Глава вторая Языческие мистерии гнусны, а боги позорны

§ XI. About pagan oracles So, do not worry about the wicked sanctuaries and the gaping jaws of the abyss full of deception, be it the Thesprotian cauldron, the Cyrrhus tripod, or the copper vessel of Dodon. Leave to the dilapidated myths the old oak trunk, once revered in the sands of the desert, and the oracle located right there, which has decayed along with the oak itself. The Kastalsky source fell silent, the Colophonsky one fell silent, and the rest of the prophetic springs disappeared in the same way. Although they lost their vain glory late, they were, however, completely disgraced, having dried up along with their own myths. Tell us about other useless oracles, where there is more madness than prophetic gift: about Apollo - Claros, Pythian and Didyma, about the oracle of Amphiaraus and about Amphilochus; if you want, add to them interpreters of signs, bird tellers and interpreters of dreams. Place next to the Pythian a crowd of fortune tellers using wheat and barley flour and ventriloquists still revered by many. May the sanctuaries of the Egyptians and the necromancy of the Etruscans disappear into darkness. The tricks of unscrupulous people are truly insane - outright deception of gambling houses. The companions of this deception are goats trained for divination, and ravens taught by people to give oracles. § XII. The connection of the mysteries with the serpent and the fall What if I talk about the mysteries in order? I will not reveal them in a dance, as they say Alcibiades did, but with the word of truth I will completely expose the charlatanism hidden in them and the very so-called gods of yours, to whom the secret initiations belong, I will pump the truth onto the stage of life to the audience of truth. The Bacchants honor the frenzied Dionysus with orgies, devouring raw meat in a sacred frenzy, and sanctify dissected dead carcasses, crowning themselves with snakes, shouting in jubilation “Evan!” “Eve!” is the name of the one because of whom the delusion of the human race began. And the sign of the Bacchic mysteries is the dedicated serpent. It should be noted right away that the name Hevya, pronounced with a thick aspiration, means “snake” in Hebrew. Demeter and Kore have already become characters in a mystical drama, and Eleusis illuminates their wanderings, abduction and sorrow with the light of torches. § XIII. On the origin of the words “orgies” and “mysteries” It seems to me that the origin of the words “orgies” and “mysteries” should be explained as follows: orgies from ὀργή - Demeter’s anger at Zeus, and mysteries from μύσος - the shame that befell Dionysus. Even if you derive the word “mysteries” from the name of a certain Miunts from Attica, who died, according to Apollodorus, while hunting with hounds, you will not envy you: in this case, your mysteries owe their name and glory to the funeral. It’s possible in another way - your mysteries mean “hunting fables” - you just have to rearrange the sounds. After all, myths, albeit different, but similar to these, prey on the most ignorant of their Thracians, the most foolish of the Phrygians, the most superstitious of the Hellenes. Let the one who initiated this human error perish, be it Dardanus, who taught the mysteries to the Mother of the gods, or Eetion, who established the orgies and initiations of the Samothraces, or that Phrygian, Midas, who learned from Odrys, and then spread among his subjects a skillfully created false teaching. I will never be seduced by the Cypriot Kinir, who dared to postpone the dissolute orgies of Aphrodite from night to day, considering it a matter of honor for himself to deify his fellow harlot. Others say that Melampodes, the son of Amitaon, transferred the festival of Demeter - the glorification of sorrow - from Egypt to Hellas. Perhaps I will say that these fathers of wicked myths and disastrous superstition are the instigators of evil, who have sowed mysteries in our lives - the seeds of vice and death. § XIV. About the mysteries of Aphrodite The time has come to say that your orgies themselves are full of deception and fables. If you are initiated, you will laugh more than others at these myths that you honor. I will openly tell you about the secret, not ashamed to talk about what you are not ashamed to worship. “Foam-born” and “Cyproborn”, the girlfriend of Cinyras (I am talking about Aphrodite Philomedea, for from the reproductive organ she arose, the same one cut off from Uranus, the lustful one, who dishonored the wave after his cutting off), was born as a fetus worthy of a dissolute part of the body. When introduced to the sacrament of this sea voluptuousness, those initiated into the depraved art are given a symbol of birth - a grain of salt and a phallus. The initiates bring a coin to Aphrodite, like lovers of a hetaera. § XV. On the mysteries of Demeter, Attis, Cybele and the Corybantes The mysteries of Demeter are the passionate intercourse of Zeus and his mother Demeter and her anger (I don’t know, however, what to say, as a mother or as a wife), because of which, they say, she is called