The Pythia or the Sibyl, the Bacchae or the Maenads give themselves over entirely to trance. When they are « possessed », they enter into communication with a divine entity. The God will come to « dwell » within them. Plato compares « this divine power that sets things in motion » to the « stone that was called ‘magnetic’ by Euripides », and sees its effect on artistic creation. « It is thus that the Muse, by herself, makes Divinity in certain men, and that, through the intermediary of these beings in whom a God resides, a line of other people is suspended from her, whom the Divinity then inhabits. » He affirms that « all epic poets, the good ones that is, » and lyrical authors compose their poems and songs, « not by an effect of art, but because a God is in them and possesses themi. » It is precisely because they no longer have all their wits about them that they are able to createii. « The poet is indeed a light thing, a winged thing, a holy thing, and he is not yet able to create until he has become the man inhabited by a God, until he has lost his head, until his own spirit is no longer in himiii! » Indeed, it is the Divinity itself that speaks through the poet. « The Divinity, having taken away their spirit, employs these men at his service to vaticinate and to be diviners inspired by God; so that we who listen to them may understand that it is not they who say these things whose value is so great, they from whom the spirit is absent, but that it is the Divinity himself who speaks, who through them makes us hear his voiceiv ! ». Several words were used to designate the various kinds of « possession » experienced in ancient Greece, such as entheatho, enthousiastikos, enthousiasmos, entheastikos.The most direct term is entheos, meaning literally « the one in whom God is ». The prefix en– emphasizes that the Divinity inhabits the interiority of the human spirit. It’s tempting to draw a parallel with the modes of possession by the Spirit of God described in the Hebrew Bible. For example, the Spirit of Elohim, rûaḥ elohim, comes not « into » but « upon » Saul, ‘alChaoul, to inflame him, burn him with anger and drive him to victory over the Ammonitesv. Isaiah, speaking of the Messiah to come, the scion of the stock of Jesse, uses the expression rûaḥyhwh, the Spirit of YHVHvi who will « rest » not in him, but « upon himvii« . The Spirit of YHVH is a « spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit of counsel and strength, spirit of knowledge and fear of Godviii« , and it seems to be of a more peaceful nature, wiser even, than the Spirit of Elohim. Just after the disappearance of Elijah (whom God raised to heavenix), it is neither the Spirit of Elohim nor that of YHVH, but the spirit of Elijah that comes to rest on Elisha,according to the testimony of the young prophets observing the scenex. Unlike the Spirit of YHVH, who is all « wisdom and intelligence », Dionysus, the God entheos, the God within, is not a « wise » God, he is a μαινόμενος Διόνυσος, a mainomenos Dionysus, a « crazy God », a Dionysus agitated with bachic transports, a Bacchos(Βάκχος). There are many forms of divine possession. It’s difficult to be exhaustive. Socrates, for example, declared that he himself could suddenly become « possessed by nymphs », νυμφόληπτος, nympholeptos. « This place has something divine about it, » he said to Phaedrus, « and if the nymphs who inhabit it were to cause me in the course of my discourse some frenzied transport, you should not be surprised. Already I’ve risen to the tone of a dithyrambxi. » The chresmologist Bakis, who influenced general Epaminondas regarding the outcome of the Messenian-Lacedemonian war, was also described by Pausanias as « mad by nymphsxii« , μανέντι ἐκ Νυμφῶν. The existence of adjectives such as nympholeptos, « taken by the nymphs », theoleptos, « taken by a god », or even phoiboleptos, « taken by Apollo », seem to indicate specific experiences of divine possession. These possessions are structurally different from ecstasyxiii. The latter, by its etymology, implies a change of place, and possibly a wandering. During ecstasy, soul and body separate. The soul can then travel freely around the world, or wander through time, alone or in the company of the God… Herodotus tells us that Aristaeus suddenly disappeared in the city of Proconnesus. He was thought dead, but was seen shortly afterwards in Cyzicus. He disappeared again, but three hundred and forty years later, he reappeared in Metapontum, accompanying Apollo in the form of a ravenxiv. Pliny quotes this anecdote briefly, without giving it much weight: « It is even said that the soul of Aristaeus was seen in Proconnesus, flying out of his mouth, in the form of a crow; a singularly fabulous talexv. » But he also relates that the soul of Hermotime of Clazomenes left his body to wander in distant lands, and that on its return it indicated things that could only have been known by someone present at the scenexvi. The idea of the soul’s wandering in the world leads to a comparison with the race of Apollo, named Liber Pater (« the free Father ») by the Romans, because he is « free and wandering (vagus)xvii« .Aristotle alsoasserted, in the Theologumens, that Apollo and Liber Pater are one and the same Godxviii. Macrobius says that « Orpheus calls the sun Phanes ‘ἀπὸ τοῦ φῶτος καὶ φανεροῦ’, i.e. light and illumination; because indeed, seeing all, he is seen everywhere. Orpheus still calls him Dionysosxix. » In his verses, Orpheus identifies Apollo with Dios and Dionysus with Apollo: « Dios, having liquefied the Aether, which was previously solid, made visible to the gods the most beautiful phenomenon that can be seen. He was called Phanes Dionysus, Lord, Wise Counselor (Εὐβουλῆα), dazzling procreator of self; finally, men give him various names. He was the first who showed himself with light; and advanced under the name of Dionysus, to traverse the boundless contour of Olympus. But he changes his names and forms according to the times and seasonsxx. » God has many names, but he is one. The oracle of the Apollo of Claros says of him: « Εἷς Ζεὺς, εἷς Ἅιδης, εἷς Ἥλιος, εἷς Διόνυσος. One Zeus, one Hades, one Sun, one Dionysus. » According to the same oracle, the « one » God is also called Ἰαὼ, « Iaô », a name strangely analogous to that of the Hebrew God, Yahwé or Yah. Consulted to find out who this God was « Iaô », the oracle replied, « After being initiated into the mysteries, you must keep them hidden and tell no one about them; for (man’s) intelligence is narrow, prone to error, and his mind is weak. I declare that the greatest of all gods is Iao, who is Aïdès (Hades), in winter; at the beginning of spring, Dia (Jupiter); in summer, Hélios (the sun); and in autumn, the glorious Iaô« . Dios, Dia, Zeus, Dionysos, Iaô are the same, unique God. This God, through his breath, his pneuma, animates the living, and gives humans a share in his creative power. The pneuma represents the essence of divinity. Only when this sacred breath (hieron pneuma) takes possession of him, can the poet create with « enthusiasm », as Plato explains in the Ion. The pneuma is both creator and procreator. By the breath of Zeus, ek epipnoias Zènos, Io conceives Epaphos. And it is again a « breath in god », an atmon entheon, that makes Pythia « fat » with divine logos. The pneuma is as fertile as the logos spermatikos, spermatic reason, or seminal speech, which sustains the existence of the world. « The words God, intelligence, destiny, Jupiter and many others like them refer to one and the same being. God exists absolutely by himself. In the beginning, he changed into water all the substance that filled the air, and just as in generation the germs of beings are enveloped, so too God, who is the seminal reason of the world (σπερματικὸν λόγον ὄντα τοῦ κόσμου)xxi. » But possession by the divine breath does not produce the same effects, depending on whether it comes from Zeus, or Apollo or Dionysus, although these various names are those of the same God, ‘one’. For example, Dionysus drives mad those who don’t believe in him. He made his mother Semele’s sisters delirious, because they didn’t recognize that Dionysus was born of Zeusxxii. Pentheus, son of Cadmus’ daughter, also denied Dionysus’ divinity. « He fights against my divinity, excludes me from the libations, and does not mention my name in prayer. So I intend to prove my divine birth »says Dionysus. He will be driven mad. If Dionysian delirium can drive people mad, it can also inspire prophetic power. « Know that Bacchos is a soothsayer. The fury he inspires has prophetic power like dementia. When he penetrates us with all his power, he urges us, by panicking us, to tell the future. » Prophetic power inhabits the conscience, which identifies with it. Pythia spoke as if she were God himself. But what had become of her will, her own intelligence? Had they dissolved into the divine? Or was the abolition of Pythia’s personal consciousness a necessary condition for the truth of revelation?
