Pilgrimages were made to the temples of Isis, in Egypt, by the sick. Diodorus, the Grecian historian, says that:
"Those who go to consult in dreams the goddess Isis recover perfect health. Many whose cure has been despaired of by physicians have by this means been saved, and others who have long been deprived of sight, or of some other part of the body, by taking refuge, so to speak, in the arms of the goddess, have been restored to the enjoyment of their faculties."[257:1]
Serapis, the Egyptian Saviour, performed great miracles, principally those of healing the sick. He was called "The Healer of the World."[257:2]
Marduk, the Assyrian God, the "Logos," the "Eldest Son of Hea;" "He who made Heaven and Earth;" the "Merciful One;" the "Life-Giver," &c., performed great miracles, among which was that of raising the dead to life.[257:3]
Bacchus, son of Zeus by the virgin Semele, was a great performer of miracles, among which may be mentioned his changing water into wine,[257:4] as it is recorded of Jesus in the Gospels.
"In his gentler aspects he is the giver of joy, the healer of sicknesses, the guardian against plagues. As such he is even a law-giver and a promoter of peace and concord. As kindling new or strange thoughts in the mind, he is a giver of wisdom and the revealer of hidden secrets of the future."[257:5]
The legends related of this god state that on one occasion Pantheus, King of Thebes, sent his attendants to seize Bacchus, the "vagabond leader of a faction"—as he called him. This they were unable to do, as the multitude who followed him were too numerous. They succeeded, however, in capturing one of his disciples, Acetes, who was led away and shut up fast in prison; but while they were getting ready the instruments of execution, the prison doors came open of their own accord, and the chains fell from his limbs, and when they looked for him he was nowhere to be found.[257:6] Here is still another edition of "Peter in prison."
Æsculapius was another great performer of miracles. The ancient Greeks said of him that he not only cured the sick of the most malignant diseases, but even raised the dead.