Dioniso e i profeti di Yahwè

As argued by Martin Hengel in 1976, in some passages of the LXX’s Greek translation of the Bible, the Canaanite licentious natural religion is partly described with a terminology taken from the “dionysian vocabulary”. The Dionysus’ cult was spread in the hellenistic Judaea, and in the whole Near East, as testified by some passages of the biblical texts, especially in the prophetic books. A connection between the Greek mysteric religion and the ancient Semitic cults can be tracked down also in late Greek and Latin literature, in early Christian historical treatises, and – archaeologically – in the western Punic world of northern Africa. An analysis of these evidences, including a reconsideration of a few textually controversial biblical passages, throw new light on the intensity of the cross-contamination between Greek and Semitic culture, both deeply rooted in a common Mediterranean context.