Elites Religion List
A viewset for viewing and editing Elites Religions.
GET /api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=7
{ "count": 448, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=8", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/elites-religions/?format=api&page=6", "results": [ { "id": 303, "polity": { "id": 385, "name": "in_sunga_emp", "long_name": "Magadha - Sunga Empire", "start_year": -187, "end_year": -65 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 31, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Vedic Hinduism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The Asvamedha, or Horse Sacrifice, was a major ritual of Vedic times that continued in use well into the sixth and seventh centuries C.E. In this ritual a royal stallion wandered free for a year. The king’s armies followed behind, either demanding tribute from all whose territories the horse entered or fighting them. At the end of the year, the horse was sacrificed in a ritual that associated the power of the king with the animal. Part of the ritual involved a pantomiming of the sexual coupling of the (dead) horse and the chief queen.” […]“Shunga rulers practiced an aggressive Vedic Hinduism. They restored Vedic animal sacrifices, including the Horse Sacrifice, and, according to Buddhist sources, they persecuted Buddhist monks.” §REF§ Walsh, J. E. (2011). A Brief History of India (2nd ed). Facts On File, 30, 49. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BM8RKXTI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BM8RKXTI </b></a> §REF§ “Upinder Singh quotes Heesterman (1957), and maintains that at a larger symbolic level, in the Rajasuya, the king was presented as standing in the center of the cylindrical processes of regeneration of the universe (14) (p207) “Ashwamedha was the most famous of Shraut Yagyas which had been continued for three days, which was conducted in presence of four priests, four wives of the king with 400 attendants, and large no. of spectators. […] In the period of empires, the Sunga empire which succeeded Mauryan empire, revived the Vedic sacrificial traditions and hence we find the evidence of Pushyamitra Shunga whose empire extended southwards, who was the master of the Madhya Desha and therefore he performed two Aswamedha Yagya.” §REF§ Pathik, P. (2019). The Historical and Philosophical Exegesis on Yagya in Ancient India. Interdisciplinary Journal of Yagya Research, 2(1), 20–28, 24. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J6645HQF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: J6645HQF </b></a> §REF§ “Aśvamedha - the sacrificial killing of a horse was one of the four most important rites in ancient Vedic tradition. [...] It was a royal ritual to assure the prosperity and good fortune of the king and his kingdom. The associated ceremonies and rites were complex, elaborate rituals that lasted for a full year. Its culmination was the sacrifice of a horse, where the king was the sacrificer.” §REF§ Zaroff, R. (2005). Aśvamedha - A Vedic Horse Sacrifice. Studia Mythologica Slavica, 8, 75–86, 75. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5N4KZPW9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5N4KZPW9 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 304, "polity": { "id": 409, "name": "bd_bengal_sultanate", "long_name": "Bengal Sultanate", "start_year": 1338, "end_year": 1538 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 4, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The arrival of these newcomers turned out to be momentous because it marked the beginning of an era in which Islam was the creed of those who ruled most of Bengal (and, indeed, most of the Indian subcontinent). This era lasted some five centuries and is usually referred to as the Sultanate period (up to the sixteenth century), followed by the Mughal period; it ended only when the British conquered Bengal in the mid-eighteenth century.” §REF§ Van Schendel, W. (2009). Region of Multiple Frontiers. In A History of Bangladesh (pp. 24–38). Cambridge University Press, 28. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A2NBIZRP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: A2NBIZRP </b></a> §REF§ “Bengal’s Muslim society from the thirteenth century through the sixteenth was overwhelmingly urban, concentrated in the sultanate’s successive capital cities […] Members of the provincial nobility, regardless of where their land assignments were located, had to maintain residences there.” §REF§ Eaton, R. M. (1993). Economy, Society and Culture. In The rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204 - 1760 (pp. 95–112). University of California Press, 97–98. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2BEU2MF9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2BEU2MF9 </b></a> §REF§ Some suggestion that at times important roles were played by people from other religious traditions, but as a sultanate, Islam was always the religion of the highest officials. “The founding of the Husain Shahi dynasty in 1493 ushered in what has been described as a golden age of the Bengal Sultanate. It was truly a Bengali regime, as Muslims and Hindus alike played important roles.” §REF§Baxter, C. (2018). Bangladesh: From a Nation to a State. Routledge, 19. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JZSHJW8U\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JZSHJW8U </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 305, "polity": { "id": 779, "name": "bd_deva_dyn", "long_name": "Deva Dynasty", "start_year": 1150, "end_year": 1300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 6, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Vaisnavist Hinduism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"The [royal] family is said to have descended from the moon and was follower of the Vaishnava cult.