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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
This is one of several books that have come out in the past fifteen years to examine several types of Greco-Roman mystery initiations; the other major ones are [b:Mystery Cults of the Ancient World|7786404|Mystery Cults of the Ancient World|Hugh Bowden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348526071l/7786404._SX50_.jpg|10726978] by Hugh Bowden and [b:Romanising Oriental Gods|4267929|Romanising Oriental Gods Myth, Salvation and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis and Mithras (Religions in the Graeco-roman World, 165)|Jaime Alvar Ezquerra|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347808340l/4267929._SY75_.jpg|4315422] by Jaime Alvar. Bowden's book is the best illustrated and the one that is aimed at a more general audience. But this one is still fairly accessible, written in a straightforward style and with occasional bits of dry wit. Like Bowden, Bremmer is careful to say what we do not know about the mystery rites, but he is better than Bowden at clearly describing what we know did happen. Bremmer's book is also available for free, in PDF form, from the publisher.
The chapters in the book are dedicated to the Eleusinian Mysteries, the oldest mystery rites; the mysteries of Samothrace and groups of deities related to them, the Kabeiroi and Korybantes; the ecstatic Orphic and Bacchic mysteries; a variety of lesser, local mysteries in Greece in Roman times; the mysteries of Isis and Mithras; and the relationship of the mystery cults to Christianity. He also has two appendices. One examines the cult of Demeter in Megara and its relationship to the Eleusinian Mysteries and the other one discusses the underworld portrayed in Virgil's Aeneid (an important source for understanding the afterlife beliefs that were circulating at the start of the Roman Empire). Unlike Alvar and Bowden, Bremmer devotes only a passing mention to one of the best-known "oriental" mystery cults, that of Cybele.
The two big questions that people always ask about mystery cults are whether they were meant to help initiates reach a blissful afterlife and whether that concept influenced Christianity. Scholars were pretty skeptical on the first question a generation ago, but as Bremmer notes, a few new pieces of evidence have strengthened the case that at least some mystery rites had an afterlife connection. The latter question is a longtime ideological battleground. Bremmer takes a moderate position on it. He says that mysteries and Christian rites had some things in common, and they seem to have grown more similar to each other during the third and fourth centuries, but the mystery cults were not major competitors to Christianity and did not influence its fundamentals. I believe that to get a more complete understanding of this question, one should ideally look at Alvar's and Bowden's treatment of it as well as Bremmer's. Although I read those books before this one, Bremmer might actually be a better place to start.
The chapters in the book are dedicated to the Eleusinian Mysteries, the oldest mystery rites; the mysteries of Samothrace and groups of deities related to them, the Kabeiroi and Korybantes; the ecstatic Orphic and Bacchic mysteries; a variety of lesser, local mysteries in Greece in Roman times; the mysteries of Isis and Mithras; and the relationship of the mystery cults to Christianity. He also has two appendices. One examines the cult of Demeter in Megara and its relationship to the Eleusinian Mysteries and the other one discusses the underworld portrayed in Virgil's Aeneid (an important source for understanding the afterlife beliefs that were circulating at the start of the Roman Empire). Unlike Alvar and Bowden, Bremmer devotes only a passing mention to one of the best-known "oriental" mystery cults, that of Cybele.
The two big questions that people always ask about mystery cults are whether they were meant to help initiates reach a blissful afterlife and whether that concept influenced Christianity. Scholars were pretty skeptical on the first question a generation ago, but as Bremmer notes, a few new pieces of evidence have strengthened the case that at least some mystery rites had an afterlife connection. The latter question is a longtime ideological battleground. Bremmer takes a moderate position on it. He says that mysteries and Christian rites had some things in common, and they seem to have grown more similar to each other during the third and fourth centuries, but the mystery cults were not major competitors to Christianity and did not influence its fundamentals. I believe that to get a more complete understanding of this question, one should ideally look at Alvar's and Bowden's treatment of it as well as Bremmer's. Although I read those books before this one, Bremmer might actually be a better place to start.