The Dionysus Cult in Antioch (original) (raw)
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To the origin of the cult of Dionysus
Society for History and Cultural Development "Oium", Project Roots of Europe, 2008
The textual, archaeological, linguistic and ethnographic evidence examined in this study supports the view that the Lower Dniester region is one of the oldest regions of wine-making. The documents, artifacts and linguistic evidence containing information in relation to origin of wine-making from prospective of the origin of Dionysian cult is focused on the fullest archaeological and textual evidence from Circum-Pontic and east Mediterranean regions. The role and impact of wine on the culture and religion of ancient lands of Lower Dniester and early Indo-Europeans represented by archaeological evidences is illustrated in many ways. Reexamination of the Dionysian mythology by means of the interdisciplinary approach shows strong evidence of its place of origin.
Dionysus between Sāsānian Iran and Roman allusions
Art of the Orient, 2018
lot can be said about religious notions in the late Roman Empire, but further to the east the picture is quite different. Until today even sketching the religious evolution within the Arsacid and the Sāsānian World remains problematic. A substantial amount of the most central Zoroastrian texts are incomplete and what we do find preserved is often mirrored through redaction after the Islamic conquest. About other central textual sources the only thing we know for a fact is that they existed. The situation with other cults not belonging to the Zoroastrian state church is even worse. Of course, this is also true when it comes to the interpretation of related archaeological material. Many of the themes we find depicted on toreutics, seals or stucco are hard to explain, while other representations are strongly reminiscent of cults known from the Roman World but somehow oddly adapted. In this contribution I will try to examine one of these cults — the worship of Dionysus. Since informatio...
The Cult of Dionysus or Liber – Votive Monuments in Salona
In Salona, the cult of Dionysus, or Liber, was particularly strong, as shown by monuments uncovered to date, particularly the temple. This is a tetrastyle temple opposite the theatre, in the immediate vicinity of the forum of the oldest part of the city (Urbs vetus). In addition to the temple, a number of sculptures of the deity are known, such as a marble torso, or a lower part of a sculpture with a panther, or a sculpture showing Dionysus’ followers – the satyrs and maenads, his thiasos. These sculptures might have been put up as cult statues or votive gifts in the temple mentioned or in some other shrines, individual inscriptions of which on stone beams and altars have been found. Scenes of the Dionysus cult are also to be found on Salona sarcophagi, such as Dionysus’ triumph in the east on some recently discovered fragments of an Attic sarcophagus ; on tombstones there are frequently mentioned allusions to the connection of Dionysus with the subterranean, in other words, with immortal life. These monuments indicate a considerable presence of the cult of Dionysus, or Liber, in Salona.
The earliest records of Dionysus cult comes from Mycenaean Peoloponesus (palace of Nestor in Philos) around 1300 BC in Linear B script. Dionysus is the Greek import from the Egyptian pantheon, as recalled in the Plato’s story in Timaeus explaining the cycles of civilization in speech of Critias, regarding Solon’s visit to Egypt, after the Athenians expelled lawgiver Solon by the way of ostracism unhappy with his mild but firm laws after the Draconian laws: “In the Egyptian Delta, round the head of which the channel of the Nile divides, there is a department called Sais, with a departmental capital of the same name (the native town of pharaoh Amasis). The people of this town have a patron goddess whose name in Egyptian is Neith corresponding to the Hellenic Athena. The Saites claim to be strongly Athenophil and to be in some sense specially related to the Athenian nation. Solon (according to his own account) had traveled to Sais and had been received there with distinguished honors. During his stay he had taken opportunities of consulting the leading experts among the priests upon Ancient History, and had made the discovery that he himself and all his fellow Hellenes were in state of almost total ignorance on the subject. On one occasion he sought to lead them into discussion upon Antiquity by entering upon an exposition of the most ancient traditions of Hellas relating to the so-called primeval Phoroneus and Niobe, whence he descended to the period after Deluge, narrated the legendary history of Deucalion and Pyrrha, recited the genealogies of their descendants and attempted to supply a chronological basis for dating the events in his story.
Bust Thymiateria and Cult of Dionysus in Olbia
Propontis and Surrounding Cultures. Parion Studies III, 2021
There is a group of female images with attributes of Dionysiac cult among terracotta bust thymiateria from Olbia Pontica. Ten of them have mitra and ivy wreath shown already in a mould, while two items have these attributes handmade and added to the ready images. Similarly made bust thymiateria are known in North Pontic Tauric Chersonesos, Nymphaeum, and Hermonassa, another one is known in Propontic region. It is not undoubtedly clear who is presented in such a way. Apart from Ariadne, Dionysus appeared with other paredras in art: Aphrodite, later with one of maenads or nymphs, and even with Semele who died earlier than he was born, according to the myth. The 2nd century BC inscription evidences that there was a statue of this god with his mother in Olbia. Most of terracottas analysed in this paper were found in houses and referred to a family worship of Dionysus in Olbia, while one item comes from the botros at the Temenos. They accomplish the evidences of Dionysus’ cult in the Hellenistic period. These terracottas were cultic devices for symbolic offerings or for spreading the incense without burning it, as there are no traces of soot on them
Dionysos in Propontis in the Pre-Roman Age according to Numismatic Evidence
CITIES IN SOUTHEASTERN THRACE Continuity and Transformation, 2017
Regardless of the official character of coins and their important role as a historical source, numismatic evidence alone is not enough for the reconstruction of the religious background at a particular time and space. The present study is an attempt to analyze the territorial and the chronological span of the cult of Dionysos in the areas surrounding the Sea of Marmara (the ancient Propontis) and the Bosporus during the Pre-Roman age on the basis of numismatic evidence. This study is a part of the author’s dissertation – “Dionysos in Thrace. Artifacts and Cult”, that will put together the conclusions drawn here and the epigraphic, imagery and architectural monuments from the Hellenic apoikia discussed here as well as from their Thracian hinterland. This defines the non-conclusive character of the deductions in the paper since the cult evidence has to be either proven true or rejected after the future juxtaposition with the other types of artifacts, epigraphic data and literary texts.