Elites Religion List
A viewset for viewing and editing Elites Religions.
GET /api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=4
{ "count": 448, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=5", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=3", "results": [ { "id": 151, "polity": { "id": 159, "name": "tr_konya_lca", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Late Chalcolithic", "start_year": -5500, "end_year": -3000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 91, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "unknown", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“One of the main obstacles to reach interpretations of a higher level in Anatolia is the general lack of defined cultural units with specified spatial and chronological extension. Most regions are represented only by a few sites or even a single excavation during any particular period, making it very difficult to arrive at generalizing statements.” §REF§ (Schoop 2011, 165-166) Schoop, Ulf-Dietrich. 2011. ‘The Chalcolithic on the Plateau.’ In The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QS8HNST2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QS8HNST2 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 152, "polity": { "id": 171, "name": "tr_rum_sultanate", "long_name": "Rum Sultanate", "start_year": 1077, "end_year": 1307 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The minbar was built for the mosque in Konya and hence the audiences targeted were the administrative classes within the Rum Seljuq Sultanate who were literate.” […] “These titles are the same as those employed by the Great Seljuq Sultans, however, the territories claimed to be under Rum Seljuq rule are different and the addition of jihad titles in new. The main rivals for the Great Seljuq sultans were two Shi’i dynasties, the Buyids and Fatimids, and thus a central claim in Great Seljuq ideology was that they were the supreme rulers and defenders of Sunni Islam. This was expressed especially through the title bestowed on them by the Sunni Abbasid Caliph expressing the claim that they were kings of the east and west, malik al maseriq wa al-maghrib. Thus, without an explicit reference to the Great Seljuqs, a dynastic connection with the Great Seljuq house is implied to emphasize the noble lineage of the Rum Seljuqs.” §REF§ (Mecit 2010, 97, 100) Mecit, Songul. 2010. ‘Rum Selijuks (473-641/1081-1243): Ideology, Mentality and Self-Image’. PhD Thesis. University of Edinburgh. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/M357G69B\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: M357G69B </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 153, "polity": { "id": 166, "name": "tr_phrygian_k", "long_name": "Phrygian Kingdom", "start_year": -900, "end_year": -695 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 127, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Phrygian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The continuity with the past illustrated through the use of such older Anatolian symbols suggests strongly that the Mother Goddess became part of the Phrygians' religious tradition during their earliest presence as a distinct Anatolian people in the Early Iron Age, although the goddess may not have received a monumental expression in sculpture until the flourishing period of Phrygian civilization, the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. One may even wonder, following the bold hypothesis of Machteld Mellink, whether contact between the Phrygian king Midas and the Neo Hittite rulers of the later eighth century B.C. exposed the Phrygians to the court iconography of the Neo Hittite sculptural monuments and led them to develop an iconographic form for their own goddess.” §REF§ (Roller, 1999, 83) Roller, Lynn E. (1999). In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. University of California Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5TT58SDG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5TT58SDG </b></a> §REF§ “The construction of the large rock facades of Midas City and monuments of the Phrygian highlands such as Arslankaya must have demanded large financial resources, indicating the patronage of important figures in Phrygian society. A hint of who these figures may have been is provided by several inscriptions placed on cult monuments. The goddess's facade at Midas City is dedicated to Midas, the name of a Phrygian king, by Ates. The name Ates, also a royal name, is present in two inscriptions from Çepni, once in the nominative and once in the dative, and the name Baba also appears in the nominative in two inscriptions of Midas City. Although the Greeks associated these names with male gods in the cult of Kybele, it seems unlikely that these names in the Paleo Phrygian texts are those of a divinity, especially when they appear in the nominative case in a dedicatory inscription. It seems quite probable, though, that they were names of Phrygian royalty. Following this hypothesis, the Phrygian kings not only made dedications, but could also be the recipients of cult dedications, since their names also appear in the dative. If so, we may wonder why a monument of the goddess was dedicated to a Phrygian king, to Midas or Ates. Did a Phrygian king receive divine honors after his death? This is quite possible in the case of Midas, and is implied by the appearance of his name in connection with the goddess in several Greek legends. §REF§(Roller, 1999, 111) Roller, Lynn E. (1999). In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. University of California Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5TT58SDG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5TT58SDG </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 154, "polity": { "id": 163, "name": "tr_konya_lba", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Late Bronze Age II", "start_year": -1500, "end_year": -1400 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 113, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hittite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Reverence for forebears in Hittite society normally focused on the gods and the kings, with close association with the Underworld, presided over especially by the goddess Lelwani. The center of attention in the Underworld was the sacred cultic ditch, references to which indicate a feature varying between a deep hole resembling a well and a shallows, narrow incision with a cuplike depression, such as occurs widely carved into rock-cut shrines. The cultic ditch was the abode of gods and dead kings alike.” […] “The development of the ancestor cult among the Hittites, most evident in the royal family, had its roots in several ethnic backgrounds, initially Hattian from the central lands in and around the Halys basin and then also Palaic, from Paphlagonia adjoining the Black Sea, Luwain from the Taurus region, and eventually Hurrian from Kizzuwadna. Thus it reflected the heterogenous character of the religion of the Hittite state, in due course codified as the official pantheon, the ‘thousand gods.’” §REF§ (Burney 2018, 32-33) Burney, Charles. 2018. Historical Dictionary of the Hittites. London: Rowman and Littlefield. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q43QX75C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q43QX75C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 155, "polity": { "id": 364, "name": "ir_seljuk_sultanate", "long_name": "Seljuk Sultanate", "start_year": 1037, "end_year": 1157 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 8, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Sunni Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Seljuks are traditionally characterised by their avid support for Sunnism. This formed a key part of Seljuk propaganda, end even today continues to influence scholarly and popular perceptions of the dynasty. While older scholarship suggested that the Seljuks spearheaded a ‘Sunni revival’ after the domination of the Shi’ite Buyids, more recently this had been replaced with a view of the eleventh and twelfth centuries as witnessing a process of ‘recentring’ of Sunnism – which, its is argued, the ‘ulama’ sought to make increasingly homogenous, not least through institutions like the madrasa. At the same time, Sunnism was polarised by bitter disputes between adherents of the three law schools (madhhabs) of the Islamic east: the Hanbalis, Hanafis and Shafi’is. These madhhabs lent their name not just to factional disputes among the katibs, but to bitter rivalries that split communities in virtually every town in the Seljuk domains, frequently erupting into fitna (civil disorder).” §REF§ (Peacock 2015, 249-250, 257, 258, 260- 263, 264, 279, 282) Peacock, A.C.S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/37ZDZWAR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 37ZDZWAR </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 156, "polity": { "id": 506, "name": "gr_macedonian_emp", "long_name": "Macedonian Empire", "start_year": -330, "end_year": -312 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 126, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hellenistic Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Macedonian monarchs patronized Greek religious centers and in most of the hundreds of cities under their control received divine honors, with cults, priests, statues, and often elaborate festivals in their names. Through these cults the individual cities could express their gratitude for the favors large and small that these new kings, almost greater than human to their contemporaries, bestowed. These new cults did not displace, but apparently were added to or linked to existing cults and festivals.” §REF§(Johnston, 2007, 218) Jon Mikalson ‘Greece’ in Sarah Iles Johnston. (2007). Ancient Religions. Belknap Press. §REF§ “Priesthoods were held by those who had money and were willing to part from it, benefactors who volunteered to take on a burdensome office that involved significant expanses. Visual recognition of the priestly benefactor existed in analogy to any other civic benefactor and could therefore support the argument that priesthood was the vehicle for benefaction, which in turn entitled the benefactor to honours and prestige.” §REF§(Dignas, 2006, 72). Dignas, Beate. “Benefitting Benefactors: Greek Priests and Euergetism.” L’Antiquité Classique 75 (2006): 71–84. §REF§" }, { "id": 157, "polity": { "id": 75, "name": "tr_byzantine_emp_2", "long_name": "Byzantine Empire II", "start_year": 867, "end_year": 1072 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 102, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Eastern Orthodox Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Imperial propaganda did not merely proclaim an ideal of good order from the palace. The palace rites nearly all involved prayer or veneration of the sainted. Many involved liturgical celebrations in St Sophia or churches outside the palace complex. The emperor constantly led his entourage in prayers for the welfare of his subjects, acting together with the patriarch and fortified by the concentration in his palace of Christendom’s finest relics, the Instruments of Christ’s passion among them.” §REF§ (Shepard 2010, 502) Shepard, Jonathan. 