Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter

I absolutely love this book and while I know that someone was complaining because he isn't able to conclude what the Mysteries were but I'd take Kerenyi's observations over a team of similar experts. The man had knowledge and here you will find it aptly applied. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the story behind Greek Mythology.

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.

rather disappointing in its coverage.

Very good for research purposes and to understand what occurred (with the limited factual sources available to us) at Eleusis. If you have been to this magical site outside Athens, then this book will further excite your imagination on the buildings and what took place during Greek antiquity and beyond. The book includes references to the worship of Demeter and her daughter Persephone (both very important to the Great Mysteries of Initiation). The initiation was used as a metaphor for Christian baptismal in that it is to lead the initiator to eternity and the afterlife. The author recounts many philosophers, statesmen and historians brief recount on Eleusis and its importance in Greek writing. The author goes to describe the first rite (Myesis), and the second rite (Epopteria). The sacrifices and the processions were an important instrument in the initiates becoming part of the Eleusianian rites. The author does a great job in describing the order of the procession and each individual's job. The conditions of receiving the mysteries is described in full by the author. The author includes wonderful maps and photos of Eleusis (in b/w), giving the reader a detailed description on the archaeological site of what today's scholar would see while visiting this pilgrimage site.

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.

An unimpressive work. The approach is hugely outdated, and weak in most respects. Kerényi cites quite a few sources, but has no real ability to make critical assessments of their worth or context. His presentation is confused, jumping from one period to another, one stage of the mysteries to another. His arguments are elusive, and smack of modern psychological (and rather air-headed) approaches rather than deriving from an understanding of ancient thought; insofar as they can be pinned down at all, they are often at best weakly derived from the sources themselves. He has no awareness of anthropological materials from comparable societies that have mystery cults, and consequently does not really understand how to analyse them. His treatment fails to meet up to what would be expected now in terms of an understanding of classical sources, comparative religion, mythology and its symbolic representation in poetry and cult, or anthropology. Unfortunately, there is no single work on Eleusis which does show the necessary understanding in these fields, though there are many articles on various aspects of the mysteries. The book may be OK if you want to get a general (though confused) idea about some of the materials relating to the mysteries, but cannot be recommended beyond that.

It is beautifully written, well-explained, nicely organised...this book is great.If you are interested in the Eleusis myths, mysteries, iconography and history, there is no better option than this.The format of the book is perfect to take in your bag and I read it in just one day!!!!Great great great book!