Ancient religion (Ancient Greece, Rome, Scythia) …………………… 3
List of used literature …………………………………… 15
Ancient religion (Ancient Greece, Rome, Scythia)
Ancient Greece
Greece is a country of peasants who adhere to ancient customs; the Greek way of life, the importance of agriculture for the holidays; natural calendar; Demeter, the Mother-Grain, and her feasts; holiday of autumn sowing - Thesmophoria; harvest festivals - Falicia and Kalamaia; holiday before the start of the harvest - Fargelii and pharmacies; first fruits and their meaning; bucoliasts; panspermia and kernos; growing olive trees; fruit picking festival - Halo; holiday of flowers; Aiphesteria - blessing of new wine and Athenian Day of all the dead; grape harvest holidays; Dionysus and Wine; phallus; May branch - Iresiona; boys carrying swallows; other varieties of the May branch - thyrsus and crown; sustainability of rural customs.
Religion and mythology Ancient Greece had a huge impact on the development of culture and art around the world and laid the foundation for countless everyday ideas about man, gods and heroes.
Religious ideas and religious life of the ancient Greeks were in close connection with their entire historical life. Already in the most ancient monuments of Greek creativity, the anthropomorphic nature of Greek polytheism is clearly expressed, explained national characteristics all cultural development in this area; Concrete ideas, generally speaking, prevail over abstract ones, just as in quantitative terms humanoid gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines prevail over deities of abstract meaning (which, in turn, acquire anthropomorphic features).
The religion of ancient Greece has two main characteristics: Polytheism (polytheism). With all the variety of Greek gods, 12 main ones can be distinguished. The pantheon of common Greek gods took shape in the classical era. Each deity in the Greek pantheon performed strictly defined functions: Zeus - the main god, the ruler of the sky, a thunderer, personified strength and power. Hera is the wife of Zeus, the goddess of marriage, the patroness of the family. Poseidon is the god of the sea, brother of Zeus. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, just war. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, born from sea foam. Ares is the god of war. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt. Apollo is the god of sunlight, a light beginning, a patron of arts. Hermes is the god of eloquence, trade and theft, the messenger of the gods, the guide of the souls of the dead to the kingdom of Hades - the god of the underworld. Hephaestus is the god of fire, the patron saint of artisans and especially blacksmiths. Demeter is the goddess of fertility, the patroness of agriculture. Hestia is the goddess of the hearth. Ancient Greek gods lived on the snow-covered Mount Olympus. In addition to the gods, there was a cult of heroes - semi-gods born from the marriage of gods and mortals. Hermes, Theseus, Jason, Orpheus are the heroes of many ancient Greek poems and myths.
The second feature of the ancient Greek religion is anthropomorphism - the humanity of the gods. What did the ancient Greeks mean by deity? Absolute. Space is an absolute deity, and the ancient gods are those ideas that are embodied in space, these are the laws of nature that govern it. Therefore, all the advantages and all the disadvantages of nature and human life are reflected in the gods. The ancient Greek gods have the appearance of a person, they are similar to him not only externally, but in behavior: they have wives and husbands, enter into relationships similar to human ones, have children, fall in love, are jealous, take revenge, that is, they have the same advantages and disadvantages, as mortals We can say that the gods are absolutized people. This trait greatly influenced the entire character of the ancient Greek civilization, determined its main feature - humanism. Ancient culture grows on the basis of the pantheism of the ancient Greek religion, which arises as a result of a sensory understanding of the cosmos: ideal gods are only a generalization of the corresponding areas of nature, both rational and unreasonable. This is destiny, realized as a necessity, and one cannot go beyond it. From this we can conclude that ancient culture develops under the sign of fatalism, which the ancient man overcomes with ease, struggling with fate like a hero. This is the meaning of life. Therefore, the cult of the hero is especially characteristic of ancient Greek culture. In antiquity, there is an amazing synthesis of fatalism and heroism, arising from a special understanding of freedom. Freedom of action breeds heroism. Pantheism and the cult of heroes are most clearly expressed in ancient Greek mythology.
