Author: E. O. James
Publisher: Blurb
ISBN: 9781388197490
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 122
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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.
Author: E. James
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781491032381
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120
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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
Author: Lisbeth Bredholt Christensen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317544536
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 471
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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.
Author: Prudence Jones
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415091367
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302
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Book Description
The first comprehensive study of its kind, this establishes Paganism as a persistent force in European history with a profound influence on modern thinking. Wide-ranging and provocative, it will challenge the academic and general reader.Europe's Pagan past captures the imagination, but what is it's historical significance?A History of Pagan Europe is the first comprehensive study of its kind, and 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 - often provocative - new perspective of European history.
Author: Ken Dowden
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134810229
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 391
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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
Author: Ken Dowden
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415120349
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 367
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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.
Author: W. Wagner
Publisher: Blurb
ISBN: 9781388197353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 206
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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.
Author: Marija Gimbutas
Publisher: Berkeley : University of California Press
ISBN:
Category : Copper age
Languages : en
Pages : 314
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Book Description
Author: Prudence Jones
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780415373326
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
With this second edition bringing the books completely up to date with analysis of recent work in the area, A History of Pagan Europe is the first comprehensive study of its kind, and 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 offered a rewarding - often provocative - new perspective on European history. This second edition includes: expanded discussion of the significance of the Olympian pantheon and the interrelationship of Greece and the Near East, and of the synthesis of paganism and Christianity new analysis of twentieth-century paganism and the coherence of paganism across time a new glossary and chronology. A History of Pagan Europe is essential for all readers interested in the development of religions across the centuries and around the globe.
Author: Brian C. Muraresku
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 125027091X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340
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Book Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER As seen on The Joe Rogan Experience! A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and the real-life quest for the Holy Grail that could shake the Church to its foundations. The most influential religious historian of the 20th century, Huston Smith, once referred to it as the "best-kept secret" in history. Did the Ancient Greeks use drugs to find God? And did the earliest Christians inherit the same, secret tradition? A profound knowledge of visionary plants, herbs and fungi passed from one generation to the next, ever since the Stone Age? There is zero archaeological evidence for the original Eucharist – the sacred wine said to guarantee life after death for those who drink the blood of Jesus. The Holy Grail and its miraculous contents have never been found. In the absence of any hard data, whatever happened at the Last Supper remains an article of faith for today’s 2.5 billion Christians. In an unprecedented search for answers, The Immortality Key examines the archaic roots of the ritual that is performed every Sunday for nearly one third of the planet. Religion and science converge to paint a radical picture of Christianity’s founding event. And after centuries of debate, to solve history’s greatest puzzle. Before the birth of Jesus, the Ancient Greeks found salvation in their own sacraments. Sacred beverages were routinely consumed as part of the so-called Ancient Mysteries – elaborate rites that led initiates to the brink of death. The best and brightest from Athens and Rome flocked to the spiritual capital of Eleusis, where a holy beer unleashed heavenly visions for two thousand years. Others drank the holy wine of Dionysus to become one with the god. In the 1970s, renegade scholars claimed this beer and wine – the original sacraments of Western civilization – were spiked with mind-altering drugs. In recent years, vindication for the disgraced theory has been quietly mounting in the laboratory. The constantly advancing fields of archaeobotany and archaeochemistry have hinted at the enduring use of hallucinogenic drinks in antiquity. And with a single dose of psilocybin, the psychopharmacologists at Johns Hopkins and NYU are now turning self-proclaimed atheists into instant believers. But the smoking gun remains elusive. If these sacraments survived for thousands of years in our remote prehistory, from the Stone Age to the Ancient Greeks, did they also survive into the age of Jesus? Was the Eucharist of the earliest Christians, in fact, a psychedelic Eucharist? With an unquenchable thirst for evidence, Muraresku takes the reader on his twelve-year global hunt for proof. He tours the ruins of Greece with its government archaeologists. He gains access to the hidden collections of the Louvre to show the continuity from pagan to Christian wine. He unravels the Ancient Greek of the New Testament with the world’s most controversial priest. He spelunks into the catacombs under the streets of Rome to decipher the lost symbols of Christianity’s oldest monuments. He breaches the secret archives of the Vatican to unearth manuscripts never before translated into English. And with leads from the archaeological chemists at UPenn and MIT, he unveils the first scientific data for the ritual use of psychedelic drugs in classical antiquity. The Immortality Key reconstructs the suppressed history of women consecrating a forbidden, drugged Eucharist that was later banned by the Church Fathers. Women who were then targeted as witches during the Inquisition, when Europe’s sacred pharmacology largely disappeared. If the scientists of today have resurrected this technology, then Christianity is in crisis. Unless it returns to its roots. Featuring a Foreword by Graham Hancock, the NYT bestselling author of America Before.
