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Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World
The ancient Mysteries have long attracted the interest of scholars, an interest that goes back at least to the time of the Reformation. After a period of interest around the turn of the twentieth century, recent decades have seen an important study of Walter Burkert (1987). Yet his thematic approach makes it hard to see how the actual initiation into the Mysteries took place. To do precisely that is the aim of this book.
It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity.
Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.
It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity.
Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.
275 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 28, 2014
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About the author
Jan N. Bremmer
43 books22 followersProf. em. Dr. Jan Nicolaas Bremmer (Ph.D., Free University Amsterdam, 1979) is Professor emeritus for Religious Studies in the Faculty for Religious Studies and Theology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, where he twice held the post of Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 12, 2021
This is a really excellent, scholarly analysis of the current best thinking on mystery cults in the Greco-Roman milieu. Bremmer is cautious in his speculations but lively in his judgments. He is not afraid to say "we don't know more than this" in giving reconstructions of the initiatory practices of a wide variety of cults, including Eleusinian, Samothracian, Orphic-Bacchic, Dionysiac, Mithraic, and Isian.
One of his great strengths is showing how local practice varied so widely, and teasing out the difference between cults of fixed place like Eleusis and the later itinerant practices of Orphic movements. In later chapters, Bremmer explores the evidence for cross-fertilization between early Christianity and the mystery cults active in the Empire. His conclusions are a sobering brake on many of the overheated syncretic claims of late-19th-century scholarship and its long hangover, while also teasing out some fertile connections.
I really savored his facility with textual analysis: from a single word, Bremmer can often trace a dense web of allusion that is largely occluded from our view here at this end of history. It's an exciting, playful, and deeply nerdy kind of scholarship, and it's a great joy to read even as an outsider. This text is generally pretty friendly to the dilettante, but note that Bremmer does not hesitate to use German terms and quotations without translation, along with the occasional passage in Latin. All Greek terms and most Latin terms are given English translations and exegeses. This is one of the better books on the mysteries I've found, even if some esotericists or modern pagans may find its conclusions a tad deflating. Highly recommended.
One of his great strengths is showing how local practice varied so widely, and teasing out the difference between cults of fixed place like Eleusis and the later itinerant practices of Orphic movements. In later chapters, Bremmer explores the evidence for cross-fertilization between early Christianity and the mystery cults active in the Empire. His conclusions are a sobering brake on many of the overheated syncretic claims of late-19th-century scholarship and its long hangover, while also teasing out some fertile connections.
I really savored his facility with textual analysis: from a single word, Bremmer can often trace a dense web of allusion that is largely occluded from our view here at this end of history. It's an exciting, playful, and deeply nerdy kind of scholarship, and it's a great joy to read even as an outsider. This text is generally pretty friendly to the dilettante, but note that Bremmer does not hesitate to use German terms and quotations without translation, along with the occasional passage in Latin. All Greek terms and most Latin terms are given English translations and exegeses. This is one of the better books on the mysteries I've found, even if some esotericists or modern pagans may find its conclusions a tad deflating. Highly recommended.
May 31, 2023
This monograph was a fantastic introduction to all the mystery cults of the ancient world. The mysteries are notoriously difficult to reconstruct due to a lack of writings about the specifics of initiation rituals. However, Bremmer discusses what we can know about the mystery cults. Furthermore, Bremmer also closes out the book by discussing whether or not the Mysteries had an influence on Christianity. He discusses the history of this question, both in antiquity and in modern scholarship. He concludes that it is actually the reverse—Christianity actually influences the mysteries more than the mysteries influenced Christianity, especially with respect to resurrection motifs.
Above all, Bremmer is an excellent and entertaining writer. He lets his own personality come through in his writing, which makes it far more entertaining to read, and thus makes the content more memorable. He does not shy away from jabs at contemporary religion in analogies. For example, when discussing Alexander of Abonuteichos' sensational mystery cult, Bremmer writes"Womanising is not alien to religious entrepreneurs, as many an American fundamentalist television preacher has shown." (p. 155)
Another example of Bremmer's use of tasteful humor occurs when he discusses the Reformation philologist Casaubon, "Lake many of my readers, Casaubon was a workaholic, although perhaps fewer of them will note in their diaries: 'I rose at five: alas, how late!'" (p. 146)
Above all, Bremmer is an excellent and entertaining writer. He lets his own personality come through in his writing, which makes it far more entertaining to read, and thus makes the content more memorable. He does not shy away from jabs at contemporary religion in analogies. For example, when discussing Alexander of Abonuteichos' sensational mystery cult, Bremmer writes"Womanising is not alien to religious entrepreneurs, as many an American fundamentalist television preacher has shown." (p. 155)
Another example of Bremmer's use of tasteful humor occurs when he discusses the Reformation philologist Casaubon, "Lake many of my readers, Casaubon was a workaholic, although perhaps fewer of them will note in their diaries: 'I rose at five: alas, how late!'" (p. 146)
November 12, 2023
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 Mystery Cults of the Ancient World by Hugh Bowden and Romanising Oriental Gods 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.
November 4, 2018
Extremely scholarly, and not sure I'd even want to understand much of the detail. Even a superficial read is good, however, for hints on the latest studies/views regarding the Mysteries. Lots of interesting nuggets of information. My main interest was connections between the mystery cults and Christianity, and Chapter V covers that issue in detail. The scholarly consensus in the 21st century seems to be that there is zero evidence of any specific links—although there is a broad family resemblance in that all the major mysteries had concerns with underworld (chthonic) deities, journeys to the underworld, resurrections of dead gods, navigation of the afterlife etc. Definitely whetted my appetite for more knowledge of Dionysus and Orphism.
June 11, 2022
Academic Look At The Mysteries
A well researched and well written book exploring the history of the mysteries, their relationship to each other, to Eastern Mediterranean culture and Christianity over a nearly 1,000 year period. If you don’t like reading academic works, you’ll probably find this too dry. If you are looking for a good academic paper, you’ll get it here.
A well researched and well written book exploring the history of the mysteries, their relationship to each other, to Eastern Mediterranean culture and Christianity over a nearly 1,000 year period. If you don’t like reading academic works, you’ll probably find this too dry. If you are looking for a good academic paper, you’ll get it here.
December 30, 2025
I also read this for my mysteries class and it was probably the most helpful. I love Bremmer's approach of describing the events of the mysteries in as much detail as possible with minimal interpretation. I feel like it avoids bias.
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December 4, 2019Read for REL 237: Gnostic Christianity.
December 29, 2022
Kind of dry. It's definitely just info, no real story.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews