Shrouded in mystery, secret societies were part of the religious traditions of the Greek and Roman world, offering a door to the afterlife to their initiates. Classicist Frederick Winter goes behind several of these cults, focusing on their origins, rites, beliefs, and followers.

Among them are the “mystery cult” of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis near Athens, which persisted from Greek prehistory until 392 A.D.; the cult of the Great Gods at Samothrace; and the cult of Isis, which the Greeks and Roman imported from Egypt following that country’s conquest by Alexander the Great. Winter also includes a consideration of early Christianity, a suppressed religion that reflected elements drawn from its secret, pagan predecessors.

Winter is an archeologist and former professor of classics at the City University of New York who has conducted extensive field research in countries including Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and Turkey.