Brimo, “Terrible,” and Zeus’s prayers with Maslenitsa branches, and the drinking of bile, and the extraction of the heart, and ceremonies inexpressible. The Phrygians do something similar in honor of Attis, Cybele and the Corybantes. There is a rumor that Zeus, having torn out the testicles of a ram, threw them into the womb of Demeter, as if paying for the violence with false self-castration. I know that the symbolic sayings of this sacrament, given in abundance, will cause laughter even in you, who have lost the desire to laugh because of the accusations: I ate from the tympanum, I drank from the cymbal, I carried the kernos, I hid myself under the bridal bed. Aren't these formulas an insult? Aren't the mysteries a mockery? § XVI. About the Sabazi Mysteries What if I add the rest? Demeter bears a child. Cora is growing up. Zeus again enters into a love affair, this time with Persephone - a parent with his own daughter after his mother Demeter, forgetting about the previous shame. Thus, Zeus is both the father and the molester of the girl. It combines, taking the form of a serpent, but is caught in deception. Indeed, the symbol of the Sabazi Mysteries for initiates is “god through the womb.” This is a snake, drawn along the chest of those who partake of the secrets - proof of the intemperance of Zeus. Persephone bears a bull-shaped child. Indeed, a certain idolatrous poet says: The bull was the serpent's father, and the serpent was the father of the bull. The goad, O shepherd, is hidden on the mountain, calling, I think, the narthec staff, which the Bacchants crown, a shepherd's goad. § XVII. About thesmophoria, skyphoria and arretophoria and the mysteries of Dionysus Do you want me to tell you about Persephone picking flowers and about the basket, and about the abduction by Hades, and about the cleft in the earth, and about the pigs of Eubouleus, swallowed up along with the goddesses, for what reason are the pigs thrown into the so-called megarons at thesmophoria? Women in the city celebrate these mythological events with various holidays - thesmophoria, skyrophoria, arretophoria, making the abduction of Persephone tragic and sublime in different ways. For the mysteries of Dionysus are completely inhuman. When around him, while still a child, the Kuretes were dancing around him, shaking their weapons, the Titans, sneaking up with the help of cunning and deceiving him with children's toys, tore the foolish baby to pieces, as the Thracian Orpheus, the poet of this dedication, says: Tambourine, top and dolls whose joints are movable, And the golden fruits of the Hesperides, singing sweetly. § XVIII. About the mysteries of Dionysus (continued) It would not be useless to expose the useless signs of this dedication of yours to reproach and condemnation: money, a ball, a top, apples, a tambourine, a mirror, a tuft of wool. Athena, who secretly stole the heart of Dionysus, is called Pallas after its pulsation. The Titans, having placed a certain cauldron on a tripod and throwing in it the members of the boy they had torn to pieces, first boiled them, then, piercing them with skewers, began to hold them over Hephaestus. Then Zeus appears (probably, having sensed, since he was a god, the smell of the roast, which your gods agree to accept as an honorary gift), strikes the Titans with Perun and instructs his son Apollo to bury the remains of Dionysus. He obeys Zeus and, bringing the torn body to Parnassus, buries it. § XIX. About the Kabir mysteries The Corybantes (if you also want to consider their mysteries), having killed their third brother, covered the head of the dead man with purple and, having crowned him, buried him, bringing him on a copper shield to the foot of Olympus. These are the mysteries: in short, murders and burials. Their priests, called “Anactotelestes” by those for whom the name matters, aggravate this crime with new absurdities, forbidding the serving of celery; after all, they believe that celery grew from the leaked blood of Corybantus, just as women celebrating the thesmophoria festival are careful not to eat pomegranate seeds that have fallen to the ground, believing that pomegranates arose from drops of the blood of Dionysus. And those who call the Corybantes Kabiri call this kind of mysteries Kabiri. Both of these fratricides, taking the basket (“cyst”) in which the phallus of Dionysus was hidden, took it to Etruria - merchants selling glorious goods - and there, being exiles, they settled, giving the Etruscans as a religion a wonderful pious doctrine of the worship of the reproductive member and the basket. For this reason, some, not without reason, call Dionysus Attis, deprived of genitals. §XX. About the Eleusinian Mysteries And what is surprising if the Etruscans, the barbarians, are initiated into vile sacraments in honor of these terrible events, when among the Athenians and throughout Hellas the mythology concerning Demeter is full of shame, which is shameful even to speak of. After all, Demeter, wandering in search of her daughter Cora, gets very tired and sits down, dejected, on a well in Eleusis (this is an area in Attica). It