Week 9: Mysticism and Esotericism

Question 1

Define: Theurgy

Answer 1

Drawing on secret knowledge to access divine knowledge and power

Question 2

What are the main sources on esotericism from Early Period Egypt?

Answer 2

Coffin texts

Question 3

In Early Period Egypt, who were considered to be the ideal and true performers of the religion and only could be replicated by the king?

Answer 3

Baboons

Question 4

What was the language of the Baboon?

Answer 4

Shouting, singing, and dancing

Question 5

True or False: Baboons were seen as nearly theologically wiser than men, except for the king himself.

Answer 5

TRUE

Question 6

When did the Book of the Dead first appear?

Answer 6

The New Kingdom

Question 7

What is the Book of the Dead composed of?

Answer 7

a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person’s journey through the Duat, or underworld

Question 8

What is the best example of Egyptian Esotericism from the Middle Kingdom?

Answer 8

The Book of Amduat

Question 9

What is the Book of Amduat about?

Answer 9

• Text follows Ra through his 12 hour, daily journey, through the underworld
• Claims that the human soul regenerates along with Ra

Question 10

How does the Amudat directly contrast and oppose the Book of the Dead?

Answer 10

• Instead of a separate journey to God, like the Book of the Dead, it is the same journey as the God that you take

Question 11

In Mesopotamia, Mystic knowledge can only be acquired through:

Answer 11

Kingship

Question 12

Who was the first divine king of Mesopotamia?

Answer 12

Naram-sin of Akkad

Question 13

In Mesopotamia, which goddess was associated with divine kings?

Answer 13

Inanna

Question 14

In which civilization would the head priestess have sex with the King in Sacred Marriage rituals?

Answer 14

Mesopotamia

Question 15

True or False: In Mesopotamia, as a sacred marriage ritual, people would pretend to be and dress up as Ishtar and Dumuzi and have intercourse

Answer 15

TRUE

Question 16

What was a significant symbol of faith in Mesopotamia?

Answer 16

The Sacred Tree

• Top and Base represents Heaven and the Underworld
• Trunk represents love
• Fruits represents the virtues of divine power

Question 17

What was the main value of Ishtar Cults?

Answer 17

asceticism

Question 18

What was the Ocean of Enlightenment (Abzu) ?

Answer 18

-Refers to the source of all great wisdom

• The ones who could achieve salvation and descend to the ocean of enlightenment (abzu) would be through decoding riddles given by the Gods through dreams and sacred scripture

Question 19

What is Cryptography?

Answer 19

• Text that one must decode to understand

Question 20

True or False: In Mesopotamia, teaching esoteric information to the unworthy is subject to the punishment of the king

Answer 20

TRUE

Question 21

What were the Secrecy Clauses in Ancient Mesopotamia?

Answer 21

• These clauses identified certain texts as secret lore
• Texts deemed as containing secret lore were contained within a confined circle

Question 22

Where does Manicheism begin?

Answer 22

Sassanian Empire

Question 23

Which religion blends ideas from Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Jewish Apocalypticism?

Answer 23

Manicheism

Question 24

Define: Perfecti

Answer 24

• The Manichean religious class of Monks and Nuns

Question 25

Define: Auditores

Answer 25

- The Manichean lay followers class

Question 26

What was a key Manichean ritual?

Answer 26

Bema

Question 27

Which Israelite prophet transcended to become chief of the Archangels?

Answer 27

Enoch

Question 28

What do the Heikhalot mystical texts say?

Answer 28

- The Soul of the adept leaves the body to travel through the seven concentric palaces of heaven to the throne of YHWH

Question 29

Where was the Cult of the Eleusinian Mysteries located?

Answer 29

Athens

Question 30

What Goddess was the Eleusinian Mysteries devoted to?

Answer 30

Demeter

Question 31

What "gift" did Athens claim to have given to the world?

Answer 31

The Eleusinian Mysteires

Question 32

What was located inside the mysterious walls of the Eleusinian Mysteries?

