Polytheism

confidence in something. Many are polytheistic, believing in more than one individual deity; some are monotheistic, worshipping a single divine being, or as in the case of Atheism, some believe in no higher power whatsoever. Wicca is an example of polytheism, where a goddess is the main deity, with a god as the secondary divinity. The heart of worship that Wiccans have is clearly shown in their religion’s ritual system and reverence for the gods over them, though such a religion is…

Many of the ideas and practices that were common over four thousand years ago have died out, been changed, or are viewed today as being outlandish. For example, the practice of the divine right of kings or royalty and polytheism are a little outdated and rarely practiced in this day and age. Gilgamesh, the oldest existing piece of literature, mentions both of these ideas. Thinking about the epic in a way with a closed mind may discourage some readers to stop reading it and disregard the piece of…

Western Culture stemmed from a fusion of various civilizations. The Greek and the Roman civilizations had some of the biggest impact on the development of the ancient world. What was different about these societies from other cultures within the ancient civilizations was their political and religious systems. As Rome conquered various Hellenistic cities, they captured the essence of Greek culture and melded it within theirs. Through influence of literature, architecture, and mindset, as well as…

The presence of Pseudo-Neros in the years and decades after the actual Nero’s death is a puzzling matter. At least three men (though Tacitus suggests there were much more) claimed to be the late emperor, then proceeded to gain support from plebians, military officials, and foreign empires. All of them were reasonably competent leaders, but the primary reason for their albeit limited success was their supposed name. This paper hopes to discover how and why more than one man threatened Rome by…

Epicurus, a scientific philosopher, based his beliefs on life around his scientific theories and observations. Augustine, a theological philosopher, believed in everything through the Catholic God and was deeply rooted in his faith. To fully incorporate both of these doctrines into everyday life would be impossible. The two belief systems conflict each other greatly, but in some respects, they can be used together to find philosophical truth. Both philosophers had radical ideas about the gods…

This too shows that the upper echelon had reservations about the killing Christians. Trajan’s persecution of the Christians was implemented as a means of social control to ensure that the pagan population did not rebel against the emperor. However, Trajan’s quest for social control did not deter pagans from converting to Christianity, courageous martyrdom in the circus actually promoted the faith. The act of martyrdom is Christianity embracing their ideological differences and exaggerating the…

The true meaning of Christmas, or rather the profoundness of the gift, and what it means. At this time of years, there is tremendous love that surges through our family’s, our churches, our school, and our communities. The love is imbedded into our American and English cultures across every level and every fiber, and this huge upwelling of compassing and love starts in the United States about two weeks before Thanksgiving, climbs to a peak on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and then for a week…

An ancient Egyptian temple at Abu Simbel had a granary that could store enough grain to feed 20,000 people for a year (Fernandez-Armesto 56-65). The ancient Egyptians, like all of the other river valley civilizations were completely dependent on agriculture for food and wealth, as Fernandez-Armesto says, “without agriculture, people could have no security of life.” Without agriculture people would not know where their next meal would come from, but with agriculture they would always know where…

The wide spread of practicing the worship of spiritual beings helped expose early societies to communicate in other forms of expression besides language and writing. Art, storytelling, production of precious metals such as silver and gold, starting being highly sought after and thus helping the progression of trade between civilizations from different areas around the known world. Another trend in earlier civilizations was creating monuments and temples in honoring their Gods. Wonders of…

Athenian democracy was one of the first known democracies. Most of other Greek cities follow the Athenian model of democracy. Athenian democracy was a direct democracy. Direct democracy is a political system in which the people vote on legislation and executive bills in their own right and they do not elect the representatives to vote on their behalf. However, the participation in this activity was not open. Women, children, and slaves were not allowed to vote because they were not considered as…