Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries by Michael B Cosmopoulos

Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries by Michael B Cosmopoulos

For more than one thousand years, people from every corner of the Greco-Roman world sought the hope for a blessed afterlife through initiation into the Mysteries of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis. In antiquity itself and in our memory of antiquity, the Eleusinian Mysteries stand out as the oldest and most venerable mystery cult. Despite the tremendous popularity of the Eleusinian Mysteries, their origins are unknown. Because they are lost in an era without written records, they can only be reconstructed with the help of archaeology. This book provides a much-needed synthesis of the archaeology of Eleusis during the Bronze Age and reconstructs the formation and early development of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The discussion of the origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries is complemented with discussions of the theology of Demeter and an update on the state of research in the archaeology of Eleusis from the Bronze Age to the end of antiquity.

Michael B. Cosmopoulos is Professor of Archaeology and holder of the endowed Chair in Greek Studies at the University of Missouri, St Louis. He has published fifteen books and over one hundred scholarly papers on Greek archaeology, history and religion. He has excavated at several sites in Greece, including Mycenae, Epidaurus, Corinth, Ithaca, Oropos, Pylos and Eleusis. Currently he is the director of the excavations at Iklaina. He has received numerous research and teaching awards, including the Rh Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Sciences and the Humanities and the Archaeological Institute of America Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a National Geographic Society Explorer and a Fellow of the Academy of Science St Louis.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781107010994
ISBN 10	1107010993
Title	Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries
Author	Michael B Cosmopoulos
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2015-06-30
Number of pages	246
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.