Only fragments remain of the Theogony or cosmogony that seems to have constituted an important element in Orphic belief. The first principle was Chronus (Time), sometimes described as a monstrous serpent having the heads of a bull and a lion with a god's face between; Chronus was accompanied by brooding Adrasteia (Necessity), and from Chronus came Aether, Chaos, and Erebus. In Aether, Chronus fashioned an egg that split in two; and from this appeared the firstborn of all the gods, Phanes, the creator of everything, called by many names, among them Eros." He was a bisexual deity, with gleaming golden wings and four eyes, described as possessing the appearance of various animals. Phanes bore a daughter, Night, who became his partner in creation and eventually his successor in power. Night then bore Gaea (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven), and they produced the Titans. Next Cronus succeeded to the rule of Night and subsequently (as in the Hesiodic account) Zeus wrested power from his father, Cronus.
Then Zeus swallowed Phanes, and with him all previous creation (including a special race of human beings of a golden age); Zeus now created everything anew, with the help of Night. As second creator, Zeus became the beginning and middle and end of all things. Eventually Zeus mated with Kore (Persephone), and Dionysus was born. This myth of the birth of Dionysus is most potent for the dogma it provides, and we have related it in connection with Dionysus himself (pp. 223-224). Its essential features are that the infant god was dismembered and devoured by the monstrous Titans, who were then struck down in punishment by the thunderbolt of Zeus. From the ashes of the Titans came mortals; thus humans are partly evil and mortal but also partly pure and divine, since the wicked Titans had consumed the god, although not completely. The heart of Dionysus was saved and he was born again.
In this way, the Orphic bible provided the divine authority for belief in an immortal soul; the necessity for keeping this soul pure despite the contamination and degradation of the body; the concept of a kind of original sin; the transmigration of the soul to an afterlife of reward or punishment; and finally, after various stages of purification, an apotheosis, a union with the divine spirit in the realms of the upper aether. The seeds of everything came from Phanes or Zeus; out of the One, all things come to be and into the One they are once again resolved.
Plato's myth of Er and Vergil's vision
of the afterlife are, as far as we can tell, strongly influenced
by Orphic concepts; a reading of both conveys most simply and directly
a feeling for the basic tenets of Orphism. The ritual purification
and catharsis of the great god Apollo are mingled with the Dionysiac belief
in the ultimate immortality of the human soul to provide a
discipline and control of the ecstatic passion of his Bacchic mysteries.
MYSTERY RELIGIONS
Mystery religions have been a persistent theme; their spiritual ethos has been associated with Eros, Rhea, Cybele and Attis, Aphrodite and Adonis, Dionysus, Demeter, and Orpheus. We cannot distinguish with clear precision among the many different mystery religions and philosophies of the ancient world. It is possible, for example, to argue that the mysteries of Demeter, with their emphasis on participation in certain dramatic rites, lacked the spiritual depth of Orphism, with its insistence on the good life as well as mere initiation and ritual. In any comparison or contrast for the greater glory or detriment of one god or goddess and one religion as opposed to another, it must be remembered that we know practically nothing about the Greek and Roman mysteries. In contrast, our knowledge, say, of Christianity, particularly in its full development, is infinitely greater. The correspondences between Christianity and the other mystery religions antiquity are perhaps more startling than the differences. Orpheus and they share attributes in the early centuries of our era, and of all the ancient deities, Dionysus has most in common with the figure of Christ.
MYSTERY RELIGIONS IN ROMAN TIMES
Mystery religions were widely practiced in the Roman Empire during the four centuries of the Christian era. Like Christianity, they gave the individual worshiper hope for a better life in an uncertain world and frequently expectation of a new life after death. Since mystery religions involved initiation into secret knowledge, our information about them is at best partial generally inadequate. We can say with certainty that the mysteries involved a sense of belonging to a group and that initiation preceded some sort revelation, which resulted in a sense of release and joy, with hope for a better future in this life and in the life after death. Often the initiate submitted to discipline of a rule of life, so that morality and religion were closely associated.
