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Dionysian Orgy
In ancient Greek religion, an ''orgion'' (ὄργιον, more commonly in the plural ''orgia'') was an ecstatic form of worship characteristic of some mystery cults. The ''orgion'' is in particular a cult ceremony of Dionysos (or Zagreus), celebrated widely in Arcadia, featuring "unrestrained" masked dances by torchlight and animal sacrifice by means of random slashing that evoked the god's own rending and suffering at the hands of the Titans. The ''orgia'' that explained the role of the Titans in Dionysos's dismemberment were said to have been composed by Onomacritus. Greek art and literature, as well as some patristic texts, indicate that the ''orgia'' involved snake handling. Summary ''Orgia'' may have been earlier manifestations of cult than the formal mysteries, as suggested by the violently ecstatic rites described in myth as celebrated by Attis in honor of Cybele and reflected in the willing self-castration of her priests the Galli in the historical period. The ''orgia'' o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarcophagus Dyonisos 01 Back Side Pushkin
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φαγεῖν ' meaning "to eat"; hence ''sarcophagus'' means "flesh-eating", from the phrase ''lithos sarkophagos'' ( λίθος σαρκοφάγος), "flesh-eating stone". The word also came to refer to a particular kind of limestone that was thought to rapidly facilitate the decomposition of the flesh of corpses contained within it due to the chemical properties of the limestone itself. History of the sarcophagus Sarcophagi were most often designed to remain above ground. The earliest stone sarcophagi were used by Egyptian pharaohs of the 3rd dynasty, which reigned from about 2686 to 2613 B.C. The Hagia Triada sarcophagus is a stone sarcophagus elaborately painted in fresco; one style of later An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firmicus Maternus
__NOTOC__ Julius Firmicus Maternus was a Roman Latin writer and astrologer, who received a pagan classical education that made him conversant with Greek; he lived in the reign of Constantine I (306 to 337 AD) and his successors. His triple career made him a public advocate, an astrologer and finally a Christian apologist. The ''explicit'', or end-tag, of the sole surviving manuscript of his ''De errore profanarum religionum'' ("On the error of profane religions") gives his name as ''Iulius Firmicus Maternus V C'', identifying him as a ''vir clarissimus'' and a member of the senatorial class. He was also author of the most extensive surviving text of Roman astrology, ''Matheseos libri octo'' ("Eight books of astrology") written around 334–337. Manuscripts of this work identify him as "the younger" (''iunior'') or "the Sicilian" (''Siculus''). The lunar crater Firmicus was named in his honour. The ''Matheseos'' was dedicated to the governor of Campania, Lollianus Mavortius, whose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totenpass
''Totenpass'' (plural ''Totenpässe'') is a German term sometimes used for inscribed tablets or metal leaves found in burials primarily of those presumed to be initiates into Orphic, Dionysiac, and some ancient Egyptian and Semitic religions. The term may be understood in English as a "passport for the dead". The so-called Orphic gold tablets are perhaps the best-known example. ''Totenpässe'' are placed on or near the body as a phylactery, or rolled and inserted into a capsule often worn around the neck as an amulet. The inscription instructs the initiate on how to navigate the afterlife, including directions for avoiding hazards in the landscape of the dead and formulaic responses to the underworld judges. Examples The Getty Museum owns an outstanding example of a 4th-century BC Orphic prayer sheet from Thessaly, a gold-leaf rectangle measuring about . The burial site of a woman also in Thessaly and dating to the late 4thcentury BC yielded a pair of ''Totenpässe'' in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orphism (religion)
Orphism (more rarely Orphicism; grc, Ὀρφικά, Orphiká) is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld and returned. This type of journey is called a katabasis and is the basis of a several hero worships and journeys. Orphics revered Dionysus (who once descended into the Underworld and returned) and Persephone (who annually descended into the Underworld for a season and then returned). Orphism has been described as a reform of the earlier Dionysian religion, involving a re-interpretation or re-reading of the myth of Dionysus and a re-ordering of Hesiod's ''Theogony'', based in part on pre-Socratic philosophy. The central focus of Orphism is the suffering and death of the god Dionysus at the hands of the Titans, which forms the basis of Orphism's central myth. According to this myth, the infant Dion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecstasy (emotion)
Ecstasy () is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of their awareness. In classical Greek literature, it refers to removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function." Total involvement with an object of interest is not an ordinary experience. Ecstasy is an example of an altered state of consciousness characterized by diminished awareness of other objects or the total lack of the awareness of surroundings and everything around the object. The word is also used to refer to any heightened state of consciousness or intensely pleasant experience. It is also used more specifically to denote states of awareness of non-ordinary mental spaces, which may be perceived as spiritual (the latter type of ecstasy often takes the form of religious ecstasy). Description From a psychological perspective, ecstasy is a loss of self-control and sometimes a temporary loss of consciousness, which is often associated with religious mysticism, sexual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychosomatic
