterwards endure the stings of conscience, though soldiers, senate and people tried to hearten him with their congratulations; for he often owned that he was hounded by his mother's ghost and by the whips and blazing torches of the Furies. He even had rites performed by the Magi, in the effort to summon her shade and entreat it for forgiveness. Moreover, in his journey through Greece he did not venture to take part in the Eleusinian mysteries, since at the beginning the godless and wicked are warned by the herald's proclamation to go hence."" None |
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84. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • initiation
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 41; Tite (2009), Valentinian Ethics and Paraenetic Discourse: Determining the Social Function of Moral Exhortation in Valentinian Christianity, 266
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85. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • gift-exchange, non-institutional/informal • grain-supply, elite initiatives
Found in books: Gygax (2016), Benefaction and Rewards in the Ancient Greek City: The Origins of Euergetism, 55; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 216
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86. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiation • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, as contest • mystic initiation, transition to joy in • myth and repeat initiation? • washing initiatory
Found in books: Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 29; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 390; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 361; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 215, 334
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87. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • initiation • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, anxiety in • mystic initiation, as contest • mystic initiation, transition to joy in • phrissein (of initiation)
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 382; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 92; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 215, 220, 371
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88. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Pyanopsia as initiation? • initiation
Found in books: Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 672; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 208
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89. Anon., Acts of Thomas, 49 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation, iniatory rite • initiation, rite of • seal (σφραγίς), initiation rite
Found in books: Berglund Crostini and Kelhoffer (2022), Why We Sing: Music, Word, and Liturgy in Early Christianity, 212; Nissinen and Uro (2008), Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity, 464
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49 And he laid his hands on them and blessed them, saying: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be upon you for ever. And they said, Amen. And the woman besought him, saying: O apostle of the Most High, give me the seal, that that enemy return not again unto me. Then he caused her to come near unto him (Syr. went to a river which was close by there), and laid his hands upon her and sealed her in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; and many others also were sealed with her. And the apostle bade his minister (deacon) to set forth a table; and he set forth a stool which they found there, and spread a linen cloth upon it and set on the bread of blessing; and the apostle stood by it and said: Jesu, that hast accounted us worthy to partake of the eucharist of thine holy body and blood, lo, we are bold to draw near unto thine eucharist and to call upon thine holy name: come thou and communicate unto us (Syr. adds more).'' None |
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90. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 1.1, 2.12, 3.19, 3.22, 8.26, 10.16, 10.29, 11.5-11.8, 11.11-11.13, 11.15-11.16, 11.18-11.19, 11.21-11.24, 11.24.4, 11.26-11.29 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Ankle, of initiate, bent upwards = sign of identity • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate, career in Rome • Cloak, of Isis-devotee, given to Lucius, precious cloak worn by initiate • Counsels, of fellow-initiates • Dais, wooden, ascended by initiate • Gods, above and below, approached and worshipped in initiation, generous providence of • Gods, above and below, approached and worshipped in initiation, think Lucius worthy • Greece, initiation ceremonies in • Happy, people call Lucius, happy for ever, after three initiations • Initial Text • Initiation • Initiation, needed, one of pastophori instructed to arrange for • Initiation, needed, pledged to rites of • Initiation, needed, rites of Osiris and Isis differ • Isis, principle of deity and faith at one with that of Osiris, but initiation differs • Isis, statue of, silver-wrought, on temple steps, in sanctuary, initiate stands before • Ivy, carried by initiate in vision • Joy, and accept Third Initiation with joyful heart • Linen tunic of Isis, initiate clad in • Mithras, high priest in charge of initiation, embraced by Lucius and regarded as father • Money, needed for initiation, indicated by Isis, earnings at bar • Money, needed for initiation, indicated by Isis, scarcity of, a hindrance • Mysteries, divine, throngs initiated into, of Osiris • Mysteries, divine, throngs initiated into, of goddess • Mysteries, divine, throngs initiated into, third revelation of, most necessary • Mysteries, divine, throngs initiated into, to be prepared for poor man from Madauros • Night, black clouds of, routed, vision of initiate with sacred objects • Olympian robe, worn by initiate • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • Pastophori, sacred college, summoned by Lector, instructed to arrange for initiation • Pindar, on death and initiation • Plato, on mystery initiations • Pledged, to Isis, by favour that could not be repaid, to rites of initiation • Plutarch, on mystery initiations • Religion passim, mystery cults, initiation • Sacred objects, nameless, carried by initiate in vision • Three times, boon of initiation extended, meaningful number • Tunic of Isis, linen tunic with sumptuous decorations, worn by initiate • Wands, carried by initiate in vision • initiates • initiation • initiation (initiations) • initiation and divination • mystery initiations • mystic initiation, clothing of
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 8, 102, 128, 143, 146, 156, 165; Bricault and Bonnet (2013), Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire, 179; Chaniotis (2012), Unveiling Emotions: Sources and Methods for the Study of Emotions in the Greek World vol, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275; Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 344; Doble and Kloha (2014), Texts and Traditions: Essays in Honour of J. Keith Elliott, 63; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 88; Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 4, 8, 27, 310, 325, 334, 339, 341; Johnston (2008), Ancient Greek Divination, 155; Nicklas and Spittler (2013), Credible, Incredible : The Miraculous in the Ancient Mediterranean. 95, 101, 102; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013), Anton Bierl? and Roger Beck?, Intende, Lector - Echoes of Myth, Religion and Ritual in the Ancient Novel, 194; Pinheiro et al. (2018), Cultural Crossroads in the Ancient Novel, 174, 175, 258; Rothschold, Blanton and Calhoun (2014), The History of Religions School Today : Essays on the New Testament and Related Ancient Mediterranean Texts 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295; Rüpke and Woolf (2013), Religious Dimensions of the Self in the Second Century CE. 158; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 196; Stephens and Winkler (1995), Ancient Greek Novels: The Fragments: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Commentary, 360; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 269; Werline et al. (2008), Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry Into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity, 100; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 37
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11.5 “Behold, Lucius, I have come! Your weeping and prayers have moved me to succor you. I am she who is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of powers divine, queen of heaven! I am the principal of the celestial gods, the light of the goddesses. At my will the planets of the heavens, the wholesome winds of the seas, and the silences of hell are disposed. My name and my divinity is adored throughout all the world in diverse manners. I am worshipped by various customs and by many names. The Phrygians call me the mother of the gods. The Athenians, Minerva. The Cyprians, Venus. The Cretans, Diana. The Sicilians, Proserpina. The Eleusians, Ceres. Some call me Juno, other Bellona, and yet others Hecate. And principally the Aethiopians who dwell in the Orient, and the Aegyptians who are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine and by their proper ceremonies are accustomed to worship me, call me Queen Isis. Behold, I have come to take pity of your fortune and tribulation. Behold, I am present to favor and aid you. Leave off your weeping and lamentation, put away all your sorrow. For behold, the day which is ordained by my providence is at hand. Therefore be ready to attend to my command. This day which shall come after this night is dedicated to my service by an eternal religion. My priests and ministers are accustomed, after the tempests of the sea have ceased, to offer in my name a new ship as a first fruit of my navigation. I command you not to profane or despise the sacrifice in any way. 11.6 “The great priest shall carry this day, following in procession by my exhortation, a garland of roses next the rattle in his right hand. Follow my procession amongst the people and, when you come to the priest, make as though you would kiss his hand. But snatch at the roses, whereby I will put away the skin and shape of an ass. This kind of beast I have long abhorred and despised. But above all things beware that you do not doubt or fear any of those things as being hard and difficult to bring to pass. For in the same hour as I have come to you, I have commanded the priest, by a vision, of what he shall do. And all the people by my command shall be compelled to give you place and say nothing! Moreover, do not think that, amongst so fair and joyful ceremonies and in so good a company, any person shall abhor your ill-favored and deformed figure, or that any man shall be so hardy as to blame and reprove your sudden restoration to human shape. They will not conceive any sinister opinion about this deed. And know this for certain: for the rest of your life, until the hour of death, you shall be bound and subject to me! And think it not an injury to be always subject to me, since by my means and benefit you shall become a man. You shall live blessed in this world, you shall live gloriously by my guidance and protection. And when you descend to hell, you shall see me shine in that subterranean place, shining (as you see me now) in the darkness of Acheron, and reigning in the deep profundity of Styx. There you shall worship me as one who has been favorable to you. And if I perceive that you are obedient to my command, an adherent to my religion, and worthy my divine grace, know you that I will prolong your days above the time that the fates have appointed, and the celestial planets have ordained.” 11.7 When the divine image had spoken these words, she vanished away! By and by, when I awoke, I arose with the members of my body mixed with fear, joy and sweat. I marveled at the clear presence of the powerful goddess and, being sprinkled with the water of the sea, I recounted in order her admonitions and divine commands. Soon after, when the darkness was chased away and the clear and golden sun rose, behold, I saw the streets filled with people going in a religious sort and in great triumph. All things seemed that day to be joyful. Every beast and house, and indeed the very day itself seemed to rejoice. For after a frosty morning a hot and temperate rose and the little birds, thinking that the spring time had come, chirped and sang melodiously to the mother of stars, the parent of times, and mistress of all the world! The fruitful trees rejoiced at their fertility. The barren and sterile were contented to provide shadows. All rendering sweet and pleasant sounds with their branches. The seas were quiet from winds and tempests. In heaven the clouds had been chased away, and the sky appeared fair and clear with its proper light. 11.8 Behold, then more and more there appeared the parades and processions. The people were attired in regal manner and singing joyfully. One was girded about the middle like a man of arms. Another was bare and spare, and had a cloak and high shoes like a hunter! Another was attired in a robe of silk and socks of gold, having his hair laid out and dressed like a woman! There was another who wore leg harnesses and bore a shield, a helmet, and a spear like a martial soldier. After him marched one attired in purple, with vergers before him like a magistrate! After him followed one with a cloak, a staff, a pair of sandals, and a gray beard, signifying that he was a philosopher. After him came one with a line, betokening a fowler. Another came with hooks, declaring him a fisherman. I saw there a meek and tame bear which, dressed like a matron, was carried on a stool. An ape, with a bonnet on his head and covered with a Phrygian garment, resembled a shepherd, and bore a cup of gold in his hand. There was an ass, which had wings glued to his back and followed an old man: you would judge the one to be Pegasus, and the other Bellerophon. 1
1.11 By and by, after the goddess, there followed gods on foot. There was Anubis, the messenger of the gods infernal and celestial, with his face sometimes black, sometimes faire, lifting up the head of a dog and bearing in his left hand his verge, and in his right hand the branches of a palm tree. After whom followed a cow with an upright gait, representing the figure of the great goddess. He who guided her marched on with much gravity. Another carried the secrets of their religion closed in a coffer. There was one who bore on his stomach a figure of his god, not formed like any beast, bird, savage thing or humane shape, but made by a new invention. This signified that such a religion could not be discovered or revealed to any person. There was a vessel wrought with a round bottom, having on the one side pictures figured in the manner of the Egyptians, and on the other side was an ear on which stood the serpent Aspis, holding out his scaly neck. 1
1.12 Finally came he who was appointed to my good fortune, according to the promise of the goddess. For the great priest, who bore the restoration of my human shape by the command of the goddess, approached ever closer bearing in his left hand the rattle, and in the other a garland of roses to give me. This was to deliver me from cruel fortune, which was always my enemy after I had suffered so much calamity and pain and had endured so many perils. I did not approach hastily, though I was seized by sudden joy, lest I disturb the quiet procession by my eagerness. But going softly through the press of the people (which gave way to me on every side) I went up to the priest. 1
1.13 The priest, having been advised the night before, stood still and holding out his hand, and thrust out the garland of roses into my mouth. I (trembling) devoured it with a great eagerness. And as soon as I had eaten them, I found that the promise made to me had not been in vain. For my deformed face changed, and first the rugged hair of my body fell off, my thick skin grew soft and tender, the hooves of my feet changed into toes, my hands returned again, my neck grew short, my head and mouth became round, my long ears were made little, my great and stony teeth grew more like the teeth of men, and my tail, which had burdened me most, disappeared. Then the people began to marvel. The religious honored the goddess for so evident a miracle. They wondered at the visions which they saw in the night, and the ease of my restoration, whereby they rendered testimony of so great a benefit that I had received from the goddess. 1
1.15 “O my friend Lucius, after the enduring so many labors and escaping so many tempests of fortune, you have at length come to the port and haven of rest and mercy. Your noble linage, your dignity, your education, or any thing else did not avail you. But you have endured so many servile pleasures due to the folly of youth. Thusly you have had an unpleasant reward for your excessive curiosity. But however the blindness of Fortune has tormented you in various dangers, so it is now that, unbeknownst to her, you have come to this present felicity. Let Fortune go and fume with fury in another place. Let her find some other matter on which to execute her cruelty. Fortune has no power against those who serve and honor our goddess. What good did it do her that you endured thieves, savage beasts, great servitude, dangerous waits, long journeys, and fear of death every day? Know that now you are safe and under the protection of her who, by her clear light, brightens the other gods. Wherefore rejoice and take a countece appropriate to your white garment. Follow the parade of this devout and honorable procession so that those who do not worship the goddess may see and acknowledge their error. Behold Lucius, you are delivered from so great miseries by the providence of the goddess Isis. Rejoice therefore and triumph in the victory over fortune. And so that you may live more safe and sure, make yourself one of this holy order. Dedicate your mind to our religion and take upon yourself the voluntary yoke of ministry. And when you begin to serve and honor the goddess, then you shall feel the fruit of your liberty.” 1
1.16 After the great priest had prophesied in this manner, he, regaining his breath, made a conclusion of his words. Then I went amongst the rest of the company and followed the procession. Everyone of the people knew me and, pointing at me with their fingers, spoke in this way, “Behold him who was this day transformed into a man by the power of the sovereign goddess. Verily he is blessed and most blessed, who has merited such great grace from heaven both because of the innocence of his former life. He has been reborn in the service of the goddess. In the meantime, little by little we approached near to the sea cost, near that place where I lay the night before, still an ass. Thereafter the images and relics were disposed in order. The great priest was surrounded by various pictures according to the fashion of the Aegyptians. He dedicated and consecrated with certain prayers a fair ship made very cunningly, and purified it with a torch, an egg, and sulfur. The sail was of white linen cloth on which was written certain letters which testified that the navigation would be prosperous. The mast was of a great length, made of a pine tree, round and very excellent with a shining top. The cabin was covered over with coverings of gold, and the whole ship was made of citron tree, very fair. Then all the people, religious as well as profane, took a great number of baskets filled with odors and pleasant smells and threw them into the sea, mingled with milk, until the ship was filled with many gifts and prosperous devotions. Then, with a pleasant wind, the ship was launched out into the deep. But when they had lost the sight of the ship, every man carried again that he brought, and went toward the temple in like procession and order as they had come to the sea side. 1
1.19 After I had related to them of all my former miseries and present joys, I went before the face of the goddess and hired a house within the cloister of the temple so that I might continually be ready to serve of the goddess. I also wanted to be in continual contact with the company of the priests so that I could become wholly devoted to the goddess, and become an inseparable worshipper of her divine name. It happened that the goddess often appeared to me in the night, urging and commanding me to take the order of her religion. But I, though I greatly desired to do so, was held back because of fear. I considered her discipline was hard and difficult, the chastity of the priests intolerable, and the life austere and subject to many inconveniences. Being thus in doubt, I refrained from all those things as seeming impossible.
