Dionysus, Hades and Soma: The Greek Lunar Cycle Part 1 of 3
Dionysus and Soma
With a clarified understanding of this “Lunar Cycle,” as it appears in the Celtic and Germanic mythologies, we can begin to look toward Greece to see if some of these same motifs and deities may be identifiable there. The prime candidate for the Greek “Soma” god becomes apparent at once by way of a near-exact myth once again involving the central Soma incarnation, Chyavana. It ought to come as no surprise that this Greek “Soma” candidate is the lord of divine intoxicating liquid, vegetation and mystical experience, Dionysus. The nexus between Dionysus and Chyavana-Soma is the close similarity of the stories of their births.
In the Vedic case, Chyavana's mother-to-be, Puloma, is pregnant with Chyavana. A conspiring raksasa demon, who desires to marry Puloma, turns into a pig and steals her away. This frightens Puloma into giving birth right then and there. The child's name, “Chyavana,” means “born-prematurely.” The bright splendor of Chyavana causes the demon to turn to ash immediately. In the Greek case, Dionysus' mother-to-be, Semele, is pregnant with Dionysus. Tricked by the conspiring goddess Hera, Semele compels Zeus to appear to her in his full glory as the form of lightning. He does so and Semele is burnt to ash immediately, causing Dionysus to fall from the ashes. Dionysus is thus considered prematurely born (and has to be temporarily sewn into Zeus' leg for further incubation). Perhaps his most characteristic epithet, “Dithyrambos,” is believed to be related to this trait of premature or double birth (though the etymology remains contentious). This premature birth is clearly important to the essence of the god, and, as we have previously put forward, it may correspond to the moon rising in the sky before the sky has yet grown dark. The moon is born prematurely each evening, before its proper time, which is night. The sudden “burning up” that follows this first birth may correlate to the sunset which fills the sky after the first rise of the moon. The moon then appears a second time in the darkened sky after the sunrise fades, as if born a second time (as Dionysus is born a second time, from Zeus).
Thus, in these two cases, we have a premature birth induced by mischief, wherein one of the primary figures is burnt to ash at the moment of the birth due to the bright splendor of a gods' sudden appearing (which god is the cause of this combustion is simply switched from the father to the infant), and the fact of this premature birth is seemingly made part of the newborn god's name. It seems, of course, that the roles have slightly shifted between the two versions. A demon has either been added to the Vedic version to cause the initial mischief and to be killed, or has been removed in the Greek case. The idea that the death of a goddess (Semele) might be ameliorated by the inclusion of a dispensable demon, who is killed instead, has a plausibility to it, yet it is generally too treacherous to speculate on such details. Then again, the Orphic parallel involves the Titans who have consumed Dionysus being turned to ash by Zeus, with Dionysus being “reborn” from their ashes. Thus the Titans would form a clearer match to the demon of the Vedic branch.
Again, it should come as no surprise that the lord of the soma "wine" (Chyavana-Soma) and the Greek god of sacred wine would be the same god. Mead is of course the Germanic version of the soma, ale is possibly the Irish, and the Greek liquid intoxicant is also referred to as methu, it being considered possible by scholars that some kind of mead may have been used by the proto-cult of Dionysus before the popularization of wine in Greece. (“Porphyry from 3rd century AD claimed on the authority of ‘Orpheus; that Zeus intoxicated Cronus with honey (that is, mead) since there was no wine at the time.” “These authorities may in fact be right that mead was known to Greeks before wine. The most telling clue is the fact that the Greek word for ‘intoxicant’ is methu, which likely meant mead; not only is the English word ‘mead’ related to methu, but in Sanskrit madhu means mead, leading back to a probably Indo-European root medhu. Already in Homer methu is equated with oinos (presumably wine).” “The name of Dionysus, the Greek god of intoxication, has also been found on two Linear B tablets (as di-wo-nu-so), in one case possibly connected to wine, and in the other to honey. This may show that Dionysus was connected to both wine and mead at this early time […] as an ancient commentator rightly realized, Dionysus is not said by Homer to be the ‘discoverer of wine’. Some scholars [See especially Harrison 1903: 323–324 and 1922: 413–425, whom Graves (1960: 108), among others, accepts.] have even argued that Dionysus was a beer (or mead) god before being a wine god, but the evidence is too sparse on this point. He may just as well have been a god of indiscriminate intoxication from various ingredients” (Max Nelson, The Barbarian’s Beverage, 14-15)). Indeed, the identification of Dionysus as Soma ought to have been in some degree anticipated, and the close similarity of Dionysus and Chyavana's births ought to confirm the parallel in large part. However, there are yet more lines we can draw between Dionysus and the various “Soma” gods we have found in the other branches, and these ought to put the equivalency beyond doubt.
