Item Details

Data from Dead Minds? Dream and Healing in the Isis / Sarapis Cult During the Graeco-Roman Age

Issue: Vol 1 No. 1 (2014)

Journal: Journal of Cognitive Historiography

Subject Areas: Ancient History Cognitive Studies Archaeology

DOI: 10.1558/jch.v1i1.52

Abstract:

During the Graeco-Roman Age there were a great many testimonies from sick and physically disabled people who sought healing in the sanctuaries of the Egyptian deities, Isis and Sarapis. The most popular kind of healing which was practised in those sanctuaries was that of incubation (incubatio), during which the adherents – after following certain rules of diet, hygiene and purification – slept in the temple until they received a therapeutic dream or vision from the god(s). The research frame of this paper will be on the one hand the study of specific historical, cultural and social context of the cult of the Egyptian deities, and on the other cognitive structures and abilities. The importance of using the methods of the cognitive sciences to study religiosity in antiquity indicates that these practices are not data coming just from “dead minds” but from human minds generally. They acquire a particular meaning and may encourage us in our effort to propose new research projects. It should not escape us that the student of antiquity acts like a detective while using these methods in examining modes of religious behaviours, which belong to the framework of universals

Author: Panayotis Pachis

View Original Web Page

References :

Alvar, J. 2008. Romanizing Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis and Mithras, ed. and trans. R. Gordon. Religion in the Graeco-Roman World, 165; edited by H. S. Versnel, D. Frankfurter and J. Hahn; Leiden-Boston: Brill.
Aupert, P. 1985. “Un Sérapieion argien”. Comptes Rendus de l’ Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres: 151–75.
—1994. “L’Eau Curative à Argos”. In L’Eau, la Santé et la Maladie dans le Monde Grec. Actes du Colloque, Paris 25-27 novembre 1992, edited by R. Ginouves, A.M. Guimier-Sorbets, J. Toutain, L. Villard. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique, Supplement, 28. Athens: École Française d’Athènes, 193–99.
Behr, C. A. 1968. Aelius Aristides and the Sacred Tales. Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert.
Behr, C. A. 1978. “Aristides and the Egyptian Gods: An Unsuccessful Search for Salvation, With a Special Discussion of the Textual Corruption at XLIX 47”. In Hommages à M. J. Vermaseren, edited by M. B. de Boer and T. A. Edridge (Études Préliminaires aux Religions Orientales dans l’Empire Romain, Vol. 78(1), edited by M. J. Vermaseren. Leiden: Brill), 13–24.
Bompaire, J. 1989. “Le sacré dans les discours d’ Aelius Aristide (XLVII-LII Keil)”. REG CII: 28–39.
Boyer, P. 1994. The Naturalness of Religious Ideas. A Cognitive Theory of Religion. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press.
Bricault, L. 1996. Myrionymi. Les épiclèses Grecques et Latines d’ Isis, de Sarapis et d’ Anubis. Stuttgart-Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.
—2008. “Sarapide, dio guaritore”. In Cristo e Asclepio. Culti terapeutici e taumaturgici nel mondo mediterraneo antico fra cristiani e pagani, edited by E. dal Cavoli and G. Sfameni Gasparro (Nuova Biblioteca di Scienze religiose, 11; Roman: Las), 55–71.
—2013. Les cultes Isiaques dans le monde Gréco-Romain (Documents réunis, traduits et comménts. La Roue à Livres/Documents. Paris: Les Belles Lettres).
Bricault, L., and R. Veymiers. 2007. “Isis in Corinth: the Numismatic Evidence. City, Image and Religion”. In Nile into Tiber: Egypt in the Roman World: Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Isis Studies, Leiden University, May 11-14 2005, edited by L. Bricault, M. J. Versluys and P. G. P. Meyboom. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 392–413.
Buckhart, C. S., D. Birkner-Binder, and L. A. Steiner. 2010. “Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit”. Ther Umsch 67(2): 75–78.
Bulbulia J. 2006. “Nature’s Medicine: Religiosity as an Adaptation for Health and Cooperation”. In Where God and Science Meet. How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion, edited by P. McNamara (Evolution, Genes, and the Religious Brain. Psychology, Religion, Spirituality, I. London: Praeger), 87–121.
