Goddess Mystery Cults And The Miracle Of Minyan Prehistoric Greece

As this book demonstrates, the cradle of the Mystery Cults of the Goddess and of Western civilization is the Aegean region, an area extending from the Balkans to Crete and from the Ionian Sea to Asia Minor. The Eleusinian Mysteries do not originate from Old Europe or Egypt, but from the worship of the Pelasgian goddess Daeira, Mother Earth, who preceded Demeter and whose cult was indigenous to Eleusis. As shown here, in the Mysteries of the Goddess, the initiates descend into the depths of their psyche, perceive the midnight sun, transcend duality, and achieve cosmic consciousness symbolized by the unity and harmony of the Great Goddess. The Pelasgians, Minyans, and Minoans, the Aegean region’s prehistoric tribes and ancestors of the Mycenaeans and modern Greeks, share the same cultural heritage, continuity, and autochthony with the region’s Proto-Greek, pre-Deukalion-Flood inhabitants. The book also argues that religious and scientific traces of pre-Flood knowledge can be discerned in the Mysteries and the technical achievements of prehistoric Minyan and Minoan Greeks. Even from the third millennium, the Minyans and Minoans, with their advanced nautical, geographic, and astronomical knowledge, sailed not only the Mediterranean, but using the Atlantic currents had reached the copper mines of northern Europe and America.

Using archaeological, epigraphic and literary sources, and incorporating current scholarly theories, this volume offers an accessible account of the Greek gods for undergraduate students.

First published in 1989, Among the Gods uses archaeological evidence to explore ancient Greek religion. The book analyses cult-statues and inscriptions to provide a detailed discussion of gods and goddesses, the priesthood, and healing sanctuaries. In doing so, it highlights the external, formal nature of religious practice in ancient Greece, such as pilgrimages, offerings, and hallowed sites. Archaeological records are used to examine both the theory and practice of ancient Greek religion, and to provide context to a variety of Greek myths and Greek literature. Among the Gods will appeal to those with an interest in religious history, archaeological history, and Classical history.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1919 Edition.

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece." It is thought that their basis was an old agrarian cult which probably goes back to the Mycenean period (c. 1600 - 1100 BC) and it is believed that the cult of Demeter was established in 1500 BC. The mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases, the "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent," with the main theme the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome. The name of the town, Eleusis, seems to be Pre-Greek and it is probably a counterpart with Elysium and the goddess Eileithyia. The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from antiquity. The initiated believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife. There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from psychedelic agents."

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts describing the Mysteries *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Ancient Greece and its mythology has fascinated people for thousands of years, and few elements have intrigued people quite like the Eleusinian Mysteries, which the Greeks believed transformed the initiates and gave them knowledge that eased both the living of life on earth and allayed fears of death, allowing an acceptance of their ultimate fate. The influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries was also far reaching; for example, the Telesterion is reminiscent of the labyrinthine, symbolic structures that can be found all over pre-historic Europe, ranging from those in Ireland to Malta and Crete to the Shetlands. The larger precinct of Eleusis, combining as it did caves, terraces and buildings carved into the rock again, all echo that ancient past. The external journey of the initiate is mirrored in his internal journey, and what can be seen is that the spiritual torch of classical Greece, as exemplified in these rites, hides the much older worship of deities. It was the spirit of those older gods and goddesses that ultimately pervaded Eleusis. However, it would be unwise to see the Eleusinian Mysteries as something separate from the other aspects of the Greek belief system, or even worse, seeing them as somehow more spiritual than the others. The fact that a considerable element of the Eleusinian Mysteries suggests a tendency towards spiritual monotheism has led to many false conclusions about their nature. They were not a unique phenomenon in Greek religious tradition, and the concepts of secrecy and revelation of mysteries only to initiates had parallels in the cults of Dionysius and Cybele. Similarly, the mystical dimensions of the rites, with their emphasis on a personal encounter with the deity, can be found in other cultic activities. Nonetheless, for the ancient Greeks the vital issue was that only through the Mysteries could they escape the miserable eternal fate ascribed for them if they were not initiated. Sophocles summed it up neatly, declaring, "Oh thrice blessed the mortals who having completed the Mysteries have descended to the underworld for those only will there be a future life of happiness, for the others there will find nothing but suffering." The rites comprising the Eleusinian Mysteries formed a Panhellenic event that attracted visitors from all over the Greek world, including Sicily and Cyrene. Ultimately, anyone who spoke Greek, male, female, free or slave, could present themselves as a candidate for initiation, provided that they were free of any sacrilege or untainted by a heinous crime such as murder. The Mysteries became the most sacred of the mystical celebrations that took place in Greece, and today the rites and rituals that made up what was a huge event are still the subject of academic controversy and religious debate. What makes the Eleusinian Mysteries so important for people studying ancient Greece is that they survived for hundreds of years, well into the Christian era. They celebrated Demeter, a hugely important figure in Greece (particularly in both Athenian and Roman worship), and the whole Festival was celebrated by the state with pomp. Most of all, however, the aura of mystery that has surrounded the famous rites, and the lack of absolutely incontrovertible information about what exactly went on in some of the most secret parts of the rites, has ensured that they have remained enigmatic and have thus continued to be intriguing throughout history. The Eleusinian Mysteries: The History of Ancient Greece's Most Famous Religious Rites looks at some of the ancient Greeks' most important religious practices. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Eleusinian Mysteries like never before.

This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original edition published by the Clarendon Press in Oxford, 1921.

Situated at the disciplinary boundary between prehistory and history, this book presents a new synthesis of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece, from the rise and fall of Mycenaean civilization to the emergence of city-states in the Archaic period. These centuries saw the growth and decline of varied political systems and the development of networks across local, regional, and Mediterranean scales. As a groundbreaking study of landscape, interaction, and sociopolitical change, Societies in Transition in Early Greece systematically bridges the divide between the Mycenaean period and the Archaic Greek world to shed new light on an often-overlooked period of world history. “This book reconfigures our understanding of early Greece on a regional level, beyond Mycenaean 'palaces' and across temporal boundaries. Alex Knodell's sophisticated arguments enable a fresh reading of the emergence of early Greek polities, revealing the microregions that put to the test overarching 'Mediterranean' models. His detailed study makes a convincing return to a comparative framework, integrating a 'small world' network and its trajectory with the larger picture of ancient complex societies.” SARAH MORRIS, Steinmetz Professor of Classical Archaeology and Material Culture, University of California, Los Angeles “A comprehensive, thoughtful treatment of the time period before the crystallization of the ancient Greek city states.” WILLIAM A. PARKINSON, Curator and Professor, The Field Museum and University of Illinois at Chicago “An important and must-read account. The strength of this book lies in its close analysis of the important different regional characteristics and evolutionary trajectories of Greece as it transforms into the Archaic and, later, the Classical world.” DAVID B. SMALL, author Ancient Greece: Social Structure and Evolution.