THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

Phoenicians at this time, as all agree, was the Egyptian religion in a
modified form, Dionysius having taken the role of Osiris in the drama
of faith in Greece, Syria, and Asia Minor. Thus we have the Mysteries
of Egypt, in which Moses was learned, brought to the very door of the
temple of Solomon, and that, too, at a time favorable to their
impress. The Hebrews were not architects, and it is plain from the
records that the temple--and, indeed, the palaces of Solomon--were
designed and erected by Phoenician builders, and for the most part by
Phoenician workmen and materials. Josephus adds that the architecture
of the temple was of the style called Grecian. So much would seem to
be fact, whatever may be said of the legends flowing from it.
If, then, the laws of building were secrets known only to initiates,
there must have been a secret order of architects who built the temple
of Solomon. Who were they? They were almost certainly the _Dionysian
Artificers_--not to be confused with the play-actors called by the
same name later--an order of builders who erected temples, stadia, and
theaters in Asia Minor, and who were at the same time an order of the
Mysteries under the tutelage of Bacchus before that worship declined,
as it did later in Athens and Rome, into mere revelry.[57] As such,
they united the art of architecture with the old Egyptian drama of
faith, representing in their ceremonies the murder of Dionysius by the
Titans and his return to life. So that, blending the symbols of
Astronomy with those of Architecture, by a slight change made by a
natural process, how easy for the master-artist of the temple-builders
to become the hero of the ancient drama of immortality.[58] Whether
or not this fact can be verified from history, such is the form in
which the tradition has come down to us, surviving through long ages
and triumphing over all vicissitude.[59] Secret orders have few
records and their story is hard to tell, but this account is perfectly
in accord with the spirit and setting of the situation, and there is
neither fact nor reason against it. While this does not establish it
as true historically, it surely gives it validity as a prophecy, if
nothing more.[60]
After all, then, the tradition that Masonry, not unlike the Masonry we
now know, had its origin while the temple of King Solomon was
building, and was given shape by the two royal friends, may not be so
fantastic as certain superior folk seem to think it. How else can we
explain the fact that when the Knights of the Crusades went to the
Holy Land they came back a secret, oath-bound fraternity? Also, why is
it that, through the ages, we see bands of builders coming from the
East calling themselves "sons of Solomon," and using his interlaced
triangle-seal as their emblem? Strabo, as we have seen, traced the
Dionysiac builders eastward into Syria, Persia, and even India. They
may also be traced westward. Traversing Asia Minor, they entered
Europe by way of Constantinople, and we follow them through Greece to
Rome, where already several centuries before Christ we find them bound
together in corporations called _Collegia_. These lodges flourished in
all parts of the Roman Empire, traces of their existence having been
discovered in England as early as the middle of the first century of
our era.
II
Krause was the first to point out a prophecy of Masonry in the old