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Knight R P - The symbolical language of Ancient art & mythology - 1892
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This is a compilation of the seven-part series on Orphism by F.S. Darrow, A.M., Ph. D. (Harv.), that originally was published in the Theosophical Path from April, 1912 to March, 1913 (see tuponline.org)
The Macedonic cult of Dionis (Paionian Dyalos; lat. Dionysus), Sabazius, Bachus, Nimrod, Tammuz/Dumuzi, Zagreus, Osiris-Serapis, etc. is one of the oldest mythological appearances known to humanity. His name is founded in immemorial timeworn forgotten past. According to his astrological and animalistic attributes, the time frame of his conception coincides with the Zodiacal Era of Bull, which spans from 4th to 2nd millennium BCE. The Macedonic Paionians gave the origin of the name Dyaus, from a root-word which means ‘to shine’: Dya/Da - ‘to’, and Us - ‘rising, up’ (like the sun) and/or Usvity - ‘incandescent’. Same meaning is to be found in the Sanskrit ‘Vas-anta’ - spring, from the word root ‘vas’ - shine, heat. Russian prominent linguist Vadim Tsymbursky proposed interpretation of the name Dionis on the basis of Macedonic onomastics: "Our God” – ‘Douh-naš’ in plain Macedonian. When these first Pre-Indo-Europeans fashioned the other gods out of the forces and forms in nature, this root-name was implied for Dionis as well. His primordial cult is strongly associated with the archaic mythological creatures as kentaurs, maenads, satyrs, sileni, etc. Dionis was originally a god of the fertility and nature, associated with wild and ecstatic religious rites; in later traditions he was also the god of wine, of ritual madness and ecstatic behavior, who loosens inhibition and inspires creativity in music and poetry. Initiates worshipped him in the Dionisiac Mysteries, which were comparable to and intricately linked with the Eleusian and Orpheic Mysteries, which are again one and the same with the manifestations of most primordial mysteries of Cabiri , mentioned already by Herodotus as thought by Pelasgians to the men from the isle of Samothrace.
The large 3rd book of the Masonic guidebook is great, teaching superb Scottish Freemason doctrines, mainly of world history and religions and Masonic principles, with a grand total of 485 sub-divisions and 15,155 verses, carefully arranged by the 1870 authors. Turned out real nice. Should be nearly the exact numbering plan! This is an historic document of grand proportions. If you have never looked into it, you might want to! It is one of the only books around that talks about the ancient mysteries religions of ancient Egypt and Greece. Will be published on Amazon, sooner than later.
Previous research has revealed that Sirius and Hephaistos myths and legends were strongly present in Bronze Age Mediterranean communities via an interrelated cultural network amongst various cultures and societies (Laoupi, 2006a & b; Laoupi, 2011). The aim of the present monograph is to deepen this research, enrich it with the latest evidence and cover broader geographical and chronological boundaries. The Sirius, Moon and Venus cults came from the Paleolithic Times amazingly enriched by their “journey” into the human psyche starring at the Cosmos. Especially, Sirius cult was a pivotal cult of the Pelasgian substratum coming from Neolithic and late Paleolithic Times.
Ophiolatreia was published in London in 1889 anonymously. The full title of the work is Ophiolatreia: An Account of the Rites and Mysteries Connected with the Origin, Rise, and Development of Serpent Worship in Various Parts of the World, Enriched with Interesting Traditions, and a Full Description of the Celebrated Serpent Mounds and Temples, the Whole Forming an Exposition of One of the Phases of Phallic, or Sex Worship. Its author, Hargrave Jennings (1817-1890), is said to have held the occupation of secretary to an opera manager named Colonel Mapleson. Jennings, who was an enthusiast of the Rosicrucians, corresponded with Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the author of Zanoni, and was a friend to Paschal Beverly Randolph, who is recently attracting considerable attention due to his writings on sexual magic.
A lively, illustrated overview of the variety of mystery religions that flourished at the dawn of the Christian era. In clear, enlightened text and striking images, Mystery Religions holds up a "distant mirror" to our own times, showing that the quest for spiritual illumination from Eastern religions, and emphasis on spiritual development and experience, and a concern for hidden knowledge are deeply rooted in Western culture. Mystery Religions brings the myths, the magic, their rites and the wisdom of a bygone age to compelling life, making them comprehensible to modern readers... Here is a compelling account of the forms mystery religions took, from the cults of Mithras, Dionysus, and Orpheus to those of the Goddess, esoteric Christianity and Judaism, and Gnosticism. Godwin offers a rich and varied selection of illustrations; the symbolism of paintings, statues, releifs, and other visual imagery provides a wealth of additional information about these religions.Zeus and the other gods of shining Olympus were in reality divine only by popularconsent. Over the course of time Olympian luster diminished in favor of religious experiences more immediate to the concerns of people living in an increasingly cosmopolitan ancient world. These experiences were provided by the mysteries, religions that flourished particularly during the Hellenistic period and were secretly practiced by groups of adherents who decided, through personal choice, to be initiated into the profound realities of one deity or another. Unlike the official state religions, in which people were expected to make an outward show of allegiance to the local gods, the mysteries emphasized an inwardness and privacy of worship within a closed band of initiates.What is the strange fascination of the Mystery-Religions for the ancient world and today, some 2,000 years later, for moderns? Why are these colorful ancient cults so little known, all information about them suppressed or distorted by centuries of official religion in Europe? What did these ancient beliefs have that exacted the respect of Socrates, Plato, Virgil, Apuleius, and other great men of the classical age? Was the religion that stamped them out, Christianity, itself originally a Mystery-Religion, with secret teachings that only initiates could comprehend and psychological techniques not generally revealed? This volume, generally considered the most useful single work in English on the subject, attempts to answer such questions, while at the same time offering a sound, solid background in the various forms of religious experience that are grouped together under the term Mystery-Religions. From the Eleusinian mysteries of ancient Greece through the Asiatic cults of Cybele, the Magna Mater, and Attis; the strange rompings of the Dionysian groups; Orphics with their impact on Greek philosophy; the Mysteries emergent from Egypt — Hermes Trismegistos, the Pymander, Isis, and Osiris; on up to the religion that swept the Near East and Europe, carried by the Roman legions, and that almost became central for us today — Mithraism. Each of these religions offered something to its devotees that the older ethnic and state religions could not: a sense of the value of the individual; heightened areas of experience, even to the manipulations of sensory experience; psychological insights that are only now being appreciated. Yet they all died out within a couple of centuries of the Christian era, Gnosticism (apart from a few vestigial groups in the Near East and Europe) subsuming their heritage last.The ancient civilization of Mesopotamia prospered between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates over 4,000 decades back. The myths gathered here, initially written in cuneiform on clay tablets, comprise parallels with the biblical tales of the Creation and the Flood, along with the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, the narrative of a man of great strength, whose epic quest for immortality is hurried through a single moment of weakness. Recent improvements in Akkadian grammar and lexicography imply this translation-finish with notes, a glossary of deities, place-names, essential provisions, and examples of these mythical creatures featured in the text-will replace the other versions.Among the world’s top geneticists, Bryan Sykes has helped tens of thousands find their ancestry from the British Isles. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts led to a systematic ten-year DNA poll of over 10,000 volunteers trace the British Isles’ authentic genetic makeup and its descendants. Taking readers from the Pontnewydd cave in North Wales into the resting area of “The Red Lady” of Paviland and King Arthur’s tomb. Genealogy is becoming a favorite pastime of Americans interested in their tradition, which is the best job for anybody interested in locating their legacy in England, Scotland, or Ireland. In the first days of human history into the end of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE, Li Feng, professor of Ancient Greek History and Archaeology at Columbia University, guides readers through the origins of Chinese culture and culture. In the origins of language into the rise of religions into the changing art of warfare and the empire’s construction, this fully-illustrated text draws on the most recent scholarship and archaeological discoveries. Does this book bring to life the oldest aspects of Chinese background, but it reveals how these ancient events shaped contemporary life in China and worldwide. Available for almost any Western reader, this text is a helpful introduction to a Massive area. Babylon by Paul Kriwaczek Many historians place the cradle of early civilization thousands of years back in the Fertile Crescent, involving the Tigris and Euphrates rivers’ floodplains. The cities which were assembled here were dwelling to monumental moments ever. In Babylon, the BBC’s Paul Kriwaczek paints a picture of those first days of human history, from the earliest settlements in Mesopotamia into Babylon’s collapse in the sixth century BCE The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall ofnt History: AConcise Overview of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome: Including the Egyptian Mythology, the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Republic A History of Ancient Rome World History: From the Ancient World to the Information Age ma across the known world. The tumultuous years from 133-80 BCE set the platform for the collapse of the Republic.The Republic confronted issues like increasing economic inequality, increasing political polarization, the army’s privatization, endemic societal and cultural bias, rampant corruption, and continuing military dilemmas. Along with the ruthless ambition and unwillingness of both elites to do anything to reform the system in time to rescue it-a scenario that attracts many parallels to present-day America.These problems are among the reasons why the Roman Republic will collapse. And as all of us know, people who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.The Eternal Army: The Terracotta Soldiers of the First Emperor A vast “military” of over 7,000 terracotta figurines of soldiers encircles the grave of the first emperor of the Qin dynasty from the Shaanxi province in northwestern China. These attentive soldiers happen to be on duty for 2,000 decades, but does anybody know what kind of ruler Qin Shi Huang has been? Why did his grave need to be musicians, by Julius Caesar to Barack Obama, provide insight into their own lives and additional historical insight in these world-changing episodes.The History Book creates the previous 4,000 decades of history available. It provides enlightenment about the forces which shaped the planet as we understand it now, for students and history buffs alike.The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations by John Haywoodhis brand new historical atlas – richly illustrated with photos, art recreations, and full-color maps – investigates the world’s oldest civilizations in Mesopotamia’s first farming settlements, through Egypt, Greece, and Rome, into the civilizations of the Far East, Europe, and America. Informatively written, also perfect for both pupils and the general reader, it plots the rise and fall of empires, the essence of different societies, and technology growth.Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others by AnonymousThe ancient civilization of Mesopotamia prospered between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates over 4,000 decades back. The myths gathered here, initially written in cuneiform on clay tablets, comprise parallels with the biblical tales of the Creation and the Flood, along with the famous Epic of Gilgamesh, the narrative of a man of great strength, whose epic quest for immortality is hurried through a single moment of weakness.Recent improvements in Akkadian grammar and lexicography imply this translation-finish with notes, a glossary of deities, place-names, essential provisions, and examples of these mythical creatures
a discussion of social principles and future prediction
Religion and Mythology in Ancient Macedonia - The Gods of the 4th c. BCE Macedonian Empire and following Macedonic kingdoms, Commagene, Ptolemaic Egypt, etc., their prehistoric roots and their descent. The immemorial timeworn creation myths of the world, of the Supreme Creator-God from the sky, the Great Mother-Goddess of the Earth, the birth of the young Sun-God, myths of the Moon that gets to the earth and turns into a cow, conception of the months as divine creatures, - they all gave us the notion of the beginning of the time, the emergence of the order from the chaos, which have central role in each nation collective conscience. In that unknown epoch when the ancestors of the Macedonians were still united with the mythological Belasgians (Lat. Pelasgians), they were worshipers of the primordial gods of nature, animals and woods, members of the ancient Aryan Pantheon. These primordial myths have deep roots that stretch back to the prehistoric times. They have survived numerous conquerors and influences of various religions, showing sturdy vitality, which is engraved deeply into the subconscious collective memory and traditions of the people.
