A landmark work in the history of religions from a pioneer in the fieldFirst published in English in 1954, this founding work in the historical study of religions secured the North American reputation of the Romanian emigre-scholar Mircea Eliade. Referring to an astonishing number of cultures and drawing on scholarship in no fewer than half a dozen European languages, The Myth of the Eternal Return illuminates the religious beliefs and rituals of a wide variety of ancient cultures and argues that understanding them still has the power to enrich our conception of what it means to be human.