Abstract:In this article, I first examine the use of the word orgia in the context of Optatian’s, Avienus’ and Claudian’s poetry. I then evaluate the references to the cult of Eleusis occurring in the proemium of the first book of Claudian’s Rape of Proserpina. By these two test cases, I try to survey the way in which the vocabulary of the mystery cults is used by Latin poets writing in the 4th century AD, a time punctuated by events which had progressively pushed the mystery cults to the margins of the Empire. In thes… Show more
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