greco roman mysteries

7/28/2019 Greco Roman Mysteries

1/4

Greco-Roman mysteries 1

Greco-Roman mysteries

See Western esotericism for modern "mystery religions" in the Western cultural sphere.

Mystery religions, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world for which

participation was reserved to initiates.[1]

The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the

particulars of the initiation and the cult practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries

of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were of considerable antiquity and predated the

Greek Dark Ages. The popularity of mystery cults flourished on Late Antiquity; Julian the Apostate in the mid 4th

century is known to have been initiated into three distinct mystery cults. Notable among these late cults was the

Mithraic Mysteries. Due to the secret nature of the cult, and because the mystery religions of Late Antiquity were

persecuted by the Christian Roman Empire from the 4th century, the details of these religious practices are unknown

to scholarship, although there are educated guesses as to their general content.[2]:50f

Justin Martyr in the 2nd century explicitly noted and identified them as "demonic imitations" of the true faith, and

that "the devils, in imitation of what was said by Moses, asserted that Proserpine was the daughter of Jupiter, and

instigated the people to set up an image of her under the name of Kore" (First Apology). Through the 1st to 4thcentury, Christianity stood in direct competition for adherents with the mystery cults, insofar as "[t]he mystery cults

too [were] an intrinsic element of the non-Jewish horizon of the reception of the Christian message." They too were

"embraced by the process of the inculturation of Christianity in its initial phase," and they made "their own

contribution to this process."[3]:152

In Klauck and McNeil's opinion, "the Christian doctrine of the sacraments, in the

form in which we know it, would not have arisen without this interaction; and Christology too understood how to

'take up' the mythical inheritance, purifying it and elevating it."[3]:152

Definition

The term "Mystery" derives from Latin mysterium, from Greekmysterion (usually as the plural mysteria),

in this context meaning "secret rite or doctrine." An individual who followed such a "Mystery" was a mystes, "one

who has been initiated," from myein "to close, shut," a reference to secrecy (closure of "the eyes and mouth")[4]:56

or

that only initiates were allowed to observe and participate in rituals. The Mysteries were thus cults in which all

religious functions were closed to the uninitiated and for which the inner-working of the cult were kept secret from

the general public.

Characteristics

Mystery religions form one of three types of Hellenistic religion, the others being the imperial cult or ethnic religion

particular to a nation or state, and the philosophic religions such as Neoplatonism. This is also reflected in the

tripartite division of "theology" by Varro, in civil theology (concerning the state cult and its stabilizing effect onsociety), natural theology (philosophical speculation about the nature of the divine) and mythical theology

(concerning myth and ritual).

Mysteries thus supplement rather than compete with civil religion. An individual could easily observe the rites of the

state cult, be an initiate in one or several mysteries, and at the same time adhere to a certain philosophical

school.[5]:99

In contrast to the public rituals of civil religion, participation in which was expected of every member of

society, initiation to a mystery was optional within Graeco-Roman polytheism. Many of the cultic aspects of public

religion are repeated within the mystery, sacrifices, ritual meals, ritual purifications, etc., just with the additional

aspect that they take place in secrecy, confined to a closed set of initiates.[3]:86

This is important in the context of the

early persecution of Christians. Christianity was seen as objectionable by the Roman establishment not on grounds of

its tenets or practices, but because early Christians chose to consider their faith as precluding the participation in the

imperial cult, which was seen as subversive by the Roman establishment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Christianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Christianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Christianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Christianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Christianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Christianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Civil_religionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Myth_and_ritualhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mythical_theologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Natural_theologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Political_theologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Varrohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neoplatonismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hellenistic_philosophyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ethnic_religionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imperial_culthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hellenistic_religionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=First_Apologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Proserpinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Justin_Martyrhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Pagans_by_the_Christian_Roman_Empirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Late_Antiquityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mithraic_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julian_the_Apostatehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Late_Antiquityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greek_Dark_Ageshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eleusinian_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Initiation_ritehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greco-Roman_worldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cult_%28religious_practice%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_esotericism


2/4


The mystery cults offered a niche for the preservation of archaic religious ritual, and there is reason to assume that

they were very conservative. The Eleusian Mysteries persisted for more than a millennium, more likely close to two

millennia, during which period the ritual of public religion changed significantly, from the archaic cult of the Bronze

to Early Iron Age to the Hero cult of Hellenistic civilization and again to the imperial cult of the Roman era, while

the ritual performances of the mysteries for all we know remained unchanged. "They had, more often than not, come

up from a barbarous underworld. They were singularly persistent. The mysteries at Eleusis near Athens lasted for a

thousand years; and there is reason to believe that they changed little during that long period."[2]:51

For this reason, what glimpses we do have of the older Greek mysteries have been taken as reflecting certain archaic

aspects of common Indo-European religion, with parallels in Indo-Iranian religion in particular, by Janda (2000).[6]

The mystery cults of Greco-Roman antiquity include the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Dionysian Mysteries, and the

Orphic Mysteries. Some of the many divinities that the Romans nominally adopted from other cultures also came to

be worshipped in Mysteries, for instance, Egyptian Isis, Persian Mithraic Mysteries, Thracian/Phrygian Sabazius,

and Phrygian Cybele.[7]:21

List of mystery cults

Arcadian cult of Despoina

Cult of Attis

Cult of Cybele

Cult of Isis

Cult of Trophonius

Dionysian Mysteries

Eleusinian Mysteries

Mithraic Mysteries

Orphic mysteries

Sabazios

Samothracean mysteries

Serapis

References

[1] Crystal, David, ed. (1995), "Mystery Religions" (http://encyclopedia. jrank.org/Cambridge/entries/059/mystery-religions. html),

Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, .

