Carl Anton Paul Ruck[1] (born December 8, 1935, Bridgeport, Connecticut) is a professor in the Classical Studies department at Boston University.
Carl Ruck is best known for his work along with other scholars in mythology and religion on the sacred role of entheogens, or psychoactive plants that induce an altered state of consciousness, as used in religious or shamanistic rituals.
The book The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries, co-authored by Ruck with Albert Hofmann and R. Gordon Wasson, makes a case that the psycho-active ingredient in the secret kykeion potion used in the Eleusinian mysteries was most likely the ergotism causing fungus Claviceps purpurea.
The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist (2001) explores the role that entheogens in general, and Amanita muscaria in particular, played in Greek and biblical mythology and later on in Renaissance painting, most notably in the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald.
In January 2003 Ruck came to public attention commenting on a book by the cannabis activist Chris Bennett.