and disorder play a significant part in the argument of this thesis and it is therefore important that the use made of the term be explained. Chaos, involving as it does the abolition of differences and distinctions, is inevitably difficult to define acceptably; in a sense it may be taken to refer to that which cannot be defined. In the discussion of ancient myths, chaos is often used for the state of the universe prior to the act of creation. Gunkel, in seeking to demonstrate its debt to an ancient