Thursday 8 September 2011

Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now: Interior, Ruined Cella of the Temple of Bacchus

Agnosticism / Atheism: What's Hot Now
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Interior, Ruined Cella of the Temple of Bacchus
Sep 8th 2011, 10:00

The temples of Jupiter and Venus at Baalbek were the means by which the Romans could worship local Canaanite or Pheonician deities, Baal and Astarte. The Temple of Bacchus, however, is based on the worship of Dionysus, a Greek god which can be traced to Minoan Crete. This would mean that it's a temple integrating worship of two important gods, one earlier and one more recent, rather than an integration of one local and one foreign god. On the other hand, Phoenician and Canaanite mythology include stories of Aliyan, a third member of a triad of deities including Baal and Astarte. Aliyan was god of fecundity and this could have caused him to be integrated with Dionysus before both were integrated with Bacchus.

Aphrodite, the Greek version of Venus, was one of Bacchus' many consorts. Was he considered her consort here? That would have been difficult because Astarte, the basis for the Venus temple at Baalbek, was traditionally the consort of Baal, the basis for the Jupiter temple. This would have made for a very confusing love triangle. Of course, ancient myths weren't always read literally so such contradictions weren't a problem. On the other hand, such contradiction also weren't always placed side-by-side in this manner and the efforts to integrate Roman with local Phoenician or Canaanite religious worship would have been a further complicating factor.

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