The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts
"The ancient mysteries have remained all too mysterious because of the lack of ready access to them. . . . Now we have in one volume a fine collection of the sources that have survived. . . . This will be for many students the lifting of the veil for which they have been looking."—James Robinson, Institute of Antiquity and Christianity, The Claremont Graduate School"The Ancient Mysteriescontains a very balanced selection of sources for the study of the ancient so-called mystery religions, starting with Eleusis and ending with mysteries in Judaism and Christianity. . . . No other modern sourcebook exists in this field. Therefore this book fills a gap not only in the area of late antiquity and early Christianity, but also in the field of history of religions in general."—Kurt Rudolph, Philipps-Universitat Marburg, Germany"Unlike most books on 'ancient mysteries,' this one is based on careful reading of the original texts in their original languages. It is a competent, intelligent, and sympathetic study of which the original conclusions deserve careful consideration."—Morton Smith, author ofJesus the Magician and The Secret Gospel