At the forefront of the relevant points is the fact that, while Soma is a god of the moon (or a “lunar” god that was eventually assimilated to the moon itself), Dionysus is absolutely covered with “lunar” symbols. This is so much the case that Eliade says flatly of Dionysus, “Dionysus is both moon god and god of vegetation” (Patterns in Comparative Religion, 162). The specific set of symbols that makes this statement valid (and it is important that they are a set) are the bull, the serpent, the vine, and of course the waters or divine liquid. Dionysus is often portrayed with bull horns, and even in the form of a bull as at Kyzikos. He is invoked as “bull-footed” and his epithet bromios, “roarer,” is believed to pertain to his bull aspect, to his wind association, or both. In the Orphic version of his myth, he was said to transform into several animals, and lastly into a bull. Bulls were sacrificed to him during his festival, the Dionysia, and he is sometimes called Dionysus Tauros. The image of the cow, full with white milk, makes the bovine a natural lunar symbol, which may be reinforced by the coloration (black and white together is often seen as lunar, mirroring the illuminated and darkened portions of the moon) and by the general rotundity of the animal. More pertinently, the shape of the bull's horns was “long ago compared to a crescent and likened to the moon,” as Eliade says, while, “Lunar divinities of the Mediterranean and the East were represented under the form of a bull,” concluding, furthermore, that in Egypt the moon god was known as “the bull of the stars” (Patterns of Comparative Religion, 93). The bull is the repeated symbol for the fecundating power of the sky, the waters of heaven impregnating the earth as bull impregnates cow, which applies also to the powers of the moon. Thus there are multiple celestial gods who sometimes take the bull form: Father Sky, Moon god, and later Indra, among others, each seen as masculine fecundators who bring the fertilizing waters via rain to the feminine Earth.
Dionysus' bull form and prominent horns are thus his most compelling connections to the lunar sphere, but they are reinforced by his other lunar symbolism. Dionysus is often depicted as having a crown of serpents or even as serpent-bodied. The serpent is another primary lunar symbol, according to Eliade, due to the fact that it sheds its skin and regenerates itself just as the moon is seen to renew itself each month. The serpent is thus an earthly stand-in and repetition of the power of the moon. The fact that it burrows into the earth which is connected to the underworld and to vegetative powers reinforces the connection. Eliade explains that the serpent is connected to the moon
because it appears and disappears, and because it has as many coils as the moon has days (this legend is also preserved in Greek tradition) ; or because it is " the husband of all women ", ...all the symbols are directed to the same central idea: it is immortal because it is continually reborn, and therefore it is a moon " force " (Eliade, 163).
The vine, which Dionysus wears and the power of which Dionysus is seen to embody, also mirrors the serpent and connects to both the serpent and the vegetative power more generally, both seen as connected forces ruled by the moon – consider Soma as lord of plants. “The plant world comes from the same source of universal fertility, and is subject to the same recurring cycles governed by the moon's movements,” Eliade says. As god of wine, Dionysus was often depicted with either a bowl or chalice (as well as sometimes a drinking horn), both of course vessels used in various versions of the Holy Grail legend as the vessel of the sacred liquid. Finally, Dionysus' well-known dismemberment and rebirth is another lunar symbol. Just as the snake does, the moon sheds its old form, “dies,” and is reborn each month. So Dionysus is torn to pieces (these pieces may mirror the idea that the moon, as the “measurer,” is divided into phases which themselves divide the days, Dionysus thereby embodying the month) and then is born again whole. Consider also that Chyavana's myth centers around him being aged, having his eye violently poked out, then being renewed in youth; or that the associated Dadhyanc has his head cut off then replaced; or that the embodiment of the Norse sacred mead, Kvasir, is killed and his blood is used as the sacred liquid, whereas Dionysus is torn apart and consumed, and Mimir is beheaded but then lives again as a preserved head with the power of speech. These all seem to be connected lunar motifs, which supposition may be supported by the Slavic case, in which Jarilo (foster son of a lunar underworld god Veles, which ought to be a recognizable motif by now) is killed, dismembered, and then reborn. Jarilo may generally parallel the Horse Twin god, Freyr etc., but the fact that this motif has shifted merely one position, from the lunar underworld god to his foster son, only argues for its intimate connection to the lunar myth in which they both are involved.
Dionysus and Osiris
To find the origin of the exact form of the motif of Dionysus' dismemberment, we have to look to the non-Indo-European god who is known to have strongly influenced the Greek depiction of Dionysus. This foreign god is the Egyptian underworld god Osiris. Though non-Indo-European parallels are generally carefully avoided in the present study, the equivalency of Osiris and Dionysus, which the Greeks drew, and which they perceived clearly, is about as good of an extra-Indo-European parallel as you can possibly hope to find, a fact which will hopefully become apparent. Herodotus, for one, explicitly equated the two gods, saying, “In other ways the Egyptian method of celebrating the festival of Dionysus [meaning Osiris] is much the same as the Greek...they have puppets about 18 inches high; the genitals of these figures…are pulled up and down by strings…Flutes lead the procession, and the women…sing a hymn to Dionysus” (Herodotus, Histories, Book 2, 49, 2). Furthermore, the central myth of Osiris involves his death and dismemberment in a conflict with Set (who, as we will see, is in the position comparable to Thjazi, Hafgan etc.). In the conclusion of the myth, Osiris is reconstituted and reborn, becoming by this action the god of the Underworld. Reminiscent of this pattern, Dionysus in the Orphic myth is dismembered by the Titans, consumed, and then made whole again and brought back to life. Herodotus continues by stating unequivocally that the Dionysus cult has been influenced by Egyptian religion, and not vice versa, saying, “I will never admit that the similar ceremonies performed in Greece and Egypt are the result of mere coincidence... Nor will I allow that the Egyptian ever took over from Greece either this custom or any other” (Herodotus, Histories, Book 2, 50, 3). Many other ancient authorities also explicitly equated Osiris with Dionysus, including Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, Nonnos, and Mnaseas, Diodorus Siculus saying, "there is only a difference of names" between the festivals of the two gods (Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, 1.13).
The equivalency of Dionysus and Osiris is further supported by numerous shared associations. Whereas Dionysus was the god of wine and of the grape vine, Osiris was called "Lord of Drunkenness" during the grape harvest (Sigfrid Hoedel-Hoenes, Life and Death in Ancient Egypt, 114), while wine was offered to and found on funerary monuments connected with him. In ancient papyri he is sometimes depicted with clusters of grapes (Papyrus of Nebseni, 1550 BCE; Papyrus of Nakht). Like the Soma gods generally, Osiris is associated with drink and food that grant immortality: “the bread and the beer of Osiris make the eater immortal," says the Book of the Dead (Book of the Dead, 40), and these are called "thy bread of eternity, and thy beer of everlastingness" in the Text of Pepi II (390). Ivy is sacred to Dionysus, while Osiris is said in Egypt to be its discoverer. Worshippers of Osiris are described by Plutarch as carrying thyrsoi like that associated with Dionysus, and pine cones are important symbols found on monuments of each god. Beyond the liquid of the wine, Dionysus is also the lord of all moisture generally ("the lord and master not only of wine, but of the nature of every sort of moisture" (Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris, 35)), whereas, "all kinds of moisture are called the 'efflux of Osiris,'" as Plutarch records (Plutarch On Isis and Osiris, 35). Both gods are connected with the origin of Drama in their respective societies as well (see H. Jeremiah Lewis, Osiris and Dionysos Compared). Above all, these shared traits should demonstrate why and in which details the Greeks accepted the influence of Osiris on their cult of Dionysus.
