A landmark of anthropological and mythological scholarship, From Ritual to Romance explores the Grail legend, uniting its folkloric and Christian elements by using printed texts to prove the parallels existing between every feature of the legend of the Holy Grail and the recorded symbolism of ancient Mystery cults. A major source of inspiration and reference for T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. At the advanced age of 70, Jessie Weston, who had spent decades immersed in the Arthurian canon, wrote this relatively short book to attempt to explain the roots of the legend of the Holy Grail. She enumerates the seemingly inexplicable elements of the quest--The Fisher King, The Wasteland, the Chapel Perilous, and the Grail Cup itself--and ties them to the symbols and initiatory rites of the ancient mystery religions. She also attempts to identify the author and locality of the tale. Her thesis still inspires heated controversy among academics.