Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF PLATES IN VOL. V
- CHAPTER I CULTS OF HERMES
- CHAPTER II CULT-MONUMENTS OF HERMES
- CHAPTER III THE IDEAL OF HERMES
- CHAPTER IV CULTS OF DIONYSOS
- CHAPTER V DIONYSIAC RITUAL
- CHAPTER VI CULT-MONUMENTS OF DIONYSOS
- CHAPTER VII IDEAL DIONYSIAC TYPES
- CHAPTER VIII CULTS OF HESTIA
- CHAPTER IX CULTS OF HEPHAISTOS
- CHAPTER X CULTS OF ARES
- CHAPTER XI MINOR CULTS
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER V - DIONYSIAC RITUAL
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF PLATES IN VOL. V
- CHAPTER I CULTS OF HERMES
- CHAPTER II CULT-MONUMENTS OF HERMES
- CHAPTER III THE IDEAL OF HERMES
- CHAPTER IV CULTS OF DIONYSOS
- CHAPTER V DIONYSIAC RITUAL
- CHAPTER VI CULT-MONUMENTS OF DIONYSOS
- CHAPTER VII IDEAL DIONYSIAC TYPES
- CHAPTER VIII CULTS OF HESTIA
- CHAPTER IX CULTS OF HEPHAISTOS
- CHAPTER X CULTS OF ARES
- CHAPTER XI MINOR CULTS
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
The previous sketch has not clearly revealed any salient difference between Dionysos and the other high divinities of Hellas. It is rather through the minute study of the ritual that the distinctive and characteristic features of this religion emerge, and these are of equal interest for the students of primitive as of advanced religious ideas. The more striking phenomena of the aboriginal religion are found to have been the wild and ecstatic enthusiasm that it inspired, the self-abandonment and communion with the deity achieved through orgiastic rites and a savage sacramental act, and the prominence of women in the ritual, which in accordance with a certain psychic law made a special appeal to their temperament. It becomes then our first task to consider how far these features are reflected, clearly or dimly, in the cult-practices of the civilized Greek states; and, as the record is defective and confused, we must supplement it by every kind of indirect evidence within our reach.
That the mortal might be temporarily charged with the personality or spirit of the divinity, at exceptional times and through exceptional means, is an idea that may be traced here and there in the older Greek religion.
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- The Cults of the Greek States , pp. 150 - 239Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1909