Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Really interesting. A first century mystery cult with some intriguing parallels to the Christ cult (which I think may actually have some Neopythagorean influences by way of Jewish ascetic (i.e. Essene) practices. Th accusations of black magic and denying the mediating authority of the Emperor are interesting too. So much early Christian imagery and language seems to have been deliberately antithetical to the Imperial cults. For everything the Emperor was ("Savior of the world", "Divine son of God." "King of Kings." "Lord of Lords," etc), the Christians had their own divine, superior version up in the sky. it seems almost deliberately antagonistic (or perhaps secret).