Published by the Swedish Institute at Athens. Out of print. Open access, use link below.

The Dionysiac mysteries of the Hellenistic and Roman age

By Martin P. Nilsson

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Conclusions (excerpt)

The mysteries of Dionysos appealed to well-to-do people who loved a pleasant and luxurious life. The banquet of the blessed Dead appealed to the taste of a public that was fond of the pleasures of life and did not take religion too seriously. The mysteries of Dionysos appealed to people who from education and conservatism kept to the old culture and religion and yielded less easily to the lure of the more demanding foreign religions, but who still wanted a little thrill of religion as a spice to the daily routine.

These characteristics explain the popularity of the Bacchic mysteries of the well-to-do classes, and they explain also why they have left so few traces, except for inscriptions and monuments, in the history of late paganism. These people were not in earnest about religion.

The creation of new Dionysiac mysteries in the Hellenistic age and their popularity in Roman times, the attachment of their adherents to the enjoyment of life, their belief in a happy afterlife, their love of children, these and the colouring of Orphic and mystic ideas all shed an interesting light on the mentality of the age. They are the only new mysteries of Greek origin which spread widely, and although much less noticed by scholars than the Oriental cults they seem to have been more popular than their rivals among the upper classes. But apparently there was at the same time a weakness in their content, which made them unable to compete in real influence with those more earnest and exacting mysteries.

Contents

List of illustrations

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Ch. I. Introduction, pp. 1–4

Ch. II. The Hellenistic Age, pp. 4–21

Ch. III. The Liknon, pp. 21–37

Ch. IV. Dionysos Liknites, pp. 38–45

Ch. V. The Greek Lands in the Roman Age, pp. 45–66

Ch. VI. The Bacchic Mysteries in Italy, pp. 66–106

Ch. VII. The Child in the Bacchic Mysteries, pp. 106–115

Ch. VIII. The Afterlife, pp. 116–132

Ch. IX. Orphic and Pythagorean Influences, pp. 133–143

Ch. X. Conclusions, pp. 143–147

Index

Bibliographical information

Martin P. Nilsson, The Dionysiac mysteries of the Hellenistic and Roman age (Skrifter utgivna av Svenska institutet i Athen-8°, 5), Lund 1957. ISSN 0081-9921.

Reviews

American Journal of Archaeology 63:1, 1959, 99–100 (Margarete Bieber)

The Classical Review 9:1, 1959, 57–58 (W. K. C. Guthrie)

The Classical World 58:8, 1958, 241–242 (LeRoy A. Campbell)

The Journal of Hellenic Studies 78, 1958, 166–167 (H.J. Rose)

L’Antiquité Classique 27:1, 1958, 268-269 (Jacques Schwartz)