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Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter

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...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.

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...

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.

This is an excellent book, favored especially by many women who find the mother-daughter archetype something that they want to explore. There are many excellent facts of great interest to those seeking to know the background of Demeter's Mysteries.

The first edition of this book was in 1967. I think it holds up pretty well. The reviewer who calls himself "flygadfly" thereby identifying himself with the ancient philosopher Socrates, states that the information is outdated. To expect current values and philosophies to exist in a book that was published 37 years ago is an illogical expectation.

I really love this book. It has an honored place in my home library.
-Gem

Right up there with Jung and Joseph Campbell is a man named Carl Kerenyi. An exile from his native Hungary, Kerenyi wrote extensively on Greek mythology and played an important role in its revival. Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter, fourth in a series of related books, is his attempt to reconstruct and interpret what really went on in the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Like Jung and Campbell, Kerenyi writes from the perspective of psychology and humanism. At the same time, he distances his view from that of Jung in his introduction. Although Kerenyi uses the term "archetype" he does not mean it in the full Jungian sense. He speaks rather of "archetypal facts of human existence" (p. xxxii). The meaning of this is about as difficult to pin down as that of Jung's archetypes, but seems to refer in this case to the inescapable fact that all humans have mothers, and that mother-daughter relationships bear certain basic resemblances. It seems to communicate an appeal to human universals, without relying on the collective unconscious on the one hand or existentialist philosophies on the other. From this perspective, he attempts to recover what went on in the mysteries.

There is little in his reconstruction that is conclusive, and to an extent he is upfront about this. He says "My book should act as the kykeon of Eleusis in all probability did: as a stimulant" (p. xx). In other words, he intends to suggest and inspire, not to declare fact. This must be kept in mind by the reader, as Kerenyi has a slippery way of posing arguments. For example, in chapter two he concludes that the ineffable secret (arrheton) of Eleusis was a certain goddess, and the only evidence he provides at the time is the epithet "ineffable maiden" (arrhetos koura), which only she possesses. Kerenyi then defers further evidence till later, saying "This becomes comprehensible only as we gradually penetrate to the core of the Mysteries" (p. 26). But he never does put forward any more evidence, and the mere repitition of his thesis, stated in no uncertain terms over and over, threatens to lull the reader into agreement. This is a shaky foundation indeed for one of the core elements of his reconstruction. It is necessary to bear in mind this matter of style to avoid being misled.

What is most impressive about Kerenyi's Eleusis is the vast range of material pulled together. The entire gamut of literature, vase paintings, numismatics, and archaeology comes together to form this picture of Eleusis. Often it is quite difficult to discern what that picture is exactly, but nevertheless there are stimulants for research on every page that would take a lifetime for the amateur Classicist to accumulate. This is the greatest strength of the book.

A much lesser strength is the reconstruction itself. Kerenyi's conclusions are based on a wide variety of disjointed material, lined up and juxtaposed in interesting ways but hardly connected into a logical argument. Truthfully, I cannot put any faith at all in his hypotheses, except by recalling that they are intended as "stimulants." They do inspire, to be sure.

This book is recommendable to anyone looking to expand their Eleusinian horizons beyond the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. There are so many obscure and specialist references presented here that one cannot help but benefit. Those looking for clear, reliable answers will be frustrated, while those hungry for directions for contemplation will get their fill.

Perhaps it is the translation into english keeping this a very fresh read on a beautiful and little understood subject. The heavy handed black & white version we are all familiar with is replaced with a genuinely approachable discussion. Reflecting the many slightly altered dieties in present day pantheist religions he jusxtaposes the various tidbits that have filtered through time into a beautiful kaleidoscopic inquiry. He uses multiple sources, art as well as writings. This enlarged scope of view enables many possibilities. The vitality of the religion its offerings and mystica are brought forward in the effort to flesh out the flowing energy that is worshiped as Hades here & Plutous there. Pluton the child offering the cornucopia from the earth goddess beneath to the earth goddess above and variation by example. Without the restrictions of a mono theist mindset more interesting possibilities are delicately explored and the natural fusions of this religion over many generations is given breathing room. Wonderfully written and full of appreciation for the hidden mystery it comes much closer to expressing the inter relationship of ourselves, nature & the work of faiths to clarify human life than is present in Fraser, White, Campbell & wikipedia. Agile astute mind, he grasps the needs religion fulfills and proceeds from there unhurriedly, carefully looking for clues across cultures, language, places, rites, herbs, plants, elements, pottery and chants or music. He doesn't dismiss vital details in favor of hard ideas.

Recommended to pantheists & anthropology lovers as well as anyone interested in Greek myth.

This book is a sincere attempt to piece together the secret of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Pouring over the Greek myths, history and the social institutions, Kerenyi tries to ferret out the truth behind the mystery. He works hard, and gets very close but in the end it is all conjecture. That said this was a marvelous book. It is clear the Kerenyi knows his Greek mythology and history, and his conclusions are logical enough to be possible. I have been obsessed about the secret of the Mysteries since I first learned about them and Kerenyi's book gets you as close as one can get to an extinct secret ancient religion.

Kerényi's scholarship *might* include a touch of fantasy, but on the whole, it is well-researched, and he provided documentation for his claims through extensive footnotes. I used this book as the foundation of my MA thesis, and have never regretted it. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to study the Eleusinian Mysteries in a serious way, but remember to read this with "a grain of salt," as one should with any book.

Be forewarned! Kerenyi, in all his works, offers a piece-meal, unsupported archaeologically, imaginative creation of what he WISHED Greek Religion could have been. Kerenyi seems to have had an image in his mind, and he assembles anything and everything from different time periods, locations, and rituals in order to "prove" his theories. A closer, archaeological reading would show a high percentage of his "facts" contradicting each other - how can you support Hellenistic mystery cults with evidence from non-Greek Minoan Crete? It'd be as if one made a connection between Southern Baptist Christianity and Native American religion, solely because both functioned in similar geographical locations. Just a warning! Kerenyi is really easy to become enchanted with, but not accurate.

I was quite excited to see this book & read the comments. Princeton University Press doesn't publish much classics, and I had high hopes for this volume. When it arrived, I was upset to learn that it was a Bollingen imprint -- Jungian propaganda, with a lot of imagination, outdated scholarship and contempt for scholarly values. It really is despicable of Princeton to tarnish their reputation with their Bollingen imprint, and I feel like a sucker to have wasted my money on such a preposterously worthless book, and I wish that Amazon.com would put a warning label on the Bollingen imprints, so clearthinking people can be more careful when ordering. (The problem is, of course, that few excellent books are mixed in with the nonsense, so one can't dismiss Bollingen books out of hand, but there is usually a 90% chance that they are garbage.)