Page 81 - All About History 48 - 2017 UK

Roman Mystery Cults

UncoverthesecretritesandbizarreritualsoftheRomanspiritualunderworld

WrittenbyMarcDeSantis

uch of Roman religion was public tradition of her worship there. Other borrowings From Egypt in the 2nd century BCE came the
in nature. It was all-important to the from the East included that of Mithras from Persia. cult of the mother goddess Isis, who became
residents of the city to maintain Rome’s Though Persia had long been an enemy of Rome, beloved across the Roman world, and from the
good relationship with the gods, and this Mithras became a popular deity among the Romans, Greeks, the Romans learned of Dionysus, whom
M was done through regular sacrifices and especially with soldiers, officials and merchants of they called Bacchus – the god of agriculture and
the maintenance of myriad temples dedicated to the empire. wine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this mystery cult’s
them. But behind closed doors, those seeking more ecstatic rites included drinking and dancing,
intimate contact with the divine threw raucous liberating its members and inducing a trance-like
parties, committed gruesome self-mutilation state. Another celebrated cult was the Eleusinian
and performed ritual re-enactments. Known as Mysteries, which were held at Eleusis in Greece
‘mystery cults’, these highly secretive societies every autumn and had as their foundation the
spread through the Roman world from the East and mythological abduction and recovery by Demeter,
became extremely popular. goddess of agriculture, of her daughter, Persephone.
These societies were dedicated to various gods Before the religious revelry could begin, however,
and typically promised their devotees a happy members of the mystery cults had to be initiated.
afterlife. Mystery cults allowed the individual to
participate directly in the worship service, and the
ceremonies often involved ecstatic dancing and Initiation
singing. These experiences were intended to be
transformative, and differed greatly from the more At the heart of each Roman mystery religion was
staid rituals of public religion. the mysterium, a closely kept secret rite or point
One of the earliest cults to come to Rome was of theology. To gain knowledge of this ‘mystery’,
that of the Magna Mater, the Great Mother. In 204 a person had to undergo the process of initiation.
BCE, during the dark days of the war with Carthage, This was entirely voluntary; no one was compelled
the Romans became aware of a prophecy they to join a mystery cult or take part in its ceremonies.
believed was the key to defeating the enemy. They The purpose of the initiation ritual was to bring
had to seek out the Great Mother’s cult-image and the individual, the initiate, into direct contact
bring this to Rome from Ida, in the kingdom of with a deity through an intense and unforgettable
Pergamum. Her symbol was a sacred stone, which In this 17th-century painting, the Magna Mater is being experience. This ecstatic experience was not meant
fedbyallegoricaldepictionsoftheseasons
they brought back to Rome, beginning a long to be explained, but felt. Afterwards, they kept what
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