The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
been represented as a bull (_Prolegomena to the Study of Greek
Religion_, p. 537). The conjecture was anticipated by Prof. U. von
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, _Aristoteles und Athen_ (Berlin, 1893), ii.
42. Dionysus was often conceived by the Greeks in the form of a bull.
Footnote 465:
Above, pp. 92 _sq._
Footnote 466:
L. Preller, _Ausgewählte Aufsätze_ (Berlin, 1864), pp. 293-296;
compare his _Griechische Mythologie_, 4th ed., ed. C. Robert, i. 681
_sqq._
Footnote 467:
Hyginus, _Astronomica_, i. 5.
Footnote 468:
Tertullian, _Ad nationes_, ii. 7, “_Cur rapitur sacerdos Cereris si
non tale Ceres passa est?_” Asterius Amasenus, _Encomium in sanctos
martyres_, in Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, xl. col. 324, Οὐκ ἐκεῖ (at
Eleusis) τὸ καταβάσιον τὸ σκοτεινόν, καὶ αἱ σεμναὶ τοῦ ἱεροφάντου πρὸς
τὴν ἱερείαν συντυχίαι, μόνου πρὸς μόνην; Οὐχ αἱ λαμπάδες σβέννυνται,
καὶ ὁ πολὺς καὶ ἀναρίθμητος δῆμος τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῶν εἶναι νομίζουσι
τὰ ἐν τῷ σκότῳ παρὰ τῶν δύο πραττόμενα; Psellus, _Quaenam sunt
Graecorum opiniones de daemonibus_, p. 39. ed. J. F. Boissonade, τὰ δέ
γε μυστήρια τούτων, οἷα αὐτίκα τὰ Ἐλευσίνια, τὸν μυθικὸν ὑποκρίνεται
Δία μιγνύμενον τῇ Δηοῖ, ἤγουν τῇ Δήμητρι ... Ὕποκρίνεται δὲ καὶ τὰς
τῆς Δηοῦς ὠδῖνας. Ἱκετηρίαι γοῦν αὐτίκα Δηοῦς καὶ χολῆς πόσις καὶ
καρδιαλγίαι. Ἐφ’ οἷς καί τι τραγοσκελὲς μίμημα παθαινόμενον περὶ τοῖς
διδύμοις, ὅτιπερ ὁ Ζεύς, δίκας ἀποτιννὺς τῆς βίας τῇ Δήμητρι, τράγου
ὄρχεις ἀποτεμών, τῷ κόλπῳ ταύτης κατέθετο ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ ἑαυτοῦ (compare
Arnobius, _Adversus nationes_, v. 20-23); Schol. on Plato, _Gorgias_,
p. 497 c, Ἐτελεῖτο δὲ ταῦτα (the Eleusinian mysteries) καὶ Δηοῖ καὶ
Κορῇ, ὅτι ταύτην μὲν Πλούτων ἁρπάξειε, Δηοῖ δὲ μιγείη Ζεύς;
Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 8, pp. 162, 164, ed.
Duncker and Schneidewin, Λέγουσι δὲ αύτον (God), φησί, Φρύγες καὶ
χλοερὸν στάχυν τεθερισμένον, καὶ μετὰ τοὺς Φρύγας Ἀθηναῖοι μυοῦντες
Ἐλευσίνια, καὶ ἐπιδεικνύντες τοῖς ἐποπτεύουσι τὸ μέγα καὶ θαυμαστὸν
καὶ τελειότατον ἐποπτικὸν ἐκεῖ μυστήριον ἐν σιωπῇ, τεθερισμένον
στάχυν. Ὁ δὲ στάχυς οὗτός ἐστι καὶ παρὰ Ἀθηναίοις ὁ παρὰ τοῦ
ἀχαρακτηρίστου φωστὴρ τέλειος μέγας, καθάπερ αὐτὸς ὁ ἱεροφάντης, οὐκ
ἀποκεκομμένος μέν, ὡς ὁ Ἄττις, εὐνουχισμένος δὲ διὰ κωνείου καὶ πᾶσαν
παρῃτημένος τὴν σαρκικὴν γένεσιν, νυκτὸς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι ὑπὸ πολλῷ πυρὶ
τελῶν τὰ μεγάλα καὶ ἄρρητα μυστήρια βοᾷ καὶ κέκραγε λέγων· ἱερὸν ἔτεκε
πότνια κοῦρον Βριμὼ Βριμόν, τουτέστιν ἰσχυρὰ ἰσχυρόν. In combining and
interpreting this fragmentary evidence I have followed Mr. P. Foucart
(_Recherches sur l’origine et la nature des mystères d’Eleusis_,
Paris, 1895, pp. 48 _sq._; _id._, _Les Grands Mystères d’Eleusis_,
Paris, 1900, p. 69), and Miss J. E. Harrison (_Prolegomena to the
Study of Greek Religion_, pp. 549 _sqq._). In antiquity it was
believed that an ointment or plaster of hemlock applied to the genital
organs prevented them from discharging their function. See
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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