Religion has been a factor of the human experience throughout history, frompre-historic tomodern times. The bulk of the human religious experience pre-datesrecorded history, which is roughly 7,000 years old.[1] A lack of written records results in most of the knowledge of pre-historic religion being derived fromarchaeological records and other indirect sources, and from suppositions. Much pre-historic religion is subject to continued debate.
Despite claims by some researchers ofbear worship, belief in an afterlife, and other rituals, current archaeological evidence does not support the presence of religious practices by modern humans orNeanderthals during this period.[2]
38,000 BC: TheAurignacian[11]Löwenmensch figurine, the oldest known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) sculpture in the world and one of the oldest known sculptures in general, was made. The sculpture has also been interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an animal, although it may have represented a deity.[12]
35,000 BC – 26,001 BC: Neanderthal burials are absent from the archaeological record. This roughly coincides with the appearance ofHomo sapiens inEurope and decline of the Neanderthals; individual skulls and/or long bones began appearing, heavily stained with redochre and separately buried. This practice may be the origin of sacred relics.[5] The oldest discovered "Venus figurines" appeared in graves. Some were deliberately broken or repeatedly stabbed, possibly representing the murders of the men with whom they were buried,[5] or owing to some other unknown social dynamic.[citation needed]
25,000 BC – 21,000 BC: Clear examples of burials are present in Iberia, Wales, and eastern Europe. These, too, incorporate the heavy use of red ochre. Additionally, various objects were included in the graves (e.g. periwinkle shells,weighted clothing, dolls, possible drumsticks, mammoth ivory beads, fox teethpendants, panoply of ivoryartifacts, "baton" antlers, flint blades etc.).[5]
13,000 BC – 8,000 BC: Noticeable burial activity resumed. Prior mortuary activity had either taken a less obvious form or contemporaries retained some of their burial knowledge in the absence of such activity. Dozens of men, women, and children were being buried in the same caves which were used for burials 10,000 years beforehand. All these graves are delineated by the cave walls and large limestone blocks. The burials share a number of characteristics (such as use of ochre, and shell and mammoth ivory jewellery) that go back thousands of years. Some burials were double, comprising an adult male with a juvenile male buried by his side. They were now beginning to take on the form of moderncemeteries. Old burials were commonly re-dug and moved to make way for new ones, with the older bones often being gathered andcached together. Large stones may have acted as grave markers. Pairs of ochred antlers were sometimes mounted on poles within the cave; this is compared to the modern practice of leaving flowers at a grave.[5]
10,000 BC – 8,000 BC: TheBaghor stone from presumably one of the oldestShaktishrines in India, and one of the oldest sites of worship yet discovered in the world, is estimated to have been formed during this period (9000-8000 BC). However, it may predate 10,000 BC as samples were dated to 11,870 (± 120)YBP in a 1983 publication.[13] The living shrine at which it was found is currently used as a place for worshippingDevi by bothHindus and IndianMuslims. The triangular shape of the stone is that of theKaliYantra which is also still in use across India. The Kol and Baiga tribes consider the triangular shape to symbolise the mother goddess 'Mai', variously named Kerai, Kari, Kali,Kalika or Karika.[14]
9130 BC – 8000 BC: This was the apparent period of use ofGöbekli Tepe with the earliest dates back to 9500calBC, one of the oldest human-made sites of worship yet discovered; evidence of similar usage has also been found in another nearby site,Nevalı Çori.[15][16]
7500 BC – 5700 BC: The settlements ofÇatalhöyük developed as a likely spiritual center ofAnatolia. Possibly practising worship in communal shrines, its inhabitants left behind numerous clay figurines and impressions of phallic, feminine, and hunting scenes.[17][verification needed]
7250 BC – 6500 BC: TheAyn Ghazal statues were made inJordan during the Neolithic.[18] These statues were argued to have been gods, legendary leaders, or other figures of power. They were suggested to have been a representation of a fusion of previously separate communities byGary O. Rollefson.[19]
3100 BCE: The initial form ofStonehenge was completed. The circular bank and ditch enclosure, about 110 metres (360 ft) across, may have been completed with atimber circle.