11.21 This done, I retired to the service of the goddess in hope of greater benefits. I considered that I had received a sign and token whereby my courage increased more and more each day to take up the orders and sacraments of the temple. Thus I often communed with the priest, desiring him greatly to give me the degree of the religion. But he, a man of gravity and well-renowned in the order of priesthood, deferred my desire from day to day. He comforted me and gave me better hope, just like as parents who commonly bridle the desires of their children when they attempt or endeavor any unprofitable thing. He said that the day when any one would be admitted into their order is appointed by the goddess. He said that the priest who would minister the sacrifice is chosen by her providence, and the necessary charges of the ceremonies is allotted by her command. Regarding all these things he urged me to attend with marvelous patience, and he told me that I should beware either of too much haste or too great slackness. He said that there was like danger if, being called, I should delay or, not being called. I should be hasty. Moreover he said that there were none in his company either of so desperate a mind or who were so rash and hardy that they would attempt anything without the command of the goddess. If anyone were to do so, he should commit a deadly offence, considering how it was in the power of the goddess to condemn and save all persons. And if anyone should be at the point of death and on the path to damnation, so that he might be capable of receiving the secrets of the goddess, it was in her power by divine providence to reduce him to the path of health, as though by a certain kind of regeneration. Finally he said that I must attend the celestial precept, although it was evident and plain that the goddess had already vouchsafed to call and appoint me to her ministry. He urged me to refrain from profane and unlawful foods just like those priests who had already been received. This was so that I might come more apt and clean to the knowledge of the secrets of religion. 11.22 I obeyed these words and, attentive with meek and laudable silence, I daily served at the temple. In the end the wholesome gentleness of the goddess did not deceive me, for in the night she appeared to me in a vision. She showed me that the day had come which I had wished for so long. She told me what provision and charges I should attend to, and how she had appointed her principal priest Mithras to be minister with me in my sacrifices.When I heard these divine commands I greatly rejoiced. I arose before dawn to speak with the great priest, whom I happened to see coming out of his chamber. Then I saluted him and thought that I should ask for his counsel with a bold courage. But as soon as he perceived me, he began first to say: “O Lucius, now I know well that you are most happy and blessed, whom the divine goddess accepts with such mercy. Why do you delay? Behold, it is the day which you desired, when you shall receive at my hands the order of religion and know the most pure secrets of the gods.” Whereupon the old man took me by the hand and led me to the gate of the great temple. Immediately upon entering he made a solemn celebration and, after morning sacrifice had ended, he brought books out of the secret place of the temple. These were partly written in unknown characters, and partly painted with figures of beasts declaring briefly every sentence. The heads and tails of some were turned in the shape of a wheel and were strange and impossible for profane people to read. There he interpreted to me such things as were necessary for the use and preparation of my order. 11.23 This done, I gave charge to certain of my companions to buy liberally whatever was necessary and appropriate. Then the priest brought me to the baths nearby, accompanied with all the religious sort. He, demanding pardon of the goddess, washed me and purified my body according to custom. After this, when no one approached, he brought me back again to the temple and presented me before the face of the goddess. He told me of certain secret things that it was unlawful to utter, and he commanded me, and generally all the rest, to fast for the space of ten continual days. I was not allowed to eat any beast or drink any wine. These strictures I observed with marvelous continence. Then behold, the day approached when the sacrifice was to be made. And when night came there arrived on every coast a great multitude of priests who, according to their order, offered me many presents and gifts. Then all the laity and profane people were commanded to depart. When they had put on my back a linen robe, they brought me to the most secret and sacred place of all the temple. You will perhaps ask (o studious reader) what was said and done there. Verily I would tell you if it were lawful for me to tell. You would know if it were appropriate for you to hear. But both your ears and my tongue shall incur similar punishment for rash curiosity. However, I will content your mind for this present time, since it is perhaps somewhat religious and given to devotion. Listen therefore and believe it to be true. You shall understand that I approached near to Hell, and even to the gates of Proserpina. After I was brought through all the elements, I returned to my proper place. About midnight I saw the sun shine, and I saw likewise the celestial and infernal gods. Before them I presented myself and worshipped them. Behold, now have I told you something which, although you have heard it, it is necessary for you to conceal. This much have I declared without offence for the understanding of the profane. 11.24 When morning came, and that the solemnities were finished, I came forth sanctified with twelve robes and in a religious habit. I am not forbidden to speak of this since many persons saw me at that time. There I was commanded to stand upon a seat of wood which stood in the middle of the temple before the image of the goddess. My vestment was of fine linen, covered and embroidered with flowers. I had a precious cloak upon my shoulders hung down to the ground. On it were depicted beasts wrought of diverse colors: Indian dragons and Hyperborean griffins which the other world engenders in the form of birds. The priests commonly call such a habit a celestial robe. In my right hand I carried a lit torch. There was a garland of flowers upon my head with palm leaves sprouting out on every side. I was adorned like un the sun and made in fashion of an image such that all the people came up to behold me. Then they began to solemnize the feast of the nativity and the new procession, with sumptuous banquets and delicacies. The third day was likewise celebrated with like ceremonies with a religious dinner, and with all the consummation of the order. After I had stayed there a good space, I conceived a marvelous pleasure and consolation in beholding the image of the goddess. She at length urged me to depart homeward. I rendered my thanks which, although not sufficient, yet they were according to my power. However, I could not be persuaded to depart before I had fallen prostrate before the face of the goddess and wiped her steps with my face. Then I began greatly to weep and sigh (so uch so that my words were interrupted) and, as though devouring my prayer, I began to speak in this way:
11.26 After great greeting and thanks I departed from him to visit my parents and friends. And after a while, by the exhortation of the goddess, I made up my packet, and took shipping toward the city of Rome, where (with a favorable wind) I arrived about the twelfth day of December. And the greatest desire I had there was to make my daily prayers to the sovereign goddess Isis. She, because of the place where her temple was built, was called Campensis, and was continually adored of the people of Rome. Although I was her minister and worshipper, I was a stranger to her temple and unknown to her religion there. When a year had gone by, the goddess advised me again to receive this new order and consecration. I marveled greatly what it signified and what should happen, considering that I was a sacred person already. 11.27 But it happened that, while I reasoned with myself and while I examined the issue with the priests, there came a new and marvelous thought in my mind. I realized that I was only consecrated to the goddess Isis, but not sacred to the religion of great Osiris, the sovereign father of all the goddesses. Between them, although there was a religious unity and concord, yet there was a great difference of order and ceremony. And because it was necessary that I should likewise be a devotee of Osiris, there was no long delay. For the night after there appeared to me one of that order, covered with linen robes. He held in his hands spears wrapped in ivy and other things not appropriate to declare. Then he left these things in my chamber and, sitting in my seat, recited to me such things as were necessary for the sumptuous banquet for my initiation. And so that I might know him again, he showed me how the ankle of his left foot was somewhat maimed, which gave him a slight limp.Afterwards I manifestly knew the will of the god Osiris. When matins ended, I went from one priest to another to find the one who had the halting mark on his foot, according to my vision. At length I found it true. I perceived one of the company of the priests who had not only the token of his foot, but the stature and habit of his body, resembling in every point the man who appeared in the nigh. He was called Asinius Marcellus, a name appropriate to my transformation. By and by I went to him and he knew well enough all the matter. He had been admonished by a similar precept in the night. For the night before, as he dressed the flowers and garlands about the head of the god Osiris, he understood from the mouth of the image (which told the predestinations of all men) how the god had sent him a poor man of Madauros. To this man the priest was supposed to minister his sacraments so that he could receive a reward by divine providence, and the other glory for his virtuous studies. 11.28 Thus I was initiated into the religion, but my desire was delayed by reason of my poverty. I had spent a great part of my goods in travel and peregrination, but most of all the cost of living in the city of Rome had dwindled my resources. In the end, being often stirred forward with great trouble of mind, I was forced to sell my robe for a little money which was nevertheless sufficient for all my affairs. Then the priest spoke to me saying, “How is it that for a little pleasure you are not afraid to sell your vestments, yet when you enter into such great ceremonies you fear to fall into poverty? Prepare yourself and abstain from all animal meats, beasts and fish.” In the meantime I frequented the sacrifices of Serapis, which were done in the night. This gave me great comfort to my peregrination, and ministered to me more plentiful living since I gained some money by pleading in the courts in the Latin language. 11.29 Immediately afterwards I was called upon by the god Osiris and admonished to receive a third order of religion. Then I was greatly astonished, because I could not tell what this new vision signified or what the intent of the celestial god was. I began to suspect the former priests of having given me ill counsel, and I feared that they had not faithfully instructed me. While I was, as it were, incensed because of this, the god Osiris appeared to me the following night and gave me admonition, saying, “There is no reason why you should be afraid of these many orders of religion, or that something has been omitted. You should rather rejoice since as it has pleased the gods to call upon you three times, whereas most do not achieve the order even once. Wherefore you should think yourself happy because of our great benefits. And know that the initiation which you must now receive is most necessary if you mean to persevere in the worship of the goddess. You will be able to participate in solemnity on the festival day adorned in the blessed habit. This shall be a glory and source of renown for you.' ' None |
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91. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 41.36.1 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Caesar, Julius, ending Republican institutions • auspication,acquired through initial auspication
Found in books: Joseph (2022), Thunder and Lament: Lucan on the Beginnings and Ends of Epic, 133; Konrad (2022), The Challenge to the Auspices: Studies on Magisterial Power in the Middle Roman Republic, 142
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41.36.1 \xa0While he was still on the way Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the man who later became a member of the triumvirate, advised the people in his capacity of praetor to elect Caesar dictator, and immediately named him, contrary to ancestral custom.'' None |
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92. Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 5.8.39-5.8.40, 6.41.4-6.41.5 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation ritual • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiation • initiation, iniatory rite
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 41; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 387; Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 159; Nissinen and Uro (2008), Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity, 468, 474; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 266
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5.8.39 Let us, then, in the first place, learn how (the Peratists), deriving this doctrine from astrologers, act despitefully towards Christ, working destruction for those who follow them in an error of this description. For the astrologers, alleging that there is one world, divide it into the twelve fixed portions of the zodiacal signs, and call the world of the fixed zodiacal signs one immoveable world; and the other they affirm to be a world of erratic (signs), both in power, and position, and number, and that it extends as far as the moon. And (they lay down), that (one) world derives from (the other) world a certain power, and mutual participation (in that power), and that the subjacent obtain this participation from the superjacent (portions). In order, however, that what is (here) asserted may be perspicuous, I shall one by one employ those very expressions of the astrologers; (and in doing so) I shall only be reminding my readers of statements previously made in the department of the work where we have explained the entire art of the astrologers. What, then, the opinions are which those (speculators) entertain, are as follow:- (Their doctrine is), that from an emanation of the stars the generations of the subjacent (parts) is consummated. For, as they wistfully gazed upward upon heaven, the Chaldeans asserted that (the seven stars) contain a reason for the efficient causes of the occurrence of all the events that happen unto us, and that the parts of the fixed zodiacal signs co-operate (in this influence). Into twelve (parts they divide the zodiacal circle), and each zodiacal sign into thirty portions, and each portion into sixty diminutive parts; for so they denominate the very smallest parts, and those that are indivisible. And of the zodiacal signs, they term some male, but others feminine; and some with two bodies, but others not so; and some tropical, whereas others firm. The male signs, then, are either feminine, which possess a co-operative nature for the procreation of males, (or are themselves productive of females.) For Aries is a male zodiacal sign, but Taurus female; and the rest (are denominated) according to the same analogy, some male, but others female. And I suppose that the Pythagoreans, being swayed from such (considerations), style the Monad male, and the Duad female; and, again, the Triad male, and analogically the remainder of the even and odd numbers. Some, however, dividing each zodiacal sign into twelve parts, employ almost the same method. For example, in Aries, they style the first of the twelve parts both Aries and a male, but the second both Taurus and a female, and the third both Gemini and a male; and the same plan is pursued in the case of the rest of the parts. And they assert that there are signs with two bodies, viz., Gemini and the signs diametrically opposite, namely Sagittarius, and Virgo, and Pisces, and that the rest have not two bodies. And (they state) that some are likewise tropical, and when the sun stands in these, he causes great turnings of the surrounding (sign). Aries is a sign of this description, and that which is diametrically opposite to it, just as Libra, and Capricorn, and Cancer. For in Aries is the vernal turning, and in Capricorn that of winter, and in Cancer that of summer, and in Libra that of autumn. The details, however, concerning this system we have minutely explained in the book preceding this; and from it any one who wishes instruction (on the point), may learn how it is that the originators of this Peratic heresy, viz., Euphrates the Peratic, and Celbes the Carystian, have, in the transference (into their own system of opinions from these sources), made alterations in name only, while in reality they have put forward similar tenets. (Nay more), they have, with immoderate zeal, themselves devoted (their attention) to the art (of the astrologers). For also the astrologers speak of the limits of the stars, in which they assert that the domit stars have greater influence; as, for instance, on some they act injuriously, while on others they act well. And of these they denominate some malicious, and some beneficent. And (stars) are said to look upon one another, and to harmonize with each other, so that they appear according to (the shape of) a triangle or square. The stars, looking on one another, are figured according to (the shape of ) a triangle, having an intervening distance of the extent of three zodiacal signs; whereas (those that have an interval of) two zodiacal signs are figured according to (the shape of) a square. And (their doctrine is), that as in the same way as in a man, the subjacent parts sympathize with the head, and the head likewise sympathizes with the subjacent parts, so all terrestrial (sympathize) with super-lunar objects. But (the astrologers go further than this ); for there exists (according to them) a certain difference and incompatibility between these, so as that they do not involve one and the same union. This combination and divergence of the stars, which is a Chaldean (tenet), has been arrogated to themselves by those of whom we have previously spoken. Now these, falsifying the name of truth, proclaim as a doctrine of Christ an insurrection of Aeons and revolts of good into (the ranks of) evil powers; and they speak of the confederations of good powers with wicked ones. Denominating them, therefore, Toparchai and Proastioi, and (though thus) framing for themselves very many other names not suggested (to them from other sources), they have yet unskilfully systematized the entire imaginary doctrine of the astrologers concerning the stars. And since they have introduced a supposition pregt with immense error, they shall be refuted through the instrumentality of our admirable arrangement. For I shall set down, in contrast with the previously mentioned Chaldaic art of the astrologers, some of the Peratic treatises, from which, by means of comparison, there will be an opportunity of perceiving how the Peratic doctrines are those confessedly of the astrologers, not of Christ. 5.8.40 Let us, then, in the first place, learn how (the Peratists), deriving this doctrine from astrologers, act despitefully towards Christ, working destruction for those who follow them in an error of this description. For the astrologers, alleging that there is one world, divide it into the twelve fixed portions of the zodiacal signs, and call the world of the fixed zodiacal signs one immoveable world; and the other they affirm to be a world of erratic (signs), both in power, and position, and number, and that it extends as far as the moon. And (they lay down), that (one) world derives from (the other) world a certain power, and mutual participation (in that power), and that the subjacent obtain this participation from the superjacent (portions). In order, however, that what is (here) asserted may be perspicuous, I shall one by one employ those very expressions of the astrologers; (and in doing so) I shall only be reminding my readers of statements previously made in the department of the work where we have explained the entire art of the astrologers. What, then, the opinions are which those (speculators) entertain, are as follow:- (Their doctrine is), that from an emanation of the stars the generations of the subjacent (parts) is consummated. For, as they wistfully gazed upward upon heaven, the Chaldeans asserted that (the seven stars) contain a reason for the efficient causes of the occurrence of all the events that happen unto us, and that the parts of the fixed zodiacal signs co-operate (in this influence). Into twelve (parts they divide the zodiacal circle), and each zodiacal sign into thirty portions, and each portion into sixty diminutive parts; for so they denominate the very smallest parts, and those that are indivisible. And of the zodiacal signs, they term some male, but others feminine; and some with two bodies, but others not so; and some tropical, whereas others firm. The male signs, then, are either feminine, which possess a co-operative nature for the procreation of males, (or are themselves productive of females.) For Aries is a male zodiacal sign, but Taurus female; and the rest (are denominated) according to the same analogy, some male, but others female. And I suppose that the Pythagoreans, being swayed from such (considerations), style the Monad male, and the Duad female; and, again, the Triad male, and analogically the remainder of the even and odd numbers. Some, however, dividing each zodiacal sign into twelve parts, employ almost the same method. For example, in Aries, they style the first of the twelve parts both Aries and a male, but the second both Taurus and a female, and the third both Gemini and a male; and the same plan is pursued in the case of the rest of the parts. And they assert that there are signs with two bodies, viz., Gemini and the signs diametrically opposite, namely Sagittarius, and Virgo, and Pisces, and that the rest have not two bodies. And (they state) that some are likewise tropical, and when the sun stands in these, he causes great turnings of the surrounding (sign). Aries is a sign of this description, and that which is diametrically opposite to it, just as Libra, and Capricorn, and Cancer. For in Aries is the vernal turning, and in Capricorn that of winter, and in Cancer that of summer, and in Libra that of autumn. The details, however, concerning this system we have minutely explained in the book preceding this; and from it any one who wishes instruction (on the point), may learn how it is that the originators of this Peratic heresy, viz., Euphrates the Peratic, and Celbes the Carystian, have, in the transference (into their own system of opinions from these sources), made alterations in name only, while in reality they have put forward similar tenets. (Nay more), they have, with immoderate zeal, themselves devoted (their attention) to the art (of the astrologers). For also the astrologers speak of the limits of the stars, in which they assert that the domit stars have greater influence; as, for instance, on some they act injuriously, while on others they act well. And of these they denominate some malicious, and some beneficent. And (stars) are said to look upon one another, and to harmonize with each other, so that they appear according to (the shape of) a triangle or square. The stars, looking on one another, are figured according to (the shape of ) a triangle, having an intervening distance of the extent of three zodiacal signs; whereas (those that have an interval of) two zodiacal signs are figured according to (the shape of) a square. And (their doctrine is), that as in the same way as in a man, the subjacent parts sympathize with the head, and the head likewise sympathizes with the subjacent parts, so all terrestrial (sympathize) with super-lunar objects. But (the astrologers go further than this ); for there exists (according to them) a certain difference and incompatibility between these, so as that they do not involve one and the same union. This combination and divergence of the stars, which is a Chaldean (tenet), has been arrogated to themselves by those of whom we have previously spoken. Now these, falsifying the name of truth, proclaim as a doctrine of Christ an insurrection of Aeons and revolts of good into (the ranks of) evil powers; and they speak of the confederations of good powers with wicked ones. Denominating them, therefore, Toparchai and Proastioi, and (though thus) framing for themselves very many other names not suggested (to them from other sources), they have yet unskilfully systematized the entire imaginary doctrine of the astrologers concerning the stars. And since they have introduced a supposition pregt with immense error, they shall be refuted through the instrumentality of our admirable arrangement. For I shall set down, in contrast with the previously mentioned Chaldaic art of the astrologers, some of the Peratic treatises, from which, by means of comparison, there will be an opportunity of perceiving how the Peratic doctrines are those confessedly of the astrologers, not of Christ. ' "
6.41.4 Know, (therefore,) that these letters which with you are (reckoned at) twenty-four, are emanations from the three powers, and are representative of those (powers) which embrace even the entire number of the elements. For suppose that there are some letters that are mute - nine of them - of Pater and Aletheia, from the fact that these are mute - that is, ineffable and unutterable. And (again, assume) that there are other (letters that are) semi-vowels - eight of them - of the Logos and of Zoe, from the fact that these are intermediate between consots and vowels, and receive the emanation of the (letters) above them, but the reflux of those below them. And (likewise take for granted) that there are vowels - and these are seven - of Anthropos and Ecclesia, inasmuch as the voice of Anthropos proceeded forth, and imparted form to the (objects of the) universe. For the sound of the voice produced figure, and invested them with it. From this it follows that there are Logos and Zoe, which have eight (semi-vowels); and Anthropos and Ecclesia, which have seven (vowels); and Pater and Aletheia, which have nine (mutes). But from the fact that Logos wanted (one of being an ogdoad), he who is in the Father was removed (from his seat on God's right hand), and came down (to earth). And he was sent forth (by the Father) to him from whom he was separated, for the rectification of actions that had been committed. (And his descent took place) in order that the unifying process, which is inherent in Agathos, of the Pleromas might produce in all the single power that emanates from all. And thus he who is of the seven (vowels) acquired the power of the eight (semi-vowels); and there were produced three topoi, corresponding with the (three) numbers (nine, seven, and eight) -(these topoi ) being ogdoads. And these three being added one to the other, exhibited the number of the twenty-four (letters). And (he maintains), of course, that the three elements -(which he himself affirms to be (allied) with the three powers by conjugal union, and which (by this state of duality) become six, and from which have emanated the twenty-four elements - being rendered fourfold by the Quaternion's ineffable word, produce the same number (twenty-four) with these. And these, he says, belong to Anonomastus. And (he asserts) that these are conveyed by the six powers into a similarity with Aoratus. And (he says) that there are six double letters of these elements, images of images, which, being reckoned along with the twenty-four letters, produce, by an analogical power, the number thirty. " "6.41.5 Know, (therefore,) that these letters which with you are (reckoned at) twenty-four, are emanations from the three powers, and are representative of those (powers) which embrace even the entire number of the elements. For suppose that there are some letters that are mute - nine of them - of Pater and Aletheia, from the fact that these are mute - that is, ineffable and unutterable. And (again, assume) that there are other (letters that are) semi-vowels - eight of them - of the Logos and of Zoe, from the fact that these are intermediate between consots and vowels, and receive the emanation of the (letters) above them, but the reflux of those below them. And (likewise take for granted) that there are vowels - and these are seven - of Anthropos and Ecclesia, inasmuch as the voice of Anthropos proceeded forth, and imparted form to the (objects of the) universe. For the sound of the voice produced figure, and invested them with it. From this it follows that there are Logos and Zoe, which have eight (semi-vowels); and Anthropos and Ecclesia, which have seven (vowels); and Pater and Aletheia, which have nine (mutes). But from the fact that Logos wanted (one of being an ogdoad), he who is in the Father was removed (from his seat on God's right hand), and came down (to earth). And he was sent forth (by the Father) to him from whom he was separated, for the rectification of actions that had been committed. (And his descent took place) in order that the unifying process, which is inherent in Agathos, of the Pleromas might produce in all the single power that emanates from all. And thus he who is of the seven (vowels) acquired the power of the eight (semi-vowels); and there were produced three topoi, corresponding with the (three) numbers (nine, seven, and eight) -(these topoi ) being ogdoads. And these three being added one to the other, exhibited the number of the twenty-four (letters). And (he maintains), of course, that the three elements -(which he himself affirms to be (allied) with the three powers by conjugal union, and which (by this state of duality) become six, and from which have emanated the twenty-four elements - being rendered fourfold by the Quaternion's ineffable word, produce the same number (twenty-four) with these. And these, he says, belong to Anonomastus. And (he asserts) that these are conveyed by the six powers into a similarity with Aoratus. And (he says) that there are six double letters of these elements, images of images, which, being reckoned along with the twenty-four letters, produce, by an analogical power, the number thirty. "' None |
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93. Irenaeus, Refutation of All Heresies, 1.13-1.16, 1.21.1-1.21.5 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation [ Baptism ] • Initiation ritual • Initiation, Initiate(s) • ecstasy, religious and institutional religion, and women • initiation • initiation, iniatory rite
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 42, 43; Dignas Parker and Stroumsa (2013), Priests and Prophets Among Pagans, Jews and Christians, 216; Dunderberg (2008), Beyond Gnosticism: Myth, Lifestyle, and Society in the School of Valentinus. 237; Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 159; Linjamaa (2019), The Ethics of The Tripartite Tractate (NHC I, 5): A Study of Determinism and Early Christian Philosophy of Ethics, 204; Nissinen and Uro (2008), Sacred Marriages: The Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity, 460, 474
