Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
0!He Ang
in connection with Osiris , a description of the caverns at Byblus ( where the body of Osiris was cast up , after being tossed about on the waves ) , in wdiich the ceremonies of initiation were afterwards solemnized . Alxmt half a mile to the southward of the court , say- the authors of the " Universal History , " are two towers , supposed to be sepulchral monuments , for they stand on an ancient burying place . They are
about ten yards distant from each other ; one in the form of a cylinder , crowned by a multilateral pyramid , thirty-three feet high including the pedestal , which is ten ^ a long cone , discontinued at ahout the third part of its height ; and , instead of ending in a point , wrought into an hemispherical form : it stands upon a pedestal six feet high and sixteen feet six inches square , adorned at each angle with the figure of a lion in a sitting posture . Underground there are square chambers of convenient height for a
man , and long cells branching out from them , variously disposed and of different lengths . These subterraneous chambers and cells are cut out of the hard rock . The next mysteries which we propose to consider at any length , are the Dionysia , or the mysteries of Bacchus . We may however give a glance in passing at the mysteries of the Cabiri or Cabeiri , commonly called the Gabiriac Mysteries . Comparatively little is known of these mysteries , excepting that they were festivals or orgies ,
which were celebrated with much solemnity , in all places In which the Pelasgian Cabiri were worshipped , but especially in Samothrace , Imbros , Lemnos , Thebes , Anthedon , Pergamos , and Berytos . As with other mysteries , no one was allowed to divulge them ; all the mysteries , indeed , as their name as now understood implies , though originally it did not bear this meaning , were kept secret for two reasons In the first place , because nothing excites curiosity like that which retires from observation , and seems to forbid inquiry ; a certain
system , moreover , was to be kept up and supported , and had the mysteries been made absolutely public and practised openly , the people would have despised what was easy and intelligible ; and it was therefore necessary to provide them with something which was withdrawn from the public gaze , something ( according to our ideas ) , mysterious , in order to suit their taste and stimulate their curiosity . The ignorance of the mysteries preserved their veneration , and for this reason they were entrusted to the cover of night . They were -. ..... ... .- » -t i ¦ i . ' . f * ii i to
kept secret to invite curiosity ; they were celebrated in tlie nignu impress the recipients with veneration and religions dread—a reason for their celebration at this time put by Euripides into the mouth of Bacchus . They were solemnized , moreover , with a variety of shows and representations , some of which we have already described in our accounts of the Isiac and Eleusinian mysteries , to fix and perpetuate those impressions . Hitherto , then , the mysteries , whether of Isis , Eleusis , the Oabiri , or of whomsoever they may be—for all , in this respect at least , were framed on this principle—arc to be considered as invented not to deter but to invite the curiosity of the people .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
0!He Ang
in connection with Osiris , a description of the caverns at Byblus ( where the body of Osiris was cast up , after being tossed about on the waves ) , in wdiich the ceremonies of initiation were afterwards solemnized . Alxmt half a mile to the southward of the court , say- the authors of the " Universal History , " are two towers , supposed to be sepulchral monuments , for they stand on an ancient burying place . They are
about ten yards distant from each other ; one in the form of a cylinder , crowned by a multilateral pyramid , thirty-three feet high including the pedestal , which is ten ^ a long cone , discontinued at ahout the third part of its height ; and , instead of ending in a point , wrought into an hemispherical form : it stands upon a pedestal six feet high and sixteen feet six inches square , adorned at each angle with the figure of a lion in a sitting posture . Underground there are square chambers of convenient height for a
man , and long cells branching out from them , variously disposed and of different lengths . These subterraneous chambers and cells are cut out of the hard rock . The next mysteries which we propose to consider at any length , are the Dionysia , or the mysteries of Bacchus . We may however give a glance in passing at the mysteries of the Cabiri or Cabeiri , commonly called the Gabiriac Mysteries . Comparatively little is known of these mysteries , excepting that they were festivals or orgies ,
which were celebrated with much solemnity , in all places In which the Pelasgian Cabiri were worshipped , but especially in Samothrace , Imbros , Lemnos , Thebes , Anthedon , Pergamos , and Berytos . As with other mysteries , no one was allowed to divulge them ; all the mysteries , indeed , as their name as now understood implies , though originally it did not bear this meaning , were kept secret for two reasons In the first place , because nothing excites curiosity like that which retires from observation , and seems to forbid inquiry ; a certain
system , moreover , was to be kept up and supported , and had the mysteries been made absolutely public and practised openly , the people would have despised what was easy and intelligible ; and it was therefore necessary to provide them with something which was withdrawn from the public gaze , something ( according to our ideas ) , mysterious , in order to suit their taste and stimulate their curiosity . The ignorance of the mysteries preserved their veneration , and for this reason they were entrusted to the cover of night . They were -. ..... ... .- » -t i ¦ i . ' . f * ii i to
kept secret to invite curiosity ; they were celebrated in tlie nignu impress the recipients with veneration and religions dread—a reason for their celebration at this time put by Euripides into the mouth of Bacchus . They were solemnized , moreover , with a variety of shows and representations , some of which we have already described in our accounts of the Isiac and Eleusinian mysteries , to fix and perpetuate those impressions . Hitherto , then , the mysteries , whether of Isis , Eleusis , the Oabiri , or of whomsoever they may be—for all , in this respect at least , were framed on this principle—arc to be considered as invented not to deter but to invite the curiosity of the people .