The hypothesis on the presence of entheogens in the Eleusinian Mysteries

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Jacopo Bizzotto

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Abstract

Forty years after the issue of the book The Road to Eleusis (1978), the hypothesis formulated by R. G. Wasson, A. Hofmann and C. A. P. Ruck on the possible use of entheogens in the Eleusinian Mysteries is still inducing a lively discussion among scholars, divided between those who accept it enthusiastically and those who reject it without compromises. In this article will be reviewed the different theories of the specialists (both scientists and classicists) regarding the types of drugs taken during the Eleusinian ritual and will be analysed some archaeological artifacts characterized by a specific iconography able to provide a confirmation, although indirect, of the thesis worked out by the three authors.

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