Hello, Dr. Reames! I Absolutely Love Dancing With The Lion, And I Am Especially Fascinated By The Mystery

Hello, Dr. Reames! I absolutely love Dancing with the Lion, and I am especially fascinated by the mystery cult in the epilogue. Would you be able to elaborate on Orphic Dionysus, and maybe discuss what informed your writing of the initiation? (A side note: the line "This was what it meant to come face-to-face with an immortal: better never to be noticed at all" made my hair stand on end, as well as your "ineffably sad" descriptions of the god. The whole scene was incredible!)

Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it! At least one reviewer on Goodreads thought it was “very weird.” I think, perhaps, readers more used to genre Romance may not have expected a visit from the magical realism fairy. ;) (Funny, how we always notice criticism more than praise.)

Anyway, to your question: much of our evidence for any mystery cult comes from the Hellenistic era and later, but it seems there was some form of Dionysic mystery by the 5th century, at least. The earliest mystery cults seems to have been Eleusis, but the idea caught on quickly, and others developed during the Archaic and Classical (esp.) eras, until by the 4th century they were ubiquitous and most Greeks had been initiated into at least one.

Mystery cults came in two basic types: those tied to a particular PLACE, such as the rites for Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis (which may, itself, be a permutation of the Thesmophoria), and the rites for the “Great Gods” at Samothrace. There were priests and priestesses, and even families (gens) tied to maintaining the rites. These also tended to be “one-off,” so one could be initiated to each stage only once.

Others were “repeating” rites, and were usually not tied to a specific place. The best known of these was for Dionysos and/or Orpheus, but Mithras would be a much later example, too. The “mystes” (leaders) of these were not necessarily formal priests/priestesses, and may even have been itinerant. They weren’t necessarily well-regarded socially, either. (The orator Aeschines had shade thrown at him by accusing his mother of having been an actress and performer of initiations, in which Aeschines supposedly helped.)

The rite described in the book is, of course, fictional, as the ancients kept their Mysteries a mystery, and we have no complete account. But we do have “hints and allegations,” if you will, from materials such as gold tablets/leaves (lamellae) from tombs, the Derveni Papyrus (from a grave in Macedonia, which contains “Orphic” theology, see below), or the fescos from the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii. As a result, we have a pretty good *general* idea of what went on, but the details, the order, etc., that’s unknown. So I made it up. :-)

Macedonia has produced gold lamellae similar to those found at Pelinna and Pherai in Thessaly, in particular (called “Group D”). These are part of a larger cache of tablets found all over Greater Greece from Macedonia and Thrace to Crete to Thurii in Italy (see below). I used text from the tablets in writing the scene, such as the formula “I am a child of Earth and Starry Heaven.” The tablets come in groups with text ranging from a name alone to bits and pieces of apparent liturgy (?). While some of these are square, others are a diamond shape. They seem to have been put in the hand of the deceased, on the deceased’s mouth (the diamond especially), or on the chest, and acted as “reminders” for the soul as it took its journey to the underworld: how to avoid the river of forgetfulness, what to say to Persephone, etc., in order to get to happy Elysion, not boring ol’ Hades.

There’s no little disagreement as to whether what’s on the tablets reflect a single text or several different traditions. There’s not even agreement as to whether these lamellae are “Orphic,” and what that meant. Dionysic rites were gender segregated, and (it seems) that the female rites did NOT use wine–a common misconception, and by the Hellenistic era, may have even been celebrated in buildings, not the forest. We have inscriptions suggesting as much. Instead of alcohol, the women danced themselves into a frenzy. They also weren’t really eating raw meat. The meat seems to have been tossed into a pit or bowl “for Dionysos.” So it wasn’t the wild crazy stuff described in the Bakkhai, which is a play and mythical. We can’t and shouldn’t assume it reflects what people were actually doing. That said, there is mention in Plutarch, et al., that the Macedonian version (mimallones instead of maenads) included the use of tame snakes. The Greeks had a weird relationship with snakes: they had a “house snake” connected to the cult of Zeus Ktesios, but also tended to regard snakes with great suspicion.

What the men were doing is less clear, and here’s where it may fold into “Orphic” rites, whatever that was. The assumption is some of the Orphic stuff was coming down from Thrace, Macedonia’s near neighbor. I’ve got a book Orpheus, the Thracian, but I got it at the museum in Kazanlak, Bulgaria, so it’s not included in the list below, as I doubt it’s obtainable easily, even for libraries.

