"There is, however, a strong empirical reason why we should cultivate thoughts that can never be proved. It is that they are known to be useful," Jung wrote in Man and His Symbols. "A sense of wider meaning to one's existence is what raises a man beyond mere getting and spending. If he lacks this sense, he is lost and miserable."

Echoing Jung's theories, late in his life, Albert Einstein wrote, "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. This insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms-this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong in the ranks of devoutly religious men."

Science, history, anthropology, language, psychology, rituals, religion, and spirituality. All of these frameworks help to explain how myth has operated since the dawn of human time. Yet none of them alone does it completely. As classicist Barry B. Powell has observed, "Myth taken together is too complex, too many-faceted, to be explained by a single theory."

That myths reflect so many aspects of the human condition-our history, our innermost thoughts, our best and worst behavior, an acceptable code of conduct-makes trying to fit them into one neat theoretical framework impossible. It is like trying to make many different people wear a single suit of clothes. There are just too many sizes and shapes for that to work.

Needless to say, for thousands of years, the myths that have organized human civilizations and given faith to worshippers across all time are clearly something greater than a collection of compelling stories about dysfunctional gods, flawed heroes, sex-crazed tricksters, or primeval monsters lurking in the closets of our minds.

Heady stuff. It may be wise to remember the words of American humorist James Thurber, who once wrote: "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."

CHAPTER TWO.

GIFT OF THE NILE.

The Myths of Egypt.

Hail to you gods...

On that day of the great reckoning.

Behold me, I have come to you, Without sin, without evil, Without a witness against me, Without one whom I have wronged....

Rescue me, protect me, Do not accuse me before the great god!

I am one of pure mouth, pure of hands.

-The Book of the Dead.

(c. 17001000 BCE).

Creator uncreated.

Sole one, unique one, who traverses eternity, Remote one, with millions under his care; Your splendor is like heaven's splendor.

-First Hymn to the Sun God.

(c. 14111375 BCE).

Egypt was old, older than any culture known at the time. It was already old when the political policy of the future Roman Empire was being formed in the first meetings on the Capitoline Hill. It was already old and blighted when the Germans and Celts of the north European forest were still hunting bears. When the First Dynasty came into power about five thousand years ago...marvelous cultural forms had already been evolved in the land of the Nile. And when the Twenty-sixth Dynasty died out, still five hundred years separated European history from our era. The Libyans ruled the land, then the Ethiopians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans-all before the star shone over the stable at Bethlehem.

-C. W. CERAM, Gods,

Graves and Scholars (1951).

How did myths "rule" in ancient Egypt?

Why was Egypt the "gift of the Nile"?

What do we know about Egyptian myth and how do we know it?

Who was the first family of Egyptian myth?

How does "creation by masturbation" work?

Who was Re?

Which god became Egypt's lord of the dead?

Who was Egypt's most significant goddess?

What did Christians think of Isis?

What was the "weighing of the heart"?

Who's Who of Egyptian Myths Why are there so many animals-real and imaginary-in Egypt's myths?

What did the pyramids have to do with the gods?

What's so great about the "Great Pyramid"?

What is an Egyptian pyramid doing on the U.S. dollar bill?

Was the ruler of Egypt always a pharaoh?

Did a pharaoh inspire Moses to worship one god?

Does Egyptian myth matter?

MYTHICAL MILESTONES.

Egypt.

All dates are BCE, Before the Common Era. Egyptian history covers thousands of years, and while the order of kings is reasonably well established, many precise dates are more problematic and are often approximated. Many of the dates in this chronology are drawn from The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt.

5000 to 4001 The Egyptian calendar is devised, regulated by sun and moon; 360 days; divided into twelve 30-day months.

4000 Sails are used.

3300 First walled towns are built.

3200 Earliest hieroglyphic script appears.

Early Dynastic Period c. 31002686 3100 King Narmer/Menes (?) unites Upper and Lower Egypt.

Memphis is founded as the capital of unified Egypt.

Beginning of systematic astronomical observations in Egypt.

3050 Introduction of the 365-day calendar.

Old Kingdom 26862160.

26672648 Third Dynasty ruler Djoser rules with counselor (vizier) Imhotep, who makes the first known efforts to find medical as well as religious methods for treating diseases.

2650 Beginning of period of pyramid building; the first monumental building in stone is the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, initiated by Imhotep.

2575 Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), largest of the Egyptian pyramids, is built at Giza.

2550 The Great Sphinx at Giza is carved under the reign of Khafra (Chephren).

2500 to 2001 Division of the day into twenty-four units. Cult of Isis and Osiris develops. First use of mummification.

23752300 In the pyramid of King Unas, the first known use of "Pyramid Texts" these are funerary texts inscribed on walls of pyramids; they are the oldest known religious writings in the world.

First Intermediate Period 21602055.

2150 Series of floods brings famine and discontent; collapse of the Old Kingdom.

Middle Kingdom 20551650.

c. 2055 Egypt is reunited under Middle Kingdom pharaohs.

1991 Book of the Dead is collected; it is known to Egyptians as "The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day."

c. 1965 Nubia (modern Sudan) is conquered by Egypt.

c. 1800 Horse is introduced to Egypt.

17001500 Biblical patriarch Joseph in Egypt (?).

Second Intermediate Period 16501550.

c. 1660 Invasion of Semitic Hyksos from Palestine, Syria, and farther north. They are excellent archers, wear sandals, and use horse-drawn chariots to conquer the Nile Delta; eventually they rule much of Egypt.

New Kingdom 15501069 1567 Expulsion of the Hyksos by Ahmose.

1550 Rise of the New Kingdom; the capital founded at Thebes, which becomes center of the Egyptian Empire. The New Kingdom dynasties usher in a period of stability and rule for nearly five hundred years, expanding Egypt's power into Asia.

1473 Queen Hatshepsut rules as regent for her infant stepson, who will become Thutmose III.

1479 Thutmose III takes the throne and the title of pharaoh. Thutmose III attempts to obscure all references to his aunt Hatshepsut by constructing walls around her obelisks at Karnak.

1470 Massive volcanic eruption on the isle of Thera is viewed as responsible for destruction of an advanced Minoan civilization based on Crete.

13521336 Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten, introduces sun worship as a form of monotheism; his religious reforms, called the "Amarna Revolution," plunge the country into turmoil.

13361327 Brief reign of famed boy-king Tutankhamun, whose tomb survived virtually intact until discovered in 1922.

12951200 Speculative date of Jewish Exodus from Egypt.

1286 Hittites almost defeat the Egyptians at the Battle of Kadesh in modern Syria. Following this battle, Ramses II marries a Hittite princess, cementing a peace treaty between the two powers.

12791213 Ramses II rules; widely believed to be the pharaoh during the biblical Exodus.

1245 Ramses II moves Egyptian capital to new city, Pi-Ramesses.

1153 Death of Ramses III, Egypt's last great pharaoh.

1070 End of Twentieth Dynasty.

Third Intermediate Period 1069664 1005967 Reign of King David in Israel; Jerusalem established as capital.

967931 Reign of King Solomon in Jerusalem.

945 Egyptian civil wars; a Libyan dynasty is installed, and the first non-Egyptian line rules Egypt for the next two hundred years.

814 Foundation of Carthage, Phoenician colony in North Africa.

753 Traditional date of the founding of Rome.

747 Rule of Egypt by Nubians.