''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 In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

. 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 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, ...

, Dionysus' female worshippers, eating raw meat as part of their worship; however, there is little solid evidence that historical Maenads consumed raw meat. The Dionysiac diet of raw meat may be more properly attributed to Dionysus himself, rather than his followers—he received sacrifices of raw meat and was believed to consume them, but his followers did not share in the consumption.

Orphism

The

Orphic mysteries 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 Orpheu ...

originated as a ritual which focused on purificationTierney, Michael. "A New Ritual of the Orphic Mysteries." The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 2 April 1922: 77. and the afterlife; the mysteries were based on the stories of Dionysus

Zagreus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Zagreus ( grc-gre, Ζαγρεύς) was sometimes identified with a god worshipped by the followers of Orphism, the "first Dionysus", a son of Zeus and Persephone, who was dismembered by the Titans and reb ...

. Zagreus was the child of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

and

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

, who was torn apart by the Titans in an act of ''

sparagmos ''Sparagmos'' ( grc, σπαραγμός, from σπαράσσω ''sparasso'', "tear, rend, pull to pieces") is an act of rending, tearing apart, or mangling, usually in a Dionysian context. In Dionysian rite as represented in myth and literature, ...

''. After tearing Zagreus apart, the Titans devoured him, except for his heart. His body was then reassembled; this may be reflected in the story of

Pentheus In Greek mythology, Pentheus (; grc, Πενθεύς, Pentheús) was a king of Thebes. His father was Echion, the wisest of the Spartoi. His mother was Agave, the daughter of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and the goddess Harmonia. His sister was ...

, whose body parts were gathered together after his mother, aunt and other Maenads tore him apart in a Dionysic frenzy, and the story of

Actaeon Actaeon (; grc, Ἀκταίων ''Aktaion''), in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron. He fell to ...

, who was eaten by his own hunting dogs. Because the dogs grieved so deeply after Actaeon's death, an image of him was made to comfort them. All three stories show a common motif of reassembly of body parts following sparagmos and omophagia, and this motif may have been significant for religious ritual. In Orphism, worshippers took part in an Orphic ritual which reenacted the story of Zagreus, using a bull as their victim (poorer worshippers may have used a goat instead). They considered the ritual to be "commemorative" of events in their god's existence. In his article "A New Ritual of the Orphic Mysteries", Michael Tierney says that "... by sacramental re-enactment of the god's death, a hope of salvation for his worshippers was obtained." Dionysus became associated with Zagreus, and the story of having been torn apart and eaten by the Titans was applied to him as well. Omophagia was the focus of the Dionysiac mysteries, and a component of Orphic ceremonies. In its beginnings, Orphism was influenced by the

Eleusinian Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest from the centre of Athens and is part of i ...

mysteries, and it adopted stories from other mythologies as its own. The worshippers of Zagreus may have engaged in omophagia as an initiation rite.

''The Bacchae''

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

' play ''

The Bacchae ''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. ...

'' focuses on the worship of Dionysus, including allusions to omophagia and its companion

(dismemberment). In this play, the character

Agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for ...

tears her son

apart while under the influence of Dionysus. Because Euripides depicts Agave as engaging in sparagmos, he likely intended for the audiences to assume she engaged in omophagia as well: additionally, the character

Cadmus In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; grc-gre, Κάδμος, Kádmos) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes. He was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the da ...

compares Agave's actions to the story of

, who was consumed by his own hunting dogs—this association further suggests that omophagia took place. There is another possible instance of omophagia in ''The Bacchae''. At one point in the play, the maenads go into a nearby town and carry off the children; it is possible that the maenads then consumed them. In art and myth, this incident is linked to omophagia; however, Euripides may not have intended this meaning in ''The Bacchae''.Seaford, Richard. "Review: Bacchae." The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 36, No. 1 1986: 26.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Cult of Dionysus