Egypt's Legacy

by Michael Rice

Egypt's Legacy reviews the splendour and majesty of the history of Ancient Egypt from 3000-30 BC. Drawing upon Jungian analytical psychology, it elucidates the allure of Ancient Egypt, and suggests why Egypt has been so important in the history of the West. Jung claimed that there exist certain psychological drives dormant in our shared unconscious - these he termed archetypes. Characteristic Egyptian institutions such as kingship, the nation-state and an omnipotent, isolated god were powerful and complex manifestations of archetypes. Michael Rice contends that these archetypes underlie most of the accepted norms of Western civilization. Through an inherited unconscious, subsequent civilizations are influenced in their attempts to give archetypes form.