De orfiske mudderbade: Esoteriske renhedsforestillinger i oldtidens Grækenland

Abstract

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The symbolic distinction between purity and pollution was prevalent in Ancient Greece, not least among the Orphics. As a religious reform movement of the Axial Age, they authored a discourse which was polemically directed against the dominant Homeric tradition. This shows, for instance, in their eschatological reconception of the relationships between humans and gods, life and death. As part of an initiation ritual, they offered purifications, including self-defilement with blood and mud, with the purpose of releasing the initiate from the cycle of births (reincarnation). Allegedly, the initiation entailed a ritual staging of the realm of the dead – an imitatio mortis – in which the uninitiated were doomed to a hapless fate, whereas the initiated were introduced to a divine and carefree afterlife. DANSK RESUMÉ: Den symbolske distinktion mellem renhed og urenhed spillede en afgørende rolle i det antikke Hellas, ikke mindst for orfikerne. De fremstår i den forbindelse som en typisk aksetidsbevægelse, der forholder sig polemisk til den herskende tradition. Således tilskrev de forholdet mellem mennesker og guder, liv og død, en eskatologisk betydning, der stod i modsætning til det homeriske univers. De indførte også renselsesriter med blod og mudder som del af et initiationsritual, hvis formål var at guddommeliggøre initianden gennem en frigørelse fra fødslernes kredsløb. Her tyder alt på, at ritualet bestod en rituel iscenesættelse af dødsriget – imitatio mortis – der skelnede mellem uindviede, som gik en trøstesløs skæbne i møde, og indviede, som kunne se frem til et sorgløst efterliv.

Keywords

• Purification; Orphics; initiation; apotheosis; blood and mud; reincarnation