2010. ‘Equilibrium to Expansion (886-1025)’. In The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500-1492. Edited by Jonathan Shepard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/C7XMZ4M2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: C7XMZ4M2 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 158, "polity": { "id": 162, "name": "tr_hatti_old_k", "long_name": "Hatti - Old Kingdom", "start_year": -1650, "end_year": -1500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 113, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hittite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Reverence for forebears in Hittite society normally focused on the gods and the kings, with close association with the Underworld, presided over especially by the goddess Lelwani. The center of attention in the Underworld was the sacred cultic ditch, references to which indicate a feature varying between a deep hole resembling a well and a shallows, narrow incision with a cuplike depression, such as occurs widely carved into rock-cut shrines. The cultic ditch was the abode of gods and dead kings alike.” […] “The development of the ancestor cult among the Hittites, most evident in the royal family, had its roots in several ethnic backgrounds, initially Hattian from the central lands in and around the Halys basin and then also Palaic, from Paphlagonia adjoining the Black Sea, Luwain from the Taurus region, and eventually Hurrian from Kizzuwadna. Thus it reflected the heterogenous character of the religion of the Hittite state, in due course codified as the official pantheon, the ‘thousand gods.’” §REF§ (Burney 2018, 32-33) Burney, Charles. 2018. Historical Dictionary of the Hittites. London: Rowman and Littlefield. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q43QX75C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q43QX75C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 159, "polity": { "id": 164, "name": "tr_hatti_new_k", "long_name": "Hatti - New Kingdom", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -1180 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 113, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hittite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“We also know little about the circumstances under which individuals came to the priesthood. Members of the royal house were given in service to various deities, particularly in their youth, but what this meant exactly in terms of their duties and whether they continued actively in these roles throughout their lives is unclear. A celebration of the “festival of the lots” involved the casting of lots to select the new priests, as well as the anointment (with water) of the chosen, but who the candidates were, where they came from, and why is not revealed. The relative anonymity under which priests and priestesses other than the king and queen—who sat at the top of the priestly hierarchy—operated is another reflection of the control exerted by the state over the religious structures of the kingdom. The priesthood was a state-sponsored profession, albeit one to which certain privileges, such as exemption from taxes, were attached.” §REF§ (Collins 2007, 159) Collins, Billie Jean. 2007. The Hittites and their World. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QJ9J6WHG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QJ9J6WHG </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 160, "polity": { "id": 73, "name": "tr_byzantine_emp_1", "long_name": "Byzantine Empire I", "start_year": 632, "end_year": 866 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 102, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Eastern Orthodox Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“It seems to be demonstrable that this Christian imperial authority and that of the hierarchy of the Christian church, which was closely bound up with it, were reinforced by holy men and holy images claiming immediate access to supernatural power.” §REF§ (Louth 2010, 242) Louth, Andrew. 2010. ‘Byzantium Transforming (600-700)’ In The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500-1492. Edited by Jonathan Shepard. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P92RUTWI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P92RUTWI </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 161, "polity": { "id": 116, "name": "no_norway_k_2", "long_name": "Kingdom of Norway II", "start_year": 1262, "end_year": 1396 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 14, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Norwegian church is believed to have been relatively wealthier than the churches of most other countries, owning nearly half of the total incomes from landed property just before the reformation and possibly as much as around 40% around 1300. The clergy in medieval Norway around 1300 – admittedly long after the missionary period – is estimated at around 2,000 people, i.e. one per 175–225 inhabitants (depending on the size of the population which is very uncertain), compared to one per 3,800 in 1970. Further, this class received a tax of one tenth of the agricultural production. This wealth did not exclusively benefit the clergy; parts of it were returned to broader strata of the population in the form of hospitals, alms, and numerous opportunities for laymen to make a career in the service of the ecclesiastical aristocracy. Nevertheless, the main benefit the laity received from the Church was of a spiritual nature: by sacrificing material wealth, they gained the spiritual treasures the Church could offer which gave them protection against the dangers facing them in this life as well as in the life to come.” §REF§ (Bagge 2005, 127-128) Sverre, Bagge. 2005. ‘Christianization and State Formation in Early Medieval Norway’. In Scandinavian Journal of History. Vol. 30:2. Pp. 107-134. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/G226764Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: G226764Z </b></a> §REF§ The following quotes refer to Christianity in Iceland “The bishops held the power to grant the staðir and in practice also the bændarkirkjur to clerics as they saw fit. This created new powers for the bishops and the Church, but it also created a new social role for the newly beneficed elite clergy.” §REF§ (Sigurdson 2011, 37) Sigurdson, Erika Ruth. 2011. The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland: Ecclesiastical Administration, Literacy, and the Formation of an Elite Clerical Identity. PhD Thesis. Leeds: The University of Leeds. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HICWDESD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HICWDESD </b></a> §REF§ “Most importantly for my present purposes, in the course of this thirty-year conflict, Bishop Árni and the Icelandic Church established a beneficial system in Iceland. After gaining control of the staðir, Árni immediately gave them as benefices to powerful clerics. Although the evidence for the diocese of Hólar is less fulsome for this period, there too, Bishop Jörundr appears to have undertaken the project of establishing a beneficial system. As I will argue in the course of this thesis, it was the establishment of a stable system for allotting staðir as benefices that allowed for the creation of a land-holding class of elite clerics. §REF§ (Sigurdson 2011, 36) Sigurdson, Erika Ruth. 2011. The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland: Ecclesiastical Administration, Literacy, and the Formation of an Elite Clerical Identity. PhD Thesis. Leeds: The University of Leeds. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HICWDESD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HICWDESD </b></a> §REF§ “It seems that many of the abbots and priors came from the same small pool of elite Icelandic clergy as the benefice holders. Orri Vésteinsson, discussing earlier centuries, writes that while -incredibly little is known‘ of the abbots,- all those who can [be connected with known families] are however clearly of aristocratic birth‘.55 The same is true of the fourteenth-century abbots; and in addition to family connections, many of them can be connected to powerful ecclesiastical patrons, and held an important place in the networks of patronage and ecclesiastical politics. […] The abbots and priors of fourteenth-century monasteries were part of a network of elite clerics. Moreover, as the leaders of the largest ecclesiastical institutions outside of the two bishops‘ sees, the abbots played an important role in ecclesiastical administration. In the fifteenth century several abbots held the position of officialis of Skálholt (see Appendix 2). Moreover, the abbots of the most powerful monasteries (Þingeyri and Þykkvibær) had an important role to play as mediators and arbitrators in ecclesiastical judgements.” §REF§ (Sigurdson 2011, 93-94) Sigurdson, Erika Ruth. 2011. The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland: Ecclesiastical Administration, Literacy, and the Formation of an Elite Clerical Identity. PhD Thesis. Leeds: The University of Leeds. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HICWDESD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HICWDESD </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 162, "polity": { "id": 445, "name": "pg_orokaiva_pre_colonial", "long_name": "Orokaiva - Pre-Colonial", "start_year": 1734, "end_year": 1883 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 146, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Orokaiva Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "'The belief in ghosts and spirits is a predominant characteristic of the northern native. In almost every tribe I have observed the propitiation of family ghosts with individual offerings of food by ordinary persons to secure the vitality of their food supply, and by sorcerers to stimulate their charms. Ghosts are invoked during ceremonies by divination to reveal crimes and criminals. Food offerings to ghosts are made during death feasts and during certain initiation rites. The house of initiation and the paraphernalia of the dance are believed to have spiritual powers, and when the paraphernalia are thrown into the river at the completion of the rites, they are invoked to smite the enemies of the dancers.' (Chinnery and Haddon 1917:448) §REF§ Chinnery, Ernest William Pearson and Aldred Cort Haddon. 1917. Five new religious cults in British New Guinea. Hibbert Journal<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ACAXTI6G\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ACAXTI6G </b></a> §REF§ 'The Orokaiva religious history is also particularly interesting here. Their traditional faith, Williams says, though in many respects vague and locally variable, concerned itself “primarily with the spirits of the dead” and their influence on the welfare of the living. Death was appraised with particular realism, although it was considered ultimately as the result of supernatural causes. Magic had a consistent place' (Keesing 1952:19) §REF§ Keesing, Felix. 1952. ‘The Papuan Orokaiva Vs Mt. Lamington: Cultural Shock and Its Aftermath’. Human Organization 11:1, pp.16-22. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/99DBPAU4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 99DBPAU4 </b></a> §REF§ The spread of Christianity and the emergence of new supralocal religious movements did not predate colonization: 'The traditional beliefs of the Orokaiva, though in many respects vague and locally variable, focused primarily on the \"spirits of the dead\" and their influence on the living. The Orokaiva had no high god. Formerly, they were animists, believing in the existence of souls (ASISI) in humans, plants, and animals. The taro spirit was of particular importance and was the inspiration and foundation of the Taro Cult. The Orokaiva have been swept recently by a series of new cults, indicative of their religious adaptability in the face of fresh experience. Mission influence is strong in the Northern District. Religious training is provided almost exclusively by the Anglican church, although mission influence has not totally eradicated traditional beliefs, producing an air of mysticism about the resultant religious system.' Latham, Christopher S.: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Orokaiva (2004) §REF§ Latham, Christopher and John Beierle. 2004. ‘Culture Summary: Orokaiva’. In: eHRAF World Cultures. Online: http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=oj23-000. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/V2AK2FR7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: V2AK2FR7 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 163, "polity": { "id": 113, "name": "gh_akan", "long_name": "Akan - Pre-Ashanti", "start_year": 1501, "end_year": 1701 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 147, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Akan Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The tripartite spirit world of the Akan was predicated on the constant intermingling of the sacred and the temporal. The construction of two sets of intermediates was a means of expressing a distinction between power and social organization (the ancestors) and belief (the gods), who were all nevertheless sanctioned by the supreme being. This differentiation is crucial since, when properly manipulated, it could provide the basis for a rudimentary distinction between religion and state without affecting the essential spirituality of both.” §REF§ (Chazan 1988, 67) Chazan, Naomi. 1988. ‘The Early State in Africa: The Asante Case.’ In The Early State in African Perspective: Culture, Power and Division of Labour. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/854TD597\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 854TD597 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 164, "polity": { "id": 100, "name": "us_proto_haudenosaunee", "long_name": "Proto-Haudenosaunee Confederacy", "start_year": 1300, "end_year": 1565 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 148, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Iroquois Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 165, "polity": { "id": 471, "name": "cn_hmong_2", "long_name": "Hmong - Early Chinese", "start_year": 1895, "end_year": 1941 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 47, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Protestant Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "The following quote that even among the many Christian converts, most continued to follow traditional Hmong beliefs and practices. “However, in a situation of extreme political instability, and despite the occurrence of such violent anti-missionary movements as that described, above, Christianity has not succeeded in destroying the cultural imperatives of a traditional belief system in which ancestor worship, shamanism, and pantheism blend together in mutual support to uphold and substantiate a strongly patrilineal system of clan exogamy defined as ethnically Hmong. [...] At the same time most Christian converts interviewed do not seem to have fully jettisoned all faith in such traditional aspects of their culture as the efficacy of shamanism in curing illness or the importance of funerals in disposing of the souls of the deceased and assuring the fortunes of their descendants.” §REF§ Tapp, N. (1989). The impact of missionary Christianity upon marginalized ethnic minorities: The case of the Hmong. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 20(1), 70-95. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BB3MHG9U\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BB3MHG9U </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 166, "polity": { "id": 471, "name": "cn_hmong_2", "long_name": "Hmong - Early Chinese", "start_year": 1895, "end_year": 1941 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 149, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hmong Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "The following quote that even among the many Christian converts, most continued to follow traditional Hmong beliefs and practices. “However, in a situation of extreme political instability, and despite the occurrence of such violent anti-missionary movements as that described, above, Christianity has not succeeded in destroying the cultural imperatives of a traditional belief system in which ancestor worship, shamanism, and pantheism blend together in mutual support to uphold and substantiate a strongly patrilineal system of clan exogamy defined as ethnically Hmong. [...] At the same time most Christian converts interviewed do not seem to have fully jettisoned all faith in such traditional aspects of their culture as the efficacy of shamanism in curing illness or the importance of funerals in disposing of the souls of the deceased and assuring the fortunes of their descendants.” §REF§ Tapp, N. (1989). The impact of missionary Christianity upon marginalized ethnic minorities: The case of the Hmong. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 20(1), 70-95. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BB3MHG9U\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BB3MHG9U </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 167, "polity": { "id": 470, "name": "cn_hmong_1", "long_name": "Hmong - Late Qing", "start_year": 1701, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 149, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Hmong Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Most Miao have a pervasive belief in spirits or genies.” §REF§ (Jenks 1994, 63) Jenks. (1994). Unrest in Guizhou during the Ming and Qing and Its Relation to Folk Religion. In Insurgency and Social Disorder in Guizhou (pp. 58–72). University of Hawaii Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SUSZ6E4J\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SUSZ6E4J </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 168, "polity": { "id": 102, "name": "us_haudenosaunee_2", "long_name": "Haudenosaunee Confederacy - Late", "start_year": 1714, "end_year": 1848 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 148, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Iroquois Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Most Iroquois were non-Christian in 1820; however, by 1860 most had become Christian.'\"§REF§Foley, Denis 1994. “Ethnohistoric And Ethnographic Analysis Of The Iroquois From The Aboriginal Era To The Present Suburban Era”, 182§REF§ \"In the early decades of the nineteenth century, various ministers visited the Onondaga and other efforts were made to convert them, with only limited success. In 1816 Eleazar Williams, an adopted Mohawk catechist and layreader (see “Oneida,” this vol.), visited the Onondagas. In that and the following year, a few Onondagas were baptized by Episcopalian clergymen, and subsequently some attended the church at Onondaga Hill (Clark 1849,1:238-240). About the same time, a local Presbyterian minister also proselytized among the Onondagas, and in 1821 there were said to be 34 who professed Christianityin the Presbyterian form of worship. In 1820 a school taught by a Stockbridge woman opened, but the teacher died a few years later (J. Morse 1822:323-324, 394; Clark1849, 1:240-241). About 1828 a Quaker opened anindustrial school and stayed for six or seven years(Fletcher 1888:551). Nevertheless, there remained considerable opposition to Christian missionaries, and after a Methodist church was established at Oneida in 1829, Indian exhorters rather than ministers were appointed to visit Onondaga as the Onondagas remained hostile to Christianity (Clark 1849, 1:241).' §REF§Blau, Harold, Jack Campisi, and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Onondaga”, 496§REF§" }, { "id": 169, "polity": { "id": 58, "name": "fm_truk_2", "long_name": "Chuuk - Late Truk", "start_year": 1886, "end_year": 1948 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 152, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Trukese Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 170, "polity": { "id": 101, "name": "us_haudenosaunee_1", "long_name": "Haudenosaunee Confederacy - Early", "start_year": 1566, "end_year": 1713 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 148, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Iroquois Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 171, "polity": { "id": 57, "name": "fm_truk_1", "long_name": "Chuuk - Early Truk", "start_year": 1775, "end_year": 1886 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 152, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Trukese Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "RA’s note: From the following quotes, it becomes clear that the elites, in the case of the Indigenous people from Chuuk – the chiefs and the ritual specialists (itang), were believed to have ancestry from the gods, hence, the religion they practiced would have been the pre-colonial Chuukese religion. ‘The association of itang with chiefs was an intimate one. Ideally, chiefs themselves were also trained in itang lore. This training included learning what was considered to be good for people and the right things to do for people so as to keep them contented and living in harmony (Efot 1947). A chief who did not know these things was not likely to serve his people well. No one could properly qualify as a chief if he or members of his lineage were not versed in itang lore. Possession of this lore, moreover, was evidence of the descent of the chief and his matrilineal lineage from an ancestor who was a god in human form. The spirit power manaman, of chiefs derived from this ancestry and from the itang lore that descended from it as well’ (Goodenough 2002:297) §REF§ Goodenough, Ward Hunt. 2002. Under Heaven’s Brow: Pre-Christian Religious Tradition in Chuuk. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BAX6HMH7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BAX6HMH7 </b></a> §REF§ ‘The association of chief and itang with the heavenly gods was symbolically expressed in a number of ways. Except for a chief’s or itang’s wife, men of his lineage, his wife’s sister and brothers, his parents and his children, all other people were prohibited from standing in his presence if he was seated. They crouched (ópwpwóro, an apparent contraction of ó-pwpwóro-ro ‘make curved bend’, walked on their knees, or crawled on their hands and knees so as not to be physically higher than he was. Chiefs and itang were greeted when approaching or passing with a bowed head and the expression “Fááyiro”, meaning ‘Under Arc’ or ‘Under Bow’, an apparent synonym for Fachchamw (‘Under Brow’). This greeting acknowledged that the chief or itang was of the region under the arc of heaven that was the abode of the gods.’ (Goodenough 2002:298) §REF§ Goodenough, Ward Hunt. 2002. Under Heaven’s Brow: Pre-Christian Religious Tradition in Chuuk. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BAX6HMH7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BAX6HMH7 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 172, "polity": { "id": 195, "name": "ru_sakha_late", "long_name": "Sakha - Late", "start_year": 1632, "end_year": 1900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 102, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Eastern Orthodox Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "As Orthodoxy was so heavily incentive within the bureaucratic system, there is some evidence that toyons (war leaders who acted as local elites) were perhaps more enthusiastic in their adoption of Orthodoxy than other community members: “In the first stages of Russian occupation it was the toyons who, as war leaders, led resistance movements against the invaders. After some forty years of Russian rule however, when local resistance had been crushed with an iron hand… the native rulers allowed themselves to be coerced or brought over, and came to terms with the occupying power.” §REF§ (Forsyth, 1992, 62) Forsyth, James. 1992. A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia’s North Asian Colony 1581-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2GHX877K\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2GHX877K </b></a> §REF§ “In the corner of their dwellings there hung icons; the people worse crucifixes (the large silver crucifix-type embellishments worn by women are interesting), went to church and many of them, particularly the toyons, were zealous Christians. Actually this is understandable since Christianity was far better suited than shamanism to satisfy the class interests of rich people.” §REF§ (Levin, Potapov, 1964, 277-278) Levin, M. G., Potapov L. P., 1964, The Peoples of Siberia Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PQM3DVV4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: PQM3DVV4 </b></a> §REF§ “The baptized received the opportunity to be accepted into the service with the payment of a salary, which contributed to the emergence of a symbiosis of Russian principles of local customs, which later became one of the characteristic specific characteristics of Orthodoxy in Yakutia.” (Rough translation of Russian text) §REF§ (Yurganova, 2014, 119) Yurganova, I. 2014 \"Missionary Activities of Russian Orthodox Church in Yakutia (Xvii - Early Xxth Centuries).\" RUDN Journal of Russian History no. 3 Pp.117-128. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HT89A2HW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HT89A2HW </b></a> §REF§ Shamans could also be considered local elite and often accepted baptism and formal Orthodox rituals but still led their communities in shamanistic practice in daily life. “Laying penance on a shaman was difficult for a priest, who was supposed to take care of the maintenance of both the shaman himself and his family during penance. But having repented, the shaman again returned to his ritual practice, avoiding meetings with a priest…” (Rough translation of Russian text) §REF§ (Yurganova, 2021, 152-153) Yurganova, Inna 2021. \"Travel Notes of the Priest of the Ugulyat Annunciation Church. Preparation of the Text for Publication, Introductory Article and Comments by Inna Yurganova.\" Вестник Свято-Филаретовского института no. 39 Pp. 148-169. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WBVMUJER\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WBVMUJER </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 173, "polity": { "id": 114, "name": "gh_ashanti_emp", "long_name": "Ashanti Empire", "start_year": 1701, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 147, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Akan Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“During the festival the Ashanti king is honoured, highlighting their role in the practice and maintenance of Akan religious traditions. “Opayin Osei Kwakwo describes the Odwira festival as an occasion when the Asante state and its people are cleansed with the sacred water of the river Tano, the blackened stools are purified, the chiefs pay homage to the Asantehene [king], and the chiefs and elders discuss community development projects and settle disputes. Rattray defines Odwira as an ‘annual ceremony held in September in honour and propitiation of the Ashanti kings who ‘had gone elsewhere’ and fore the cleansing of the whole nation from defilement.’ The definition carries the meaning that the festival was regarded as the feast of royal ancestors, which is tied to the eating of the new yam.” §REF§ (Kwesi Adams 2010, 33) Kwesi Adams, Frank. 2010. Odwira and the Gospel: A Study of the Asante Odwira Festival and its Significance for Christianity in Ghana. Oxford: Regnum Books International. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/R7548HEN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: R7548HEN </b></a> §REF§“The Asante people, particularly the royal family were also not enthused about the principles of Islam, which they claimed placed all people at the same level, irrespective of one’s position in society. According to Wilk, the realization that the religion of the Muslims no doubt regards all human beings as equal made particularly the royal family fear that they might lose the hierarchical structure of society their forefathers had established for them.” §REF§ (Bin Yusuf and Agyare, 2021) Bin Yusuf, Jibrail and Agyare, Victoria. 2021. ‘Why Islam did not Make Significant Impact on Asante During the 18th and the 19th Centuries.’ In The Asante World. Edited by Edmund Abaka and Kwame Osei Kwarteng. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VV7AQ6GV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VV7AQ6GV </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 174, "polity": { "id": 153, "name": "id_iban_1", "long_name": "Iban - Pre-Brooke", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1841 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 156, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Iban Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "I found no distinction between religious practice of elites and that of the majority population. The Iban had a fairly egalitarian society with the bilek (family) as the primary unit. “One of the main findings of my researches in Borneo during the years of 1949-1951 was that Iban society was ‘classless and egalitarian’ (Freeman 1955b: 10). This conclusion has since been confirmed by other systematically trained ethnographers who have studied Iban society at depth.” (Freeman, 1891, 1) §REF§ Freeman, Derek. 1981. Some Reflections on the Nature of Iban Society. Canberra: SOCPAC Printery. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D6R2GD4G\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: D6R2GD4G </b></a> §REF§ “This way of life, the religious focus on the rice cult, an economy based almost exclusively on hill rice cultivation and social organization centred on the longhouse community of separate bilek families – this way of life, which has survived for centuries, if not already close to extinction, is likely to disappear with the older generation of living Iban.” §REF§ (Jensen, 1974, 112-113) Jensen, Erik. 1974. The Iban and Their Religion. London: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CVIQZD7C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CVIQZD7C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 175, "polity": { "id": 251, "name": "cn_western_han_dyn", "long_name": "Western Han Empire", "start_year": -202, "end_year": 9 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 160, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Confucianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"The conquest of the realm and establishment of the Han were legitimated by the ancient notion of the Mandate of Heaven (Tianming), which asserted that the ruling dynasty obtained its authority from heaven. The ruler was thus known as Child of Heaven (Tianzi) and was the only one allowed to offer sacrifice to Heaven. The sacrifice to Heaven was the peak of a ritual system that extended to encompass all ritual activities within a single ritual hierarchy. This idealized ritual order was advocated by the “ literati ” (Ru), who studied and transmitted the ancient classics associated with the Confucian tradition. This so-called Confucian literati tradition came to dominate the scholarly and administrative apparatus of the imperial state, from the Han to the early twentieth century.\" §REF§(Raz 2012: 53) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QMGMQBVN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QMGMQBVN </b></a>§REF§ “The Han period is important in religious history because during that time Confucianism became a state orthodoxy (some would say, the state religion), Taoism became an institutional religion, and Buddhism was introduced into the country. Han China represents an epoch when all under Heaven was unified under one emperor ruling by Heaven's mandate with the help of Confucian orthodoxy. It was a development parallel to early Christendom under Constantine, who had a 'political theology' of one God, one Logos, one Emperor and one World - with philosophical monotheism applied to the monarchical order.” §REF§ (Ching, Julia 1993, 153-154) Ching, Julia. 1993. Chinese Religions. London: Macmillan. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PPXC7H29\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: PPXC7H29 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 176, "polity": { "id": 243, "name": "cn_late_shang_dyn", "long_name": "Late Shang", "start_year": -1250, "end_year": -1045 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 161, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shang Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“To strengthen the kingship by means of theocracy, the king of Shang had combined the worship of gods with the worship of ancestors of the royal families, preaching that “Di” (the Supreme Being) was the king’s ancestral god and the king was the legitimate son of “Di” (the Supreme Being) to unify theocracy and kingship, which had given aristocracy with mysterious color, so the kings of Shang had often threatened people by carrying out “Tian Fa” (Heavenly punishment). In late Shang Dynasty, the king had attempted to overcome the ruling crisis by making use of theocracy, and called himself “Di” (the Supreme Being). Therefore, there were the Chinese characters of “Wang Di” and “Xia Di” in inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells. Thus, it was clear that the religion in Shang Dynasty was not only the religion of nobles, but also the spiritual pillar of autocratic politics and the ideological weapon in ruling the slaves and civilians. The kings’ frequent sacrificial activities for ghosts, gods, and ancestors were, in essence, political activities covered up under the religious outerwear, and their devout appearance was just the need to serve political purpose. In addition, the king of Shang also expressed his own will in the name of God through divination. Therefore, only authorized historians and the king himself had the right to divine and interpret the messages. For this reason, the officials in charge of religious affairs had a crucial position in the state of Shang Dynasty.” §REF§ (Zhang, Jinfan 2020, 30) Zhang, Jinfan. 2020. The History of Chinese Legal Civilization: Ancient China—From About 21st Century B.C. to 1840 A.D.P. 30. Singapore: Springer. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FKGFHSPX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FKGFHSPX </b></a> §REF§“The religious ranking of the Shang ancestors must have reflected the social system, with its own hierarchical obligations and attitudes, by which living relatives were classified: generationalism, like ancestor worship, derived from authority patterns among the living.” §REF§ (Keightley 1978, 220) Keightley, David N. 1978. The Religious Commitment: Shang Theology and the Genesis of Chinese Political Culture. History of Religions. Vol 17:3/4. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FV7I9UC3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FV7I9UC3 </b></a> §REF§“Similarly, the religious concern with order and hierarchy is congruent with the intensely ordered style of much Shang hieratic art, devoted to the imposition of abstract, balanced, geometric patterns over entire surfaces. The style and the religious concerns reflect the emotional and intellectual dispositions of the Shang elite and the highly organized structure of their social conceptions.” §REF§ (Keightley 1978, 221) Keightley, David N. 1978. The Religious Commitment: Shang Theology and the Genesis of Chinese Political Culture. History of Religions. Vol 17:3/4. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FV7I9UC3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FV7I9UC3 </b></a> §REF§“Similarly, the bureaucratic features of Shang religion must have been related to contemporary administrative practices. For Chinese administration may be regarded as proto-bureaucratic in Shang times. Written documents certainly played a major role in the organization of the state. The king issued orders to officers by their titles; administration was conducted through group assignments; such groups formed part of a hierarchical administration which the king ordered individual officers, the officers ordered these groups, and the groups in turn directed the conscripts beneath them. And we can document, in some cases, a filiation between the titles of these Shang groups and the later bureaucratic titles of Shou times.” §REF§ (Keightley 1978, 221) Keightley, David N. 1978. The Religious Commitment: Shang Theology and the Genesis of Chinese Political Culture. History of Religions. Vol 17:3/4. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FV7I9UC3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FV7I9UC3 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 177, "polity": { "id": 254, "name": "cn_western_jin_dyn", "long_name": "Western Jin", "start_year": 265, "end_year": 317 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 160, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Confucianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Since the ru posited themselves as the guardians of the sacred way of Heaven, embracing Confucianism was a way by which dynastic founders demonstrated not only that they deeply valued China’s longstanding and venerated imperial traditions, but also that their regimes were in accordance with Heaven’s will. As a way to gain favor with the ru, one of the initial moves of any regime was to quickly establish an imperial university in the capital and to staff it with Confucian scholars. Each of the Three Kingdoms’ founders rushed to erect a taixue, “imperial university”: in 221 Liu Bei (r. 221–223) established one in Chengdu; in 224 Emperor Wen of the Wei (Cao Pi, r. 220–226) rebuilt the taixue; and in 230 Sun Quan (r. 222–252) set up his own. At the start of his reign, Emperor Wu of the Western Jin (Sima Yan, r. 265–290), established a taixue and staffed it with nineteen erudites (boshi). [...] The three-year mourning rites became the ritual practice of China’s elite in the late first century ce; moreover, it was only during the Western Jin (265–317) that officials were required to perform them. During the Jin, officials were impeached not because they failed to perform the three-year rites, but because they performed them in what appeared to be a slightly defective manner.\" §REF§(Knapp 2019: 490, 498) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/W49RBN2Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: W49RBN2Z </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 178, "polity": { "id": 258, "name": "cn_northern_wei_dyn", "long_name": "Northern Wei", "start_year": 386, "end_year": 534 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Adopting Confucianism as the state religion was not acceptable to many nobles of the Northern Wei royal lineage, who took pride in their steppe traditions, nor was it appealing to their Chinese subjects. Buddhism was the obvious choice. From 460 on, the Northern Wei emperor began to have huge statues of the Buddha carved near the capital, Pingcheng (present-day Yungang, in the northern part of present Shanxi Province. Those statues, monuments marking the eastern end of the Silk Road, represented the reincarnations of the current and former rulers of the Northern Wei. Through these carvings, the Northern Wei emperors declared themselves the representatives of the Buddha and therefore the legitimate rulers of China.\"§REF§(Liu 77, 2010) Xinru Liu. 2010. The Silk Road in World History. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"It was after the conquest of the Northern Liang and the unification of the north in 439 that the emperor’s religious policy clearly shifted toward Daoism. In 440 the emperor changed his reign name to Great Peace ( Taiping ). In 442 he received Daoist initiation by “ receiving registers ” from Kou Qianzhi. In 446, after the discovery of weapons in a monastery in the capital, Taiwu announced an imperial proscription of Buddhism — which he labeled “ barbarian ” ( hu ) — and the establishment of a Daoist state. [...] The ascendance of the Daoists was short - lived, as Kou ’ s death in 448 was soon followed by the execution in 450 of the prime minister Cui Hao — who had introduced Kou Qianzhi at court and who played a major part in establishing the Daoist state — and by emperor Taiwu ’ s death in 452. Later northern emperors reverted to more inclusive policies, but all followed Taiwu ’ s example and “ received registers ” during their reigns.\" §REF§(Raz 2012: 72) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QMGMQBVN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QMGMQBVN </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 179, "polity": { "id": 258, "name": "cn_northern_wei_dyn", "long_name": "Northern Wei", "start_year": 386, "end_year": 534 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 159, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Daoism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Adopting Confucianism as the state religion was not acceptable to many nobles of the Northern Wei royal lineage, who took pride in their steppe traditions, nor was it appealing to their Chinese subjects. Buddhism was the obvious choice. From 460 on, the Northern Wei emperor began to have huge statues of the Buddha carved near the capital, Pingcheng (present-day Yungang, in the northern part of present Shanxi Province. Those statues, monuments marking the eastern end of the Silk Road, represented the reincarnations of the current and former rulers of the Northern Wei. Through these carvings, the Northern Wei emperors declared themselves the representatives of the Buddha and therefore the legitimate rulers of China.\"§REF§(Liu 77, 2010) Xinru Liu. 2010. The Silk Road in World History. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"It was after the conquest of the Northern Liang and the unification of the north in 439 that the emperor’s religious policy clearly shifted toward Daoism. In 440 the emperor changed his reign name to Great Peace ( Taiping ). In 442 he received Daoist initiation by “ receiving registers ” from Kou Qianzhi. In 446, after the discovery of weapons in a monastery in the capital, Taiwu announced an imperial proscription of Buddhism — which he labeled “ barbarian ” ( hu ) — and the establishment of a Daoist state. [...] The ascendance of the Daoists was short - lived, as Kou ’ s death in 448 was soon followed by the execution in 450 of the prime minister Cui Hao — who had introduced Kou Qianzhi at court and who played a major part in establishing the Daoist state — and by emperor Taiwu ’ s death in 452. Later northern emperors reverted to more inclusive policies, but all followed Taiwu ’ s example and “ received registers ” during their reigns.\" §REF§(Raz 2012: 72) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QMGMQBVN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QMGMQBVN </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 180, "polity": { "id": 268, "name": "cn_yuan_dyn", "long_name": "Great Yuan", "start_year": 1271, "end_year": 1368 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 163, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Tibetan Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Let us not forget that in all imperial Chinese dynasties an individual’s access to government office secured elite status for himself and his family and that the Yuan distinguished itself from other dynasties by according Buddhist administrative positions a qualitatively and quantitatively significant role in officialdom.” §REF§ (Wang 2016, 215) Wang, Jinping. 2016. ‘Clergy, Kinship, And Clout In Yuan Dynasty Shani’. International Journal of Asian Studies. Vol 13: 2. Pp 197–228. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q63B6JAV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q63B6JAV </b></a> §REF§ “Later on, Khubilai confirmed Rin’s appointment and awarded Monk Zhi an honorary title Master Miaoyan 妙嚴大師, thereby easing his direct communication with the Mongol political elite. In addition, grand Buddhist ritual assemblies held in the capital brought elite Wutai monks into direct contact with powerful Tibetan lamas. For instance, Monk Xiong (Xiong jixiang 雄吉祥), after serving in one such assembly at Dadu in 1276, was promoted by the National Preceptor—Rin himself—to the post of Chief Buddhist Judge (dusengpan 都僧判) on Mt. Wutai. Similar privileges awaited other Chinese monks subsequently accorded elite titles and positions on Mt. Wutai.” §REF§ (Wang 2016, 202) Wang, Jinping. 2016. ‘Clergy, Kinship, And Clout In Yuan Dynasty Shani’. International Journal of Asian Studies. Vol 13: 2. Pp 197–228. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q63B6JAV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q63B6JAV </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 181, "polity": { "id": 269, "name": "cn_ming_dyn", "long_name": "Great Ming", "start_year": 1368, "end_year": 1644 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 160, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Confucianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Nevertheless, South China saw a proliferation of private academies in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Much of this learning was centered upon the Neo-Confucian scholarship that emerged in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with a focus on individual moral autonomy that was based upon scholarly pursuit and ritual practice. However, this Neo-Confucian conservatism was tempered by a range of eclectic interests throughout much of elite society, and among those recruited into the early Ming court were specialists in Buddhism, Daoism, medicine and art, as well as practical men with skills and experience in law, warfare and governance. In biographies of members of the elite, men were often praised for their literary skills, their administrative talents and their breadth of learning. In many cases, women were honored for their learning as well and especially for the guidance and direction of their children. In more conservative circles, wives were praised for practicing Confucian virtue, even though they remained unlearned.” §REF§ (Xiong and Hammond 2019, 254) Xiong, Victor Cunrui and Kenneth J. Hammond. 