Original European Religions Volume I: The Rites of Old Europe 12,000-3,500 BC

Original European Religions Volume I: The Rites of Old Europe 12,000-3,500 BC PDF Author: E. O. James
Publisher: Blurb
ISBN: 9781388197490
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Get Book

Book Description
DNA, history and archaeology have shown that the European people, or those of a close enough racial origin, have existed for around 40,000 years, of which Christianity has only been the dominant religion for less than one thousand. This volume sketches out the belief systems, values and religions of the "Old Europeans" whose religious practices preceded those of the Indo-European culture. It is of necessity scant, as no decipherable written records exist, and seemingly most oral traditions appear to have been wiped out. There are a large number of speculative works about pre-historic European religion, but the only proper understanding we can take from this time must come from the burial practices and buildings which remain from that time.

Original European Religions Volume I: The Rites of Old Europe 12,000-3,500 BC

Original European Religions Volume I: The Rites of Old Europe 12,000-3,500 BC PDF Author: E. O. James
Publisher: Blurb
ISBN: 9781388197490
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Get Book

Book Description
DNA, history and archaeology have shown that the European people, or those of a close enough racial origin, have existed for around 40,000 years, of which Christianity has only been the dominant religion for less than one thousand. This volume sketches out the belief systems, values and religions of the "Old Europeans" whose religious practices preceded those of the Indo-European culture. It is of necessity scant, as no decipherable written records exist, and seemingly most oral traditions appear to have been wiped out. There are a large number of speculative works about pre-historic European religion, but the only proper understanding we can take from this time must come from the burial practices and buildings which remain from that time.

Original European Religions Volume I: the Rites of Old Europe

Original European Religions Volume I: the Rites of Old Europe PDF Author: E. James
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781491032381
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Get Book

Book Description
This volume sketches out the belief systems, values and religions of the "Old Europeans" whose religious practices preceded those of the Indo-European culture.It is of necessity scant, as no decipherable written records exist, and seemingly most oral traditions appear to have been wiped out. There are a large number of speculative works about pre-historic European religion, but the only proper understanding we can take from this time must come from the burial practices and buildings which remain from that time.ContentsPrefaceChapter I: Palaeolithic Burial RitualThe Cult of Skulls: Monte Circeo; Ofnet; Ceremonial Interment in the Middle Palaeolithic: Le Moustier; La Chapelleaux-Saints; La Ferrassie.The Upper Palaeolithic: The Grimaldi Burials; Paviland and other UpperPalaeolithic Sepultures; The Palaeolithic Cult of the Dead.The Mesolithic Transition: Azilian-Tardenoisian Interments;Maglemosean; Ertebølle; Danish Dyssers.Chapter II. Megalithic Burial In EuropeEastern Mediterranean: Tholoi in Cyprus; Vaulted Tombs in Crete; TheCycladic Tombs; The Siculan Rock-cut Tombs. Western Mediterranean: Sardinian Gallery-tombs; Rock-cut Tombs and Navetas in the Balearic Isles; Maltese Megaliths. Iberian Peninsula: The Almerian Megaliths; South-west Iberian Tombs; Pyrenean Megaliths. Atlantic Europe: Megalithic Tombs in Brittany; The S.O.M. Culture. The British Isles: British Long Barrows; The Severny-Cotswold Barrows; The Boyne Passage-graves; The Clyde-Carlingford Gallery Graves; The Medway Megaliths. The Northern Megalithic Tombs: The Danish Passage-graves; Battle-axes and Single Graves.Chapter III. Cremation And InhumationCremation in Europe in the Bronze Age: Partial Cremation under LongBarrows; Round Barrows; Urn Burial; The Terramara Cemeteries; TheVillanovan Cemeteries; The Lausitz Urnfields; The Alpine Urnfields; The Hallstatt Cemetery.Chapter IV. The Mystery Of BirthThe Mystery of Birth in Palaeolithic Times: Sculptured "Venuses"; CowrieShells; Fertility Dances. Neolithic and Chalcolithic Female Figurines: Anatolia, Cyprus and the Cyclades; Crete; The Mother goddess; The Great Minoan Goddess; The Maltese Goddess Cult; The Iberian Goddess Cult; Statue-menhirs; The Goddess Cult in Britain and Northern France.Chapter V. Fertility And The Food SupplyPalaeolithic Hunting Ritual; Increase Rites; The Control of the Chase; The Cultus in the Aegean: The Minoan-Mycenaean Goddess of Vegetation and the Young Male God; Zeus and Demeter. The Vegetation Cult in North-west Europe Aegean Influences in WessexChapter VI. The Sky-ReligionThe Idea of God: Animism and Polytheism; Supreme Beings; The Universality and Antiquity of the Sky-god. The Indo-European Sky-gods: The Indo-Aranian Sky-gods; Zeus and the Olympian Divine Family; The Sky-father and the Earth-mother; The Scandinavian Heavenly Deities; Sky-worship in Wessex.Chapter VII. Prehistoric ReligionThe Ritual Control of Natural Processes: The Nature and Function ofSymbols; Totemism and the Sacred Dance. Fertility and the Mystery of Birth and Generation: Generation and Maternity. The Goddess Cult. The Cult of the Dead: Palaeolithic; The Mediterranean; Western Europe.The Sky-religion. The Celestial Afterlife. The Concept of the Universal Sky-god.BibliographyIndex