Bulkeley, K. 2006. “The Origins of Dreaming”. In Where God and Science Meet. How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion, edited by P. McNamara (Evolution, Genes, and the Religious Brain. Psychology, Religion, Spirituality, I; London: Praeger), 213–34.
Burkert, W. 1987. Ancient Mystery Cults. Cambridge, MA & London: University Press.
Chaniotis, A. 2000. “Ονειροκρίτες, Αρεταλόγοι και προσκηνυτές» Θρησκευτικές δραστη­ριότητες Κρητών στην Ελληνιστική Αίγυπτο”. ΚΡΗΤΗ-ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟΣ. Πολιτιστικοί δεσμοί τριών χιλιετών, edited by Α. Καρέτσου. ΜΕΛΕΤΕΣ. Athens: KAPON Editions.
Cicogna, P., and M. Bossinelli. 2001. “Consciousness during Dreams”. Consciousness and Cognition 10: 26–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ccog.2000.0471
Compton, M. T. 1998. “The Union of Religion and Health in Ancient Asclepieia”. Journal of Religion and Health 37(4): 301–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1022927706866
Damasio, A. 2000. The Feeling of What Happens. Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. Orland/Austin/New York/San Diego/London: Harcourt Inc..
Delekat, L. 1964. Katoche, Hierodulie und Adoptionsfreilassung. Munich: Beck Verlag.
Despinis, G., Th. Stephanidou-Tiveriou and Emm. Voutiras (eds). 1997. Κατάλογος γλυπτών του αρχαιολογικού μουσείου Θεσσαλονίκης. Vol. I. Thessaloniki: Morphotiko Hidryma Ethnikes Trapezas (MIET).
Donovan, P. 2004. “Holy Trickery: Religious Ritual and the Placebo Effect”. In What Is Religion For?, edited by Joseph Bulbulia and Paul Morris.Wellington: New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions & Victoria University of Wellington, 239–47.
Dunand, F. 1973a. Le culte d’ Isis dans le basin oriental de la Méditeranée. Le culte d’ Isis et les Ptolémées, vol. 26 (1), of Études Préliminaires aux Religions Romains, edited by M. J. Vermaseren. Leiden: Brill.
—1973b. Le culte d’ Isis dans le basin oriental de la Méditeranée. Le culte d’ Isis en Asie Mineure, clergé et rituels des sanctuaires Isiaques. Vol. 26 (3), of Études Préliminaires aux Religions Romains, edited by M. J. Vermaseren. Leiden: Brill.
—1991. “Miracles et guérisons en Égypte tardive”. In Mélanges Étienne Bernand, edited by N. Fick-Michel and J.-Cl. Carrière (Annales littéraires de l’Université de Besançon, 444); Paris: Belles Lettres, 235–50.
—2006. “La guérison dans les temples (Égypte, époque tardive)”. Archiv für Relgionsgeschichte 8: 4–24.
Edelstein, E. J., and L. Edelstein. 1998 (1945). Asklepios. Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, vol. I and II, in one vol, Introduction by G. B. Ferngren. Baltimore/London: The John Hopkins University Press.
Evans, D. 2003 (2004). Placebo: Mind Over Matter in Modern Medicine. London: HarperCollins; Reprint by Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Frankurter, D. 1998. Religion in Roman Egypt. Assimilation and Resistence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Geertz A. W. 2004. “Cognitive Approaches to the Study of Religion”. In New Approaches to the Study of Religion. Textual, Comparative, Sociological and Cognitive Approaches, edited by P. Antes, A. W. Geertz and R. R. Warne. Vol. 43(2) of Religion and Reason, edited by J. Waardenburg. Berlin/New York: W. de Gryuter, 347–99.
Girard, T. D., P. P. Pandharipande and E. W. Ely. 2008. “Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit”. Critical Care 12 Suppl. 3: 53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/cc6149
Graf, Fr. 2006. “Einführung: New Interpretative Approaches to Ancient Healing Sanctuaries. Antike Heiligtümer: Neue Deutingszugänge”. Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 8: 3.
Griffiths, J. G. (ed. and trans.). 1975. Apuleius of Madauros. The Isis Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses, Book XI). Vol. 39 of Études Préliminaires aux Religions Romains, edited by M. J. Vermaseren. Leiden: Brill.
Guillamondegni, O. R., I. E. Richards, E. W. Ely, et al. 2011. “Does Hypoxia Affect Intensive Care Unit Delirium or Long-term Cognitive Impairment after Multiple Trauma without Intracranial Haemorrhage?” Journal of Trauma 25.3 (September): 910–15.