is still forbidden for initiates to do this, so that they do not seem to be imitating the grieving goddess. And then the earth-born lived in Eleusis. Their names are Baubo, Disaulus, Triptolemus, and also Eumolpus and Eubouleus. From them comes the Athenian family of Eumolpides and Cyrics. Baubo (I will not fail to say this), having received Demeter hospitably, offers her a kykeon. When she refused to take it and did not want to drink because she was sad, Baubo, upset, as if she had been offended, lifts up her hem and shows the goddess her shame. Demeter rejoices at the spectacle and tastes the drink, enjoying what she sees. These are the mysteries of the Athenians. § XXI. About the Eleusinian Mysteries (continued) Orpheus describes this too. I will give you these words of his, so that you have mystagogue as evidence of shamelessness: So she spoke and, lifting her clothes, showed Demeter The fact that shame does not tell you to show it; little Iacchus was there. This Iacchus, laughing, tugs under the hem with his hand. Then the goddess smiled, her smile warmed my heart And she graciously accepted the vessel where the drink was poured. There is also a password for the Eleusinian Mysteries: I fasted, drank kykeon, received from a basket (“cysts”), after laboring, put it in a basket (“kalatos”) and from the basket into the basket. A beautiful sight befitting a goddess! §XXII. About the secret symbols of the mysteries Initiations worthy of night and fire, and the polymale, rather fussy, tribe of the Erechtids, as well as the rest of the Hellenes, who will have what they do not expect after their death. To whom does Heraclitus of Ephesus prophesy? Night wanderers, magicians, bacchantes, bacchantes, mystics; they are threatened by what is after death; Fire is predicted for them, because they are unholy initiated into what people consider mysteries. These sacraments are nothing more than a nonsense opinion that has become law, a cunning worthy of worship, thanks to which the serpent deceives those who, with the help of false piety, resort to mysteries that are in fact alien to initiation, and to initiations devoid of mysticism. Such are the baskets used in secret rites. It is necessary to expose their sacred things and make their secrets public. Isn’t this sesama, isn’t it pyramids and koloboks, bubbly cakes and grains of salt and a snake - an attribute of the sacrament of Dionysus of Bassara? Besides, aren't they pomegranates, and fig tree branches, and narthec wands and ivy, and also bread made from wheat flour and cheese, and poppy seeds? These are their shrines. In addition, the secret symbols of Gaia-Themis: oregano, a lamp, a sword, a female comb, which, euphemistically and mystically speaking, is the female genital organ. Oh sheer shamelessness! Previously, the silent night served modest people as a cover for sensual pleasures. Now, having spoken, she became for the initiates a test of their lust. Fire from torches also exposes passions. O hierophant, put out the fire! O torchbearer, be ashamed of the torches! - after all, the shame of your Iacchus is visible in the world; let the night cover the mysteries. Let her honor orgies with darkness! Fire is not a hypocrite: it is called upon to incriminate and punish. § XXIII. The mysteries of the pagans are godless Such are the mysteries of the atheists. I rightly call atheists those who have not known the truly existing God, a child torn to pieces by the Titans and a sad woman, and parts of the body that shame does not even allow us to talk about, they shamelessly honor, overwhelmed by twofold atheism: firstly, they do not recognize God, since they do not want to know the truly existing God; their second misconception is that non-existents, who have nothing but a name, are called gods. That is why the apostle denounces them, saying: “you were not involved in the promised covenants, having neither hope nor God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). § XXIV. The prudence of the ancient “atheists” Blessed be that king of the Scythians, whoever he may be, who shot his fellow countryman, who among the Scythians performed the mysteries of the Mother of the gods borrowed from the inhabitants of Cyzicus - striking the tympanum, rattling the cymbal, hanging something around his neck like a mendicant priest - shot with a bow because he himself had learned cowardice from the Hellenes, and for the rest of the Scythians he became a teacher of effeminacy. Therefore (this must under no circumstances be kept silent about) it is surprising to me how Euhemerus the Acragantian, Nicanor the Cypriot, Diagoras and Hippo - Melians, as well as that Cyrenian (his name was Theodore) and many others who lived their lives prudently and saw better than others the error concerning the gods, were called atheists. After all, although they did not comprehend the truth, they assumed an error. This glimpse of reason is by no means a small seed from which truth grows. One of them convinced the Egyptians: “If you consider anyone to be gods, do not mourn them and do not beat your chest. If you mourn, then do not consider them gods.” The