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1.13 13. Τούτων δὲ γενομένων οὔτως, τὸ ἐμφωλεῦον τῷ κόσμῳ πῦρ ἐκλάμψαν καὶ ἐξαφθὲν, καὶ 3κατεργασάμενον cf. II. 52. πᾶσαν ὕλην 4συναναλωθήσεσθαι αὐτῇ, καὶ εἰς τὸ μηκέτʼ εἶναι χωρήσειν διδάσκουσι. Τὸν δὲ Δημιουργὸν μηδὲν τούτων ἐγνωκέναι LIB. I. i. 13. GR. I. i. 13. MASS. I. vii. 2. ἀποφαίνονται πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος παρουσίας. Εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ λέγοντες προβαλέσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ Χριστὸν υἱὸν ἴδιον, ἀλλὰ cf. III. 18. 31. 32. καὶ ψυχικόν· καὶ περὶ τούτου διὰ τῶν Προφητῶν λελαληκέναι. G. 33. M. 33. Εἶναι δὲ τοῦτον τὸν διὰ Μαρίας διοδεύσαντα, καθάπερ ὕδωρ 2διὰ σωλῆνος ὁδεύει, καὶ εἰς τοῦτον ἐπὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος κατελθεῖν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Πληρώματος ἐκ πάντων Σωτῆρα, ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς· γεγονέναι δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ l. ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ σπέρμα πνευματικόν. Τὸν οὖν Κύριον ἡμῶν ἐκ 3τεσσάρων τούτων σύνθετοι γεγονέναι φάσκουσιν, ἀποσώζοντα τὸν τύπον τῆς ἀρχεγόνου καὶ πρώτης 1τετρακτύος· ἔκ τε τοῦ πνευματικοῦ, ὃ ἦν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ. LIB. I. i. 13. GR. I. i. 13. MASS. I. vii. 2. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ψυχιοῦ, ὃ ἦν ἀπὸ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ, καὶ ἐκ τῆρ οἰκονομίας, 2ὃ ἦν κατεσκευασμένον ἀῤῥήτῳ τέχνῃ, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ p. 52. Σωτῆρος, ὃ ἦν κατελθοῦσα εἰς αὐτὸν περιστερά. Ναὶ τοῦτο l. τοῦτον μὲν ἀπαθῆ διαμεμενηκέναι· (οὐ γὰρ ἐνεδέχετο παθεῖν αὐτὸν 3ἀκράτητον καὶ ἀόρατον ὑπάρχοντα·) 4καὶ διὰ LIB. I. i. 13. GR. I. i. 13. MASS. I. vii. 2. τοῦτο ᾖρθαι, προσαγομένου αὐτοῦ τῷ Πιλάτῳ, τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν ματατεθὲν πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ. Ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς σπέρμα πεπονθέναι λέγουσιν. 1Ἀπαθὲς γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ l. ἅτε πνευματικὸν, καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ δημιουργῷ. Ἔπαθε δὲ λοιπὸν κατ᾿ αὐτοὺς ὁ ψυχικὸς Χριστὸς, καὶ ὁ ἐκ τῆς οἰκονομίας κατεσκευασμένος μυστηριωδῶς, ἵνʼ ἐπιδείξῃ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἡ μήτηρ τὸν τύπον τοῦ ἄνω Χριστοῦ, ἐκείνου τοῦ ἐπεκταθέντος τῷ 3Σταυρῷ, καὶ μορφώσαντος τὴν Ἀχαμὼθ μόρφωσιν τὴν κατʼ οὐσίαν· πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τόπους ἐκείνων εἶναι λέγουσι. Τὰς δὲ ἐσχηκυίας τό σπέρμα τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ ψυχὰς ἀμείνους λέγουσι γεγονέναι τῶν λοιπῶν· διὸ καὶ πλεῖον τῶν ἄλλων ἠγαπῆσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ, μὴ εἰδότος τὴν αἰτίαν, ἀλλὰ παῤ αὑτοῦ λογιζομένου εἶναι τοιαύτας. Διὸ καὶ εἰς προφήτας, φασὶν, ἔτασσεν αὐτοὺς αὐτὰς, καὶ M. 34. G. 34. ἱρεῖς, καὶ βασιλεῖς. Καὶ πολλὰ 1ὑπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος τούτον LIB. I. i. 13. GR. I. i. 13. MASS. I. vii. 3. εἰρῆσθαι διὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἐξηγοῦνται, ἅτε ὑψηλοτέρας φύσεως 2ὑπαρχούσας· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τὴν μητέρα περὶ τῶν IV. lxix. ἀνωτέρω εἰρηκέναι λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τούτου καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τούτου γενομένων ψυχῶν. Καὶ λοιπὸν 4τέμνουσι τὰς προφητείας, τὸ μέν τι ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς εἰρῆσθαι θέλοντες, cf. c. xxxiv. τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος, τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὡσαύτως, τὸ μέν τι ἀπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος σἰρηκέναι, τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς, τὸ δέ τι ἀπὸ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ, καθὼς ἐπιδείξομεν προϊόντος ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου. Τὸρ δὲ Δημιουργὸν, ἅτε ἀγνοοῦντα τὰ ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν, κινεῖσθαι μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις, καταπεφρονηκέναι δὲ αὐτῶν, ἄλλοτε ἄλλην αἰτίαν νομίσαντα, ἢ 5τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητεῦον, ἔχον LIB. I. i. 13. GR. I. i. 13. MASS. I. vii. 5. καὶ αὐτὸ ἰδίαν τινὰ κίνησιν, ἢ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἢ τὴν προσπλοκὴν τῶν χειρῶν χειρόνων καὶ οὕτως ἀγνοοῦντα 1 ἄχρι τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Κυρίου. Ἐλθόντος δὲ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, μαθεῖν αὐτὸν παῤ αὐτοῦ πάντα λέγουσι, καὶ ἄσμενον αὐτῷ 2προσχωρήσαντα μετὰ πάσης τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ ἑκατόνταρχον. λέγοντα τῷ Σωτῆρι· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω στρατιώτας καὶ δούλους, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν προστάξω, ποιοῦσι. Τελέσειν δὲ αὐτὸν τὴν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον οἰκονομίαν μέχρι τοῦ M. 35. δέοντος καιροῦ, μάλιστα δὲ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπιμέλειαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ ἑτοιμασθέντος αὐτῷ ἐπάθλου, ὅτι εἰς τὸν τῆς μητρὸς τόπον χωρήσει. 1.14 14. Ἀνθρώπων δὲ τρία γένη ὑφίστανται, πνευματικὸν, χοϊκὸν, ψυχικὸν, καθὼς ἐγένοντο Κάϊν, Ἄβελ, Σήθ· καὶ ἐκ τούτων1 τὰς τρεῖς φύσεις, 2οὐκέτι καθʼ ἓν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ LIB. I. i. 14. GR. I. i. 14. MASS. I. vii. 5. γένος. Καὶ 3τὸ μὲν χοϊκὸν εἰς φθορὰν χωρεῖν· καὶ τὸ ψυχι κὸν, ἐὰν τὰ βελτίονα ἕληται, 4ἐν τῷ τῆς μεσότητος τόπῳ ἀναπαύ σ εσθαι· ἐὰν δὲ τὰ χαίρω, χωρήσειν καὶ αὐτὸ πρὸς G. 35. τὰ ὅμοια· τὰ δὲ πνευματικὰ, 5ἃ ἂν κατασπείρῃ ἡ Ἀχαμὼθ ἔκτοτε ἕως τοῦ νῦν δικαίαις ψυχαῖς, παιδευθέντα ἐνθάδε καὶ ἐκτραφέντα, διὰ τὸ νήπια ἐκπεπέμφθαι, ὕστερον τελειότητος ἀξιωθέντα, νύμφας ἀποδοθήσεσθαι τοῖς τοῦ Σωτῆρος Ἀγγέλοις δογματίζουσι, τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν ἐν μεσότητι κατ᾿ ἀνάγκην 6μετὰ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ ἀναπαυσαμένων εἰς τὸ παντελές. LIB. I. i. 14. GR. I. i. 14. MASS. I. vii. 5. Καὶ αὐτὰς μὲν τὰς ψυχιὰς 1 ψυχὰς πάλιν ὑπομερίζοντες λέγουσιν, ἃς μὲν φύσει ἀγαθὰς, ἃς δὲ φύσει πονηράς. Καὶ τὰς μὲν ἀγαθὰς ταύτας εἶναι τὰς δεκτικὰς τοῦ σπέρματος γινομένας· τὰς δὲ φύσει πονηρὰς μηδέποτε ἂν ἐπιδέξασθαι ἐκεῖνο τὸ σπέρμα. 1.15 15. 2Τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς ὑποθέσεως αὐτῶν οὔσης, ἣν οὔτε Προφῆται ἐκήρυξαν, οὔτε ὁ Κύριος ἐδίδαξεν, οὔτε Ἀπόστολοι M. 36. παρέδωκαν, ἣν 3περὶ τῶν ὅλων αὐχοῦσι πλεῖον τῶν ἄλλων ἐγνωκέναι, 4ἐξ ἀγράφων ἀναγινώσκοντες, καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, 5ἐξ ἄμμου σχοινία πλέκειν ἐπιτηδεύοντες, ἀξιοπίστως ἀξιόπιστα Assem. προσαρμόζειν πειρῶνται 6τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ἤτοι παραβολὰς κυριακὰς, ἢ ῥήσεις προφητικὰς, λόγους LIB. I. i. 15. GR. I. i. 15. MASS. I. vili. 1. ἀποστολικοὺς, ἵνα τὸ πλάσμα αὐτῶν μὴ ἀμάρτυρον εἶναι δοκῇ· τὴν μὲν τάξιν καὶ τὸν εἱρμὸν τῶν γραφῶν ὑπερβαίνοντες,\xa0 λέξιν Ephr. Syr. καὶ, ὅσον ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῖς, λύοντες τὰ μέλη τῆς ἀληθείας. Μεταφέρουσι δὲ καὶ μεταπλάττουσι, καὶ ἄλλο ἐξ ἄλλου ποιοῦντες ἐξαπατῶσι πολλοὺς τῇ τῶν ἐφαρμοζομένων κυριακῶν λογίων κακοσυνθέτῳ σοφίᾳ φαντασίᾳ Ephr. S. . Ὅνπερ τρόπον εἴ τις βασιλέως 1εἰκόνος καλῆς κατεσκευασμένης ἐπιμελῶς G. 36. 2ἐκ ψηφίδων ἐπισήμων ὑπὸ σοφοῦ τεχνίτου, λύσας τὴν ὑποκειμένην τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἰδέαν, 3μετενέγκῃ τὰς ψηφῖδας μετενέγει Ephr. μεθαρμόσει Ephr. ποεησας Ephr. cf. xxxv. ἐκείνας, καὶ μεθαρμόσοι, καὶ ποιήσει μορφὴν κυνὸς ἢ ἀλώπεκος, καὶ 4ταύτυν φαύλως κατεσκευασμένυν, ἔπειτα διορίζοιτο, καὶ λέγοι ταύτην εἶναι τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκείνην εἰκόνα τὴν καλὴν, LIB. I. i. 15. GR. I. i. 15. MASS. I. vili. 1. ἣν ὁ σοφὸς τεχνίτης κατεσκεύασε, δεικνὺς τὰς ψηφῖδας τὰς καλῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ τεχνίτου τοῦ πρώτου εἰς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ὐπὸ τοῦ δευτέρου Ephr. Syr. εἰκόνα συντεθείσας, κακῶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑστέρου εἰς κυνὸς μορφὴν μετενεχθείσας, καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν ψηφίδων φαντασίας μεθοδεύοι τοὺς ἀπειροτέρους, τοὺς κατάληψιν βασιλικῆς μορφῆς οὐκ ἔχοντας, καὶ πείθοι ὅτι αὕτη ἡ σαπρὰ τῆς ἀλώπεκος ἰδέα ἐστὶν ἐκείνη ἡ καλὴ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκών· τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ συγκαττύ- ουσι Assem. τρόπον καὶ οὗτοι γραῶν μύθους συγκαττύσαντες, ἔπειτα M. 37. ῥήματα καὶ λέξεις καὶ παραβολὰς ὅθεν καὶ πόθεν ἀποσπῶντες, μεθεπμόζειν Ephr. Syr. ἐφαρκόζειν βούλονται τοῖς μόθοιο αὐτῶν ἑαυτῶν Ephr. S. τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ ὅσα μὲν ἐν τοῖς l. τοῖς ἐντὸς τοῦ Πληρώματος ἐφαρμόζουσιν, εἰρήκαμεν. 1.16 16. Ὅσα δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐκτὸς τοῦ Πληρώματος αὐτῶν προσοικειοῦν πειρῶνται ἐκ τῶν γραφῶν, ἔστι τοιαῦτα· τὸν Κύριον ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις τοῦ κόσμου χρόνοις διὰ τοῦτο ἐληλυθέναι ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος λέγουσιν, ἵν᾿ ἐπιδείξῃ τὸ περὶ τὸν ἔσχατον τῶν Αἰώνων γεγονὸς πάθος, καὶ δἰ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τέλους Jac. v. 11. ἐμφῄνῃ τὸ τέλος τῆς περὶ τοὺς Αἰῶνας πραγματείας. Τὴν δὲ δωδεκαετῆ παρθένον ἐκείνην, τὴν τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου θυγατέρα, ἣν ἐπιστὰς ὁ Κύριος ἐκ νεκρῶν ἤγειρε, τύπον εἶναι διηγοῦνται τῆς Ἀχαμὼθ, ἣν 1ἐπεκταθεὶς ὁ Χριστὸς αὐτὸν LIB. I. i. 16. GR. I. i. 16. MASS. I. vili. 2. αὐτῶν ἐμόρφωσε, καὶ εἰς αἴσθησιν ἤγαγε τοῦ καταλιπόντος αὐτὴν φωτός. Ὅτι, δὲ αὐτῇ ἐπέφανεν ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐκτὸς οὔσης cf. § 7. τοῦ Πληρώματος, ἐν ἐκτρώματος μοίρα, τὸν Παῦλον λέγουσιν εἰρηκέναι ἐν 2τῇ adj. πρώτῃ πρὸς Κορινθίους· Ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων, ὡσπερεὶ τῷ ἐκτρώματι, ὤφθη κᾀμοί. Τήν τε μετὰ τῶν ἡλικιωτῶν τοῦ Σωτῆρος παρουσίαν πρὸς τὴν Ἀχαμὼθ, ὁμοίως cf. § 8. πεφανερωκέναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπιστολῇ, εἰπόντα· Δεῖ τὴν γυναῖκα 3κάλυμμα ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς διὰ τοὺς ἀγγέλους. LIB. I. i. 16. GR. I. i. 16. MASS. I. vili. 2. Καὶ ὅτι ἥκοντος τοῦ Σωτῆρος πρὸς αὐτὴν, δἰ αἰδὼ κάλυμμα G. 37. ἐπέθετο ἡ Ἀχαμὼθ, Μωσέα πεποιηκέναι φανερὸν, κάλυμμα θέμενον ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ τὰ πάθν δὲ αὐτῆς, ἃ ἔπαθεν, ἐπισεσημειῶσθαι τὸν Κύριον φάσκουσιν ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ. Καὶ ἐν μὲν τῷ εἰπεῖν· Ὁ Θεός μου, ὁ Θεός μοι, M. 38. εἰς τί ἐγκατέλιπές με; μεμηνυκέναι αὐτὸν, ὅτι ἀπελείφθη ἀπὸ τοῦ φωτὸς ἡ Σοφία, καὶ ἐκωλύθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὅρου τῆς εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν ὁρμῆς· τὴν δὲ λύπην αὐτῆς, ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν· Περίλυπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή μου ἕως θανάτου del. ἕ. θ. · τὸν δὲ φόβον, ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν· Πάτερ, εἰ δυνατὸν, παρελθέτω ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον· καὶ τὴν ἀπορίαν δὲ ὡσαύτως, ἐν τῷ εἰρηκέναι· Καὶ τί εἴπω, 1οὐκ οἶδα. Τρία δὲ γένη ἀνθρώπων οὕτως δεδειχέναι διδάσκουσιν αὐτόν· τὸ μὲν ὑλικὸν, 2ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν τῷ ἐρωτήσαντι, Ἀκολουθήσω σοι; Οὐκ ἔχει ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου LIB. I. i. 16. GR. I. i. 16. MASS. I. vili. 3. ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλῖναι κλίνῃ · τὸ δὲ ψυχικὸν, ἐν τῷ εἰρηκέναι τῷ εἰπόντι, Ἀκολουθήσω σοι, ἐπίτρεψον δέ μοι πρῶτον ἀποτάξασθαι τοῖς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ μου· Οὐδεὶς ἐπʼ ἄροτρον τὴν χεῖρα ἐπιβαλὼν, καὶ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω βλέπων, εὔθετός ἐστιν ἐν τῇ βασιλεία εἰς τὴν β. τῶν οὐρανῶν. Τοῦτον γὰρ λέγουσι τὸν μέσον εἶναι. Κᾀκεῖνον δὲ ὡσαύτως τὸν τὰ πλεῖστα μέρη τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὁμολογήσαντα πεποιηκέναι, ἔπειτα μὴ θελήσαντα ἀκολουθῆσαι, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ πλούτου ἡττηθέντα, πρὸς τὸ μὴ τέλειον γενέσθαι, καὶ τοῦτον τοῦ ψυχικοῦ γένους γεγονέναι θέλουσι. Τὸ, δὲ πνευματικὸν, ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν· Ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς· σὺ δὲ πορευθεὶς διάγγελλε τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ ἐπὶ Ζακχαίου του τελώνου εἰπών· Σπεύσας κατάβηθι, ὅτι σήμερον ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου δεῖ με μείναι· τούτους γὰρ πνευματικοῦ γένους καταγγέλλουσι γεγονέναι. Καὶ τὴν τῆς ζύμης παραβολὴν, ἥν ἡ γυνὴ LIB. I. i. 16. GR. I. i. 16. MASS. I. viii. 3. ἐγκεκρυφέναι λέγεται εἰς ἀλεύρου σάτα τρία, τὰ τρία γένη δνλοῦν λέγουσι· γοναῖκα μὲν γὰρ τὴν Σοφίαν λέγεσθαι διδάσκουσιν· ἀλεύρου σάτα τὰ τρία, τὰ τρία γένη τῶν M. 30. ἀνθρώπων, πνευματικὸν, ψυχικὸν, χοϊκόν· ζύμην δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν Σωτῆρα εἰρῆσθαι διδάσκουσι. Καὶ τὸν Παῦλον διαῤῥήδην εἰρηκέναι χοϊκοὺς, ψυχικοὺς, πνευματικούς· ὅπου μὲν, Οἷος ὁ χοϊκὸς, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ χοϊκοί· ὅπου δὲ, ψοχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος G. 38. οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος1· ὅπου δὲ, Πνευματικὸς ἀνακρίνει πάντα. Τὸ, δὲ, ψυχικὸς οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, ἐπὶ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ φασὶν εἰρῆσθαι, ὃν ψυχικὸν ὄντα 2μὴ ἐγνωκέναι μήτε τὴν μητέρα πνευματικὴν οὖσαν, μήτε τὸ σπέρμα αὐτῆς, μήτε τοὺς ἐν τῷ Πληρώματι Αἰῶνας. Ὅτι ἰδὼν ὅτι δὲ, ὧν ἤμελλε σώ ζεῖν ὁ Σωτὴρ, τούτων τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ἀνέλαβε, τὸν Παῦλον εἰρηκέναι· Καὶ ἢν ἡ ἀπαρχὴ ἁγία, καὶ τὸ φύραμα. Ἀπαρχὴν μὲν τὸ πνευματικὸν εἰρῆσθαι διδάσκοντες· φύραμα δὲ ἡμᾶς, τουτέστι τὴν ψυχικὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἧς τὸ φύραμα ἀνειληφέναι λέγουσιν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ 1συνεσταλκέναι, LIB. I. i. 17. GR. I. i. 17. MASS. I. viii. 4. ἐπειδὴ ἦν αὐτὸς χύμη.' ' None | sup>
1.13 One Ecphantus, a native of Syracuse, affirmed that it is not possible to attain a true knowledge of things. He defines, however, as he thinks, primary bodies to be indivisible, and that there are three variations of these, viz., bulk, figure, capacity, from which are generated the objects of sense. But that there is a determinable multitude of these, and that this is infinite. And that bodies are moved neither by weight nor by impact, but by divine power, which he calls mind and soul; and that of this the world is a representation; wherefore also it has been made in the form of a sphere by divine power. And that the earth in the middle of the cosmical system is moved round its own centre towards the east. 1.14 Hippo, a native of Rhegium, asserted as originating principles, coldness, for instance water, and heat, for instance fire. And that fire, when produced by water, subdued the power of its generator, and formed the world. And the soul, he said, is sometimes brain, but sometimes water; for that also the seed is that which appears to us to arise out of moisture, from which, he says, the soul is produced. So far, then, we think we have sufficiently adduced (the opinions of) these; wherefore, inasmuch as we have adequately gone in review through the tenets of physical speculators, it seems to remain that we now turn to Socrates and Plato, who gave special preference to moral philosophy. 1.15 Socrates, then, was a hearer of Archelaus, the natural philosopher; and he, reverencing the rule, Know yourself, and having assembled a large school, had Plato (there), who was far superior to all his pupils. (Socrates) himself left no writings after him. Plato, however, taking notes of all his (lectures on) wisdom, established a school, combining together natural, ethical, (and) logical (philosophy). But the points Plato determined are these following. ' "1.16 Plato (lays down) that there are three originating principles of the universe, (namely) God, and matter, and exemplar; God as the Maker and Regulator of this universe, and the Being who exercises providence over it; but matter, as that which underlies all (phenomena), which (matter) he styles both receptive and a nurse, out of the arrangement of which proceeded the four elements of which the world consists; (I mean) fire, air, earth, water, from which all the rest of what are denominated concrete substances, as well as animals and plants, have been formed. And that the exemplar, which he likewise calls ideas, is the intelligence of the Deity, to which, as to an image in the soul, the Deity attending, fabricated all things. God, he says, is both incorporeal and shapeless, and comprehensible by wise men solely; whereas matter is body potentially, but with potentiality not as yet passing into action, for being itself without form and without quality, by assuming forms and qualities, it became body. That matter, therefore, is an originating principle, and coeval with the Deity, and that in this respect the world is uncreated. For (Plato) affirms that (the world) was made out of it. And that (the attribute of) imperishableness necessarily belongs to (literally follows) that which is uncreated. So far forth, however, as body is supposed to be compounded out of both many qualities and ideas, so far forth it is both created and perishable. But some of the followers of Plato mingled both of these, employing some such example as the following: That as a waggon can always continue undestroyed, though undergoing partial repairs from time to time, so that even the parts each in turn perish, yet itself remains always complete; so after this manner the world also, although in parts it perishes, yet the things that are removed, being repaired, and equivalents for them being introduced, it remains eternal. Some maintain that Plato asserts the Deity to be one, ingenerable and incorruptible, as he says in The Laws: God, therefore, as the ancient account has it, possesses both the beginning, and end, and middle of all things. Thus he shows God to be one, on account of His having pervaded all things. Others, however, maintain that Plato affirms the existence of many gods indefinitely, when he uses these words: God of gods, of whom I am both the Creator and Father. But others say that he speaks of a definite number of deities in the following passage: Therefore the mighty Jupiter, wheeling his swift chariot in heaven; and when he enumerates the offspring of the children of heaven and earth. But others assert that (Plato) constituted the gods as generable; and on account of their having been produced, that altogether they were subject to the necessity of corruption, but that on account of the will of God they are immortal, (maintaining this) in the passage already quoted, where, to the words, God of gods, of whom I am Creator and Father, he adds, indissoluble through the fiat of My will; so that if (God) were disposed that these should be dissolved, they would easily be dissolved. And he admits natures (such as those) of demons, and says that some of them are good, but others worthless. And some affirm that he states the soul to be uncreated and immortal, when he uses the following words, Every soul is immortal, for that which is always moved is immortal; and when he demonstrates that the soul is self-moved, and capable of originating motion. Others, however, (say that Plato asserted that the soul was) created, but rendered imperishable through the will of God. But some (will have it that he considered the soul) a composite (essence), and generable and corruptible; for even he supposes that there is a receptacle for it, and that it possesses a luminous body, but that everything generated