Hamilton, R. 2000. Treasure Map. A Guide to the Delian Inventories. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Harder, R. 1944. Karpokrates von Chalkis und die memphitische Isispropagada.Vol. 14A of Abhandlungen der Preusischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jahr 1943. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Harrington, A. (ed.). 1997. The Placebo Effect: An Interdisciplinary Exploration. Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press.
Harris, W. V. 2009. Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
Herzog, R. 1931. Die Wunderheilungen von Epidauros. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Medizin und der Religion. Vol. 22(3). Supplement of Philologus. Leipzig: Dieterchsche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
Hobson, J. A., E. F. Pace and R. Stickgold. 2000. “Dreaming and the Brain: Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23: 793–842. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00003976
Hobson, J. A., and R. Stickgold. 1994. “Dreaming: A Neurocognitive Approach”. Consciousness and Cognition 3: 1–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/ccog.1994.1001
Humphrey, N. 2002. “Great Expectations: The Evolutionary Psychology of Faith-Healing and the Placebo Effect”. Online: http://www.humphrey.org.uk/papers/2002 GreatExpectations.pdf. Accessed March 26, 2013.
—2004. “Placebo Effect”. Online: http://www.humphrey.org.uk/papers/2004Placebo.pdf. Accessed March 26, 2013.
Janz, D. R., T. W. Abel, J. C. Jackson, et al. 2010. “Brain Autopsy Findings in Intensive Care Unit Patients Previously Suffering from Delirium: a Pilot Study”. Journal of Critical Care Vol. 25(3) (September): 7–12.
Joseph R. 1996. Neuropsychiatry, and Clinical Neurology: Emotion, Evolution, Cognition, Language, Memory, Brain Damage, and Abnormal Behavior. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wikins, 2nd edn.
Kaptchuk, T. J. 2002. “The Placebo Effect in Alternative Medicine: Can the Performance of a Healing Ritual Have Clinical Significance?” Annals of Internal Medicine 136(11) (June): 817–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-136-11-200206040-00011
Kapur, S., 2003. “Psychosis as State of Aberrant Salience. A Framework Linking Biology, Phenomenology, and Pharmacology in Schizophrenia”. American Journal of Psychiatry 160: 13–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.1.13
Krippner, S., and A. Combs. 2000. “Self-Organization in the Dreaming Brain”. Online: http://www.stanleykrippner.com/papers/self-organization_dreamingbrain. Accessed March 20, 2013.
LiDonnici, L. R. 1992. “Compositional Background of the Epidaurian Iamata”. American Journal of Philology 113: 25–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/295123
—1995. The Epidaurian Miracle Inscriptions Text, Translation. and Commentary. Vol. 36(11) of Society of Biblical Literature and Translations. Graeco-Roman Religion Series (Society of Biblical Literature, Texts and Translations; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press).
Martin, L. H. 1987. Hellenistic Religions. An Introduction. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martin, L. H. 1994. “Religion and Dream Theory in Late Antiquity”. In Notion of “Religion” in Comparative Research. Selected Proceedings of the XVI IAHR Congress, edited by U. Bianchi. Vol. 8 of Storia delle Religioni, edited by U. Bianchi and G. Piccaluga. Roma: “L’ Erma” di Bretschneider, 369–74.
—1995a. “Fortuna”. In Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, edited by K. van der Toorn, B. Becking and P. W. van der Horst. Leiden: Brill, 635–38.
—1995b. “Tyche”. In Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, edited by K. van der Toorn, B. Becking and P. W. van der Horst. Leiden: Brill, 1635–656.
—2004. “Ritual Competence and Mithraic Ritual”. In Religion as a Human Capacity: A Festschrift in Honor of E. Thomas Lawson, edited by T. Light and B. C. Wilson. Vol. 99 of Numen Book Series. Studies in the History of Religions, edited by W. J. Hanegraaff. Leiden: Brill, 245–63.
—2005. “The Promise of Cognitive Science for the Historical Study of Religions, with Reference to the Study of Early Christianity”. Lecture held in Helsinki, September 1, 2005. Online: www.Helsinki.fi/collegium/events/Luther_Martin.pdf 1–35. Accessed June 16, 2009.