The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe

The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe PDF Author: Lisbeth Bredholt Christensen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317544536
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 471

Get Book

Book Description
"The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe" surveys the major religious currents of Europe before Christianity - the first continental religion with hegemonic ambition - wiped out most local religions. The evidence - whether archaeological or written - is notoriously difficult to interpret, and the variety of religions documented by the sources and the range of languages used are bewildering. The "Handbook" brings together leading authorities on pre-Christian religious history to provide a state-of-the-art survey. The first section of the book covers the Prehistoric period, from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. The second section covers the period since writing systems began. Ranging across the Mediterranean and Northern, Celtic and Slavic Europe, the essays assess the archaeological and textual evidence. Dispersed archaeological remains and biased outside sources constitute our main sources of information, so the complex task of interpreting these traces is explained for each case. The "Handbook" also aims to highlight the plurality of religion in ancient Europe: the many ways in which it is expressed, notably in discourse, action, organization, and material culture; how it is produced and maintained by different people with different interests; how communities always connect with or disassociate from adjunct communities and how their beliefs and rituals are shaped by these relationships. The "Handbook" will be invaluable to anyone interested in ancient History and also to scholars and students of Religion, Anthropology, Archaeology, and Classical Studies.

A History of Pagan Europe

A History of Pagan Europe PDF Author: Prudence Jones
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136141804
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book

Book Description
The first comprehensive study of its kind, this fully illustrated book establishes Paganism as a persistent force in European history with a profound influence on modern thinking. From the serpent goddesses of ancient Crete to modern nature-worship and the restoration of the indigenous religions of eastern Europe, this wide-ranging book offers a rewarding new perspective of European history. In this definitive study, Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick draw together the fragmented sources of Europe's native religions and establish the coherence and continuity of the Pagan world vision. Exploring Paganism as it developed from the ancient world through the Celtic and Germanic periods, the authors finally appraise modern Paganism and its apparent causes as well as addressing feminist spirituality, the heritage movement, nature-worship and `deep' ecology This innovative and comprehensive history of European Paganism will provide a stimulating, reliable guide to this popular dimension of religious culture for the academic and the general reader alike.