1990, Whence the Goddesses: A Source Book
This book is a source book in two ways. It traces the sources of early historic Indo-European (Greco-Roman, Indic, Iranian, Germanic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Slavic, Irish, and Welsh) goddesses and heroines, beginning with Neolithic iconography and continuing through the iconography of Near Eastern goddesses and texts dating from the third through the first millennia BCE. It is found that Neolithic European bird and snake iconography, as well as iconography, functions, and epithets, are given to many Indo-European female figures. The other way in which this is a source book is that the author has translated texts from all of these cultures, so that the reader may have primary sources for all of these female figures.
2019, The Far Shining One: A Devotional to the Spirits of the Sun/Bibliotheca Alexandrina
An examination of the influence of Greco-Roman and Egyptian religion, myth and symbolism. This paper gives special attention to the syncretism invoked in the Early Christian archetype of the Sun-god as conqueror, protector and healer-savior.
The 19th century Colonial archaeology changed the perspective on the history of art and culture of South Asia. The decipherment of new Aramaic derived Brahmi script and Greco-Buddhist art of the early Christian period was a breakthrough to new knowledge. But up till now, the transnational Mystery cult has withheld more than it has yielded. The divine maiden and her anthropomorphized Eagle consort appear in Gandhara at the peak of Antinous Cult, reflecting the homoerotic love of Ganymede and Zeus' Eagle. Vajrapani, the “bearer of the thunderbolt” and the female counterpart Vajrayogini evolve at this time. The alternate reality in occult Buddhist topics deals with morphology, allegory, cosmology, and psychology. The spiritual aspect of the earliest Buddhist mortuary cult is Cognitive, Allegoric, and Literary. Synchronnal and animistic graphic patterns recurring in therapeutic rituals in visual and performing arts span Sri Lanka, Romania, Russia, and Roman Britain. Long read 23135 words, 48 pages, figs.71.
1896, Orpheus
Chapter seven of G.R.S. Mead's book "Orpheus" deals with the ancient Greek Pantheon. The whole book gives an incredible insight into the philosophy and mysteries of the ancient world. Many sources are quoted to provide a coherent story. Mead is capable of correlating these mysteries and philosophy with Vedantic concepts, thus transcending narrow fields of study, so common today. A link is given to the original book on archive.org
Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, or simply Morals and Dogma, is a book of esoteric philosophy published by the Supreme Council, Thirty Third Degree, of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. It was compiled by Albert Pike, was first published in 1872 and was regularly reprinted thereafter until 1969. An upgraded official reprint was released in 2011, with the benefit of annotations by Arturo de Hoyos, 33°, G∴C∴, the Scottish Rite's Grand Archivist and Grand Historian.
2009, The God Secret
The book analyses how 'God' came to be known - his location and the location of his sacred name(s). It also tells how the Adam and Eve myth was created and where the story came from
2019
Open Access free handbook for students and the greater public on Roman divinities and their representation - attestation in Roman Dacia. An updated version of the dictionary of the Bibliography of Roman religion in Dacia.
The Sator Square was found engraved on the walls of Pompeii, buried in ashes from a 79 ace volcano. It's hidden message - The Sower Arepo Holds the Work of the Wheels is understood fully for the first time in this research. Come and discover another seal opened to usher the dawn of the Golden Age.
Guidebook to accompany 24 video lecture course: <https://www.wondrium.com/the-pagan-world>.
This volume presents an essential but underestimated role that Dionysus played in Greek and Roman political thought. Written by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, the volume covers the period from archaic Greece to the late Roman Empire. The reader can observe how ideas and political themes rooted in Greek classical thought were continued, adapted and developed over the course of history. The authors (including four leading experts in the field: Cornelia Isler-Kerényi, Jean-Marie Pailler, Richard Seaford and Richard Stoneman) reconstruct the political significance of Dionysus by examining different types of evidence: historiography, poetry, coins, epigraphy, art and philosophy. They discuss the place of the god in Greek city-state politics, explore the long tradition of imitating Dionysus that ancient leaders, from Alexander the Great to the Roman emperors, manifested in various ways and show how the political role of Dionysus was reflected in Orphism and Neoplatonist philosophy. Dionysus and Politics provides an excellent introduction to a fundamental feature of ancient political thought which until now has been largely neglected by mainstream academia. The book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars interested in ancient politics and religion.
