Archaeology Magazine - September 1962 - 59

REVIEWS

MYSAND THEELEUSINIAN
ELEUSIS
TERIES,
by George E. Mylonas. xx,
346 pages, 88 figures. Princeton
University Press, Princeton 1961
$8.50
The site of the mysteries of Dèmeter at Eleusis has long been
known, and much has been written
to explain to the modern scholar
what the ancients intended to keep
from becoming known. Professor
Mylonas has now, in a well written
and well illustrated volume, presented the material remains of the
sanctuary together with a lucid discussion of the cult and of cult objects found at Eleusis. He leads the
reader through a veritable labyrinth
of ruins, stretching over a period of
more than eighteen centuries, from
the construction of the earliest extant cult house of Mycenaean times
to the destruction of the sanctuary
in the Early Christian era. Although
this volume makes no claim to
finality,there is little of significance
that does not receive the author's
full attention. For the first time the
visitor to Eleusis can have at hand
a description and explanation of
every foundation and every wall on
the site. This expositionof the ruins
is followed by a chapter on the artistic treasures, most of which are
housed in the local museum.
The last third of the volume is
devoted to a discussion of the cult
of Eleusis and its mysteries. Here
the author takes a conservative
point of view. The recurrent theme
is a vindication of the claim that
the essence and inner meaning of
the mysteries were never divulged.
One by one he passes in review the
known elementsand representations
in art- the ears of grain, the baptism, the kykeon, the sacred chest,
the torches, the kernos, the basket,
and the rest- and he argues persuasively that these are not to be
construed as manifestations of the
mystic elements in the cult. This
secret was not a manipulation of
some cult object, but something re-

vealed during the celebrations of
the telete (initiation). The Hiera
which were then exhibited to the
initiates were contained in the
sacred chest kept in the Anaktoron,
or Holy of Holies, in the Telesterion; but what they were we cannot
know. He suggests that they may
have been small relics of a bygone
era, handed down from generation
to generation. The nature of the
objectshe does not venture to guess.
Mylonas writes with factual
knowledgeand understanding of his
subject; but more than that, he succeeds in conveying to the reader
something of the awesome sanctity
and religious atmosphereof Eleusis.
Like Pausanias of old, he conducts
his reader to the very portals of
revelation; then, having presented
the known facts together with ancient and modern conjectures, he
leaves him to form his own conclusion. He tells over and over
again what the mysteries were not
and leaves drawn the curtain, well
preserved since antiquity, that hides
from profanation what only the
initiates were permitted to see. It is
a work truly worthy of the author's
lofty and captivating subject.
Oscar Broneer
Ancient Corinth

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and by commercial goods. Up to
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on the archaeological remains of
this region, and the results of excavations and research on this subject were spread over numerous
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knowledge of some periods of European prehistory, since the solution of many a problem is to be
sought preciselyin Brittany. Therefore every European prehistorian
should be grateful to MonsieurGiot
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The period considered extends
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stress is put on the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age, although
the introductory chapters on the
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the final chapter on the Iron Age
also present much of interest. For
the first time this work gives a
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various cultures which followed
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Giot
in
P.
R.
colBRITTANY,
by
the outstanding prehistoric remains
laboration with J. L'Helgouach
of Brittany, the megalithic monuand J. Briard. 272 pages, 68 fig- ments.
The types of megalithic
Frederick
A.
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ures,
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ger, New York I960 (Ancient Peo- brave attempt is made to establish
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their relative chronology and to reDuring a large part of the pre- late them to various cultures. A
historic period- mainly during the chapter is devoted to the worldNeolithic and Bronze Age- Brit- famous Carnac group, another to
tany had a key position in Euro- the "menhirs" and the "alignments."
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pean prehistory, mostly owing to No definitesolution is given
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rope. Here crossed some of the can bring us nearer an acceptable
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and religious ideas, by migrations Bronze Age we must draw attention
203

Archaeology Magazine - September 1962

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - September 1962