The Book That Changed Europe

The Book That Changed Europe PDF Author: Lynn Hunt
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674251490
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book

Book Description
Two French Protestant refugees in eighteenth-century Amsterdam gave the world an extraordinary work that intrigued and outraged readers across Europe. In this captivating account, Lynn Hunt, Margaret Jacob, and Wijnand Mijnhardt take us to the vibrant Dutch Republic and its flourishing book trade to explore the work that sowed the radical idea that religions could be considered on equal terms. Famed engraver Bernard Picart and author and publisher Jean Frederic Bernard produced The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of All the Peoples of the World, which appeared in the first of seven folio volumes in 1723. They put religion in comparative perspective, offering images and analysis of Jews, Catholics, Muslims, the peoples of the Orient and the Americas, Protestants, deists, freemasons, and assorted sects. Despite condemnation by the Catholic Church, the work was a resounding success. For the next century it was copied or adapted, but without the context of its original radicalism and its debt to clandestine literature, English deists, and the philosophy of Spinoza. Ceremonies and Customs prepared the ground for religious toleration amid seemingly unending religious conflict, and demonstrated the impact of the global on Western consciousness. In this beautifully illustrated book, Hunt, Jacob, and Mijnhardt cast new light on the profound insight found in one book as it shaped the development of a modern, secular understanding of religion.

European Paganism

European Paganism PDF Author: Ken Dowden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134810229
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Get Book

Book Description
European Paganism provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of ancient pagan religions throughout the European continent. Before there where Christians, the peoples of Europe were pagans. Were they bloodthirsty savages hanging human offerings from trees? Were they happy ecologists, valuing the unpolluted rivers and mountains? In European Paganism Ken Dowden outlines and analyses the diverse aspects of pagan ritual and culture from human sacrifice to pilgrimage lunar festivals and tree worship. It includes: a 'timelines' chart to aid with chronology many quotations from ancient and modern sources translated from the original language where necessary, to make them accessible a comprehensive bibliography and guide to further reading

European Religion in the Age of Great Cities

European Religion in the Age of Great Cities PDF Author: Hugh McLeod
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134867123
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 490

Get Book

Book Description
Europe in the nineteenth century saw spectacular growth in the size and number of cities and in the proportion of the population living in urban areas. Many contemporaries thought that this social revolution would bring about an equally dramatic change in religious life. This book, written by an international team of specialists, provides an authoritative account of religious change, both at the institutional and popular level, in Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox cities, in seven European countries.

Ritual in Early Modern Europe

Ritual in Early Modern Europe PDF Author: Edward Muir
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521409674
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book

Book Description
A comprehensive study of the ritual practices in traditional Christian Europe.

Original European Religions Volume X: Valhalla and European Traditions

Original European Religions Volume X: Valhalla and European Traditions PDF Author: W. Wagner
Publisher: Blurb
ISBN: 9781388197353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Get Book

Book Description
DNA, history and archaeology have shown that the European people, or those of a close enough racial origin, have existed for around 40,000 years, of which Christianity has only been the dominant religion for less than one thousand. This volume reveals how much influence the Norse Gods have had upon High European culture. The author posits the major stories of the Norse Gods against later European tales and traditions, and shows how many of these stories are linked directly back to traditions inherited from the time of the earlier religion-including some mistakenly thought to be Christian in origin. Read the most famous stories from the Norse Gods, and of how they directly influenced the legend of Holy Roman Emperor King Barbarossa; Vitellus, Roman Prefect of the lower Rhine; the Cheru sword; the slaying of Atilla the Hun; the legend of the Lorelei of the Rhine; the Rhine Gold; the origin of Yule, and much more.

European Paganism

European Paganism PDF Author: Ken Dowden
Publisher: Taylor & Francis US
ISBN: 9780415474634
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392

Get Book

Book Description
European Paganism provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of ancient pagan religions throughout the European continent. Before there where Christians, the peoples of Europe were pagans. Were they bloodthirsty savages hanging human offerings from trees? Were they happy ecologists, valuing the unpolluted rivers and mountains? In European Paganism Ken Dowden outlines and analyses the diverse aspects of pagan ritual and culture from human sacrifice to pilgrimage lunar festivals and tree worship. It includes: * a 'timelines' chart to aid with chronology * many quotations from ancient and modern sources translated from the original language where necessary, to make them accessible * a comprehensive bibliography and guide to further reading.