ANCIENT EGYPT
THE
LIGHT OF THE WORLD
A WORK OF RECLAMATION AND RESTITUTION IN
TWELVE BOOKS
BY
GERALD MASSEY
AUTHOR OF 'A BOOK OF THE BEGINNINGS' AND 'THE NATURAL GENESIS'
It may have been a million years ago
The Light was kindled in the Old Dark Land
With which the illumined Scrolls are all aglow,
That Egypt gave us her mummied hand:
This was the secret of that subtle smile
Inscrutable upon the Sphinx's face,
Now told from sea to sea, from isle to isle;
The revelation of the Old Dark Race;
Theirs was the wisdom of the Bee and Bird,
Ant, Tortoise, Beaver, working human-wise;
The ancient darkness spake with Egypt's Word;
Hers was the primal message of the skies:
The Heavens are telling nightly of her glory,
And for all time Earth echoes her great story.
________________
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN TWO VOLUMES
LONDON 1907
NOW REPUBLISHED IN THIS EDITION 2007
WITH ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
BY
THE EDITOR
________________
PREFATORY
I have written other books, but this I look upon as the exceptional labour which has made my life worth living. Comparatively speaking, 'A Book of the Beginnings' (London, 1881) was written in the dark, 'The Natural Genesis' (London, 1883) was written in the twilight, whereas 'Ancient Egypt' has been written in the light of day. The earlier books were met in England with the truly orthodox conspiracy of silence. Nevertheless, four thousand volumes have got into circulation somewhere or other up and down the reading world, where they are slowly working in their unacknowledged way. Probably the present book will be appraised at home in proportion as it comes back piecemeal from abroad, from Germany, or France, or maybe from the country of the Rising Sun.
To all lovers of the truth the writer now commends the verifiable truths that wait for recognition in these pages.
Truth is all-potent with its silent power
If only whispered, never heard aloud,
But working secretly, almost unseen,
Save in some excommunicated book;
'Tis as the lightning with its errand done
Before you hear the thunder.
For myself, it is enough to know that in despite of many hindrances from straitened circumstances, chronic ailments, and the deepening shadows of encroaching age, my book is printed, and the subject-matter that I cared for most is now entrusted safely to the keeping of John Gutenberg, on this my nine-and-seventieth birthday.
CONTENTS
|
BOOK |
PAGES |
|
| 1 | SIGN-LANGUAGE AND MYTHOLOGY AS PRIMITIVE MODES OF REPRESENTATION | 1-45 |
| 2 | TOTEMISM, TATTOO AND FETISHISM AS FORMS OF SIGN-LANGUAGE Fetishism |
46-110 111-119 |
| 3 | ELEMENTAL AND ANCESTRAL SPIRITS, OR THE GODS AND THE GLORIFIED | 120-185 |
| 4 | EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD AND THE MYSTERIES OF AMENTA | 186-248 |
| 5 | THE SIGN-LANGUAGE OF ASTRONOMICAL MYTHOLOGY Part I The Primitive African Paradise Egyptian Wisdom The Drowning of the Dragon |
249-268 269-286 287-320 |
| 6 | THE SIGN-LANGUAGE OF ASTRONOMICAL MYTHOLOGY Part II Horus of the Double Horizon The Making of Amenta The Irish Amenta The Mount of Glory |
321-331 332-343 344-365 366-375 376-397 |
| 7 | EGYPTIAN WISDOM AND THE HEBREW GENESIS | 398-469 |
| 8 | THE EGYPTIAN WISDOM IN OTHER JEWISH WRITINGS | 470-544 |
| 9 | THE ARK, THE DELUGE, AND THE WORLD'S GREAT YEAR | 545-628 |
| 10 | THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT AND THE DESERT OF AMENTA The Seed of Ysiraal The Title of Pharaoh |
629-686 687-689 689 |
| 11 | EGYPTIAN WISDOM IN THE REVELATION OF JOHN THE DIVINE | 690-726 |
| 12 | THE JESUS-LEGEND TRACED IN EGYPT FOR TEN THOUSAND YEARS Child-Horus The Jesus-Legend in Rome The Egypto-Gnostic Jesus Double Horus, or Jesus and the Christ The Mysteries and Miracles Jesus in the Mount Sut and Horus as Historic Characters in the Canonical Gospels The Group in Bethany The Founders of the Kingdom The Last Supper: the Crucifixion and the Resurrection The Resurrection from Amenta The Sayings of Jesus |
727-737 738-755 756-770 771-785 786-804 805-818 819-830 831-840 841-852 853-867 868-889 889 890-905 |
| Appendix | 907-914 | |
| General Index |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | ||
| 1 | APT, THE FIRST GREAT MOTHER | 124 |
| 2 | THE MUMMY-BABE | 219 |
| 3 | ILLUSTRATIONS FROM A THEBAN TOMB | 289 |
| 4 | HIPPOPOTAMUS AND HAUNCH | 311 |
| 5 | SHU THE KNEELER | 315 |
| 6 | HORUS STRANGLING SERPENTS | 317 |
| 7 | HORUS IN PISCES | 343 |
| 8 | HORUS THE SHOOT OF THE PAPYRUS | 450 |
| 9 | ASSYRIAN CYLINDER | 453 |
| 10 | THE FLAMING SWORD WHICH GUARDED THE TREE | 455 |
| 11 | HORUS BRUISING THE SERPENT'S HEAD | 462 |
| 12 | STAR-MAP OF PRECESSION | 601 |
| 13 | THE LANDING-PLACE FOR SPIRITS, WITH THE TREE OF THE POLE IN THE CONSTELLATION OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS | 603 |
| 14 | THE ANNUNCIATION, CONCEPTION, BIRTH, AND ADORATION OF THE MESSIANIC CHILD | 757 |
| 15 | THE FOUR FISHERS FOR HORUS | 806 |
This page last updated: 14/09/2011