Download - Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism (Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity) || Baptism and Graeco-Roman Mystery Cults

Baptism and Graeco-Roman Mystery CultsFritz Graf

Whether and how Christian baptism was related to pagan mystery cults is an old question it intrigued already Christian apologists and early modern anti-quarians1 In the late nineteenth century it entered the world of ideological dis-putes driven by the political secularization of the new European nation states of Germany France and Italy at this time the Religionswissen schaftliche Schule explored the affinities between Christian liturgy and theology on the one side and Graeco-Roman mystery cults on the other2 Alfred Loisyrsquos Les mystegraveres paiumlens et le mystegravere chreacutetien (1919) carried the dispute from the secularization debate in Europersquos nascent national states before the First World War into the post-war years inspiring among others Vittorio Macchiororsquos long-living From Orpheus to Paul (1930)3 In 1957 the learned Jesuit Father Hugo Rahner sum-marized the state of the debate in a scathing sentence ldquoUnfortunately the most recent scholarship is quite remarkably firm in rejecting the whole notion of any such influencesrdquo4 On Paulsrsquo doctrine of baptism a well-trodden battle-ground Guumlnter Wagner reached a similar conclusion in his densely-knit monograph of 1962 ldquoThe religio-historical documents are of no help to us in the interpretation of Romans virdquo5 Rahnerrsquos ldquorather sweeping assertion perhaps outruns the facts of the caserdquo as Devon Wiens remarked and it did not mark the end of the larger debate despite Walter Burkertrsquos assertion in 1987 ldquothat there is hardly any evi-dence for baptism in pagan mysteriesrdquo6 Nowadays however much less seems at

1 For the apologists see below for the antiquarians see Casaubon De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis exercitationes XVI Exercitatio 16 chapter 43 pp 388ndash407 in the edition Frankfurt Ruland 1615

2 E g H Gunkel Zum religionsgeschichtlichen Verstaumlndnis des Neuen Testaments or P Wendland Die hellenistisch-roumlmische Kultur und ihr Verhaumlltnis zu Judentum und Christentum for an over-view over the relevant research see D H Wiens ldquoMystery Concepts in Primitive Christianity and in its Environmentrdquo and as to baptism G Wagner Das religionsgeschichtliche Problem von Roumlmer 61ndash11

3 On Vittorio Macchioro see F Graf ldquoA history of scholarship on the tabletsrdquo in F Graf and S I Johnston Ritual Texts for the Afterlife 50ndash65 esp 59ndash61

4 H Rahner ldquoDas Mysterium der Tauferdquo 705 Wagner Das religionsgeschichtliche Problem von Roumlmer 61ndash11 2686 W Burkert Ancient Mystery Cults 101

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102 Fritz Graf

stake and the discussion should not carry much ideological baggage anymore7 In what follows I will look at the problems very consciously through the eyes of a historian of the religions of the Roman Imperial Epoch8 I will not start with the most problematical question as to how baptism and mystery cults were re-lated to each other nor even with the wider question of how the widely attested ritual use of water for purification in ancient cults related to baptism instead I will first have a look at the apologists and their way of dealing with such relation-ships the other two questions will then follow from this one

1 Justin on Pagan Baptismal Rituals

As soon as we hear the voices of the Apologists we discern a (somewhat one-sided) discourse that connects Christian baptism with rituals outside the young Christian tradition that appeared to be comparable In his (First) Apology Justin Martyr talks extensively about the Christian rituals especially baptism albeit in a seemingly rambling way9 After having described its performance and ex-pounded its theological meaning he adds a chapter in which he talks about the imitation of the rite by the δαίμονες

Καὶ τὸ λουτρὸν δὴ τοῦτο ἀκούσαντες οἱ δαίμονες διὰ τοῦ προφήτου κεκηρυγμένον ἐνήργησαν καὶ ῥαντίζειν ἑαυτοὺς τοὺς εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ αὐτῶν ἐπιβαίνοντας καὶ προσιέναι αὐτοῖς μέλλοντας λοιβὰς καὶ κνίσας ἀποτελοῦνταςmiddot τέλεον δὲ καὶ λούεσθαι ἀπιόντας πρὶν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ ἱερά ἔνθα ἵδρυνται ἐνεργοῦσι

And after having heard this washing announced by the prophet the demons in-duced also those to rinse themselves who are entering their temples and are about to worship them with libations and burnt-offerings and they caused them also to bathe themselves entirely when they are setting out before they enter the shrines in which they were set [Apologia 1621 my translation]

Although in what follows Justin talks about the Jewish custom of entering the Temple without shoes here he must refer to polytheist cult with libations (λοιβαί) animal sacrifice (κνίση) and cult images (ἵδρυνται10) The link between the two seemingly incongruous details is the ritual of baptism that uses water and in which the baptized did not wear shoes as to the underlying symbolic

7 See the reasonable although superficial remarks of H Bowden Mystery Cults of the Ancient World 209ndash211

8 The still most rewarding contribution from this side is the long paper by A D Nock ldquoHellenis-tic Mysteries and Christian Sacramentsrdquo see also his ldquoReligious Developments from the Close of the Republic to the Reign of Nerordquo

9 Justin Apologia 161ndash63 see the contribution by A Lindemann ldquoZur fruumlhchristlichen Tauf-praxisrdquo in the present publication

10 ἱδρύω rdquoto seatrdquo is the standard term for setting up a cult image eg Eur IT 1453 Aristophanes Plutus 1153 etc the image itself is usually τὸ ἕδος rdquothe seatrdquo



Baptism and Graeco-Roman Mystery Cults 103

structure Justin compares baptism to entering a (Greek Roman or Jewish) sanc-tuary and thus coming into close contact with a divinity baptism performs the permanent and life-changing transition into the space of the true God

Justin describes two forms of lustration rituals that were common in Greek and Roman cult the routine aspersion (ῥαντίζειν ἑαυτούς) from the wash-basin περιρραντήριον at the entrance of a sanctuary and the more extensive wash- at the entrance of a sanctuary and the more extensive wash-ing or even bathing (λούεσθαι) that certain categories of defilement demanded before one could enter a sanctuary This second purification was more often not performed at the sanctuary but at home or in a public bath sanctuaries usually lacked the installations for bathing

Both types of rites are well attested in the ancient world the latter somewhat better than the former the former was routine the latter needed more expla-nation and instruction11 Despite a somewhat spotty archaeological record we can assume that lustral basins belonged to the standard items that marked the entrance into a sanctuary Most of the evidence comes from the Greek East Lu-cian remarks that ldquothe inscription at the entrance forbids to enter a sanctuary further than the wash-basins if someone has no clean handsrdquo this presupposes hand washing as a routine act12 At least one epigraphical purity ordinance seems to confirm this a second century CE text from Lindos that prescribes that one should enter the shrine with clean hands and a clean mind13 a some-what later Lindian text specifies that purity begins ldquoinside of where the wash-basins and the gates of the shrine arerdquo14 An inscription from Western Anatolia makes the use of an ldquoever-flowing springrdquo in the sanctuary conditional of onersquos purity only those who had not incurred pollution could get away with simply washing15 In Rome the ordinary formula spoken before a ritual excluded ldquowho

11 M Ninck Die Bedeutung des Wassers im Kult und Leben der Alten R Ginouvegraves Balaneutikeacute 375ndash404 S G Cole ldquoThe uses of water in Greek sanctuariesrdquo

12 Lucian De sacrificiis 13 τὸ μὲν πρόγραμμά φησι μὴ παριέναι ἐς τὸ εἴσω τῶν περιρραντηρίων ὅστις μὴ καθαρὸς τὰς χεῖρας

13 Introduction to a law in Lindos 2nd cent CE Inscriptiones Graecae 121798 (= F Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes grecques no 139) ἀφrsquo ὧν χρ[ὴ] πα[ρ]ῖν[α]ι αἰσίως εἰς τὸ ἱε[ρ]όν πρῶτον μὲν καὶ τὸ μέγιστον χεῖρας καὶ γνώμην καθαροὺς καὶ ὑγιε[ῖς] ὑπάρχοντας ndash ldquoWhat one needs to avoid to enter the shrine lawfully First and foremost to have the hands and the mind clean and healthyrdquo

14 [π]εριραντηρίων εἴσω καὶ τῶν τοῦ ναοῦ [πυλῶν] C Blinkenberg and K F Kinch Lindos vol 2 no 487 (= F Sokolowski Lois sacreacutes des citeacutes grecques Suppleacutement no 91) ca 225 CE see also L Vidman Sylloge Inscriptionum Religionis Isiacae et Sarapicae no 313 (early Imperial epoch) a dedication of wash-basins ldquoin front of the gaterdquo πρὸ τοῦ πυλῶνος of the Sarapeum in Pergamum

15 H Malay Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the Manisa Museum 31 no 24 (origin unknown Imperial epoch)



104 Fritz Graf

had no clean handsrdquo to the extent that a grammarian could derive delubrum ldquoshrinerdquo from (de)luere ldquoto washrdquo16

There was no uniform way as to deal with cases of pollution that needed more than a simple rinsing of onersquos hands or face Greek inscriptions give a bewildering variety of cases tied to specific places times and cults17 But the overall impression is clear it was possible to enter a sanctuary after some minor pollution only after ldquowashingbathingrdquo λουσάμενος18 often this was combined with a waiting time of one to several days An inscription from a small Helle-nistic temple in Miletus gives the principle

εἰσιένα]ι εἰς τὸν νε|ὼ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδ|ος τῆς Κιθώνης | ἀπὸ μὲν κήδεος | καὶ γυναικὸς λε|χοῦς καὶ κυνὸς | τετοκυίας τρι|ταίους λουσα|μένους ἀπὸ δὲ | τῶν λοιπῶν αὐ|θημερὸν λουσα|μένους

To enter pure the temple of Artemis Kithone from a death a birthing woman and a birthing bitch after three days and a washbath from the rest on the same day after washingbathing19

The Greek term λούεσθαι ldquoto wash onersquos bodyrdquo is ambivalent and can refer ei-λούεσθαι ldquoto wash onersquos bodyrdquo is ambivalent and can refer ei- ldquoto wash onersquos bodyrdquo is ambivalent and can refer ei-ther to a thorough wash or a full-body bath Only a few texts give clearer de-tails such as λουσάμενος κατακέφαλα ldquowashing starting with the headrdquo in a purity law of the early Imperial Age that concerns the cult of the Anatolian god Men20 or in a fifth century BCE funerary law from Keos τοὺς μιαι[νομένους] λουσαμένο[υ]ς π[--- ὕδατ]ος [χ]ύσι κα[θαρ]οὺς εἶναι ldquothe polluted will be pure after washing themselves [] with showers of waterrdquo21 Similar customs were in use in Rome once again not in a uniform way again sexuality and death were the main causes that necessitated additional purification22 In what must be a late systematization with uncertain reality in cult Macrobius informs us that

16 Formula Livy 4554 delubrum Cincius in Servius Ad Vg Aen 222517 See Th Waumlchter Die Reinheitsvorschriften im griechischen Kult L Moulinier Le pur et lrsquoim-

pur dans la penseacutee des Grecs drsquo Homegravere agrave Aristote R Parker Miasma Pollution and Purifica-tion in Early Greek Religion F Hoessly Katharsis Reinigung als Heilverfahren Studien zum Ritual der archaischen und klassischen Zeit sowie zum Corpus Hippocraticum O Paoletti G Camporeale V Saladino ldquoPurificazionerdquo in ThesCRA 2 3ndash87

18 Λουσάμενος after intercourse eg F Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees de lrsquoAsie Mineure nos 126 (Per-gamon after 133 BCE) and 189 (Maeonia 147146 BCE) Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes grecques Suppleacutement nos 9117 (Lindos 3rd cent CE) washing only when intercourse takes place during the day no 115 A 12 (Kyrene 4th cent BCE) pork no 543 (Delos ca 100 BCE Syrian Gods ie an Eastern custom) other defilement Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees de lrsquoAsie Mi-neure no 52 (Miletus end of the 1st cent BCE)

19 Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees de lrsquoAsie Mineure 51 the missing Greek word at the very beginning is one of the two words for pure καθαροὺς or ἁγνοὺς

20 Inscriptiones Graecae II2 1365 and 1366 (Athens 1st cent CE) after intercourse21 Inscriptiones Graecae XII 5593 = Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes grecques no 97 A 29f22 See the material collected in ThesCRA 2 (2004) 71ndash72 (death) Columella 1243 (inter-

course)




after pollution by death sacrifices to the Olympian gods needed a preliminary washing of the entire body those to underworld gods only a sprinkling23 He buttresses this observation with two passages from Vergil but it remains unclear whether he thinks these rites of purification routinely preceded every sacrifice or were performed only after a specific case of pollution

However one decides this last question it is obvious that according to Jus-tin the non-Christian parallels to baptism are standard pagan purification rites that preceded and conditioned the access to a sanctuary and the participation in its cult in the same way in which baptism allowed Christians to participate in Christian cult Surprisingly to us Justin disregards the fact that baptism is unique whereas ritual washings recur every time one enters a sanctuary More surprisingly still nothing in these pagan rituals resonated with the theological meaning of the rite Justin had just exposed total rebirth and spiritual illumi-nation24 I thus doubt that this rather superficial parallelism is the result of Jus-tinrsquos observation it is something that polytheist observers had noticed and were pointing out to comfortably insert Christianity Plinyrsquos prava superstitio into the framework of known ritual activity instead of accepting its self-defined uniqueness and the following urge to conversion Justinrsquos argument ndash that the demons imitated Christian rituals ndash makes sense especially if not uniquely in a situation where the Christian apologist had to refute pagan arguments levelled against the revealed uniqueness of Christian ritual

2 Tertullianrsquos Testimonies

In Justinrsquos list initiation rituals of mystery cults are irrelevant for baptism Not that he is unaware of mystery cults that must have been prominent in his Roman environment but he mentions them only in connection with the eucharist in the initiation rituals of those who are introduced to the Mithraic cult (ἐν ταῖς τοῦ μυομένου τελεταῖς Apol 1664) he says they offer bread and water to the neophyte with some ritual formulae25 We have to wait for Tertullian to connect baptism with mystery cults But he too draws his parallels from a much wider range of pagan ritual activity (De baptismo 51)

Sed enim nationes extraneae ab omni intellectu spiritualium potestatem eadem efficacia idolis suis subministrant sed viduis aquis sibi mentiuntur nam et sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur Isidis alicuius aut Mithrae ipsos etiam deos suos lavationibus efferunt ceterum villas domos templa totasque urbes aspergine

23 Macrob Sat 316 constat dis superis sacra facturum corporis ablutione purgari cum vero inferis litandum esset satis actum videtur si aspersio sola contingat

24 Apol 1614ndash1325 The pagan side of this discussion in Kelsos ap Origen Adv Cels 624



106 Fritz Graf

circumlatae aquae expiant passim certe ludis Apollinaribus et Pelusiis26 tinguntur idque se in regenerationem et impunitatem periurorum suorum agere praesumunt item penes veteres quisque se homicidio infecerat purgatrices aquas explorabat

Well but the nations who are strangers to all understanding of spiritual things apply a power of the self-same efficacy to their idols But they cheat themselves with waters which are powerless For they are initiated through a bath into some sacred rites ndash of some Isis or Mithras Likewise they carry out their gods them-selves to some washings Moreover by carrying water around and sprinkling it they everywhere purify country-seats houses temples and whole cities And certainly at the Apollinarian Games and the Pelusia they are sprinkled and they presume that they do so for their regeneration and remission of the penalties due to their perjuries Among the ancients again whoever had defiled himself with murder was wont to go in quest of purifying waters [Translation after S Thelwall]

Again as in Justin there are ample parallels in Greek and Roman culture that confirm Tertullianrsquos observation But unlike Justin Tertullian does not even try to explain why there should be parallels the pagans perform similar rituals but since they have not been inspired by the Holy Spirit and lack deeper insight their rituals remain without effect and are unable to wash away the sins and change the person The most famous and often discussed case of an initiatory bath is Luciusrsquo initiation into the mysteries of Isis in Kenchreai as described by Apuleius in book 11 of his Metamorphoses27 As soon as Lucius is admitted to initiation and has bought all the necessary things the priest ldquoled me with an escort of the faithful to the baths next door first submitted me to the customary bath and praying for the forgiveness of the gods and besprinkling me cleansed me most purelyrdquo28 This is far from being the initiation proper it is a preliminary cleans-ing performed outside the sanctuary in a public bath visible to all other users of the facility the initiation (dies divino destinatus vadimonio) follows only after another preliminary phase of secret teaching and ten days of fasting Christian baptism is comparable only as to the use of water for a ritual washing not as to

26 Instead of Pelusiis that is in the one ms T and the two early editions (Paris 1545 and Ba-sel 1554) Fulvio Ursino offered Eleusiniis presumably as his own idea whereas CSEL (ed Reifferscheid and Wissowa 1890 before T was known) follow Orsini later editions (J G P Borleffs Mnemosyne 59 [1931] 1ndash102 and R F Refouleacute 1952 in the Sources Chreacutetiennes) have Pelusiis Almost at the same time A D Nock ldquoPagan Baptism in Tertullianrdquo and F J Doumllger ldquoDie Apollinarischen Spiele und das Fest Pelusia Zu Tertullian De Baptismo 5rdquo con-Die Apollinarischen Spiele und das Fest Pelusia Zu Tertullian De Baptismo 5rdquo con-rdquo con-vincingly showed that Pelusiis is the correct reading

27 Apul Met 1123ndash24 see especially the commentary of J G Griffiths Apuleius of Madaura The Isis-Book

28 Apul Met 1123 stipatum me religiosa cohorte deducit ad proximas balneas et prius sueto lavacro traditum prefatus deum veniam purissime circumrorans abluit The text is somewhat ambivalent as to whether Lucius underwent two washings first the regular bath (suetum lavacrum) then a ritual ablution (circumrorans abluit) or whether it is only one step performed in the ldquousual bathing spacerdquo




the function of the ritual And unlike baptism these baths can be repeated ritual bathing remained part of the duties that a person initiated to Isis performed29 Mithraic ldquobaptismrdquo on the other hand has mainly to rely on Tertullian30 We lack other literary attestations the closest ancient testimony is a scene depicted in the mithraeum of Capua in which the Mithraic pater holds an unidentifiable object perhaps a crown or a cup over a bound naked initiate this is far from certain as baptism and would not even have suggested a baptismal ablution to the modern interpreter without Tertullianrsquos text31

These are the only mystery cults that Tertullian mentions in connection with baptism The prominent case of the Eleusinian mysteries with their pre-liminary bath in the the sea is as absent as ritual washings that must have been part of minor mystery cults32 This selection is no coincidence Tertullianrsquos pagan interlocutors to whom he reacts used rituals they knew in their own world the Latin West not the least in North Africa and that they could ob-serve there the ritual washing of an Isiac initiate in a public bath was visible to all and might well have entertained idle on-lookers Demeterrsquos mystery cult was confined to Eleusis and non-initiates outside of Athens might not have known about the bath in the sea Bacchic mysteries on the other hand mobile and well known even in later times must not have contained any ritual that reminded contemporaries of Christian baptism

The occasional washing of divine images is known in East and West it usu-ally belongs to a New Yearrsquos ritual in which the removal washing and new in-stauration of the image marked a major temporal caesura At the Plynteria the Greek ldquoWashing Festivalrdquo several Greek cities washed an image of their city goddess we know the ritual best from Athens where at the end of Thargelion

29 Tibull 1325 Juvenal Sat 6522 etc ndash See especially R A Wild Water in the Cultic Worship of Isis and Sarapis who finds no evidence for a baptism proper

30 In a more general sense he repeats the assertion in De praescriptione haereticorum 403ndash4 tingit et ipse [sc diabolus] quosdam utique credentes et fideles suos expositionem delictorum de lauacro repromittit et si adhuc memini Mithrae signat illic in frontibus milites suos celebrat et panis oblationem et imaginem resurrectionis inducit et sub gladio redimit coronam Although the only mystery cult named in this passage not all the rituals do necessarily belong to the Mithraic mysteries

31 Tentatively R Merkelbach Mithras 13632 On the Eleusinian bath in the sea Inscriptiones Greacae II2 84720 Polyaen 3112 Plut

Phocion 286 ndash On a possible bath in the Samothracian mysteries S G Cole Theoi Megaloi The Cult of the Great Gods at Samothrace n 267 on the use of a local stream for the ldquothiasoirdquo ie presumably the Bacchic mysteries Hesych sv Ῥειτοί on bathing in the initiation of the Eryth-Ῥειτοί on bathing in the initiation of the Eryth- on bathing in the initiation of the Eryth-raen KyrbantesKorybantes see F Graf Nordionische Kulte 320 ndash The bathing mentioned in the ordinance for the mysteries of Andania Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes grecques no 65106ndash111 seems to be recreational rather than ritual see N Deshours Les mystegraveres drsquoAnda-nia Eacutetude drsquoeacutepigraphie et drsquohistoire religieuse 91 see also Ginouvegraves Balaneutikeacute 375ndash404



108 Fritz Graf

the old wooden image of Athena Polias was cleansed in the sea at Phaleron33 In Rome at the festival named Lavatio on March 27 the venerable image (or rather sacred stone) of Magna Mater was carried out to a bath in the river Almo34 at the Saturnalia another New Yearrsquos festival the image of Saturnus was freed of its fetters and washed35

The occasional sprinkling of buildings or entire cities with water again is known both in the Greek East and the Latin West although more elaborate rituals are more often described than the simple use of water To give just two examples in an oracle from Klaros given to the Lydian town Caesarea Troketta in order to stop a plague at some point in the later second century CE Apollo prescribes the purification ritual ldquoSeek to prepare a drink from seven foun-tains that one has to cleanse with sulphur from afar and then quickly to draw and then to sprinkle the houses with the watersrdquo36 And Juvenal describes how a rich Roman lady travels to Egypt to provide Nile water with which she then sprinkles the Roman sanctuary of her goddess37

A similar purification was intended by the rites at the ludi Apollinares and the Pelusia Their aim according to Tertullian was regeneration and remission from the punishment for perjury This is somewhat puzzling not just because of our lack of detailed knowledge on these festivals Regeneratio is a typical Christian word not just in Tertullian mostly associated with baptism We can suspect that it could be used for the healing from a severe illness but we lack attestations for this use the sematically related verb recreare however often means ldquoto recover from illnessrdquo as does the rare noun recreatio38 Perjury is too serious a transgression both in religious and in social terms to be dealt with ritually in a city festival the fear of divine punishment for the perjurer or his descendants was what guaranteed its efficiency after all39 Only Ovid tells us that in a private purification ritual to Mercurius at a fountain near the Roman porta Capena a merchant might pray to the god that the ablution from the spring would remove the dangers of his perjuries and hope for Mercuriusrsquos forgiveness but this prayer might well be the poetrsquos idea40

33 See especially W Burkert ldquoBuzyge und Palladion Gewalt und Gericht in altgriechischem Ritualrdquo on a similar ritual on Samos Graf Nordionische Kulte 95

34 Ovid Fasti 4337ndash340 see G Wissowa Religion und Kultus der Roumlmer 31935 At least according to Arnob Adv Nat 42436 R Merkelbach and J Stauber ldquoDie Orakel des Apollon von Klarosrdquo no 8 ndash See also Theocr

Ecl 2496ndash9837 Juvenal Satire 6526ndash52938 recreatio ab aegritudine Plin Nat 2210239 Parker Miasma 10 ldquoThere is no question of formal purification from the consequences of

perjury but nor is there from temple-robbingrdquo40 Ovid Fasti 5673ndash692 on May 15 the Tradersrsquo Festival (Festus sv Mais idibus p 1354 Lind-

say)




Tertullianrsquos remark is not easy to connect with the scanty other evidence for the two festivals The urban ludi Apollinares (provided it is these Tertullian means) were instituted in 212 BCE to heal a plague in a belief that our main witness Livy contradicts this belief might explain the otherwise unattested purification of all participants by sprinkling them with water and this ritual in turn will have kept the belief alive against Livyrsquos protests41 The Pelusia in turn were an Egyptian style festival in the city of Rome introduced presumably under Marcus Aurelius of which not much is known otherwise42 Its aetiologi-cal story connects it with the temporary absence and return of the waters of the Nile43 This is crucial Nile water was always important in Egyptian festivals44 and ritual sprinkling with it is attested for the Iseum Campestre in Rome al-though confined to the space not to persons45 Insofar as the Nile floods were seen as instrumental for the annual regeneration of the country regeneratio could make some sense in the ideology of this festival the equation of Osiris with the (god of the) Nile gives it additional force but presuposes not necessar-ily a connection with any mystery cult46 Neither festival has any connection with perjury even in the playful way Ovidrsquos Merchants Festival has

Murder finally can be washed off with water in both Greek and Roman cul-tures although other more powerful liquids such as blood and more complex rituals than simple ablutions are attested as well and the Roman material is again rarer than the Greek one47

41 Wissowa Religion und Kultus 295 see Livy 25128ndash15 who insists that the ludi were instuted victoriae non valetudinis ergo ut plerique rentur (Macrobius Saturnalia 11727ndash30 follows Livy) Livy is arguing against an interpretation that was common when he wrote

42 Main information John Lydus De mensibus 457 date Hist Aug Marc Aur 238 the festival was still celebrated in the mid-4th century according to the calendar of 354 M R Salzman On Roman Time 174

43 The story is not only recent but Greek it hinges on the (wrong) derivation of the festival name from Greek πηλός ldquoclay mudrdquo

44 See hereto the article by J AssmannA Kucharek ldquoWasserriten im Alten Aumlgyptenrdquo in the present publication

45 On the use of Nile water in Egyptian cults F J Doumllger ldquoNilwasser und Taufwasserrdquo ndash Asper-Nilwasser und Taufwasserrdquo ndash Asper-rdquo ndash Asper-sion with Nile water in the Roman Iseum Juvenal Satire 6526ndash529 much more common are water libations eg Apul Met 1120 with the notes of J G Griffiths Apuleius of Madauros The Isis-Book 274f

46 On the equation Plut De Iside 32 363B with the comments of J G Griffiths Plutarchrsquos De Iside et Osiride 420f who points out that the concept is late thus the creators of the new festi-val might well have been inclined to use it

47 The Greek evidence in ThesCRA 213ndash17 water eg FGrH 356 F 1 (fragment of an Athenian sacred law regarding supplicants) or the purification law of Kyrene Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes grecques Suppleacutement no115 B 50ndash55 Evidence from Rome is less common but see Vergil Aeneid 2717ndash719 (Aeneas just returned from battle has to wash himself in running water before he can touch the Penates) or Ovid Fasti 239ndash40 (Greek myths)



110 Fritz Graf

Thus an analysis of Tertullianrsquos large catalogue of pagan rituals arrives at a similar conclusion as the analysis of Justinrsquos shorter list Tertullian like Justin focusses on purification not just of the transition into sacred space as Justin did but in a much wider sense He is interested in any purificatory use of water that parallels the purificatory use of the baptismal bath (eadem efficacia) and he is far from confining himself to mystery rituals nor does he in any way privilege the initiation rituals in the cults of Isis and Mithras over other rites Pagan beliefs were fractionally more radical however than the Christian ones whereas Christian baptism washed away sins as heavy as idolatry sexual trans-gression and fraud (idolatria stuprum et fraus 45) some of the pagan rites could wash off even the results of perjury and murder

3 Baptismal Cleansing and Pagan Purification Rituals

Thus neither Justin nor Tertullian justify the modern focus on mystery initia-tions as crucial antecedents of Christian baptism in its ritual form or its theo-logical content In their own indigenous readings the pagan rituals that imitated baptism were purificatory rituals and mystery cults could be associated simply because they contained rituals that cleansed human beings to make them fit for their encounter with the divine as do the rituals listed by Justin that precede the entrance into a shrine Justin reflects a contemporary discussion between Christians and pagans who noticed the similarities between pagan and Christian rituals and agreed on their existence but could not agree on their explanation Pagans used the similarities to contest the uniqueness of Christianity on which the Christian refusal to participate in pagan cult was based whereas Christians underlined the revelatory character of their rites and thus argued with imita-tions by the demons this argument makes sense only if it is used to refute pagan observations on the similarities of rituals Tertullian follows in the wake of this discussion without entering into it in detail he simply rejects the efficacy of the pagan rituals that have been compared to baptism

Thus this discussion and its underlying perception of contemporary ritual practice is irrelavant for the modern discussion about the origins of baptism or of any other Christian ritual The fact that contemporary observers understood Christian baptism as yet another ritual ablution of the sort they knew from their regular ritual practice or from some mystery cult that they had observed does not necessarily argue against the modern view that baptism has been influ-enced by pagan mystery cults but neither does it confirm it the modern theory has to be evaluated on its own merits The same is true for the conciliatory and less radical view that baptism and ancient iniatory rites share a common struc-ture which would explain the similarities pointed out by modern historians




The radical view attributed to the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule has been discussed and refuted so often that little remains to say The main argument against it is the simple fact that the ritual baths or ablutions that are attested in some but by no means all mystery cults usually have a very different function from that of the baptismal bath48 As in the case of the Isis mysteries discussed above the washing ablution or bath is a preliminary rite that serves to prepare the novice for the main rite whose core was the encounter with the divine The fact that the purification ritual could be witnessed by any visitors of a Roman bath in Apuleiusrsquo case or any bystander in the case of the mass bath of the Ele-usinian initiates in the sea at Phaleron is enough to show that it was not part of any secret mystery rite It was not this preliminary purificatory bath but the ritualized encounter with the divinity that procured the ldquoextraordinary experi-encerdquo at the core of a mystery initiation49 In baptism however the very bath and its accompanying verbal rites performed the radical change of personality that turned a pagan into a Christian the bath and prayer thus was the core rite None of the major mystery rituals ndash of Eleusis of Isis or of Dionysos on which the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule relied ndash contained a ritual bath in such a position and function none could have served as model and antecedent of Christian baptism

But what about the structural parallels There are after all a few instances of mystery rituals whose initiatory trajectory from purification to communal meal comes close to the Christian sequence of baptism and eucharist that marks the initiatory transformation into a member of the Christian congregation ac-cording to Justinrsquos description50 In the mysteries of the Kyrbantes in Ionian Erythrai that are attested in a fourth century BCE inscription a bath (λοῦτρον) is followed by a κρατηρισμός a ritual that uses a mixing bowl and is accom-κρατηρισμός a ritual that uses a mixing bowl and is accom- a ritual that uses a mixing bowl and is accom-panied by a sheep sacrifice this must have been a drinking ritual that lead to a common meal according to regular Greek sacrificial practice51 In some private mysteries in Athens that were performed by the mother of Aeschines and thus are almost contemporaneous to the Erythraean rites the purification ndash not with water but with mud and corn husks ndash was followed by the exclamation ldquoI escaped evil I acquired something betterrdquo (ἔφυγον κακὸν εὗρον ἄμεινον) and like the Erythraen cult these mysteries contained a κρατηρισμός whose posi-κρατηρισμός whose posi- whose posi-tion in the sequence is uncertain but presumably later than the purification52

48 For example F J Doumllger ldquoDie sbquoTaufelsquo an den Apollinarischen und Pelusischen Spielenrdquo 15749 I borrow the term ldquoextraordinary experiencerdquo from Burkert Ancient Mystery Cults 89ndash11450 See Bowden Mystery Cults of the Ancient World 209 ndash John Chrystostom Homilia 4364

neatly summarizes the trajectory (μετὰ τὴν κοινωνίαν τῶν μυστηρίων μετὰ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν τοῦ λουτροῦ μετὰ τὸ συντάξασθαι τῶι Χριστῶι)