other, taking Hercules, made of wood (in all likelihood, he happened to be cooking something at home) said: “Come on, Hercules, the time has come for you to perform the thirteenth labor for us, as for Eurystheus, and prepare meat for Diagoras.” And then he put it into the fire like a log. §XXV. About godlessness and superstition The extremes of ignorance are godlessness and superstition, and one must try not to fall into them. Don't you remember what the high priest Moses meant when he commanded the one whose yatras were crushed or whose genital member was cut off, or who was born of a harlot, not to enter the congregation of the Lord? With the help of the first two he hints at atheists who are deprived of fruitful divine power; with the help of the third, he points to those who ascribe to themselves many false gods instead of the one true God, just as the son of a harlot ascribes to himself many fathers due to ignorance of his true father. There was a certain natural, primordial communication between people and the sky, which later faded due to ignorance. Suddenly emerging from the darkness, it shone again, as someone said about it. Do you see the sky without boundaries, that mountain world? He holds the entire circle of the earth in his wet embrace. The earth is your support, you have your throne on the earth; No matter who you are, we cannot see you. And many other things like this are sung by the tribe of poets. Erroneous human ideas that deviated from the right path, being truly destructive, turned the heavenly branch, man, away from the heavenly home and threw him to the ground, convincing him to stick to earthly creatures. § XXVI. Seven Ways of Idolatry After all, some people, those who fall into error from the mere sight of the sky and look at the movement of the luminaries, trusting only their vision, admired and deified them, calling the luminaries gods from the verb “to run,” and began to worship the sun - like the Hindus, and the moon - like the Phrygians. Others, those who collect the fruits of cultivated plants, called bread Demeter, like the Athenians, and grapes Dionysus, like the Thebans. Others, knowing about the inevitability of retribution for evil, deify retribution and misfortune, showing them honor. That is why the poets of the theatrical stage invented Erinyes and Eumenides, Punishers, Avengers and Alastors. Some of the philosophers do not lag behind the poets, idolizing the types of your passions - Fear, Love, Joy, Hope, such as the ancient Epimenides, who erected altars of Insolence and Shamelessness in Athens. What is also deified is that before, until it was overgrown with fictitious flesh, there were only abstract concepts: a certain justice - Dika, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, Fate, the Athenians Multiplication and Flowering. There is a sixth way by which delusion spreads and the number of gods increases; according to it, there are twelve gods. This includes the theogony that Hesiod composes and everything that Homer theologizes about. The last one remains (there are seven of these paths), which begins with divine blessings falling on people. Having no idea about the God who sent them down, they invented some kind of saviors - the Dioscuri, Hercules, who averts troubles, and the doctor Asclepius. § XXVII. Myths are either fictions or stories about bad people. These are slippery, disastrous paths that move away from the truth, bringing a person down from heaven and directing him into the abyss. I want to show you these gods up close, whatever they may be, if they exist at all, so that you will finally stop wandering and return to heaven. We, too, were children of wrath, just like the rest. God, rich in compassion, according to His great love with which He loved us, quickened us, dead because of sins, together with Christ. For the living Word, buried with Christ, is exalted with God. Those who have not yet believed are called children of wrath, being raised for wrath. And we are no longer the children of anger, for we have left error and rushed towards the truth. Thus, we, once sons of iniquity, through the love of the Word have now become sons of God. Your Akragantian poet Empedocles addresses us: As if in illness you rush about, delirious, in fierce depravity. And you will never recover in spirit from severe suffering. Much of what is told about your gods is myth and fiction. And what is considered to have happened in reality is written about nasty people who lived shamelessly: You are walking in mad arrogance. Leaving the road straight And well-trodden, you rushed to where the thorns are The path is blocked. Put an end to wandering, wake up, Leaving the darkness of the night, hurry for the light, you fools! This is what the Sibyl, possessing the prophetic and poetic gift, tells us. Truth also commands, tearing off frightening and terrifying masks from the gods, proving, on the basis of coincidences of names, the inconsistency of existing opinions. § XXVIII. About the gods of the same name So, there are those who describe three Zeuses: one - the son of Aether, who lived in Arcadia, the other two - the sons