The reformation of the Greek Dark Age
Extracts from chapter seventeen of "Primitive Materialism".
Secondly, it [Homer's account of Dionysus] records a war or conflict between worshippers of Dionysus and opponents of that worship, who are here the “nurses” – the feminine form indicates matriarchy. This interpretation was current among the Greeks, also from the Bibliotheke, which recounts that Lycurgus was a Thracian king who attempted to ban the cult of Dionysus. The Iliad provides evidence that the cult of Dionysus was suppressed, that the process was violent, that subsequently a compromise was made, and it was reinstated; it exaggerates the role of Zeus in this process, and underplays the power of the resistance, though it acknowledges that Lycurgus died in the attempt. Hence, it all points to a period of conflict taking place in the Dark Age, somewhere between 1200 and 800.
This conclusion is the thesis of Jane Ellen Harrison, who specifically attributes the religious revolution to a historic, not mythic, person Orpheus. She argues that “Orpheus was a reformer, a protestant” originating from Thrace; that he worshipped Helios, who is identified as the sun-god with Apollo, stating that it is known that the Thracian cult of the sun-god later fused with that of Apollo. In the myth of Orpheus, he is slain by Thracian women, the Maenads, the Bassarids, on account of which it is normal to identify Orpheus with Dionysus, and Proklos in a commentary on Plato wrote, ‘Orpheus, because he was the leader in the rites of Dionysos is said to have suffered the like fate to his god.” According to Philostratus, Orpheus’s head at Lesbos “gave oracles in the hollow earth”. It became a Nekyomanteion, an oracle of the dead, well-known and consulted by visitors from as far off as Babylon. Harrison maintains “the head was buried in the shrine of the god whose religion Orpheus reformed.” She argues that a story related by Conon has “some possible basis of historical fact.” Conon wrote, ‘When the miraculous head, singing and bleeding, was found, they took it and buried it beneath a great monument.” She agrees with Conon: “Orpheus was a real man, a mighty singer, a prophet and a teacher” of a new religion. He became a martyr. His supporters attempted, but failed, to promote Orpheus to Olympus. She notes that Pausanias agrees: “In my opinion Orpheus was a man,” Pausanias writes; “he was believed to have discovered rites of the gods and purifications for holy deeds and remedies for diseases and means of averting divine wrath.” There is a fundamental difference between Dionysus and Orpheus: “Dionysos is drunken, Orpheus is utterly sober.” Dionysus is the god of a matriarchal religion that involved human sacrifice; Orpheus was a man, who reformed that religion.[1]
[1] Harrison, Prolegomena, Op. cit., Chapter IX – Orpheus
This conclusion is the thesis of Jane Ellen Harrison, who specifically attributes the religious revolution to a historic, not mythic, person Orpheus. She argues that “Orpheus was a reformer, a protestant” originating from Thrace; that he worshipped Helios, who is identified as the sun-god with Apollo, stating that it is known that the Thracian cult of the sun-god later fused with that of Apollo. In the myth of Orpheus, he is slain by Thracian women, the Maenads, the Bassarids, on account of which it is normal to identify Orpheus with Dionysus, and Proklos in a commentary on Plato wrote, ‘Orpheus, because he was the leader in the rites of Dionysos is said to have suffered the like fate to his god.” According to Philostratus, Orpheus’s head at Lesbos “gave oracles in the hollow earth”. It became a Nekyomanteion, an oracle of the dead, well-known and consulted by visitors from as far off as Babylon. Harrison maintains “the head was buried in the shrine of the god whose religion Orpheus reformed.” She argues that a story related by Conon has “some possible basis of historical fact.” Conon wrote, ‘When the miraculous head, singing and bleeding, was found, they took it and buried it beneath a great monument.” She agrees with Conon: “Orpheus was a real man, a mighty singer, a prophet and a teacher” of a new religion. He became a martyr. His supporters attempted, but failed, to promote Orpheus to Olympus. She notes that Pausanias agrees: “In my opinion Orpheus was a man,” Pausanias writes; “he was believed to have discovered rites of the gods and purifications for holy deeds and remedies for diseases and means of averting divine wrath.” There is a fundamental difference between Dionysus and Orpheus: “Dionysos is drunken, Orpheus is utterly sober.” Dionysus is the god of a matriarchal religion that involved human sacrifice; Orpheus was a man, who reformed that religion.[1]
[1] Harrison, Prolegomena, Op. cit., Chapter IX – Orpheus
Questions
1. Was there a reformation of Greek religion during the Greek Dark Age?
2. Does analysis of Homer's text support this thesis?
3. Was Orpheus originally a real man (not a mythological character) responsible for ending the practice of ritual human sacrifice?
2. Does analysis of Homer's text support this thesis?
3. Was Orpheus originally a real man (not a mythological character) responsible for ending the practice of ritual human sacrifice?