In this or that cult, one or another writer or artist with one or another deity combines one or another common or mythological (and mythographic) concept. Such connections are explained not only from the creative moment, but also from the conditions of the historical life of the Hellenes; in Greek polytheism, one can also trace later layers (oriental elements; deification - even during life). In the general religious consciousness of the Hellenes, apparently, there was no definite generally recognized dogma. The diversity of religious beliefs found expression in the diversity of cults, the external situation of which is now more and more understood thanks to archaeological excavations and finds. We find out which gods or heroes were worshiped where, and which one where or where which one was worshiped mainly (for example, Zeus - in Dodon and Olympia, Apollo - in Delphi and Delos, Athena - in Athens, Hera on Samos, Asclepius - in Epidaurus) ; we know revered by all (or many) Hellenes shrines like the Delphic or Dodonian oracle or the Delian shrine; we know large and small amphictyions (cult communities).
In the ancient religion of Ancient Greece, there are various public and private cults. The all-consuming significance of the state was also reflected in the religious sphere. The ancient world, generally speaking, knew neither the inner church as a kingdom not of this world, nor the church as a state within a state: "church" and "state" were concepts in it that absorbed or conditioned each other, and, for example, the priest was that the same state magistrate.
This rule was not everywhere, however, it could be carried out with absolute consistency; the practice caused partial deviations, created certain combinations. Further, if a certain deity was considered the main deity of a known state, then the state sometimes recognized (as in Athens) at the same time some other cults; Along with these national cults, there were also separate cults of state divisions (for example, the Athenian demos) and cults of private law importance (for example, domestic or family), as well as cults of private societies or individuals.
Since the state principle prevailed (it did not triumph everywhere at the same time and evenly), every citizen was obliged, in addition to his private-law deities, to honor the gods of his “civil community” (changes were brought by the Hellenistic era, which generally contributed to the leveling process). This veneration was expressed in a purely external way - through feasible participation in well-known rituals and festivals performed on behalf of the state (or state division), - participation, to which in other cases the non-civilian population of the community was invited; then, both citizens and non-citizens were provided, as best as they could, wanted and knew how, to seek satisfaction for their religious needs. One must think that the worship of the gods in general was external; the inner religious consciousness was, from our point of view, naive, and among the masses of the people superstition did not diminish, but grew (especially at a later time, when it found itself food coming from the East); on the other hand, in educated society, the enlightenment movement began early, at first timid, then more and more energetic, with one (negative) end that touched the masses; religiosity a little weakened in general (and sometimes even - albeit painfully - rose), but religion, that is, old ideas and cults, gradually - especially as Christianity spread - lost both its meaning and its content
Ancient Rome played a key role in the history of European and world culture. The complex of countries and peoples, which to this day we designate with the words "Western Europe", was created in its original form by Ancient Rome and actually exists within the former Roman Empire.
Many fundamental spiritual ideas and norms of social life, traditional values, socio-psychological stereotypes transmitted by Rome to Europe, for more than one and a half thousand years, up to the 19th century, constituted the soil and arsenal, language and form of European culture. Not only the foundations of law and state organization, not only a stable set of plots and artistic images were assimilated by Europe from antiquity through Ancient Rome, but the very beginning of its social existence - the idea of \u200b\u200bdemocracy, civic responsibility, separation of powers, etc. - came from the same source.
Ancient Roman culture was originally formed within the Roman community, later it assimilated Etruscan, Greek, Hellenistic culture.
Its initial stage covers the XIII-III centuries. BC e., and the cultural space of early Roman society - Etruscan cities, Greek colonies in southern Italy, Sicily and Latia, on the territory of which in 754-753. BC e. Rome was founded. By the end of the VI century. BC e. Rome developed as a city-state of the Greek type. The first circus for gladiatorial battles was built here, from the Etruscans they inherited craft and construction techniques, writing, numbers, toga clothes, etc.
Roman culture, like Greek, is closely related to religious beliefs.
A significant place in the culture of the early era was occupied by a religion that was animistic (recognized the existence of spirits), and also contained elements of totemism - the veneration of the Capitoline she-wolf, who, according to legend, nurtured the brothers Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city. The deities were impersonal, sexless. Over the course of time, more vivid images of Janus - the god of the beginning and the end, Mars - the sun deity, Saturn - the god of sowing, etc., took shape from obscure deities, poor in mythical content, etc. the Romans switched to anthropomorphism (from the Greek antropos - man, morfe - species). The Roman pantheon was never closed, foreign deities were accepted into its composition, since it was believed that the new gods strengthen the power of the Romans.
The Roman world of religious images is presented in several forms and went through several stages in its development. In the beginning, the Romans were pagans, they worshiped Greek and to a lesser extent Etruscan gods.