A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) Somatic Symptom Disorder Fact Sheet " dsm5.org. Retrieved April 8, 2014. is any mental disorder that manifests as physical symptoms that suggest Physical illness, illness or injury, but cannot be explained fully by a general medical condition or by the direct effect of a substance, and are not attributable to another mental disorder (e.g., panic disorder). Somatic symptom disorders, as a group, are included in a number of diagnostic schemes of mental illness, including the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders''. (Before DSM-5 this disorder was split into ''somatization disorder'' and ''undifferentiated somatoform disorder''.) In people who have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences. The term "mysticism" has Ancient Greek origins with various historically determined meanings. Derived from the Greek word μύω ''múō'', meaning "to close" or "to conceal", mysticism referred to the biblical, liturgical, spiritual, and contemplative dimensions of early and medieval Christianity. During the early modern period, the definition of mysticism grew to include a broad range of beliefs and ideologies related to "extraordinary experiences and states of mind." In modern times, "mysticism" has acquired a limited definition, with broad applications, as meaning the aim at the "union with the Absolute, the Infinite, or God". This li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omophagia
''Omophagia'', or omophagy (from Greek "raw") is the eating of raw flesh. The term is of importance in the context of the cult worship of Dionysus. Omophagia is a large element of Dionysiac myth; in fact, one of Dionysus' epithets is ''Omophagos'' "Raw-Eater".Henrichs, Albert. "Greek Maenadism from Lympias to Messalina." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 82 (1978): 144. Omophagia may have been a symbol of the triumph of wild nature over civilization, and a symbol of the breaking down of boundaries between nature and civilization.Taylor-Perry, Rosemarie. The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Reclaimed. Algora Publishing, 2003. It might also have been symbolic that the worshippers were internalizing Dionysus' wilder traits and his association with brute nature, in a sort of "communion" with the god. Mythology sometimes depicts Maenads, Dionysus' female worshippers, eating raw meat as part of their worship; however, there is little solid evidence that historical Maenad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Id, Ego And Super-ego
The id, ego, and super-ego are a set of three concepts in psychoanalytic theory describing distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus (defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche). The three agents are theoretical constructs that describe the activities and interactions of the mental life of a person. In the ego psychology model of the psyche, the id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual desires; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic agent that mediates between the instinctual desires of the id and the critical super-ego; Freud explained that: The functional importance of the ego is manifested in the fact that, normally, control over the approaches to motility devolves upon it. Thus, in its relation to the id, he egois like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse; with this difference, that the rider tries to do so with his own strength, while the ego uses b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maenad
In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, Bacchae , or Bacchantes in Roman mythology after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a bassaris or fox skin. Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a pine cone. They would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes. These women were mythologized as the "mad women" who were nurses of Dionysus in Nysa. Lycurgus "chased the Nurses of the frenzied Dionysus through the holy hills of Nysa, and the sacred implements ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dionysos Mask Louvre Myr347
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre, theatre. The Ancient Rome, Romans called him Bacchus ( or ; grc, wikt:Βάκχος, Βάκχος ) for a frenzy he is said to induce called ''bakkheia''. As Dionysus Eleutherios ("the liberator"), his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His ''thyrsus'', a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself. His origins are uncertain, and Cult of Dionysus, his cults took many forms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galli
A ''gallus'' (pl. ''galli'') was a eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele (Magna Mater in Rome) and her consort Attis, whose worship was incorporated into the state religious practices of ancient Rome. Origins Cybele's cult may have originated in Mesopotamia, arriving in Greece around 300 BCE. It originally kept its sacred symbol, a black meteorite, in a temple called the Megalesion in Pessinus in modern Turkey. The earliest surviving references to the galli come from the ''Greek Anthology'', a 10th-century compilation of earlier material, where several epigrams mention or clearly allude to their castrated state. Stephanus Byzantinus (6th century CE) said the name came from King Gallus, while Ovid (43 BC – 17 CE) said it derived from the Gallus river in Phrygia. The same word (''gallus'' singular, ''galli'' plural) was used by the Romans to refer to Celts and to roosters, and the latter especially was a source of puns. Arrival in Rome The cult of Magna Mater arrive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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