Prometheus the god stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on humans. In punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock, where an eagle clawed unceasingly at his liver, until Herakles freed him. For the Greeks, the myth of Prometheus's release reflected a primordial law of existence and the fate of humankind. Carl Kerényi examines the story of Prometheus and the very process of mythmaking as a reflection of the archetypal function and seeks to discover how this primitive tale was invested with a universal fatality, first in the Greek imagination, and then in the Western tradition of Romantic poetry. Kerényi traces the evolving myth from Hesiod and Aeschylus, and in its epic treatment by Goethe and Shelley; he moves on to consider the myth from the perspective of Jungian psychology, as the archetype of human daring signifying the transformation of suffering into the mystery of the sacrifice.

Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence

Kerényi, Karl

Religion & Spirituality

Princeton University Press

The Sanctuary of Eleusis, near Athens, was the center of a religious cult that endured for nearly two thousand years and whose initiates came from all parts of the civilized world. Looking at the tendency to "see visions" C. Kerenyi examines the Mysteries of Eleusis from the standpoint not only of Greek myth but also of human nature. Kerenyi holds that the yearly autumnal "mysteries" were based on the ancient myth of Demeter's search for her ravished daughter Persephone-a search that he equates not only with woman's quest for completion but also with every person's pursuit of identity. As he explores what the content of the mysteries may have been for those who experienced them, he draws on the study of archaeology, objects of art, and religious history, and suggests rich parallels from other mythologies.

Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter

No other god of the Greeks is as widely present in the monuments and nature of Greece and Italy, in the sensuous tradition of antiquity, as Dionysos. In myth and image, in visionary experience and ritual representation, the Greeks possessed a complete expression of indestructible life, the essence of Dionysos. In this work, the noted mythologist and historian of religion Carl Kerényi presents a historical account of the religion of Dionysos from its beginnings in the Minoan culture down to its transition to a cosmic and cosmopolitan religion of late antiquity under the Roman Empire. From the wealth of Greek literary, epigraphic, and monumental traditions, Kerényi constructs a picture of Dionysian worship, always underlining the constitutive element of myth.
 Included in this study are the secret cult scenes of the women's mysteries both within and beyond Attica, the mystic sacrificial rite at Delphi, and the great public Dionysian festivals at Athens. The way in which the Athenian people received and assimilated tragedy in its immanent connection with Dionysos is seen as the greatest miracle in all cultural history. Tragedy and New Comedy are seen as high spiritual forms of the Dionysian religion, and the Dionysian element itself is seen as a chapter in the religious history of Europe.

Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life

Archetypal Images in Greek Religion: 5. Zeus and Hera: Archetypal Image of Father, Husband, and Wife

What did Zeus mean to the Greeks? And who was Hera, united with Zeus historically and archetypally as if they were a human pair? C. Kerenyi fills a gap in our knowledge of the religious history of Europe by responding to these questions. Examining the word Zeus and its Greek synonyms theos and daimon, the author traces the origins of Greek religion in the Minoan-Mycenacan civilization. He shows how Homer's view of the gods decisively shaped the literary and artistic tradition of Greek divine mythology. The emergence of the Olympian family is seen as the expression of a humane Zeus cult determined by the father image but formed within the domain of Hera.
Originally published in 1976.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Karl Kerényi presents here a beautiful, authoritative study of the great god Hermes whom the Greeks revered as Guides of Souls. Chapters on Hermes and Night, Hermes and Eros, and Hermes and the goddesses illuminate the complex role of Hermes in classical mythology, while also providing an archetypal background for the guiding of souls in psychotherapy. A vital contribution both to the study of the classics and the therapy of the soul.

Hermes: Guide of Souls

Religious Studies

Spring Publications

Goddesses of Sun and Moon (Circe/Aphrodite/Medea/Niobe) (Dunquin Series) by Karl Kerenyi

Goddesses of Sun and Moon (Circe/Aphrodite/Medea/Niobe) (Dunquin Series)

Text: English, German (translation)

Apollo: The Wind, the Spirit, and the God : Four Studies (Dunquin Series) (English and German Edition)

UNKNO

Have you ever tried to understand what the psychological method of "discovering and finding, or figuring out" is based on? In Oedipus Variations, James Hillman takes on the Oedipal idea of psychoanlaysis and its father, Freud. He exposes analysis and its myth of the search for identity which is still with us, is still blinding us, is still trying to turn people into Oedipus on both sides of the analytical couch. 
Karl Kerényi explores the variations of the ancient myth, along with its more dramatic versions, from Seneca to T.S. Eliot.

Oedipus Variations (Dunquin Series)

Self-Help

"The gods have become diseases, said C.G. Jung, and the nine chapters of this volume show how major figures of the Greek mythological imagination are still at work in the contemporary psyche. This book is both reliably scholarly and intuitively psychological. It offers the reader ways of finding mythical backgrounds for personal experience. Here we can feel how the gods and goddesses influence symptoms, ideas, attitudes, relationships, and dream imagery"--

Facing the Gods

Hillman, James

STEIN, MURRAY

Miller, David L.

Doty, William G.

Malamud, René

Kirksey, Barbara

Downing, Chris

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kerényi, Karl. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kerényi, Karl

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kerényi, Karl. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence

Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter

Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life

Archetypal Images in Greek Religion: 5. Zeus and Hera: Archetypal Image of Father, Husband, and Wife

Archetypal Images in Greek Religion: 5. Zeus and Hera: Archetypal Image of Father, Husband, and Wife

Hermes: Guide of Souls

Goddesses of Sun and Moon (Circe/Aphrodite/Medea/Niobe) (Dunquin Series)

Apollo: The Wind, the Spirit, and the God : Four Studies (Dunquin Series) (English and German Edition)

Oedipus Variations (Dunquin Series)

Facing the Gods