A plethora of religions associated with mystery spanned the ANE world, from the Demeter and Persephone to differing cults of Isis and Mithraism. Although considered late by many, Walter Burkert reminds his readers both Eleusis and Dionysus-Bacchus cults predates Hellenism in the Levant. Once initiated into these cults, members received secrets recorded nowhere except for the memories of its members. Burkert separates the mystery element of the society from the cult, writing, “In most cases there exist forms of a ‘normal’ cult alongside the mysteries, that is, worship for the noninitiated independent of possible candidacy . . . .” He considers the mystery “personal religion” with a focus on “salvation through closeness to the divine.” Thus,
