This novel is long and is hard work, but is worth it. Mircea Eliade brought his huge knowledge of comparative religion and folklore, combining it with recent Romanian history -- the "Ruritanian" interwar period, and the darker and grim rise of the Iron Guard, the Royal Dictatorship of King Carol II, and the forced return of parts of the country to Hungary and the USSR.

Despite this background, the magic of the woods outside Bucharest, the traditions surrounding Midsummer Eve, and the hedonistic lifestyle of the main character provide a heady mix.

This is an enchanting and intoxicating novel, a mixture of the ancient and modern, the timeless and the mundane.

Mircea Eliade could be reasonably considered as one of the Re-founding Fathers of modern study of religion. His History of Religious Ideas is thus one of the corner stones of modern research in this field. This particular part of his history is as well written as the others. It deals very well with most of the improtant currents in mediaeval Christianity, including the spread of Christianity to Slav tribes, the Cluny rerform, the religious life associated with the rise of mendicant orders, Meister Eckhart, devotio moderna but he does not forget about the rise of neopaganism in Renaissance Italy, about the role of alchemy in religious feeling of the sixteenth century, he even ventures to say that modern physics was created almost unintentionally. This book is truly amazing.

There are also some down sides to the book. One, it cannot be taken as the "state-of-the-art" of religous study. Eliade has been surpassed by new research in the field. It is therefore better to use the book as a general background. Second, it has been shown that Eliade unfortunately developed the habit of sometimes stretching the truth to fit his analysis. He did not use this questionable method to such an extent as to render his whole analysis worthless but it does cast a shadow on his academic honesty.

BTW, I do not feel qualified to comment on his treatment of religious phenomena outside the Judeo-Christian cultural sphere.

I am writing on a paper on satanism in Norway(therefore badly written english). This essyes from good old Mirca, is a good phenomenological point of wiew. I think he sets things into context, but for my case it is a bit old. If you want a general introduction from the phenomenlogical school in the occult tradiction you migth as well staert with this book.

I read this book on a beach in southern France in the summer of 1984. It sparked many years of subsequent reading

this book is road inside romanien folklore and beliefs. if you love history and religion of eastern nations its worth for you.

There is certainly a need for a book that covers the subject of Italian religion while excluding Greek mythology to the greatest extent possible. Unfortunately, the English version of Georges Dumézil's work has drawbacks that cause it to deserve a 'pass.' A good editor could trim Dumézil's two volumes down to one, and greatly improve the text by correcting the bad English and translating the Latin quotes. Until that is done, it would be better to buy a different book.

A great deal of the text, especially the 134 pages of the "Preliminary Remarks" is consumed by Dumézil's denigration of other scholars' work. Some of his put-downs may have been deserved. But the book was published in 1966 and there is no point today reading slams of books published early in the last century. The only entertainment in this tedium is to make a game of discovering how many of the same sins which Dumézil decries that Dumézil commits.

The text is very long: two volumes totaling almost 700 pages. The text is sparse on substance, with a fair amount of repetition. No author has much material to go on in the subject of Roman religion once the Greek influence is weeded out, granted. That suggests that a shorter text is in order.

About three-quarters of the quotes of the Roman texts are given in Latin without translation. This may have been excusable for readers of the original French edition, who may have been able to guess their way through the text, but it certainly not tolerable for English readers. To add insult to injury, much of the untranslated Latin is an archaic form, not to be found in modest sized Latin-English dictionaries. Sometimes the quality of the English is poor. Either the translator Philip Krapp, or the author Dumézil (who revised Krapp's translation), seems to have naïvely tried to use English words which more closely resemble the original French, but are plainly wrong.

Dumézil's great contribution to the study of mythology appears to have been to compare early European religions to the Indian Vedas. In the more than 30 years since this book was published, most mythographers have learned to do the same. Dumézil unfortunately has also focused on the "Three Functions" theory, and tries to shoe-horn Roman religion into that mold; the theory works very well for the first two functions (magic+government, and defense+conquest) but seems to fail in the third function (nourishment+fertility+prosperity). The idea that ancient peoples recognized only three distinct functions in their society and religion was overused when it was first proposed. A writer today would do better to use the idea sparingly, or to conform the idea to the beliefs and practices of the Romans instead of conforming Roman beliefs to this modern notion.

There is certainly a need, still, for a book that covers Italian religion while excluding Greek mythology to the greatest extent possible. Unfortunately, the English version of Georges Dumézil's work has drawbacks that cause it to deserve a 'pass.' A good editor could trim Dumézil's two (paperback) volumes down to one by removing his comments on the merits of other authors, and greatly improve the text by correcting the bad English and translating the Latin quotes. Until that is done, it would be more rewarding to read a different book.

A great deal of "Archaic Roman Religion," especially the 134 pages of the "Preliminary Remarks" section, is wasted by Dumézil's tedious denigrations of other scholars' works. Some of his put-downs may have been deserved, but Dumézil published in 1966. There is no point spending time today reading slams of books published early in the 1900s, or late 1800s. The only relief is to make a game of counting how many of the same sins which Dumézil decries that Dumézil commits, and how often.

The text is very long: almost 700 pages, but it is sparse on substance, with a fair amount of repetition. There is not much material to go on in the subject of Roman religion once the Greek influence is weeded out. Dumézil brings that point home well and often. But that suggests that a shorter book is in order.

