Preface 1. In the Beginning... : Magico-Religious Behavior of the Paleanthropians 2. The Longest Revolution: The Discovery of Agriculture – Mesolithic and Neolithic 3. The Mesopotamian Religions 4. Religious Ideas and Political Crises in Ancient Egy...

Primitive man's discovery of the ability to change matter from one state to another brought about a profound change in spiritual behavior. In "The Forge and the Crucible", Mircea Eliade follows the ritualistic adventures of these ancient societies, a...

In the period domoninated by the triumphs of scientific rationalism, how do we account for the extraordinary success of such occult movements as astrology or the revival of witchcraft? From his perspective as a historian of religions, the eminent sch...