(Blaise) Daniel "Danny" Staples (13 July 1948 – December 2005Obituary ''Boston Globe'' 6 December 2005
.) was a Classical mythologist; a native of

Somerset, Massachusetts Somerset is a New England town, town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,303 at the 2020 census. It is the birthplace and hometown of Clifford Milburn Holland (1883–1924), the chief engineer and namesake of t ...

, he received a B.A. in Comparative Religion and a Ph.D. in Classical Studies from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. He lived in

Hull, Massachusetts Hull is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, located on a peninsula at the southern edge of Boston Harbor. Its population was 10,072 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Hull is the smallest town by land area in P ...

with his spouse, Carl A.P. Ruck. He co-authored with Ruck ''The World of Classical Mythology: Gods and Goddesses, Heroines and Heroes'', which has become a standard textbook. The book ''The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries'' claims that the psycho-active ingredient in the secret kykeion potion used in the

Eleusinian mysteries The Eleusinian Mysteries () were initiations held every year for the Cult (religious practice), cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are considered the "most famous of the secret rel ...

was most likely the

ergotism Ergotism (pron. ) is the effect of long-term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the '' Claviceps purpurea'' fungus—from the Latin "club" or clavus "nail" and for "head", i.e. the purple club-h ...

causing fungus ''

Claviceps purpurea ''Claviceps purpurea'' is an ergot fungus that grows on the ear (botany), ears of rye and related cereal and forage plants. Consumption of Cereal, grains or seeds contaminated with the survival structure of this fungus, the ergot sclerotium, can ...

''. For this book Staples translated the

Homeric Hymn The ''Homeric Hymns'' () are a collection of thirty-three ancient Greek hymns and one epigram. The hymns praise deities of the Greek pantheon and retell mythological stories, often involving a deity's birth, their acceptance among the gods ...

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...

and contributed with R. Gordon Wasson,

Jonathan Ott Jonathan Ott (born 1949 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an ethnobotanist, writer, translator, publisher, natural products chemist and botanical researcher in the area of entheogens and their cultural and historical uses, and helped coin the term "' ...

and Ruck to the chapter in which the term "

entheogen Entheogens are psychoactive substances used in spiritual and religious contexts to induce altered states of consciousness. Hallucinogens such as the psilocybin found in so-called "magic" mushrooms have been used in sacred contexts since ancie ...

" was coined as an alternative for terms such as "psychedelic", "hallucinogen" and "drug" that can be misleading in certain contexts. ''The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist'' explores the role that entheogens in general, and ''

Amanita muscaria ''Amanita muscaria'', commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus ''Amanita''. It is a large white-lamella (mycology), gilled, white-spotted mushroom typically featuring a bright red cap covered with ...

'' in particular, played in Greek and biblical mythology and later on in

Renaissance painting Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

, most notably in the

Isenheim Altarpiece The ''Isenheim Altarpiece'' is an altarpiece sculpted and painted by, respectively, the Germans Nikolaus Hagenauer, Nikolaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grünewald in 1512–1516. It is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, in Fra ...

Matthias Grünewald Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528; also known as Mathis Gothart Nithart) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th cent ...

. Staples was also the author of numerous articles in his field.

Bibliography

*''The Hidden World: Survival of Pagan Shamanic Themes in European Fairytales'', with Carl Ruck, José Alfredo González Celdrán and Mark Alwin Hoffman (2007 ) *''The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist'', with Carl Ruck and Clark Heinrich (2001, ) *''The World of Classical Myth: Gods and Goddesses, Heroines and Heroes'', with Carl Ruck (1994, ) *''The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries'', with Carl Ruck, R. Gordon Wasson, Jonathan Ott and

Albert Hofmann Albert Hofmann (11 January 1906 – 29 April 2008) was a Swiss chemist known for being the first to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann's team also isolated, named and synthesi ...

(1978, )

Notes

External links

Summary of ''The Apples of Apollo''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Staples, Blaise Daniel American classical scholars 1948 births 2005 deaths Psychedelic drug researchers People from Somerset, Massachusetts American psychedelic drug advocates Boston University alumni Psychonautics researchers