Later, the mythological period was replaced by passion for pagan cults. Finally, at the end of evolution, the victory was won by Christianity, which in the IV century, after the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern, took on the concrete outlines of Catholicism. The oldest religious beliefs of the Romans were associated with agricultural cults of the deification of nature, the cult of ancestors and other magical rituals performed by the head of the family. Then the state, taking upon itself the organization and conduct of rituals, created an official religion that changed the previous ideas about the gods.
Religion was originally based on a mixture of rituals and beliefs. The mythology and religious beliefs of the ancient Romans are simple and artless. The two-faced god Janus was revered as the creator of the world from chaos, the creator of the firmament. The king himself was a priest of Janus. Main deities: Mana - the spirits of ancestors and Penates - patrons of the family. The Laras, the deities of the hearth, were considered patrons of communities and their lands. They worshiped water, fire, and from oldest gods - Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mars, Quirinus, Diana, Venus. As they approached the Greek world, the Roman gods were identified with the Greek ones: Jupiter - Zeus, Juno - Hera, Diana - Artemis, Venus - Aphrodite, Victoria - Nike, Mars - Ares, Mercury - Hermes, etc. The Greek myths were also adapted, of which a special the myth of the exploits of Hercules, whom the Romans called Hercules, gained popularity. The pantheon began to include the Greek gods, which had no analogues in Roman mythology: Aesculapius, Apollo, etc. A little later, Eastern cults began to penetrate into Rome, mainly Egyptian - the cult of Isis, Osiris, Cybele.
At the beginning of a new era, Christianity is becoming more widespread. Christianity has come a long way before becoming a world religion and the spiritual foundation of European culture. It originated in the 1st century. n. e., which we count from the Nativity of Christ, and at first formed in the bosom of Judaism, as one of its sects. But the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth in its content went far beyond the limits of the national religion of the ancient Jews. It is this universal meaning of Christianity that made Jesus Christ (Savior, Messiah) in the eyes of millions of people who find the meaningful basis of their lives in the Christian faith. The Roman authorities persecuted the first Christians for a long time, but after almost four centuries, thanks to Emperor Constantine, it became the state religion of the Roman Empire, bringing with it to its culture not only a new worldview, but also a new art.
Like other peoples of the world, the souls of ancestors were revered in Rome. A feature of the religious worldview of the Romans is their narrow practicality and utilitarian nature of communication with deities according to the principle "do, ut des" - "I give, so that you give to me." Relations between gods and humans were almost the same as between customers and manufacturers. Despite this, the Roman religion is characterized by a complex ritualism that required numerous specialists, hence the development of the priesthood. The priests, who were chosen from among the citizens, were organized into religious colleges, the most important of which were the colleges of pontiffs and augurs, with 16 members each. The Roman priesthood was more numerous, differentiating and authoritative than the Greek. The priestly colleges, which possessed tremendous power, tried to behave like political parties, actively participating in the struggle for influence on public affairs.
The Scythians worshiped the elements. Their main religious zeal was given to the Great Goddess, Tabiti West, the goddess of fire and, probably, animals. She alone figures in their art, dominating in the taking of oaths, communion or anointing of the leaders. Rostovtsev discovered that in the southern regions of Russia she was worshiped long before the Scythians appeared here. Clay figurines depicting her were common in the Bronze Age on the territory lying between the Ural Mountains and the Dnieper, even more along the Bug and Donets rivers. There are clear similarities between these small figurines and figurines of the same deity from Elam1, Babylon and Egypt, made several centuries earlier. The figurines of the Great Goddess found in the Crimea date back no earlier than the 9th century. BC e. This goddess was depicted standing with a child in her arms. She personified the goddess of fertility and motherhood among the Scythians. The Scythians considered her their protector, and Strabo noted that her cult was especially widespread in the Caucasus, where she was the guardian of the tribes of seafarers, whom the Greeks considered to be Argonauts. These peoples, and especially the Scythians from the Taman Peninsula, were very indignant at the invasion of strangers on their shores and considered it necessary to sacrifice to the Great Goddess all the Ionian sailors whom they managed to capture. In the art of the Scythians, she sometimes appears in the form of a half-woman-half-snake, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting between her sacred animals - a raven and a dog, and sometimes talking with the leader accompanying her.
The Scythians also worshiped Papai-Jupiter, the god of the air; Api-Fellus, goddess of the earth, Gaitosiru-Apollo, god of the sun, and Argimpase-Venus, goddess of the moon. In addition to these, the royal Scythians worshiped Tamumas-Neptune, the god of water, and, as Herodotus believed, they sacrificed cattle and every hundredth captive to Mars and Hercules. Herodotus was surprised by the lack of images of gods, altars and temples among the Scythians, and indeed, with the exception of the very modest acropolis of the late period in the Scythian cities, no places of worship or objects that could be surely associated with religious ceremonies have yet been discovered. Thus, he was probably right in believing that for the administration of religious rituals the Scythians gathered in a conditional place and left after their completion, but they did not believe that the ceremony held somehow consecrated the place where it was performed. ... In this they seem to have followed the Iranian tradition.
Instead of temples and shrines, the Scythians lavished all the reverence that they were capable of on the graves of their dead, reminding the Chinese in their readiness to sacrifice their lives, guarding these graves. And yet their care and vigilance could not protect the graves of their ancestors from desecration by robbers, who almost every time entered the mounds after the funeral and searched them with such thoroughness that the grave was hardly left untouched.
Scythia was a heterogeneous community - it included different ethnic tribes. Their social structure was determined by animal husbandry. But first of all, the Scythian state has established itself as a well-oiled military organization. At the head of their strong disciplined army was the king. His power was unlimited and divine - he obeyed only Papey (Zeus) and the queen of the gods Tabiti. The highest caste is the royal Scythians, who considered everyone else as their slaves.
The ideas about the culture of the Scythians existing in modern science are based both on the testimonies of ancient writers and on the direct monuments of this culture: Scythian settlements and barrows scattered throughout the south of our country, numerous finds of Scythian ceramics of various forms and types, items made of bronze, iron and precious metals, weapons - Scythian arrowheads and spears, Scythian iron swords - akinaks, etc. Things of the Scythian type have spread not only on the territory of Scythia itself, they are found far beyond its borders, for example, in the Caucasus, in Siberia and even in Western Asia. The strong influence of the Scythian culture experienced itself in the 5th century. BC e. the population of the forest-steppe zone of Eastern Europe, and to the south - the population of Thrace.
The religion of the Scythians is mainly known from Herodotus. Its characteristic features are the absence of temples and a special caste of priests, the absence of anthropomorphic images of gods. The personification, for example, of the god of war most revered among the Scythians was an iron sword stuck into the ground, before which sacrifices were made. The nature of the funeral ritual indicates that the Scythians had a belief in an afterlife. The attempt of Herodotus, listing the Scythian deities by name, to translate them into the language of the Greek pantheon, cannot be recognized as successful. Apparently, the religion of the Scythians was so peculiar that it could not find direct parallels in the religious ideas of the Greeks.
List of used literature:
1. Alekseev A.Yu. Great Scythia or two Scythians? // Scythia and Bosporus. Archaeological materials for the conference in memory of academician M.I. Rostovtsev (Leningrad, March 14-17, 1989). Novocherkassk 1989.
2. Graves R. Myths of Ancient Greece. - M .: Progress, 1992.
3. Zelinsky F.F. Ancient Greek religion. - Kiev: SINTO, 1993. - A well-known researcher of ancient culture sets out in detail the essence of Greek religion during the heyday of ancient Greek civilization
4. Zelinsky F.F. Religion of Hellenism. - Tomsk: "Aquarius", 1996. - an amazing experience of touching the all-human archetypes of religious feeling, revealing the history of the preparation of the Hellenistic consciousness for the acceptance of Christian revelation.
5. Kravchenko A.I. Culturology. - M.: Academic Project, 2001.
Traditional beliefs in archaic cultures are characterized by the cult of ancestors, the cult of a leader or an epic hero, the cult of the dead, magic rituals, sacrifices, the veneration of sacred animals, stones, trees, springs; totemistic. fetishistic and animistic performances.
Mother Earth enjoyed special reverence, which reflected the role of nascent agriculture. There are ideas about the immortality of the soul and its transmigration, about the afterlife, evil and good spirits. These views in a transformed form entered the complexes of later religions of slave-owning societies.
Faith in gods is expressed in polytheism with its pantheon of deities. The gods are endowed with various functions, ideas about which change in the course of history.
The idea of \u200b\u200ba supreme god is compared with the image of an earthly autocratic ruler; a professional priesthood is formed, ideas about hell and heaven are developing and becoming more complex. sin. about the end of the world, the idea of \u200b\u200binfluence is being formed life path for a posthumous existence.