51 H Engelmann and R Merkelbach Die Inschriften von Erythrai no 20652 Demosthenes De corona 259ndash260



112 Fritz Graf

But these cults are either local or altogether private and it would be pushing the evidence much too far if one would posit any direct influence on Christian baptism rather in the wake of Macchioro one would have to reconstruct some utterly hypothetical Bacchic or Orphic rituals in order to argue for a direct in-fluence and there is no compelling reason to do so Still the correspondance is noteworthy in both pagan rites as in Christian baptism the purificatory ritual is not just a preliminary act that lies outside the secrecy of the central ritual it is the main ritual It has been charged with a more fundamental transforma-tory meaning from bad to better in the Athenian rite from sinfulness to a new form of existence in baptism Details are less clear in the Erythraean rite espe-cially since the ritual record is deficient and it must remain uncertain whether other rites were part of the trajectory that are hiding under the term τελεῖν ldquoto initiaterdquo our text is a public ordinance that regulates the offices of a priest and might well be silent about many details53 In the light of the Christian discus-sion about women baptizing women it should be noticed that in Erythrai both genders underwent bathing the priest bathes the men the priestess the women despite its focus on what are basically male entities the dancing Korybantes the local cult was open to both genders54 But at any rate the Erythraean rites led to a changed status as well at the end (and for the rest of his life) the initiate is κεκορυβαντισμένος ldquoone who has become an initiate of the Korybantesrdquo55 Thus on the backdrop of the general ritual structure of a rite of passage several specific instantiations arrived at a comparable solution in which the purifica-tion ritual is used to express not just the purity necessary for any encounter with the divine but a change of personality

The Erythraen ritual deserves some consideration also because it is the only unequivocal text on the bath of women ldquothe buyers of the priesthoods initiate and offer to them from the mixing bowl and bathe the initiates the man the men the woman the womenrdquo ndash the buyers are a priest and a priestess56 Given the strict separation of genders in public baths57 one would have assumed a

53 Plato describes a more complex ritual scenario see I Linforth ldquoThe Corybantic Rites in Pla-tordquo

54 See the contribution of Andreas Lindemann in this publication ndash There might have been fe-male entities connected in some form with this cult to judge from the ldquoorgion of Herse -ore and Phanisrdquo attested in the same inscription no 206 but the text is broken at this point and the connection is unclear see F Graf Nordionische Kulte 332ndash334

55 The expression in an inscription on Samos that presumably comes from Erythrae as well Inscriptiones Graecae 1262 no 119 ndash Similarly in Bacchic mysteries the iniatiate has become βεβακχευμένος a state that expresses itself in a separate burial see the ordinance from Italian Cumae Sokolowski Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes grecques Suppleacutement no 120

56 Engelmann and Merkelbach Die Inschriften von Erythrai no 206 6ndash10 οἱ δὲ π[ριάμενοι] τὰς ἱερητείας τελεῦσι κ[αὶ κρητηρ]ιεῦσι καὶ λούσουσι τοὺς [τελευμέν]ους ὁ μὲν ἀνὴρ ἄνδρας ἡ δ[ὲ γυνὴ γυνα]ῖκας

57 Ginouvegraves Balaneutikeacute 220ndash224 see eg Plato Critias 117B




separation in ritual bathing even without such a prescription at least in the context of individual bathing The Eleusinian crowds walking into the sea at Phaleron could not have been separated by gender but this was a washing with-out priestly assistance and presumably even in some clothing The initimacy of an individual ritual bath with the concomitant nudity is something differ-ent the Erythraean text is a welcome confirmation that this created the neces-sity for female priesthoods as well we know from the Roman Bacchanalia how much the ritual community of both genders in secret rituals stimulated sexual phantasies even without the presence of ritual bathing58

One can highlight this resemantization of purification when comparing it with two instances of a similar trajectory which however did not lead to a communal meal but to a result that is pictorially expressed as close contact with the main divinity of the ritual Several monuments from the early Impe-rial Epoch the best known being a marble vase in Rome the so-called ldquoUrna Lovatellirdquo represent an initiation in three pictorial steps first a priest performs the sacrifice of a piglet or a libation then an attendant purifies the initiate (or Herakles) with a winnowing fan (air) or a torch (fire) while the initiate with his head veiled sits on a stool finally in a scene that is missing in some monu-ments the initiate encounters Demeter and her snake59 The sequence must derive from a Hellenistic original the exact identification of the underlying cult is somewhat debated but Eleusinian associations seem obvious60 Again purification is more than just a preliminary act again it constitutes the main transformatory act although the images offer a choice between two forms by air and by fire61 Already Albrecht Dieterich compared the central image in this sequence to the famous scene in Aristophanesrsquo Clouds in which Socrates initiates the philistine Strepsiades into his secret philosophical society with the aim of superior knowledge (εἰδέναι σαφῶς v 250) and a direct meeting with the ruling divinities the Clouds (ξυγγενέσθαι ταῖς Νεφέλαις εἰς λόγους ταῖς ἡμετέραισι δαίμοσι)62 The ritual however is far from exactly parallel Strepsia-

58 See Livy 3985ndash7 similar accusations were levelled against Christians59 For a catalog of the monuments see W Burkert ldquoInitiationrdquo 96ndash97 nos 34ndash4060 See Burkert ldquoInitiationrdquo 9361 One can imagine that water is the least impressive and therefore most common and ordinary

means of purification whereas the mystery experience calls for something more unusual and thus memorable the association with the elements (earth with Aeschinesrsquo mother fire or air on these images) might be a coincidence although philosophical speculation insists on puri-fication of the soul through the elements Vergil Aeneid 6740ndash742 (air water and fire) with Augustine CD 2113 and E Norden P Vergilius Maro Aeneis Buch VI 28

62 Aristophanes Clouds 250ndash475 ndash The connection between the images and Aristophanes first in A Dieterich ldquoUumlber eine Szene der Aristophanischen Wolkenrdquo who understood it as ldquoOr-Uumlber eine Szene der Aristophanischen Wolkenrdquo who understood it as ldquoOr-rdquo who understood it as ldquoOr-phic mysteriesrdquo which has become highly problematical a parody of Eleusis eg according to Burkert ldquoInitiationrdquo 94 no 1 and R Edmonds ldquoTo Sit in Solemn Silence Thronosis in Ritual Myth and Iconographyrdquo 347f P Bonnechegravere ldquoLa scegravene drsquoinitiation des Nueacutees drsquoAristophane



114 Fritz Graf

des is first crowned then powdered with flour and hides his head in his coat to avoid being rained on by the clouds only the ritual of Aeschinesrsquo mother together with the image suggests that this has to be understood as purification Strepsiades rather fears to be sacrificed (v 258) Still both in Aristophanes and in the images the cleansing ritual (since cleansing is implied in Aristophanes behind all the parodistic distortions) allows the initiate to meet his divinity This is different from Christian baptism however it does not lead to permanent membership in a new group but remains a one-time personal experience63

4 Summary

All in all then neither an evolutionary derivation of Christian baptism from spe-cific rituals in the world of early Christiniaty nor the rejection of any connection between the two worlds are feasible assumptions Already the first apologists and their pagan adversaries noticed the connection between baptism and pu-rificatory rituals that either marked the transition from daily life to a ritually pure space or that aimed at the removal of extraordinary pollution given the metaphor of pollution and cleaning common to most religious systems this is not surprising Our reading however stressed the fact that in baptism the full-body bath is the single ritual that performs the radical change of existence that is meant by becoming a Christian ablutions in the polytheist world of early Christianity were mostly a preliminary rite that even in mystery cults such as the cult of Isis or of Demeter at Eleusis could be viewed by everyone Only in a small number of initiation rites purification is the central transformative rite that can precede a common meal to mark adherence to a new group of changed people These rites however are not close to early Christian communities nei-ther in space nor in time and not all make use of water as the main agent of purification mud (earth) fire or air were other and more impressive means to create this memorable experience These rites then share with baptism only the common structure and the fact that one item of the van Gennepian sequence the separational cleansing was singled out and transformed into a comparable role as a marker of a lasting change of personality but everything suggests that these were independent developments in the common ritual language

et Trophonios nouvelles lumiegraveres sur le culte leacutebadeacuteenrdquo argued for the oracular cult of Tro-rdquo argued for the oracular cult of Tro-phonios at Lebadeia

63 I am aware that the borderline between one-time experience and permanent group member-ship is less sharp than I represent it for heuristic reasons see the remark on the camaraderie (ἑταιρία) created by the Eleusian mysteries in Plato Epistula 7333E but these feelings do not translate into creating a group apart from any other group as with Christians




Bibliography

Blinkenberg C and K F Kinch (eds) Lindos Fouilles et recherches 1902ndash1914 Vol 2 Les inscriptions Berlin de Gruyter 1941

Bonnechegravere P ldquoLa scegravene drsquoinitiation des Nueacutees drsquoAristophane et Trophonios nouvelles lumiegraveres sur le culte leacutebadeacuteenrdquo in Revue des Eacutetudes Grecques 111 (1998) 436ndash480

Bowden H Mystery Cults of the Ancient World Princeton NJ Princeton Uni-versity Press 2010

Burkert W Ancient Mystery Cults Cambridge Mass Harvard University Press 1987

mdash ldquoBuzyge und Palladion Gewalt und Gericht in altgriechischem Ritualrdquo in ZRGG 22 (1970) 356ndash336 [= Wilder Ursprung Opferritual und Mythos bei den Griechen Berlin Wagenbach 1990 77ndash85]

mdash ldquoInitiationrdquo in Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA) vol II Los Angeles The J Paul Getty Museum 2005 91ndash124

Casaubon I De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis exercitationes XVI Geneva Sump-tibus Ioannis Antonij amp Samuelis de Tournes 1654

Cole S G Theoi Megaloi The Cult of the Great Gods at Samothrace (EPRO 96) Leiden Brill 1983

mdash ldquoThe Uses of Water in Greek Sanctuariesrdquo in R Haumlgg N Marinatos and G C Nordquist (eds) Early Greek Cult Practice Proceedings of the Fifth In-ternational Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens (26ndash29 June 1986) Stockholm Paul Aringstroumlms 1988 161ndash165

Deshours N Les mystegraveres drsquoAndania Eacutetude drsquoeacutepigraphie et drsquohistoire religieuse Pessac Ausonius 2006

Dieterich A ldquoUumlber eine Szene der Aristophanischen Wolkenrdquo in Rheinisches Museum 48 (1893) 275ndash283 [= Kleine Schriften Leipzig and Berlin Teubner 1911 117ndash124]

Doumllger F J ldquoDie Apollinarischen Spiele und das Fest Pelusia Zu Tertullian De baptismo 5rdquo in Antike und Christentum 1 Muumlnster Aschendorff 1929 150ndash155

mdash ldquoDie sbquoTaufelsquo an den Apollinarischen und Pelusischen Spielen Zu Tertullian De baptismo 5rdquo in Antike und Christentum 1 Muumlnster Aschendorff 1929 156ndash159



116 Fritz Graf

mdash ldquoNilwasser und Taufwasser Eine religonsgeschichtliche Auseinandersetzungrdquo in Antike und Christentum 5 Muumlnster Aschendorff 1936 153ndash187

Edmonds R ldquoTo Sit in Solemn Silence Thronosis in Ritual Myth and Icono-graphyrdquo in AJP 127 (2006) 347ndash366

Engelmann H and R Merkelbach Die Inschriften von Erythrai (IKS 12) Bonn Habelt 19711972

Ginouvegraves R Balaneutikeacute Recherches sur le bain dans lrsquoantiquiteacute grecque (BEFAR 200) Paris E de Boccard 1962

Graf F Nordionische Kulte Religionsgeschichtliche und epigraphische Untersu-chungen zu den Kulten von Chios Erythrai Klazomenai und Phokaia Rome Istituto Svizzero 1985

Graf F and S I Johnston Ritual Texts for the Afterlife London Routledge 2007

Griffiths J G Plutarchrsquos De Iside et Osiride Bangor University of Wales Press 1970

Griffiths J G (ed) Apuleius of Madauros The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses XI) (EPRO 39) Brill Leiden 1975

Gunkel H Zum religionsgeschichtlichen Verstaumlndnis des Neuen Testaments Goumlttingen Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht 1930 [1st ed 1903]

Hoessly F Katharsis Reinigung als Heilverfahren Studien zum Ritual der ar-chaischen und klassischen Zeit sowie zum Corpus Hippocraticum Goumlttingen Vandenhoeck amp Ruprecht 2001

Linforth I ldquoThe Corybantic Rites in Platordquo in University of California Publi-cations in Classical Philology 13 (1946) 121ndash162

Malay H Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the Manisa Museum Wien Verlag der Oumlsterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1994

Merkelbach R Mithras Meisenheim Hain 1984

Merkelbach R and J Stauber (eds) ldquoDie Orakel des Apollon von Klarosrdquo Epigraphica Anatolica 27 (1996) 1ndash53 [= R Merkelbach Philologica Ausge-waumlhlte Kleine Schriften Stuttgart and Leipzig Teubner 1997 155ndash218]

Moulinier L Le pur et lrsquoimpur dans la penseacutee des Grecs drsquo Homegravere agrave Aristote Paris Klincksieck 1952

