Part 2: Mesopotamia
Sumer-Akkadian
Babylonians
Greece
Rome
Europe beyond the Alps
THE REGION OF MESOPOTAMIA
Facts
The prehistoric hunters and fishers in the swamps at the conjunction of the Tigris and Euphrates
Then
Cities
That
THE
Nearly
Most were stewards, servants, messengers, or warriors
6 Greater Gods - These gods
Of all the gods -
Myth and Epics
The first thing to exist was the sea (Namur), then heaven or sky (An), and earth (Ki). An and Ki made air (Enlil). Enlil begot moon-god (Nanna). Nanna begot sun-god (Utu). When Enlil United it’s his mother (Ki) and recieved aid from water (Enki) plants and animals came into being. Humans came from Namur the sea, Nimah Mother Earth, and Enki water.
Tablet found at the Sumerian City of Nippur. This clay tablet from the second millennium tells the stories of the creation, the flood, and Epic of Gilgamesh.
The
The original flood story was Sumerian and came out of grim experiences with the overflowing of the two rivers.
In the Gilgamesh epic - the gods decided in anger to punish human sins by a flood. Their secret decision was revealed to one man. The good god Ea felt kindly toward Utnapishtim and told him. The man proceeded immediately to build an ark.
120 cubits high were its sides
140 cubits reached the edge of its roof.
Ishtar’s
Ishtar went down into the Nether World to recover her dead lover, the personification of the strong sun of springtime, whose vigor fades away in autumn.
When she enters the Land of No Return, she enters through 7 gates and loses an article of clothing at each one until she is naked at the center. She endures suffering of sixty diseases, during this time no one can reproduce their kind. Love and fertility are gone.
Ea sends a message to Hades and the goddess of the dead orders Namath to sprinkle Ishtar with “the water of life” She is restored to bloom and health begins her journey back to the upper world.
This is how they explained winter to spring.
The
It begins with the friendship of Gilgamesh and the ruler of the city Uruk (Erich), with the wild man (Enkidu) who dies prematurely for offending the goddess Ishtar.
It is about his journey through many perils, in search of immortality, to the realm of the departed beyond the western (the Mediterranean) “waters of death” where his ancestor Utnapishtim dwells and concludes with his disconsolate return to Uruk after being robbed by a serpent of the herb of immortality which Utnapishtim enabled him to find at the bottom of the sea.
This describes the Babylonian people.
They had
All joy was in
Sacrifice and Magic
To insure themselves the blessings of this life, the Babylonians resorted to their priests for
The priest could put a
Divination and Astrology
Divination was one main function of the priesthood, in fact, one whole order of priests specialized in the interpretation of
Astrology went hand in hand with Divination.
The diviners kept accurate and detailed records of the movements they observed in the heavens, which paved the way for astrology studying for us today, to try and understand the
The gathering of the gods in early Hellas
The determinative fact in the formation of early Greek religion is the northern invasion beginning about the twentieth century BC.
The invaders were formidable horse-borne warriors of Aryan or Indo-European speech, who came down from the northern parts of Greece in their chariots to establish themselves as masters of the Helladic peoples.
The mingled Pantheon
The Indo-European invaders contributed to the divine with:
Chief god named
Sky father
Rainmaker
Earth mother
Virgin goddess
Sister of Zeus
Honored at the beginning and the end of every sacrifice
Rhea, Athena, Hermes, Hera Is a
Apollo from
Aphrodite from
Dionysus and Ares from
All the gods came together at
Interactions of the gods
They believed that the deities themselves surrounded them and assisted them in their needs. (
They were polytheists.
The gods dwelled in and under the earth, in the sky and under the sea
They did not
The complex functions of Major Deities
Zeus (Zeus enthroned: the king of the gods sits majesty on his throne and raises his hand aloft as holding a scepter. He is pronouncing a judgment that he expects his hearers to accept without demur.)
An
He was identified with many mountain tops in Greece.
He was god of fertility, some have him as god of the underworld.
Zeus-Polieus he guarded several city-states
Zeus-Aphiktor he was the united cry of the suppliant
Zeus-Phratrios when a father brought his child for enrollment in the phratry.
Hera
She is from the other side. She was a god of the
She was originally the cow-goddess (sacred cows)
In Mycenaean she was Argive Kore (maiden) she hung out with Peloponnesian Argos and Hercules
Also connected to Argros in Thessaly and Jason (Golden Fleece)
Zeus parted with Dione and became her heavy-browed consort.
