The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts

by Marvin W. Meyer (Editor)

Zeus and the other gods of shining Olympus were in reality divine only by popular consent. Over the course of time Olympian luster diminished in favor of religious experiences more immediate to the concerns of people living in an increasingly cosmopolitan ancient world. These experiences were provided by the mysteries, religions that flourished particularly during the Hellenistic period and were secretly practiced by groups of adherents who decided, through personal choice, to be initiated into the profound realities of one deity or another. Unlike the official state religions, in which people were expected to make an outward show of allegiance to the local gods, the mysteries emphasized an inwardness and privacy of worship within a closed band of initiates.In this book, Marvin W. Meyer explores the sacrifices and prayers, the public celebrations and secret ceremonies, the theatrical performances and literary works, the gods and goddesses that were a part of the mystery religions of Greece in the seventh century B.C. to the Judaism and Christianity of the Roman world of the seventh century A.D.

Genres: Religion, History, Mythology, Nonfiction, Reference, Spirituality, Ancient History

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Marvin Meyer is a scholar of religion and a tenured professor at Chapman University, in Orange, California.

He is the Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University and Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute. He is also Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity. Dr. Meyer is the author of numerous books and articles on Greco-Roman and Christian religions in antiquity and late antiquity, and on Albert Schweitzer's ethic of reverence for life. He has been interviewed on television programs that have aired on ABC, BBC, CNN, PBS, A&E, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and the National Geographic Channel.

Professor Meyer is best known for his translations of the texts of documents associated with the ancient mystery religions, early Christian magic, and Gnostic texts, of which the most notable have been the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas. He is regarded as an authority on Gnosticism and has published many books on the subject.

Meyer died of melanoma on August 16, 2012.

Reviews

[Mesoscope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-translated, edited, and organized, this book provides valuable source translations for a myriad of mystery traditions of antiquity, including the cults of Isis, Dionysus, Demeter, and more.

This is just such a useful book - I've returned to it again and again in my studies. I read a reference to an important poem by Catallus on Cybele (no. 63) and pull this out - sure enough, it's included. I'm curious about Roman Mithraism, and I pull it out - sure enough, there's a useful chapter.

Highly recommended for the student of ancient religions.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good for what it was. Didn't change my world, because I was familiar with a lot of the sources. Also, some were in no way references to the rituals or even mythology of the mystery cults, but, instead, background information on the dieties involved in the mysteries. The unfortunate truth is that the ancient mysteries, no matter what our imagination might do with them, are just that - mysteries. And unless some top-secret vault from the Alexandria Library is discovered, that is the way the will remain. I think a much more helpful practice to understanding the mysteries is understanding the underlying mythology, and then taking modern mysteries - such as Free masonry, Tantric Buddhism, and Manichaeism, and projeting their common attributes onto the ancient ones. Manichaeism is a particularly helpful one, because its mysteries date back to the classical age, but it is still being practiced -and its secrets are pretty well known. Also, the psychology of the mysteries is a helpful thing to understand, and Jung and campbell do a great job elusiating that.

[Lydia Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

My full review of this book is on YouTube where I go into more detail and read some quotes: https://youtu.be/2E0o4enjGGc
In this book Marvin W Meyer has looked into a number of different ancient mystery traditions, and given a little explanation of them and some excerpts of translated original texts.
I wanted to read this book because if you haven’t noticed I’m a little bit obsessed with the fundamental questions of life; Where do we come from? What is life about? What should we be doing with our time here? Where do we go after we die? Things like that really interest and excite me.

I’ve looked into many areas of this, and this book was another area to look into. When I got this book I wasn’t completely sure that it was what I thought it was going to be, and I thought is it just going to be giving me excerpts like an equivalent of the Bible or something and I don’t really understand the symbolism or how to interpret it. But to be fair to Meyer, I think he’s done a pretty good job of trying to give the context of the excerpts with some background and description, so I felt that was done well. I think that the symbolism often isn’t known about, when I’ve looked into some of the things to do with religion, eg. kabbalah, there’s a real difference between the literal stories and the symbolism of what’s in those stories; and I don’t think you really have that in a lot of these mysteries. You can try and guess what they are, so things like corn are going to symbolise life and fertility, abundance and the material world; so you can try but it’s good to have a better teacher to really explain all the symbolism, because I think these things are very symbolic.

So, did the book answer my questions? Well, no, because as Meyer explains those secrets have been really well kept, and researchers don’t really know much of the real detail about what went on. So there’s a lot of trying to find other people talking about these things in different places. A lot of the references are from Christian converts, they’re people who were involved in the mystery traditions, or went through them, and they’ve now converted to Christianity, so they don’t feel the need to keep that secret anymore; but they’re opinion of them is often quite negative, they’re putting the traditions down and saying they’re not a good thing; so, they’re very biased. They’ve also come right at the end of the time of the mystery traditions, so things may have been different then anyway, when you look at religions they do evolve over time.