Ninck N Die Bedeutung des Wassers im Kult und Leben der Alten Eine symbol-geschichtliche Untersuchung Leipzig Teubner 1921




Nock A D ldquoHellenistic Mysteries and Christian Sacramentsrdquo in Mnemosyne 5 (1952) 177ndash213 [= Z Stewart (ed) Arthur Darby Nock Essays on Religion and the Ancient World Oxford Clarendon Press 1970 791ndash820]

mdash ldquoReligious Developments from the Close of the Republic to the Reign of Nerordquo in The Cambridge Ancient History 10 Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1963 465ndash511

mdash ldquoPagan Baptism in Tertullianrdquo in JThS 28 (1927) 289ndash290

Norden E P Vergilius Maro Aeneis Buch VI 4th ed Darmstadt Wissenschaftli-che Buchgesellschaft 1957

Parker R Miasma Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion Oxford Clarendon Press 1983

Rahner H ldquoDas Mysterium der Tauferdquo in Griechische Mythen in christlicher Deutung Zuumlrich Rhein-Verlag 1957 [citations from the English translation New York Harper amp Row 1963]

Salzman M R On Roman Time The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity Berkeley Calif University of California Press 1991

Sokolowski F Lois sacreacutees de lrsquoAsie Mineure Paris de Boccard 1955

mdash Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes greques Suppleacutement Paris de Boccard 1962

mdash Lois sacreacutees des citeacutes grecques Paris de Boccard 1969

Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA) 7 vols Los Angeles Calif Getty 2004ndash2006

Vidman L Sylloge Inscriptionum Religionis Isiacae et Sarapicae Berlin de Gruyter 1969

Wagner G Das religionsgeschichtliche Problem von Roumlmer 61ndash11 (AThANT 39) Zuumlrich Zwingli-Verlag 1962 [citations from the English translation Ed-inburgh Oliver amp Boyd 1967]

Waumlchter Th Die Reinheitsvorschriften im griechischen Kult Giessen Toumlpel-mann 1910

Wendland P Die hellenistisch-roumlmische Kultur und ihr Verhaumlltnis zu Judentum und Christentum (HNT 2) Tuumlbingen J C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck) 1912

Wiens D H ldquoMystery Concepts in Primitive Christianity and in Its Environ-mentrdquo in W Hasse (ed) Aufstieg und Niedergang der Roumlmischen Welt 2232 Berlin and New York de Gruyter 1980 1252ndash1267



118 Fritz Graf

Wild R A Water in the Cultic Worship of Isis and Sarapis (EPRO 87) Leiden Brill 1981

Wissowa G Religion und Kultus der Roumlmer Muumlnchen Beck 1912



102 Fritz Graf

stake and the discussion should not carry much ideological baggage anymore7 In what follows I will look at the problems very consciously through the eyes of a historian of the religions of the Roman Imperial Epoch8 I will not start with the most problematical question as to how baptism and mystery cults were re-lated to each other nor even with the wider question of how the widely attested ritual use of water for purification in ancient cults related to baptism instead I will first have a look at the apologists and their way of dealing with such relation-ships the other two questions will then follow from this one

1 Justin on Pagan Baptismal Rituals

As soon as we hear the voices of the Apologists we discern a (somewhat one-sided) discourse that connects Christian baptism with rituals outside the young Christian tradition that appeared to be comparable In his (First) Apology Justin Martyr talks extensively about the Christian rituals especially baptism albeit in a seemingly rambling way9 After having described its performance and ex-pounded its theological meaning he adds a chapter in which he talks about the imitation of the rite by the δαίμονες

Καὶ τὸ λουτρὸν δὴ τοῦτο ἀκούσαντες οἱ δαίμονες διὰ τοῦ προφήτου κεκηρυγμένον ἐνήργησαν καὶ ῥαντίζειν ἑαυτοὺς τοὺς εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ αὐτῶν ἐπιβαίνοντας καὶ προσιέναι αὐτοῖς μέλλοντας λοιβὰς καὶ κνίσας ἀποτελοῦνταςmiddot τέλεον δὲ καὶ λούεσθαι ἀπιόντας πρὶν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ ἱερά ἔνθα ἵδρυνται ἐνεργοῦσι

And after having heard this washing announced by the prophet the demons in-duced also those to rinse themselves who are entering their temples and are about to worship them with libations and burnt-offerings and they caused them also to bathe themselves entirely when they are setting out before they enter the shrines in which they were set [Apologia 1621 my translation]

Although in what follows Justin talks about the Jewish custom of entering the Temple without shoes here he must refer to polytheist cult with libations (λοιβαί) animal sacrifice (κνίση) and cult images (ἵδρυνται10) The link between the two seemingly incongruous details is the ritual of baptism that uses water and in which the baptized did not wear shoes as to the underlying symbolic

7 See the reasonable although superficial remarks of H Bowden Mystery Cults of the Ancient World 209ndash211

8 The still most rewarding contribution from this side is the long paper by A D Nock ldquoHellenis-tic Mysteries and Christian Sacramentsrdquo see also his ldquoReligious Developments from the Close of the Republic to the Reign of Nerordquo

9 Justin Apologia 161ndash63 see the contribution by A Lindemann ldquoZur fruumlhchristlichen Tauf-praxisrdquo in the present publication

10 ἱδρύω rdquoto seatrdquo is the standard term for setting up a cult image eg Eur IT 1453 Aristophanes Plutus 1153 etc the image itself is usually τὸ ἕδος rdquothe seatrdquo














104 Fritz Graf











course)













106 Fritz Graf



















108 Fritz Graf








say)















110 Fritz Graf















112 Fritz Graf


















114 Fritz Graf


4 Summary







Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf
















104 Fritz Graf











course)













106 Fritz Graf



















108 Fritz Graf








say)















110 Fritz Graf















112 Fritz Graf


















114 Fritz Graf


4 Summary







Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf















106 Fritz Graf



















108 Fritz Graf








say)















110 Fritz Graf















112 Fritz Graf


















114 Fritz Graf


4 Summary







Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf















108 Fritz Graf








say)















110 Fritz Graf















112 Fritz Graf


















114 Fritz Graf


4 Summary







Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf

















110 Fritz Graf















112 Fritz Graf


















114 Fritz Graf


4 Summary







Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf













112 Fritz Graf


















114 Fritz Graf


4 Summary







Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf













114 Fritz Graf


4 Summary







Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf






Bibliography
















116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf





116 Fritz Graf






































118 Fritz Graf
























118 Fritz Graf





Download - Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism (Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity) || Baptism and Graeco-Roman Mystery Cults

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