Introduction to Mysteries generally:

Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults, Burkert is the “father” of much of the modern treatment of Greek religion, so this is the starting place.

Jan N. Bremmer, Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World. Another big name in the study of Greek religion.

Hugh Bowden, Mystery Cults of the Ancient World; I think his treatment of Eleusis is better than Dionysos, but it’s a good book with images.

Greek Mysteries: the Archaeological and Ritual of Ancient Greek Secret Cults, Michael B. Cosmopoulos, ed., is relatively recent and has a couple chapters on Dionysic cult.

Some intro bibliography on Dionysos:

Richard Seaford, Dionysos, from Routledge’s series on the heros and gods, is a great, short introduction that covers a lot of ground.

Susan Cole, “Finding Dionysos,” in A Companion to Greek Religion, ed. Daniel Ogden, another good introduction, written for a more advanced audience.

More complex treatments of Dionysos:

Masks of Dionysos, Thomas H. Carpenter and Christopher A. Faraone, eds., has articles on the god ranging from theatre to the mysteries.

A Different God? Dionysos and Ancient Polytheism, Renate Schlesier, ed. This (and the one below) are expensive edited collections better sought via ILL.

Redefining Dionysos, Alberto Bernabe, et al., eds., see the chapter “Dionysos versus Orphaeus?” by Marisa Tortorelli Ghidini.

Books on the tablets, the Derveni Papyrus, etc.:

Fritz Graf and Sarah Isles Johnston, Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets, 2nd ed….start here. It’s a great introduction.

The “Orphic” Gold Tablets and Greek Religion: Further Along the Path, Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, ed. A collection of articles on the tablets from all over the opinion map.

Poetry as Initiation: the Center for Hellenic Studies Syposium on the Derveni Papyrus, Ioanna Papadopoulou and Leonard Mueliner, eds., conference proceedings

I wonder what the reason is that all possible children of Hades and Persephone are also attributed to other parentages?

it’s weird.

The Goddess Ariadne, Goddess of the Labyrinth, Vegetation, Mazes, Paths, Fertility, Wine, Labyrinths, Snakes and Passion.

Ariadne is Depicted as a young maiden, dressed in traditional Mycenaean clothing for women. Her hands were shown holding snake and upon her head sat a crown with what appears to be a lion on top. In other artwork she is shown to be sad as she lays on the beach side after being abandoned there by the hero Theseus.

The symbols associated with Ariadne are bulls, lions, snakes, thread and labyrinth. Bulls, lions and snake also act as the sacred animals of Ariadne. The Roman equivalents to this can fall under two names, Libera and Ariana.

Ariadnes personality is that of a sweet and caring maiden; giving help to those she feels need it. She is adventurous and free spirited.

Some believe her name is nothing but an epithet, along side “Mistress of the labyrinth”. Ariadnes worship would including things such as: Ritual dancing, going into ecstasy like trances and action wild.

Ariadne is the daughter of king Minos, son of The god Zeus and the mortal Europa. Her mother was the nymph, Pasiphaë, Daughter of the Titan Helios and the nymph, Perse. Ariadne’s aunt was the nymph, Circe, famous as the witch from the Odyssey.

Ariadne was the sister of Acacallis, Androgeus, Glaucus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Xenodice, Catreus, and the Minotaur.

Ariadne fell in love with the hero Theseus when he was sent into the labyrinth as a sacrifice to the Minotaur. Ariadne was the key holder for the labyrinth, and before he could be sacrificed, came up with a plan to save him and kill the beast. Ariadne gave Theseus a string attached to a ball, this was so Theseus could find his way out of the labyrinth. After slaying the Minotaur, Theseus and Ariadne left the island of Crete. They found a ship and sailed to an island for rest. When Ariadne woke up from her sleep, Theseus and his crew were gone, leaving her alone on a beach. Ariadne cried and the god Dionysos found the maiden and fell deeply in love with her. Dionysos took Ariadne to Olympos to be married and fed her the food of the gods, Ambrosia. She then became a goddess.

Okay, so you know how Bacchus lore ended with that really creepy “Or he might be just mad“ line, I never could understand what was that refering to untyl I’ve found this video about the original Dionysus, and everything made sense (also, subscribe to this channel, they are great at summerazing mythology and history)

I rewrote the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, but in a way were nobody is unhappy. 