2019. Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History. London and New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9RC9JSM7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9RC9JSM7 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 182, "polity": { "id": 244, "name": "cn_western_zhou_dyn", "long_name": "Western Zhou", "start_year": -1122, "end_year": -771 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 158, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Chinese Popular Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Regarding this variable, expert Edward Shaughnessy has acknowledge that there is not a lot of information about religion in the Western Zhou period. \r\n\"Like the Shang, the Zhou Empire practiced ancestor worship, divination, and ritual offerings to nature spirits and celestial deities. One feature of Zhou religion, evidence for which is based upon archeology as well as poetry collected or reconstructed a few hundred years after the fall of the Zhou, was shamanism.\"§REF§(Nadeau 2012: 32) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5HX5CPPS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5HX5CPPS </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n“Based on mortuary evidence, Falkenhausen (2006:160) speculates that the paramount class difference in Western Zhou society may have been that between the elite and those commoners who belonged to the same lineages and that ‘if so, we would be dealing with a comparatively homogenous social fabric – one in which the ruling and the rule considered one another as kin.” […] “Although a chapter in the Remains of the Documents of the Zhou (Yi Zhoushu) purporting to record an early Western Zhou ritual practice related to the alters of soil and grain may be apocryphal, it sheds light on the kind of political relationship articulated through ritual activities a the first type of alter of soil and grain in my classification […] The cults at this type of alter of soil and grain essentially articulated the political relationships among the ruling elite and reinforced the same power structure sanctified by ancestor worship.” […] “[t]he patrilineage based organisations of the Western Zhou polity, where filial piety is as much a political imperative as it is a matter of individual and familial ethics. His authority being grounded in the construction of a patrilineal network within the aristocracy, the king had both the motivation and the obligation to seal the aristocracy’s loyalty to him by diligently promoting their piety to their ancestors. The numerous sacrificial banquets hosted by the king served precisely this purpose, and so did an occasion like the reception he held for his triumphant commanders.” <ref> (Zhou 2011: 117-118; 129) Zhou, Yiqun. 2011. Festivals, Feasts, and Gender Relations in Ancient China and Greece. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/52GDVHUV/items/8IF7NQCD/collection </ref>" }, { "id": 183, "polity": { "id": 2, "name": "cn_qing_dyn_2", "long_name": "Late Qing", "start_year": 1796, "end_year": 1912 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 160, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Confucianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“According to Robert Hymes, the Confucian elites shifted their attention from national affairs, such as seeking office-holding or the pursuit of high office, toward the local during the late imperial China. This turn was mainly caused by the loss of north China to the Jurchen. This loss “signaled the failure of state activism for many contemporaries and conclusively shattered the perception of common interests between the state and Confucian literati that the factional battles of the late northern Song had already strained to the breaking point.” As a consequence of this breakdown, Confucian elites increasingly focused on consolidating local power, primarily by boosting their lineages, which were the source of their standing and legitimacy.” §REF§ (Zhang 2020, 10) Zhang, Yanchao. 2020. ‘The Local Promotion of Mazu: The Intersection of Lineage, Textual Representation, Confucian Values, and Temples in Late Imperial China.’ Religions. Vol. 11 (3): 123. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U234SIMW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: U234SIMW </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 184, "polity": { "id": 1, "name": "cn_qing_dyn_1", "long_name": "Early Qing", "start_year": 1644, "end_year": 1796 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 160, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Confucianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Inferred from the following quotes. “The strong role of the Hunan elite in nineteenth-century imperial management had roots in Luo Dian’s late eighteenth-century promotion of statecraft values and institutional revival. Locally, Yuelu Academy activity focused Song Learning traditions, fostered regional pride, and encouraged links with provincial government. Nationally, it helped native sons attain specialized posts in the Qing bureaucracy. Subsequent education and networking contributed to an imperial niche for Hunanese-led activism and statecraft administration, in evidence by the 1820s and at its zenith by the 1870s. The school’s success galvanized the academy’s position as a central node in a Hunan nexus of lineage ties, Neo-Confucian study, literati relationships, and reformist networks in government.” §REF§ (McMahon 2015, 18) McMahon, Daniel. 2015. Rethinking the Decline of China’s Qing Dynasty: Imperial activism and borderland management at the turn of the nineteenth century. London and New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MPX26NIN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: MPX26NIN </b></a> §REF§ “This process also reveals the Confucian agenda of local elites from the Lin lineage. According to Robert Hymes, the Confucian elites shifted their attention from national affairs, such as seeking office-holding or the pursuit of high office, toward the local during the late imperial China. This turn was mainly caused by the loss of north China to the Jurchen. This loss “signaled the failure of state activism for many contemporaries and conclusively shattered the perception of common interests between the state and Confucian literati that the factional battles of the late northern Song had already strained to the breaking point.” As a consequence of this breakdown, Confucian elites increasingly focused on consolidating local power, primarily by boosting their lineages, which were the source of their standing and legitimacy.” §REF§ (Zhang 2020, 10) Zhang, Yanchao. 2020. ‘The Local Promotion of Mazu: The Intersection of Lineage, Textual Representation, Confucian Values, and Temples in Late Imperial China.’ Religions. Vol. 11 (3): 123. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U234SIMW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: U234SIMW </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 185, "polity": { "id": 253, "name": "cn_eastern_han_dyn", "long_name": "Eastern Han Empire", "start_year": 25, "end_year": 220 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 160, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Confucianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“In the Eastern Han, literati became the core of the bureaucracy, together with scribes. Once this was the case, the literati came naturally to have considerable power to manipulate recommendations. Whether it involved examinations or special summons, the literati systematically chose their own kind and rejected others. Under these circumstances, whatever was not in accord with what the Confucian Classics and theories required came to be viewed as “heterodox” and was rejected or attacked, or at the very least looked down on. If we consider the attitudes of intellectuals and the official class toward shamans at that time, they must have been considered heterodox, meaning it would have been very difficult for any shaman to enter on an official career by recommendation. Over time, shamans or shaman families, even if they were not market-registered, would not have been considered—or would not have considered themselves—as recommendable. When Gao Feng says he is “from a shaman family and may not be an official,” this may have been the truth in those social circumstances, but he must be referring not to the specialized shaman official but to any ordinary official. From this it may be seen that it was very unlikely that a shaman become an ordinary official, and this was even more unlikely under the Eastern Han, for if they lived or practiced in a market area, they would have been forbidden, as market-registered individuals, from becoming an official. Even if a shaman was not registered in a market, his profession was looked down on by intellectuals and officialdom. Their activities were at odds with the demands of the Confucian Classics, even in conflict with the law, so the literati-dominated official class would reject them, and it would be difficult to become an official either by examination or special summons.” §REF§ (Kalinowski and Lagerwey 2009, 436-437) Kalinowski, Marc and John Lagerwey (editors). 2009. Early Chinese Religion: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD). Leiden and Boston: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2KKVPDXB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2KKVPDXB </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 186, "polity": { "id": 260, "name": "cn_sui_dyn", "long_name": "Sui Dynasty", "start_year": 581, "end_year": 618 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Emperor Wen took the vows of a Buddhist layman, as eventually did the empress and a number of the most powerful officials of his court.\" §REF§(Copp 2012: 86) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SGG5RZ8N\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SGG5RZ8N </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 187, "polity": { "id": 264, "name": "cn_tang_dyn_2", "long_name": "Tang Dynasty II", "start_year": 763, "end_year": 907 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 159, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Daoism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Although Daoism was officially the highest religion of Tang China, Buddhism remained the most popular and influential faith. Along with Daoism, Buddhism also became a fundamental part of the political order and the economy, sponsored and regulated by the state. Fully established within Chinese society, Tang Buddhism became truly sinicized through the separation of China from Central Asia and India, which made China its own Buddhist heartland, and through the emergence within China itself of new, indigenous Buddhist intellectual and ritual traditions. To begin at the highest level, Buddhism was a spiritual arm of the state. Its primary instruments were the imperial monasteries established in each prefecture of the empire and the palace chapels established by the ruling family within imperial precincts. The imperial monasteries were inhabited by the intellectual elite of the monastic order and supported by funds from the imperial treasury.” §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 214-215) Lewis, Mark Edward. 