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SFAMENI GASPARRO, Giulia, Misteri e culti mistici di Demetra. 'L'erma' di Bretschneider, Roma, 1986. 371p. Paperback. Small stamp on back cover. Pages a bit yellowed. Series: Storia delle Religioni, 3. 'This book does not set out to answer the obvious question about Mysteries, Eleusinian or other: 'what happened?' That question can never be answered (...): we can never really know what they signified for the mystai. The author of the present study is evidently aware of the problem and prefers to tackle the subject from a more oblique angle. Discussion of the ritual is secondary to the treatment of the whole phenomenon, the environment of mysteries and related cults (...). What does emerge is a detailed and in the main convincing interpretation of the main currents of thought present in the myths and rituals of these cult complexes. (...) Much of the work's value in fact lies in the detailed treatment of the various groups of Demeter cults, and especially perhaps their related myths. (...) Most importantly (...) the dynamics of the central myth are reappraised with the emphasis G. puts on the grief and withdrawal of Demeter, paralleling the absence of Kore herself. Both figures move between presence and absence. (...) The two Goddesses are linked by a sort of sympathy of experience. Such sympathy extends in some measure to the worshipper as well, for instance in the Athenian Thesmophoria, where it is fairly clear that the fasting on the second day was understood as an imitation of Demeter's fast. (...) G. makes a strong case for the importance of this sympathy, seeing one of the most significant features of the 'mystical' Demeter cults as the closeness, based on experience, which they evoke between human and divine. This conclusion presupposes an intimate connexion between myth and ritual (...). A study which combines accuracy and precision with significant insights into an important topic.' (EMILY KEARNS in The classical Review (New Series), pp.61-62). € 120.00 (Antiquarian) ISBN: 9788870625929