Note 384 — Chapter IV · PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE ORPHICI

The story with full references to authorities is given by Maury, Rel. de la Grèce Antique, t. III. pp. 342 sqq.; Purser in Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1890, s.v. Orphica; Cecil Smith, “Orphic Myths on Attic Vases,” J.H.S. 1890, pp. 343-351; Dyer, The Gods in Greece, 1891, p. 128; Paul Monceaux in Daremberg and Saglio’s Dict. des Antiq. s.v. Orphica. The eating of a god or other being in order to obtain possession of the victim’s qualities is a common idea among primitive peoples, as is set forth at length in Frazer, Golden Bough, 3rd ed. pt V, vol. II. ch. 10. It was familiar to the Egyptians, as is seen in the Pyramid Texts of the VIth Dynasty, where the glorified King Unas is represented as chasing, catching, cooking, and eating the gods in the next world in order to assimilate their powers. See Maspero, Les Pyramides de Saqqarah, pp. 67 sqq. So in a magic papyrus now at Leyden, the magician threatens the god Set whom he is invoking, that if he is not obedient, he will speak to “the Great God” (Serapis?) who will tear Set “limb from limb and give his powers to a mangy dog sitting on a dung-hill to eat.” See Leemans, Papyri Graeci, vol. II. pp. 18, 19.