Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter [Paperback]

Carl Kerényi (Author), Ralph Manheim (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Mythos | Publication Date: August 12, 1991

The Sanctuary of Eleusis, near Athens, was the center of a religious cult that endured for nearly two thousand years and whose initiates came from all parts of the civilized world. Looking at the tendency to "see visions," C. Kerenyi examines the Mysteries of Eleusis from the standpoint not only of Greek myth but also of human nature. Kerenyi holds that the yearly autumnal "mysteries" were based on the ancient myth of Demeter's search for her ravished daughter Persephone--a search that he equates not only with woman's quest for completion but also with every person's pursuit of identity. As he explores what the content of the mysteries may have been for those who experienced them, he draws on the study of archaeology, objects of art, and religious history, and suggests rich parallels from other mythologies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is fascinating reading and serves as a meaningful complement to George E. Mylonas's magisterial work, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries. -- Library Journal

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (August 12, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691019150
• ISBN-13: 978-0691019154
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best-kept secret in the ancient world..., April 24, 2002

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter (Paperback)

...was the supreme revelation of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

The Mysteries, if you aren't familiar with them, were an initiatory ritual dedicated to the grain mother, Demeter, and her daughter Persephone, who married the lord of death and agreed to split her time between the upper world and the lower. Thousands of Greeks lined up to receive initiation year after year, and afterward they raved of a beatific vision that completely dispelled their fear of death. But they were sworn to secrecy about the things they saw in the Goddesses' temple, and so there are no records explicitly saying what happened there. Many scholars have studied the Mysteries, and at the end of their essays thrown up their hands, figuratively, and saying there is no way we will ever know what the revelation was.

Kerenyi does a wonderful job, in this scholarly book, of trying to put his finger on the nature of the vision. He starts by ruling out things that it could not have been. Poetic sources vividly describe the abduction of Persephone/Kore, and her return to her mother. There were no secrets there. Thus, the Mysteries must not have centered around either of these events. He then uses archaeological and literary evidence to piece together a surmise about what the Mysteries really were. So many little things, in Kerenyi's hands, add up to become significant. Why won't Demeter drink wine during her mourning period? What is the meaning behind the scene where she puts the boy in the fire to make him immortal? What about tantalizing poetic hints that Demeter, like earlier mother goddesses, might have descended to the underworld herself in search of her daughter?

In the end, Kerenyi's theory works quite well. The Mysteries could very well have been much like what he describes. And yet, even if he's right, there is still something mysterious about the whole production. We might have finally figured out what the priests and priestesses of Eleusis showed to the initiates. But we have to use our imaginations to recreate the feeling it must have given them, the meaning it must have held, in a less cynical age than our own.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsolved Mystery, January 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter (Paperback)

Keneyi's extensive research of the historical written and lastest archaelogical findings on Eleusis is impressive. The text is liberally documented with numerous illustrations that help create a visual perspective. Keneyi sets the stage with a geographical, historical and mythological background, introduces us to the Lesser Mysteries at Agrai and leads us to the Sacred Way on the trail of the grieving Demeter searching for her missing daughter, Persephone. We are titilated by hints of the "visio beatifica" that confers immortality. We are surprised by the rigor of the preparitory austerities. Piece by piece Keneyi recontructs the puzzle, and yet, one of the greatest sacred rites of all time, ultimately remains a mystery...

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound analysis of the mysteries of Eleusis., August 31, 2002

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter (Paperback)

I recommend this book as a formidable try to unravel one of the most important ancient pagan mysteries, that survived for more than a thousand years in the Ancient world.
For Kerenyi, the core of the mysteries was the message that 'a birth in death was possible', also for human beings. This message was 'shown' through the ancient myth of the search of Demeter for her ravished daughter Persephone. She finds Persephone under the earth, where she gives birth to Dionysos. The hope of life in death was symbolized through Demeter's offering of the grain, that will grow again. We can see this important hapenning on a stele in the Ancient museum of Athens.
The initiated had to fast and were given a drug (the kykeon) just before the procession.
Nearly all Roman emperors were initiated (with a special place for Marcus Aurelius).
One of the initiated was Plato, who speaks about it in his work 'Phaidoon'.
The influence on Christianity by the mysteries cannot be underestimated, for Plato's theory of the soul was adopted by the Church.
A compelling read.