GREEK AND ROMAN RELIGION
The first item to be addressed is the definition of cult. According to Joachim Wach's definition: "All actions which flow from and are determined by religious experiences are to be regarded as practical expressions or cultus. In a narrower sense, however, we call cultus the act or acts of the homo religiosus: worship." It is important in studying and evaluation the Greek and Roman religions to understand the term cult does not have a negative connotation that we, as society, interpret the term today.
The Greeks and the Romans worshipped many gods. This paper will specifically address the Cult of Isis, the Cult of Dionysus, and the Cult of Mithras. Scholars have hypothesized that three cults influenced the development of Early Christianity.
According to mythology, the Egyptian goddess Isis was married to her brother Osiris, the god representing fertility and growth. Isis was the goddess of fertility and motherhood. According to legend, Osiris taught his people law, agriculture, and religion after discovering them submerged in cruelty. He was murdered by his evil brother, Set, who tore the body to pieces and scattered the remains. Isis found the remains and restored Osiris to life. Isis and the resurrected, Osiris then conceived a son, Horus, god of day and of the living. After Osiris' death and resurrection he became the judge of the dead.
In approximately the 4th century BC Isis' temple on the island of Philae was built in her honor. It was believed that Philae was one of the places where part of the remains of Osiris was buried. The Island was the venue for one of the annual Osiris passion plays, which brought vast crowds of worshippers. After that period the cult spread throughout the Mediterranean. In the Hellenistic period, after the conquest of Alexander the Great Isis was worshipped in Greece. In the first century BC, the cult came to Rome, where it became popular and widespread. It received a bad reputation with many outsiders due to the moral discipline of some of the worshippers and rites. Some of the rites were viewed as pornographic. There were continued attempts by Roman authority to suppress the Cult of Isis, which originated in the East. The Cult of Isis and the Cult of Mithras, were serious rivals of the Christian faith. After Christianity was declared the religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD, the cult e ither died out or went underground. The attractiveness of this cult was partly due to the fact that it contained a story of death and resurrection, which is similar to the Christian faith.
The worship of Isis included the following:Dionysus traveled about the world teaching the mysteries of his worship and also how to cultivate wine. Those who welcomed him received the gift of the vine and those who did not were severely punished. This punishment was usually driving them "mad."
Dionysus was the god of wine, fertility and joyous life. He was the god of hospitality, which included bringing joy to the feast and freeing men from their cares. He was a god of peace, who brought men law and civilization.
Dionysus was honored with a series of festivals: the Oschophoria, Lesser Dionysia, Lenaea, Anthesteria, and the Greater Dionysia. Greater Dionysia was celebrated in Athens in the spring. This festival lasted for five days. During the celebration bu siness life stopped, prisoners were freed in order to participate. The festival had one very special event title the Thymelic contest. This contest was performances of the works of poets in an open-air theatre. Observing this contest was considered an act of worship. Also in honor of Dionysus, the musicians did not have to pay taxes; and from the 4th century BC until 800 years later, the members of the Artists Guild did not have to participate in the military. Basically, Dionysus was worshipped throughout Greece and India.
He was also the god of the earth. People associated the death of the vegetation of winter with the flight or death of the god. Then with spring and the new, fresh vegetation, was associated with his rebirth.
Every third year festivals were held in his honor but celebrated only by the women and the girls. During this festival, the rites symbolized frantic grief over the death of the god and wild, ecstatic joy over his resurrection. The maenads worshipped with wild dances, clashing cymbals, drums, and piping flutes. This worship was not in the temple but in the mountains and forests. They used torches to light up their festivities. They tore the flesh from the sacrificed victims with their hands and ate it raw to commemorate the dismemberment of Dionysus by the Titans.
The Greeks associated certain symbolism with Dionysus. The wine he gave was the power of good or bad, depending upon the use. His worship encompassed savage elements as well as the arts. They associated immortality with the death and renewal of vegetation, symbolized by the death and the resurrection of the god.
Top of PageSoldiers, traders, and civil servants spread the Cult of Mithras. It spread from Syria, Anatolia, and Phrygia throughout the Roman Empire. Its origins are unclear but it is known to have been one of the religions if Persia. The earliest record is dated back in approximately 1400 BC. The cult was a form of sun worship involving astrology. The symbolic association with Mithras is about his eternal struggle over good and evil.
The cult was exclusively male. The initiation involved seven grades and was symbolized with a seven rung ladder, which was believed to lead to immortality. The most important of the initiation stages were the sacrifice of a bull and the application of the bull's blood to a candidate. This was a re-enactment of Mithras' killing of the bull of creation, symbolizing the victory over evil and death. The Mithraic cap represented freedom from materialism. The Tau cross symbolized the uniting of opposites .
The Romans introduced the Cult, to the West, in approximately the 1st century AD. This cult was very popular with the military and the merchant classes. By the 4th century, it became the target for persecution by the Christians. The cult gradually died out but its legacy continued in the secretive practices of Alchemy. Symbolic aspects of the cult also found their way into Christianity. The two are as follows:
The Cult of Isis and the Cult of Dionysus both involved death and resurrection which parallels Christianity's belief of the death of Jesus and his resurrection. The worshippers of both cults tended to believe in immortality, which is different than Christianity. Christians believe they will be resurrected from the dead at the time of the Second Coming of Christ. The correlation between the Cult of Mithras and Christianity are the similar celebrations of the birthdays of Mithras and Jesus; and the cakes eaten at cult meal can be related to the Christians communion where the cake or cracker represents Jesus' body. Another relationship is the struggle over good and evil. This is what Christians strive for on a daily basis.