Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page i The Apples of Apollo Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page ii Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page iii The Apples of Apollo Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist Carl A.P. Ruck Blaise Daniel Staples Clark Heinrich Carolina Academic Press Durham, North Carolina Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page iv Copyright © 2001 Carl A.P. Ruck, Blaise Daniel Staples, and Clark Heinrich All Rights Reserve d Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ruck, Carl A.P. The apples of Apollo : pagan and Christian mysteries of the Eucharist / Carl A.P. Ruck, Blaise D. Staples, Clark Heinrich p. cm . Includes bibliographical ref e r ences (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-89089-924-X 1. Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience. 2. Amanita mu s c a r i a —Religious aspects . 3. Mysteries, Religious. 4. Christianity and other rel i g i o ns. 5. Lord’ s supper—Hi s t o r y of doctr i n e s . I. Staples, Blaise D. (Blaise Daniel), 1948– II. Heinrich, Clark, 19 4 5 – III. Tit l e . BL65.D7 R83 20 0 0 00 - 0 4 0 3 5 1 Ca r olina Academic Pre s s 700 Kent Stree t Du rh a m , No r th Carolina 27701 Tel e p h o ne (919) 489-7486 Fa csimile (919) 493-5668 E-mail: cap@cap-pres s . c o m ww w. c a p - p re s s . c o m Pr i n ted in the United States of America. Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page v Empedocles lived for a hundred-nine years. Ap o l l o d o r os claims to have witnessed in person that he was a shaman, as Empedocles himself relates in his poem, al o ng with other such things as these: “As many drugs as there are you will learn, as remedy for sickness and age—for I will initiate you alone in all of this: You will stop the wind that rushes against the land and wastes the fiel d . Or again, if ever you want, you will summon it back . You will inflic t upon mankind a season of drought after the dark rai n ; so also will you inflic t, after the summer drou g h t , floods that nourish the tree s . And the soul of a man who has died you will lead back up from Hades.” Empedocles was a healer and a gifted speaker. He purified his body with Fire. “Y ou drank Fire from the immortal potion. ” He disappeared, but many cities claimed to have his grav e . Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page vi Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page vii Contents List of Illustrat i on s x Fo re w o r d xi i i Ac k n o w l e d g m e nt s xi v Chapter One Bacchus Amongst Us Carl A.P. Ruck 3 The Green Man 4 Sy m p o s i u m 6 Mo u n tain Revel 8 Cu l t i v a t i n g the Wil d 9 Feast of Flowers 11 Theater of Diony s o s 12 Chapter Two Mistletoe, Centaurs, and Datura Carl A.P. Ruck and Blaise D. Staples 15 Ix i o n 15 Mistletoe 18 Wicker Man 22 Solstice 23 Horsemad 24 Ko r onis 29 Asklepios 29 Da p h n e 30 Th o r n Apple 32 Ce nt a u r y 33 Peirithoos 34 Ka l l i k a n tzari 36 Fugitive Vis i o ns 40 Chapter Three Perseus, the Mushroom Picker Carl A.P. Ruck, Blaise D. Staples and Clark Heinrich 41 Re f o u n d i n g Mycenae 42 vi i Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page viii vi i i Contents Golden Pluck 45 The Shaman of Lake Stymphalos 46 Golden Apples 49 Ro c k r ose 51 Re f o u n d i n g Athens 54 Kibisos 58 The Parap h e r nalia of Perseus 63 The Springs of Pegasos 67 Golden Rain 69 The Honey Drink 71 The Golden Waters 72 Or i o n 74 Bull Hides 77 Be l l o w i n g Bulls 79 Ha z i n g 82 Ho m o nyms 85 Chapter Four Jason, the Drug Man Carl A.P. Ruck, Blaise