This study will seek to investigate the evidence of mystery-cults found in Roman Britain in an attempt to understand their place within the religious realm of the province. Attention will be given to the cults of Isis and the Egyptian gods, of Cybele and Attis, Bacchus, and Mithras. Considered will be questions of how these cults were organized, who engaged in them, and how the evidence from Britain effects the greater understanding of the cults within the Empire.
2021, DEO SOLI INVICTO MITHRAE - MITHRA'S INVINCIBLE SUN GOD
After the publication of the book “The Mysteries of Mithra or the Mysteries of Sabazios” in 2016, a few other materials on the topic were published and this book is intended to summarise them. The collection consists of three thematically related texts and this is why there are repetitions – an inevitable fact, for which I would like to apologise. Although focused on the Roman Mithraism, this book is actually an analysis of the symbolic language of the material monuments of the Roman period – the so-called Mithra reliefs, Sabazios’ hands, reliefs of Dionysus, and of the Thracian and Danubian Horseman. The reliefs and sculpture compositions shown use the same symbolic language. The compositions are also thematically synonymous – generally, they are an expression of religious piety and homage to the ritual religion of the Sun in its three hypostases – Zagreus, Dionysus, Sabazios.
A compilation of notes regarding sword worship rituals and there relation to the Scythians and Baal worship by Aria Nasi Research
1880, The Gods and Religions of Ancient and Modern Times
The Gods and Religions of Ancient and Modern Times, Volume 1 of 2 Volumes, 1880, by D. M. Bennett. These two Volumes are among the Foundation Works of The Golden Age of Freethought, when there was an honest presentation of all sides of the Religion Question, and Christianity was rapidly losing its influence over the American public. Emmett F. Fields
Longman, New York & London, 1985 [1971]
2011
William Butler Yeats and Aleister Crowley created literary works intending them to comprise religious systems, thus negotiating the often-conflicting roles of religion and modern art and literature. Both men credited Percy Bysshe Shelley as a major influence, and Shelley's ideas of art as religion may have shaped their pursuit to create working religions from their art. This study analyzes the beliefs, prophetic practices, myths, rituals, and invocations found in their literature, focusing particularly on Yeats's Supernatural Songs, Celtic Mysteries, and Island of Statues, and Crowley's "Philosopher's Progress," "Garden of Janus," Rites of Eleusis, and "Hymn to Pan." While anthropological definitions generally distinguish art from religion, Crowley's religion, Thelema, satisfies requirements for both categories, as Yeats's Celtic Mysteries may have done had he completed the project.
2021
This is the first Volume of a collection of primary and secondary sources, and commentary, which help to show how various Pagan and Gnostic influences are at the root of Western Occultism, particularly the Merkabah, Kabbalah, and Goetia, but also ceremonial magick more generally. To start with, scholars like Gershom Scholem have argued that Gnosticism had a strong influence on Jewish mysticism, and so this Volume seeks to organize some of the texts on them in an effort to reconstruct their views and rituals, as especially those with references to Paganism. I have also collected some Pagan texts which explain these Gnostic references, and I interpret them in light of later Western Occultism. Still, some scholars like Simo Parpola have argued a Pagan influence on Judaism right from the start, and that this includes Kabbalistic influence, which can be seen in pre-Gnostic Jewish texts and even the Old Testament itself. While collecting texts and explaining the details of Jewish Kabbalah, Merkabah, and Goetia is largely beyond the scope of this, and some knowledge on this by the reader is assumed, I will shed light on Pagan influences on Judaism, as they indirectly influenced Western Occultism. As part of this, I will provide evidence of ritualistic, or even Shamanistic motifs, utilizing psychoactive drugs for religions purposes, ie "entheogens" and "ethnopharmacology." I have come to find we cannot explain the history of Western Occultism without explaining the history of entheogen use, and showing how these provide a universal context for understanding ritual mechanics and philosophical inspiration, even in very distinct religions. While some of this is necessarily speculative, I have collected the relevant primary texts so that you can make up your own mind, as it is not so