About the Book by Thomas Taylor »The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries: A Dissertation«

Abstract: This is an article from my course, «The Golden Age of Philosophy and Thought: A History of Archaic Philosophy and Wisdom of the Old World», which is about the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries «based on the aforementioned book by Thomas Taylor». In this class I will present a critical exposition and analysis of the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries according to Mr Taylor, although beforehand I will say that I generally agree with him with his very platonic reconstruction of the said Ancient Hellenic Mysteries. This topic is fundamental to be discussed because the Philosophy of the Preplatonic Philosophers is to a great extent indebted to Orpheus, the Prophet-Poet-Musician that many «most of them» Ancient Greek authors would later have said to have lived in remote epochs of the Antiquity, although, for instance, Aristotélês says he never existed.