Ancient Egypt by Gerald Massey

Ancient Egypt by Gerald Massey

2014 Reprint of Original 1907 Edition Two Volumes in One]. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Massey was one of the first Egyptologists in modern times to suggest that with the final eclipse of the old Land of Kam a.k.a. ancient Egypt], a brilliant light had been extinguished in world civilization. There was a small compensation in the often meteoric rise of other cultures subsequently, but the luminance of these later cultures was, Massey suggests, a paler reflection of the Nile Valley sun that had set. In this, the most philosophical of his works on ancient Egypt, Massey leads a tour through thousands of years of sociological, cultural, and spiritual development, all the while pointing, with dazzling reason and persuasive prose, to a distant, common, Egyptian origin. In the first volume Massey was primarily interested in elaborating how the first humans emerging in Africa created thought. What had been evident to him from the outset was that the myths, rituals and religion of ancient Egypt--or Old Kam--had preserved virtually intact a record of the psycho-mythic evolution of humanity. In the second volume Massey examines the celestial phenomenon known as the Precession of the Equinoxes. He believed that only by understanding this phenomenon was it possible to fathom Nile Valley history. The last half of the second volume is devoted to the Kamite sources of Christianity. Massey sought to demonstrate the manner in which New Testament Christianity evolved directly out of Osirian mysteries. One of the more important aspects of Massey's writings were his assertions that there were parallels between Jesus and the Egyptian god Horus. Massey, for example, argued that: both Horus and Jesus were born of virgins on 25 December, raised men from the dead (Massey speculates that the biblical Lazarus, raised from the dead by Jesus, has a parallel in El-Asar-Us, a title of Osiris), died by crucifixion and were resurrected three days later. These assertions have influenced various later writers such as Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Tom Harpur, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, and D.M. Murdock.

Gerald Massey (29 May 1828 - 29 October 1907) was an English poet and self-educated Egyptologist. He was born near Tring, Hertfordshire in England. He was attracted by the movement known as Christian Socialism, into which he threw himself with whole-hearted vigour, and so became associated with Frederick Denison Maurice and Charles Kingsley. He became interested in Egyptology and the similarities that exist between ancient Egyptian mythology and the Gospel stories. He studied the extensive Egyptian records housed in the British Museum, and eventually taught himself to decipher the hieroglyphics. Massey's first public appearance as a writer was in connection with a journal called the Spirit of Freedom, of which he became editor. When he was only twenty-two he published his first volume of poems, Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love. These he followed in rapid succession with The Ballad of Babe Christabel (1854), War Waits (1855), Havelock's March (1860), and A Tale of Eternity (1869). He also published works dealing with Spiritualism, the study of Shakespeare's sonnets, and theological speculation. It is generally understood that he was the original of George Eliot's Felix Holt. Massey's poetry has a certain rough and vigorous element of sincerity and strength which easily accounts for its popularity at the time of its production. He treated the theme of Sir Richard Grenville before Tennyson thought of using it, with much force and vitality. Indeed, Tennyson's own praise of Massey's work is still its best eulogy, as he found in him a poet of fine lyrical impulse, and of a rich half-Oriental imagination. The inspiration of his poetry is essentially British; he was a patriot to the core. His poem The Merry, Merry May was set to music in a popular song by composer Christabel Baxendale. Concerning Egyptology, Massey first published The Book of the Beginnings, followed by The Natural Genesis. His most prolific work is Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World, published shortly before his death, which draws comparisons between the Judeo-Christian religion and the Egyptian religion. One of the more sensational aspects of Massey's writings were the parallels he drew between Jesus and the Egyptian god Horus. These comparisons are primarily contained in his book The Natural Genesis. Massey's writings on this subject have influenced various later authors such as Alvin Boyd Kuhn, Tom Harpur, and D. M. Murdock.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780933121317
ISBN 10	0933121318
Title	Ancient Egypt
Author	Gerald Massey
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Black Classic Press,U.S.
Year published	1998-07-01
Number of pages	944
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable