Try free for 30 days
-
The Eleusinian Mysteries
- The History of Ancient Greece's Most Famous Religious Rites
- Narrated by: Kenneth Ray
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $9.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also picked
-
The Road to Eleusis
- Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries
- By: R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann
- Narrated by: David Bendena
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The secretive Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for nearly two millennia have long puzzled scholars with strange accounts of initiates experiencing otherworldly journeys. In this groundbreaking work, three experts - a mycologist, a chemist, and a historian - argue persuasively that the sacred potion given to participants in the course of the ritual contained a psychoactive entheogen. The authors then expand the discussion to show that natural psychedelic agents have been used in spiritual rituals across history and cultures.
-
-
Great book, unfortunate narration.
- By Brendan Moore on 05-05-2022
-
The Battle of Fort Henry: The History of General Ulysses S. Grant’s Victory that Captured the Tennessee River for the Union
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Scott Clem
- Length: 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While the Lincoln Administration and most Northerners were preoccupied with trying to capture Richmond in the summer of 1861, it would be the little known Ulysses S. Grant who delivered the Union’s first major victories, over a thousand miles away from Washington. Grant’s new commission led to his command of the District of Southeast Missouri, headquartered at Cairo, after he was appointed by “The Pathfinder”, John C. Fremont, a national celebrity who had run for president in 1856.
-
The Closing of the Western Mind
- The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
- By: Charles Freeman
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant, and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine.
-
The Rosicrucians
- The History of One of the World's Most Notorious Secret Societies
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Jim D Johnston
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To many, the quest to obtain the secrets and truths of the universe is one nearly impossible to complete. More importantly, this broad topic comes with an unending assortment of answers. For some, the secret to life is success. To others, it is conquering one's innermost fears. While there are those who simply do not care enough to venture an answer, there are also those who believe they, and they alone, knew the real meaning behind life.
-
From Ritual to Romance
- Foreign Language Sections Translated and With a New Foreword (Annotated)
- By: Jessie L. Weston
- Narrated by: Deedee Ash
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In From Ritual to Romance, medievalist Jessie L. Weston proposes a radical understanding of the Holy Grail legends. She argues that ancient pagan rituals, brought to England by the Romans, were secretly kept alive through the tales of King Arthur and his Knights.
-
Ancient Carthage
- An Enthralling Guide to the Phoenicians and Carthaginian Civilization (Civilizations)
- By: Billy Wellman
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do we really know about ancient Carthage? Most of what has been written about this once-great empire is based on Roman and Greek writings that are biased against the Carthaginians. Now, thanks to careful scholarly work and amazing archaeological discoveries, the real Carthage can finally be revealed.
-
The Road to Eleusis
- Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries
- By: R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann
- Narrated by: David Bendena
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The secretive Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for nearly two millennia have long puzzled scholars with strange accounts of initiates experiencing otherworldly journeys. In this groundbreaking work, three experts - a mycologist, a chemist, and a historian - argue persuasively that the sacred potion given to participants in the course of the ritual contained a psychoactive entheogen. The authors then expand the discussion to show that natural psychedelic agents have been used in spiritual rituals across history and cultures.
-
-
Great book, unfortunate narration.
- By Brendan Moore on 05-05-2022
-
The Battle of Fort Henry: The History of General Ulysses S. Grant’s Victory that Captured the Tennessee River for the Union
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Scott Clem
- Length: 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While the Lincoln Administration and most Northerners were preoccupied with trying to capture Richmond in the summer of 1861, it would be the little known Ulysses S. Grant who delivered the Union’s first major victories, over a thousand miles away from Washington. Grant’s new commission led to his command of the District of Southeast Missouri, headquartered at Cairo, after he was appointed by “The Pathfinder”, John C. Fremont, a national celebrity who had run for president in 1856.
-
The Closing of the Western Mind
- The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
- By: Charles Freeman
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant, and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine.
-
The Rosicrucians
- The History of One of the World's Most Notorious Secret Societies
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Jim D Johnston
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To many, the quest to obtain the secrets and truths of the universe is one nearly impossible to complete. More importantly, this broad topic comes with an unending assortment of answers. For some, the secret to life is success. To others, it is conquering one's innermost fears. While there are those who simply do not care enough to venture an answer, there are also those who believe they, and they alone, knew the real meaning behind life.
-
From Ritual to Romance
- Foreign Language Sections Translated and With a New Foreword (Annotated)
- By: Jessie L. Weston
- Narrated by: Deedee Ash
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In From Ritual to Romance, medievalist Jessie L. Weston proposes a radical understanding of the Holy Grail legends. She argues that ancient pagan rituals, brought to England by the Romans, were secretly kept alive through the tales of King Arthur and his Knights.
-
Ancient Carthage
- An Enthralling Guide to the Phoenicians and Carthaginian Civilization (Civilizations)
- By: Billy Wellman
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do we really know about ancient Carthage? Most of what has been written about this once-great empire is based on Roman and Greek writings that are biased against the Carthaginians. Now, thanks to careful scholarly work and amazing archaeological discoveries, the real Carthage can finally be revealed.
Publisher's Summary
Ancient Greece and its mythology has fascinated people for thousands of years, and few elements have intrigued people quite like the Eleusinian Mysteries, which the Greeks believed transformed the initiates and gave them knowledge that eased both the living of life on earth and allayed fears of death, allowing an acceptance of their ultimate fate. The influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries was also far-reaching; for example, the Telesterion is reminiscent of the labyrinthine, symbolic structures that can be found all over pre-historic Europe, ranging from those in Ireland to Malta and Crete to the Shetlands. The larger precinct of Eleusis, combining as it did caves, terraces and buildings carved into the rock again, all echo that ancient past. The external journey of the initiate is mirrored in his internal journey, and what can be seen is that the spiritual torch of classical Greece, as exemplified in these rites, hides the much older worship of deities. It was the spirit of those older gods and goddesses that ultimately pervaded Eleusis.
However, it would be unwise to see the Eleusinian Mysteries as something separate from the other aspects of the Greek belief system, or even worse, seeing them as somehow more spiritual than the others. The fact that a considerable element of the Eleusinian Mysteries suggests a tendency towards spiritual monotheism has led to many false conclusions about their nature. They were not a unique phenomenon in Greek religious tradition, and the concepts of secrecy and revelation of mysteries only to initiates had parallels in the cults of Dionysius and Cybele. Similarly, the mystical dimensions of the rites, with their emphasis on a personal encounter with the deity, can be found in other cultic activities.
Nonetheless, for the ancient Greeks the vital issue was that only through the Mysteries could they escape the miserable eternal fate ascribed for them if they were not initiated. Sophocles summed it up neatly, declaring, "Oh thrice blessed the mortals who having completed the Mysteries have descended to the underworld for those only will there be a future life of happiness, for the others there will find nothing but suffering."
The rites comprising the Eleusinian Mysteries formed a Panhellenic event that attracted visitors from all over the Greek world, including Sicily and Cyrene. Ultimately, anyone who spoke Greek, male, female, free or slave, could present themselves as a candidate for initiation, provided that they were free of any sacrilege or untainted by a heinous crime such as murder. The Mysteries became the most sacred of the mystical celebrations that took place in Greece, and today the rites and rituals that made up what was a huge event are still the subject of academic controversy and religious debate.
What makes the Eleusinian Mysteries so important for people studying ancient Greece is that they survived for hundreds of years, well into the Christian era. They celebrated Demeter, a hugely important figure in Greece (particularly in both Athenian and Roman worship), and the whole festival was celebrated by the state with pomp. Most of all, however, the aura of mystery that has surrounded the famous rites, and the lack of absolutely incontrovertible information about what exactly went on in some of the most secret parts of the rites, has ensured that they have remained enigmatic and have thus continued to be intriguing throughout history.