Theseus paced around his cell. He sighed deeply, very deeply. The next day, he had to face the minotaur. When he had stepped onto the boat that brought him to Crete, weeks earlier, he had thought that he would have figured out how to brave the labyrinth by this point. But alas, his brain was still blank. He sunk to the ground and rested his head against the wall of his cell. He was so tired. What to do, what to do…

He scrambeld to his feet when he heard something in the hallway. He turned his head around, towards the small window in the door. He saw light coming towards him. He blinked. It seemd so…bright. He hadn’t seen light in quite a while. He heard a knock on his door. ‘Theseus?’ a feminine voice asked. Theseus straightend his back. 

'Who are you?’

'You are a feisty one. I am princess Ariadne.’ Theseus swallowed. 

'What do you want from me?’

'Calm down a little. I can help you defeat the minotaur. Yet… I’ll want something back.’

'How can I trust that you won’t kill me?’

'Theseus, your chances are that I  actually help you, or I kill you. If I don’t give you advice, you die tomorrow anyway, so you either take the chance, or you die anyway.' 

Theseus didn’t say anything back. 'I take it that you agree.’ He heard the lock of the door open. Ariadne appeared in the door frame. 'Follow me.’

The princess lead him to a secluded part of the palace. 'We can talk here. The guards patrol here at this time.’ She soothed the skirt of her dress. First, there is something you should know. The minotaur is my half-brother.’ Theseus gasped and opened his mouth to say something back, but the princess held up her finger. 

'Let me continue. I know Asterion - that is the minotaurs birthname - has the habit of eating humans, when forced by starvation. Yet, when he does not get meat, he eats regular food, the scraps of our dinner. Someone had to bring it to him every day, and that was me. I… I have gotten close to him.’

'He is a monster, though, and you are so young and frail…’

'I am quite certain that I am older than you are and we Princesses train more than people think. Moving on, It would break my heart if he were to be killed.’ Theseus swallowed. The look she gave him didn’t make him feel comfortable. 'Now - it is quite easy to go around this problem,’ she continued, 'Because under the labyrinth there is a corridor system, through which he will be able to escape to the woods on the island. He will be safe there, it is a holy place where hunting is illegal.’

'How do you know all that?’

'I said I had to feed him every day. Do you think I do not know how to walk through the labyrinth? Also, my… mentor showed me the geography of the Island.' 

'Alright, that is true, I guess…’ The girl pushed a ball of yarn into his hands.

'Here. This clew of wool will make sure that you do not get lost and that you will find the corridors. It is magic - don’t ask.  If Asterion sees it, and you call him by his name, I am sure that he will not charge at you. Tell him I send you.’

'Wait, he can…’

'Understand and speak human language. . If you lead him away, you can use the clew to get back to the entrance of the labyrinth, so you can leave and go back to Athens, with all the others.’

'What if he kills me before I can do all that?’

'He won’t.’ Ariadne got a sword from behind her skirts. 'But, here is my dad’s sword, just to be sure.’ Theseus laughed. 

'Well… Thanks.’ He took the sword from her hands. After that, he remembered that Ariadne had told him he had to do something for her in return. 'Uh… You told me I needed to do something for you too.’ She gave him a single nod.

'This might sound weird…’

'Weirder than everything you have already told me?’ She chuckled.

'Depends on how you see it. But, you see, I am actually supposed to get married to the old king of Thrace. He is… known for keeping a lot of misstresses and not treating his wives good. Yet, I have received a… better proposal. One that my father doesn’t agree with. Or know of.’ Theseus raised his eyebrows.

'Of whom, then? One of the servants? Some fisherman?’

'Very funny, Athens Boy. But, no.’ The princess pushed up her sleeve, revealing a small tattoo on the back of her arm. It resembled a bunch of grapes, but Theseus realised that it wasn’t just any small tatoo. It felt like one of the gods. put it there. 'It’s Dionysus…’

'What!?’

'Let me talk. Yet, he can’t take me away from here. I am locked inside the castle at all times and because of an old law, he can’t get me out. Yet, a few days ago, he told me he could take me along with him if I was not on Crete. I have looked at it, and there is a small Island on the way from Athens to Crete, called Naxos. You can leave me there. ’

'So, if I can lead the minotaur to a peaceful place so that I do not die and he doesn’t either, I just… have to take you along and leave you on that island so your boyfriend, who is also the god of madness and wine, can pick you up?’

