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Article THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES ← Page 6 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ancient Mysteries
The goddess first mourned her lover as dead , and then rejoiced at his revival . This alternated lamentation and joy were imitated by her votaries , and as an entire scenic representation of the sufferings of Attis was gone through ; his image , like that of Osiris ^ was placed ,
at the commencement of the mourniul portion ot the ceremony , ma ship or ark of hollowed pine-tree , for which the same reasons are assigned as in the mysteries of Egypt , independently of which , Attis was said , at one portion of his life , to have made some remarkable voyage . By some writers also , Attis is , like Osiris , identified with
Bacchus ; hence again the sacred ark would be identical with the same vessel in the Bionysiaca , or mj ^ steries of Bacchus , in which also the god was alternately wailed as dead ? and rejoiced over as restored to life .
Osiris was said to have " entered into the moon ' in the month of Phamenoth , early in the spring , at the time , indeed , of new moon , and on the eleventh day of the month Tybi ( early in January ) , the fete in honour of the return of Isis from Phoenicia was celebrated , and cakes stamped with the image of a bound hippopotamus were offered in commemoration of her victory over Typhon
the common enemy of herself , her husband Osiris , and her son Horus . In honour of Osiris , moreover , the ceremony of throwing a cord among the people and cutting it into pieces , was solemnly performed , to commemorate the desertion of Thueris , the concubine of Typhon , and her delivery from a serpent which was killed by some soldiers , as it pursued her in her flight to the army of Horns .
The mysteries ot Usiris were , moreover , divided into tue greater and the lesser mysteries ; and such neophytes as were received were first admitted to the lesser rites . Pew Greeks or strangers were admitted at all , even to the lesser rites ; and so small was the number of those to whom this ritual was known in its integrity , that admission to the whole of it , to all its degrees , or gradations , was considered the highest honour that anv man could oossiblv attain to .
Many were the qualifications required for admission even into the earliest steps , among which a strictly virtuous life was perfectly indispensable . The more sacred and secret mysteries of Osiris , from which the Eleusinian mysteries were derived , applied , strictly , more to Isis than to Osiris , and celebrate her grief for the loss of Osiris ; as in the mysteries of Eleusis in Attica , in after-years , the
chief subject of commemoration , was tho grief of Ceres for the loss of her daughter Proserpine . Hence also originated another ritual or festival , in honour of Ceres , called the Thesmophoria . It is now time to take the opportunity of looking into Herodotus with regard to the mysteries at SaTs . " l \^ vo ^ says Herodotus
V ^ ook : u . 170 , 1 . 71 ) , " is the sepulchre of hun . whoso name torso little cause I should think it iinhohj to mention , in tho sacred enclosure of Minerva , behind tho temple , occupying the whole length of the wall of the temple . And in the enclosure there stand great stone obelisks . And the lake is close at hand bordered with a stone
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ancient Mysteries
The goddess first mourned her lover as dead , and then rejoiced at his revival . This alternated lamentation and joy were imitated by her votaries , and as an entire scenic representation of the sufferings of Attis was gone through ; his image , like that of Osiris ^ was placed ,
at the commencement of the mourniul portion ot the ceremony , ma ship or ark of hollowed pine-tree , for which the same reasons are assigned as in the mysteries of Egypt , independently of which , Attis was said , at one portion of his life , to have made some remarkable voyage . By some writers also , Attis is , like Osiris , identified with
Bacchus ; hence again the sacred ark would be identical with the same vessel in the Bionysiaca , or mj ^ steries of Bacchus , in which also the god was alternately wailed as dead ? and rejoiced over as restored to life .
Osiris was said to have " entered into the moon ' in the month of Phamenoth , early in the spring , at the time , indeed , of new moon , and on the eleventh day of the month Tybi ( early in January ) , the fete in honour of the return of Isis from Phoenicia was celebrated , and cakes stamped with the image of a bound hippopotamus were offered in commemoration of her victory over Typhon
the common enemy of herself , her husband Osiris , and her son Horus . In honour of Osiris , moreover , the ceremony of throwing a cord among the people and cutting it into pieces , was solemnly performed , to commemorate the desertion of Thueris , the concubine of Typhon , and her delivery from a serpent which was killed by some soldiers , as it pursued her in her flight to the army of Horns .
The mysteries ot Usiris were , moreover , divided into tue greater and the lesser mysteries ; and such neophytes as were received were first admitted to the lesser rites . Pew Greeks or strangers were admitted at all , even to the lesser rites ; and so small was the number of those to whom this ritual was known in its integrity , that admission to the whole of it , to all its degrees , or gradations , was considered the highest honour that anv man could oossiblv attain to .
Many were the qualifications required for admission even into the earliest steps , among which a strictly virtuous life was perfectly indispensable . The more sacred and secret mysteries of Osiris , from which the Eleusinian mysteries were derived , applied , strictly , more to Isis than to Osiris , and celebrate her grief for the loss of Osiris ; as in the mysteries of Eleusis in Attica , in after-years , the
chief subject of commemoration , was tho grief of Ceres for the loss of her daughter Proserpine . Hence also originated another ritual or festival , in honour of Ceres , called the Thesmophoria . It is now time to take the opportunity of looking into Herodotus with regard to the mysteries at SaTs . " l \^ vo ^ says Herodotus
V ^ ook : u . 170 , 1 . 71 ) , " is the sepulchre of hun . whoso name torso little cause I should think it iinhohj to mention , in tho sacred enclosure of Minerva , behind tho temple , occupying the whole length of the wall of the temple . And in the enclosure there stand great stone obelisks . And the lake is close at hand bordered with a stone