Cosmos and History (the myth of eternal return)

apsu designating the waters of chaos before the Creation.

Being an axis mundi, the sacred city or temple is regarded as the meeting point of heaven, earth, and hell. A few examples will illustrate each of these symbols: 1. According to Indian beliefs, Mount Meru rises at the center of the world, and above it shines the polestar. The Ural-Altaic peoples also know of a central mountain, Sumeru, to whose summit the polestar is fixed. Iranian beliefs hold that the sacred mountain Haraberezaiti (El-burz) is situated at the center of the earth and is linked with heaven. 17 The Buddhist population of Laos, north of Siam, know of Mount Zinnalo, at the center of the world. In the Edda, Himinbjorg, as its name indicates, is a "celestial mountain"; it is here that the rainbow (Bifrost) reaches the dome of the sky.

every territory occupied for the purpose of being inhabited or utilized as Lebensraum is first of all transformed from chaos into cosmos; that is, through the effect of ritual it is given a "form" which makes it become real.