Mystery Cults Research Articles

Revisiting the Mystery of Life in the Hereafter: Reflections of Fr Augustine Urayai of Zimbabwe

The quest for knowledge regarding life after death is indispensable and paramount to most cultures and religions, including African spiritualties and mystery cults. Fr Augustine Urayai was a Roman Catholic priest and exorcist and this paper critically examines his theological reflections on death and life after death, particularly his idea of the “liminal/transitional phase” in the upward movement of spirits from earth to heaven for restoration and re-unification with God. The compulsory “liminal phase” or “zones” (magedhe) where all spirits pass through before their fate is ascertained comprises the resting, treatment, judgment, and feasting respectively. The article first examines the milieu in which Fr Urayai’s theology emerged and developed. As a way of analysis, it explores the age-old question of the immortality of the soul and its link with other religions, cultural and philosophical traditions. As it probes deeper, the article critically examines the ramifications and impact of Fr Urayai’s new theology on the Zimbabwe Christian landscape. The main argument developed in this article is that, even though Fr Urayai’s theory of life in the hereafter appears to be a breakaway from celebrated mainstream theological formulations, it has the potential to hatch useful insights into possible new areas of theological reflection in the ongoing discourses on the link between Christian anthropology and different African spiritualties.

BECOMING ΚΛΕΙΝΟΣ IN CRETE AND MAGNA GRAECIA: DIONYSIAC MYSTERIES AND MATURATION RITUALS REVISITED

AbstractThis article reconsiders the historical and typological relation between Greek maturation rituals and Greek mystery religion. Particular attention is given to the word κλεινός (‘illustrious’) and its ritual uses in two roughly contemporary Late Classical sources: an Orphic-Bacchic funerary gold leaf from Hipponion in Magna Graecia and Ephorus’ account of a Cretan pederastic age-transition rite. In both contexts, κλεινός marks an elevated status conferred by initiation. (This usage finds antecedents in Alcman'sPartheneia.) Without positing direct development between puberty rites and mysteries, the article argues on the basis of shared vocabulary and other ritual elements that age-transitions influenced the ideology of mystery cults. It is further claimed that puberty rites and mysteries performed similar functions in their respective social contexts, despite obvious differences of prestige and visibility. Age-transition rites have been analysed in Bourdieu's terms as ‘rites of institution’, in which young elites were publicly affirmed in civic roles: private mysteries can be described in analogous but opposed terms as rites of ‘counter-institution’, in which familiar ritual language and symbols of elite status were used to construct an alternative ‘imagined community’ of mystery initiates.

Os cultos de mistério no Protréptico de Clemente de Alexandria

Além dos variados cultos existentes no Império Romano, os antigos cultos de mistérios gregos se popularizaram e foram se ressignificando à medida em que entravam em contato com outras tradições religiosas. Com o advento do Cristianismo e o fortalecimento da Fé seguido de uma crescente literatura de teor apologético, os autores cristãos viram nas cerimônias executadas pelos seus adeptos toda a representação do Mal existente no universo politeísta, propondo-se a combatê-las. O objetivo deste artigo é discutir quais as interpretações intrínsecas aos antigos cultos de mistérios e analisar os principais pontos destacados por Clemente de Alexandria nas representações que faz na sua obra Protréptico (Exortação aos gregos).

Drawing down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World by Radcliffe G. Edmonds III

