Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity

This book fills a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Focusing on the visual language surrounding these cults, it aims to understand how images depict mysteries in different cults: Dionysus, Mithras, Mother of the Gods, and Isiac cults. Contents 6 Figures 8 Notes on Contributors 12 1 Mystery Cults and Visual Language in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: An Introduction 16 Part 1 Do Images Depict Mystery Cults, and If So, How? 54 Introduction to Part 1 56 2 Comment figurer l’ineffable, comment lire les images ? 58 3 Le phallus qui cache le mystère ? Les images dionysiaques dans les décors romains : à propos d’une fresque de la Domus Transitoria 77 4 Échos de la Télétè dionysiaque dans la mosaïque romaine tardive 95 Part 2 Historiography and Images of Mystery Cults 114 Introduction to Part 2 116 5 ‘The Seven Grades of Mithraism’, or How to Build a Religion 118 6 Les mystères isiaques et leurs expressions figurées. Des exégèses modernes aux allusions antiques 138 Part 3 Depicting Objects to Signify Mystery Cults 184 Introduction to Part 3 186 7 The Liknon and the Bundle: Does the Ritual ‘Initiatory’ Object Make the Mystery? 188 8 The Cista, a Hallmark of Mater Magna’s Mysteries in the Roman World? 209 Selected Bibliography 234 Index of Ancient Authors 244 Index of Inscriptions (in corpora) 247 General Index 249 "Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity aims to fill a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity by focusing on images for investigating their ritual praxis. N. Belayche and F. Massa have gathered experts on visual language in order to illuminate cultic rituals renowned for both their "mysteries" and their images. This book tackles three interrelated questions. Focusing on the cult of Dionysus, it analyses whether, and how, images are used to depict mystery cults. The relationship between historiography and images of mystery cults is considered with a focus on the Mithraic and Isiac cults. Finally, turning to the cults of Dionysus and the Mother of the Gods, this works shows how depictions of specific cultic objects succeed in expressing mystery cults"-- Provided by publisher Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity aims to fill a gap in the study of mystery cults in Graeco-Roman Antiquity by focusing on images for investigating their ritual praxis. Nicole Belayche and Francesco Massa have gathered experts on visual language in order to illuminate cultic rituals renowned for both their “mysteries” and their images. This book tackles three interrelated questions. Focusing on the cult of Dionysus, it analyses whether, and how, images are used to depict mystery cults. The relationship between historiography and images of mystery cults is considered with a focus on the Mithraic and Isiac cults. Finally, turning to the cults of Dionysus and the Mother of the Gods, this work shows how depictions of specific cultic objects succeed in expressing mystery cults.