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Mystery Religions gives Hope in Identity Crisis

The change in era for the Greek was marked by considerable political, social, and religious changes. Their social lives changed drastically because the Greeks no longer had their absolute power of government and all citizens started to question and doubt their gods for they no longer satisfied them in their search for answers. At the same time, many foreign cults started to emerge where many of them became popular giving the Greeks a purpose in their lives. The difference between both Hellenic and Hellenistic Identity will be compared as well as the major cults that influenced these citizens and the reason why the Greeks were drawn to them.

            Hellenic Identity was very simple. The polis controlled the citizens with their phratries and demes when politics were concerned. Besides that, there was everyday life and religion, which was intertwined and where no one would ask any questions or be concerned with what came after death. Everything in their world was absolute for there were no doubts. There was only reason and continuity in all things. Nothing had been fragmented. Their biggest concern at this time was piety and whether their culture would continue. Each city-state had their identity, culture, Patron god and/or goddess, and their way of life. This was a simple way of life compared to the Hellenistic era that was about to come.

            With the campaigns of Phillip of Macedonia and his son, Alexander the Great, came many changes, especially political ones that affected the Greek city-states. Their dream was too eliminate the autonomy of the polis as a city-state and make every Greek states into an empire. Therefore, there were great political changes that came to be. The once great powers of the city-states had vanished and had been replaced by the Macedonian government, which the Greeks had to report directly to.

                        “Alexander’s ideal of empire unified by a Greek culture was primarily

                        realized in the cities of his former empire, a growing resistance to

                        Hellenism began to characterize some urban centers by 2^nd c. BCE. This

                        urban resistance to Greek culture established the condition for a spread of

                        native cults that were adapted nevertheless, to a Hellenic model of

                        mystery. The Mystery of Isis provides a major example for these non-

                        Hellenic Mysteries.”1

 Anomie (loss of identity) sets in. The Athenians, the citizens of Thebes, Corinth, and all the others were all known as Greeks and had lost their unique identity and culture. Therefore, what was once absolute was now fragmented. There is no more reason and continuity. Alienation develops and people wonder where they belong for they are no longer living in supreme communities. From now on, the focus is now on individuals, everyone starts to be concerned with what will happen to them after death. There are now concerned with the afterlife. With all of the cities, communities and individuals that are now fragmented, individuals and groups start looking for answers somewhere else. One of the groups are the philosophers that start to argue and come up with new points of view and ways of trying to figure out how to deal with the anomie. They tend to universalize and overlap the virtues of the gods into single gods, although there were many types of philosophies that wanted to explain in their own way and wanted to make everyone believe that they were right while everyone else was wrong. However, Mystery Religions started to become popular in this time, even replacing the Olympian gods since these mystery religions tended to answer their questions, especially the ones of anomie and the afterlife. Some examples of these mystery religions are the cult of Isis, of Asclepius, the Eleusinian mysteries, the Orphics, and the Dionysian Mysteries.

            Since the 5^th century BCE, the Egyptian goddess of Heaven, Isis, was well known outside of Egypt because of the travelogues of Herodotus, which identified her with Demeter. She represents the attributes of all the other gods. She is very caring. However, she does not perceive herself as a goddess, but as the one God. Her cult represents her quest that she had gone through to be reunited with her dead husband Osiris that was killed by their brother Seth. Most of the information that we have about the initiation and the mysteries come from “The Golden Ass” written by Lucius who was one of her first initiates. In her cult, there is an idea of synchrotism and synthesis. Lucius has an intimate relationship with Isis. In her mysteries, she promises eternal and prosperous life by the means of experiencing death and rebirth. It is a voluntary death, also meant as a figurative death. The rebirth into a new life is also meant as the end of the quest for the initiate. There were many volunteers in the cult where it was very expensive to be initiated and each initiate had to have been called to the cult such as in a dream. Isis was widely worshipped in the Hellenistic era because of patronage by Ptolemy I Soter. She appealed increasingly to an urban social and intellectual elite.

