Herodotus and the Sacred -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 19:50:43 04/06/08 Sun
Author: JPJ II
Subject: Herodotus and the Sacred

I was reading Herodotus' description of Dionysus' Egyptian roots in 2.47 to 2.59 of 'The Histories'. The section begins: "Pigs are considered unclean." So unclean, in fact, that swineherds were the only Egyptians not allowed in temples, and whenever anyone touches a pig they immediately "jump in water, clothes and all" to wash themselves. Herodotus continues: "The only deities to whom the Egyptians consider it proper to sacrifice pigs are Dionysus and the Moon...the meat is eaten on the same day as the sacrifice is offered - on no other day would they consent to taste it." Herodotus lays out in even more explicit detail than what I've quoted (for three paragraphs in fact) the strange relationship between prohibition and sacred sacrifice concerning Dionysus, himself claiming that many of the customs surrounding Dionysus "would have been more Greek" if the God had not been imported from abroad. What I found odd was that Herodotus, even in the 5th century BC, claims the worship and culture of Dionysus to be an oddity, something that belongs more in far off Egypt than in his Hellas.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]