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Ancient Religions
The legends, worship and observances of a god or gods of the distant past. Including but not restricted to the Roman, Greek, Sumerian, Norse, Celtic, Indian, Chinese and Japanese.
3,208 Questions
What was the religion practiced in Ancient Greece?
The ancient Greeks were Polytheists. This means that they worshipped more than one God.
Did the Greek gods and goddesses worship anyone?
No. Any god they could worship would be considered their equal.
What is the name of king of Annwn the otherworld in Welsh mythology?
Annwn - the Land of the Dead - is a complicated place in Welsh mythology - far more complicated than the Greek Isles of the Blessed.
Arawn is the king there in most of the older texts, but Gwyn ap Nudd becomes king in the later stories.
And there is always half a sense that Annwn is not really a place at all (in fact, it is a non-place) - in which case the idea of a 'king' becomes problematic.
Gods and goddesses which the ancient people who lived in Egypt believed and worshiped.
Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of love, beauty, childbirth, happiness, music and drunkeness. Dance and music were the sacred arts of Hathor.
Hathor is the goddess of beauty.
Hathor is the Egyptian goddess of the sky, the sun, the queen, music, dance and the arts.
NOTHIN"
Who is the Roman goddess of horses?
Diana is the goddess of the moon and the hunt. she is the guardian of wild beasts, horses and domesticated animals. she is the daughter of Jupiter and Latona
Do Zoroastrians accept converts?
The traditional Zoroastrians of Iran, Pakistan and India have generally refused to accept new converts, perhaps to appease their more powerful neighbours. However, I have attached two links to other Zoroastrian groups that may be able to help.
What is the oldest abrahamic religion?
The three major abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Judaism and Islam both claim to be as old as creation. Of course, at most only one of these claims could be true, and that would be the oldest religion in the world.
More practically, Judaism is by far the oldest of the three religions. Many Jews believe that Judaism was founded by Abraham over 4,000 years ago. Even biblical scholars say that Judaism, as we know it today, had its origins in the middle of the first millennium BCE - long before the start of Christianity and Islam.
What are the two cultural contributions of the Phoenicians?
Two important developments of the Phonecians were the alphabet and trading. I hope this helps!
According to the Julian calendar, it takes place from December 17-23. Io, Saturnalia!
How do you pronounce the Egyptian God Qebehseneuf?
The ancient Egyptian writing system (hieroglyphs) did not record any vowel sounds - exactly as in ancient Arabic, Hebrew and Phoenician. The Egyptians knew which vowels to use in each word but today that knowledge is lost.
Egyptologists generally use the vowel "e" to stand for all those missing vowels, so the name written gb in hieroglyphs becomes Geb - but we can never know the correct pronunciation. So, you can say Geb any way you like - it will always be incorrect!
What country today contains what was once called Medes or Media in the Bible?
Media was generally located south and west of the Caspian Sea, in what is today part of western Iran and southern Azerbaijan.
Which religion is named after the river indus?
History present no clear facts about the religion of people of Indus valley civilization. They might have been nature worshipers, or perhaps followed some Pre-Aryan or Pre-Vedic religion, most probably Jainism (facts relating to Jainism are supported by some of their practices and the seals that have been found there). Figures that resemble Shiva, a Hindu deity, have been found on some Indus seals.
How do Romans worship their gods?
Romans worship their gods through feasting. For example, Saturnalia.....
How were egyptians gods created?
Gods are the creation of men and clever men use them to extort advantage from their less crafty fellows. i.e the Bishop is always the last to starve, If one God is discredited then it is a simple matter of creating another one.
What did Egyptian god isis look like?
Egyptian sculpture and other art was very rigid in presentation. Isis was most often shown topless because among other things she was a fertility goddess. The most significant thing about representations of Isis was her head dress. She was depicted wearing the moon on her head surrounded by two horn-like things. In her hand she carried the "ankh", a symbol which you may have seen. The ankh was an elongated circle with two arms stretching out on either side and and a long vertical projection coming from the bottom of the circle - it was a symbol of divinity and eternity and was carried by many of the gods and the Pharaohs and their queens. When the Egyptian empire was at it's peak, Isis became very closely associated with the Queens of Egypt. They referred to themselves as 'daughters of Isis'. Cleopatra VII was the last Queen to use this title.
How much did Egyptian Embalmers earn?
$1000000 for a body its was reall good money as they were highly respected
*Ḥāru, meaning "Falcon". As a description it has also typically been thought of as having the meaning "the distant one" or "one who is above, over"
What was of most imprortance of the caste systems for the Aryans?
- They started caste system to make a social hierarchy.
