Roman Marble Sarcophagus Analysis
Fig. 34. A Roman marble sarcophagus of Bacchanalia -
(Notice Pan’s presence to the right center carving on the coffin)
The sarcophagus (210-220 B.C.) pictured occurs as an enshrinement for a small girl that belonged to a wealthy senatorial family. In addition, there appears numerous ancient coffins with the festival of Bacchanalia carvings on them (various ones have sexual acts – including sodomy). Unfathomably, this lifestyle persisted as being casually accepted as the norm, allowing the display of all sexual behavior without the slightest moral implications.
Predominately, during the festivities a caravan would proceed, carrying vessels filled with wine, covered with vine-branches. Immediately, young women called the canephors followed …show more content…
Concurrently, during the various festivals, the maenads, with the sounds of crashing cymbals, would work themselves into a drunken frenzy; while devouring the raw flesh, being known as aggressors conceived as beasts of prey. Attic vase paintings exhibit such imagery during the second half of the sixth century B.C. In fact, M. P. Blavatsky’s book Isis Unveiled, reports an essential rite of the Bacchus’s orgies became the maenads practice of omophagia; the dismemberment of sacrificial victims and the eating of their raw flesh. (Blavatsky existed as a world traveler and student of religions, and the leading esoteric thinker of the nineteenth century. She helped introduce Eastern spirituality to the West; occurring highly controversial and divisive, explicitly authoring numerous books including The Secret Doctrine. …show more content…
Eventually, the local men became involved, generating an aspiration for the celebrations to take place five times a month. Furthermore, following this induction, the festivals spiraled into the continuous, famous celebrations that rapidly became excessively indecent; the mass possession of sexual frenzy that Bacchanalia produced continued to spread throughout Italy.
As mentioned in chapter eight, these festivities progressed into public extremes producing repulsive behavior with open orgies to the point that the Senate decided to intervene. Ultimately, the scandalous festivals forced a written decree by the Senate in 186 B.C.; which became known as the Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Calabria (1640), residing now in Vienna. It states Bacchanalia became unlawful throughout all Italy, excluding certain particular cases; still, they needed an exclusive permit from the Senate. In spite of the harsh punishment imposed upon those found practicing the vulgar behavior, Bacchanalia did not entirely vanish. Accordingly, the story goes that even after enforcing the order, the people returned to indulging in the event in the southern part of Italy for numerous centuries; however, the authorities relentlessly trying to fully restrain
(Notice Pan’s presence to the right center carving on the coffin)
The sarcophagus (210-220 B.C.) pictured occurs as an enshrinement for a small girl that belonged to a wealthy senatorial family. In addition, there appears numerous ancient coffins with the festival of Bacchanalia carvings on them (various ones have sexual acts – including sodomy). Unfathomably, this lifestyle persisted as being casually accepted as the norm, allowing the display of all sexual behavior without the slightest moral implications.
Predominately, during the festivities a caravan would proceed, carrying vessels filled with wine, covered with vine-branches. Immediately, young women called the canephors followed …show more content…
Concurrently, during the various festivals, the maenads, with the sounds of crashing cymbals, would work themselves into a drunken frenzy; while devouring the raw flesh, being known as aggressors conceived as beasts of prey. Attic vase paintings exhibit such imagery during the second half of the sixth century B.C. In fact, M. P. Blavatsky’s book Isis Unveiled, reports an essential rite of the Bacchus’s orgies became the maenads practice of omophagia; the dismemberment of sacrificial victims and the eating of their raw flesh. (Blavatsky existed as a world traveler and student of religions, and the leading esoteric thinker of the nineteenth century. She helped introduce Eastern spirituality to the West; occurring highly controversial and divisive, explicitly authoring numerous books including The Secret Doctrine. …show more content…
Eventually, the local men became involved, generating an aspiration for the celebrations to take place five times a month. Furthermore, following this induction, the festivals spiraled into the continuous, famous celebrations that rapidly became excessively indecent; the mass possession of sexual frenzy that Bacchanalia produced continued to spread throughout Italy.
As mentioned in chapter eight, these festivities progressed into public extremes producing repulsive behavior with open orgies to the point that the Senate decided to intervene. Ultimately, the scandalous festivals forced a written decree by the Senate in 186 B.C.; which became known as the Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Calabria (1640), residing now in Vienna. It states Bacchanalia became unlawful throughout all Italy, excluding certain particular cases; still, they needed an exclusive permit from the Senate. In spite of the harsh punishment imposed upon those found practicing the vulgar behavior, Bacchanalia did not entirely vanish. Accordingly, the story goes that even after enforcing the order, the people returned to indulging in the event in the southern part of Italy for numerous centuries; however, the authorities relentlessly trying to fully restrain