Martzavou P. 2012. “Dream, Narrative, and the Construction of Hope in the ‘Healing Miracles’ of Epidauros”. In Unveiling Emotions. Sources and Methods for the Study of Emotions in the Greek World, edited by A. Chaniotis. Vol. 52 of Heidelberger Althistorische Beiträge und Epigraphische Studien. Alte Geschichte. Sruttgart: FranzSteiner Verlag, 177–204.
Max D. T. 2010. “The Secrets of Sleep”. National Geography 24.5 (May). Online: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/05/sleep/max-text . Accesed April 14, 2013.
McClenon, J. 1997a. “Shamanic Healing, Human Evolution, and the Origin of Religion”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 36(3) (September): 345–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1387852
—1997b. “Spiritual Healing and Folklore Research. Evaluating the hypnosis/placebo theory”. Alternative Therapies and Medicine 3: 61–66.
—2002. Wondrous Healing: Shamanism, Human Evolution and the Origin of Religion. De Kalbe: Northern Illinois University Press.
—2006. “The Ritual Healing Theory: Therapeutic Suggestion and the Origin of Religion”. In Where God and Science Meet. How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion, edited by P. McNamara. Vol. I of Evolution, Genes, and the Religious Brain, edited by P. McNamara (Westport, CT: Praeger), 135–58.
McNamara, P. 2009. The Neuroscience of Religious Experience.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511605529
Merklelbach, R. 1995. Isis-Regina-Zeus Sarapis. Die griechisch-ägyptische Religion nach den Quellen dargestellt. Stuttgart and Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.
Morandi, A., J. C. Jackson,, and E. W. Ely. 2009. “Delirium in Intensive Care Unit”. International Review of Psychiatry 21(1) (February): 43–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540260802675296
Müller, R. R., III, and E. W. Ely. 2006. “Delirium and Cognitive dysfuntion in the Intensive Care Unit”. Semin Resp Crit Care Med. 27.3 (June): 210–20.
Pachis, P. 2003a. Ἶσις Καρποτόκος. vol. Ι: Οἰκουμένη. Προλεγόμενα στον συγκρητισμό των ελληνιστικων χρόνων . Thessaloniki: Vanias Publications.
—2003b. “The Hellenistic Era as Age of Propaganda: the Case of Isis Cult”. In Theoretical Frameworks for the Study Of Graeco-Roman Religions. Adjunct Proceedings of the XVIII Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions. Durban, South Africa 2000, edited by L. H. Martin and P. Pachis. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 97–125.
—2010a. Η λατρεία της Ίσιδας και του Σάραπι. Από την τοπική στην οικουμενική κοινωνία. Thessaloniki: Barbounakis Publications.
—2010b. Religion and Politics in the Graeco-Roman World. Redescribing the Isis-Sarapis Cult. Thessaloniki: Barbounakis Publications.
Panagiotidou, O. 2010. “Divine Healing in the Temples of Asklepius as ‘Turning Points’ in the Life Narrative of Supplicants”. In Second Hellenistic Studies Workshop, Alexandria, 4-11 July 2010, edited by K. Savopoulos. Alexandria, Egypt: Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies, 124–36.
Pearcy, L. T. 1988. “Theme, Dream, and Narrative: Reading the Sacred Tales of Aelius Aristides”. Transactions of the American Philological Association 118: 377–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/284178
—1992. “Diagnosis as Narrative in Ancient Literature”. American Journal of Philology 113: 595–616. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/295542
Petrovic P, T. Dietrich, P. Fransson, J. Andersson, K. Carlsson, and M. Ingvar. 2005. “Placebo in Emotional Processing – Included Expectations of Anxiety Relief Activate a Generalized Modulatoty Network”. Neuron 46 (June): 957–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2005.05.023
Petsalis-Diomidis, A. 2007. “The Body in Space: Visual Dynamics in Healing Pilgrimage”. In Seeing the Gods: Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman and Early Christian Antiquity, edited by J. Elsner and I. Rutherford. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 184–218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199237913.003.0008
Renberg, G. H. 2010. “Incubation at Saqqâra”. Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Papyrology 25.1: 649–62.
Recueil des Inscriptions Concernant les Cultes Isiaques (RICIS). 2005. edited by L. Bricault. Preface J. Leclant. Vols. I-II: Corpus. Vol. III: Planches. Mémoires de l’Acadèmie des Belles-Lettres. Paris Boccard.