[2] Barnes, Ernest William (1947), The Rise of Christianity.

[3] Klauck, Brian; McNeil (2003), The Religious Context of Early Christianity, Continuum International Publishing Group,

ISBN 978-0-567-08943-4.

[4] Newberg, Andrew (2001), Why God Won't Go Away, New York: Ballantine

[5] Iles Johnson, Sarah (2007), "Mysteries", in Iles Johnson, Sarah,Ancient Religions, Cambridge: Belknap Press/Harvard UP,ISBN 978-0-674-02548-6

[6] Janda, Michael (2000),Eleusis: das indogermanische Erbe der Mysterien, (Habil. Thesis), Innsbruck.

[7] Hall, Manly P. (1928), The Secret Teachings of all ages (http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/), San Francisco: s.p.,
http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/Cambridge/entries/059/mystery-religions.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Serapishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samothrace_temple_complexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sabazioshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orphism_%28religion%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mithraic_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eleusinian_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dionysian_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trophonius%23Trophonius_in_culthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cult_of_Isishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cybele%23Greecehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Attishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Despoina%23Cult_of_Despoinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cybelehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sabaziushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mithraic_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orphic_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dionysian_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eleusinian_Mysterieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indo-Iranian_religionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_Indo-European_religionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roman_imperial_culthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hero_cult


3/4


Further reading

Burkert, Walter (1987),Ancient Mystery Cults, Cambridge, Mass.

Kirk, Geoffrey S. (1970),Myth: Its Meaning and Function in Ancient and Other Cultures, Cambridge: Cambridge

UP

Meyer, W. M. (1987), The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook. Sacred Texts of the Mystery Religions of the Ancient

Mediterranean World, San Francisco

Willoughby, H. R. (1929),Pagan Regeneration: Study of Mystery Initiations in the Graeco-Roman World,

Chicago

Brigitte Le Guen,Les Associations de Technites dionysiaques l'poque hellnistique, 2 vol. (Nancy, 2001).

Sophia Aneziri,Die Vereine der Dionysischen Techniten im Kontext der hellenistischen Gesellschaft(Stuttgart,

2003).

Michael B. Cosmopoulos (ed), Greek Mysteries: the archaeology and ritual of ancient Greek secret cults

(London, Routledge, 2003).

Antonio Virgili, "Culti misterici ed orientali a Pompei" (Roma, Gangemi, 2008).

Delneri, Francesca,I culti misterici stranieri nei frammenti della commedia attica antica (Bologna, Patron

Editore, 2006) (Eikasmos, Studi, 13).

Giovanni Casadio and Patricia A. Johnston (eds),Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia (Austin, TX, University of

Texas Press, 2009).

Hugh Bowden,Mystery Cults of the Ancient World(Princeton, Princeton UP, 2010).
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walter_Burkert


4/4

Article Sources and Contributors 4

Article Sources and ContributorsGreco-Roman mysteries Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=536041819 Contributors: 193.203.83.xxx, 2007 account, 999, Alai, Altenmann, AndyBQ, Anon166, Arion 3x3,

Aristophanes68, Arthur3030, Ashley Y, Astronautics, B9 hummingbird hovering, Bacchiad, Bryan Derksen, Campolongo, Canjth, Carlon, Catalographer, CheeseDreams, CheeseburgerBrown,

Cimon Avaro, Clinkophonist, Cynwolfe, DBlomgren, DO'Neil, DanielCD, Dbachmann, Dextrose, EALacey, Eequor, FinnWiki, Fullstop, Furby100, Gadfium, GalaazV, Gary D, Gbinal, Ginohhh,

Hede2000, Hmains, Hyunajensen, Ian.thomson, Igiffin, Ikiroid, Ion Zone, Isokrates, Ivan Matosevic, Javierfv1212, Jbolden1517, Jes37226, Jguk 2, Jkelley, JohnCD, Jonathan Tweet, Josh Parris,

Joshua Lutz, Jossi, Justin Eiler, Kevyn, King Vegita, Lima, Litany, Loremaster, Lotje, LoveMonkey, Luthaneal, Michael Hardy, Michael lee96, Mild Bill Hiccup, Mmeijeri, Mtloweman,

Nagelfar, Nallan, Natty4bumpo, Neutrality, Nixdorf, Paul August, PhnomPencil, Piecraft, Portillo, Psychoelf, Reaverdrop, Reddi, Robertgreer, Sam Spade, Scottbeck, Sebastian G., Sheepish,

Snowgrouse, Someone else, SummerWithMorons, Sunborn, TUSHANT JHA, The Topher, Tomisti, Trust Is All You Need, Uly, Uzmakh, Vanessa (usurped), Wetman, Why Not A Duck,WilliamThweatt, Wolbo, Xinoph, Yamara, Yath, Yonderboy, Zadcat,, 126 anonymous edits

License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

greco roman mysteries

Documents