much a matter of IF entheogens were used, but identifying particular plants correctly. In this I will also focus heavily on the Greek Magical Papyri, and Zoroastrian/Persian traditions of flying Palanquins and Abrahamic like motifs regarding Merkabah "throne mysticism" and how this relates to cosmology and demonology. Simon Magus is credited with founding Gnosticism, and he was undoubtedly heavily influential in creating the archetypal image of the "Magician" or "Magus." In this Volume and further ones, I will focus on Simon in particular, as by examining the symbolism he used, we can gain insight into the Pagan practices which he combined to create his form of Gnosticism. By reconstructing the tradition of Simon Magus we can also gain insight into other Gnostics he influenced, and how this comes up in later Western Occultism. As I will show, Simon is the ideal microcosm of ancient syncretism, taking from many sources, and so he forms a conceptual bridge from Paganism to the Abrahamic traditions. So, even if Simon was incorrect about history, by understanding his world view, we can understand the world view of a magician in general. In this way, I will try to reconstruct history as Occultists see it, rather than try to sort out any truly historical theory of diffusionism, I will focus on analyzing practical methods and symbolism and the philosophical implications of how all this developed by drawing upon many myths as well. We can see that while their is incredible diversity in all these sources, as especially in terms of symbolism, there is a coherent, underlying theory of individualistic syncretism and henotheism based on experimentalism, and other Occult/Alchemical ideas. That is the ancients themselves, Abrahamic and otherwise, were trying to reconstruct the "perennial philosophy" of a "golden age" which some associated with the Adamic language from before the confusion of tongues. To understand this we must know that Christians used NeoPlatonism and other Pagan sources to try and explain the origins of all the worlds religions, but also attempted to reconstruct antediluvian practices. The key to all this involves an understanding cosmology and soul flight, with entheogens or without, for the purposes of "self directed neuro-plasticity" and Theurgic enlightenment, and even a notion similar to Noam Chomsky's theory of "universal grammar." To understand this we must also understand the symbolism of astrotheology, ie how souls would ascend as comets, or become stars, or how fallen angels and giants refer to meteorites, and reincarnation occurs through meteor showers. All this and more will be introduced in this Volume, and will be greatly elaborated in further Volumes, with a mind to reconstruct the most practical aspects, followed by explanations and texts which show how this inspired Western Occultism and Witchcraft centuries later in Christian Europe. In this first Volume, I will focus especially on incense fumigation rituals and initiation rituals, as it relates to throne mysticism and the Golem, along with the Books of Enoch and related demonology.
When ancient people entered a temple or other sacred space, how did the art and architecture of the site work upon their senses as mediators of divine presence? This thesis demonstrates that the ancient perception of the deity’s actual presence in visual images created a tension that was intensified by the spatial environment and the theatricality of ritual performance. Visual representations acted in concert with cultic ritual to manipulate the visitor through a revelatory experience and create the phenomenon of epiphany. Epiphany, from the Greek word epiphaneia, is the visible manifestation of the deity. Epiphany in the ancient world could manifest as miracles, signs and natural phenomena; however, my thesis will focus primarily on visual epiphany of deity. My aim is to describe how the elements of the built environment and performative ritual combined to create not only the expectation but the actualization of an epiphanic experience for the beholder. The phenomenon of visual epiphany has been largely overlooked until relatively recently. Scholarly examination of temples and other ritual spaces has focused more on archaeological description, formal analysis, mythic narrative, and social and political structures. There has been very little exploration of the actual ritual and neuro-phenomenological experience of religious participants as it relates to the visual environment. With this work my aim is to contribute to the scholarly knowledge of the ancient viewer’s experience of epiphany as it was shaped by sacred space and mediated by religious ritual in the ancient world.