of Kronos, of whom one lived in Crete, the other - again in Arcadia. There are those who suggest the existence of five Athens: one is the daughter of Hephaestus, an Athenian; the other is the daughter of the Nile, an Egyptian; the third is the daughter of Kronos, the inventor of war; the fourth is the daughter of Zeus, whom the Messenians call Coryphasia in honor of her mother; finally, the fifth is the daughter of Pallant and Titanis, daughter of Ocean. She, having wickedly stabbed her father, dressed in her father’s skin as in sheepskin. Aristotle lists the Apollos: the first, the son of Hephaestus and Athena (it turns out that he is no longer the virgin Athena); the second, who lived in Crete, the son of Kirbant; third, son of Zeus; the fourth, an Arcadian, son of Silenus, among the Arcadians he is called Nomius; finally, a Libyan, son of Ammon. Didymus, the grammarian, adds to them a sixth, the son of Magnet. How many Apollos exist now - countless mortals and perishable people, named like those discussed above? §XXIX. About Ares, Hephaestus and others What if I told you about many Asclepias or Hermes or fictitious Hephaestus? Will it seem that I have overdone it by bringing down an avalanche of these names on your ears? But mentions of the fatherland and crafts, biographies, as well as tombs expose their bearers as people. Ares, who enjoyed the greatest fame among the poets, Oh, bloodthirsty Ares, destroyer approaching the walls. - treacherous and hostile, he was, as Epicharmus says, a Spartiate. Sophocles considers him a Thracian, while others consider him an Arcadian. Homer says that this god was bound for thirteen months: Ares suffered a lot when Ot with the mighty Ephialtes (Aloe gave birth to them) they imprisoned the poor fellow in chains. He languished in a copper prison for thirteen long months. May the Carians be happy for slaughtering his dogs. Let the Scythians not stop sacrificing donkeys, as Apollodorus says. Callimachus testifies: Hyperborean Phoebus sanctifies the offering donkeys. The slaughter of fat donkeys rejoices his heart. And Hephaestus, whom Zeus threw from Olympus, from the threshold of the divine, falling on Lemnos, became a blacksmith. Being lame he trotted along on thin legs. § XXX. About Asclepius, Dioscuri, Hercules and others You also have a doctor among the gods, and not just a blacksmith. The doctor was a money-lover, his name was Asclepius. As a witness I will offer you your poet, the Boeotian Pindar: Gold, sparkling from the hands of countless bribes, And scorching lightning from the Kronid muscles, She closed her sigh in his chest, Both were overwhelmed by their fate. Zeus killed my son Asclepius, Sending fire from heaven, Perun pierced his chest. So, he lies, struck by thunder, within the boundaries of Cynosurida. Philochorus says that on the island of Tenos the physician Poseidon is revered; Kronos is destined for Sicily, where he is buried. Patroclus the Turian and Sophocles the Younger talk about the Dioscuri in some tragedies. These Dioscuri were mortal men, if you can believe Homer: Gaia has already accepted them into her life-giving womb In their native Lacedaemon, in the dear land of their homeland. Let the one who wrote Cypria also appear as a witness: Castor was mortal: he was destined to die. However, Polidevk did not know death; he is Ares’s branch. Here, as is usual with poets, the author lied. Homer, who spoke about both Dioscuri, is more worthy of trust. In addition, he incriminates Hercules as a ghost: Her husband is Hercules, who accomplished many glorious deeds. So, Homer himself considers Hercules a mortal man. Jerome, the philosopher, talks about his appearance, saying that he is a small, disheveled, strong man, and Dicaearchus - that he is tense, wiry, black, with an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes and long hair. This Hercules died, having lived fifty-two years, and was burned at the stake on Oeta. The muses, whom Alcman makes the children of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and other poets and writers deify and honor, and to whom entire cities devote sanctuaries - musae; These muses, the Mysian maidens, were acquired by Megaklo, the daughter of Makar. The fact is that Makar, who reigned over the Lesbians, was constantly quarreling with his wife. Megaklo was offended for her mother: why not? - and she buys nine Misian maids and calls them Moises in the Aeolian dialect. Teaches them to sing about the deeds of bygone days and to accompany them euphoniously on the cithara. They, with their incessant playing and beautiful singing, fascinated Makar and calmed his anger. Because of this, Megaklo, in the form of a gift of gratitude for her mother, dedicated copper statues to the gods and ordered them to be venerated in all churches. Such are the Muses. This story is told by the Lesbian Mirsil. § XXXII. About the love adventures of the gods Listen to the love adventures of your gods, about the incredible licentiousness that the myths tell about, about wounds and fetters, about laughter and battles, in addition, about slavery and revels, finally, about hugs and tears, about