death of Osiris, ending with joyful ceremonies, celebrating the resurrection.
We are assured that the Grecian mysteries originated from the same animistic plane as those of the mystic ritual of Egypt. Even Plutarch admitted that the myths of Dionysus, Apollo, and Demeter, "all the things that are shrouded in mystic ceremonies and are presented in rites," are just as absurd as the legend of Osiris and Typhon.
The mysteries of Dionysus originated in ancient Phrygia, and passed into Greece in early times. Archaeologists state that it is impossible to fix a date for the beginning of this kingdom, as it appears to have risen on an older civilization. It was a Greek tradition that the Phrygians were the oldest people, and their language the original speech of mankind. Zabazius was the original name of Dionysus in Phrygia, and his earliest images were of wood, with the branches attached. Later he was represented in the form of a bull with a human head; and when the anthropomorphic stage was reached his image was in human form, sometimes adorned with the horns of a bull. He had many sacred animals, but the bull was the one particularly connected with his worship.
The reproductive forces of Nature being dramatically portrayed in these mystic ceremonies, and the symbols given in forms which would explain their meaning to all beholders, it naturally follows that the method upon which these signs were based might be pure or obscene, according to the mental development of the people by whom they were given. Tradition shows that the latter predominated in the rites of that which has been termed Nature-worship. The class who have made a careful study of this subject state that there is not one of the ancient religions—the Israelite not excepted—which has not deified the sexual relation by some ceremonial rite connected with the solemn service of religion. It is evident that these forms evolved from such savage customs, as is still witnessed amid the orgies of the serpent-worshipers in Africa.[1] The peculiar custom of circumcision is thought to have originated in these gross symbols, as a sacrifice to the deity supposed to rule over the reproductive forces, as well as being also a substitute for human sacrifices. After the Phrygian mysteries were introduced into Greece, Sabazius was known under the name of Dionysus, or Bacchus, the god of the vine, whose functions were similar to those of the Vedic god Soma. Here Bacchus was called the son of Zeus and Demeter, and his birth, death, and resurrection were dramatically represented in the Grecian mysteries. Out of the combined rites connected with
- ↑ See Vudu Worship, by Major Ellis, in The Popular Science Monthly, 1891.
