Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter

by Karl Kerényi and C. Kerenyi

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691019150
• ISBN13: 9780691019154
• Release Date: August 1991
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

The Mystery of The Mysteries...

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.

An excellent resource!

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himself "flygadfly" thereby identifying himself with the ancient philosopher Socrates, states that the information is outdated.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

Profound analysis of the mysteries of Eleusis.

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.

The best-kept secret in the ancient world...

...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.

Unsolved Mystery

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...