Sources

The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/the-road-to-eleusis-unveiling-the-secret-of-the-mysteries.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/the-road-to-eleusis-unveiling-the-secret-of-the-mysteries

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-the-road-to-eleusis-unveiling-the-secret,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/the-road-to-eleusis-unveiling-the-secret-of-the-mysteries},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

R. Gordon Wasson was an ethnomycologist, Albert Hofmann the chemist who first synthesized LSD, and Carl A. P. Ruck a classicist, and this book is their own joint hypothesis that the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries' sacred kykeon drink contained a psychoactive substance derived from ergot fungus. As a primary statement of a theory its own authors devised and argued for, rather than an independently established finding, the atlas holds it at the tier appropriate to that kind of source, since the specific botanical and chemical identification the book proposes has not been confirmed by physical evidence from Eleusis itself and remains contested among classicists. Its value is as the clearest primary statement of an influential and still debated theory, in its originators' own words, not as settled fact about what the kykeon actually contained.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Wasson, Hofmann and Ruck's 1978 proposal that the Eleusinian kykeon drink contained an ergot derived psychoactive component; influential outside classical studies but not generally accepted within the field, since it rests on inference rather than direct evidence, which is why it sits at this tier.

Notes

1978. Proposes an ergot-derived psychoactive component in the kykeon. Influential outside classics and not generally accepted within it; rests on inference rather than on direct evidence.

Citation

Author

R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann and Carl A. P. Ruck

Publisher

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Publication Year

1978

URL

https://archive.org/details/roadtoeleusisunv0000wass

Source Type

reference

Claims Backed By This Source (63 claims)

This source backs 63 claims across the atlas. As facts: 36 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate, 2 open question. As cited relationships: 5 holds, 7 connected. Plus 10 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Open Questions, 31 claims: 21 well-attested, 7 connected, 3 general references.
Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
Plants, 6 claims: 1 open question, 4 holds, 1 general references.
Studies, 5 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 open question, 1 general references.
Historical Figures, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 general references.
Religions, 3 claims: 1 scholarly debate, 1 holds, 1 general references.
Sacred Objects & Ritual Items, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 general references.
Articles, 2 claims: 2 well-attested.
Doctrines, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Hymns & Liturgical Texts, 1 claims: 1 general references.