Ancient Mystery Cults

Ancient Mystery Cults
ISBN-10
0674033876
ISBN-13
9780674033870
Category
History
Pages
181
Language
English
Published
1987
Publisher
Harvard University Press
Author
Walter Burkert

Description

The foremost historian of Greek religion provides the first comprehensive, comparative study of a little-known aspect of ancient religious beliefs and practices. Secret mystery cults flourished within the larger culture of the public religion of Greece and Rome for roughly a thousand years. This book is neither a history nor a survey but a comparative phenomenology, concentrating on five major cults. In defining the mysteries and describing their rituals, membership, organization, and dissemination, Walter Burkert displays the remarkable erudition we have come to expect of him; he also shows great sensitivity and sympathy in interpreting the experiences and motivations of the devotees.

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