Orgy of bacchus

Description:Matrons alternately performed the functions of priests. Priests and aged priestesses, adorned with garlands of ivy, carried through the city wine, honey, cakes, and sweet-meats, together with an altar with a handle ansata ara , in the middle of which there was a small fire-pan foculus , in which from time to time sacrifices were burnt. These are the happy, tranquil, and carefree parts of the underworld. He comes back to life during the Winter Solstice, when everything is still in a state of death and decay, and he has to rejuvenate himself. Once a year he dies and everything that he made grow begins to die too. The time of initiation lasted ten days, during which a person was obliged to abstain from all sexual intercourse; on the tenth he took a solemn meal, underwent a purification by water, and was led into the sanctuary Bacchanal.

Views: 1467 Date: 2018-11-13 Favorited: 36