| The Evolution of the Dragon Contributor(s): Smith, G. Elliot (Author) |
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ISBN: 1544704054 ISBN-13: 9781544704050 Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform OUR PRICE: $11.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2017 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction |
| Physical Information: 0.58" H x 5.98" W x 9.02" (0.83 lbs) 278 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In the earliest records from Egypt and Babylonia it is customary to portray a king's beneficence by representing him initiating irrigation works. In course of time he came to be regarded, not merely as the giver of the water which made the desert fertile, but as himself the personification and the giver of the vital powers of water. The fertility of the land and the welfare of the people thus came to be regarded as dependent upon the king's vitality. Hence it was not illogical to kill him when his virility showed signs of failing and so imperilled the country's prosperity. But when the view developed that the dead king acquired a new grant of vitality in the other world he became the god Osiris, who was able to confer even greater boons of life-giving to the land and people than was the case before. He was the Nile, and he fertilized the land. The original dragon was a beneficent creature, the personification of water, and was identified with kings and gods. But the enemy of Osiris became an evil dragon, and was identified with Set. |
