View a FREE sample

Part I: Chapters 1-5

• Cosmic myths explain a culture's idea of universal order.
• Cosmogonies typically consist of stories of creation, the great flood, the afterlife, the Fall and Revelation, or the end of the world.
• Leeming says that cosmogonies are essentially female, because they are concerned with creation, and the development of consciousness from the unconscious, or from raw matter.
• The Egyptian cosmogony is earliest, and revolves around the central God Re or Atun.
• Leeming describes Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Hebraic, Indian, Greek and Roman, Christian, and Native American and African cosmogonies.
• Flood myths from these same cultures are described next.
• After discussing flood myths, Leeming describes the myths of the afterlife in numerous cultures.
• Leeming concludes part I with a discussion of myths of the apocalypse from a number of cultures.

Part II: Chapters 1-3

• Leeming defines the gods as immortal beings who personify the people's need to overcome...

(read more Chapter Abstracts)

This section contains 515 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample