I would be happy to be the editor for this thread if one is still needed although I will be out of the country and so alas away from the computer for a week from friday.

The Orphic cults, as you may already know is one of my favourite areas of classics, but unfortunately not one widely discussed.

Orpheus himself is a fascinating character, a musician and credited to be one of the four writers. The Orphic cults bring together a combination of Apollo, rationality, and Dionysus, wild and also factors associated with shamanism. It covers such a wide area, and although in origin greek, was incorporated by the Romans, for Orphic leaves have been found in Roman graves.

I'll discuss more later anyway, but I must say I'm really happy that there is this board for discussion.