Ancient religion
Ancient religion is characterized by polytheism; the main forces of nature and social phenomena were deified. There was a hierarchy of supernatural forces: from the supreme Olympic gods, led by Zeus, to the lower natural deities. Heroes occupied an intermediate position between gods and people; their veneration was associated with the cult of the dead. Another important feature of ancient religion is anthropomorphism: the gods were portrayed as people, albeit in an idealized way.
Many myths have been composed about gods and heroes, which are included in the golden fund of world culture. However, the main thing in ancient religion was not myths, but rituals, ceremonies. The main forms of ritual: prayers, sacrifices, appeals to oracles for divination, solemn processions to the temples of deities. Holidays in honor of the gods were regularly held, accompanied by sports games, musical competitions, etc.
Religious holidays were also state holidays. Ancient religion, which had a polis character, was closely connected with statehood. The priests were considered officials of the state and were not a special class. separated from the "laity".
In different policies, beliefs and cults had their own characteristics. In each of them, some one god was the subject of the greatest reverence, a kind of heavenly patron: in Athens - Athena, in Corinth - Aphrodite, etc.
Ancient religion was not dogmatic: there was no sacred scripture - a sacred text recognized as an indisputable truth. This religious system was distinguished by rationalism and even to a certain extent pragmatism: the relationship of people with the gods resembled a mutually beneficial exchange of goods.
Ancient religion did not refer to an individual person, but to the polis as a whole; the emotional element was insignificant in her. Mystical cults generally remained on the periphery of religious beliefs. The religion was oriented towards the earthly life of people; questions related to life beyond the grave did not receive significant development in it. Only in the era of Hellenism, when the influence of Eastern beliefs increased, did mysticism and interest in the posthumous fate intensify in it; tendencies of monotheism were outlined, which later became the basis for the spread of Christianity.
What you read below is by no means a documentary work, but to the same extent it is not my fantasy. The clarifications that I decided to present to my great regret are either not stated on paper, or written in such a language that it is almost impossible to understand them. These truths are not secret, but they are obvious to most Shinto followers and are grasped even before birth.
Religions of the Ancient World
In the middle of the VI millennium BC. of humanity from primitiveness turned to civilization. This transition period was marked by the spread of irrigated agriculture, the use of bronze, the construction of cities, the emergence of states and the emergence of writing. In the fertile valleys of the rivers - Nile, Euphrates, Tigris, Indus and Yellow River - the most ancient states were formed. At the end of the III millennium BC. on the island of Crete, on the islands and coasts of the Aegean Sea, the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization arose.
At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. people learned to work with iron, which contributed to the further formation of material culture. New cities arose in the Eastern Mediterranean, and navigation developed. By the VIII century. BC. the beginning of the ancient Roman civilization on the Apennine Peninsula belongs.
The various religions of ancient civilizations had common features associated with the transition from archaic beliefs and ideas to polytheism and the formation of pantheons of gods.
The gods personified not only the elements of nature, but also the species human activity and such abstract concepts as luck, fate, justice, love, etc. At the same time, the rulers, pharaohs, kings, who played an important role in state rituals, were also endowed with divine properties.
From the middle of the IV century. BC. in the ancient world, syncretic cults spread, combining the worship of typologically similar gods of different religions. They were also popular during the Roman era.
Sources: sr.artap.ru, www.twirpx.com, www.history-names.ru, web-kapiche.ru, www.gmir.ru
V.N. Sinelchenko, M.B. Petrov
“The Celts, who arrived in Europe along with other Indo-European peoples, were originally warlike nomads. The peoples to whose lands they came, adhered to beliefs typical of ancient agricultural crops, in which the land-nurse was identified with the life-giving feminine principle of nature. The Celts did not destroy these peoples and their culture, and absorbed it and enriched it. The result of this was a very curious detail that attracted the attention of ancient researchers: among the Celts, a woman enjoyed great independence, including in marriage, and could dispose of her own property. Marriage was not lifelong, but was something like a contract that could be broken with the consent of both parties. ”Through marriage, the woman did not belong to her husband's family, but continued to belong to her own family.
There was also, especially in royal families, the custom of inheriting through the female line. For example, the hero of the medieval legend of Celtic origin Tristan inherited his mother's brother King Mark. The significant role of women in Celtic society is emphasized by history and mythology, which tell us many names of glorious Celtic queens, among which the most famous are the British Boadicea and the Irish Meb.
In the epic about King Arthur, his wife Guinerva plays an important role, whose name in the old Welsh texts is Guinfevar, that is, "the white spirit".
These features of the social structure of the ancient Celts were also reflected in mythology, the oldest layer of which (reconstructed only on the basis of archaeological finds) testifies to the great role assigned to female deities in it,
The most ancient Celtic beliefs associated with the cult of mother earth include female matron deities, whose cult is evidenced by numerous archaeological finds throughout the territory of the settlement of the ancient Celts, and most of all - the Gauls. They were depicted in the form of three figures of seated mature women who feed babies or hold a cornucopia in their hands, baskets of fruits - symbols of abundance, fertility, and satiety. The names of the matrons were associated with the name of the territory of the settlement of the tribe, of which they were the patron.
Another important female deity of the Celts was EPONA, whose name comes from the Celtic word for horse. She was usually depicted either in the form of a woman sitting on a horse, or leading the horses on a bit, dressed in long clothes. There are also images of Epona with the same attributes as those of the matrons. The fact that Epona was a deity that the Celts especially revered in ancient times is proved by the huge number of preserved monuments of material culture practically throughout the territory in which the Celts lived. Presumably, at first she was a tribal deity or a local matron, whose cult subsequently spread to the entire Celtic world. In total, researchers count about thirty images of female deities who are the incarnations of Epona or the goddess who inherited most of her features. Most often, these goddesses include ROSE. Written sources are silent about her, but the root of her name smer means "to remember" or "to foresee"; some are looking for an explanation of its activity in a different allocation of the root smert, the meaning of which is well understood by the Slavs, and in this case such a deity would carry features that are not found in the symbolism of Epona - death and destruction.
This goddess was considered the spouse of a god named Smertius or Smertulos, who is considered the god of death and at the same time fertility. Another incarnation of Epona is sometimes considered NEGALENIA (Uncalled for - that is, one whose name cannot be called).
Priestesses of female goddesses participated in rituals, sometimes of a terrible, bloody nature, including with mass human sacrifices.
In Old Irish mythology, the name Elon does not occur, but the goddess DANU, the progenitor of a generation of deities called the Tribe of the Goddess Danu, played an important role there. Goddess Danu was the goddess of fertility and harvest, everything that grows and develops. She was also a deity of the underworld, the world of death, thus being an example of the duality of female deities: fertility and abundance, on the one hand, death and doom, on the other.
In later versions of Celtic (in this case Irish and Welsh) mythology, female deities began to play a lesser role, and more often they were depicted as the consort of divine kings and heroes, and their children as founders of the dynasties of mythical Celtic kings.
The next generation of Celtic gods should include the trinity of deities - Esus (Esus), Taranis and Teutat.
The name Esusa is associated with the ancient Indo-European root Esu, which means "kind". One of the most famous depictions of this god, found on an altar under Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, depicts a woodcutter felting a tree. Most researchers are inclined to believe that Caesar, reporting that the Gauls worship Mercury most of all (without giving the name of their own Gaulish god), had in mind exactly Jesus.
Taranis was the deity of thunder, and Julius Caesar, who reported on the veneration of Zeus by the Gauls, undoubtedly had in mind exactly him - the king of all other gods. Taranis's attribute was a large hammer, and therefore it is not always possible to distinguish between the images of this god and his German colleague, the Thunderer Thor.
The third main god of the Celts, Theutatus, was the main deity of the Gallic pantheon, whom the authors identify with either Mercury or Mars. Some believe that both of these theories are correct, since, as the equivalent of Mars, Teutat took care of military affairs, and like Mercury - in times of peace - patronized crafts, trade, travel.
The Gallic deity OGMA or OGMASA was considered by the Roman authors to be Gallic Hercules, although he embodied not physical strength, but the power of eloquence. Later, he was also credited with the invention of the Celtic writing ogam, which was used by the Celts of the British Isles.
It is more difficult to establish who corresponded among the Celts - according to Roman historians - to Apollo. Most likely, it was BELENOS - a god who is able to heal diseases with the help of hot spring waters, which were especially revered by the Celts and were often the center of their cults.
The Irish pantheon of gods is much better known, and is described in numerous literary works. The fictionalized myths were finally reduced and edited in the Christian era (from the 9th to the 16th century), but, undoubtedly, they retained their pagan content. From the three main sources: The Book of the Brown Cow, The Book of Leinster, and The Book of Conquest, a fairly orderly pantheon of Celtic paganism can be created.
