Note 374 — Chapter IV · PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE ORPHICI

The search for its original home seems hopeless at present. It might easily be connected with Babylonian beliefs, and the Orphic Dionysos has too many features in common with Tammuz, the lover of Ishtar, for the resemblance to be entirely accidental. But other elements in the story, such as the mundane egg, are found in the Vedas, and may point to an Indian origin. The discovery a few years ago at Boghaz Keui in Cilicia of inscriptions showing that the Vedic gods were worshipped in Asia Minor at least as early as 1270 B.C., makes it very difficult to say whether the Vedic gods may not have reached India from Asia Minor or vice versa. In this case, it is possible that Onomacritos may have learned some of the legends at the Court of the Great King at Susa.