2600 BCE: Stonehenge began to take on itsfinal form. The wooden posts were replaced withbluestone. It began taking on an increasingly complex setup (including analtar, aportal,station stones, etc.) and shows consideration of solaralignments.
2200 BCE: TheMinoan civilization developed in Crete. Citizens worshipped a variety of goddesses.
2150–2000 BCE: The earliest surviving versions of theSumerianEpic of Gilgamesh—originally titledHe who Saw the Deep (Sha naqba īmuru) orSurpassing All Other Kings (Shūtur eli sharrī)—were written.
1600 BCE: The ancient development ofStonehenge came to anend.
1500 BCE – 1000 BCE: The oldest of theHinduVedas (scriptures), theRigveda was composed.[27][28][29] This is the first mention ofRudra, a fearsome form ofShiva as the supreme god.
800 BCE – 300 BCE: TheUpanishads (Vedic texts) were composed, containing the earliest emergence of some of the central religious concepts ofHinduism andBuddhism.
8th to 6th centuries BCE: TheChandogya Upanishad is compiled, significant for containing the earliest to date mention ofKrishna. Verse 3.17.6 mentions Krishna Devakiputra (Sanskrit:कृष्णाय देवकीपुत्रा) as a student of the sage Ghora Angirasa.
6th century BCE: Possible start ofZoroastrianism;[40] Zoroastrianism flourished under the Persian emperors known as theAchaemenids. The emperorsDarius (ruled 522–486 BCE) andXerxes I (ruled 486–465 BCE) made it the official religion of their empire.[41]
5th century BCE: The first five books of the JewishTanakh, theTorah (Hebrew:תורה), are probably compiled.[42]
c. 250 BCE: TheThird Buddhist council was convened byAshoka. Ashoka sends Buddhist missionaries to faraway countries, such as China, mainland Southeast Asia, Malay kingdoms, and Hellenistic kingdoms.
c. 350: The oldest record of the complete biblical texts (theCodex Sinaiticus) survives in a Greek translation called theSeptuagint, dating to the 4th century CE.
381 – 391: Theodosius outlawspaganism within the Roman Empire. Laws enacted requiring death penalty for acts of Divination.
393: A council of early Christian bishops listed and approved abiblical canon for the first time at theSynod of Hippo.
400:Saint Augustine exhorts his congregation to smash all pagan artefacts, saying "for that all superstition of pagans and heathens should be annihilated is what God wants, God commands, God proclaims!"
449: TheSecond Council of Ephesus declared support forEutyches and attacked his opponents. Originally convened as an ecumenical council, its ecumenical nature was rejected by theChalcedonians, who denounced the council aslatrocinium.
570 – 632: The life of the Islamic prophetMuhammad.
632: Work began on the compilation of theQuran into the form of a book (soon to be known as Mashaf-ul-Hafsa), in the era ofAbu Bakr, the firstCaliph of Islam.
632 – 661: TheRashidun Caliphate heralded the Arab conquest of Persia, Egypt and Iraq, bringing Islam to those regions.
661 – 750: TheUmayyad Caliphate brought the Arab conquest of North Africa, Spain and Central Asia, marking the greatest extent of the Arab conquests and bringing Islam to those regions.
1222 – 1282: The life ofNichiren Daishonin, the Buddha of theLatter Day of the Law and founder of Nichiren Buddhism. Based at theNichiren Shoshu Head Temple Taisekiji (Japan), this branch of Buddhism teaches the importance of chanting the mantraNam Myōhō Renge Kyō.
1228 – 1229: TheSixth Crusade won control of large areas of the Holy Land for Christian rulers, more through diplomacy than through fighting.