'Exactly.' 

Theseus blinked. 'Sounds way to easy to be true.' 

The princess shrugged. 'It is the best for everyone.’

'Then I accept, your majesty.' 

 'So, we have a deal, my prince?’ She held up her hand.

'We have a deal,’ he said, while giving her a high five.

Theseus breathed in the cool sea air.’ Hmm. Now that’s amazing, don’t you think?’ Ariadne chuckled. 

'It certainly is. I would often sneak off to a side of the palace where the fresh air from the ocean could just reach me. But of course, it is nothing compared to being fully surrounded by it.’ Theseus nodded. 

'I can understand that. Man, I almost can’t comprehend how easy that whole ordeal turned out to be. Thanks again, Ariadne.’ The princess nodded. 

'Hm-hm.’ She narrowed her eyes. 'I think that over there is Naxos.’ Theseus looked at the direction she pointed at. He sighed. 'Yeah, it sure is.’ He turned around. 

'Sail towards the island in the distance! We’ll get resources for the rest of the trip there!’ He called out. His first mate nodded, and begun shouting instructions to the rest of the crew. 

Theseus sighed again and turned back to Ariadne. She looked excited. 'You know, I wish you and your boyfriend good luck, together.’ She looked at him and smiled.

'Thanks, Theseus. If you ever find a lover, I wish you the same.’ She chuckled again. 'I think I’ll miss you… for a bit.’ Theseus laughed.

Same for me, princess. Just a bit, of course.’ They laughed together. She took a very deep breath. 

'We’ll have the rest of the trip to the island to still talk, Theseus.’

Theseus carried a barrel filed with fresh water towards the ship. When he was done, he walked out onto the beach one last time. Ariadne was waiting there. 'Are you sure he is coming?’ She nodded with confidence. 

'Yes. When you have left.’ He slowly nodded.

Ariadne put a hand on his shoulder. I feel his presence, Theseus. You have my eternal thanks  for bringing me here.’

'You’re welcome.’ She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

'I hope I get to see you again some day.' 

'Me too. ’ Ariadne let her hand slip of his shoulder. Theseus put a step back, turned around and slowly walked back to the boat. 

He waved at her one last time, when she was just a spec in the distance. She waved back, before turning around and walking towards something Theseus couldn’t fully see. He took a deep breath. 'Guess he did come for her after all,’ he said to himself, feeling relieved. 

'I think he thinks you didn’t come for me,’ Ariadne said, while she gracefully twirled  around after that last wave. 

'I did, though. And you too, apparently. To be honest, I wasn’t sure he’d let you go,’ Dionysus answered.  She snickered and fell into his arms.

'Gods have a certain aura, don’t you know that? and I can sense yours from a few hundred metres away. That’s how I knew you were coming.’ Dionysus snickered.

'Good to know that.’ He gently pushed her out of his arms, so he could look at her. He cupped her face. 'You’re even more beautiful when you are free.'  Ariadne put a hand on his.

'That’s good to know, because that is how I will be spending the rest of my life.’ Dionysus nodded and kissed her on the forehead. 

I promise you that it will be the rest of your life, Ariadne. I promise.’

30 days of Dionysus - 8

Day 8 -  Variations on this deity (aspects, regional forms, etc.)

That’s.. such a wide topic…

Let me start off by reminding everyone that ancient Greek cultus was not homogenous. Ancient Greece was a cluster of independant cities which, while sharing a pantheon, did things differently. So yeah, we’re gonna have plenty and plenty of regional forms and aspects for each god. I also want to point out that we’re also talking about a religion that changed a lot over the centuries. When someone now, in the 21th century, refers to “hellenic polytheism”, we’re talking about a simplified, unified, modernized version of the old cultus, no matter how recon you want to be. And that specific modern version is largely based upon the biggest ressource we have: Athens, and its golden age: the 5th century BC. 

Now, if you’re historically inclined like myself and many others on this website are, you can dig into academical articles and books and find out more about more localized ways of doing. 

As a said, there were many ways I could have gone with such a vague subject for today but I’m going to take the “regional form” route and talk about something I haven’t seen that much on tumblr yet: the thracian cult of Dionysus and its link to Orphism. This will be long, so I’m gonna put this under the cut and if you’re interested: buckle up. 

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