Irish sources report the existence of two generations of gods. The former is usually considered the local gods of the era preceding the Celtic invasion. The primitive deities that make up the pantheon of the mythical ancestors of the Irish Celts were the embodiment of life-giving forces nature, productivity, fertility - like the ancient gods of the continental Celts. However, as is often the case, over time they became the embodiment of the power of evil and misery. The name of this generation, Fomoraig, sometimes cited in Russian literature as “fomorians,” apparently means giants associated with the sea. The main deities of this generation were BALOR, the Celtic Cyclops, a one-headed deity capable of destroying everything around with his gaze; ZLATA - the father of BRESA and OGMI, - the deity of knowledge; BRES, whom the new generation of gods for some time elected their king; INDEH - the son of the goddess DONMANN, the queen of the underworld, possibly a later incarnation of some ancient female deity; TETRA - the ruler of the dead and NETA - the god of war, the grandfather of Balor, usually accompanied by his wife NEMA - the goddess of war.
The new generation of gods was called the tribe of the goddess Danu, whose most prominent sons were BRIAN, YUKHIAR and YUZARBAR. The most extensive information about these gods can be found in the book "The Battle of Moyura". Legends tell how the representatives of the second generation of the gods defeated their predecessors and the supreme power was transferred to Bres, who did not live up to expectations and was expelled from office for bad rule, which caused the war.
From the "Book of Conquests" it follows that the Tribe of the Goddess Danu arrived in the British Isles from Spain, but the theory of such a way of settling the Celts is not confirmed. Over time, the gods of this generation changed their original character and began to be described mainly as warrior gods, while retaining most of their supernatural features - extraordinary strength, the ability to resurrect after death, inhabiting a special world called Sid, which is described in the texts as “Enchanted mountain".
The main deity of this generation was the god DAGDA - the Good God. Various epithets used with his name say that he could be the god of the Druids, the owners of some secret knowledge. After the victory at Moytur, he divided the world of the gods Sid, while forgetting his son EGNUS, who later overthrew his father. A number of researchers suggest that the main activity of this deity was guardianship over agriculture, as evidenced by its attributes - an inexhaustible cauldron of provisions, pigs, one of which is always alive, and the second is ready for cooking, and trees strewn with fruits. His magic staff could kill, but could also revive the slain.
Egnus was the harvest deity of everything that grows. His other names are MAC, IN, OK - "son of the young" and In Mak On - "young son". It is assumed that he was once the local deity of the tribe, and when the tribe took a dominant position, his rank rose. In the myths about the wars of the gods, he prevents the destruction of grain, milk and fruits belonging to the gods of his generation. NUADA or NUADU was nicknamed Argentlam - silver-handed, because he replaced the hand lost in the divine battle with a silver prosthesis. He was a deity of light, fighting the forces of darkness, but, according to assumptions, he was once a deity of waters.
MANANNAN - the son of “PERA (equivalent to the deity LLIRA) was the god of the sea, the ruler of paradise and for some time the king of the gods of his generation. His mastery of magic allowed him to make his allies invisible and immortal.
LUG was a god revered for a long time in almost the entire Celtic world - under the name LLEU among the Welsh - some believe that he was the sun god and his name, especially in Welsh form, means simply "light".
OGMA was considered the patron saint of literature, especially poetry. As a deity of eloquence, he is identified with the god Gall Ognius (Ognas, Oghm ...).
DIAN KEKHT was a god of medicine who healed the wounded gods near his source of health after the Battle of Moytura. At the same time, he was one of the many Celtic hot spring deities.
GOIBNIU (from the Irish EOBA - "blacksmith") possessed, in addition to his blacksmith's craft, other secret knowledge and magical abilities inherent, in the opinion of ancient peoples, to blacksmiths. In addition to making weapons, he was engaged in the preparation of divine feasts.
The already mentioned three sons of the goddess Danu are sometimes considered three gods of knowledge. There is a myth that they had a common son named EKNE - “wisdom”.
According to some versions of mythology, the mother of these three gods was BRIGIT, the daughter of DAGDA, who is considered by many researchers to be a late version of the ancient female deity. At Brigit's. there were three sisters, who were also called Brigit, - this is reminiscent of the threefold ancient matrons. She herself was considered primarily the goddess of knowledge, who inspired poets and soothsayers. Among the Gauls there were goddesses with similar functions - BRIG. BRIGAN, BRIGINDA. Many pagan features of this goddess were adopted by the Christian Saint Brigid, whose cult originated in Ireland in the early Middle Ages. In one of the monasteries, an eternal flame was maintained in honor of a Christian saint, a vivid example of the transition of pagan cults to the sphere of Christian rituals.
