The Caves of the Sun: The Origin of Mythology (Myth and Mankind) - Softcover

Bailey, Adrian

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9780712666183: The Caves of the Sun: The Origin of Mythology (Myth and Mankind)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712666184 ISBN 13: 9780712666183

Publisher: Pimlico, 1998

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While some scholars today claim that there is no single explanation or source for myth, others say that the answers to riddles posed by enigmatic symbols and relics from the distant past should be sought in the human mind, rather than in the enviroment of early man. The influence of psychological interpretations posed by Freud and Jung have been powerful and the author believes, detrimental to a true understanding of mankind's relgious origions. In The Caves of the Sun Adrian Bailey revives a long-discarded nineteenth-century theory that all myths, relgions and folktales can be traced to one source - in the sun. He shows that solar cults were founded in order to influence and channel the life-giving forces of nature. These can be seen in Neanderthal cave dwellings, the Ice Age cave-sanctuaries of Mithra and in the great circles of Stonehenge and Avebury. Why the single source idea of the nineteeth century should have become overlaid with spurious misinterpretations is a revealing commentary on the illusions spawned by complexity in the modern world.

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About the Author:

Adrian Bailey's interest in cave paintings of the Ice Age led to an enquiry into symbolism. He studied painting at Byam Shaw School of Art and later at St Martin's in London, where his contemporaries included several other well established painters. He now divides his time between painting and travel journalism, both exhibiting and contributiing to many national newspapers and magazines, as well as publishing several books on photography.

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