Hellenistic Religions: An Introduction

Abbreviations Of Classical Sources Cited -- Introduction -- The Hellenistic Age -- The Hellenistic World -- Religion In The Hellenistic World -- Syncretism Or System -- Piety, Mystery, Gnosis -- 1. The Golden Ass In A Labryrinthian World -- The Fictive World Of Apuleius -- The Cosmic World Of Apuleius -- The Mythic World Of Apuleius -- Fortune -- Wandering -- Salvation -- The Social World Of Apuleius -- Home -- Magic -- The World Of Lucius -- 2. Hellenistic Piety -- Traditional Piety -- Hellenistic Philosophy And The Rational Order Of Things -- Philosophy In The Hellenistic World -- The Epicureans -- The Stoics -- Philosophy And Piety -- Divination And The Cosmic Order Of Things -- Artificial Divination -- Astrology -- Alchemy -- Natural Divination -- The Delphic Oracle -- Dreaming -- Asclepius And Healing -- Specialization And Senility 3. The Mysteries And The Sovereignty Of The Feminine -- Mystery Deities -- The Mysteries -- The Eleusinian Mysteries -- The Myth Of Demeter -- The Rights Of Demeter -- The Mystery Initiation -- Eleusis And Athens -- The Mysteries Of Isis -- The Myth Of Isis And Osiris -- The Rites Of Isis -- The Mysteries Of Isis -- The Universal Goddess -- The Syrian Goddess -- The Great Mother Of The Gods 4. Reformation And Innovations -- Reformations -- Dionysus -- The Myth Of Dionysus -- The Mysteries Of Dionysus -- The Orgies Of The Roman Bacchanalia -- Orpheus -- The Orphic Myth Of Dionysus -- Orphic Mysteries -- Judaism -- Hellenistic Judaism -- Yahweh And The Feminine -- Innovations -- Alexander Of Abonoteichus -- Mithraism -- The Origin Of Mithraism -- The Myth Of Mithras -- Mithraic Initiation -- Mithraic Initiation -- Christianity -- They Christ Myth -- Appeal And Reaction -- 5. Late Hellenistic Gnosis -- Cosmic Revaluation -- Gnosticism -- Christian And Non-christian Gnosis -- Gnostic Seeking -- Gnostic Cult -- Manichaeism -- The Hermetic Tradition -- The Patria Luther H. Martin. Includes Bibliographies And Index.