Talk:Goat of Mendes

The former text here, unedited by me read in its entirety as follows:

"The goat of Mendes was a temple goat utilized in an ancient cult in the city of Mendes, Egypt. Supposedly, the goat copulated with priestesses in certain religious ceremonies.

"The cult was known for its bestiality (and may have even been practiced) at the inception of Christianity during the reign of the Roman Empire. The practices of the Mendes cult inspired the Christian association of goats with Satan and paganism in general. This idea was especially strong during the Middle Ages, but persists to modern times.

"The pentagram, a symbol utilized by pagans and Satanists alike, is also sometimes referred to as the goat of Mendes or goat head of Mendes as a result of this association."

None of this is factual. The confusion with the ram god of Mendes in Egypt was made by the occultist Eliphas Lévi in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855), which has given rise to a flood of fanciful but spurious eclectic connections, such as "The Goat of Mendes" by the black metal band Akercocke.

A redirect has been made to Baphomet. --Wetman 15:15, 12 February 2006 (UTC) lucifer