involves a necessity of corruption. Those, however, who assert the immortality of the soul are especially strengthened in their opinion by those passages (in Plato's writings), where he says, that both there are judgments after death, and tribunals of justice in Hades, and that the virtuous (souls) receive a good reward, while the wicked (ones) suitable punishment. Some notwithstanding assert, that he also acknowledges a transition of souls from one body to another, and that different souls, those that were marked out for such a purpose, pass into different bodies, according to the desert of each, and that after certain definite periods they are sent up into this world to furnish once more a proof of their choice. Others, however, (do not admit this to be his doctrine, but will have it that Plato affirms that the souls) obtain a place according to the desert of each; and they employ as a testimony the saying of his, that some good men are with Jove, and that others are ranging abroad (through heaven) with other gods; whereas that others are involved in eternal punishments, as many as during this life have committed wicked and unjust deeds. And people affirm that Plato says, that some things are without a mean, that others have a mean, that others are a mean. (For example, that) waking and sleep, and such like, are conditions without an intermediate state; but that there are things that had means, for instance virtue and vice; and there are means (between extremes), for instance grey between white and black, or some other color. And they say, that he affirms that the things pertaining to the soul are absolutely alone good, but that the things pertaining to the body, and those external (to it), are not any longer absolutely good, but reputed blessings. And that frequently he names these means also, for that it is possible to use them both well and ill. Some virtues, therefore, he says, are extremes in regard of intrinsic worth, but in regard of their essential nature means, for nothing is more estimable than virtue. But whatever excels or falls short of these terminates in vice. For instance, he says that there are four virtues- prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude- and that on each of these is attendant two vices, according to excess and defect: for example, on prudence, recklessness according to defect, and knavery according to excess; and on temperance, licentiousness according to defect, stupidity according to excess; and on justice, foregoing a claim according to defect, unduly pressing it according to excess; and on fortitude, cowardice according to defect, foolhardiness according to excess. And that these virtues, when inherent in a man, render him perfect, and afford him happiness. And happiness, he says, is assimilation to the Deity, as far as this is possible; and that assimilation to God takes place when any one combines holiness and justice with prudence. For this he supposes the end of supreme wisdom and virtue. And he affirms that the virtues follow one another in turn, and are uniform, and are never antagonistic to each other; whereas that vices are multiform, and sometimes follow one the other, and sometimes are antagonistic to each other. He asserts that fate exists; not, to be sure, that all things are produced according to fate, but that there is even something in our power, as in the passages where he says, The fault is his who chooses, God is blameless; and the following law of Adrasteia. And thus some (contend for his upholding) a system of fate, whereas others one of free-will. He asserts, however, that sins are involuntary. For into what is most glorious of the things in our power, which is the soul, no one would (deliberately) admit what is vicious, that is, transgression, but that from ignorance and an erroneous conception of virtue, supposing that they were achieving something honourable, they pass into vice. And his doctrine on this point is most clear in The Republic, where he says, But, again, you presume to assert that vice is disgraceful and abhorred of God; how then, I may ask, would one choose such an evil thing? He, you reply, (would do so) who is worsted by pleasures. Therefore this also is involuntary, if to gain a victory be voluntary; so that, in every point of view, the committing an act of turpitude, reason proves to be involuntary. Some one, however, in opposition to this (Plato), advances the contrary statement, Why then are men punished if they sin involuntary? But he replies, that he himself also, as soon as possible, may be emancipated from vice, and undergo punishment. For that the undergoing punishment is not an evil, but a good thing, if it is likely to prove a purification of evils; and that the rest of mankind, hearing of it, may not transgress, but guard against such an error. (Plato, however, maintains) that the nature of evil is neither created by the Deity, nor possesses subsistence of itself, but that it derives existence from contrariety to what is good, and from attendance upon it, either by excess and defect, as we have previously affirmed concerning the virtues. Plato unquestionably then, as we have already stated, collecting together the three departments of universal philosophy, in this manner formed his speculative system. " 1.21.1 It happens that their tradition respecting redemption is invisible and incomprehensible, as being the mother of things which are incomprehensible and invisible; and on this account, since it is fluctuating, it is impossible simply and all at once to make known its nature, for every one of them hands it down just as his own inclination prompts. Thus there are as many schemes of "redemption" as there are teachers of these mystical opinions. And when we come to refute them, we shall show in its fitting-place, that this class of men have been instigated by Satan to a denial of that baptism which is regeneration to God, and thus to a renunciation of the whole Christian faith. 1.21.2 They maintain that those who have attained to perfect knowledge must of necessity be regenerated into that power which is above all. For it is otherwise impossible to find admittance within the Pleroma, since this regeneration it is which leads them down into the depths of Bythus. For the baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins, but the redemption brought in by that Christ who descended upon Him, was for perfection; and they allege that the former is animal, but the latter spiritual. And the baptism of John was proclaimed with a view to repentance, but the redemption by Jesus was brought in for the sake of perfection. And to this He refers when He says, "And I have another baptism to be baptized with, and I hasten eagerly towards it." Moreover, they affirm that the Lord added this redemption to the sons of Zebedee, when their mother asked that they might sit, the one on His right hand, and the other on His left, in His kingdom, saying, "Can ye be baptized with the baptism which I shall be baptized with?" Paul, too, they declare, has often set forth, in express terms, the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; and this was the same which is handed down by them in so varied and discordant forms. 1.21.3 For some of them prepare a nuptial couch, and perform a sort of mystic rite (pronouncing certain expressions) with those who are being initiated, and affirm that it is a spiritual marriage which is celebrated by them, after the likeness of the conjunctions above. Others, again, lead them to a place where water is, and baptize them, with the utterance of these words, "Into the name of the unknown Father of the universe--into truth, the mother of all things--into Him who descended on Jesus--into union, and redemption, and communion with the powers." Others still repeat certain Hebrew words, in order the more thoroughly to bewilder those who are being initiated, as follows: "Basema, Chamosse, Baoenaora, Mistadia, Ruada, Kousta, Babaphor, Kalachthei." The interpretation of these terms runs thus: "I invoke that which is above every power of the Father, which is called light, and good Spirit, and life, because Thou hast reigned in the body." Others, again, set forth the redemption thus: The name which is hidden from every deity, and dominion, and truth which Jesus of Nazareth was clothed with in the lives of the light of Christ--of Christ, who lives by the Holy Ghost, for the angelic redemption. The name of restitution stands thus: Messia, Uphareg, Namempsoeman, Chaldoeaur, Mosomedoea, Acphranoe, Psaua, Jesus Nazaria. The interpretation of these words is as follows: "I do not divide the Spirit of Christ, neither the heart nor the supercelestial power which is merciful; may I enjoy Thy name, O Saviour of truth!" Such are words of the initiators; but he who is initiated, replies, "I am established, and I am redeemed; I redeem my soul from this age (world), and from all things connected with it in the name of Iao, who redeemed his own soul into redemption in Christ who liveth." Then the bystanders add these words, "Peace be to all on whom this name rests." After this they anoint the initiated person with balsam; for they assert that this unguent is a type of that sweet odour which is above all things. 1.21.4 But there are some of them who assert that it is superfluous to bring persons to the water, but mixing oil and water together, they place this mixture on the heads of those who are to be initiated, with the use of some such expressions as we have already mentioned. And this they maintain to be the redemption. They, too, are accustomed to anoint with balsam. Others, however, reject all these practices, and maintain that the mystery of the unspeakable and invisible power ought not to be performed by visible and corruptible creatures, nor should that of those beings who are inconceivable, and incorporeal, and beyond the reach of sense, be performed by such as are the objects of sense, and possessed of a body. These hold that the knowledge of the unspeakable Greatness is itself perfect redemption. For since both defect and passion flowed from ignorance, the whole substance of what was thus formed is destroyed by knowledge; and therefore knowledge is the redemption of the inner man. This, however, is not of a corporeal nature, for the body is corruptible; nor is it animal, since the animal soul is the fruit of a defect, and is, as it were, the abode of the spirit. The redemption must therefore be of a spiritual nature; for they affirm that the inner and spiritual man is redeemed by means of knowledge, and that they, having acquired the knowledge of all things, stand thenceforth in need of nothing else. This, then, is the true redemption. 1.21.5 Others still there are who continue to redeem persons even up to the moment of death, by placing on their heads oil and water, or the pre-mentioned ointment with water, using at the same time the above-named invocations, that the persons referred to may become incapable of being seized or seen by the principalities and powers, and that their inner man may ascend on high in an invisible manner, as if their body were left among created things in this world, while their soul is sent forward to the Demiurge. And they instruct them, on their reaching the principalities and powers, to make use of these words: "I am a son from the Father--the Father who had a pre-existence, and a son in Him who is pre-existent. I have come to behold all things, both those which belong to myself and others, although, strictly speaking, they do not belong to others, but to Achamoth, who is female in nature, and made these things for herself. For I derive being from Him who is pre-existent, and I come again to my own place whence I went forth." And they affirm that, by saying these things, he escapes from the powers. He then advances to the companions of the Demiurge, and thus addresses them:--"I am a vessel more precious than the female who formed you. If your mother is ignorant of her own descent, I know myself, and am aware whence I am, and I call upon the incorruptible Sophia, who is in the Father, and is the mother of your mother, who has no father, nor any male consort; but a female springing from a female formed you, while ignorant of her own mother, and imagining that she alone existed; but I call upon her mother." And they declare, that when the companions of the Demiurge hear these words, they are greatly agitated, and upbraid their origin and the race of their mother. But he goes into his own place, having thrown off his chain, that is, his animal nature. These, then, are the particulars which have reached us respecting "redemption." But since they differ so widely among themselves both as respects doctrine and tradition, and since those of them who are recognised as being most modern make it their effort daily to invent some new opinion, and to bring out what no one ever before thought of, it is a difficult matter to describe all their opinions.'' None |
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94. Justin, Dialogue With Trypho, 70 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiatory hierarchy • initiation
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 112; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 354
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70 So also the mysteries of Mithras are distorted from the prophecies of Daniel and Isaiah Justin: And when those who record the mysteries of Mithras say that he was begotten of a rock, and call the place where those who believe in him are initiated a cave, do I not perceive here that the utterance of Daniel, that a stone without hands was cut out of a great mountain, has been imitated by them, and that they have attempted likewise to imitate the whole of Isaiah's words? For they contrived that the words of righteousness be quoted also by them. But I must repeat to you the words of Isaiah referred to, in order that from them you may know that these things are so. They are these: 'Hear, you that are far off, what I have done; those that are near shall know my might. The sinners in Zion are removed; trembling shall seize the impious. Who shall announce to you the everlasting place? The man who walks in righteousness, speaks in the right way, hates sin and unrighteousness, and keeps his hands pure from bribes, stops the ears from hearing the unjust judgment of blood closes the eyes from seeing unrighteousness: he shall dwell in the lofty cave of the strong rock. Bread shall be given to him, and his water shall be sure. You shall see the King with glory, and your eyes shall look far off. Your soul shall pursue diligently the fear of the Lord. Where is the scribe? Where are the counsellors? Where is he that numbers those who are nourished — the small and great people? With whom they did not take counsel, nor knew the depth of the voices, so that they heard not. The people who have become depreciated, and there is no understanding in him who hears.' Isaiah 33:13-19 Now it is evident, that in this prophecy allusion is made to the bread which our Christ gave us to eat, in remembrance of His being made flesh for the sake of His believers, for whom also He suffered; and to the cup which He gave us to drink, in remembrance of His own blood, with giving of thanks. And this prophecy proves that we shall behold this very King with glory; and the very terms of the prophecy declare loudly, that the people foreknown to believe in Him were foreknown to pursue diligently the fear of the Lord. Moreover, these Scriptures are equally explicit in saying, that those who are reputed to know the writings of the Scriptures, and who hear the prophecies, have no understanding. And when I hear, Trypho, that Perseus was begotten of a virgin, I understand that the deceiving serpent counterfeited also this."" None |
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95. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.4.5, 1.14.3, 1.38.7, 2.7.6, 8.37.5 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiation • initiation, initiatory rites • knowledge, acquired in the initiation
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 136; Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 8, 24; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 154, 409; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 169; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 71, 224; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 265
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1.4.5 Γαλατῶν δὲ οἱ πολλοὶ ναυσὶν ἐς τὴν Ἀσίαν διαβάντες τὰ παραθαλάσσια αὐτῆς ἐλεηλάτουν· χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον οἱ Πέργαμον ἔχοντες, πάλαι δὲ Τευθρανίαν καλουμένην, ἐς ταύτην Γαλάτας ἐλαύνουσιν ἀπὸ θαλάσσης. οὗτοι μὲν δὴ τὴν ἐκτὸς Σαγγαρίου χώραν ἔσχον Ἄγκυραν πόλιν ἑλόντες Φρυγῶν, ἣν Μίδας ὁ Γορδίου πρότερον ᾤκισεν—ἄγκυρα δέ, ἣν ὁ Μίδας ἀνεῦρεν, ἦν ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἐν ἱερῷ Διὸς καὶ κρήνη Μίδου καλουμένη· ταύτην οἴνῳ κεράσαι Μίδαν φασὶν ἐπὶ τὴν θήραν τοῦ Σιληνοῦ—, ταύτην τε δὴ τὴν Ἄγκυραν εἷλον καὶ Πεσσινοῦντα τὴν ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος τὴν Ἄγδιστιν, ἔνθα καὶ τὸν Ἄττην τεθάφθαι λέγουσι.
1.14.3 ἔπη δὲ ᾄδεται Μουσαίου μέν, εἰ δὴ Μουσαίου καὶ ταῦτα, Τριπτόλεμον παῖδα Ὠκεανοῦ καὶ Γῆς εἶναι, Ὀρφέως δέ, οὐδὲ ταῦτα Ὀρφέως ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν ὄντα, Εὐβουλεῖ καὶ Τριπτολέμῳ Δυσαύλην πατέρα εἶναι, μηνύσασι δέ σφισι περὶ τῆς παιδὸς δοθῆναι παρὰ Δήμητρος σπεῖραι τοὺς καρπούς· Χοιρίλῳ δὲ Ἀθηναίῳ δρᾶμα ποιήσαντι Ἀλόπην ἔστ ιν εἰρημένα Κερκυόνα εἶναι καὶ Τριπτόλεμον ἀδελφούς, τεκεῖν δὲ σφᾶς θυγατέρα ς Ἀμφικτύονος, εἶναι δὲ πατέρα Τριπτολέμῳ μὲν Ῥᾶρον, Κερκυόνι δὲ Ποσειδῶνα. πρόσω δὲ ἰέναι με ὡρμημένον τοῦδε τοῦ λόγου καὶ †ὁπόσα ἐξήγησιν †ἔχει τὸ Ἀθήνῃσιν ἱερόν, καλούμενον δὲ Ἐλευσίνιον, ἐπέσχεν ὄψις ὀνείρατος· ἃ δὲ ἐς πάντας ὅσιον γράφειν, ἐς ταῦτα ἀποτρέψομαι.
1.38.7 τὰ δὲ ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους τοῦ ἱεροῦ τό τε ὄνειρον ἀπεῖπε γράφειν, καὶ τοῖς οὐ τελεσθεῖσιν, ὁπόσων θέας εἴργονται, δῆλα δήπου μηδὲ πυθέσθαι μετεῖναί σφισιν. Ἐλευσῖνα δὲ ἥρωα, ἀφʼ οὗ τὴν πόλιν ὀνομάζουσιν, οἱ μὲν Ἑρμοῦ παῖδα εἶναι καὶ Δαείρας Ὠκεανοῦ θυγατρὸς λέγουσι, τοῖς δέ ἐστι πεποιημένα Ὤγυγον εἶναι πατέρα Ἐλευσῖνι· οἱ γὰρ ἀρχαῖοι τῶν λόγων ἅτε οὐ προσόντων σφίσιν ἐπῶν ἄλλα τε πλάσασθαι δεδώκασι καὶ μάλιστα ἐς τὰ γένη τῶν ἡρώων.
2.7.6 ἡγεῖται μὲν οὖν ὃν Βάκχειον ὀνομάζουσιν—Ἀνδροδάμας σφίσιν ὁ Φλάντος τοῦτον ἱδρύσατο—, ἕπεται δὲ ὁ καλούμενος Λύσιος, ὃν Θηβαῖος Φάνης εἰπούσης τῆς Πυθίας ἐκόμισεν ἐκ Θηβῶν. ἐς δὲ Σικυῶνα ἦλθεν ὁ Φάνης, ὅτε Ἀριστόμαχος ὁ Κλεοδαίου τῆς γενομένης μαντείας ἁμαρτὼν διʼ αὐτὸ καὶ καθόδου τῆς ἐς Πελοπόννησον ἥμαρτεν. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Διονυσίου βαδίζουσιν ἐς τὴν ἀγοράν, ἔστι ναὸς Ἀρτέμιδος ἐν δεξιᾷ Λιμναίας. καὶ ὅτι μὲν κατερρύηκεν ὁ ὄροφος, δῆλά ἐστιν ἰδόντι· περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἀγάλματος οὔτε ὡς κομισθέντος ἑτέρωσε οὔτε ὅντινα αὐτοῦ διεφθάρη τρόπον εἰπεῖν ἔχουσιν.
8.37.5 πρὸς δὲ τῆς Δεσποίνης τῷ ἀγάλματι ἕστηκεν Ἄνυτος σχῆμα ὡπλισμένου παρεχόμενος· φασὶ δὲ οἱ περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τραφῆναι τὴν Δέσποιναν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀνύτου, καὶ εἶναι τῶν Τιτάνων καλουμένων καὶ τὸν Ἄνυτον. Τιτᾶνας δὲ πρῶτος ἐς ποίησιν ἐσήγαγεν Ὅμηρος, θεοὺς εἶναι σφᾶς ὑπὸ τῷ καλουμένῳ Ταρτάρῳ, καὶ ἔστιν ἐν Ἥρας ὅρκῳ τὰ ἔπη· παρὰ δὲ Ὁμήρου Ὀνομάκριτος παραλαβὼν τῶν Τιτάνων τὸ ὄνομα Διονύσῳ τε συνέθηκεν ὄργια καὶ εἶναι τοὺς Τιτᾶνας τῷ Διονύσῳ τῶν παθημάτων ἐποίησεν αὐτουργούς.'' None | sup>
1.4.5 The greater number of the Gauls crossed over to Asia by ship and plundered its coasts. Some time after, the inhabitants of Pergamus, that was called of old Teuthrania, drove the Gauls into it from the sea. Now this people occupied the country on the farther side of the river Sangarius capturing Ancyra, a city of the Phrygians, which Midas son of Gordius had founded in former time. And the anchor, which Midas found, A legend invented to explain the name “ Ancyra,” which means anchor. was even as late as my time in the sanctuary of Zeus, as well as a spring called the Spring of Midas, water from which they say Midas mixed with wine to capture Silenus. Well then, the Pergameni took Ancyra and Pessinus which lies under Mount Agdistis, where they say that Attis lies buried.
1.14.3 Some extant verses of Musaeus, if indeed they are to be included among his works, say that Triptolemus was the son of Oceanus and Earth; while those ascribed to Orpheus (though in my opinion the received authorship is again incorrect) say that Eubuleus and Triptolemus were sons of Dysaules, and that because they gave Demeter information about her daughter the sowing of seed was her reward to them. But Choerilus, an Athenian, who wrote a play called Alope, says that Cercyon and Triptolemus were brothers, that their mother was the daughter of Amphictyon, while the father of Triptolemus was Rarus, of Cercyon, Poseidon. After I had intended to go further into this story, and to describe the contents of the sanctuary at Athens, called the Eleusinium, I was stayed by a vision in a dream. I shall therefore turn to those things it is lawful to write of to all men.
1.38.7 My dream forbade the description of the things within the wall of the sanctuary, and the uninitiated are of course not permitted to learn that which they are prevented from seeing. The hero Eleusis, after whom the city is named, some assert to be a son of Hermes and of Daeira, daughter of Ocean; there are poets, however, who have made Ogygus father of Eleusis . Ancient legends, deprived of the help of poetry, have given rise to many fictions, especially concerning the pedigrees of heroes.
2.7.6 The first is the one named Baccheus, set up by Androdamas, the son of Phlias, and this is followed by the one called Lysius (Deliverer), brought from Thebes by the Theban Phanes at the command of the Pythian priestess. Phanes came to Sicyon when Aristomachus, the son of Cleodaeus, failed to understand the oracle I To wait for “the third fruit,” i.e. the third generation. It was interpreted to mean the third year. given him, and therefore failed to return to the Peloponnesus . As you walk from the temple of Dionysus to the market-place you see on the right a temple of Artemis of the lake. A look shows that the roof has fallen in, but the inhabitants cannot tell whether the image has been removed or how it was destroyed on the spot.' "
8.37.5 By the image of the Mistress stands Anytus, represented as a man in armour. Those about the sanctuary say that the Mistress was brought up by Anytus, who was one of the Titans, as they are called. The first to introduce Titans into poetry was Homer, See Hom. Il. 14.279 . representing them as gods down in what is called Tartarus; the lines are in the passage about Hera's oath. From Homer the name of the Titans was taken by Onomacritus, who in the orgies he composed for Dionysus made the Titans the authors of the god's sufferings."' None |
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96. Tertullian, Against The Valentinians, 1.2 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation ritual • Initiation, Eleusinian/Mysteries • Initiation, Valentinian • Initiatory hierarchy
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 222, 385; Corrigan and Rasimus (2013), Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 298; Iricinschi et al. (2013), Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 159
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1.2 The Valentinians, who are no doubt a very large body of heretics- comprising as they do so many apostates from the truth, who have a propensity for fables, and no discipline to deter them (therefrom) care for nothing so much as to obscure what they preach, if indeed they (can be said to) preach who obscure their doctrine. The officiousness with which they guard their doctrine is an officiousness which betrays their guilt. Their disgrace is proclaimed in the very earnestness with which they maintain their religious system. Now, in the case of those Eleusinian mysteries, which are the very heresy of Athenian superstition, it is their secrecy that is their disgrace. Accordingly, they previously beset all access to their body with tormenting conditions; and they require a long initiation before they enrol (their members), even instruction during five years for their perfect disciples, in order that they may mould their opinions by this suspension of full knowledge, and apparently raise the dignity of their mysteries in proportion to the craving for them which they have previously created. Then follows the duty of silence. Carefully is that guarded, which is so long in finding. All the divinity, however, lies in their secret recesses: there are revealed at last all the aspirations of the fully initiated, the entire mystery of the sealed tongue, the symbol of virility. But this allegorical representation, under the pretext of nature's reverend name, obscures a real sacrilege by help of an arbitrary symbol, and by empty images obviates the reproach of falsehood! In like manner, the heretics who are now the object of our remarks, the Valentinians, have formed Eleusinian dissipations of their own, consecrated by a profound silence, having nothing of the heavenly in them but their mystery. By the help of the sacred names and titles and arguments of true religion, they have fabricated the vainest and foulest figment for men's pliant liking, out of the affluent suggestions of Holy Scripture, since from its many springs many errors may well emanate. If you propose to them inquiries sincere and honest, they answer you with stern look and contracted brow, and say, The subject is profound. If you try them with subtle questions, with the ambiguities of their double tongue, they affirm a community of faith (with yourself). If you intimate to them that you understand their opinions, they insist on knowing nothing themselves. If you come to a close engagement with them they destroy your own fond hope of a victory over them by a self-immolation. Not even to their own disciples do they commit a secret before they have made sure of them. They have the knack of persuading men before instructing them; although truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by first persuading. " "1 The Valentinians, who are no doubt a very large body of heretics- comprising as they do so many apostates from the truth, who have a propensity for fables, and no discipline to deter them (therefrom) care for nothing so much as to obscure what they preach, if indeed they (can be said to) preach who obscure their doctrine. The officiousness with which they guard their doctrine is an officiousness which betrays their guilt. Their disgrace is proclaimed in the very earnestness with which they maintain their religious system. Now, in the case of those Eleusinian mysteries, which are the very heresy of Athenian superstition, it is their secrecy that is their disgrace. Accordingly, they previously beset all access to their body with tormenting conditions; and they require a long initiation before they enrol (their members), even instruction during five years for their perfect disciples, in order that they may mould their opinions by this suspension of full knowledge, and apparently raise the dignity of their mysteries in proportion to the craving for them which they have previously created. Then follows the duty of silence. Carefully is that guarded, which is so long in finding. All the divinity, however, lies in their secret recesses: there are revealed at last all the aspirations of the fully initiated, the entire mystery of the sealed tongue, the symbol of virility. But this allegorical representation, under the pretext of nature's reverend name, obscures a real sacrilege by help of an arbitrary symbol, and by empty images obviates the reproach of falsehood! In like manner, the heretics who are now the object of our remarks, the Valentinians, have formed Eleusinian dissipations of their own, consecrated by a profound silence, having nothing of the heavenly in them but their mystery. By the help of the sacred names and titles and arguments of true religion, they have fabricated the vainest and foulest figment for men's pliant liking, out of the affluent suggestions of Holy Scripture, since from its many springs many errors may well emanate. If you propose to them inquiries sincere and honest, they answer you with stern look and contracted brow, and say, The subject is profound. If you try them with subtle questions, with the ambiguities of their double tongue, they affirm a community of faith (with yourself). If you intimate to them that you understand their opinions, they insist on knowing nothing themselves. If you come to a close engagement with them they destroy your own fond hope of a victory over them by a self-immolation. Not even to their own disciples do they commit a secret before they have made sure of them. They have the knack of persuading men before instructing them; although truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by first persuading. "" None |
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97. Tertullian, On The Crown, 15.3 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiatory hierarchy
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 354; Nuno et al. (2021), SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism, 179
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15.3 Keep for God His own property untainted; He will crown it if He choose. Nay, then, He does even choose. He calls us to it. To him who conquers He says, I will give a crown of life. Be you, too, faithful unto death, and fight you, too, the good fight, whose crown the apostle 2 Timothy 4:8 feels so justly confident has been laid up for him. The angel Revelation 6:2 also, as he goes forth on a white horse, conquering and to conquer, receives a crown of victory; and another Revelation 10:1 is adorned with an encircling rainbow (as it were in its fair colors)- a celestial meadow. In like manner, the elders sit crowned around, crowned too with a crown of gold, and the Son of Man Himself flashes out above the clouds. If such are the appearances in the vision of the seer, of what sort will be the realities in the actual manifestation? Look at those crowns. Inhale those odours. Why condemn you to a little chaplet, or a twisted headband, the brow which has been destined for a diadem? For Christ Jesus has made us even kings to God and His Father. What have you in common with the flower which is to die? You have a flower in the Branch of Jesse, upon which the grace of the Divine Spirit in all its fullness rested - a flower undefiled, unfading, everlasting, by choosing which the good soldier, too, has got promotion in the heavenly ranks. Blush, you fellow-soldiers of his, henceforth not to be condemned even by him, but by some soldier of Mithras, who, at his initiation in the gloomy cavern, in the camp, it may well be said, of darkness, when at the sword's point a crown is presented to him, as though in mimicry of martyrdom, and thereupon put upon his head, is admonished to resist and cast it off, and, if you like, transfer it to his shoulder, saying that Mithras is his crown. And thenceforth he is never crowned; and he has that for a mark to show who he is, if anywhere he be subjected to trial in respect of his religion; and he is at once believed to be a soldier of Mithras if he throws the crown away - if he say that in his god he has his crown. Let us take note of the devices of the devil, who is wont to ape some of God's things with no other design than, by the faithfulness of his servants, to put us to shame, and to condemn us. <"" None |
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98. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Pindar, on death and initiation • Religion passim, mystery cults, initiation • eschatology. See mystery initiations and entries under Empedocles, Euripides, Homer, Parmenides, Pindar, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, aethereal
Found in books: Rothschold, Blanton and Calhoun (2014), The History of Religions School Today : Essays on the New Testament and Related Ancient Mediterranean Texts 36; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 245
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99. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • Plutarch, on mystery initiations • mystery initiations • mystic initiation • mystic initiation, transition to joy in
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 387; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 221; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 268; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 3
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100. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation • mystic initiation, Dionysiac
Found in books: Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 91; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 372
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101. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Orphic initiation • initiation • mystery initiations
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 171; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 376; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 267; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 42
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102. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • initiation
Found in books: Werline et al. (2008), Experientia, Volume 1: Inquiry Into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Christianity, 100; Černušková, Kovacs and Plátová (2016), Clement’s Biblical Exegesis: Proceedings of the Second Colloquium on Clement of Alexandria , 82
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103. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Austrian Archaeological Institute • Xenophon of Athens, on religious customs and institutions
Found in books: Immendörfer (2017), Ephesians and Artemis : The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus As the Epistle's Context 89; Munn (2006), The Mother of the Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: A Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion. 166
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104. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Gaius, Institutes, Justinian’s Institutes and • Justinianic jurisprudence,, Institutes • Justinianic jurisprudence,, sources for Institutes • Marcian (jurist), Institutes • Ulpian (jurist), Edict, and Justinian’s Institutes • institutions
Found in books: Farag (2021), What Makes a Church Sacred? Legal and Ritual Perspectives from Late Antiquity, 183, 184; Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 179, 366
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105. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 8.2-8.3 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • initiation
Found in books: Bricault and Bonnet (2013), Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire, 60; Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 231, 233; Stroumsa (1996), Hidden Widsom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. 171, 172
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8.2 From Samos he went, it is said, to Lesbos with an introduction to Pherecydes from his uncle Zoilus. He had three silver flagons made and took them as presents to each of the priests of Egypt. He had brothers, of whom Eunomus was the elder and Tyrrhenus the second; he also had a slave, Zamolxis, who is worshipped, so says Herodotus, by the Getans, as Cronos. He was a pupil, as already stated, of Pherecydes of Syros, after whose death he went to Samos to be the pupil of Hermodamas, Creophylus's descendant, a man already advanced in years. While still young, so eager was he for knowledge, he left his own country and had himself initiated into all the mysteries and rites not only of Greece but also of foreign countries." '8.3 Now he was in Egypt when Polycrates sent him a letter of introduction to Amasis; he learnt the Egyptian language, so we learn from Antiphon in his book On Men of Outstanding Merit, and he also journeyed among the Chaldaeans and Magi. Then while in Crete he went down into the cave of Ida with Epimenides; he also entered the Egyptian sanctuaries, and was told their secret lore concerning the gods. After that he returned to Samos to find his country under the tyranny of Polycrates; so he sailed away to Croton in Italy, and there he laid down a constitution for the Italian Greeks, and he and his followers were held in great estimation; for, being nearly three hundred in number, so well did they govern the state that its constitution was in effect a true aristocracy (government by the best).' " None |
