The Gate of Horn

Abstract

MISS G. R. LEVY has, in this closely reasoned and well documented book, attempted to trace the development of man's attitude, in certain ritual aspects, to religious beliefs from palae olithic times in Europe down to the performances of Greek tragedies in Athens. In order to trace the "palae olithic heritage", and to interpret the remains on which all study must depend, the author has turned to primitive peoples whose beliefs and practices have been recorded by modern anthropologists, and examined critically what can be fairly deduced for the explanation of apparent similarities between civilizations far separated in time. This is not one of those books in which material evidence is thrown together pell-mell ; what the best authorities have to say is carefully considered. The Gate of Horn A Study of the Religious Conceptions of the Stone Age, and their Influence upon European Thought. By Gertrude Rachel Levy. Pp. xxxi + 349 + 32 plates. (London : Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1948.) 42s. net.