Three Shrines: Mantic, Sophic, and Sophistic
Three Shrines: Mantic, Sophic, and Sophistic Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, Hugh Nibley, Ancient State: The Rulers and the Ruled ( 1991) Three Shrines: Mantic, Sophic, and Sophistic I. The Mantic Substratum In his recent study of the gods of the Greeks, Professor Kerenyi compares the classical scholar thumbing through his notes and handbooks in search of an outworn creed with Sir George Gray, who long ago had joined in the feasts and dances of the Maoris and learned their language and legends in order to pluck the heart out of their mystery. 1 The comparison is too sanguine. As long ago as the fourth century, Synesius could report as a quaint oddity the presence in the Aegean islands of peasants who still believed in the Cyclops 2 —but they have long since passed away. No living informant can satisfy the modern scholar's craving for a firsthand introduction to the gods of Greece, and if the investigator goes to the written sourc