Religion Articles

The Mayan religious text, the Popol Vuh (known by many names, among them, The Light That Came From Beside The Sea) is the story of creation written down in the early 18th century by the Spanish priest Francisco Ximenez from much older tales. As most of the books of the Maya were burned by the Bishop of the Yucatan, Diego de Landa, in July of 1562, this... [continue reading]

Buddhism is one of the most influential traditions of the Eastern world, with about two and a half thousand years of development. It has touched and adorned virtually every single aspect of Asian society: its lore, mythology, morals, art and even metaphysics and religion, despite the fact the Buddha, its founder, does not seem to have had any kind... [continue reading]

The pantheon of the Maya is a vast collection of deities who were worshipped throughout the region which, today, comprises Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. Not all of the gods were venerated in all of the city-states of the Maya (at least, not by the same... [continue reading]

“Touching the Gods: physical interaction with cult statues in the Roman world‟ explores different forms of physical interaction with cult statues in the many cults and beliefs evident across the Roman world, and proposes wide-ranging implications of this for the understanding of Roman religions and Roman art. Despite the theoretical detachment... [continue reading]

“The earth, which once fed you, will now eat you.” This traditional Greek Orthodox (Christian) funerary chant is used at what was once Eleusis in Greece. Christianity, a late comer on the socio-cultural scene of the Mediterranean and born from a Middle Eastern religion (Judaism), borrowed aspects of other mystery religions in order to provide... [continue reading]

The ancient Romans took every precaution in their prayers or rituals to ensure that their deities were addressed by name or generically as a divine spirit, or numen. In many matters of ritual and tradition they acknowledged their dependence on Etruscan practices, Etrusca disciplina. The Etruscans were known for their interpretation of signs such as lightning... [continue reading]

The Palaikastro Hymn—better known as the Hymn of the Kouretes—does not celebrate a god of pre-Hellenic pedigree, who is Zeus in name only, as scholars have believed with virtual unanimity. Rather, an understanding of the conventions of Greek hymnic performance in its ritual context goes far to elucidating many of the ostensibly peculiar features... [continue reading]

This is a second attempt at a synthesis of the main problems for the forthcoming Cambridge History of Ancient Religions. The problems are complex and still threaten to overwhelm. This version remains a cri de coeur: any helpful comments and criticisms are encouraged.

Ritual has always been a popular subject of study in archaeology and anthropology. Early ethnographers relished the details of its drama, and early archaeologists found it a convenient explanation for those finds they could not explain. More sophisticated modern scholars ponder the symbolic complexity of its action, and debate its social function. And... [continue reading]

The cult of the goddess Isis spread from Egypt out to Greece and Rome, where Isis became one of the most celebrated goddesses in the Ancient Mediterranean world. Her worship spanned an impressive time period from around the third millennium BCE up until the fourth century CE. Over time, as Isis was encountered by different cultures, her identity... [continue reading]