Sound Bite
This is the first work to trace the origins of religion to the "Agricultural Revolution."
It does so by identifying the enigmatic psychoactive drugs employed by the Indo-European religion. Through the ancient Vedic literature, the archaeological record, and through chemistry, this work identifies the ingredients and the method of preparation employed to produce the Soma of the Rig-Veda, Haoma, and the Kykeon.
About the Author
William Scott Shelley is a highly respected scholar in the fields of botany and classical scientific literature. His previous books include The Elixir: An Alchemical Study of the Ergot Mushrooms and The Origins of the Europeans: Classical Observations in Culture and Personality, a study of tribal origins in European history and their continuing role in the shaping of Europe from earliest times to the rise of the nation-state, and Science, Alchemy and the Great Plague of London (Algora, 2017).
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About the Book
A contribution to both the history of science and the history of religion, Soma shows that the dawn of civilization was the product of the cultivation of cereals which enabled early man to exchange a nomadic life of hunting and gathering for a...
A contribution to both the history of science and the history of religion, Soma shows that the dawn of civilization was the product of the cultivation of cereals which enabled early man to exchange a nomadic life of hunting and gathering for a sedentary one, giving rise to settlements that would eventually become city-states and nations. The work reveals that this civilizing revolution was not only the origins of science, but also the origins of religion. The author presents literary evidence from the Vedas, Brahmanas, and Vedic ritual texts to identify the source of the ritual sacrament called Soma (or Madhu, "Mead"), and he describes the chemical processes that rendered it non-toxic. In addition, he shows that the ancient literature of the Greeks and the chemistry indicate a similar method was employed to produce the hallucinogenic kykeon of the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries, the center of Greek civilization.
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Pages 234
Year: 2018
LC Classification: Indo-Europeans--Religion. | Grain--Religious aspects
Dewey code: 299/.1--dc23
BISAC: HIS002000 HISTORY / Ancient / General
BISAC: SCI013000 SCIENCE / Chemistry / General
Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-351-1
Price: USD 22.95
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-352-8
Price: USD 32.95
eBook
ISBN: 978-1-62894-353-5
Price: USD 22.95
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