The Caves of the Sun: The Origin of Mythology

by Adrian Bailey

This work argues that all myths, religions and folk tales can be traced to one source - the sun. It shows that solar cults were founded in order to influence the life-giving forces of nature, and these can be identified in Neanderthal cave dwellings of 60,000 years ago. They can also be seen in the Ice Age cave art of Altamira and Lascaux, in the Neolithic bull cult of Anatolia and Crete, and in the circles of Stonehenge and Avebury.

Genres: Mythology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Cedric · Rating 1 out of 5]

The study of mythology is a fascinating exercise in speculation and probably tells us more about the writer than the nature of myth. In this book, Bailey comes across as a monomaniac, with one fixed idea: all myths, every single one of them, is about the course of the sun over the year. The book becomes wearisome very quickly, lots of speculative ideas that become the foundations for theorising and thus facts after a few pages, lots of assertions without evidence. In my view, the surviving body of mythology is a fragmented and heavily reprocessed and retooled grab bag of bits and pieces of leftovers from ancient times. In origin, I have no doubt we are looking at the thought processes of preliterate, ancient peoples, and there may well be strands going back to palaeolithic times. But the myths themselves have been changed enormously over time, new stories based on recycling old fragments have appeared, and to use them all uncritically as evidence is poor scholarship. I enjoy reading the speculations of mythographers, but this book was not one of them. Useful bibliography though.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts are interesting and convincing, but others felt like the author was reaching for evidence that didn't really support the conclusion desired.