Ancient Religions & Mythology
What did our ancestors believe in? What myths and stories did they use to explain the world around them and find meaning in it? How have their beliefs influenced modern religion and spirituality? Explore these questions and more while discovering notable traditions, figures, and legends that figured prominently in ancient religion and mythology.
Ancient Religions & Mythology Encyclopedia Articles
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Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. Traditionally, they were the sons of Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa. Numitor had been deposed by his younger brother Amulius, who...
Greek religion
Greek religion, religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Hellenes. Greek religion is not the same as Greek mythology, which is concerned with traditional tales, though the two are closely interlinked....
Middle Eastern religion
Middle Eastern religion, any of the religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices developed in the ancient Middle East (extending geographically from Iran to Egypt and from Anatolia and the Aegean Sea to...
Germanic religion and mythology
Germanic religion and mythology, complex of stories, lore, and beliefs about the gods and the nature of the cosmos developed by the Germanic-speaking peoples before their conversion to Christianity. Germanic...
Arabian religion
Arabian religion, polytheistic beliefs and practices that existed in Arabia before the rise of Islam in the 7th century ce. Arabia is here understood in the broad sense of the term to include the confines...
Mesopotamian religion
Mesopotamian religion, beliefs and practices of the Sumerians and Akkadians, and their successors, the Babylonians and Assyrians, who inhabited ancient Mesopotamia (now in Iraq) in the millennia before...
Roman religion
Roman religion, beliefs and practices of the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula from ancient times until the ascendancy of Christianity in the 4th century ce, during a period known as Classical antiquity....
ancient Iranian religion
Ancient Iranian religion, diverse beliefs and practices of the culturally and linguistically related group of ancient peoples who inhabited the Iranian plateau and its borderlands, as well as areas of...
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism, ancient pre-Islamic religion of Iran that survives there in isolated areas and, more prosperously, in India, where the descendants of Zoroastrian Iranian (Persian) immigrants are known...
creation myth
Creation myth, philosophical and theological elaboration of the primal myth of creation within a religious community. The term myth here refers to the imaginative expression in narrative form of what is...
Syrian and Palestinian religion
Syrian and Palestinian religion, beliefs of Syria and Palestine between 3000 and 300 bce. These religions are usually defined by the languages of those who practiced them: e.g., Amorite, Hurrian, Ugaritic,...
Anatolian religion
Anatolian religion, beliefs and practices of the ancient peoples and civilizations of Turkey and Armenia, including the Hittites, Hattians, Luwians, Hurrians, Assyrian colonists, Urartians, and Phrygians....
Baltic religion
Baltic religion, religious beliefs and practices of the Balts, ancient inhabitants of the Baltic region of eastern Europe who spoke languages belonging to the Baltic family of languages. The study of Baltic...
ancient Greek civilization
Ancient Greek civilization, the period following Mycenaean civilization, which ended about 1200 bce, to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 bce. It was a period of political, philosophical, artistic,...
ancient Egyptian religion
Ancient Egyptian religion, indigenous beliefs of ancient Egypt from predynastic times (4th millennium bce) to the disappearance of the traditional culture in the first centuries ce. For historical background...
Thor
Thor, deity common to all the early Germanic peoples, a great warrior represented as a red-bearded, middle-aged man of enormous strength, an implacable foe to the harmful race of giants but benevolent...
mystery religion
Mystery religion, any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions. They originated in tribal ceremonies...
Finno-Ugric religion
Finno-Ugric religion, pre-Christian and pre-Islamic religious beliefs and practices of the Finno-Ugric peoples, who inhabit regions of northern Scandinavia, Siberia, the Baltic area, and central Europe....