suffering and shameless pleasures of the gods. Call here Poseidon and the whole host of women seduced by him: Amphitrite, Amymone, Alope, Melanippe, Alcyone, Hippophoi, Khione and myriads of others, who, despite their number, were not enough to satisfy the passion of your Poseidon. Call Apollo here too: this is the radiant Phoebus, the immaculate soothsayer and good adviser. But this is not what Sterope, Aethusa, Arsinoe, Zeuxippus, Protoe, Marpessa, and Hypsipyle say. After all, only Daphne, having eluded the prophet, escaped corruption. After everyone, let Zeus himself appear, the father, in your opinion, of both gods and people. He was so overcome with lust that he coveted everyone, spread his lust to everyone; enjoyed women no less than the Tmuit goat enjoyed goats. § XXXIII. About the love adventures of the gods (continued) I am surprised, O Homer, at your verses: Rek and raised his eyebrows, giving a sign, Kronion the Lord: His curls swayed, full of ambrosia scent, On a head alien to death. Great Olympus shook. Homer, you make Zeus venerable and ascribe to him awe-inspiring anointing. But as soon as you tell about Aphrodite’s belt, Zeus is exposed, and his curls are covered with shame. And how successful he was in debauchery, spending so many nights of pleasure with Alcmene! But nine nights are not enough for a dissolute person (for unbridledness and a whole life is not enough) for us to give birth to a god who averts troubles. Zeus's son Hercules is truly Zeus: conceived during a long night, performing twelve labors over a long period, he corrupted, however, fifty daughters of Testius in one night, becoming both a seducer and a groom of girls. It is not without reason that poets call him impudent and impious. It will probably take a long time to talk about his various adulteries and corruption of boys. For your gods did not abstain even from boys, burning with passion, one for Hylas, another for Hyakintus, a third for Pelops, a fourth for Chrysippus, a fifth for Ganymede. Let your wives worship these gods, let them ask the same for their husbands, husbands who are so prudent that they can become like the gods, asking for the same thing as them. Let your sons get used to honoring them in order to become men, taking the gods as a frank example of fornication. But maybe only male gods strive for love pleasures among them? Each one remained in her house, a bashful goddess, according to Homer, out of modesty, avoiding meeting with the adulterous Aphrodite. But they too, with all their passion, indulge in debauchery, tying themselves with the bonds of adultery. Eos with Tithon, Selene with Endymion, Nereid with Aeacus, Thetis with Peleus, Demeter with Iasion, Persephone with Adonis. Aphrodite, having been caught in connection with Ares, went over to Kinir and took Anchises as her husband, and caught Phaethon, and fell in love with Adonis; She entered into an argument with Volooka, and the goddesses, having taken off their clothes because of the apple, appeared before the shepherd’s court so that he could decide which of them was more beautiful. § XXXIV. On the history of sports competitions and phallic processions Let's take a quick look at the competitions and deprive these memorial festivities of their aura: the Isthmian, Nemean, Pythian and, finally, the Olympic. In Delphi the Pythian serpent is revered, and the festival in his honor is called the Pythian Games. On Isthmus, the sea washed up the pitiful remains, and the Isthmian Games represent the mourning of Melicert. Another child, Archemorus, is buried in Nemea, and the funeral competition is called the Nemean Games. Pisa, O Panhellenes, is the tomb of the Phrygian charioteer. And the funeral feasts in honor of Pelops, the Olympic Games, are appropriated by Phidias Zeus. The mysteries were probably competitions dedicated, like the oracles, to the dead, both of which received popular recognition. The mysteries in Agra and Halimunta, demes of Attica, are performed within the Athenian borders; competitions and phalluses dedicated to Dionysus, which have brought a lot of evil to people, disgrace the whole world. Dionysus wanted to go down to Hades, but did not know the way. Someone named Prosymnus promises to indicate it, however, not in vain. The payment, being shameful, suits Dionysus. The love was the reward, the payment in question was Dionysus himself. The demand does not raise any objections from God, and he promises Prosimnus that he will settle accounts with him if he returns, confirming the promise with an oath. Having learned the way, he left. He returned back... Doesn’t find Prosimnus (for he died). Fulfilling his “sacred” duty to his lover, he hurries to the grave and indulges in unnatural passion there: having somehow cut off a branch of a fig tree, he gives it the shape of a male penis and sits on it, fulfilling his obligation to the deceased. As a mystical memory of this passion, phalluses of Dionysus are erected throughout the cities. Since if they had not organized processions in honor of Dionysus and sung phallic songs, then this would have been a most shameful act, says Heraclitus, but