All the Greeks were afraid of these wild women. In Rome, it was decided to put an end to dangerous rites by literally purging the followers of the god of fertility. As a result, thousands of participants of famous orgies fell victim to persecution ...
Bacchanalia, or Greek and Roman mysteries in honor of Dionysus (Bacchus) - the god of wine, fertility and fun - were a kind of safety valve for women. An opportunity for the despised "weak sex" to scream out. Women then imitated the mythical nymphs from the god's retinue, and went down in history as menady, bacchantes.
Beware, wild women
Their normal rules did not apply during the holiday. In the middle of the Greek winter, they went out of the cities to the mountains, to the highest peak of Parnassus at a height of almost 2,500 meters. Drunk with wine, they raged in the woods. In mystical frenzy, it was said that they tear apart animals and eat raw meat. It was also rumored that they were indulging in debauchery .
Bacchanalia, or rituals in honor of Bacchus (Dionysus), began in Great Greece, from where they got to Rome, transforming into dissolute orgies. The illustration shows a fragment of Rubens' painting "Bacchanalia".
To this day, historians wonder whether the ecstasy of bacchantes was caused only by music, wine and lack of sleep. Or maybe they were also taking some drugs? Similarly, it is not known whether the sexual aspect of bacchanalia was limited only to displaying images of phalluses and obscene satyrs from Dionysus's retinue, or whether there was something more ...
The Greeks did not know, because they dared neither follow nor hurt them. This cult, however, was so disturbing and intriguing that it became the basis for one of the most famous arts of antiquity - the bloody tragedy of Euripides' The Bacchae in 405 BCE, in which they were shown as capable of tearing a man alive.
The rites in honor of Dionysus were an occasion for women to behave indecently, dances wildly and participate in orgies. Illustrated by menad (worshiper of god) in an Attic painting from the 5th century BC
Menad's paintings have also survived in ancient paintings and on copies of a beautiful sculpture by Scopas. A young woman tilts her head back on her, her hair falling down her back. Her beautiful, shapely body is curved in such a way that the robe begins to reveal intimate parts. The woman is clearly intoxicated and loses her temper in the Dionysian frenzy. In her hands lost centuries ago, she probably held the famous attributes:a dead goat and the staff of Dionysus, known as the Thyrsus.
The Greek menadas had a bad brand. This opinion was reinforced by rumors that one of them was the cruel Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great. However, the real scandal with bacchanals did not happen until republican Rome.
Worse than neuters
The prospect of happiness in this world and salvation in the afterlife brought about by the cult of Dionysus (Bacchus) turned out to be tempting also for the inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula. Beliefs spread very quickly, and both women and men participated in the mysteries.
The problem is that during the Roman bacchanalia in the 2nd century BC there was to be drunkenness, orgies, sodomization of young men and indecent behavior of women who played prominent roles in celebrations. Perhaps even human sacrifice was made there! In addition, real Dionysian sects were formed, organizationally having their own secret rites, rituals, degrees, etc. They created a structure independent of the state, like the later Freemasonry.
This was too much for the Roman authorities and in 186 BCE first, they investigated and purged the followers (7,000 people fell victim to them), and then allowed the cult of Dionysus to continue functioning only in a truncated, peaceful form.
While it is uncertain what was so indecent and terrible at the bacchanalia, it must have been a matter of considerable caliber since the cult of Cybele was tolerated in Rome at the same time. The priests of this Phrygian goddess, the so-called correctors, self-castrated during an orgiastic dance. Then they ran with their bloodied genitals through the city to throw them on someone else's property (This may have been related to the ancient belief that a beaver, trapped, bit off its testicles and abandoned them to hunters).
Cybele was a Phrygian fertility goddess whose followers self-castrated. Despite this, no one in Rome forbade rituals in her honor. Bacchanalia, on the other hand, was curtailed. So what must have happened during the festival of Dionysus?
The master of the house was to feel honored to dress the Corbant and give him new, feminine garments. Senators forbade Roman citizens to participate in these practices, but they did not "clean" the cult of macabre or indecent practices, as was the case with bacchanalia.
Perhaps the secret of the Dionysian mysteries lies precisely in the fact that the people participating in them escaped from the omnipotence of the rulers, broke the shackles of conventions and orders, and thus became free? And therefore too dangerous for you…
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The text was created during the author's work on his latest book. " Ages of shame. Sex and erotica in antiquity ” .