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god Bacchus - The word has since come to describe any form of
drunken revelry - Livy informs us that the rapid spread of the cult,
which he claims indulged in all kinds of crimes and political
conspiracies at its nocturnal meetings, led in 186 B.C. to a decree of
the [Roman] Senate - the so-called Senatus consultum de
Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Apulia in
Southern Italy (1640), now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
- by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except
in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the
Senate
History: The bacchanalia were originally held in secret and only attended by women. The festivals occurred in the
grove of Simila near the Aventine Hill [one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built - Wiki.com] on
March 16 and March 17. Later, admission to the rites was extended to men, and celebrations took place five times a
month. According to Livy, the extension happened in an era when the leader of the Bacchus cult was Paculla Annia
- though it is now believed that some men had participated before that. Livy informs us that the rapid spread of the
cult, which he claims indulged in all kinds of crimes and political conspiracies at its nocturnal meetings, led in 186
BC to a decree of the Senate - the so-called Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet
discovered in Apulia in Southern Italy (1640), now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna - by which the
Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically
by the Senate. In spite of the severe punishment inflicted on those found in violation of this decree (Livy claims
there were more executions than imprisonment), the Bacchanalia survived in Southern Italy long past the repression.
Some modern scholars doubt Livy's account and argue that the Senate acted against the Bacchants for one of the
following reasons -- In Empires of Trust: How Rome Built - And America Is Building - A New World [NWO] by
Thomas Madden, the author cites the words of a [ancient] Roman investigative consul in his report to the Roman
Senate: there was no crime, no deed of shame, wanting (lacking). More uncleanness was committed by men with
men than with women. Whoever would not submit to defilement, or shrank from violating others, was sacrificed as
a victim. To regard nothing as impious or criminal was the sum total of their religion. The men, as though seized
with madness and with frenzied distortions of their bodies, shrieked out prophecies; the matrons, dressed as
Bacchae, their hair disheveled, rushed down to the Tiber River with burning torches, plunged them into the water,
and drew them out again, the flame undiminished because they were made of sulfur mixed with lime. Men were
fastened to a machine and hurried off to hidden caves, and they were said to have been taken away by the gods.
These were the men who refused to join their conspiracy or take part in their crimes or submit to their pollution. ...
Modern usage: In the second season of the HBO show 'True Blood' the town falls under the spell of a Maenad, who
holds regular Bacchanalia with the possessed townspeople.
6th Kingdom - Rome, Julius Caesar - What was Rome's version of
Mount Olympus called? In respect of where did the Roman Gods live? -
There is no change - it is known as "Mount Olympus" in both Roman
and Greek mythology - The gods lived in the same place in both
mythologies
Actually there is no Roman equivalent of the Greek Mt. Olympus as the legendary home of the twelve great gods
just named the Olympians in Greek mythology and simply 'Dii' or 'Di' ('gods') by the Romans. ... The Romans are
kind of a special case when it comes to mythology. They actually "stole" pieces of various world myths from the
races they conquered. The Greek gods tended to be primary in the Roman myths. The Romans actually took and
matched the Greek gods to pieces they already had and gave them more Roman names. There wasn't a specific
http://www.basicchristian.org/blog_History_Study_Complete.rss[1/16/2012 7:38:03 AM]