Hence, while the question of the origin of Dionysus' dismemberment myth remains heavily debated, there is significant evidence to suggest that it may have been a syncretism via borrowing from the Egyptians. The fact that the precise form of the myth, the god dismembered and brought back to life, is seen in no other branches except the Slavic, in which branch it is connected instead to the Young Son, argues in favor of it being a non-Indo-European form of the myth, but the issue also remains quite a mystery. For the Slavic case we would then have to suppose either a Neolithic version of the myth shared from Egypt to Greece to the Slavic lands, or alternately a later influence of the borrowed Egyptian form on the Slavs, perhaps via contact with Greek culture forms, or by some other path.
If the form as we find it in the Dionysus mythos was a borrowing from Egypt, it was at least a fortunate syncretism. Eliade says of Osiris that he too is a lunar god. Furthermore, Osiris has a son with his sister Isis, and this son, Horus the Younger, thus stands in the same position that we have previously seen the Horse Twins or Morning Star god: like Freyr the Young Son of Soma God Njörðr, or Aengus the Young Son and foster son of Soma God Midir. Because Younger Horus' father has been killed and he is born in danger of Set's violence, he is brought up in secret by his mother. Hence he is often referred to as “Son of Isis.” This is paralleled closely, for instance, by Perceval, who is raised in the woods apart from his father, his mother attempting to protect him from the dangers of knighthood (Aengus is also explicitly brought up without knowledge of his true father or birthright). Welsh Pryderi, the possible model of Perceval, has also been argued to be the “Mabon ap Modron,” or “Young Son of the Mother,” which matches precisely Horus' titles “Horus the Young/Child, son of Isis,” or HarusaAset, Herupa Khered, Harseisis, etc.
Even the central motif that we have seen repeated in the Indo-European cases, of the poked out eye, appears in the Egyptian myth of this father and son as well, but in the Egyptian case even more explicitly connected with the moon, which should make clear to us that we have been on the right track. Here the eye-poking motif, as in the case of Perceval with the Red Knight, and partially in the case of Aengus who is in charge of the rambunctious children who perpetrate the poking, is again shifted to the Young Son instead of the Moon God father, but the Egyptians were also clear that Horus is a re-manifestation of Osiris, and thus they partly identified the two. The losing of Horus' eye in his battle with Set was explicitly seen to be a symbol of the darkening of the moon during its cycle or eclipses (Pinch 2004, 82-83, 91), just as we have previously theorized the symbolic meaning of the poking out of Chyavana and Midir's eye to be. The eye is then said to be either retrieved or healed, as it is also usually healed in the Indo-European cases discussed. Osiris also marries his own sister, just as Njörðr is said to be consort of his sister. Horus the Younger's battle with Set, in which the eye is lost, would then be in the very same position as the fight against Norse Thjazi, that against Welsh Hafgan, and that against the Red Knight of the Grail legend. These oppositional figures, as we have argued, are destructive solar gods, while Set is said to be a god of the desert. Interestingly, Set is also associated with thunder, while Thjazi's home is called “thunder home,” and while the armor of the Red Knight is of course red, Set is associated with the color red in relation to the red sand of the desert. As one commentator puts it, Set "was associated with the desert (which takes its name from the Egyptian word “dshrt” – the red place). He represented the fierce dry heat of the sun as it parched the land" (Hill, J, 2008).
Considering these mythic and symbolic parallels, which put Dionysus (and his influencer, Osiris) in a continuity with the previously analyzed “Soma” gods, we should proceed to a closer look at Dionysus' mythology to see if any other “Soma”-associated myths can be found there in relatively recognizable form.
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