- Everyone was forced to do the job that was allowed in their caste.
- Aryans kept themselves in higher caste and pushed native Indians to lower caste.
What time periods did the toltecs live in?
The Toltecs established themselves around the year 900 a.d, where they existed for a few centuries before their Empire was destroyed in the 13th century, paving the way for the Aztecs. DEESE NUTS !!!!!
Do ancient egyptians gods and goddesses have powers?
Yes, it is believed that they do. The Sun God Ra had the power to become the sun for the day.
What is the oldest known name for God?
The problem with the question is that the term "god" is a nebulous one. It can refer to anything with supernatural powers and therefore can range from local spirits that control a local river to omnipotent and omniscient universe creators. Whether or not any of these supernatural deities exist is purely a question of belief, so the question of whether a particular god referenced is a "true god/God" is debatable.
Local Spirits
Contrary to the assertions of the monotheistic faiths, there is absolutely no reason to believe that mankind was monotheistic in its earliest incarnations, later became polytheistic, and then "rediscovered" monotheism. Mankind has worshipped various deities since we first looked up at the night sky and pondered the question of our existence which in a logical reference for thousands of years. The concept of religious worship tracks to the birth of Behavioral Modernity, circa 50,000 B.C.E. Idols exist from this time, but as there is no writing nor surviving culture from that time, they could just be statues of people and rulers that people followed. We have these idols (from Africa predominantly), but we cannot state what the original beliefs of those people were as they do no track to any modern extant faiths.
The oldest representation of the "earth mother" is most likely Venus of Willendorf. A statue of which was discovered in 1908 and made between 22,000 and 21,000 B.C.E ( Before the christian era).
Polytheistic Divinities
It is unclear when exactly the concept of gods became more powerful, such that a god would be responsible for an element or a concept rather than a local physical entity. These gods could control all of the water or protect every home, etc. However, almost all major ancient civilizations, such as the Sumerians (the oldest currently known civilization) and the Egyptians had these types of gods. (It is unclear if China moved from local spirits to polytheistic divinities in the earlier periods.) Since the concept of polytheistic gods tracks to before civilization (otherwise how would it have proliferated in societies without sufficient contact with one another), we cannot say what the oldest polytheistic divinity is.
Sumeria was one of the oldest known civilizations on earth, Enki was the patron god of what is accepted as the oldest city on Earth, and the Monotheistic God is based on Sumerian myth of Enki or Marduk. There is also the god Anu, who was another of the oldest gods in the Sumerian pantheon and part of a triad including Enlil (god of the air) and Enki (god of water). Sumerian myth also has a creation myth that reads almost exactly like the Biblical creation myth, and also has a flood myth that is almost identical. Otherwise, the Egyptian sun god Amun Ra would be a close runner up.
Hades is also believed to be the oldest Greek god, but since Aegean civilization is much younger than Ancient Sumer or Ancient Egypt, it is certainly not the oldest god.
Monotheism
The earliest clear articulation of monotheism was the religion of Pharaoh Akhenaton called Atenism which existed in the 14th century B.C.E. However, this religion died with the Pharaoh twenty years later. Depending on whether Zoroastrianism is considered to be monotheistic, which is dubious given the amount of power Angra Mainyu weilds against Ahura Mazda, the clearest archaelogical articulations of "modern" monotheism track to the 5th century B.C.E. in Babylon (the Jews) or the 6th century B.C.E. in Persia (the Zoroastrians). Archaeology does not support the Biblical claim that Abraham and Moses lived nor that the Ancient Israelites were purely monotheistic. On the contrary, archaeology holds that there were several important Canaanite gods in the Israelite pantheon and monolatry (i.e. the acceptance of many gods, but the worship of only one) began in the reign of King Josiah. The rejection of the other gods, which was necessary for monotheism, was what occurred in Babylon.
Among Monotheist Believers
The oldest known God would be found in the mythos of the middle east.
Thus oldest known God is 'Elohim', the God of the Old Testament. He was first known at Creation, and you can't get much earlier than that! By definition, it is immaterial how long ago that was. By the way, it is incorrect to call 'Elohim' the Jewish God at Creation [dated at 4004BC Ussher] because Judah was not born until much later in 1755BC [Ussher].
The Middle East was the home of The God of Abraham, the God of Ur, and the various ideas of God in pre-Egypt and Pre-Hindu God-ideas of their respective regions. Both Egypt and India were at a time monotheistic in theory. But when each corresponding nation was established, their governments accepted all the ideas of God as individual gods, because it served to keep their nations together. Considering most religions can find their origins in India, we could state the oldest potential God is found there.
[See notes on the Biblical God in the Discussion Section.]
