Carl A. P. Ruck

Anthropological evidence has long suggested that psychedelic plants have played important roles in indigenous communities for thousands of years, but most scholarship does not address their formative impact on Western culture. Through careful studies of art and archeology, Mushrooms, Myth Mithras reveals compelling evidence that ritual use of psychedelic mushrooms was a powerful and closely guarded inspirational force in the development of early European culture. We discover that Nero was the first in a long line of Roman emperors to be initiated by secret "magical dinners" in which mind-altering mushrooms were used as a source of spiritual awakening. Although this sect was officially banned after Roman conversion to Christianity, aspects of its practices and teachings went on to influence many subsequent secret societies, including the Freemasons. --Book Jacket.

"Christianity evolved within the context of Judaic and Hellenistic healing cults, magic, shamanism, and Mystery initiations. All four of these inevitably imply a sacred ethnopharmacology, with traditions going back to earlier ages of the ancient world. When the apostle Paul proclaimed the new Christian Mystery to the factious congregation at Corinth, there was no one who would not understand that this Eucharist was meant to replace the pagan Mystery that had been celebrated for over a millennium just a short distance away up the shore at the sanctuary of Eleusis. These essays attempt to uncover the original food of the sacramental communion."--BOOK JACKET.

A course in ancient Greek for beginners. The author writes "This [second edition] has been redesigned both to offer more help to the self-learner and to make the text usable not only as a beginning method but also as a review book for more advanced students ... The material can easily be completed in a one-semester accelerated course meeting five hours per week ..." Ruck uses the "horizontal approach": starting from very simple sentences he gradually introduces more complex structures. Lesson 1 introduces nominal sentences, with nouns and adjectives in the nominative case only and no verb (for instance: ho aner sophos, the man [is] wise). There are many well-thought-out exercises. Lesson 2 introduces simple sentences with a verb and nominative case only; there's a table of thematic and non-thematic verb endings for the present active tense. Lesson 3 introduces the accusative case and the three declensions, accusative case only. And so on. By Lesson 9, out of 23, we are translating a 16-line passage adapted from Apollodorus, and by the end we are translating large chunks of Plato. As someone who had 2 years of Greek at high school, a long time ago, I think it's very good. It explains fundamental principles clearly and logically. It's tough. But the exercises are imaginative and very helpful, and I like the approach.

This book discusses the role played by psychoactive mushrooms in the religious rituals of ancient Greece, Eurasia, and Mesoamerica.