Taylor - Eleusianian and Bacchic Mysteries.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

"River Goddesses.SECTION II.Dionysiacal sacred rites institutedTHEby Orpheus,* depended on the following arcane narration, part of which has beenalready related in the preceding section,and the rest may be found in a variety ofauthors. Dionysus, or Bacchus [Zagreus],while he was yet a boy, was engaged by theTitans, through the stratagems of Juno, in avariety of sports, with which that period of* Whether Orpheus was an actual living person has been questioned by Aristotle ;but Herodotus, Pindar, and other writers,mention him. Although the Orphic system is asserted to havecome from Egypt, the internal evidence favors the opinion that itwas derived from India, and that its basis is the Buddhistic philosophy. The Orphic associations of Greece were ascetic, contrasting markedly with the frenzies, enthusiasm, and license of thepopular rites. The Thracians had numerous Hindu customs.The name Kor6 is Sanscrit; and Zeus may be the Dyaus ofHindu story. His visit to the chamber of Kor6-Persephoneia(Parasu-pani) in the form of a dragon or naga, and the horns orcrescent on the head of the child, are Tartar or Buddhistic. The187