\" §REF§(Majumdar 1943: 253) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/T4QJ84HB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: T4QJ84HB </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 306, "polity": { "id": 436, "name": "co_tairona", "long_name": "Tairona", "start_year": 1050, "end_year": 1524 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 236, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Tairona Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The chronicles make frequent reference to naomas and mohanes, of whom there could be several in each town. The two words are often used interchangeably, and these people are usually considered to be priests and ritual specialists, the possible ancestors of the present-day Kogi and Ika mamas (Dussán de Reichel 2000: 88; for a contrary view see Bischof 1971; 1982–83: 88). In this connection, there is an interesting mention in the Relación de Tayrona (1571) to a town with two caciques; the principal one was called Mamanauma (Oyuela-Caycedo 1998: 52). The mohanes are undoubtedly priests (see Castellanos 1955, 2: 596), but the status of the naomas is less clear. Juan de Castellanos, writing in 1601, notes that naomas could hold political office and that they outranked ordinary caciques: “fifteen caciques, great señores, are subject to the command of the naoma called, it is said, Marocando” (Castellanos 1955, 2: 340). The same author also mentions a personage called Betoma, “whom they recognized as a Naoma and who held command over all the caciques” (ibid.: 548). The political power of sixteenth-century naomas is not in doubt, but their priestly role remains ambiguous. Among the present-day Kogi all mayores, adult men of high status, are called naoma or nauma (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1953: 46, 55). §REF§ (Bray 2003, 302-303) Bray, Warwick. 2003. ‘Gold, Stone, and Ideology: Symbols of Power in the Tairona Tradition of Northern Colombia’. In Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia. Edited by Jeffrey Quilter and John W. Hoopes. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WB69SQU6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WB69SQU6 </b></a> §REF§ “Religion may have been another basis for integrating communities. Based on ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources, the Kágaba have a priestly class known as the mámas. Although it is not certain that similar religious authorities existed in pre-contact societies, modern Kágaba settlements broadly correspond to theearlier archaeological pattern. Oyuela-Caycedo writes, “The Kágaba are a society of temples, priests, sacred hamlets, sacred spaces, complex cosmology, and seasonal festivities of rituals, where religious recitation and esoteric knowledge are the bases of power. Such knowledge is the immaterial property of the houses.” By “houses,” Oyuela-Caycedo means not just a dwelling but a social entity composed of people, buildings, property, and rights. In the Kágaba case, this social entity may have had an explicitly “theocratic” emphasis, as the priestly class, the mámas, had particular authority. […] To repeat, it is not known whether late prehistoric societies in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta were organized along the same principles of houses, temples, and priestly savants. However, the Kágaba model would account for the archaeological patterns as currently understood. Further, these ethnographic data present an intriguing perspective on the subtle organization of chiefly societies in prehispanic Colombia. §REF§ (Moore 2014, 398) Moore, Jerry D. 2014. A Prehistory of South America: Ancient Cultural Diversity on the Least Known Continent. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P9KJ88HE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P9KJ88HE </b></a> §REF§ “I have also argued here that the creation and ongoing maintenance of these social and spatial links was probably accomplished by way of elite sponsored feasting and ceremonies taking place in Pueblito and Ciudad Perdida's central plazas and buildings involving copious amounts of food and drink. The importance of these buildings as part of a “politics of commensality” (Dietler 2001) through which alliances, trading partnerships, and social bonds are created and recreated was highlighted by the partial excavation of storeroom at Pueblito in which the majority of artifacts were serving and drinking vessels. Inside the feasting/ceremonial structure, excavations by John Alden Mason in 1921/1922 found numerous fragments of double spouted ceramic urns used for brewing chicha, providing good evidence of the use of these buildings as venues for feasts. The artifact assemblages found inside these feasting/ceremonial buildings and nearby residences also suggests that these served as repositories of valuable goods such as stone batons, winged pendants and monolithic axes probably used in ceremonies and rituals, as well as axe-heads, carnelian, quartz, and jadeite beads. These indicate that at a certain level, social and spatial hierachies involved the construction of power and authority as capacities embedded in place. Taking a cue from Weiner (in Myers 2001: 9), it may be that these places become culturally “dense”, and politically and socially powerful by virtue of the amounts of ancestral relics, valuable objects, heirlooms, and regalia that were accumulated in them.” §REF§ (Giraldo 2010, 280-281) Giraldo, Santiago. 2010. Lords of the Snowy Ranges: Politics, Place, and Landscape transformation in two Tairona towns in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. PhD thesis. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/26S6WDDP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 26S6WDDP </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 307, "polity": { "id": 435, "name": "co_neguanje", "long_name": "Neguanje", "start_year": 250, "end_year": 1050 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 236, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Tairona Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The mass production of icons, such as the ‘Father Sun’ in tumbaga artifacts, indicates a process of routinization. However, this figure in gold or tumbaga became three dimensional probably between the seventh and ninth centuries, and was saturated with symbols associated with it such as bats, birds, snakes, caimans. Sometimes the figure wears a mask. In the case of the representation of females, this continues in the ceramics (for example the urns from Gairaca), but is not as far-spread as the ‘male’ ceremonial paraphernalia. To this ceremonial assemblage of the priestly elite is added sophisticated batons of rack, and plaques and wing pendants. Places that function as shrines are recognized for the first time in caves around the archaeological site of Pueblito, after the tenth century. Sculptures of snakes are manufactured, associated with temples.” §REF§ (Oyuela-Caycedo 2001, 14) Oyuela-Caycedo, Augusto. 2001. ‘The rise of religious routinization: The study of changes from Shaman to Priestly Elite’. In Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations: Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Context in South America. Edited by John E. Staller and Elizabeth J. Currie. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishers of British Archaeological Reports. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XBAR6MAV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XBAR6MAV </b></a> §REF§ “The only common attributes between the regions are the ceremonial artifacts such as the vessels for toasting (imported), the gold (imported), and the plaques (imported), and the existence of cultic places that are related to the worship that a priestly elite demands.” §REF§ (Oyuela-Caycedo 2001, 14) Oyuela-Caycedo, Augusto. 2001. ‘The rise of religious routinization: The study of changes from Shaman to Priestly Elite’. In Mortuary Practices and Ritual Associations: Shamanic Elements in Prehistoric Funerary Context in South America. Edited by John E. Staller and Elizabeth J. Currie. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishers of British Archaeological Reports. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XBAR6MAV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XBAR6MAV </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 308, "polity": { "id": 304, "name": "fr_merovingian_emp_1", "long_name": "Early Merovingian", "start_year": 481, "end_year": 543 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“A reasonable interpretation of the religious history of Clovis's reign could thus run as follows: from the moment of his father's death, Clovis had to deal with the catholic hierarchy; nevertheless he remained a pagan, even after his marriage to a catholic wife. Drawn into the complex political world of the 490s he showed an interest in the arianism of his fellow monarchs, as well as in the Catholicism of Chlothild, and some members of his court were actually baptized as arians; he himself, although he may have already been converted to Christianity, did not commit himself firmly either to Catholicism or arianism, although he certainly showed an interest in the views of the heretics. His final decision was possibly taken at the time of the war with Alaric, when he may have thought that there was propaganda value to be gained by standing as the defender of the catholic Church; he was subsequently baptised, probably in 508.”§REF§Wood, I. (2014) The Merovingian Kingdoms 450 - 751. 1st edn. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1556530/the-merovingian-kingdoms-450-751-pdf (Accessed: 8 November 2022) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ARUIRN35\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ARUIRN35 </b></a> §REF§\r\n\r\n\"If we assume that [Clovis] was indeed a pagan before 508, which is doubtful, it would have been some form of Germanic paganism, or an assortment of cults picked up during his military career, but not something that could be neatly characterized as Gallo-Roman. Gregory’s descriptions in Book 2 of the Histories verge on caricature, with Jupiter and the rest of the Roman pantheon.\"§REF§(Yaniv Fox, 2023, pers. comm.)§REF§" }, { "id": 309, "polity": { "id": 456, "name": "fr_merovingian_emp_3", "long_name": "Proto-Carolingian", "start_year": 687, "end_year": 751 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Well before the end of the eighth century,where we left Charlemagne demanding comprehensive oaths of loyalty from his elite male subjects, and indeed before the anointing of 753–4, kingship itself was conceived as an office with religious responsibilities. Christianity was part of the very identity of elite Franks, who increasingly came to see themselves as a people chosen by God, and thus to define themselves in distinction to the non and imperfectly Christian peoples that surrounded them. These ideologies played a part in the Franks’ justifications to each other and to themselves of their conquests. As victorious Carolingian armies withdrew they were often – as we have seen – replaced by missionaries, charged with winning the hearts and souls of the conquered, and with establishing their obedience to the Frankish Church (and, therefore, empire).” §REF§ Costambeys, M., Innes, M., & MacLean, S. (2011). The Carolingian World Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pg 80. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5FJNATV3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5FJNATV3 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 310, "polity": { "id": 306, "name": "fr_merovingian_emp_2", "long_name": "Middle Merovingian", "start_year": 543, "end_year": 687 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "\"Inevitably this commitment to monasticism, shown both by the Merovingians themselves and by their aristocracy, had its political implications. At the most fundamental level the investment was expected to be repaid by prayers for the benefactor and for the State, ensuring peace on earth and after death. Naturally enough the fates of benefactors, their kin and their foundations all became entangled, and it is not surprising to find monasteries being affected by politics.\" §REF§ Wood, I. (2014) The Merovingian Kingdoms 450 - 751. 1st edn. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1556530/the-merovingian-kingdoms-450-751-pdf (Accessed: 24 November 2022). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ARUIRN35\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ARUIRN35 </b></a> §REF§ \"Columbanian monasticism offered a window of opportunity for each of the two dominant political forces in the Merovingian kingdoms: the king and the aristocracy. Often these forces can be seen working in unison and at other times engulfed in conflict, but it is certain that both regarded monasteries as important loci for the exercise of political power.\" §REF§(Fox 2014: 26) Fox, Y. 2014. Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: Columbanian Monasticism and the Frankish Elites. Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZU6MGRQX/library§REF§" }, { "id": 311, "polity": { "id": 459, "name": "fr_valois_k_2", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Late Valois", "start_year": 1450, "end_year": 1589 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Probably the gravest challenge facing the Valois monarchs in the sixteenth century was the rise of Protestantism which threatened to destroy the kingdom’s unity. Religious toleration was unknown in sixteenth century France. ‘One law, one faith, one king’ was the rule that prevailed. The king was seen as God’s earthly lieutenant, and his coronation endowed him with semi-priestly character: it was not only a crowning, but a consecration performed by the archbishop. [...] At his coronation, he solemnly swore to defend the church and rid his kingdom of heresy. This duty had not been seriously tested for three centuries, but in the sixteenth century heresy in the form of Protestantism threatened to tear the kingdom apart. But heresy needed to be recognised.” §REF§ Knecht, R.J. 2004. The Valois - Kings of France1328 - 1589. London: Hambledon and London. pg 177. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WK3ZW5C3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WK3ZW5C3 </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\n\"Although noting that there is a strong elite faction of Huguenots\"§REF§(Susan Broomhall, 2023, pers. comm.)§REF§" }, { "id": 312, "polity": { "id": 455, "name": "fr_la_tene_c2_d", "long_name": "La Tene C2-D", "start_year": -175, "end_year": -27 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 238, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Celtic Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“It is the late, immediately pre-Roman ‘Belgic’ graves that most clearly demonstrate the vivid Celtic belief in the afterlife and in particular the predilection for the funeral feast – a practice lasting well on into early Roman imperial times. A lady of the Augustan period at Wincheringen in the Moselle region was buried in a plank-lined tomb with pottery including wine-amphorae, brooches, mirror, knives, scissors, pig’s head and cauldron complete with tripod and chains. She was certainly well-equipped for personal splendour after death and for underworld feasting. In this area, late La Tène warriors’ swords were ritually bent to consecrate them and render them fit for the otherworld. Another Moselle tradition exemplified by the Belginum Cemetery near Trier continued the Middle La Tène custom found on the Continent (from Czechoslovakia to France) and also from East Yorkshire, of demarcating burials by enclosure-ditches.” §REF§ (Green 115) Green, Miranda J. 2011. The Gods of the Celts. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DJ25JADD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DJ25JADD </b></a> §REF§ Post Gallic Wars the elites of Gaul transitioned to Roman Religion. “By and large, in every kind of Community the local elite tended to display less interest in local indigenous cults than in the universal deities associated with the Roman empire.” §REF§ (Beard et al 338) Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. 1998. Religions of Rome: A History. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BJPXZHID\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BJPXZHID </b></a> §REF§ “Roman religion was collective, the notion of one religion for the educated and another for the masses is inappropriate… Imperial cults worked by associating, in one way or another, the emperors and existing cults, so in this sphere, too, religious stratification on class lines was not possible.” §REF§ (Woolf 228) Woolf, Greg. 1998. Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511518614. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XAMPZR6R\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XAMPZR6R </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 313, "polity": { "id": 333, "name": "fr_valois_k_1", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Early Valois", "start_year": 1328, "end_year": 1450 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The spread of thenotion of the Most Christian King in the first half of the fourteenth century is apparent in works such as the Chronique des Quatre Premiers Valois, but the strongest expressions of the idea emerged later, towards the end of the papacy’s first residence at Avignon (1309 - 77) and during the Great Schism which followed (1378 - 1417). Even before the Schism began, Nicolas Oresme, highly respected theologian at the University of Paris and royal secretary, was arguing that it was the duty of the King of France - ‘the most catholic and true son and champion of the Holy Church and the most excellent of all the princes on earth’ - to call for a council of the church to address the perceived abuses of the Avignon papacy. In 1391 as solutions to the Schism were sought, the chancellor of the University of Paris, Jean Gerson, urged the Most Christian King to use his spiritual standing to help end the division of the church between Rome and Avignon. First conflict with the papacy, now division within the church itself greatly contributed to the moral authority of the Most Christian King.”§REF§ Small, G. 2009. Late Medieval France. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Pg 10,11. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J8FTT66Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: J8FTT66Z </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 314, "polity": { "id": 457, "name": "fr_capetian_k_1", "long_name": "Proto-French Kingdom", "start_year": 987, "end_year": 1150 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The sacral nature of Carolingian kingship had been in large part constructed in collaboration with Frankishbishops. It was in further continuity with these ideas that Fulbert of Chartres emphasised in the early eleventh century that the king was the fountain-head of justice, with the power to punish wrongdoers for the good of the state, even though he was not always able effectively to fulfil this charge.The traditions of sacred kingship, the creation of the Carolingian episcopacy, were thus transferred by the bishops of northern France to the new ruling house in 987, along with their political loyalty.” §REF§ (Hallam and West 2020: 81) Hallam, Elizabeth and West, Charles. 2020. Capetian France: 987-1328. Third Edition. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/66GFGV49\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 66GFGV49 </b></a> §REF§ \"The Capetian kings continued to rely on the Church to support and legitimise their rule. They were all consecrated at Reims, and they persisted in claiming the right to appoint bishops in diceses both within and outside the royal principality.\" §REF§ (Huscroft: 2023) Huscroft, Richard. 2023. Power and Faith: Politics and Religion in Western Europe from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century. London: Taylor and Francis. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7TGUN39S\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7TGUN39S </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 315, "polity": { "id": 458, "name": "fr_capetian_k_2", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Late Capetian", "start_year": 1150, "end_year": 1328 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The nobility andchurch in France played a key part in the crusades to the extent that the western crusaders were known in Palestine as ‘Franks’. Louis VII became the first crusading king and papal champion. He was known as rex christianissimus (most Christian king), a title that symbolised and reflected his close ties with the pope and the church. This role his successors were to continue, and from it they derived great prestige and moral authority. The culmination of this French enthusiasm for ecclesiastical affairs and crusading was the reign, and later the canonisation, of Louis IX, the saint-king – who in his turn became a key figure in the political theology of Philip IV. In Louis’s name Philip was to humble the papacy and suppress the Templars because in his eyes they stood in the way of the Capetian monarchy, acting on God’s behalf.”§REF§ Hallam, E, & West, C. 2020. Capetian France 987 - 1328. Abingdon: Routledge. Pg 438. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/66GFGV49\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 66GFGV49 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 316, "polity": { "id": 453, "name": "fr_la_tene_a_b1", "long_name": "La Tene A-B1", "start_year": -475, "end_year": -325 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 238, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Celtic Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“In the La Tène burials fighting weapons were frequent, in contrast to the Late Hallstatt elite, whose only weapons were for hunting or display; moreover, the La Tène aristocracy favoured the two-wheeled vehicle as a funerary cart in contrast to the heavier traditional four-wheeled vehicle. The one important similarity was that both had a system of elite burial employing a funerary vehicle together with sets of wine-drinking equipment derived from, or inspired by, the accoutrements of the Mediterranean symposion.” §REF§ (Cunliffe 191) Cunliffe, Barry W. 2018. The Ancient Celts. Second edition. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/LSANEVHK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: LSANEVHK </b></a> §REF§ “we know from a number of classical writers that a warrior-elite existed in Gaul and Britain, second in rank only to the tribal king; this highly stratified society is endorsed in the vernacular traditions of Ireland. We will see that from the earlier first millennium BC, a warrior-aristocracy is represented by rich and elaborate graves, attesting not only to the wealth of this class long before the historical Celtic period but to a strong belief in a positive, personal and tangible afterlife where the accoutrements of earthly life will be required and the terrestrial status retained.” §REF§ (Green 95) Green, Miranda J. 2011. The Gods of the Celts. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DJ25JADD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DJ25JADD </b></a> §REF§ “In the La Tène Iron Age, rites connected with burial and the afterlife continued to reflect beliefs in a tangible otherworld though, as will be discussed, by no means everyone was afforded burial… Perhaps most distinctive are the two-wheeled vehicle-burials. Called variously carts or chariots, they may be connected with literary evidence concerning chariot warfare and parades. Such two-wheeled ‘chariot’ burials begin in fact early in the La Tène period (from the fifth century BC) in the Rhineland and Marne area” §REF§ (Green 112) Green, Miranda J. 2011. The Gods of the Celts. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DJ25JADD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DJ25JADD </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 317, "polity": { "id": 454, "name": "fr_la_tene_b2_c1", "long_name": "La Tene B2-C1", "start_year": -325, "end_year": -175 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 238, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Celtic Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The provision of grave goods is a constant theme particularly among the elite. Taken all together, the evidence shows that normative death was a highly ritualized occasion which demanded adherence to ceremony. The process seems to have embedded within it the concept that the deceased passed on from life on earth to enjoy an afterlife appropriate to his or her status. The basic concepts in the late 1st millennium BC are not very different from those of the earlier prehistoric period.” §REF§ (Cunliffe 33) Cunliffe, Barry. 2010. Druids: A Very Short Introduction. Very Short Introductions 232. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P7Q7CV5X\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P7Q7CV5X </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 318, "polity": { "id": 461, "name": "fr_bourbon_k_2", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Late Bourbon", "start_year": 1660, "end_year": 1815 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“With a very few exceptions, all that was distinguished in the intellectual and spiritual leadership of France—academicians and writers in or near the court, painters, sculptors, and engravers, orthodox and dissident Catholics—joined in celebrating the King's decision to revoke the Edict of Nantes.1” §REF§ (Adams, 1991, 19) Adams, Geoffrey. 1991 The Huguenots and French opinion, 1685-1787: The enlightenment debate on toleration. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P9VN6ZXF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P9VN6ZXF </b></a> §REF§ “Intellectuals in or near the court were at least as generous as academicians in their support for the King's anti-Calvinist policy. Writing to her cousin Bussy-Rabutin, the inveterate letter-writer Madame de Sevign expressed unreserved enthusiasm for the King's decision: \"Everything about it is admirable. No monarch past or future can possibly outdo it.\"” §REF§ (Adams, 1991, 20) Adams, Geoffrey. 1991 The Huguenots and French opinion, 1685-1787: The enlightenment debate on toleration. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P9VN6ZXF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P9VN6ZXF </b></a> §REF§ “In the immediate aftermath [of revoking the Edict of Nantes], virtually without exception, the major intellectual figures of the day, including many Jansenists and Port-Royalists, enthusiastically welcomed the revocation.” §REF§ (Bergin, 2014, 263) Bergin, Joseph. (2014) The Politics of Religion in Early Modern France. New Haven: Yale University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/M2WQJQNR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: M2WQJQNR </b></a> §REF§ While the vast majority of public elites (government officials and intellectuals) were Catholic, there was some anxiety about the disproportionate wealth of the Calvinist minority. “Finally, there was the prejudice against the Huguenots engendered by their seemingly disproportionate wealth. Like many minorities which have been formally excluded from public life, the Reformed often sought compensation for this discrimination by committing themselves vigorously to the world of private business. As recent scholars have established, the thousands of Reformed who remained in France after 1685 made a vital contribution to the commercial and financial boom of the eighteenth century… Catholic neighbours and in-laws (as well as orthodox apologists of the Revocation system), expressed their open hostility as evidence of Protestant prosperity kept surfacing.” §REF§ (Adams, 1991, 12) Adams, Geoffrey. 1991 The Huguenots and French opinion, 1685-1787: The enlightenment debate on toleration. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P9VN6ZXF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P9VN6ZXF </b></a> §REF§ By the 1760s, some Protestants attain elite positions, indicating an increased tolerance of Huguenot presence. “A new landmark came with the appointment in 1763 of Antoine Court de Gébelinas the official representative of the Reformed Churches of France in Paris… In 1764 another barrier was breached when the Protestant banker Jean Cottin was ennobled… This was a clear sign that it was no longer necessary to be Catholic in order to occupy prominent and lucrative positions. It was followed by the appointment of Tronchin’s nephew, also named Jean-Robert and also a Protestant, as one of the six adjunct directors.” §REF§ (Garrioch, 2014, 69) Garrioch, David. 