What Bacchus Meant to the Romans at Vesuvius Creative Writing

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Initiation Rites of the Cult of Bacchus

The wall painting of The Initiation Rites of the Cult of Bacchus at the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii (c. 60 BC) is a work of Roman art that exemplifies the Roman culture in the time just before Christ -- rich, ornate, elaborate, bordering on decadence, yet with still enough refinement to see a nobility and purpose in the spiritual life. Here, in the villa of a wealthy Roman's vacation home near Mt. Vesuvius (which would fatally erupt just a century later, burying under ash and avalanche the wealthy in their very lap of luxury) can be seen the Greek influence on the Roman culture.

The mural depicts a number of scenes in the Rite of the Cult of Bacchus across three walls within a room of the Villa, near which was a wine press, used to make wine from the local grapes grown near the Villa. These grapes fit in well with the mural's theme, which depicts the god Bacchus with wine in hand, discharging the spiritual blessings to the initiate.

The mural depicts a Roman woman of nobility moving towards a throne beside which stands the initiate, clothed in a purple robe and wearing a crown of myrtle. The initiate is a female (Bacchus was also the god of fertility) and comes bearing an offering of cakes to Bacchus (Dionysian Mysteries, n.d.). A priestess is nearby and so is Silenus, friend of Bacchus. A satyr is also present and plays music for the ceremony, while a nymph represents the Arcadian innocence of the rite by nursing at the nipple of a goat, and nude boy reads from a scroll, indicating perhaps that he is of divine origin as well (Jackson, n.d.). That nudity and divinity should be identical reflects the human characteristic of covering the body out of shame and concupiscence, while the divinity has no need for shame and therefore no need to cover what it controls. The nudity of the child could also reflect the innocence of the ceremony or that it is actually a bridal ceremony that is presided over by Bacchus -- although this interpretation would raise the question of where is the groom. If Bacchus himself is the groom, the ceremony may be interpreted as an initiation rite, and this appears to be the most logical explanation. The initiate, indeed, is full of anxiety in this scene as she nears her point of no return. There is an element of reluctance, like that of a virginal bride about to be wed to a man she does not know. After this scene, the initiate disappears until several scenes later in the mural when she reappears and is altogether transformed -- serene and beautiful, alive with the spirit of the god (Kerenyi, 1996).

What frightens the initiate is the scene of Bacchus sprawled across a goddess while a masked satyr dances and drinks. When the initiate returns, she holds a staff, kneels at the feet of the priestess, is flagellated by an angel before being given a new set of clothing. She looks at herself in a mirror that is held by Eros (Cupid). Then the initiate takes the throne -- she has now been accepted into the Cult.

The figures in the mural display a graceful, noble bearing. As Paul Johnson (2003) notes, this ancient example of classicalism of the human form "epitomizes a canon of ... beauty embodied in mathematical proportions" (p. 63). Showing the perfection of contraposto, the characters in the mural are balanced and represent the dignity of the human race as it embarks on a spiritual rite that is linked to both life and joy, as Bacchus indulges in the fruit of the vine and feast that is prepared in honor of the initiate boasts of the glories of the earth. Thus, the earth gives glory to the gods, and the gods give bountifully to the earth's inhabitants.

The painting could memorialize an actual ceremony that was conducted at the Villa, or it could simply be a mural that pays tribute to the god of wine, as the Villa surely had its own wine country in the nearby hills and valleys. The painting can be connected to modern times in the sense that moderns also pay homage to those in whom they place their faith and trust, although the celebration of religious rites is often viewed as something antiquated.

The mural also has other meanings as well, and a deeper understanding of how the Romans viewed Bacchus could be helpful in realizing them. The painting would have come well after the play by Euripides essentially immortalized Bacchus for generations of readers in his play The Bacchae.

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The Bacchae is a drama about the Cult of Bacchus and what happens when a non-believer mocks the god. Euripides emphasized the way in which the gods demand worship, and showed how they are benevolent to those who believe in them and perform their rites in piety. Most alarmingly, though, it showed how the gods will take vengeance on those who deny them and perform their rites with impiety. The impious are punished by Bacchus in the play by Euripides, and it could be because the drama teaches such a strong lesson that the owners of the Villa decided to honor Bacchus with the mural. The same is true today when individuals build churches or dedicate dwellings to God: they do so out of a sense of tribute.

It is no doubt good that they do this, too, as the punishment for impiety depicted by Euripides is extreme. The main non-believer Pentheus is kille. Agave, who also failed to have full faith is punished as she is used as the instrument to destroy her own son. Cadmus, who just went along with the celebrations without actually having any opinion on them one way or the other is turned into a slithering snake. Each of these punishments fits the crime, as Bacchus is a demanding god -- yet the kind of god that he is should give levity because he is the god of mirth and revelry, of wine and laughter, of new life and fertility. Why should some choose to mock him? The only answer is pride. In this Villa, the wealthy Roman elites humble themselves by devoting this portion of the home to the god Bacchus, a sign of respect and humility -- a tribute to the god of wine, which they also plan to make in his honor.

It is a striking image indeed considering that Rome grew out of a warrior culture -- a society fostered by combat and based on strength. But Rome has a complicate history. It incorporated many of the Greek traditions, gods and ways of thought that the Greek culture had inculcated in its glory days. Thus, the Romans worshipped the same deities, though they gave them Latin names rather than their Greek. Indeed, all things were Romanized by the Romans, including art, as can be seen in this mural in the Roman "mansion" near Mt. Vesuvius, where the vacationing Roman elite would gather for relaxation and relief from the city. If the common soldier or legionary "had to be a Roman citizen" (Spielvogel, 2012, p. 157), so too did the elites of Rome -- but they also could afford time away. Nonetheless, as this mural suggests, that time was spent practicing the ancient Greek rites -- now Roman rites -- of spirituality regarding the god Dionysus -- the god of fertility, whom the Romans called Bacchus. The initiation rite depicted in the mural is one which tells the story of Roman spirituality based on the Greek perception of life flowing out of a seemingly barren and desolate region to bring forth abundance every year in spring. It is no wonder that the vacationing Romans incorporated this spirituality into their way of life, because Bacchus (being also the god of wine and merriment) essentially invites and encourages his followers to be festive, merry and full of life and abundance. Thus, initiation into the rite of Bacchus/Dionysus would absolutely be one that a vacationing wealthy Roman would use as adornment and ornament on his walls within his "castle."

Thus, while Greek spirituality spread throughout Rome and became Romanized, the Latin language spread thanks to the Roman soldier whose camp was a "center for the spread of the Latin language and Roman institutions and ways of thought and conduct" (Spielvogel, 2012, p. 157). The Romans conquered all the neighboring territories as the Empire grew, and in turn absorbed the thoughts and ideas of the conquered, meanwhile introducing the conquered regions to their native tongue -- Latin. In this same manner do beliefs about spirituality typically spread, as culture influences another. And in this way, especially in Rome, there was a trade-off, and this trade-off can be seen in the mural painting, too -- a reciprocal relationship in which the initiate is introduced to the spirituality of Bacchus and filled….....

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