Bibliograph

Ancient mystery cults, Walter Burkert

Type

Label

Ancient mystery cults, Walter Burkert

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 120-132)

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Ancient mystery cults

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

15489190

Responsibility statement

Walter Burkert

Series statement

Carl Newell Jackson lectures

Summary

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 sensitivity and sympathy in interpreting the experiences and motivations of the devotees

Table Of Contents

Personal needs in this life and after death -- Organizations and identities -- Theologia and mysteries: myth, allegory, and Platonism -- The extraordinary experience

Classification