Some of the things Meyer talks about are the Demeter mysteries, the Dionysus mysteries, the Anatolian mysteries of the great mother and her lover, the Egyptian mysteries of Isis and Osiris, the mysteries of Mithras, and the mysteries within Judaism and Christianity. Meyer has gone through them one at a time and sectioned them out quite well, he also talks about the overlapping parts of the mysteries really well because I think that is something that comes back again and again, that nugget of gold that you’re supposed to get out of them is probably the same in all of them. That is something which is quite reassuring. The things I’ve learnt from looking into different religions and secret societies of today is again mirrored in those ancient mysteries, and it’s really about trying to understand what we’re doing here on Earth, and learning that there’s a lot more going on behind this façade. And trying to understand a bit more of that deeper world and then maybe you can take this world a little less seriously and try to enjoy the experience a bit more. But also take responsibility for that and be a good person because your actions do matter, but maybe not to have the stress and worry about the things which aren’t really real which are going on.

A lot of the aspects that were covered in all the mysteries are aspects of re-birth, our connection to nature, and our connection to our own nature, and connections to other worlds. Within the rituals you would have cleansing rituals; maybe fasting, certain washing etc. Then they’d have special foods, and these foods might have mind altering effects, as well as wine; so that’s going to put people in maybe a more suggestive state or where they’re more connected to their spiritual self, and maybe a more vulnerable state. Then there were things like chanting, and there were dramas either performed or that people participated in, and that’s to really make the experience real, to really feel that people have actually gone through something. I wonder as well if there were a lot of near death experiences in there because there’s a number of them that talk about seeing the light and being reborn.

One thing I was wondering when I was reading it was how many people were actually involved in the mysteries? Was it something that just a small layer of society did, or different layers of society, or people from different origins? He didn’t really explain that, whether certain groups of people were more likely to choose different mysteries. And how many people were really participating in them and were really affected by them, or how many people were just going through the motions, as can happen with religion.

Bits of the book were boring, there were some sections which were just lists of rules and prices that they paid for things, and I did nearly give up at one point because it did get quite boring.
I’m really glad I read this book, I’m really glad that I got through it because I very nearly gave up on it when I was about 20% of the way through because there were some really boring bits; but actually it was good, it made me think a lot, and it was good to read part of those actual texts. I still think there is a lot of symbolism that I don’t know and don’t understand, and I didn’t feel that that was necessarily given in the book.
My full review of this book is on YouTube where I go into more detail and read some quotes: https://youtu.be/2E0o4enjGGc

[Kara Demetropoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating compilation of primary sources concerning ancient mystery religions. Although most of the texts are over a thousand years old, their presentation, both the arrangement and the helpful introductions that precede each text, make them easily digestible. The Mysteries covered include: The Eleusinian Mysteries, the Dionysian rituals, Attis and Cybele, the cults of Mithras, and the rituals involving Isis and Osiris. As each mystery is presented, the author weaves the symbolism and narratives together into a cohesive thread - connecting each ritual to the one preceding it, which makes the reading experience captivating. This an incredible overview, with plenty of jumping-off points to rabbit hole further for the enthusiastic. Finally, the compilation concludes with a brilliant conclusion, which expertly summarizes the key themes linking not only the rituals to one another, but also, with early Christianity.

There are some truly wild accounts presented in this anthology - myths that would adapt to film wonderfully. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and at times, was so captivated I felt I had boarded a time machine bound for the ancient Mediterranean. Best of all, these are all primary sources, with introductions provided for context only. The spirit of the mysteries remains alive and well, as the reader is taken on an enchanting and spell-binding journey, but ultimately left to draw their own conclusions.

[Rose Eleusis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the books for my mysteries class, and while I'm grateful to Meyer for compiling a helpful anthology of primary sources, I couldn't stand his personal Christian bias. The disdain and Christian projection with which he wrote about Mediterranean polytheists was unbelievable. Meyer's book should only be read for the collection of primary sources and as a tool for understanding the intense Christianizing bias of older scholars (like Meyer) who wrote about the mysteries in years past.

[Kjǫlsigʀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A convenient enough collection of some source text English translations, although the author goes out of his way out on a limb arguing for Christianity as a legitimate continuation of legitimate mysteries.

[Maan Kawas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about Ancient mysteries (mystery cults)! I found it so enlightening and informative! I particularly loved the chapter on Demeter and Persephone! I highly recommend it!

[Ella]

Read for REL 237: Gnostic Christianity

[Ashlyn Michot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does what it should — no more, no less. It explores ancient religious practices and beliefs, and clearly explains the context of many (well-translated) ancient texts. I was particularly invested in the chapter on the Eleusinian Mysteries, as it was the topic for my research into the ancient worship of womanhood and the divine feminine. This book was easily the most digestible part of an otherwise overwhelmingly complicated course subject (as taught by the UNC religious studies department).

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not light reading, but if you are curious about such things, this is a good starting point.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Scholarly, yet broad enough for an interested lay audience.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice compilation of material about the ancient mystery religions.

[Robin Boudreaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

essential read