Religiously motivated sexual rites date back to the early years of humanity's existence. Since the beginning of farming, the woman's sacral position shifted into the foreground and her secret fertility has been compared with that of the earth, as the planting of the field has been compared to the sexual act. Orgiastic rites aimed at increasing the earth's fertility, therefore, probably date to humanity's early period as well.

Already historically ascertained, however, are the great feasts in honor of Dionysos, who appears as Bakchos (Bacchus) in his orgiastic-mystic perspective. Their distinguishing characteristic was the frenzy, in which men and women—filled with God—stepped outside of themselves. According to Plutarch, the orgiastic feasts were celebrated at night on mountaintops, accompanied by torchlight and music. The wild flock of maenads (bacchantes), who in their frenzy ripped apart young animals and devoured the raw...