2014 The Huguenots of Paris and the Coming of Religious Freedom, 1685-1789. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7RICGURH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7RICGURH </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 319, "polity": { "id": 460, "name": "fr_bourbon_k_1", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Early Bourbon", "start_year": 1589, "end_year": 1660 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The kingdom of France was perhaps the most important region in northern Catholicism. Equipped with the oldest and most respected theological faculty in Christendom, with the strongest national-church movement within Catholicism, and with a thaumaturgical king who was ‘touching’thousands of his subjects at a time as late as the 1690s, France obviously offers some interesting features. It was also the largest country to experience almost ninety years of official coexistence between Catholic and Reformed Churches, and the last major country to end such coexistence.”§REF§ Monter, W. 1983. Ritual, Myth and Magic in Early Modern Europe. Brighton: The Harvester Press Ltd. Pgs 86, 87. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IDZHJRP4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: IDZHJRP4 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 320, "polity": { "id": 311, "name": "fr_carolingian_emp_2", "long_name": "Carolingian Empire II", "start_year": 840, "end_year": 987 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Such were the fundamental rhythms of politics after 843. Carolingian kings, however, were more than lords of lands and men. They held special office; they were Christian kings. By the ninth century, churchmen had constructed an imposing edifice of Christian kingship. The great intellectual movement known as the Carolingian Renaissance saw the development of the idea that the king ruled by the grace of God. This strengthened royal authority but it also increased the burden of royal responsibility. The king held his office from God; his ‘job was contained within the church’. This means that much of the political language of the period was expressed in terms of obedience to, or falling away from, God’s commandments.” §REF§ Arlie, S. 1998. Private Bodies and the Body Politic in the Divorce Case of Lothar II. Past & Present 161: 3-38. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IDMXW849\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: IDMXW849 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 321, "polity": { "id": 449, "name": "fr_hallstatt_a_b1", "long_name": "Hallstatt A-B1", "start_year": -1000, "end_year": -900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 243, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Urnfield Culture Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“The common association between art and elite material culture, especially feasting appurtenances and ceremonial items, suggests that the warrior elite and local chiefs may also have maintained some control over ritual. There was no evident separation of religious leadership and sociopolitical organization. The organization of religious life in the small farming communities is not well understood.” §REF§ (Murray 420) In Peregrine, Peter N., and Melvin Ember. n.d. Encyclopedia of Prehistory. New York, N.Y.: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JKETBS9U\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JKETBS9U </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 322, "polity": { "id": 309, "name": "fr_carolingian_emp_1", "long_name": "Carolingian Empire I", "start_year": 752, "end_year": 840 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 20, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Roman Catholic Christianity", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Well before the end of the eighth century, where we left Charlemagne demanding comprehensive oaths of loyalty from his elite male subjects, and indeed before the anointing of 753–4, kingship itself was conceived as an office with religious responsibilities. Christianity was part of the very identity of elite Franks, who increasingly came to see themselves as a people chosen by God, and thus to define themselves in distinction to the non and imperfectly Christian peoples that surrounded them. These ideologies played a part in the Franks’ justifications to each other and to themselves of their conquests. As victorious Carolingian armies withdrew they were often – as we have seen – replaced by missionaries, charged with winning the hearts and souls of the conquered, and with establishing their obedience to the Frankish Church (and, therefore, empire).” §REF§ Costambeys, M., Innes, M., & MacLean, S. (2011). The Carolingian World Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pg 80 §REF§" }, { "id": 323, "polity": { "id": 482, "name": "iq_dynasty_e", "long_name": "Dynasty of E", "start_year": -979, "end_year": -732 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Ancient Near Eastern societies did not make a distinction between religious and secular power. Their cultural discourse sacralized kingship and the sociopolitical hierarchy, which was thought to have been established by the gods. Myth imagined the king to be made of the flesh of the gods, equipped not only with surpassing wisdom and knowledge but also physical perfection and extraordinary strength. He was considered to partake in the divine scheme and bridge the division between mortals and immortals.”§REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 44). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “A considerable number of persons, especially of the ‘better’ families took part in the daily provisioning of the temple.” §REF§ (Sallaberger, 2007, 268) Sallaberger, Walther. 