About three-quarters of the quotes of the Roman writers are given in Latin without translation. This may have been excusable for readers of the original French edition, who may have been better able to guess their way through the Latin. It certainly not good enough for English readers; Latin is rarely taught in schools in English-speaking countries. Aggravating the difficulty, some of the untranslated Latin words are archaic forms which will not be found in small Latin-English dictionaries.

The quality of the English translation is poor sometimes, unlike most of the book which is written clearly, if pedantically. It seems as if either the translator Philip Krapp, or the author Dumézil (who revised Krapp's translation), naïvely tried to use English words which more closely resemble the original French. The choice of words in these few cases is startlingly awkward.

One of Dumézil's lasting contribution to the study of mythology is a detailed comparison of many early European religions to the Indian Vedas; greatly to his credit this is nolonger rare. In the more than 30 years since Dumézil published, most other authors have learned to do the same.

In "Archaic Roman Religion" Dumézil unfortunately has focused rather too much on "Three Functions" theory, and tries to shoe-horn Roman religion into that mold. He applies the theory convincingly to the first two functions (magic + government, and protection + conquest) but seems to fail with the third function (nourishment + fertility + prosperity). This idea that ancient peoples recognized exactly and only three distinct parts in their society and religion was probably overused by Dumézil, who wrote when it was newly gaining fashion. An equally astute mythographer would use the Three Functions theory more sparingly today. Or would conform the number of social divisions or functions to the beliefs and practices of the Romans' religion instead of conforming Roman beliefs to this modern notion.

... The beauty of the style, the fascinating glimpses of worlds beyond - the Vedic, Teutonic, Celtic and other data deployed casually and yet much to the point, the intellectual penetration and the ability to see common threads in different things and differences in similar things - riveted my interest for ever on the history of culture.

It is true that the English version does the style of the original no favours - one must remember that the anthropologist Levy-Strauss, a man well able to judge, compared Dumezil's style to that of Voltaire: probably the highest compliment a French writer can pay to another. However, the whole is still eminently readable.

It demands, however, a certain kind of reader: one who does not mind being challenged, who does not mind being introduced to unknown and obscure facts, who has no need to be cradled in his or her own convinctions, and who does not mind a certain kind of pugnacity. For there is no doubt that Dumezil, this courtly old French gentleman with exquisite olde-worlde manners, who charmed almost everyone who came into contact with him - including myself - was a fighter. His presence in the academic world was a solitary and battling one; he once wrote to me that he utterly refused to become a "chef d'ecole" and form his own academic party (this is perhaps the reason why latter-day Dumezilians are numerically rather scarce and academically not too impressive). Certainly the bites he takes out of scholars with opposing views are merciless; but one has to say that he always fought fair and face to face, that he rarely attacked anyone who had not attacked him first (comparative Indo-European studies are still today a rather contentious field) and that he never would have considered sinking to the level of the famous historian who once organized a congress "about" Dumezil's own work, or rather against it, without so much as letting Dumezil or any of his friends know about it. Now that is indeed base.

Be that as it may, this book is a classic that will last as long as the work of Mommsen, or Tocqueville, or Gibbon. As an introduction to archaic Roman religion, as a systematic textbook, it may perhaps disappoint, since it neither covers all the main points systematically nor leaves out matters that interest the author but that are not, of themselves, equally important. But as an inspiration to further research, as an introduction to the idea that history is not a collection of data but an intellectual adventure, as an intellectual adventure in itself, it is magnificent. Twenty years after reading it for the first time, I went back to it, having, in the meantime, read, written and published myself about archaic Roman religion; and, guess what? Not only was the book as fresh as new, but I immediately found a whole series of new ideas and areas to develop, waiting for me to be ready to recognize them.

Mircea Eliade, the former professor from the University of Chicago, who was well known for his research on Shamanism, selected some of the basic sources from various traditions to present a solid introduction into the world's sacred writings. The book is not meant to be exhaustive, nor does it include any commentary by the great scholar - rather it is a resource of texts to enable research, study or simply the casual reading of these non-Western traditions. Eliade initially compiled this work to be used in his classes. A good source for students of philosophy and anthropology.

Rather than a well written and enlightened book about the world's religions, this book is excrutiatingly difficult read. It is more like a graduate student's thesis with references interrupting the flow of every other sentence. I found this book very disappointing in style, organization, and with too much information about religions that don't exist anymore. The content is there, but it is too difficult to dissect..... Find another guide that will help you understand the similarities/diffences in the world's religions. This one doesn't cut it.

The title of this book, "The Harpercollins Concise Guide to World Religions," seems to be a bit of a misnomer. While it is great as a concise historical reference, it says almost nothing about the teachings of each religion. For example, the section on Christianity gives a splended account of the historical devopement of various denominations and factions, but it doesn't tell us what the Ten Commandments are, or what a Christian beileves he or she must do to get to heaven. In other words, religious values and morals are not discussed in this book to any meaningful extent, which dissapointed me quite a bit. Various conceptions of a particular divine being might be described, but we are left to wonder how a believer might apply a particular conception to their daily life. To me, this book seems to "miss the point." The fact that one of the authors lauds the book's successes in its introduction really makes one wonder. Having said that, however, I would like to repeat that this book is valuable as a quick historical reference.

This book is very detailed and 'concise'. The two readers who have reviewed it looked at it as a religious book, when really it is a brilliant historical account of the basic religions of the world. And looked at from that perspective, it deserves 5 stars, because you can never detect any biasedness while reading it. You can't tell what religion the writers belong to, which gives this book a distance which is necessary when studying one of the greatest emotional tools of the world: religion.