Because of this she became the patroness of married women, their counselor and example.
Apollo
Not Hellenic.
In the Iliad he is not on the Greeks side but the
From the island of Delos or the plains of Asia Minor.
He stood for pastoral and agriculture interests. (Not originally a sun-god)
A shepherd for Laomedon near Troy and Admetos in Thessaly (possible a wolf-god)
His arrows not only drew blood but passed on a deadly sickness. (He was also the god of healing until his son Aesculapius displaced him)
Model of Delphi at about 160ce - the temple of Apollo, Parthenon-like dominates the scene on this suggested restoration of the famed seat of the priestesses who uttered the “Delphic oracles.” Five hundred years earlier, Socrates came to Delphi when there were fewer buildings and less wealth, perhaps more belief.
Other Deities
Artemis
Virginal deity of the
Runs through the mountains and forest with her nymphs
Gentle lover of children, Protectress of men and maidens
Artemis of Ephesus was a motherly goddess, connected with fertility
Hermes
Guides travelers to their
He was in charge of leading the spirits of the dead to Hades.
The messages between Zeus and the earth below.
Poseidon
Was the god of the
Originally a horse-god guarding inland lakes and streams
Athena
The wise virginal
Owl-goddess
In Athens she was connected to fertility
Demeter
Was the goddess of the fertile
Mother of slender and beauteous Persephone
Aphrodite
Was the goddess of
Possible the western form of Ishtar
Born of the sea foam, clear skinned and delicate and beautiful
Dionysus
Was not assimilable and was
The
The gods no longer live among the people but on
Zeus and Hera stay there the other gods can leave but must
Athena is his
Ares
Aphrodite goddess of
Son of Zeus and his
Hermes the heavenly guide or messenger of the gods, son of Zeus and the affair with
Poseidon god of the sea
Hades god of the
Demeter is Zeus sister with the same parents, but she
Despite all of their power that controls nature they are
Moira or what is called
Moria does not stand
He tried to bring the gods into some semblance of order by raising the question of
He declared that
Chaos produced
Night
Discord gave
Earth brought into
Earth and ocean produced
Earth took Ouranos and conceived the
Ouranos stopped them from being born. Earth
That impregnated Earth and she brought forth the
Aphrodite goddess of love sprang from the
Kronos married his sister Rhea.
Zeus
Zeus
This was his way of bring
The Day-To-Day
It was mainly
The
Pan - the pasture,
Demeter - earth mother
Hermes - messages
Daimons - various kinds of spirits full of mana, closer than a brother, Socrates had one he said
keres - vague powers like old age, death, destructive passions like jealousy, pride
the furies
Also omens, taboos, magic
Apollo and Athen were honored in the summer and the fall, Detmer her daughter in late summer and fall, Dionysus and Artemis in the spring. Zeus was the exception as he was honored year round.
The year began with a great sacrifice to Apollo,
“the Hecatombaia” because
In May “the Thargelia”, it was purification rites where two dirty men with dried figs were chased through the streets and then
In late summer and early fall there are 3 festivals that celebrate his powers to
Athena, the chief patroness of the city, received her highest honors during Panathenaea.
Held every year, during the midsummer, but every fourth year with special pageantry to celebrate her “birthday”
A long procession carried a newly embroidered mantle, mounted like a sail on a ship on wheels, to her image on the Acropolis. Followed by sacrifices and games.
Earlier in the summer each year there was the Kallynteria and Plynteria, purification of her temple and the city.
Demeter and her daughter Persephone received honor in later summer and fall in at least five different cities
Zeus had the greatest festival of the spring the Diasia
It had a holocaust which was a whole burnt offering
Hera was honored in January with Zeus during Gamelia which was the celebrated of their “holy” marriage
Artemis for the connection with animals was honored in 3 fertility festivals in spring.
Dionysus was in April and may had a six day celebration it had great literary importance
What about the
They would take the Homeric point of view and go
It began as
Everything in the universe is some form of one thing.
Thales said water
Anaximenes said air
Heraclitus said fire
Anaximander said it was indifferent and infinite.
They all agreed that it was creative or divine
Fought against the the mystery religions
They do not recommend justice for the sake of justice; they practice virtue from the sake of rewards it brings.
Plato was not denying the existence of the gods but he believed they were.
He believed that all of the humans were placing themselves
Found no need for the traditional gods of the Greeks.
He did consider the
This being caused all the movements of celestial and terrestrial bodies by attracting them to himself.
