Abstract
The Thracian and Phrygian Sabazios cult is often identified with the Dionysian cult and rituals. The cult of Dionysus had been present in the Ancient Greek art and culture starting from the late 5th century BC. A general audience, became familiar with the content and meaning of Dionysian cult mostly through Euripides tragedy Bacchae. Both Dionysian and Saboi rituals were characterized by the culmination of ecstatic trance that often included orgies, animal, and human sacrifice. There were few scholarly attempts which only partly explained the connection of the two cults. The misunderstanding of the Sabazios cult and the divinity behind it, is related to common linguistic mistake which often occurred in the interpretation of the non-Greek words coined into Greek notions. The article presents the missing content by drawing parallels with the spread of Sabazios cult during the Persian conquest in the early 5th century BC, when Persia strongly re-tightened its positions in the Balkans through Macedon as its vassal state. It also aims to explain the influence of the conquest on development of particular group of religious cults, often named Osiris-Dionysus.
Author Information
Mirko Tasic, Webster University, Thailand
Paper Information
Conference: ACERP2018
Stream: Religion - Mysticism, Faith, and Scientific Culture
This paper is part of the ACERP2018 Conference Proceedings (View)
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