In myths associated with the gods of the second generation, three goddesses of war are mentioned: MORRIGAN, NEMAN and MAHA, possibly the embodiment of the goddess BADB, who appeared on the battlefield in the form of a raven.
Immortal goddesses who marry mortals - characteristic Irish mythology, and the closely related Welsh mythology in its epic "Mabinogion" tells about many such cases.
RHIANNON was the immortal wife of the mortal hero PULE, the entourage of the mythical Llyer, whose very name is associated with the Irish deity of the sea LEROME, also consists of persons of divine origin ... ARIANROD ("silver wheel") is sometimes referred to as one of the three mythical queens of Britain, but there is evidence that she was revered as both a virgin goddess and mother earth, no matter how incompatible these functions may seem.
The god BEL and his four sons are often identified with Belenos-gall, and in this case, this family should be considered the embodiment of light, sun and health. In Welsh literature, the waves of the sea are poetically called “Bel's herd”. His son CASVALLAN is mentioned as the king and god of war.
The above attempt to streamline the pantheon of Celtic gods is based on research carried out at the beginning of the century and still relevant, although it has not yet been completed. For example, Brigit in some myths appears as the daughter of Dagda, and in others - as his wife; the mythical Irish queen ETENE lives for three generations and, reaching venerable age, rejuvenates, keeping her name, but changing roles ... "
The religion of antiquity is called communal or tribal, in Russian literature - pagan. In ancient times, all people, without exception, were believers. Therefore, religion, temple, ritual, priesthood played a huge role in the life of ancient Eastern and ancient society. In the pagan religion, there is no system of views obligatory for all believers, i.e. a creed that determines many mysteries of history that have not survived to this day. In the first place in this religion is the cult, which is a set of rituals. Rituals were considered by the population of the community as the most important means of ensuring its prosperity and well-being. Professional performers of rituals - priests - from the very beginning of civilization began to play an important role in public life. In the early states, they performed secular power functions, and were also custodians of socially useful knowledge.
Polytheism, or polytheism, is another characteristic feature of pagan religions. This means that within each individual community there were many cults of local gods. They were the patrons of a particular community, and the sphere of influence of these gods was limited to the territory occupied by this tribe. In each Greek city, its own god was worshiped: Zeus in Dodona and Olympia, Apollo in Delphi and Delos, Athena in Athens, Asclepius in Epidaurus. With the emergence of an ethno-cultural community in some region, all the gods were united into a single pantheon. Gradually, several main gods stood out in the pantheon, revered already within the entire state. Moreover, the strength and significance of each god depended on the political and economic significance of the area in which this god was originally worshiped. The gods of the capital cities and those districts from which the rulers themselves came, gradually acquired national proportions.
The pagan temple was not a place of prayer meetings of believers, as in the Christian church, but the dwelling place of God. In the guise of an idol (idol), the god was inside the temple and only a narrow circle of persons, primarily priests, had access to it. The idol usually had a human appearance (although it could be some kind of object, for example a stone) and was made using different materials - metal, wood, stone, ivory. The priests dressed, fed and bathed the statue of the god, presented it with gifts. Gradually, enormous wealth accumulated in the temple of the main god and it turned into the main treasury of the entire polis community. Offerings to the god usually took place at the entrance to the temple, on the square, where the sacrificial altar was most often installed. The altar was an earthen, and more often a stone block, on which a sacred fire was made. Here animals were killed and their meat was roasted, sacrificed to the gods. Participation in temple sacrifices created almost the only opportunity for meat nutrition for the population in antiquity.
Neither the Greeks nor the Romans had a holy scripture and a single religious center. The Greeks also lacked a professional priestly caste.
The Romans, on the other hand, had special priestly colleges in the structure of their master's degrees. The most important of these was the college of pontiffs. The pontiffs kept a calendar, established general religious prescriptions, i.e. developed religious, sacred law. The fetials (from the Latin fetiales - messengers) were in charge of foreign policy issues. They were also the creators of international law. The college of augurs - predictors, who interpreted atmospheric phenomena (thunder, lightning), the flight of birds, and the unusual behavior of sacrificial animals - also had an important political significance. A collegium of six vestals served at the altar of the goddess Vesta - the patroness of not only the hearth, but the entire Roman community. The Vestals maintained an unquenchable sacred fire in the temple of Vesta, symbolizing the unity and prosperity of the Roman state.
For more details on the features of the early religion of antiquity, see the articles.