The mysteries of Demeter at Eleusis attracted initiates from all classes all over the empire and continued to be practiced down into late antiquity. The sanctuary was destroyed by the Huns in CE 395, and the Christians saw to it that it was never rebuilt. Other Greek mystery cults continued to flourish in the Roman Empire. The mysteries of Cybele and Attis continued to be important throughout the Roman world, but their violent elements, especially the self-mutilation of the Galli (i.e., priests), made the cult less attractive than other cults with central resurrection myths. Shedding the blood of a bull came to be a spectacular feature of the rite of initiation into these mysteries. It was called the taurobolium, and the initiate stood in a pit under the bull, so that its blood poured down upon him." This baptism symbolized purification, the washing away of the old life, and resurrection to a new one; and the rebirth was further symbolized by the drinking of milk, the drink of a newborn child. while the ancient musical instruments of Cybele's worship became part of a kind of communion: "I have eaten from the tambourine, I have drunk from the cymbal, I have become a mystic of Attis," are the words of one hymn. Like the Eleusinian mysteries, the mysteries of Cybele ceased to be practiced after the fourth century.
The oldest of the Greek mysteries after those of Demeter were those of the Cabiri, whose cult center was associated with the island of Samothrace and the city of Pergamum. The Cabiri themselves were usually referred to as theoi megaloi, the "great gods." Sometimes they were identified with the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, and thus offered protection from the dangers of seafaring. The Argonauts were said to have been initiated, and there are innumerable records of actual initiations in the Greek and Roman world right down until the end of the fourth century. Three Eastern mystery religions widely practiced in the Roman Empire were sometimes assimilated to Greek and Roman mythology. From Persia came the mysteries of Mithras (or Mithra), the god of light and truth and righteous champion of good against evil.[1] His myth included a miraculous birth from a rock and the slaying of a bull, from whose blood sprang the fertility of the earth. Mithraism was practiced in underground chapels or Mithraea. More than 400 of these have been found all over the Roman world, wherever Roman soldiers and merchants traveled. Basic to the iconography of a Mithraeum was a tauroctony, a scene depicting Mithras, amidst other figures, killing a bull, presumably a ritualistic sacrifice by which the god assured beneficence and rebirth for his initiates. The cult appealed especially to officers, soldiers, and sailors; and only men could be initiated. We do not know the details of the initiation rituals, but we do know that there were seven grades of initiation and that the cult demanded a high level of self-discipline from its initiates. Its ceremonies also involved a communal meal. Mithraism was a major rival to Christianity; and, like the other mystery religions we have mentioned, it continued to be practiced widely until the end of the fourth century.
The second Eastern religion, which was not strictly a mystery religion with the usual elements of secrecy and revelation, was the worship of Atargatis, known to the Romans simply as Dea Syria, the Syrian goddess. She was originally an earth-mother, like Cybele and Demeter, whose cult was spread through the Roman world, especially by soldiers. Shrines have been found at Rome itself and as far away as Hadrian's Wall, which the Romans built in northern England. Her consort was variously called Tammuz or Dushara, but her sacred marriage to the Semitic god of the thunder, Hadad, led to her association with the other sky-gods, the Syrian Baal, the Greek Zeus, and the Roman Jupiter. She was worshiped in wild rituals with self-flagellation by ecstatic priests.l6 Amongst Romans her consort was usually called Jupiter Dolichenus, who was portrayed holding an axe and a thunderbolt and standing upon the back of a bull.
The third Eastern mystery religion
is the worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis and we have a full account
of an initiate's conversion. Like Demeter and Cybele, Isis was a goddess
of fertility, bringer of new life and hope. Her myth involved a search,
in this case for her husband and brother, Osiris (dismembered by the evil
power, Seth), and for a child, Horus (also known as Harpocrates). Her attributes
included a musical instrument (a kind of rattle), a breast-shaped container
for milk, and a jug for the holy water of the Nile. Her cult was associated
with the god Serapis, whose origin is quite obscure; temples to Isis and
Serapis are found all over the Roman world. Isis herself, however, as mother
and nurturer, appealed to multitudes of men and women, who found in her
a less terrible presence than that of Cybele or the Syrian goddess. Lucius,
the hero of Apuleius' novel Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass), appealed
to her for help in becoming a human being again and shedding his form as
a donkey. She appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to take the
garland of roses from the hand of a priest, who would be taking part in
the procession in her honor the next day. When Lucius did this, he resumed
his human form, and the miracle was greeted with the praise of the crowd
(Metamorphoses 11.16F
[1] On the controversial issue of the origin of Mithraism
see: The Cosmic
Mysteries of Mithras and Mithraism