2008
For the most part Hecate is seen today as the Goddess of Witches and Sorcery—but this wasn’t always so. Hecate was at one time both protectress of women and children and Goddess of Death. She was, in her trinity aspect, goddess of fertility and prosperity, Goddess of the Moon, and Queen of Ghosts, shades and the night. It is interesting that she was seen both as the goddess of fertility and life as well as death. “Hekate can poison as well as intoxicate,” wrote Nor Hall, “turn ecstasy into madness, and cause death where incubation—or a short journey—was intended.” This book will examine her many facets and bring about a truer sense of the primal goddess known as “The Distant One” and “The Nameless One.” One of her titles places these in a softer light, for she was also called “most lovely one.”
The sensual bedroom epiphany of the Fury Allecto, by which Amata is driven into a Bacchic frenzy, resembles the initiation ritual of the cult of Sabazius, a "sacred marriage" in which a metal snake was dropped down the front of the initiand's clothes. This Thraco-Phrygian deity had a small but persistent presence in the Roman empire (attested in the army as early as the first century BC, and also at Pompeii), and was frequently identified with Dionysus. Virgil seems to have known of this cult and integrated it into the symbolic economy of the poem, in which feminine, sensual, oriental (including Phrygian) and ecstatic elements are opposed to the masculine self-control of the protagonist and his descendants.
William Blake's illustration for Joseph Thomas (Butlin 538.3) of John Milton's Nativity Ode illustrates precisely several evil spirits from Milton's works, but these have not been identified previously. From the Nativity Ode, the six devil-deities named in Stanza XXII of the Hymn--Belus, the original of the Baalim; Peor; Astarte; Thammuz; Dagon; and Jupiter Ammon ("the Lybic Hammon")--are illustrated in the six largest figures in Blake's picture. Blake also takes descriptions, from _Paradise Lost_ and _Paradise Regained_, of devil-deities, and portrays these spirits in this illustration of the Nativity Ode's "damned crew." I show that the left side of the picture is Blake's rendering of the *damnatio ad metallum* section of the devils' "infernal jail"--that the lowest figure on that side is Belus, legendary inventor of the iron sword; Belial, Plutus with a sack of gold, and Diana are the figures above, in this column. For the top figure, I show that he is Milton's "architect" of Pandemonium portrayed as the metallurgist 'watcher' Azael from the _First Book of Enoch_, an interpretation peculiar to John Callander's 1750 edition of Book 1 of _Paradise Lost_, which identifies Milton's "architect" with the Enochian Azael and gives a summary and partial translation of _1 Enoch_ 8:1, in its note to _PL_ 1:732. Blake had circa 1806-09 depicted the "architect" as a 'watcher' in the tempera paintings (Butlin 661 and 662) of "Satan Calling up His Legions," where they are an overt self-portrait: Blake, in 662, actually used gold to create his art, so he is a metal-worker like Azael/Mulciber in that painting. The "architect" in our picture is exaggeratedly depicted as a 'watcher' of the scene, his head emerging from the back of the scene, with enlarged eyes looking sideways at other figures in the composition. I also show that Callander was likely used for Blake's introduction of Derceto, whom I identify in the picture, to the crew. I show Blake distinguished Plutus from Mammon, and that Blake illustrated Plutus (passing gold up to the "architect") and Belial (impersonating, as he is indicted for at _PR_ 2:191, a "Sylvan" or the god Silvanus) in this picture, taking the former from 18th-century illustrative conventions, and the latter from descriptions in _Paradise Regained_ and Blake's own writing about Belial, as well as the presentation of Belial in _Paradise Lost_. I identify the presence of Mammon in Blake's "Satan Calling up His Legions" (Butlin 661 and 662) from his "least erected"' posture and his "downward bent" gaze. This is a previously unknown and technically exact instance of Blake's interest in the fields of Electricity and Magnetism, and their effects on human beings: Belial, who discusses how the "Magnetic draws the Iron" in *Paradise Regained* Book 2, is, in this picture, applying magnetism that is electrically induced, to Belus, the iron man. Belial's fingers around the metal shaft of his dagger are unnaturally represented, so as to suggest that Belial uses the recent invention of Alessandro Volta, the Voltaic Pile, which used (as does Blake's column of spirits each associated with a metal) a stack of alternating plates of different metals, in the electrical device for its conductive mechanism.