Answer 32

- A well - Demeter's well that she wept in

Question 33

Where is the only known temple of Hades found?

Answer 33

Eleusis Sanctuary

Question 34

What was the Telesterion?

Answer 34

- The massive, central building at Eleusis

Question 35

True or False: Some of the stumps at the Telesterion even dates to Mycenean times

Answer 35

TRUE

Question 36

Who was Mithras?

Answer 36

One of Ahura Mazda’s helpers in Zoroastrianism

Question 37

Where does the Cult of Mithras gain popularity? When?

Answer 37

The Roman Army, 3rd C. AD

Question 38

Typically, where did the Cult of the Mysteries of Mithras meet?

Answer 38

Subterranean chapels - Ex. Under the baths of Caracalla

Question 39

True or False: The Mysteries of Mithras was a Male only cult.

Answer 39

TRUE

Question 40

Define Mithraeum

Answer 40

The place of worship of the Cults of Mithras

Question 41

What Roman day landing on dec. 25th became the feast day of Mithras for the Cult of Mithras?

Answer 41

Day of the Unconquered Son

Question 42

Define Taurobolium:

Answer 42

- A Roman religious ritual that involved standing under a bull, and showering in it's blood when sacrificed - The initiation ritual to the Cult of Mithras

Question 43

Where could one find a Mithraeum in the Ancient World?

Answer 43

Wherever there was a Roman army

Question 44

What were the Furies?

Answer 44

- Ghosts of those who were not mourned properly who came back to haunt

Question 45

What are Charon’s obols?

Answer 45

- The small coins put in the mouths of the dead to pay Charon, the ferryman of the underworld, to take you across

Question 46

Typically, in Ancient Greece and Rome, burial sites had to be ______________ the city walls.

Answer 46

OUTSIDE the city walls (except for hero burials)

Question 47

How many days did the Romans require for mourning the dead?

Answer 47

9 Days

Question 48

In Egypt, what permitted you to have a nice afterlife?

Answer 48

- Knowledge of the Book of the Dead

Question 49

What is the name for the sunny spot in Hades' underworld?

Answer 49

Elysium

Question 50

Who is forced to stand in a river with burning thirst, but when he goes to drink, the water disappears?

Answer 50

Tantalus

Question 51

Why did the Gods punish Sisyphus?

Answer 51

- Sisyphus tricked the Gods

Question 52

In ________________ there's a notion that what we do in this life matters.

Answer 52

Zoroastrianism

Question 53

In which century do Greek philosophers start to reject the concept of afterlife?

Answer 53

6th c. BC

Question 54

In which century does the idea of a bodily resurrection occur?

Answer 54

2nd C. BC

Question 55

What were the 2 components of the soul in Ancient Egypt?

Answer 55

Ka: Physical representation of the soul Ba: The dead's ability to pass between realms

Question 56

What was the Duat?

Answer 56

The Egyptian underworld

Question 57

In Egypt, Those who lived a good, blessed life were sent to the _________________.

Answer 57

Field of Reeds (Aaru)

Question 58

In early mummification, the body was placed in ___________.

Answer 58

A fetal position

Question 59

What was the Festival of the Valley in Ancient Egypt?

Answer 59

- Families feast with their deceased loved ones

Question 60

Define: Ekphora

Answer 60

The Egyptian funerary procession in which the body was brought to the resting chamber

Question 61

Define: Peristole

Answer 61

The wrapping of a mummified body in Egypt

Question 62

Define: Kedeia

Answer 62

The Grieving for the death in Ancient Egypt

Question 63

In which Mesopotamian text does it say that humans are created from the clay, flesh, and blood of a slain god?

Answer 63

Epic of Atrahasis

Question 64

Define: Kur

Answer 64

The Mesopotamian underworld

Question 65

Where geographically was the Kur thought to be?

Answer 65

Zagros Mountains in Iran

Question 66

What type of burial was reserved for Martyrs in the Greek world?

Answer 66

- Octagonal burial