                        “To the initiated, however, the public ceremonies of these Mysteries . . .

                        presented a ritual manifestation of the profound discontinuity between

                        everyday existence, buffeted by fortune, and the promise of a blessed

                        existence under the providential guidance and protection of the revealed

                        power of Tyché Agathé, the good fortune, one of the early and persistent

                        epithets of Isis.”2

            Asclepius was the son of the god Apollo and the mortal Coronis. This cult kept the continuity of the local cults. It became popular because the individual was taken care of as well as the god’s appearance to each of them. This cult’s purpose was prevention of illnesses and miraculous cures that were given to the initiate in a dream and were recorded and interpreted by the therapeutae. Before the initiation, individuals had to pass through a purification process were some of the initiates were refused for some reason, such as being morally impure or if they had committed a crime.

                        “This association of “Good Fortune,” with the divine cures of Asclepius

                        and Apollo suggests a view of illness as the effect of capricious fortune,

                        and consequently as a  cosmic metaphor for the malaise of Hellenistic

                        existence.”3                  

This cult, unlike the others, showed a special kind of sympathy to the poor. Once the individual had gone through the initiation, they had a feeling of death and rebirth. According to the end of Apuleius novel, “traditional piety is no longer of avail in avoiding ‘cruel and envious fortune.’ However, piety in service to the Mysteries is of profit.”4

            The cult of Demeter is similar in some ways to the cult of Isis since they both must finish their quest in order to have peace. Demeter’s quest was the search for her daughter Persephone who was kidnapped and married to Hades, King of the Underworld. Throughout her quest, she stops at Eleusis where she demands to have a temple built in her name and she awaits there until she gets news of her daughter. Therefore, she showed the Eleusinians first the rites and mysteries of her cult as a favor for their hospitality. Demeter was known as the goddess of Mother Nature and she had an influence on vegetation and agriculture. Therefore, “the Eleusinian initiates never relinquished their grasp on the land and their belief in the values of the rural life.”5 The most important part of the initiate’s quest was that they found honor and happiness through their death and rebirth.

            Orphism was an ancient religion and philosophical tradition that has incorporated elements of the myth of Dionysus. The historical founder was a Greek hero, Orpheus, who became a prophet and reformer of the Dionysian Mysteries. He was the son of the Muse Calliope and Apollo or the Thracian river-god (depending on which version) was thought to be his father. According to one tradition, Orpheus died by dismemberment by Thracian women, Bassarae, who were acting in revenge of his reforms on behalf of the god Dionysus. They then threw his head into the Hebrus River where it floated until it was caught upon the rock at the isle of Lesbos. There, Orpheus’ head continued to sing and deliver oracles. There is also another version, which comes from Orpheus being identified with Dionysus Zagreus. The Titans killed Dionysus and from the ashes, mortals were created. In this version, the ashes are composed of Dionysus (the soul) and the Titans (the body). An initiate must go threw a purification process to separate the Dionysus from the Titan and only when this is done that the mortal will be saved and be allowed to pass through the next life.

            “The cult of Dionysus belonged to the resurgence of the chtonic evocations of the sacred that characterized the Hellenistic age… his Mysteries were primarily a Hellenistic development and differed from his classical orgies.”6 An initiate had to become a bacchus (male) or a bacché (females), since participation in the cult was now open to men as well since the mid-third century BCE. An initiate was one who was possessed or inspired by the god. According to Plutarch, Dionysus was known in the Hellenistic period as “the lord and master… of the nature of every sort of moisture.” To Dionysus’ followers, he was known as “Lysios, the one who was able to deliver or redeem them from everydayness, from an existence perceived as oppressive through an ecstatically revealed order grounded in the natural flow of life itself.”7 An emblem associated with him was the liknon, which was a basket with handle that contained grain that was toss into the wind for purification. Therefore, this symbol represented the possibility of an ecstatic purification for initiates. The most important reason to become an initiate of this cult is that it ensured a happy afterlife, which was a very important concern in the Hellenistic era.

