>>19470637Orphism, which had proto-Gnostic elements, considered Zagreus (Dionysus) a kind of messiah who was quartered and devoured by the titans (archons) who were then destroyed by Zeus' lightning, from their ashes emerged the huminade, being the ashes of the titans above the ashes of Dionysus the matter imprisoning the soul/pleromatic light. The Maenads, priestesses of Dionysus, had a ritual where they represented this by tearing apart and devouring a bull. The bull was a symbol of Zeus, which is interesting because the Orphics said that Phanes (basically Lucifer from Greek Mythology) was devoured by Zeus and that Zagreus was Phanes. Phanes was born from a cosmic egg hatched by a serpent, his mother Nyx, and was called "Lord Priapus". Priapus was one of Dionysus's companions who was a dwarf man with a large penis, Priapus has many parallels with the biblical character Balaam/Baal-Peor, who was compared by Jews with Pharaoh of Exodus and Jesus.
