Agostino e la tradizione apologetica su riti bacchici e misteri

Mystery cults or rites practiced on the border between institutional religion and initiatory sectarianism were difficult to manage in the social and political sphere, but their presence emerges widely in literary texts and is interpreted in various ways by writers of every historical period. In particular, this article illustrates some examples of the interpretation of this phenomenon by authors of the Christian era, starting from the syncretistic environment of the first centuries. First, it focuses on the apologetic tradition, represented by Arnobius, who dedicates book V of the treatise Ad nationes to criticizing pagan beliefs and illustrates, above all, their immorality and irrationality. Then, it examines some texts from Augustine’s De civitate Dei, which demonstrate first of all a more mature historical-cultural approach, based on the criticism of the opinion expressed by Varro in the Antiquitates on the contents of traditional religion and on the evaluation of rites within society and also literature, connecting to dramatic practices and a broader demonstration of the errors of paganism.