Zalmoxis, the Vanishing God: Comparative Studies in the Religion and Folklore of Dacia and Eastern Europe - Hardcover

Zalmoxis, the Vanishing God: Comparative Studies in the Religions and Folklore of Dacia and Eastern Europe

Hardcover with Dust Jacket. Zustand: GOOD. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Very Good. First Edition. First English Edition, first printing. x, 260pp. Owner's name to title page, light penciling through p. 25, clean and sound otherwise; DJ with some light wear to tips, spine just faintly sunned. A collection of essays on the archaic religion of the authors Romanian homeland; long out of print and scarce in trade. 'Few areas have a more enigmatic-or fas-cinating-religious history than that once called Dacia and Romania orientalia, territories that today comprise Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Macedonia. One of the world's most eminent scholars in the history of religions, Mircea Eliade presents in this volume a series of essays illuminating that history. Of interest to both the specialist and the general reader, Zalmoxis is the only work on its subject available in English. Professor Eliade's study covers such topics as the origins of the ethnic name of the Dacians; the cult of Zalmoxis, mysterious god of the ancient Getae; the folk cosmogonic myth in Romanian folklore; the mythico-ritual meanings of legends concerning the founding of the Moldavian state; and the significance of folk beliefs involving magic and ecstasy, the mandragora, and the gathering of medicinal herbs for religious purposes. Professor Eliade has attempted to decipher the meanings of the few available historical documents dealing with the religious history of this area. Further, since the meaning of a belief or a religious behavior pattern does not become manifest except in the light of comparisons, he has considered the documents against the background of the general history of religions. For each of the author's essays some brief text or tradition is used as a clue to reveal a whole hidden world of religious significance. This, in turn, both illuminates the specific text and, through the imaginative and convincing use of cross-cultural parallels, other texts and traditions as well. The majority of essays ultimately touch upon a major methodological question or the illumination of a basic structure in the history of religions.' (From the DJ flap). Artikel-Nr. 507240

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