Reviewed by: Drawing down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World by Radcliffe G. Edmonds III David B. Levy Radcliffe G. Edmonds III. Drawing down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019. Pp. xiv, 474. $45.00. ISBN 978-0-6911-5693-4. Publishers are invited to submit new books to be reviewed to Professor Michael Arnush, Skidmore College, 815 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866; email: marnush@skidmore.edu. This is a fresh approach and welcome comprehensive account of phenomena of magic in ancient Greece and Rome. It will undoubtedly become a benchmark in the field of ancient magic scholarship alongside the studies by David Frankfurter (Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic, 2019), Lindsay Watson (Magic in Ancient Greece and Rome, 2019), Fritz Graf (Magic in the Ancient World, 1997), Georg Luck (Arcana Mundi: Sources, 1985), Daniel Ogden (Magic, Witchcraft and Ghosts, 2002), and Christopher Faraone and Dirk Obbink (Magika Hiera, 1991). Edmonds analyzes from nearly a millennium, from fifth century ce in ancient Greece to the fourth century bce. He also investigates a range of Mediterranean cultures, including Egypt and the Near East, and how the formation of magical practices differed across these cultures through time and geographic space. The book contains eight thematic chapters that are sandwiched by book-ends, including two theoretical introductions and a conclusion. The meat of the book explores a variety of genres, drawing upon literary sources and material culture. Edmonds examines images of witches, ghosts, and demons, as well as powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, reversals and alterations of nature. Ancient tablets, spell books, bindings and curses, love charms, healing potions, amulets, and talismans constitute the kinds of evidence treated. Twenty-one figures and eight colored plates testify to the material aspect of emic ritual practices. The theoretical introductions define magic in the ancient Greco-Roman world, differentiating between a non-normative or emic approach, and a normative or etic approach to ritual discourse. This is a question of whether magic should be viewed from the perspective of an insider-practitioner, who has often undergone initiation into mystery cults, versus an outsider scholarly analyst with objective criteria. The practitioner believes in the efficacy of enchantment and incantation to spellbind, while the academic views it as a sociological phenomenon as does P. Bourdieu (Revue francaise de sociologie, 12, [1972], 295–334). For example, Vergil as a literary artist seems to view the magical arts to encapsulate this power as when he writes carmina vel caelo possunt deducere Lunam (“incantations have the power to draw the moon down from the sky,” Ecl 8.69). Normative implies institutions related to religion, medicine, healing, and ritual that carry the authority of what Foucault calls power-knowledge regimes that socially sanction legitimacy. For Edmonds, magic is non-normative in emic terms. That is to say, with Durkheim, it is often anti-socially practiced by those at the margins of society who have been excluded from institutional power. While institutions rely on compliance that is submissive and supplicatory, magic often works outside the conventional social systems. Edmonds adopts criteria (efficacy, aims, social location, style of performance) which provide a litmus test for whether a magical act operates within the language discourse, a parlance web of magic terminology that often operates by symbolic encryptions of esoteric [End Page 355] keyed communication—what Malinowski calls obtaining to a “coefficient of weirdness.” Edmonds helps the reader better understand how certain practices, images, and ideas were labeled as magic and were set apart from normative practices, thereby shedding light on the shifting variable process of ancient normal religion in different ways by different groups. In this way, Edmonds is better able to attempt to define and conceptualize magic—its origins, nature, and functions. The eight illuminating and substantive chapters deal thematically with genres of magic. Chapter 3 is on defixiones or cursing malefic magic. Chapter 4 treats love charms and erotic magic. Chapter 5 considers protective magic as a defense against the dark arts. Chapter 6 considers prayer magic. Chapter 7 looks at some varieties of divination sometimes facilitated by necromancy. Chapter 8 contemplates astrology and its uses. Chapter 9 turns itself...

The Cult of Itonia Athena and the Human Conscience

The cult of Athena as Itonia is today almost completely unknown. Even in antiquity it was limited to specific areas as a local cult of the Aeolian tribe of the Boeotians, where, however, it had universal currency. Known places of her cult are in Thessaly, Boeotia and the island of Amorgos. At the Boeotian city of Koroneia, although the sanctuary of Itonia Athena is referring by the ancient writers (Pausanias and Strabo), its location has not been securely identified and the character of her cult is not well known. The available evidence (literary testimonies, mythological reports and archaeological data) suggest that her worship in Koroneia was a peculiar kind of mystery cult, which had accepted the influence of Orphism. This article highlights the properties of the forms involved in this secret cult and interpret the content of her worship in a philosophical context, with reference mainly to Aristotle’s work “On Memory and Remembrance”. The view supported by the present article is that her worship was oriented towards the achievement of self-awareness, to the Delphic oracular maxim “know thyself” (γνώθι σαυτόν). That was considered essential for the formation of the cultural consciousness of the societies of ancient Greece. This is a parameter of knowledge that in our modern societies has been forgotten, leading consequently to the misinterpretation of cultural development and a completely different perception of cultural memory and consciousness.