            There are many similarities within the different Mystery Religions of the Hellenistic era. For example, the cult of Isis and Demeter are very similar and in fact, they are often compared to one another. They both are on a quest so that they may be reunited with their loved ones. Isis is in search for the dead body of her husband Osiris, and in the case of Demeter, she is searching for the whereabouts of her kidnapped daughter Persephone. Each story has an element of the Underworld which surfaces. Osiris becomes the King of the Underworld in the Egyptian myths, while Persephone becomes the Queen and wife of the King of the Underworld, Hades. In each of the cults, they offer the concept of an after life. This is done through the completion of the initiate’s quest. They offer a life of joy and happiness.

            In the cult of Asclepius, there is more diversity and a different approach as well as other Mystery Religions. The sanctuary built for Asclepius integrates more than a shrine and different chambers for the initiates to proceed. It is what we would be considered a health spa, with a variety of rooms for different functions. These rooms are considered gymnasiums, theatres, libraries, and rooms for learning and rooms for the individual’s initiation within the cult. The first reason for this cult is curing illnesses through dream interpretation, but it was also used to prevent illnesses. It is hard to assert exactly why many individuals were driven to this cult. However, a few assumptions can be made. These assumptions include the different aspects into which the healing sanctuary can be viewed. It could have been for the healing of the body as well as the healing of the mind and soul. Initiates could have gone there in order to prevent or cure their souls before their next life. After all, many people today go to health spa in order to relax and clear their minds of all their everyday worries. Of course, initiates could stay there for a long time with the entertainment provided. It could have been a way to find how to live with their life in a proper way.

            The cult of Dionysus and the Orphics are very similar in many ways. For in the Orphics, Orpheus was associated with Dionysus Zagreus. In both of the mythical backgrounds, each Dionysus had their flesh torn apart. They also both have a common origin in Thrace and they both were on a quest of the feminine principle that led them to the Underworld. In the case of Dionysus, it was the successful rescue of his mother while in the case of Orpheus; it was the quest for his wife, which turned out unsuccessful. They both have similar deaths and they each have an association with oracles. Both of these cults are also sometimes associated with the cult of Demeter because she had to rescue her daughter in the Underworld. They both believed that the mortal body is the evil that must be cleansed and purified in order to pass to the afterlife. The only major differences between both cults are that in Dionysus’ festivals, they used to behave in a frenzy while tearing the flesh of animals. The Orphics chose a different approach into which they lived ascedic lives within a more spiritual element and refused to eat meat. Dionysus was related to the elemental principle of nature while Orpheus embodied civilization.

            With the feeling of anomie in the Hellenistic era, the Greeks no longer wanted the Olympian gods in their lives for they no longer gave the citizens a purpose. Therefore, they turned toward the cults that each of them drew different initiates for their purpose of having something to believe in and because they offered a new concept. All these cults had citizens go through a personal quest for their identity by dying and leaving their past, so they could be reborn in the god or goddess afterwards. In doing so, their quest was ended and they found a new identity. The cults also offered a concept, which was the afterlife since they were all concerned with what happened to them after death. Their quest was the answer.

            In the cult of Demeter, some were probably drawn for they identified with the goddess’ search. In the cult of Isis, an individual had to have had been called by the goddess in order to become part of the cult. As for Asclepius, many citizens were drawn to him for he offered a different method: this was a sanctuary where one could be cured through dream interpretation given by Asclepius. Not only did they go there to cure illnesses, but to prevent them as well. The sanctuary had so many facilities that it could have also been a place to learn how to have a have a better life in this world before passing through the next one. As for the Orphics and the cult of Dionysus, they both offered a way to liberate the soul from the body that was evil. For the Dionysian initiates, it was a way to let go of their body and be free from all their troubles. As for the Orphics, they led an ascetic life by teachings and a certain way of life that would purify their soul before death. Each of these cults had specific goals, which was able to draw most of the citizens. Therefore, their lives were no longer fragmented and became absolute, especially with the closeness with the god or goddess in their initiation.