Bacchanals, a term with unmistakable resonances, a historical cliché with a solid foundation, but is it plausible? Nothing so Roman in the collective imagination as degenerate emperors and unbridled orgies… and yet bacchanals were rituals, ceremonies of worship to Bacchus, a god of salvation, offering hope of life after death.
So what was the truth behind the great Bacchanalia scandal? In 186 BC the Senate of Rome and the consuls launched a persecution against the followers of Bacchus, which became the first witch-hunt in the West. The unquestionable fact presents more shadows than light: did the Roman matrons lose their precious virtue by indulging in sex? Did the Roman adolescents immolate their virility in honour of Dionysus? Or was there fear in Rome of a pagan sect of mystical rites that would jeopardise the social foundations of the nascent Empire? Did the Bacchantes really hatch a conspiracy?
Collection: Multimedia
Project: 8. Women and the change for gender equality in Europe.
Chronology: -
Scope: Secondary Education
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1MAIpQZVQE
Resource type: Video
Format: Multimedia
Owner: Arqueological National Museum of Spain (MAN) (Modernalia)
Abstract: Bacchanals, a term with unmistakable resonances, a historical cliché with a solid foundation, but is it plausible? Nothing so Roman in the collective imagination as degenerate emperors and unbridled orgies... and yet bacchanals were rituals, ceremonies of worship to Bacchus, a god of salvation, offering hope of life after death. So what was the truth behind the great Bacchanalia scandal? In 186 BC the Senate of Rome and the consuls launched a persecution against the followers of Bacchus, which became the first witch-hunt in the West. The unquestionable fact presents more shadows than light: did the Roman matrons lose their precious virtue by indulging in sex? Did the Roman adolescents immolate their virility in honour of Dionysus? Or was there fear in Rome of a pagan sect of mystical rites that would jeopardise the social foundations of the nascent Empire? Did the Bacchantes really hatch a conspiracy?
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