Rubenson, O. 1900. “Das Aushängeschilds eines Traumdeuters”. In Festschrift Johannes Vahlen zum siebenzigsten Geburtstag gewidmet von seinen Schülern, edited by W. von Hartel. Berlin: G. Reimer, 1–17.
Sanzi, E. 2005. “Brevi Suggestioni storico-religiose su due aspetti della religiosità di età imperiale Romana ad usum discpulorum”. Chaos e Kosmos 6: 1–8.
Schjødt, U. 2011a. “The Neural Correlates of Religious Experience”. Religion 40.1 (March): 91–95.
Schjødt, U., H. Stødkilde–Jørgensen, A. W. Geertz, T. E. Lund, and A. Roepstoff. 2011b. “The Power of Charisma Inhibits the Frontal Executive Network of Believers in Intercessory Prayer”. SCAN 6: 119–27.
Schjødt, U., H. Stødkilde–Jørgensen, A. W. Geertz, and A. Roepstoff. 2008. “Rewarding Prayers”. Neuroscience Letter 443: 165–68.
— 2009. “Highly Religious Participants Recruit Areas of Social Cognition in Personal Prayer”. SCAN 4: 199–207.
Sfameni Gasparro, G. 1997. “Daimon and Tyché in the Hellenistic Experience”. In Conventional Values of the Hellenistic Greeks, edited by P. Bilde, T. Engberg-Pedersen, and L. Hannestad. Vol. 8 of Studies in Hellenistic Civilization, 67–109, Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. Oracoli Profeti Sibile. Rivelazione e salvezza nel mondo antico, edited by G. Sfameni Gasparro. Vol. 171 of Biblioteca di Scienze Religiose, 255–301. Roma: Las.
—2002b. “Iside salutaris: aspetti medicali e oracolari del culto isiaco tra radici egiziane e metamorfosi ellenica”. In Oracoli Profeti Sibile. Rivelazione e salvezza nel mondo antico, edited by G. Sfameni Gasparro.
. Vol. 171 of Biblioteca di Scienze Religiose, 327–42. Roma: Las.
Shantz, C. 2009. Paul in Ecstasy. The Neurobiology of the Apostle’s Life and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581625
Sineux, P. 2007. “Les récits de rêve dans les sanctuaires guérisseurs du monde grec: des textes sous contrôle”. Sociétes et Représentations 23: 45–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.3917/sr.023.0045
Slingerland, E. 2008. What Science Offers the Humanities. Integrating Body and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511841163
Sylloge Inscriptionum Religionis Isiacae et Sarapiacae. Vidman, L. (ed.). 1969. Vol. 28 of Religionsgeschtliche Versuche et Vorarbeiten, edited by W. Burkert and C. Colpe. Berlin: W. de Gryter.
Sloan, R. P. 2006. Blind Faith. The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine. New York: St. Martin Griffin.
Sylloge Nummorum Religionis Isiacae et Sarapiacae (SNRIS). 2008. edited by L. Bricault, in collaboration with R. Ashton , F. Delrieux, W. Leschhorn, I. Peter, C. Sfameni, G. Sfameni Gasparro. Preface J. Leclant. Vol. 38 of Mémoires. Paris: De Boccard.
Stambaugh, J. E. 1972. Sarapis Under the Early Ptolemies, vol. 25 of Études Préliminaires aux Religions Orientales dans l’Empire Romain, edited by M. J. Vermaseren. Leiden: Brill.
Totti, M. (ed.). 1985. Ausgewählete Texte der Isis - und Sarapis-Religion. Hildesheim/Zürich/New York: Olms.
Totti-Gemünd, M. 1998. “Areratalogie des Imuthes-Asklepios (P.Oxy 1381, 64-145)”. In IAMATA: Guarigioni miracolose di Asclepio in testi epigrafici, edited by M. Girone. Bari: Levante, 169–93.
UPZ. U. Wilcken (ed.). 1922. Urkunden der Prolemäerzeit, vol. I: Papyri aus Unterägypten. Berlin and Leipzig: W. de Gruyter.
Vanderlip, V. Fr. 1972. The Four Greek Hymns of Isidorus and the Cult of Isis. Vol. 12 of American Studies in Papyrology. Toronto: A. M. Hakkert.
Vidman, L. 1970. Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Römern. Vol. 29 of Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, edited by W. Burkert and C. Colpe. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
Weinreich, O. 1931. “Zur hellenistisch-ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte: Imhotet-Asclepios in die Griechen (zu Pap. Oxy. 1381)”. Aegyptus 11: 13–22.
Wickkiser, Br, L. 2008. Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth-Century Greece. Between Craft and Cult. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press.
—2010. “Asclepios in Greek and Roman Corinth”. In Corinth in Context. Comparative Studies on Religion and Society, edited by St. J. Friesen, D. N. Schowalter and J. C. Walters. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 37–66.