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106. Lactantius, Divine Institutes, 6.25.12 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Divine Institutes (Lactantius), biblical text • Newman Institute
Found in books: Berglund Crostini and Kelhoffer (2022), Why We Sing: Music, Word, and Liturgy in Early Christianity, 283; Yates and Dupont (2020), The Bible in Christian North Africa: Part I: Commencement to the Confessiones of Augustine (ca. 180 to 400 CE), 175
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6.25.12 Now let us speak briefly concerning sacrifice itself. Ivory, says Plato, is not a pure offering to God. What then? Are embroidered and costly textures? Nay, rather nothing is a pure offering to God which can be corrupted or taken away secretly. But as he saw this, that nothing which was taken from a dead body ought to be offered to a living being, why did he not see that a corporeal offering ought not to be presented to an incorporeal being? How much better and more truly does Seneca speak: Will you think of God as great and placid, and a friend to be reverenced with gentle majesty, and always at hand? Not to be worshipped with the immolation of victims and with much blood - for what pleasure arises from the slaughter of innocent animals? - but with a pure mind and with a good and honourable purpose. Temples are not to be built to Him with stones piled up on high; He is to be consecrated by each man in his own breast. Therefore, if any one thinks that garments, and jewels, and other things which are esteemed precious, are valued by God, he is altogether ignorant of what God is, since he thinks that those things are pleasing to Him which even a man would be justly praised for despising. What, then, is pure, what is worthy of God, but that which He Himself has demanded in that divine law of His? There are two things which ought to be offered, the gift and the sacrifice; the gift as a perpetual offering, the sacrifice for a time. But with those who by no means understand the nature of the Divine Being, a gift is anything which is wrought of gold or silver; likewise anything which is woven of purple and silk: a sacrifice is a victim, and as many things as are burnt upon the altar. But God does not make use either of the one or the other, because He is free from corruption, and that is altogether corruptible. Therefore, in each case, that which is incorporeal must be offered to God, for He accepts this. His offering is innocency of soul; His sacrifice praise and a hymn. For if God is not seen, He ought therefore to be worshipped with things which are not seen. Therefore no other religion is true but that which consists of virtue and justice. But in what manner God deals with the justice of man is easily understood. For if man shall be just, having received immortality, he will serve God forever. But that men are not born except for justice, both the ancient philosophers and even Cicero suspects. For, discussing the Laws, he says: But of all things which are discussed by learned men, nothing assuredly is of greater importance than that it should be entirely understood that we are born to justice. We ought therefore to hold forth and offer to God that alone for the receiving of which He Himself produced us. But how true this twofold kind of sacrifice is, Trismegistus Hermes is a befitting witness, who agrees with us, that is, with the prophets, whom we follow, as much in fact as in words. He thus spoke concerning justice: Adore and worship this word, O son. But the worship of God consists of one thing, not to be wicked. Also in that perfect discourse, when he heard Asclepius inquiring from his son whether it pleased him that incense and other odours for divine sacrifice were offered to his father, exclaimed: Speak words of good omen, O Asclepius. For it is the greatest impiety to entertain any such thought concerning that being of pre-eminent goodness. For these things, and things resembling these, are not adapted to Him. For He is full of all things, as many as exist, and He has need of nothing at all. But let us give Him thanks, and adore Him. For His sacrifice consists only of blessing. And he spoke rightly. For we ought to sacrifice to God in word; inasmuch as God is the Word, as He Himself confessed. Therefore the chief ceremonial in the worship of God is praise from the mouth of a just man directed towards God. That this, however, may be accepted by God, there is need of humility, and fear, and devotion in the greatest degree, lest any one should chance to place confidence in his integrity and innocence, and thus incur the charge of pride and arrogance, and by this deed lose the recompense of his virtue. But that he may obtain the favour of God, and be free from every stain, let him always implore the mercy of God, and pray for nothing else but pardon for his sins, even though he has none. If he desires anything else, there is no need of expressing it in word to one who knows what we wish; if anything good shall happen to him, let him give thanks; if any evil, let him make amends, and let him confess that the evil has happened to him on account of his faults; and even in evils let him nothing less give thanks, and make amends in good things, that he may be the same at all times, and be firm, and unchangeable, and unshaken. And let him not suppose that this is to be done by him only in the temple, but at home, and even in his very bed. In short, let him always have God with himself, consecrated in his heart, inasmuch as he himself is a temple of God. But if he has served God, his Father and Lord, with this assiduity, obedience, and devotion, justice is complete and perfect; and he who shall keep this, as we before testified, has obeyed God, and has satisfied the obligations of religion and his own duty. <'' None |
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107. Origen, Against Celsus, 1.9, 1.12, 3.59-3.61, 4.10, 6.22 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Antioch, synagogue, communal institution (first century c.e.) • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiators • Initiatory hierarchy • initiates • initiation • wise and the vulgar initiation, rites of
Found in books: Beck (2006), The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun, 4, 47, 83, 153, 154; Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 112; Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 30; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 222, 378, 387, 452; Despotis and Lohr (2022), Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, 420, 421, 422, 423; Levine (2005), The Ancient Synagogue, The First Thousand Years, 405; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 243; Stroumsa (1996), Hidden Widsom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. 165; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 121; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 235, 342, 345
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1.9 He next proceeds to recommend, that in adopting opinions we should follow reason and a rational guide, since he who assents to opinions without following this course is very liable to be deceived. And he compares inconsiderate believers to Metragyrt, and soothsayers, and Mithr, and Sabbadians, and to anything else that one may fall in with, and to the phantoms of Hecate, or any other demon or demons. For as among such persons are frequently to be found wicked men, who, taking advantage of the ignorance of those who are easily deceived, lead them away whither they will, so also, he says, is the case among Christians. And he asserts that certain persons who do not wish either to give or receive a reason for their belief, keep repeating, Do not examine, but believe! and, Your faith will save you! And he alleges that such also say, The wisdom of this life is bad, but that foolishness is a good thing! To which we have to answer, that if it were possible for all to leave the business of life, and devote themselves to philosophy, no other method ought to be adopted by any one, but this alone. For in the Christian system also it will be found that there is, not to speak at all arrogantly, at least as much of investigation into articles of belief, and of explanation of dark sayings, occurring in the prophetical writings, and of the parables in the Gospels, and of countless other things, which either were narrated or enacted with a symbolic signification, (as is the case with other systems). But since the course alluded to is impossible, partly on account of the necessities of life, partly on account of the weakness of men, as only a very few individuals devote themselves earnestly to study, what better method could be devised with a view of assisting the multitude, than that which was delivered by Jesus to the heathen? And let us inquire, with respect to the great multitude of believers, who have washed away the mire of wickedness in which they formerly wallowed, whether it were better for them to believe without a reason, and (so) to have become reformed and improved in their habits, through the belief that men are chastised for sins, and honoured for good works or not to have allowed themselves to be converted on the strength of mere faith, but (to have waited) until they could give themselves to a thorough examination of the (necessary) reasons. For it is manifest that, (on such a plan), all men, with very few exceptions, would not obtain this (amelioration of conduct) which they have obtained through a simple faith, but would continue to remain in the practice of a wicked life. Now, whatever other evidence can be furnished of the fact, that it was not without divine intervention that the philanthropic scheme of Christianity was introduced among men, this also must be added. For a pious man will not believe that even a physician of the body, who restores the sick to better health, could take up his abode in any city or country without divine permission, since no good happens to men without the help of God. And if he who has cured the bodies of many, or restored them to better health, does not effect his cures without the help of God, how much more He who has healed the souls of many, and has turned them (to virtue), and improved their nature, and attached them to God who is over all things, and taught them to refer every action to His good pleasure, and to shun all that is displeasing to Him, even to the least of their words or deeds, or even of the thoughts of their hearts? ' "
1.12 In the next place, when Celsus says in express words, If they would answer me, not as if I were asking for information, for I am acquainted with all their opinions, but because I take an equal interest in them all, it would be well. And if they will not, but will keep reiterating, as they generally do, 'Do not investigate,' etc., they must, he continues, explain to me at least of what nature these things are of which they speak, and whence they are derived, etc. Now, with regard to his statement that he is acquainted with all our doctrines, we have to say that this is a boastful and daring assertion; for if he had read the prophets in particular, which are full of acknowledged difficulties, and of declarations that are obscure to the multitude, and if he had perused the parables of the Gospels, and the other writings of the law and of the Jewish history, and the utterances of the apostles, and had read them candidly, with a desire to enter into their meaning, he would not have expressed himself with such boldness, nor said that he was acquainted with all their doctrines. Even we ourselves, who have devoted much study to these writings, would not say that we were acquainted with everything, for we have a regard for truth. Not one of us will assert, I know all the doctrines of Epicurus, or will be confident that he knows all those of Plato, in the knowledge of the fact that so many differences of opinion exist among the expositors of these systems. For who is so daring as to say that he knows all the opinions of the Stoics or of the Peripatetics? Unless, indeed, it should be the case that he has heard this boast, I know them all, from some ignorant and senseless individuals, who do not perceive their own ignorance, and should thus imagine, from having had such persons as his teachers, that he was acquainted with them all. Such an one appears to me to act very much as a person would do who had visited Egypt (where the Egyptian savans, learned in their country's literature, are greatly given to philosophizing about those things which are regarded among them as divine, but where the vulgar, hearing certain myths, the reasons of which they do not understand, are greatly elated because of their fancied knowledge), and who should imagine that he is acquainted with the whole circle of Egyptian knowledge, after having been a disciple of the ignorant alone, and without having associated with any of the priests, or having learned the mysteries of the Egyptians from any other source. And what I have said regarding the learned and ignorant among the Egyptians, I might have said also of the Persians; among whom there are mysteries, conducted on rational principles by the learned among them, but understood in a symbolic sense by the more superficial of the multitude. And the same remark applies to the Syrians, and Indians, and to all those who have a literature and a mythology. " "
3.59 Immediately after this, Celsus, perceiving that he has slandered us with too great bitterness, as if by way of defense expresses himself as follows: That I bring no heavier charge than what the truth compels me, any one may see from the following remarks. Those who invite to participation in other mysteries, make proclamation as follows: 'Every one who has clean hands, and a prudent tongue;' others again thus: 'He who is pure from all pollution, and whose soul is conscious of no evil, and who has lived well and justly.' Such is the proclamation made by those who promise purification from sins. But let us hear what kind of persons these Christians invite. Every one, they say, who is a sinner, who is devoid of understanding, who is a child, and, to speak generally, whoever is unfortunate, him will the kingdom of God receive. Do you not call him a sinner, then, who is unjust, and a thief, and a housebreaker, and a poisoner, and a committer of sacrilege, and a robber of the dead? What others would a man invite if he were issuing a proclamation for an assembly of robbers? Now, in answer to such statements, we say that it is not the same thing to invite those who are sick in soul to be cured, and those who are in health to the knowledge and study of divine things. We, however, keeping both these things in view, at first invite all men to be healed, and exhort those who are sinners to come to the consideration of the doctrines which teach men not to sin, and those who are devoid of understanding to those which beget wisdom, and those who are children to rise in their thoughts to manhood, and those who are simply unfortunate to good fortune, or - which is the more appropriate term to use - to blessedness. And when those who have been turned towards virtue have made progress, and have shown that they have been purified by the word, and have led as far as they can a better life, then and not before do we invite them to participation in our mysteries. For we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. " '3.60 And as we teach, moreover, that wisdom will not enter into the soul of a base man, nor dwell in a body that is involved in sin, Wisdom 1:4 we say, Whoever has clean hands, and therefore lifts up holy hands to God, and by reason of being occupied with elevated and heavenly things, can say, The lifting up of my hands is as the evening sacrifice, let him come to us; and whoever has a wise tongue through meditating on the law of the Lord day and night, and by reason of habit has his senses exercised to discern between good and evil, let him have no reluctance in coming to the strong and rational sustece which is adapted to those who are athletes in piety and every virtue. And since the grace of God is with all those who love with a pure affection the teacher of the doctrines of immortality, whoever is pure not only from all defilement, but from what are regarded as lesser transgressions, let him be boldly initiated in the mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made known only to the holy and the pure. The initiated of Celsus accordingly says, Let him whose soul is conscious of no evil come. But he who acts as initiator, according to the precepts of Jesus, will say to those who have been purified in heart, He whose soul has, for a long time, been conscious of no evil, and especially since he yielded himself to the healing of the word, let such an one hear the doctrines which were spoken in private by Jesus to His genuine disciples. Therefore in the comparison which he institutes between the procedure of the initiators into the Grecian mysteries, and the teachers of the doctrine of Jesus, he does not know the difference between inviting the wicked to be healed, and initiating those already purified into the sacred mysteries! 3.61 Not to participation in mysteries, then, and to fellowship in the wisdom hidden in a mystery, which God ordained before the world to the glory of His saints, do we invite the wicked man, and the thief, and the housebreaker, and the poisoner, and the committer of sacrilege, and the plunderer of the dead, and all those others whom Celsus may enumerate in his exaggerating style, but such as these we invite to be healed. For there are in the divinity of the word some helps towards the cure of those who are sick, respecting which the word says, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick; others, again, which to the pure in soul and body exhibit the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the Scriptures of the prophets, and by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which appearing is manifested to each one of those who are perfect, and which enlightens the reason in the true knowledge of things. But as he exaggerates the charges against us, adding, after his list of those vile individuals whom he has mentioned, this remark, What other persons would a robber summon to himself by proclamation? we answer such a question by saying that a robber summons around him individuals of such a character, in order to make use of their villainy against the men whom they desire to slay and plunder. A Christian, on the other hand, even though he invite those whom the robber invites, invites them to a very different vocation, viz., to bind up these wounds by His word, and to apply to the soul, festering amid evils, the drugs obtained from the word, and which are analogous to the wine and oil, and plasters, and other healing appliances which belong to the art of medicine.
4.10 In the next place, Celsus, as is his custom, having neither proved nor established anything, proceeds to say, as if we talked of God in a manner that was neither holy nor pious, that it is perfectly manifest that they babble about God in a way that is neither holy nor reverential; and he imagines that we do these things to excite the astonishment of the ignorant, and that we do not speak the truth regarding the necessity of punishments for those who have sinned. And accordingly he likens us to those who in the Bacchic mysteries introduce phantoms and objects of terror. With respect to the mysteries of Bacchus, whether there is any trustworthy account of them, or none that is such, let the Greeks tell, and let Celsus and his boon-companions listen. But we defend our own procedure, when we say that our object is to reform the human race, either by the threats of punishments which we are persuaded are necessary for the whole world, and which perhaps are not without use to those who are to endure them; or by the promises made to those who have lived virtuous lives, and in which are contained the statements regarding the blessed termination which is to be found in the kingdom of God, reserved for those who are worthy of becoming His subjects. ' "
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? "' None |
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108. Porphyry, On The Cave of The Nymphs, 6-7, 15-16 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiators • Initiatory hierarchy • initiation • wise and the vulgar initiation, rites of
Found in books: Beck (2006), The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun, 41, 42, 43; Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 36; Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 30; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 448, 453, 454; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 85
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6 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.
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.' 1
6 In this cave, therefore, says Homer, all external possessions must be deposited. Here, naked, and assuming a suppliant habit, afflicted in body, casting aside everything superfluous, and being averse to the energies of sense, it is requisite to sit at the foot of the olive and consult with Minerva by what |39 means we may most effectually destroy that hostile rout of passions which insidiously lurk in the secret recesses of the soul. Indeed, as it appears to me, it was not without reason that Numenius and his followers thought the person of Ulysses in the Odyssey represented to us a man who passes in a reguIar manner over the dark and stormy sea of generation, and thus at length arrives at that region where tempests and seas are unknown, and finds a nation "Who ne\'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar." ' None |
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109. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Orphic initiation • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiation • knowledge, acquired in the initiation
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 137; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 376; Rüpke and Woolf (2013), Religious Dimensions of the Self in the Second Century CE. 158; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 42
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110. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation at Eleusis, Metroac initiation • initiation
Found in books: Nuno et al. (2021), SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism, 267; Stephens and Winkler (1995), Ancient Greek Novels: The Fragments: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Commentary, 360
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111. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • initiation (epopteia, ἐποπτεία)/mystagogy (mustagôgia, μυσταγωγία; teletê, τελετή)
Found in books: d'Hoine and Martijn (2017), All From One: A Guide to Proclus, 211, 212; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 85
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112. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiatory hierarchy • Institution • initiation • oracles (institutional),- Egyptian • oracles (institutional),- Greek • ritual practitioners, with institutional authority
Found in books: Bortolani et al. (2019), William Furley, Svenja Nagel, and Joachim Friedrich Quack, Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions, 18, 128, 205; Bricault and Bonnet (2013), Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire, 109; Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 451, 453, 456, 462; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 239, 243; Nutzman (2022), Contested Cures: Identity and Ritual Healing in Roman and Late Antique Palestine 143
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113. None, None, nan (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Donatists, donatism, Initiation • faith/belief, initial faith
Found in books: Pignot (2020), The Catechumenate in Late Antique Africa (4th–6th Centuries): Augustine of Hippo, His Contemporaries and Early Reception, 114; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 211
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114. None, None, nan (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • faith/belief, initial faith • institutions,
Found in books: Huttner (2013), Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 286; Wilson (2018), Augustine's Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to "Non-free Free Will": A Comprehensive Methodology, 85
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115. None, None, nan (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Eleusinian mysteries, initiation • Initiation, Initiate(s)
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 378; Stavrianopoulou (2006), Ritual and Communication in the Graeco-Roman World, 269
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116. None, None, nan (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation/Rite of passage • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiates • initiation, initiatory rites
Found in books: Bednarek (2021), The Myth of Lycurgus in Aeschylus, Naevius, and beyond, 42, 56; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 476; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 116
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117. None, None, nan (5th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chrysippus, on initiation • Cleanthes, on initiates • initiate (telestēs), Cleanthes on • initiation (teletē) • initiation (teletē), Chrysippus on • initiation (teletē), compared with the change to wisdom • perfection (teleutē), and initiation • wise and the vulgar initiation, rites of
Found in books: Beck (2006), The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun, 151; Brouwer (2013), The Stoic Sage: The Early Stoics on Wisdom, Sagehood and Socrates, 86
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118. None, None, nan (5th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • Initiatory hierarchy • Mithras, initiation
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 356, 357; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 218
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119. None, None, nan (5th cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Gaius, Institutes, Justinian’s Institutes and • Justinianic jurisprudence,, Institutes • Justinianic jurisprudence,, sources for Institutes • Marcian (jurist), Institutes • Ulpian (jurist), Edict, and Justinian’s Institutes • institutions
Found in books: Farag (2021), What Makes a Church Sacred? Legal and Ritual Perspectives from Late Antiquity, 183, 184; Mackey (2022), Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion, 179
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120. Demosthenes, Orations, 18.259, 45.74
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • Sparta, and Athens, institutions • hearth-initiate • initiates • initiation • mystic initiation, language of
Found in books: Blidstein (2017), Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature, 30; Humphreys (2018), Kinship in Ancient Athens: An Anthropological Analysis, 40; Parker (2005), Polytheism and Society at Athens, 14; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 115; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 114; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 360
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18.259 On arriving at manhood you assisted your mother in her initiations, in her initiations: she was an expert in Bacchic or Sabazian rites imported from Phrygia . reading the service-book while she performed the ritual, and helping generally with the paraphernalia. At night it was your duty to mix the libations, to clothe the catechumens in fawn-skins, to wash their bodies, to scour them with the loam and the bran, and, when their lustration was duly performed, to set them on their legs, and give out the hymn: Here I leave my sins behind, Here the better way I find; and it was your pride that no one ever emitted that holy ululation so powerfully as yourself. I can well believe it! When you hear the stentorian tones of the orator, can you doubt that the ejaculations of the acolyte were simply magnificent?
45.74 But for himself he has not scrupled to marry his mistress, and he dwells as husband with her who scattered the sweatmeats over him when he was bought as a slave, It was believed to be a good omen to scatter sweetmeats, nuts, etc., over the head of a newly purchased slave. See Aristoph. Pl. 768 nor to write a clause giving himself a marriage portion of five talents in addition to the large sums of which he became master, inasmuch as they were in the custody of my mother—for why do you suppose he wrote in the will the clause and all else which she has I give to Archippê ?—while he looks with indifference on my daughters, who are doomed through poverty to grow old in maidenhood with none to dower them. |
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121. Strabo, Geography, 14.1.20
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • Initiators • initiation • knowledge, acquired in the initiation
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 132; Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 29; Immendörfer (2017), Ephesians and Artemis : The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus As the Epistle's Context 176, 271; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 235
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14.1.20 After the Samian strait, near Mt. Mycale, as one sails to Ephesus, one comes, on the right, to the seaboard of the Ephesians; and a part of this seaboard is held by the Samians. First on the seaboard is the Panionium, lying three stadia above the sea where the Pan-Ionian, a common festival of the Ionians, are held, and where sacrifices are performed in honor of the Heliconian Poseidon; and Prienians serve as priests at this sacrifice, but I have spoken of them in my account of the Peloponnesus. Then comes Neapolis, which in earlier times belonged to the Ephesians, but now belongs to the Samians, who gave in exchange for it Marathesium, the more distant for the nearer place. Then comes Pygela, a small town, with a sanctuary of Artemis Munychia, founded by Agamemnon and inhabited by a part of his troops; for it is said that some of his soldiers became afflicted with a disease of the buttocks and were called diseased-buttocks, and that, being afflicted with this disease, they stayed there, and that the place thus received this appropriate name. Then comes the harbor called Panormus, with a sanctuary of the Ephesian Artemis; and then the city Ephesus. On the same coast, slightly above the sea, is also Ortygia, which is a magnificent grove of all kinds of trees, of the cypress most of all. It is traversed by the Cenchrius River, where Leto is said to have bathed herself after her travail. For here is the mythical scene of the birth, and of the nurse Ortygia, and of the holy place where the birth took place, and of the olive tree near by, where the goddess is said first to have taken a rest after she was relieved from her travail. Above the grove lies Mt. Solmissus, where, it is said, the Curetes stationed themselves, and with the din of their arms frightened Hera out of her wits when she was jealously spying on Leto, and when they helped Leto to conceal from Hera the birth of her children. There are several temples in the place, some ancient and others built in later times; and in the ancient temples are many ancient wooden images xoana, but in those of later times there are works of Scopas; for example, Leto holding a sceptre and Ortygia standing beside her, with a child in each arm. A general festival is held there annually; and by a certain custom the youths vie for honor, particularly in the splendor of their banquets there. At that time, also, a special college of the Curetes holds symposiums and performs certain mystic sacrifices.' ' None |
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122. Vergil, Aeneis, 3.330-3.332, 3.443-3.452
Tagged with subjects: • Theriomorphism, trademark institution of Egypt, investigated by Statius • oracles (institutional),- Greek • tragedy, civic institution
Found in books: Bortolani et al. (2019), William Furley, Svenja Nagel, and Joachim Friedrich Quack, Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions, 164; Farrell (2021), Juno's Aeneid: A Battle for Heroic Identity, 212; Manolaraki (2012), Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus, 206
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3.330 Ast illum, ereptae magno inflammatus amore 3.331 coniugis et scelerum Furiis agitatus, Orestes 3.332 excipit incautum patriasque obtruncat ad aras.
3.443 insanam vatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima 3.444 fata canit, foliisque notas et nomina mandat. 3.445 Quaecumque in foliis descripsit carmina virgo, 3.446 digerit in numerum, atque antro seclusa relinquit. 3.447 Illa manent immota locis, neque ab ordine cedunt; 3.448 verum eadem, verso tenuis cum cardine ventus 3.450 numquam deinde cavo volitantia prendere saxo, 3.451 nec revocare situs aut iungere carmina curat: 3.452 inconsulti abeunt, sedemque odere Sibyllae.' ' None | sup>
3.330 from every quarter flew, and seized its prey 3.331 with taloned feet and carrion lip most foul. 3.332 I called my mates to arms and opened war ' "
3.443 “I live, 't is true. I lengthen out my days " '3.444 through many a desperate strait. But O, believe 3.445 that what thine eyes behold is vision true. 3.446 Alas! what lot is thine, that wert unthroned ' "3.447 from such a husband's side? What after-fate " '3.448 could give thee honor due? Andromache, 3.450 With drooping brows and lowly voice she cried : 3.451 “O, happy only was that virgin blest, 3.452 daughter of Priam, summoned forth to die ' ' None |
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123. Vergil, Georgics, 1.160-1.166, 4.491-4.492
Tagged with subjects: • Iron Age, instituted by Jove • initiation
Found in books: Belayche and Massa (2021), Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, 185; Iribarren and Koning (2022), Hesiod and the Beginnings of Greek Philosophy, 99; Perkell (1989), The Poet's Truth: A Study of the Poet in Virgil's Georgics, 98
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1.160 Dicendum et, quae sint duris agrestibus arma, 1.161 quis sine nec potuere seri nec surgere messes: 1.162 vomis et inflexi primum grave robur aratri 1.163 tardaque Eleusinae matris volventia plaustra 1.164 tribulaque traheaeque et iniquo pondere rastri; 1.165 virgea praeterea Celei vilisque supellex, 1.166 arbuteae crates et mystica vannus Iacchi.
4.491 immemor heu! victusque animi respexit. Ibi omnis 4.492 effusus labor atque immitis rupta tyranni'' None | sup>
1.160 Even this was impious; for the common stock 1.161 They gathered, and the earth of her own will 1.162 All things more freely, no man bidding, bore. 1.163 He to black serpents gave their venom-bane, 1.164 And bade the wolf go prowl, and ocean toss; 1.165 Shooed from the leaves their honey, put fire away, 1.166 And curbed the random rivers running wine,
4.491 The hundred forests and the hundred streams;' "4.492 Thrice Vesta's fire with nectar clear she dashed,"' None |
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124. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Aristotle, on initiation • Chrysippus, on initiation • Cleanthes, on initiates • Initiation • Pindar, on death and initiation • Plato, on mystery initiations • initiate (telestēs), Cleanthes on • initiation (teletē), and perfection • mystery initiations • mystery initiations, and altered states of consciousness • perfection (teleutē), and initiation • sage, as initiate
Found in books: Brouwer (2013), The Stoic Sage: The Early Stoics on Wisdom, Sagehood and Socrates, 65; Motta and Petrucci (2022), Isagogical Crossroads from the Early Imperial Age to the End of Antiquity, 104; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 270, 284
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125. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiates
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 101; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 1
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126. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Orphic initiation • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiations • initiations, fees for • knowledge, acquired in the initiation
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 48, 101, 104, 135, 138, 139; Waldner et al. (2016), Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire, 34; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 1, 3
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127. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Linen tunic of Isis, tunic with sumptuous decorations, worn at end of First Initiation • Linen tunic of Isis, unworn linen garment given to him at start of First Initiation • oracles (institutional),- Greek
Found in books: Bortolani et al. (2019), William Furley, Svenja Nagel, and Joachim Friedrich Quack, Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions, 165; Griffiths (1975), The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), 293
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128. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Initiatory hierarchy • initiation
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 384; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 92
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129. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation • Initiative • Initiative, success
Found in books: Immendörfer (2017), Ephesians and Artemis : The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus As the Epistle's Context 172, 270, 271; Stavrianopoulou (2006), Ritual and Communication in the Graeco-Roman World, 286, 291, 293, 294
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130. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiations, fees for • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 131; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 235
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131. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Initiation, Initiate(s) • mystery initiations
Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner (2011), Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty, 379; Tor (2017), Mortal and Divine in Early Greek Epistemology, 267
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132. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Initiators • Orphic, see Bacchic, initiation, mystery cults, rites • Persephone, initiate speaks to • initiate • initiates • initiates, hope of the initiates • initiates, kinship with the gods/lineage • initiates, speaking to Persephone • initiation • initiation rites • initiation, initiatory rites • initiations, fees for • kinship with the gods, initiates • knowledge, acquired in the initiation • private initiators
Found in books: Alvarez (2018), The Derveni Papyrus: Unearthing Ancient Mysteries, 36, 130, 137; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 48, 51, 136, 139, 257, 273, 434, 492; Ebrey and Kraut (2022), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 2nd ed, 257; Iribarren and Koning (2022), Hesiod and the Beginnings of Greek Philosophy, 98; McClay (2023), The Bacchic Gold Tablets and Poetic Tradition: Memory and Performance. 48, 139; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 1, 3, 10, 165, 275; deJauregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 19, 28, 235, 346
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