The origin of a saviour in the guise of a little child is traceable to Child-Horus, who brought new life to Egypt every year as the Messu of the inundation. This was Horus in his pre-solar and pre-human characters of the fish, the shoot of the papyrus, or the branch of the endless years. In a later stage the image of Horus on his papyrus represented the young god as solar cause in creation. But in the primitive phase it was a soul of life or of food ascending from the water in vegetation, as he who climbs the stalk, ranging from Child-Horus to the Polynesian hero, and to Jack ascending heavenward by means of his bean-stalk. --from "The Sign Language of Astronomical Mythology" It goes unappreciated by modern Egyptologists, but it is embraced by those who savor the concept of a "hidden history" of humanity, and those who approach all human knowledge from the perspective of the esoteric. Gerard Massey's massive Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World--first published in 1907 and the crowning achievement of the self-taught scholar--redefines the roots of Christianity via Egypt, proposing that Egyptian mythology was the basis for Jewish and Christian beliefs. Here, Cosimo proudly presents the combined Books 5 and 6 of Ancient Egypt, in which Massey discusses the primeval, iconic representations that link the Earth and the heavens, and ties the oldest understandings of astronomy with the mythology of the creation of the universe and humanity. From the symbols and myths of water, drowning, and floods to those light and darkness, blindness and sight--and many others--Massey shows how that imagery plays out in the Egyptian zodiac, and in turn indelibly influenced modern religion. Peculiar and profound, this work will intrigue and delight readers of history, religion, and mythology. British author GERALD MASSEY (1828-1907) published works of poetry, spiritualism, Shakespearean criticism, and theology, but his best-known works are in the realm of Egyptology, including A Book of the Beginnings and The Natural Genesis.