1300 – 1521: During theAztecs' existence in thepost-classic period from 1300 to 1521, they practised areligion which encompassed a complex range of practices and beliefs, being generallypolytheistic.Human sacrifice was practised on a grand scale throughout theAztec Empire, which was performed in honour of theirgods.[52]
1526:African religious systems were introduced to the Americas, with the commencement of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Inception ofMughal Dynasty, which was one of the longest ruling in India from1526-1858. Mughals were Muslims of Central Asian origin, speaking Persian as their court language. The majority of the population under their rule was Hindu, but the Mughals were predominantly Muslim. Except for Akbar and Jahangir, who were religiously tolerant, the Mughal emperors especially Aurangzeb tried imposing their religion on the others.
1801: the French Revolutionary Government andPope Pius VII entered into theConcordat of 1801. While Roman Catholicism regained some powers and became recognised as "the religion of the great majority of the French", it was not afforded the latitude it had enjoyed prior to the Revolution and was not re-established as the official state religion. The Church relinquished all claims to estate seized after 1790, the clergy was state salaried and was obliged to swear allegiance to the State. Religious freedom was restored.
1819 – 1850: The life of Siyyid 'Alí Muḥammad Shírází (Persian:سيد علی محمد شیرازی), better known asthe Báb, the founder ofBábism.
1930: After previously failing to claim the leadership of the Moorish Science Temple of America,Wallace Fard Muhammad creates theNation of Islam in Detroit, Michigan.
1932: A neo-Hindu religious movement, theBrahma Kumaris or "Daughters of Brahma", started. Its origin can be traced to the group "Om Mandali", founded by Lekhraj Kripalani (1884–1969).
1939 – 1945: Millions ofJews were relocated and murdered by theNazis during theHolocaust.
1947:Pakistan, the firstnation-state in the name ofIslam was created.British India was partitioned into the secular nation ofIndia with a Hindu majority and the Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan (the eastern half of whom would later becomeBangladesh).
1948: The modern state ofIsrael was established as a homeland for the Jews.
1972 – 2004:Germanic Neopaganism (aka Heathenism, Heathenry, Ásatrú, Odinism, Forn Siðr, Vor Siðr, and Theodism) began to experience a second wave of revival.[79][80][81][82][83]
1973:Claude Vorilhon established theRaëlian Movement and changed his name toRaël following a purported extraterrestrial encounter in December 1973.
2008:Nepal, the world's only Hindu Kingdom, was declared asecular state by its Constituent Assembly after declaring the state a Republic on 28 May 2008.[94]
2009: TheChurch of Scientologyin France was fined €600,000 and several of its leaders were fined and imprisoned for defrauding new recruits of their savings.[95][96][97] The state failed to disband the church owing to legal changes occurring over the same time period.[97][98]
2011:Civil war broke out in Syria over domestic political issues. The country soon split along sectarian lines between Sunni Muslims, Alawite and Shiites.[99] War crimes and acts of genocide were committed by both parties as religious leaders on each side condemned the other as heretics.[100] The Syrian civil war soon became a battleground for regional sectarian unrest, as fighters joined the fight from as far away as North America and Europe, as well as Iran and the Arab states.[101]
2014: A supposed IslamicCaliphate was established by the self-proclaimedIslamic State in regions of war tornSyria andIraq, drawing global support from radicalSunni Muslims.[102][103] This was a modern-day attempt to re-establish Islamic self-rule in accordance with strict adherence toShariah-Islamic religious law.[104] In the wake of the Syrian civil war, Islamic extremists targeted the indigenous Arab Christian communities. In acts of genocide, numerous ancient Christian andYazidi communities were evicted and threatened with death by various Muslim Sunni fighter groups.[105] AfterISIS terrorist forces infiltrated and took over large parts of northern Iraq from Syria, many ancient Christian andYazidi enclaves were destroyed.[105][106]
^Lieberman, Philip (1991).Uniquely human : the evolution of speech, thought, and selfless behavior. Harvard University Press.ISBN9780674921832.OCLC21764294.
^Bowler JM, Jones R, Allen H, Thorne AG (1970). "Pleistocene human remains from Australia: a living site and human cremation from Lake Mungo, Western New South Wales".World Archaeol.2 (1):39–60.doi:10.1080/00438243.1970.9979463.PMID16468208.