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iPlato, Ion, 533 e
ii« Just as those who fall prey to the delirium of the Corybantes do not indulge in their dances when they have their spirits, so too the authors of lyrical songs do not have their spirits when they compose these magnificent songs; on the contrary, as often as they have embarked on harmony and rhythm, then seizes them the bachic transport, and, possessed, they resemble the Bacchae who draw honey and milk from the rivers when they are in a state of possession, but not when they have their spirits. » Plato, Ion, 533 e -534 a
iiiPlato, Ion, 534 b
ivPlato, Ion, 534 c-d
vI Samuel, 11, 6
viIs. 61,1 uses the expression : רוּחַ אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, rûaḥ adonaï yhwh, lthe Spirit of the Lord YHVH.
viiIs. 11,2
viiiIs. 11,2
ix2 Kings 2:1
x2 Kings 2:15
xiPlato, Phaedrus, 238c-d. « Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ θεῖος ἔοικεν ὁ τόπος εἶναι, ὥστε ἐὰν ἄρα πολλάκις νυμφόληπτος προϊόντος τοῦ λόγου, γένωμαι μὴ θαυμάσῃς- τὰ νῦν γὰρ πόρρω διθυράμβων φθέγγομαι. »
xiiPausanias IV, 27.4
xiiiThe Greek word ἒκστασις, ekstasis, means « wandering of the mind », with, by its etymology, the idea of a change of place (ek-stasis), a departure from one’s natural place. The adjective ἐκστατικός, ekstatikoshas two meanings, transitive and intransitive: « 1. Transitive. Which makes one change places, which disturbs; which makes one leave oneself, which leads the mind astray. 2. Intrans. One who is out of one’s way, one whose mind has wandered. »
xivHerodotus IV, 14-15: « Aristaeus was from one of the best families in his country; it is said that he died in Proconnesus, in the store of a fuller, where he had entered by chance; that the fuller, having closed his store, went at once to warn the relatives of the dead man; that this rumor having soon spread through the whole city, a Cyzicene, who came from Artace, disputed this news, and assured that he had met Aristaeus going to Cyzicus, and that he had spoken to him ; that, while he was holding him up, the dead man’s relatives went to the fuller’s store, with all they needed to carry him to his burial place; but that, when they opened the house, they found neither Aristaeus dead nor alive; that, seven years later, he appeared again in Proconnese, wrote the epic poem that the Greeks now call Arimaspies, and that he disappeared for the second time. This is what the cities of Proconnese and Cyzic say about Aristaeus. (…) The Metapontines report that Aristaeus appeared to them and commanded them to erect an altar to Apollo, and to erect a statue near this altar, to be given the name of Aristaeus of Proconnesus; that he told them they were the only people of the Italiotes whom Apollo had visited; that he himself, who was now Aristaeus, accompanied the god in the form of a raven; and that after this speech he disappeared. The Metapontines add that, having sent to Delphi to ask the god what this specter might be, the Pythia ordered them to do as he told them, and that they would be better off for it; and that, on this reply, they complied with the orders given to them. Even now, in the public square of Metapontum, next to the statue of Apollo, you can see another statue bearing the name of Aristaeus, and the laurel trees that surround them
xvPliny. NaturalHistory.VII, 52, 2
xviPliny. Natural History. VII, 52, 1: « Such is the condition of mortals: we are born for these whims of fate, and in man we must not even believe in death. We find in the books that the soul of Hermotime the Clazomenian, leaving his body, went wandering in distant lands, and that it indicated things that could only have been known by someone present on the spot; meanwhile: the body was half dead: but his enemies, who called themselves Cantharides, seizing this moment to burn his body, removed, as it were, the case to the soul that was returning. »
xviiMacrobius, Saturnalia, XVIII
xviiiMacrobius, Saturnalia, XVIII
xixMacrobius, Saturnalia, XVIII
xxMacrobius, Saturnalia, XVIII
xxiDiogenes Laërce, VII, 115-136
xxiiEuripides. The Bacchae,v. 26-32. Translation by M. Delcourt-Curvers. Gallimard, 1962, p.1216
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