XVII.-ANCIENT GODS AND GODDESSES
THE confused and contradictory ideas that the centuries have piled up, the ragged glimpses of inconsistencies that even mysticism cannot explain-(yet always a gleam of something higher) make the ancient religions of Egypt and Babylonia as involved and puzzling as they are fascinating. Especially is this true of Egypt.
Roeder in his Symbol Psychology, 1 referring to the recurrence of typical stories in all countries and among all peoples, instances the universal saga of the hero, who as he sets forth, is usually alone except for an animal companion, then with multitudes, then with a select few (the chosen few of the Jews, Christ's disciples, King Arthur and his Round Table, etc.), then these drop away and the hero of the legend dies alone.
The story of the gods seems to represent also this eternal law of progression from unity to multiplicity and back to unity again.
1 Adolph Roeder, Symbol Psychology,