Dionysiac Art and Pastoral Escapism

"As the Mediterranean cities expanded in an ever-more interconnected Hellenistic world, people longed for a rustic lifestyle because the urban landscape was seen to be engulfed by materialistic and vain concerns.<a title="""">[1]</a> People faced many stresses in these urban centers and consequently searched for relief through art. How did Dionysiac art reflect political and social ideas and the identity of Hellenistic people through pastoralism? Pastoralism in art embodied the idea that satisfaction and carefreeness were attained through connecting with an environment unaffected by the calamity of the city. The countryside was populated by herdsmen and farmers, as well as the god Dionysus and his followers, including satyrs, and centaurs. These pastoral elements were associated with an idealistic way of living in that they described a utopia of sorts, one that provided an escape from the stresses of life in the city.<a title="""">[2]</a> Ideals presented in Dionysiac art was utopian in all aspects, located in an ideal place (<em>eu-topos</em>) that overcame boundaries, both worldly and geographic (<em>ou-topos</em>), and allowed one to achieve an elevated state of mind in a pastoral <em>locus amoenus</em>.<a title="""">[3]</a> The idealistic pastoral place filled with Dionysiac imagery was found where people welcomed natural resources, rather than vain amenities of the city, abandoning their identity as a city dweller for an identity defined by pastoralism. Dionysiac art provoked the viewer, such as the sleeping Hermaphroditus statue, confronting the viewer with boundary challenging issues—the world of ordinary versus the Dionysiac world, the pastoral world versus one’s own world.<a title="""">[4]</a> Boundary challenging presented the idea of finding one’s way, integrating, and belonging, like mystery cults in which people found a new identity through participation in an escapist community.<a title="""">[5]</a> Although people wanted to escape one aspect of their life, they found their way to something else of their own: the Dionysiac, pastoral world. <a title="""">[1]</a> Alpers 1972, 354. <a title="""">[2]</a> Witke 1966, 20. <a title="""">[3]</a> Dang 2010, 120. <a title="""">[4]</a> Von Stackelberg 2014, 398. <a title="""">[5]</a> Bøgh 2015, 281."

In Stone and Story: Early Christianity in the Roman World

In Stone and Story: Early Christianity in the Roman World

The Mysteries, Resurrection, and 1 Corinthians 15: Comparative Methodology and Contextual Exegesis