D. Staples and Clark Heinrich 87 School for Shamans 89 On e - F o o t 92 Talos of Crete 95 Mud-Foot 96 The Chrismation of Iason 98 The Serpent in the Garden 10 2 The Golden Ram of Sacr i fi ce 10 5 The Ship Argo 11 2 The Apples of Apollo 11 4 Golden Fleece 11 8 The Apple of Discord 11 9 The Golden Apples of Atalanta 12 7 Golden Apples and Balls of Fleece 12 8 The Theft of Fire 13 1 Agni and the Fireb i r d 13 5 The Golden Fleece and Alchemy 13 8 Chapter Five Jesus, the Drug Man Carl A.P. Ruck, Blaise D. Staples and Clark Heinrich 14 3 The Jesus from Nazaret h 14 4 Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page ix Contents ix Ap o l l o nios of Tyana 14 8 Gymnosophistai 15 6 Th e r apeutai 15 8 The Burni n g Bush 16 3 Shamans in the Desert 16 6 Eucharist 18 5 Br ead and Wine, Flesh and Blood 19 4 Ang e l ’ s Bread 19 6 Tran s fig u ra t i o n at Gethsemane 20 7 The Holy Grail 21 3 The Isenheim Altarpiece: Matthias Grünewald’s Religious Allegory as ‘Medical’ Explication 21 6 The Abbot’s Herbarium 22 0 Chapter Six Invitation to the Dance: Hanal Pixán and Anthesteria Blaise D. Staples 23 5 Me m e n to Mori 23 5 Sac r ed Walls 24 7 The Phantom Dancer 25 2 Re f e r ences 25 5 Index 26 3 Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page x List of Illustrations 1. Ix i o n bound to his winged wheel, Etruscan mirror , British Mu- seum, Lond o n (not pres e n tly on view); printed as plate xvii in A.B. Cook, Zeus, New York, Bibilo & Tannen, rep r i n t 1964 of original 19 1 4 - 4 0 . 2. Ix i o n, bound to the wheel by Hephaistos, with Zeus, Iris, and an Erinys (or Fury), amphora from Apulia, Hermitage Museum; pr i n ted as figu r e 146 in A.B. Cook, vol. i, p. 146. 3. Ix i o n, burni n g on his wheel, with Hermes, Hephaistos, Erinys, and two Nephelai (?), Campanian amphora from Cumae, Berlin Mu- seum, printed as 840 f no. 3023 in Furtw ä ng l e r , Vassensammlung Berlin ii. 4. Ix i on ’ s flow e r , close-up of Etruscan mirror . 5. Da t u r a stram o nium, drawi n g, rep r i n ted from Ott 1976. 6. Mistletoe, drawi n g, rep r i n ted from Web s t e r ’s Third Inte rn a t i on a l Di ct i on a r y. 7. Eu r opean Bay Lau r el, drawi n g, rep r i n ted from Web s t e r ’s Third In- te rn a t i o nal Dicti on a r y. 8. Th o r n Apple, frui t i n g Datura, drawi n g, rep r i n ted from Web s t e r ’s Th i r d Inte rn a t i o nal Dicti on a r y. 9. Perseus picking mushrooms in the Garden of the Hesperides, am- ph o r a, 3rd quarter of the fourth centu r y BC, Perga m on m u s e u m : Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Anti k e n - S a m m l u n g, inv. no. F. 3022. 10 . Eleusinian Caryatid with Cista Mystica, ca r yatid from the inner Pr opylaea of the Roman period, first centu r y AD, Museum of El e u s i s . 11 . Er i c h t h o nios in the Rockrose Hamper (with lid beside it), Attic red - fig u r e pelike, by the Erichthonios painte r , from Nola, Classical period, Würzb u r g H 4803. x Ruck 0 fmc 11/13/01 1:17 PM Page xi List of Illustrations xi 12 . Perseus with the Gorgo n Head in his Food Sack, Attic red - fig u r e hydria E 181, c. 460 BC, British Museum, Lond on . 13 . So-called ‘Elevation of the Flower,’ Louvre Museum, Paris, no. 701, from Pharsalia, north e r n Gree c e . 14 . Pu r i fic a t i o n of Heracles, Lovatelli Urn, Palazzo Spagna, Rome (not on view). 15 . Pu r i fic a t i o n of Heracles, Tor re Nova Sarcophagus, Museo Naziona l e Romano, Rome. Photograph courtesy DAI, Rome. 16 . The Shield of Perseus as Tran s m u t a t i o n of the Gorgo n Head, Apu- lian red - fig u r e pelike, Museo Nazionale, Tara nt o .