Additionally, Aristides is healed before any form of sacrifice is made, if one is even made at all. Instead of Aristides going to a temple or festival, he is met by the god in his dreams wherever he may be. The first major difference is that in the case of Asclepius it is the god who initiates the interaction. This highly personal relationship operates very differently from the divine-human relationships of the Classical Age. Most often he refers to Asclepius as the God, but other times he uses the term “Savior” (Pg. Aristides is the only one who can hear the god’s divine guidance towards healing. In the story of how his tumor on his leg is healed, the doctors and other people have no communication with the god. He writes as though Asclepius speaks in an audible voice concerning his ailments and healings. To have a god of healing present in the city would be of great benefit.Īristides seems to have a very personal and direct relationship with Asclepius. The Roman historian Livy observes that a plague running through Rome was a serious threat (Warrior 260). Disease and sickness were daily realities for everyone in the Hellenistic era, and even more so for those living in highly populated cities such as Athens and Rome. Sometimes snakes would carry out the healings for Asclepius, as seen in the selection from Aristophanes’ Wealth (Warrior 112). When day came, the suppliant would awake and find himself healed exactly as it had been seen in the vision. The general pattern of the healing was that the god would approach the infirmed in dream and then promise to heal the wound. After entering the sanctuary, the suppliant would fall asleep and await a vision from the god. Within the Tholos (Round House) there stood several slabs inscribed with the names of people Asclepius had healed and what he had healed them from. Across from the temple is where the god’s suppliants sleep. This statue of Asclepius depicts him sitting on a throne in one hand he wields a staff, and the other he holds above the head of a serpent. In the temple of Asclepius there is an ivory and gold statue that is half the size of the statue of Zeus in Athens. This magic also seemed to be a bit centered on women, maybe giving them a power source, or blaming them, for things that were happening that men did not like. It gave them a way to blame an prosecute someone who they thought were cheating at life. I think that magic gave people explanations to why things were not always the same for two people who were doing the same thing. The Romans seemed to have utilized these methods to explain why one man was more successful than another, for example in 12.4 a farmer had a vastly more abundant crop than his neighbors so they set a day for his trial. Warrior’s selections on magic cover the ritual, binding spells, magical cures, sorcery and witchcraft, and astrology. The groups of cult followers typically stayed small and would break up if their following became too large in one location. Something unique is that all of the members of the cult are men, it was popular for middle ranking men in society. Most of the people who joined the cult were soldiers, tax officials, people who are well integrated into the state. The cave of Mithras is a very important part of the cult, the cave represents the cosmos for the people. The cult of Mithras has a mysterious and complicated 7 step initiation process for its members, one step for each of the known planets. The cult of Mithras was practiced as far as Iran and was typically worshiped along with another god, different gods depending on the different traditions. The cult of Mithras is as mysterious as it is wide spread. Another example of when the Romans consulted the Sibylline Books was when they had many deformities all at once and they needed to make sure that they were on the right path (Warrior, 7.18). The prophesies were vague in that the same verses might be used for different situations at different time for advice. The Sibylline Books were works that the people of Rome went to when they had any questions, to consult in Senate affairs, in case of political strife, and when a great calamity had befallen them ( Warrior, 5.7). Multiple religions gave a way for people to worship whomever they wanted, it gave them a way to make new specific religions to fit their needs. There were many advantages to having multiple different esoteric religions in the Roman Empire.
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