one and the same - Hades and Dionysus, for whose sake they rage and rage, not so much because of bodily intoxication, as it seems to me, but because of the shameful sacred rites of unbridledness. § XXXV. About gods who were slaves These are your gods, who became slaves of passions before the helots of the Lacedaemonians; Apollo at Admetus in Thera, Hercules at Sardis at Omphale; Laomedon was served by Poseidon and Apollo, like a worthless slave who failed to obtain freedom from his former master. Then they erected the walls of Ilion to the Phrygians. Homer is not ashamed to say that Athena illuminated the path for Odysseus, holding a golden lamp in her hands. We read about Aphrodite that she, like some dissolute servant, brought a chair for Helen in front of the adulterer in order to induce him to have intercourse. Paniassis reports that, besides these, many other gods served people, and writes as follows: Demeter served her mortal husband patiently, Nes and the lame Hephaestus, whose strength lay in his hands. And Poseidon and Apollo served for a year, And Ares, forced by his father’s will, is daring. § XXXVI. About the human weaknesses of the gods After this, it will be natural to show that your gods are loving, sensual, and subject to the same sufferings as humans. For they have a mortal body,” Homer testifies, diligently depicting Aphrodite shrilly and loudly screaming because of the wound, describing Ares himself, who is distinguished by his belligerence, by being struck in the groin by Diomedes. Polemon says that Athena was also wounded by Ornitus; Homer reports that even Hades was struck by Hercules' arrow; and Helios, as recounted by Paniassis, who reports that the patroness of marriages, Hera, suffered from the same Hercules in Pylos polysandum. Sosibius says that Hercules was wounded in the arm by the Hippocoontids. And if there are wounds, there is blood. The poetic ichor of the gods is more disgusting than blood, for ichor means putrefaction of blood. It is necessary to provide them with the treatment and food they need. That is why they talk about meals, drinking, laughter and intercourse among the gods, who would not make love like people, and would not produce offspring and would not be subject to sleep, if they were immortal, self-sufficient and ageless. Zeus himself, while feasting, took part in the human meal of the Ethiopians, and in the inhuman and lawless one of the Arcadian Lycaon. After all, he, without wanting it himself, ate his fill of human flesh there, for he did not know, although he was a god, that Lycaon, who showed him hospitality, having slaughtered his own son, whose name was Niktim, served it as a meat dish. Good is Zeus Manticus - the Soothsayer, Xenius - the Protector of strangers, Hykesius - the Patron of those who ask, Meilichius - Merciful to the repentant, Panompheus - Sending all signs, Prostropeus - Avenger of crimes! Rather, the Offender, the Lawless, the Criminal, the Wicked, the Inhuman, the Rapist, the Molester, the Adulterer, the Voluptuous. But he existed and possessed these qualities only as a person. Nowadays, it seems to me, your myths have already become dilapidated. Zeus is no longer a snake, not a swan, not an eagle, not a voluptuous man. This god no longer flies, does not love boys, does not kiss, does not rape, although even now there are still many beautiful women, more beautiful than Leda, more blooming than Semele. There are many youths more comely and refined than the Phrygian shepherd. Where is that eagle now, where is the swan, where is Zeus himself? He has grown old along with his feathers: after all, he does not repent of his love affairs and does not learn abstinence! Your myth is exposed: Leda died, the swan died, the eagle died; look for your Zeus: explore not the sky, but the earth. The Cretan on whose island he is buried will tell you about him. Callimachus says in his hymns: ...the inhabitants of Crete have erected your tomb, O lord... For Zeus has died, do not grieve, as Leda, the swan, the eagle, the voluptuary and the serpent died. § XXXVIII. About unworthy epithets of the gods It seems that the pagans themselves, mired in superstition, understand, albeit against their will, their delusion regarding the gods: After all, they were not born from an ancient oak, not from a stone, but they descend from people. A little later, however, they will turn out to be both wood and stone. Staphilus reports that in Sparta they honor a certain Zeus Agamemnon, while Fanocles in the book “Eros, or Beauties” says that Agamemnon, the king of the Hellenes, erected a church to Aphrodite Arginne in memory of his beloved Arginne. The Arcadians pray to Artemis, called Apanhomena, i.e. By strangling, as Callimachus says in the book “Causes”. At Methymna another Artemis is venerated, Condylitida, “Jointed.” In Laconica there is a church of another Artemis, Gout, as Sosibius says. Polemon knows the statue of Apollo Yawning and another, revered in Elis, Apollo the Gourmet. These Eleans also offer sacrifices to Zeus Apomius, the Flies Driver; the Romans - to Hercules Apomius, Fever and Terror, who are counted among his companions. I'm not even talking about the Argives and Laconians; they honor Aphrodite Timborichus, the Grave Digger, and the Spartiates worship Artemis Helitis, since their cough will be “helittain.” § XXXIX. Comparison of Greek and Egyptian gods Do you think that the examples we offered you, being falsifications, were taken from God knows where? It seems that you do not recognize your writers, whom I call as witnesses against your mistrust, who, O unfortunate ones, have filled your life with unholy amusements, which are not worth living. Is not Zeus the Bald worshiped in Argos, and another, under the name of the Avenger, in Crete? Do not the Argives sacrifice to Aphrodite Peribaso, the Athenians to Aphrodite Hethera, the Syracusans to Callipyge, whom the poet Nikander somewhere called Calligluta? I am already silent about Dionysus Hiropsalus; the inhabitants of Sicyon honor him by entrusting the female genitals to him, worshiping the leader of shame and insolence. Such are their gods, such are they themselves, turning gods into toys and laughing at them: rather, they mock and mock themselves. And how much better are the Egyptians, who in villages and cities gave divine honors to dumb animals, than the Hellenes, who worshiped such gods?! The gods of the Egyptians may be beasts, but they are not depraved or lustful. Not one of them strives for pleasures that are contrary to nature. Why talk more about what the gods of the Hellenes are like when enough has already been said? But the Egyptians, whom I mentioned, were divided according to their cults: the inhabitants of Siina worship bream, those inhabiting Elephantine - Maeota (this is another fish), Oxyrhynchites - the fish that gave the name to their region - sturgeon; in addition, the Heracleopolitans - to the ichneumon, the inhabitants of Sais and Thebes - to the ram, the Lycopolitans - to the wolf, the Cynopolitans - to the dog, Apis - the inhabitants of Memphis, the Mendesians - to the goat. You, who are in all respects better (I’m afraid to say worse) than the Egyptians, you who never cease to ridicule the Egyptians day after day, what are your views on the deification of dumb creatures? Your Thessalians traditionally honor storks, while the Thebans honor the weasel for its service at the birth of Hercules. What more can be said about the Thessalians? They say that they worship ants, because they found out that Zeus, resembling an ant, married Eurymedus, the daughter of Cletor, and gave birth to Myrmidon. Polemon says that those living in Troas worship local mice, which they call “sminths,” because they gnawed the strings of enemy bows. And Apollo is called Sminthius after those mice. Heraclides, in his book “On the Construction of the Churches of Acarnania,” says that where Cape Actium and the church of Apollo of Actium are located, sacrifices begin with the slaughter of a bull as a sacrifice to flies. I will not forget either the Samians, who, according to Euphorion, worship the sheep, or the Syrians inhabiting Phenicia, some of whom honor doves, others - fish, as zealously as the inhabitants of Elis - Zeus. So, since those to whom you pray are not gods, it seems to me that the time has come to consider whether they are not in fact demons, the beings you classify as second only to gods. So, if they are like that, then they are gluttonous and vicious. One can easily find local demons openly venerated according to these qualities, each in his own city: among the inhabitants of the island of Kythnos - Menedemos, among the Tenos - Callistagoras, among the Delians - Ania, among the Laconians - Astrabacus. A certain hero of the fair wind is also revered in Phalera. Pythia ordered the Plataeans to make sacrifices to Andocrates and Damocrates, Cycleus and Leucon, when the Greco-Persian War was in full swing. Anyone who can see anything can see other extremely numerous demons: Indeed, on the earth that feeds many there are thirty thousand immortals Demons that protect people destined for decay. What kind of guards are these, O Boeotian? Please tell me! Isn’t it obvious that those who were just discussed, as well as the more revered ones, are great demons: Apollo, Artemis, Leto, Demeter, Kore, Pluto, Hercules, Zeus himself. But they guard us, O Askrian, so that we do not run away, so that perhaps those who do not know sin themselves will not sin. Here, in the form of a proverb, it is appropriate to say: The dissolute father guided his son on the path. If they are guards, they are not imbued with goodwill towards you, but have in mind your destruction. Like flatterers, they invade life, seducing with ethereal ghosts. The demons themselves admit their gluttony, saying: Sacrificial children, libations - we received this gift as our share. What else would the Egyptian gods, such as cats or weasels, have uttered if they had the ability to speak than this Homeric verse, which contains a declaration of love for the smoke from burning offerings and for the art of cooking?! Such are your demons and gods, and some demigods, named like half-breed mules, for you have no shortage of words to compose blasphemous names.