The Mysteries, Resurrection, and 1 Corinthians 15 focuses on the extent to which Paul’s understanding of the resurrection of the dead was affected by Greco-Roman cults. To accomplish her task, Moore delineates in her introduction what the concepts of afterlife and resurrection mean and the limitations of the study. “Afterlife” encompasses “all possibilities beyond the grave,” which includes resurrection, immortality of the soul, and transmigration of souls (p. xvi). Resurrection refers strictly to restoration of a physical body. The study is limited to a comparison between the Pauline understanding of resurrection and the most representative mystery cults of first-century Corinth: the Eleusinian mysteries, the local cult of Melikertes-Palaimon, and the cult of Isis.In ch. 1, Moore provides a brief literature review of previous comparisons between the mysteries practiced in Corinth and 1 Cor 15. While some scholars, such as Marvin Meyer, conclude that mysteries share enough of a cultural milieu that emergent Christianity could be considered a form of “mystery,” others, such as A. J. M. Wedderburn and N. T. Wright disagree, arguing that the Christian idea of resurrection is fundamentally at odds with the concept of the mysteries.In chs. 2 and 3, Moore examines literary and iconographic evidence providing information on the views of adherents of the Eleusinian mysteries and the cult of Isis. In the second chapter’s discussion of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter’s daughter Persephone was captured by Hades and confined to the underworld. Demeter grieved over her daughter at the Temple of Eleusis. Eventually, Persephone was reunited with Demeter but needed to spend four months each year in Hades, resulting in infertility during the winter season. On her return to Hades, Persephone received special honors. Later literature, including Aristophanes’s Frogs, Plato’s Republic, and Pausanias’s Description of Greece, described how initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries believed that participation in the cult’s rituals would enable them to share in Persephone’s honor, resulting in an enjoyable, yet nonphysical, afterlife.In ch. 3, Moore asserts that the Isis cult promised adherents a blissful afterlife. According to literary sources, such as Josephus and Apuleius, Isis’s reign extended to Hades, and “her protection of her initiates extends to that realm” (p. 66). Ancient authors often identified or equated Isis with Demeter, so that Isis’s devotees shared similar expectations to those of the Eleusinian cult. Here, Moore needs to exhibit more care in her analysis, because in antiquity comparison of religious systems differed from equating those systems, as Josephus’s descriptions of Jewish sects as “philosophies” illustrates.Chapter 4 describes the practice of the mysteries in Corinth. Although Pausanias mentions a shrine to Isis on the road to the Acrocorinth, only Apuleius described her connection with the mysteries in the region of Corinth. On the other hand, grave inscriptions indicate Corinthian devotion to the cult of Demeter/Persephone, as represented in the Eleusinian mysteries. In addition, we have evidence of a local mystery of Melikertes-Palamaion, whose rituals included the ritual reenactment of his. This ritual also indicates that the cult’s “focus on the underworld and afterlife” (p. 90). This cult also understood afterlife as enjoying special status in Hades.Chapter 5 compares Paul’s understanding of the afterlife with the mysteries. Moore concludes that, while Paul’s views on the afterlife shared with the mysteries a common hope of life after death, his hope is fundamentally different from that of the Corinthian cults. Paul’s hope entailed participating in Christ’s resurrection, whereas the cults focused on participation in cultic ritual. However, in 1 Cor 15:29, where Paul addresses “baptism for the dead,” Paul appears to share his recipients’ understanding of the afterlife. Moore, however, contends that this practice was a funerary ritual to assist the dead on their way to the afterlife. Whatever may have been his personal views on the ritual, Paul used it to illustrate his point about the resurrection of the dead, since he asserted the practice made no sense if it were disconnected with hope in the resurrection (pp. 121–22).In conclusion, Moore has indicated the different religious matrixes of the Corinthian cults of the Eleusinian mysteries, Melikertes-Palamaion, and Isis. Her exegesis of “baptism for the dead” (1 Cor 15:29) is helpful. Nevertheless, she has neglected some problematic exegetical issues. In particular, she does not address the question whether the resurrection appearances of 1 Cor 15:3–11 were physical events or visionary experiences. Likewise, how does she answer those who say that the phrase “spiritual body” of 15:35–52 refers to some sort of noncorporeal existence? Finally, she may wish to consider expanding her comparison of the mysteries and Christian faith beyond 1 Corinthians. For example, an analysis of the mysteries of Samothrace compared with 1 Thess 4–5.

Tangled Myths and Moral Networks: Pacific Comparanda and the Samothracian Sea

Abstract Political and spiritual ecologies provide a framework for comparative analysis between the Melanesian kula and the civic and ritual institutions around the mystery cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace. These ecologies recognize the role of cosmology and cultural narrative in organizing social behavior into resilient responses that enable social and economic needs. This study utilizes three categories F. H. Damon has established for exploring the kula: collective thinking, social organizations, and the coupling of nature and culture in complex adaptive systems. Both Greek and Melanesian systems are characterized by asymmetrical exchange, a role for prominent families, identity, trust, and emotional intensity. Analogies at the cosmological level, legible in three Samothracian myths, suggest that the Greek systems rendered the natural world a model of the moral forces stipulated by proxenia grants that mitigated the anthropogenic risks of maritime travel, making myth as critical as civic institutions in realizing maritime safety.