^Bowler, J.M. 1971. Pleistocene salinities and climatic change: Evidence from lakes and lunettes in southeastern Australia. In: Mulvaney, D.J. and Golson, J. (eds), Aboriginal Man and Environment in Australia. Canberra: Australian National University Press, pp. 47–65.
^Olleya JM, Roberts RG, Yoshida H, Bowler JM (2006). "Single-grain optical dating of grave-infill associated with human burials at Lake Mungo, Australia".Quaternary Science Reviews.25 (19–20):2469–2474.Bibcode:2006QSRv...25.2469O.doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.07.022.
^Rollefson, Gary O (January 2002). "Ritual and Social Structure at Neolithic 'Ain Ghazal". In Kujit, Ian (ed.).Life in Neolithic Farming Communities: Social Organization, Identity, and Differentiation. New York, New York: Springer. p. 185.ISBN9780306471667.
^"Beginning in the pottery-phase of the Neolithic, clay tokens are widely attested as a system of counting and identifying specific amounts of specified livestock or commodities. The tokens, enclosed in clay envelopes after being impressed on their rounded surface, were gradually replaced by impressions on flat or plano-convex tablets, and these in turn by more or less conventionalized pictures of the tokens incised on the clay with a reed stylus. The transition to writing was completeW. Hallo; W. Simpson (1971).The Ancient Near East. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. p. 25.
^Shaw, Ian, ed. (2002).The Oxford history of ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.ISBN978-0-19-815034-3.
^Allen, James P.; Der Manuelian, Peter, eds. (2005).The ancient Egyptian pyramid texts. Writings from the ancient world. Atlanta: Soc. of Biblical Literature.ISBN978-1-58983-182-7.
^Flood, Gavin D. (1996).An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press.
^Anthony, David W. (2007).The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World. Princeton University Press.
^Thapar, Romila; Witzel, Michael; Menon, Jaya; Friese, Kai; Khan, Razib (2019).Which of us are Aryans? rethinking the concept of our origins. New Delhi: Aleph.ISBN978-93-88292-38-2.
^Montserat, Dominic (2003).Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt (1st paperback ed.). London, UK; New York, NY: Routledge (published 2000). p. 36.ISBN0415301866.
^The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Andrew R. George (reprinted ed.). London: Penguin Books. 2003 [1999]. pp. ii,xxiv–v.ISBN0-14-044919-1.TheBabylonians believed this poem to have been the responsibility of a man called Sîn-liqe-unninni, a learned scholar ofUruk whom modern scholars consider to have lived some time between 1300–1000 BC.
^Knodell, Alex R. (2021).Societies in Transition in Early Greece: An Archaeological History. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.ISBN978-0-5203-8053-0.
^"The History of Greece".Hellenicfoundation.com. Archived fromthe original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved21 April 2024.: "The period from 1100 to 800 B.C. is known as the Dark Age of Greece. As described in the Ancient Greek Thesaursus: Throughout the area there are signs of a sharp cultural decline. Some sites, formerly inhabited, were now abandoned."
^Martin, Thomas R., (October 3, 2019)."The Dark Ages of Ancient Greece"Archived 2020-10-26 at theWayback Machine: "...The Near East recovered its strength much sooner than did Greece, ending its Dark Age by around 900 B.C...The end of the Greek Dark Age is traditionally placed some 150 years after that, at about 750 B.C..." Retrieved October 24, 2020
^Rawlinson, Hugh George. (1950)A Concise History of the Indian People, Oxford University Press. p. 46.
^Muller, F. Max. (2001)The Dhammapada And Sutta-nipata, Routledge (UK). p. xlvii.ISBN0-7007-1548-7.
^India: A History. Revised and Updated, by John Keay: "The date [of Buddha's meeting with Bimbisara] (given the Buddhist 'short chronology') must have been around 400 BCE."
^Chan, Alan (21 September 2018)."Laozi".Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved3 August 2024.
^Ashtadhyayi, Work by Panini. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2013.Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved23 October 2017.Ashtadhyayi, Sanskrit Aṣṭādhyāyī ("Eight Chapters"), Sanskrit treatise on grammar written in the 6th to 5th century BCE by the Indian grammarian Panini.
^Maas, Philipp A. (1 January 2013)."A Concise Historiography of Classical Yoga Philosophy".Pre-print Version of the Article Published in: Eli Franco (Ed.), Periodization and Historiography of Indian Philosophy. Publications of the de Nobili Research Library, 37. Vienna: Sammlung de Nobili.
^Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). Turning the Tables on Jesus: The Mandaean View. InHorsley, Richard (March 2010).Christian Origins. Fortress Press.ISBN9781451416640.(pp94-111). Minneapolis: Fortress Press
^Drower, Ethel Stefana (1953).The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
^Ingham, John M. "Human Sacrifice at Tenochtitlan"
^Clifton, Chas (1998). "The Significance of Aradia". in Mario Pazzaglini. Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, A New Translation. Blaine, Washington: Phoenix Publishing, Inc.. p. 73.ISBN0-919345-34-4.
^Leo P. Chall,Sociological Abstracts, vol 26 issues 1–3, "Sociology of Religion", 1978, p. 193 col 2: "Rutherford, through the Watch Tower Society, succeeded in changing all aspects of the sect from 1919 to 1932 and created —a charismatic offshoot of the Bible student community."
^Gardner, Gerald B (1999) [1954]. Witchcraft Today. Lake Toxaway, NC: Mercury Publishing. OCLC 44936549
^Gooch, Brad (2002).Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America. A.A. Knopf. p. 34.ISBN9780679447092.
^"About Oberon Zell". 24 November 2007. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007.
^Faculty of Catholic University of America, ed (1967). "Vatican Council II". New Catholic Encyclopedia. XIV (1 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 563. OCLC 34184550.
^Alberigo, Giuseppe; Sherry, Matthew (2006). A Brief History of Vatican II. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. pp. 69.ISBN1-57075-638-4.
^Hahnenberg, Edward (2007). A Concise Guide to the Documents of Vatican II. City: Saint Anthony Messenger Press. pp. 44.ISBN0-86716-552-9.
^Alberigo, Giuseppe; Sherry, Matthew (2006). A Brief History of Vatican II. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. pp. 1.ISBN1-57075-638-4.
^The Church of Satan: A History of the World's Most Notorious Religion by Blanche Barton (Hell's Kitchen Productions, 1990,ISBN0-9623286-2-6)
^abMcKay, George (1996) Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties, ch.1 'The free festivals and fairs of Albion', ch. 2 two 'O life unlike to ours! Go for it! New Age travellers'. London: Verso.ISBN1-85984-028-0
^Icelandic, "Hugmyndin að Ásatrúarfélaginu byggðist á trú á dulin öfl í landinu, í tengslum við mannfólkið sem skynjaði ekki þessa hluti til fulls nema einstöku menn. Það tengdist síðan þjóðlegum metnaði og löngun til að Íslendingar ættu sína trú, og ræktu hana ekki síður en innflutt trúarbrögð." Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (1992:140).
^"Fyrirspurnartími".Morgunblaðið, 27 November 1973.
^Ólafur Jóhannesson.Stjórnskipun Íslands. Hlaðbúð, 1960. Page 429.
^Icelandic, "fór fram með tilþrifum og atorku", "Reiddust goðin?"Vísir, 7 August 1973.
^ÞS. "Blótuðu Þór í úrhellisrigningu."Vísir, 7 August 1973.
^E. Szafarz, "The Legal Framework for Political Cooperation in Europe" inThe Changing Political Structure of Europe: Aspects of International Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.ISBN0-7923-1379-8.p.221.
Deo, Shantaram Bhalchandra (1956),History of Jaina monachism from inscriptions and literature,Pune: Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute
