ASIA MINOR IN THE TIME OF THE SEVEN WISE MEN 



67 



could be carried out in more than one 

 way ; to send an inscrutable answer, that 

 sounded deep and wise and would allow 

 those who sent to consult the oracle the 

 privilege of doing their own way. 



Yet the power of the oracle was almost 

 unlimited and controlled even the rights 

 of kings in the most distant parts of the 

 Grecian world. 



There was, however, another side to 

 the religious life of that time more diffi- 

 cult to understand. During the sixth 

 century B. C. there arose a great wave 

 of religious emotions, affecting every 

 oracle and popular temple and influenc- 

 ing even some of the philosophical teach- 

 ing. It seemed to appear first as an out- 

 burst of personal miracle-working in con- 

 nection with the worship of Dionysus 

 and was especially strong in Asia Minor. 



It taught the purging of sin by sacri- 

 fice, the immortality and divinity of the 

 soul, eternal reward to the pure, beyond 

 the grave, and retribution to the impure, 

 the pure being those initiated into these 

 teachings. This was the religion of the 

 common people and was closely connected 

 with the Orphic mysteries which were 

 practiced in secret, took the form of secret 

 societies, and therefore are almost impos- 

 sible to investigate. 



THE BELIEF IN INCARNATION 



Certain of these cults believed in the 

 incarnation and suffering of Dionysus 

 Zagreus. Zagreus was a god who was 

 born again as a man, yet was a god, was 

 received into heaven, and became the 

 highest and, in a sense, the only god. An 

 individual who worshiped Dionysus Zag- 

 reus could himself develop his potential 

 divinity. 



Dionysus was explained in the Orphic 

 mysteries as the god within the spirit of 

 worship, as inexplicable joy, as the per- 

 sonification of the spirit of ecstacy, and 

 the impulse above reason that lifts man 

 out of himself and gives him power and 

 blessedness. These mysteries were in 

 part dependent upon the singing and 

 playing of sacred music. 



In the time of the Wise Men many of 

 the old temples were rising on the coast 

 of Asia Minor. The Temple of Diana 

 of Ephesus, one column of which is now 

 in the British Museum, was begun. 



There is also to be seen in the British 

 Museum a lion of colossal size from 

 Miletus, carved in marble, on which the 

 name of Thales, the Wise Man, is in- 

 scribed. 



Sculpture had been for some time an 

 acknowledged art and figures were made 

 of gold and silver as well as of marble. 

 Iron also was sometimes used for orna- 

 ments, as soldering in iron was discov- 

 ered in that age by a man in Chios. 



The pottery was perhaps the most 

 artistic product of the time, and the 

 earliest known vase bearing a Greek in- 

 scription, now in the British Museum, 

 was from one of the yEgean Islands. It 

 is ascribed to the early part of the period 

 of the Wise Men. 



THE HAEES OE EAME AND HOSPITAEITY 



The social life was first of all religious, 

 as the worship of the gods and goddesses 

 involved many public and private cere- 

 monies, but there was also public politi- 

 cal life in various forms. 



In every large city there was a pry- 

 taneum, where national heroes were hon- 

 ored and where public feasts were given. 

 Among the cupbearers who served the 

 wine were sons of most noble families. 

 One of Sappho's brothers was a cup- 

 bearer in the prytaneum in Mitylene. 

 The prytaneum was the state hearth, 

 where the sacred fire was ever burning, 

 and there was the center of the life of 

 the whole city and of the colonies sent 

 out from that city. 



Of the details of the lives of the Wise 

 Men we know very little, and the stories 

 told about them are probably mythical. 

 Bias of Priene is sometimes placed at 

 their head, but Thales and Solon are the 

 best known. Pittakos was a wise re- 

 former and king in Mitylene, and there 

 is one figure of his head in existence 

 which is found in the Bibliotheque Na- 

 tionalc, in Paris, on a coin of later date 

 from Mitylene. 



The life of each one of them was 

 doubtless thrilling with interest, but the 

 utmost that we can do to revive their ac- 

 tivities is to associate the few events that 

 are known with the places which were the 

 theater of their actions and which are also 

 a part of our own surroundings. 