The Sociolinguistic Research of the Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus

Summary:Jupiter Dolichenus was a Roman god, a so-called ‘Oriental deity’ whose mystery cult gained popularity in the 2nd century AD, reached a peak under the Severi in the early 3rd century AD, and died out shortly after. As for Jupiter Dolichenus, he is sometimes referred to by scholars as ‘Baal of Doliche’ or ‘Dolichenian Baal’.1 The name Baal is derived from the term Ba’al, meaning ‘owner’ or ‘lord’, and the word must have been used as a title for gods in general. Over six hundreds monuments – mainly inscriptions – of the Dolichenian cult have come to light from the Eastern and Western parts of the Empire. The name Jupiter with the epithet Dolichenus – from the original name of Doliche – appears in inscriptions in many incorrect forms including Dolichenius, Dolychenus, Dolochenus, Dolicenus, Dolcenus, Dulcenus, Dolucens.Which of the above epithets reflects the original Syrian form and tradition? Is it possible that Dulcenus is the original and correct form of the deity’s name, or is it just another vulgar change which appeared separately in time and space? This paper tries to prove the latter with the help of the LLDB. The Dolichenian cult is thought to have first been introduced by Syrian merchants and auxiliary soldiers, including troops from Commagene (the province that includes Doliche). In the light of the names of the priests of Jupiter Dolichenus, Speidel2 states that the Jupiter Dolichenian cult in the army was largely supported by Syrians and other Orientals.

Plato and the Art of the Soul

The paper examines the “art of the soul” as found in the work of Plato. It begins by observing how the fate of the soul may be traced through a material technic, and how the soul exceeds any reduction to historical conditions by providing reasons (a source of normativity). The paper then examines the techniques promoted by Plato to solve the problem of epistemic confusion, and reflects on alternatives including law and the mystery cults in Plato’s day. The paper ends with an examination of Socrates’ method, the elenchus, and the nature of Socratic knowledge.

Plato and the Language of Mysteries

Abstract Despite Plato’s repeated criticism of both µῦθοι and mystery cults, Orphism/Pythagoreanism and the Eleusinian Mysteries feature frequently in his dialogues. This paper uncovers the reason why, and the context in which, Plato employs motifs and language associated with these cults. Prevailing explanations in scholarship are shown to apply in some instances but not others, and to be largely insufficient in providing an underlying reason for Plato’s use of mystery cults in general. Through a detailed examination of various mystery motifs in the dialogues, this paper argues that Plato has simply borrowed from religion what he could not achieve with philosophy alone: emotional appeal.

The Arts of Imitation in Latin Prose: Pliny's Epistles/Quintilian in Brief by Christopher Whitton

