ABSTRACT
In the Graeco-Roman world religious possession did not, so far as we are aware, constitute one of the primordial elements of life. It was still unknown to Homer, and in more recent times was brought into Greece from Asia and Thrace, pro ducing phenomena analogous to possession which persisted in a greater or less degree down to the Christian era. Even in the cult of Apollo which had in turn replaced an older worship at Delphi, inspiration was introduced at a late date, and even then from Dionysiac worship.