The Religion of
The chief holy place was at first outside the territory.
Diana was worshiped in the grove of Aricia on Lake Nemi
It was sometimes called “the religion of Numa”
It was very close to magic, plenty of charms, taboos, and reading of omens.
It paid close attention to supernatural forces called “numina”
Meaning to affirm or command
They did not
The Religion of the
They were mainly farmers, homemakers, child-raisers, and soldiers of war.
They turned to the relevant source for what they need success in.
Take
To Saturnus for sowing
Ceres for growth of grain
Consus for harvesting
Ops for safe storage
Tellus for the soil
Flora for the blossoms to the field
Pomona for the ripening
Faunus to preside over the woods
Lares over the sown fields
Pales over the open pasture
Terminus over the boundary stone
Fons over the springs
Volturnus over the running river
Take
Janus over the door
Vesta defender of the threshold
The man of the house must be on good terms with Janus and the women were to worship Vesta at the hearth.
The Religion of the
It was very well organized.
The chief deities had
On the 104th day each year the priests would perform a long list of ceremonies and sacrifices
What God were these ceremonies to?
In some cases no special deity seemed to be involved.
In other cases
Anna Perenna, Carmenta, Carna, Ceres, Consus, Diva Angerona, Falacer, Faunus, Flora, Fons, Furrina, Janus, Jupiter, Larenta, Lares, Lemures, Liber, Mars, Mater Matuta, Neptune’s, Ops, Pales, Palatua, Pomona, Portunis, Quirinus, Robigus, Saturnus, Tellus, Terminus, Vejovis, Vesta, Volcanus, Volturnus
A little more detail on some of the gods
Dateless origin
Also known as Dyaus Pixar, Zeus Pater
He absorbs many other gods and his exalted title was Optimus Maximus
He is known as the god of lightning, thunder, rain, light
Two war gods
Mars was Ares (Greek)
He started out as protector of the fields and herds
His sacred symbols were lance and shield - animal the wolf
Quirinus
Not much is known other than a war god
It is said they he might be the god of war on the defense where Mars is offense.
Janus and
They were the first and last deities invoked in ceremonies
Janus as keeper of the door was first
He was god of beginnings
Symbol was a gateway
Vesta as defender of the door was last
The
They moved from Italy to northwest Germany where they merged with Nordic and Alpine tribes.
According to Julius Caesar they worshiped a god named
He was a god of magic and the dead
They also worshiped Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva, Dispate was god of netherworld
The druids
The
3 types
Druids -
Equites -
Plebs -
They performed in forest sanctuaries, in homes, and in sacred groves
They were both religious as well as political.
To them they found divinity in
Fertility Rituals
They were very concerned with
The power was in male and female as well as mother-goddess
Today we will move on to religions that we might know a little more about. The more common ones you could say. It is safe to say that over the last two thousand years, mainly two religious thoughts dominated the world’s religious landscape. Indian religions, which include Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc., and the Abrahamic religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. In addition, people in many countries practice various folk or traditional religions, including African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions, and Australian aboriginal religions. Worldwide, more than 84% of people identify with a religious group.
Would you agree with this? Why or why not?
As of 2023, according to worldometer:
Christianity was by far the world’s largest religion, 2,173,180,000 Christians (31% of world population), of which 50% are Catholic, 37% Protestant, 12% Orthodox, and 1% other.
Would you agree with this? Why or why not?
Islam 1,598,510,000 (23%), of which 87-90% are Sunnis, 10-13% Shia.
The unaffiliated population in the world is 1,126,500,000 (16%): atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion. One-in-five people (20%) in the United States are religiously unaffiliated.
Hinduism, with 1,033,080,000 (15%), the overwhelming majority (94%) of which live in India.
Buddhists with 487,540,000 (7%), of which half live in China.
Adherents of various folk religions – 405,120,000 (6%): faiths that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe.
Other Religions 58,110,000 (1%): Baha’i faith, Taoism, Jainism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, Zoroastrianism and many others.
Jews 13,850,000 (0.2%), four-fifths of whom live in two countries: the United States (41%) and Israel (41%).
What stands out to you looking at these numbers?
Religion in the UNITED STATES
In the United States according to an average of all the 2021 Gallup polling, about three in four Americans said they identify with a specific religious faith.
TYPE
2021/Percentage
1971/Percentage
Christian
69%
90%
Protestant
35%
Catholic
22%
Christian
12%
Non-Christian
7%
6%
Jewish
2%
Muslim
1%
Buddhist
1%
No Religious Preference
21%
4%
Did Not Respond
3%
What stands out to you looking at these numbers?
Religion in the MISSISSIPPI
Mississippi is the most religious U.S. state, and is one of eight states where Gallup classifies at least half of the residents as “very religious.” According to Pew Research this is how.
Christian - 69.4%
Non-Christian - 4.5%
Other Faiths - 2.1%
Unaffiliated- 24%
Evangelical Protestant - 41%
Mormon - 1%
Unitarians - 1%
Atheist 1%
Mainline Protestant - 12%
Orthodox- <1%
New Age <1%
Agnostic 3%
Black Protestant - 24%
Jehovah’s Witness- <1%
Native American <1%
Nothing 19%
Catholic - 4%
Jewish <1%
Don’t Know 1%
Other - .4%
Muslim <1%
Buddust <1%
Hindu <1%
Other World Religions <1%
What stands out to you looking at these numbers?
Religion in Yalobusha County, Mississippi
Yalobusha County, Mississippi is home to many religious congregations. These churches provide a variety of services, such as worship services, weddings, funerals, youth programs and recreational activities for the community. Each church has its own unique history and culture as they continue to serve their local parishioners. A number of churches in Yalobusha County are affiliated with the Methodist and Baptist denominations as well as other Christian denominations. There are also nondenominational churches in the county that cater to a variety of religious denominations. In addition to providing spiritual guidance for their members, each church in Yalobusha County also serves as an important social hub in the community offering fellowship and support. As the population continues to grow in Yalobusha County, these local churches will remain an integral part of this vibrant community.
59.2% of the people in Yalobusha County are religious:
- 46.5% are Baptist
- 0.0% are Episcopalian
- 0.0% are Catholic
- 0.0% are Lutheran
- 8.3% are Methodist
- 1.1% are Pentecostal
- 0.5% are Presbyterian
- 0.0% are Church of Jesus Christ
- 2.8% are another Christian faith
- 0.0% are Judaism
- 0.0% are an eastern faith
- 0.0% affiliated with Islam
- 40.8% have no religion preference
What stands out to you looking at these numbers?
Religion in Water Valley, Mississippi
Water Valley, MS is a small town located in the northern part of the state. On Sundays, area families worship in some 40 churches and give thanks for their homes, community, and way of life. The most prominent of these are the Methodist and Baptist churches which both have strong roots in the community and a long history of providing spiritual guidance and support for local families. Other denominations represented in Water Valley include Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and Episcopalians who each contribute to the diverse worship experience offered to the citizens of this small town. All of these churches provide an important service to their congregations by offering a place for fellowship and spiritual growth as well as providing an avenue for social connections within the community.
59.2% of the people in Water Valley are religious:
- 46.5% are Baptist
- 0.0% are Episcopalian
- 0.0% are Catholic
- 0.0% are Lutheran
- 8.3% are Methodist
- 1.1% are Pentecostal
- 0.5% are Presbyterian
- 0.0% are Church of Jesus Christ
- 2.8% are another Christian faith
- 0.0% are Judaism
- 0.0% are an eastern faith
- 0.0% affiliated with Islam
- 40.8% have no religion preference
What stands out to you looking at these numbers?
Religion in Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford, Mississippi is home to a diverse range of religious congregations. The city boasts congregations from many Christian denominations, including Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Catholic Churches. Additionally, there are several non-Christian congregations in Oxford, including Jewish synagogues and Islamic centers. Each congregation provides spiritual guidance and community support for its members. An important part of the Oxford community is the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service which brings together members of all religious backgrounds to celebrate their faith and give thanks for their blessings. This service has become an integral part of the community’s cultural identity and has been held each year since 2008. With so many opportunities for worshipful engagement within the city limits, Oxford is a wonderful place for people of any faith background to feel connected and supported within their spiritual practice.
41.7% of the people in Oxford are religious:
- 19.3% are Baptist
- 1.6% are Episcopalian
- 2.4% are Catholic
- 0.1% are Lutheran
- 10.4% are Methodist
- 0.4% are Pentecostal
- 2.7% are Presbyterian
- 1.0% are Church of Jesus Christ
- 2.9% are another Christian faith
- 0.0% are Judaism
- 0.0% are an eastern faith
- 0.7% affiliated with Islam
- 58.3% have no religion preference
What stands out to you looking at these numbers?
We will continue to look more in depth at these religions as we go through them region by region.