2009. China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. London: Harvard University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P9RSHZKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P9RSHZKQ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 188, "polity": { "id": 264, "name": "cn_tang_dyn_2", "long_name": "Tang Dynasty II", "start_year": 763, "end_year": 907 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Although Daoism was officially the highest religion of Tang China, Buddhism remained the most popular and influential faith. Along with Daoism, Buddhism also became a fundamental part of the political order and the economy, sponsored and regulated by the state. Fully established within Chinese society, Tang Buddhism became truly sinicized through the separation of China from Central Asia and India, which made China its own Buddhist heartland, and through the emergence within China itself of new, indigenous Buddhist intellectual and ritual traditions. To begin at the highest level, Buddhism was a spiritual arm of the state. Its primary instruments were the imperial monasteries established in each prefecture of the empire and the palace chapels established by the ruling family within imperial precincts. The imperial monasteries were inhabited by the intellectual elite of the monastic order and supported by funds from the imperial treasury.” §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 214-215) Lewis, Mark Edward. 2009. China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. London: Harvard University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P9RSHZKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P9RSHZKQ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 189, "polity": { "id": 266, "name": "cn_later_great_jin", "long_name": "Jin Dynasty", "start_year": 1115, "end_year": 1234 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\" Already before the establishment of their own state the Jurchen had come into contact with Buddhism, in the Po-hai region. As early as the tenth century a leading Jurchen, A-ku-nai, the elder brother of Han-p'u, the \"first ancestor\" Shih-tsu, was a Buddhist. When the Jurchens invaded the Liao state, they encountered a flourishing Buddhism receiving considerable patronage from the Liao court. This greatly influenced the attitude of the Jurchen imperial clan toward the Buddhist religion and also the politics of the Chin government. In the imperial family, not a few of the empresses and consorts were pious Buddhists, and the mother of Shih-tsung even became a nun in her later years. In his younger years Shih-tsung himself was attracted by Buddhism but later became somewhat detached, although he continued to favor monasteries and monks. The same is true for Changtsung.\" §REF§(Franke 1994: 313) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2QG2628P\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2QG2628P </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 190, "polity": { "id": 250, "name": "cn_qin_emp", "long_name": "Qin Empire", "start_year": -338, "end_year": -207 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 158, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Chinese Popular Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"The cult of the dead was much more widespread than the state cults, being practiced by emperor, nobility, powerful families, and perhaps even peasants. However, only the elite recorded their activities in writing and buried their dead in stone or brick tombs that survived the centuries. The tension in the kin system between the patriline and the household had its ritual correlate in the division of the cult of the dead between the ancestral temple, where the lineage was ritually constituted, and the tomb, where the joint burial of husband and wife along with replicas or images of their life together reconstituted the household in the world of the dead. \"§REF§(Lewis 2007, 189) Lewis, Mark Edward. 2007. The Early Chinese Empires Qin and Han. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B77BWQPC\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: B77BWQPC </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 191, "polity": { "id": 444, "name": "mn_zungharian_emp", "long_name": "Zungharian Empire", "start_year": 1670, "end_year": 1757 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 7, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mahayana Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“From the beginning of their conversion in 1615, the Oirats maintained unusually close relations with the Dalai and Panchen Lamas in central Tibet. After Güüshi Khan’s and Baatur Khung-Taiji’s pacification of Tibet, the Zünghars’ slogan was “We are the main almsgivers [i.e., lay patrons] of the Holy Tsong-kha-pa [founder of the Yellow Hats].” The Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngag-dbang Blobzang rGya-mtsho (1617–82), encouraged this often bigoted devotion, advising Mongolian lamas to prevent any non-dGe-lugs-pa teaching there.” §REF§ Atwood, C. (2004) Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, pp.622. Facts on File. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZDMADGA6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZDMADGA6 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 192, "polity": { "id": 443, "name": "mn_mongol_late", "long_name": "Late Mongols", "start_year": 1368, "end_year": 1690 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 171, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Tengrism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "The following quotes suggest the official status of Mongolian shamanism and Buddhism in late Mongols. “Despite their conversion, Mongols did not forswear their traditional cult of heaven and went forward venerating the two very different religions (Mongolian shamanism and Buddhism) as nominally coequal until the coming of modernity.” §REF§ May, T., & Hope, M. (2022). The Mongol world (Routledge worlds). p. 681. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3UJD4A7C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3UJD4A7C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 193, "polity": { "id": 443, "name": "mn_mongol_late", "long_name": "Late Mongols", "start_year": 1368, "end_year": 1690 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 1, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Buddhism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "The following quotes suggest the official status of Mongolian shamanism and Buddhism in late Mongols. “Despite their conversion, Mongols did not forswear their traditional cult of heaven and went forward venerating the two very different religions (Mongolian shamanism and Buddhism) as nominally coequal until the coming of modernity.” §REF§ May, T., & Hope, M. (2022). The Mongol world (Routledge worlds). p. 681. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3UJD4A7C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3UJD4A7C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 194, "polity": { "id": 286, "name": "mn_uygur_khaganate", "long_name": "Uigur Khaganate", "start_year": 745, "end_year": 840 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 111, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Manichaeism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"However, there is no evidence or reason to believe that conversion ever advanced far beyond the Uygur ruler and segments of his family, clan, entourage, and administration during the steppe empire. On the contrary, opposition to the new religion could have been one of the factors in the palace coup that resulted in the execution of Bugu Khan and his Sogdian advisers in 779, since Manichaeans also suffered grievously in the purge. 29 Although Manichaeism was restored to an official status under the rulers Ay Tangrite ulug Bulmis Alp Kutlug Ulug Bilga Khagan/Huai-hsin (795- 808) and Ay Tangrite Kut Bulmis Alp Bilga Khagan/Pao-i (808- 821), it surely served as one of the ideologies of the leadership and not as a belief system that integrated secular and religious life for the peoples of the realm.\" §REF§ (Clark, 2009, 71) Clark, L. 2009. “Manichaeism Among the Uygurs: The Uygur Khan of the Bokug Clan” in BeDuhn, J. New Light on Manichaeism: Papers from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism pp. 61-71. Boston: BRILL. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/87DD7HPT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 87DD7HPT </b></a> §REF§ There also existed a group of religious elite who followed more rigorous tenants of Manicheism. “The dilemma was solved to a certain degree by the introduction of a double set of ethical demands: strict commandments (or rather prohibitions) for a small elite of “perfect” or “elect” people and ten less demanding commandments for the greater community of the devout lay-people (Puech, 1949, pp. 89-90). The elect were submitted to five rigorous commandments which confined their lives to the duties of hearing and reading the instructive sermons and scriptures, singing hymns, offering prayers, attending the services and above all the sacramental communal meals, teaching and preaching the gospel of truth to brethren and lay-people, doing missionary work, etc. They were submitted to a strict vegetarian regime and forbidden to drink alcoholic drinks and eat meat, to earn their own livelihood (except for acts of financial business), or practice any sexual activities… The lay-people were exempt from the rigorous obligations and restrictions of the elect. For them a catalogue of ten moderate commandments was valid.” §REF§ (Sundermann, 2009) Werner Sundermann, 2009. \"MANICHEISM I GENERAL SURVEY,\" Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q9FG6AXS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q9FG6AXS </b></a> §REF§ “The Manichaean parishes had therefore a hierarchical structure, and there existed a clear division of tasks between the two main groups of this community: the clerics (Elect) and the laymen (Hearers). Both of them had to observe several religious commandments which differed in intensity. The clerics followed five very restrictive regulations, handed down in several versions in Western and Eastern Manichaean sources.3 They were forbidden to lie, to kill, to eat flesh and to drink alcohol, to have sexual intercourse and to accumulate personal possessions. Thus purified they were able to fulfill their religious duties, which they did exclusively.” §REF§ (Colditz, 2009, 74) Colditz, Iris. 2009. “Manichaean Time-Management: Laymen Between Religious and Secular Duties” in BeDuhn, J. New Light on Manichaeism: Papers from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism pp. 73-99. Boston: BRILL. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DHEQEMIX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DHEQEMIX </b></a> §REF§ “The most important religious duty of the Manichaean Hearers consisted in the provision of the Elect with everything they needed for living. This enabled the latter to devote their whole time and attention to ceremonies of religious worship for the redemption of Light without any distraction by worldly obligations. The clerics for their part assured the laymen the salvation of their souls by doing all liturgical practice. Manichaean Hearers thus took their benefit from the work of the clerics.” §REF§ (Colditz, 2009, 76) Colditz, Iris. 2009. “Manichaean Time-Management: Laymen Between Religious and Secular Duties” in BeDuhn, J. New Light on Manichaeism: Papers from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism pp. 73-99. Boston: BRILL. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DHEQEMIX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DHEQEMIX </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 195, "polity": { "id": 440, "name": "mn_turk_khaganate_2", "long_name": "Second Turk Khaganate", "start_year": 682, "end_year": 744 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 171, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Tengrism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“A \"national\" religion, the exact tenets of which cannot be documented, centered on Tangri, the Sky (or Heaven), to which in the fifth month of the year the Turks were wont to offer sheep and horses in sacrifice. As we have seen, there was also at least one yearly sacrifice connected with metallurgy and performed in the \"ancestral cavern.\" At least some Turks - but certainly not all of them - had the wolf for totem, and no doubt some cult was attached also to the \"sacred\" forest Otiikan, the very name of which may be connected with words for \"request, prayer.\" Numerous spirits were honored and shamans were used to communicate with them. The cult of the female spirit of goddess Umay - continued in some areas to the present day - is certainly of Mongol origin and testifies to the presence of a Mongol component in the body of Turk religious beliefs.” §REF§ (Sinor 1990: 314) Sinor, D. 1990. “The establishment and dissolution of the Türk empire”, In D. Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), pp. 285-316. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/EZIGWJWB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: EZIGWJWB </b></a> §REF§ “The religious rites of a ruling dynasty would have been more elaborate but not different in kind. The identification of sovereignty with control of sacred sites—an enduring theme in Turkic political culture—elaborated on the symbolism of the hearth. For the Türk Empire, this meant particularly the Ötüken mountain, which had also been sacred for the Xiongnu and the Rouran. Chinese sources mention Ötüken as the kaghan’s constant place of residence, in contrast to his subjects’ migratory habits, adding that each year the kaghan would “lead the nobles to the ancestral cave to offer sacrifices.” If there was a difference in spiritual emphases between dynast and ordinary nomad, it took the form of the greater devotion to Tengri, the supreme deity, in the politicized state cult, with the kaghan as high priest. Tengri had two messenger gods (Yol tengri), of which one brought kut to the individual while the other restored the state, in which emperor and empress (kagan and khatun) ruled as earthly counterparts of Tengri and Umay, divinities of sky and earth. Rulers may also have had greater need than ordinary folk for the services of shamans, especially to divine the future (or at least the rulers’ preferences concerning future policy). For the non elite, other spirits, especially ancestral ones, may have been more meaningful.” §REF§ (Findley 2005: 47-48) Findley, Carter. V., 2005. The Turks in World History. (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZH4S7US4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZH4S7US4 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 196, "polity": { "id": 283, "name": "mn_turk_khaganate_1", "long_name": "Eastern Turk Khaganate", "start_year": 583, "end_year": 630 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 171, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Tengrism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“There seem to have been shamans among the Türks. Byzantine sources say that the Türks had priests who foretold the future, and these priests intervened when a Byzantine envoy and his attendants pass between two fires, in order to purify them. […] The Byzantine sources also tell us that the Türks had a holy mountain, noted for its abundance of fruits and pastures and immunity to epidemics and earthquakes. […] We are futher informed by the Byzantine historians that the Türks hold fire in the most extraordinary respect, and also venerate air, water and earth, but do not worship and call ‘god’ anyone except the creator of heaven and earth: to him they sacrifice horses, oxen and sheep.” §REF§ (Baldick 2012: 39) Baldick, Julian. Animal and Shaman: Ancient Religions of Central Asia. (New York: NYU Press). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J53ZA45U\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: J53ZA45U </b></a> §REF§ “From the ancient TÜRK EMPIRES through the Mongol Empire, the peoples of Mongolia worshiped “Eternal Heaven” (möngke tenggeri) and “Mother Earth,” named in ancient Mongolian prayers Mother Etüken. In later centuries Eternal Heaven had a varying relation with the “99 gods/heavens” divided into two camps, white to the west and red to the east, sometimes being one of the 99, sometimes the head of all of them, and sometimes a sort of summation of them.” §REF§ (Atwood 2004: 173) Atwood Christopher (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire (New York: Facts on File, Inc.). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CRA5UBH9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CRA5UBH9 </b></a> §REF§ “The religious beliefs of the Türk focused on a sky god, Tängri, and an earth goddess, Umay. Some of the Turks—notably the Western Turks in Tokharistan—converted very early to Buddhism, and it played an important role among them. Other religions were also influential, particularly Christianity and Manichaeism, which were popular among the Sogdians, close allies of the Türk who were skilled in international trade. Although the Sogdians were a settled, urban people, they were like the Türk in that they also had a Central Eurasian warrior ethos with a pervasive comitatus tradition, and both peoples were intensely interested in trade.” §REF§ (Beckwith 2009: 115) Beckwith, Christopher. I., 2009. EMPIRES OF THE SILK ROAD: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. (Princeton: Princeton University Press). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3RI3PUNK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3RI3PUNK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 197, "polity": { "id": 272, "name": "mn_hunnu_emp", "long_name": "Xiongnu Imperial Confederation", "start_year": -209, "end_year": -60 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 170, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Xiongnu Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"We know little of Hsiung-nu religion, and what we know suggest that, like Scythian religion, it had strong political overtones, and was actively used to support the legitimacy of Hsiung-nu elites. It was probably an amalgam of many different influences, including forms of shamanism (there is what looks like a shamanic headdress in the Noin-Ula tombs), the practice of animal sacrifices, particularly horses, forms of ancestor worship, Zoroastrian influences from Central Asia and influences from China.\" §REF§ (Christian 1998, 195) Christian, David. 1988. A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia. Vol. 1, Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire. Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6KH4Q66T\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 6KH4Q66T </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 198, "polity": { "id": 274, "name": "mn_hunnu_late", "long_name": "Late Xiongnu", "start_year": -60, "end_year": 100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 170, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Xiongnu Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"We know little of Hsiung-nu religion, and what we know suggest that, like Scythian religion, it had strong political overtones, and was actively used to support the legitimacy of Hsiung-nu elites. It was probably an amalgam of many different influences, including forms of shamanism (there is what looks like a shamanic headdress in the Noin-Ula tombs), the practice of animal sacrifices, particularly horses, forms of ancestor worship, Zoroastrian influences from Central Asia and influences from China.\" §REF§ (Christian 1998, 195) Christian, David. 1988. A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia. Vol. 1, Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire. Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6KH4Q66T\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 6KH4Q66T </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 199, "polity": { "id": 438, "name": "mn_xianbei", "long_name": "Xianbei Confederation", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 250 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 171, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Tengrism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Xianbei reportedly practiced shamanism.” §REF§ Rogers, J. D. (2012). Inner Asian states and empires: Theories and synthesis. Journal of Archaeological Research, 20(3), 205-256. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XIGJN3NR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XIGJN3NR </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 200, "polity": { "id": 267, "name": "mn_mongol_emp", "long_name": "Mongol Empire", "start_year": 1206, "end_year": 1270 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 172, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mongol Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Despite the fact that shamanism was a dominant religion at the court of the Mongol Empire, the Mongol rulers never imposed shamanism or any other unified religion on their empire. §REF§ (Wallace, 2011) Wallace, Vesna. 2011. Mongol Empire. SAGE: Encyclopedia of Global Religions, Vol. 2. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SA2N7VB5\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: SA2N7VB5 </b></a> §REF§ Note, however, that the Mongols incorporated non-Mongol elites in their government. “As the Mongol victories expanded the territories under their control, they required both advisors and administrators experienced in matters of rule. For this they enlisted the services of individuals native to or familiar with the cultures of the conquered regions. Often, especially in Central and Western Asia, this meant relying on Muslims, but Christians, Buddhists and others were not excluded from positions of influence. Muslim merchants, valued for their financial acumen, were appointed as fiscal advisors and tax collectors.” §REF§ (Foltz, Jianyi, 1999, 45) Foltz, R., Jianyi, L. 1999. Ecumenical Mischief Under the Mongols. Central Asiatic Journal, 43(1), 42-69. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X7FRVGSJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: X7FRVGSJ </b></a> §REF§" } ] }