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 175 ship, for example, the author’s overstressing of fertility as an interpretative paradigm of women’s religion.5 As Meghan DiLuzio has noted, Boëls-Janssen overemphasises the role of the priestess Flaminica Dialis as a “fertility talisman.”6 Interpreting fertility as a function of many women’s rituals and of many gods and goddesses is indeed too generalising. Therefore, Panoussi should have been more cautious in basing her interpretations on Boëls-Janssen’s conclusions (Bacchus as a fertility god, 20; descriptions of rituals of Bona Dea, Fortuna Muliebris, and Mater Matuta as showcasing the value of female sexuality and fertility, 172). Furthermore, taking for granted Tacitus’ and Suetonius’ presentation of the emperor Nero as a bride or a groom in his weddings with two cinaedi (76–77) is problematic, since both authors severely distort the portrayals of the Roman emperors in order to undermine their masculinity along with the political system that enabled such “bad” emperors to rule in Rome. It would be much more fruitful to query how and with what aims Tacitus and Suetonius introduced compromising elements from Petronius’ satirical representation of the wedding of Giton and Pannychis, as discussed by Panoussi (66–74), into their depiction of Nero’s alleged homosexual weddings.7 A more intensive scholarly dialogue with recent literature on the religions of Rome would have also allowed Panoussi to address other problematic points in the reconstruction of Roman rituals and their literary representations, for instance her assumption that a holy marriage was usually a part of mystery cults (75). Nevertheless, Brides, Mourners, Bacchae: Women’s Rituals in Roman Literature is a thought-provoking read for students and scholars, offering complex discussions of multiple levels of representations of gender, ethnicity, and women’s rituals in Roman literature. Humboldt University Berlin Darja Ï Sterbenc Erker The Arts of Imitation in Latin Prose: Pliny's EPISTLES/Quintilian in Brief. By Christopher Whitton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2019. Pp. xviii, 557. Although the phenomenon of poetic intertextuality has been extensively discussed during the last three decades, that of prose intertextuality has yet to receive similar attention. Whitton’s learned book is an excellent contribution in this direction. It focuses on Pliny’s intertextual debt to Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria in his Epistles, which up until now had gone largely unnoticed, but at the same time it also examines many other aspects of Plinian intertextuality, including echoes of a variety of Greek and Latin authors. As a result, the value of this original and thought-provoking study lies not only in its exploration of Quintilian’s reception by his pupil and in the new light it sheds on the artistry of Pliny’s Epistles, but also, more broadly, in significantly improving our understanding of Roman rhetorical culture, prose intertextuality, and literary imitation. 5 N. Boëls-Janssen, La vie religieuse des matrones dans la Rome archaı̈que (Rome 1993). 6 M. DiLuzio, A Place at the Altar: Priestesses in Republican Rome (Princeton 2016) 23, n. 33. 7 Tacitus sought to shock his readers by depicting transgressions of gender norms in his portrayals of the emperors. Cf. Thomas Späth, “Skrupellose Herrscherin? Das Bild der Agrippina minor bei Tacitus,” in id. and B. Wagner-Hasel (eds.), Frauenwelten in der Antike: Geschlechterordnung und weibliche Lebenspraxis (Darmstadt 2000) 271. 176 PHOENIX The book starts with a few pages (xii–xvii) that present its aims and dispositio in lieu of a preface; in the following twelve chapters Whitton examines thematic clusters in Pliny’s Epistles that demonstrate his textual and ethical imitation of his teacher’s work. The first two chapters, entitled “Two Scenes from the Life of an Artist” (1–19) and “Setting the Stage” (20–68) respectively, play an introductory role. Chapter One convincingly establishes Quintilian’s intertextual presence in two letters of Pliny’s self-portrait (Ep. 1.6 and 9.36), where the latter meticulously, subtly, and minutely blends, reworks, and modifies aspects of Quintilian’s advice on writing (especially on dictation and country composition). Chapter Two, which serves as prolegomena, presents and compares the two protagonists as individuals and as authors (with the help of Ep. 2.14, 4.11, 4.13...

Terracottas from the Maslyny Settlement on the Chora of Tauric Chersonesos

In the article the finds of terracotta figurines from the excavations of the Hellenistic settlement of Maslyny in North-western Taurica (excavations by V. O. Latysheva) are analyzed. The terracotta collection contains striking specimens of ancient coroplastic. The figurines illustrate the religious life of the population, including the worship of cults of a family nature. All terracottas were found on the territory of the living and utility homesteads of the settlement. Most of the figurines are located in a room at the south tower, which, according to the interior and related material, had several functions. Other statuettes were also found in the non-ordinary rooms and this text also indicates their cultic purpose. Sanctuaries in rooms at the tower were known before at Chersonesos chora. Such practice of private sanctuaries corresponds to the choice of the most prominent and extraordinary places for arranging public sanctuaries of polis. Terracottas of Eros Thanatos, doves, and female figurines are connected with the cult of Aphrodite. One of three Erotes is decorated with red ribbons crossed on his chest. Such adornment is peculiar for Aphrodite images and not known on terracottas of this type. Protomes hanged on the wall and doves hanged to the ceiling, as well as female bust serving for a thymiaterion illustrate the variety of religious practices conducted by the habitants. A tympanon held by Nike reminds of mystery cults. The remains of ivy wreath on a Tanagra type figurine and a tympanum in the hands of Nika remind of Dionysus cult. The figurines are dated, according to the general chronology of the site, not earlier than the third quarter of 4th—3rd c. BC. Some statuettes were made in Tauric Chersonesos, where similar cults are traced during the Hellenistic period. Terracottas from Maslyny settlement find the closest analogies at the sites of the North-western Black Sea region, including Olbia and Callatis. This fact allows tracing the relation between Tauric Chersonesos and that region

Mit orfejski à rebours. O Pieśni tryumfującej miłości Tadeusza Micińskiego

Autorka interpretuje poemat prozą Tadeusza Micińskiego jako transpozycję mitu o Orfeuszu. Rozważaniami obejmuje przy tym nie tylko mit orfejski, ale i doktrynę orficką. Analizy sytuuje na szerokim tle podkreślającym znaczenie muzyki w Młodej Polsce. Odnotowuje kontakty pisarza z kompozytorami, reperkusje jego pobytu w Hellerau, a także utwory, w których tematyzował muzykę. W takiej perspektywie dokonuje analizy Pieśni tryumfującej miłości.

Secret Groups in Ancient Judaism by Michael E. Stone

Reviewed by: Secret Groups in Ancient Judaism by Michael E. Stone L. Scott Brand Michael E. Stone. Secret Groups in Ancient Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. 176 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419000138 In this study, Stone endeavors to demonstrate that certain social groupings within Judaism in the Second Temple period may reasonably be described as secret societies. Stone's examination begins with a definition of basic criteria for groups that will ultimately qualify for inclusion under this rubric: (1) limited membership; and (2) a process of gradual initiation into esoteric doctrine or praxis. These a priori considerations then inform the study as a whole. Beginning with chapter 1, Stone explicitly prioritizes for consideration the Essenes and Therapeutae. The Qumran sectarians in particular are characterized as an ideal test case, owing to their fortuitous attestation by both "insider" and "outsider" evidence; accordingly, they are treated as the study's point of departure. In chapter 2, the author rejects the prevalent anachronism of attempting to derive a normative typology for ancient esoteric groups from Renaissance Hermeticism, instead seeking to locate the phenomenon of secrecy within the more apposite context of ancient social convention. Stone first examines how the ancient use of esoteric literary and hermeneutical modalities may have functioned as claims of authority. He then revisits his own earlier research into apocalyptic literature, focusing on the formulaic tabulations of revealed lore within the genre, and identifying a manifest discrepancy between such secret (cosmological, eschatological, etc.) knowledge as is typically claimed in these summary lists, and the content actually revealed in the course of the narrative. Since apocalyptic, in its wide circulation, may have constituted more of an exoteric than an esoteric literature, Stone posits that this suggestive incongruence may betray the existence of an underlying esoteric lore: a closely guarded tradition intimated by, but not fully revealed in, the texts themselves. The social dimension is explored further in chapter 3, where the author draws heavily on earlier sociological studies to consider how secrecy may be [End Page 204] utilized both to define a given esoteric group against the majority culture, and to structure its internal power hierarchy. Stone then proceeds to examine how claims of esoteric religious experience may have been intended to consolidate authority, whether in the context of actual group power dynamics or merely as a literary motif within various textual traditions. Chapter 4 departs from methodological considerations and moves instead to the specific analysis of Stone's proposed comparanda, as he examines the Greco-Roman mystery religions as potential analogues to the Jewish groups under discussion. Agreeing with the opinio communis that the Qumran sectarians are to be identified with the Essenes, Stone ultimately concludes that (particularly as represented in the Community Rule and the Damascus Document) they did in fact represent such a secret group. In support of this assessment he notes that the Qumran group not only featured an exclusive and hierarchical social structure, but also "cultivated and transmitted secret teaching" (67), although he does acknowledge that, given their special focus on the community's collective spiritual and eschatological standing, the analogy with the mystery religions is imperfect. Next, the use of cryptic scripts in certain manuscripts is adduced as evidence that the community took pains to keep certain teachings secret, and also that such teachings were revealed to initiates in the course of a graded system of progressive initiation, as was characteristic of the mystery cults. In the case of the Therapeutae, the author focuses on their attested penchant for allegory and somniloquy in attempting to prove that they too practiced secret traditions that would justify their characterization as an esoteric society. Stone then continues the examination of the Qumran sectarians' apparent social organization in chapter 5. Again appealing in particular to the Community Rule, he discerns a hierarchical structure in the chain of authority, beginning at the top with the Maskil, running down through the "inner, elite group" (85) of fifteen who are selected for additional instruction, and finally reaching the lowest level with the membership at large. In addition, Stone characterizes another pattern evinced in Essene praxis—namely, careful selection of candidates, followed by regular evaluation and confirmation by oaths—as a...

Cultic Allusions in the Heraklitos Mosaic

The Heraklitos mosaic, which dates to the second century AD and is displayed today at the Vatican Museums, depicts the theme of the asarotos oikos (unswept floor) alongside allusions to Dionysian and Isiac mystery cults. The mosaic is well known due to its highly illusionistic depiction of scraps of food, which are scattered evenly across the room’s floor, as if left behind – a theme which according to Pliny was first created by the mosaicist Sosus in Hellenistic Pergamon. The mosaic Pliny is referring to was never discovered, and the theme is known today only through five surviving Roman variations, the Heraklitos mosaic being the largest and most elaborate one. This article examines the ways in which the Heraklitos mosaic expresses the connection between power, social statues and initiation into mystery cults in Imperial Rome, and explores the connection between traditional Roman beliefs, foreign cult practices and elitist artistic representation.

‚Eritis sicut dii‘

In the Heptateuch paraphrase, probably written in the first half of the fifth century A. D., its anonymous author embellishes the biblical narrative, which describes the temptation of the first humans in Paradise, with a strange detail: Adam and Eve, who before the Fall were blind and swathed in darkness, enjoy an extraordinary experience of light after eating the forbidden fruit, as promised by the devilish snake: The heavens glow with bright light and their eyes shine. This miraculous light, which is not God’s gift, but the result of their rebellious and self-willed defiance of divine ordinance, symbolizes the presumptuousness of mankind’s progenitors in seeking to equal God. The metaphor of light is borrowed from the philosophic and religious ideas of Neoplatonism and of the mystery cults. These ideas suggest that a God-like status can be achieved through the individual pursuit of knowledge. The Heptateuch poet employs his depiction of the Fall to inveigh against such designs.

Heracles's weariness and apotheosis in Classical Greek art

In this paper, I propose a general interpretation of images showing the physical exhaustion and apotheosis of Heracles that were produced during the Classical period. These images appear on or take the form of coins, jewels, vase paintings, and sculptures. Building on the major scholarly work on the subject since the late 19th century, I suggest that the iconography of Heracles shows the influence of new religious and philosophical conceptions of his myth, in particular relating to Pythagoreanism, Orphism, and mystery cults, as well as the intellectual climate of 5th century Athens. Rather than appearing as an example of infinite toil and excess in the manner of earlier literary and iconographic representations, Heracles is presented in the Classical period as a model of virtue and self-restraint and a symbol of the triumph of merit over adversity and divine persecution.

Distinction, Privilege and the Role of Code Switching

Abstract Code switching is a term used to describe switching between language systems and, more specifically, between informal and formal language. Although I see code switching as a daily practice and therefore quite mundane – although with stakes always high and in various degrees – it seems that the term is preserved for some switches and not for others. In this paper I explore the taxonomic implications of naming something, and not something else, as “code switching,” by comparing to the practice of naming groups as “voluntary associations” or “mystery cults” in the Graeco-Roman world.