2007. ‘The Palace and The Temple in Babylonia’, in The Babylonian World, ed. Gwendolyn Leick, Routledge (pp.265-275). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UXSXSGHC\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UXSXSGHC </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 324, "polity": { "id": 477, "name": "iq_ur_dyn_3", "long_name": "Ur - Dynasty III", "start_year": -2112, "end_year": -2004 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Regarding the below quote, expert Mark Altaweel stated \"Yes, although not all were deified so it is possible this is only for part of the period that kings tried to raise their status. Likely this was just a strategy to try to unify the kingdom given that these city-states were independent previously.\" (pers.comm. 2024).\r\n\r\n“With the rise of Ur, cities lost their traditional autonomy (which is an entirely different concept from their fluctuating state of independence). They were still ruled by an ensi . Now, however, the title did not designate a local ruler governing on behalf of the local city-god. The ensi became a governor, appointed by Ur and acting on behalf of the king of Ur. […] The deified kings of Ur consequently replaced the city-gods as ultimate heads of the land.” §REF§ (Liverani, 2013, 157). Liverani, Mario. The Ancient near East: History, Society and Economy, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7DRZQS5Q\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7DRZQS5Q </b></a> §REF§“Spatial dimensions marked the ceremonial representations of political life and were instrumental in producing power and legitimacy as well as a sacred topography of the empire that created a relational space bonding with the political center. During the Ur III period, shrines with statues of the king were dispersed throughout the controlled territory to secure the loyalty of the provinces.”§REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 44). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “Ancient Near Eastern societies did not make a distinction between religious and secular power. Their cultural discourse sacralized kingship and the sociopolitical hierarchy, which was thought to have been established by the gods. Myth imagined the king to be made of the flesh of the gods, equipped not only with surpassing wisdom and knowledge but also physical perfection and extraordinary strength. He was considered to partake in the divine scheme and bridge the division between mortals and immortals.”§REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 44). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 325, "polity": { "id": 475, "name": "iq_early_dynastic", "long_name": "Early Dynastic", "start_year": -2900, "end_year": -2500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Regarding the following quote expert Mark Altaweel stated \"Transition but maintaining both is also the key. No attempts to subvert older forms of ancestor worship perhaps but rather just treated as separate.\" (pers. comm. 2024).\r\n\r\nSources consulted highlight the challenges of interpreting the archaeological evidence of religious activity from this early period, although significant temple sites have been excavated and are thought to have occupied a key position in new patterns of governance. “In the truly revolutionary transition from largely kinship organized society of the pre-Uruk to the state societies of the fourth and even more clearly the third millennia, leaders needed a public rationale for their political and economic authority. Association with the gods provided one such rationale.” §REF§(Rothman, 2004, 102). Rothman, M. S. (2004). Studying the Development of Complex Society: Mesopotamia in the Late Fifth and Fourth Millennia BC. Journal of Archaeological Research, 12(1), 75–119. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VV3ICSVM\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VV3ICSVM </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 326, "polity": { "id": 478, "name": "iq_isin_larsa", "long_name": "Isin-Larsa", "start_year": -2004, "end_year": -1763 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Ancient Near Eastern societies did not make a distinction between religious and secular power. Their cultural discourse sacralized kingship and the sociopolitical hierarchy, which was thought to have been established by the gods. Myth imagined the king to be made of the flesh of the gods, equipped not only with surpassing wisdom and knowledge but also physical perfection and extraordinary strength. He was considered to partake in the divine scheme and bridge the division between mortals and immortals.”§REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 44). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “A considerable number of persons, especially of the ‘better’ families took part in the daily provisioning of the temple.” §REF§ (Sallaberger, 2007, 268) Sallaberger, Walther. 2007. ‘The Palace and The Temple in Babylonia’, in The Babylonian World, ed. Gwendolyn Leick, Routledge (pp.265-275). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UXSXSGHC\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UXSXSGHC </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 327, "polity": { "id": 479, "name": "iq_babylonia_1", "long_name": "Amorite Babylonia", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1600 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Ancient Near Eastern societies did not make a distinction between religious and secular power. Their cultural discourse sacralized kingship and the sociopolitical hierarchy, which was thought to have been established by the gods. Myth imagined the king to be made of the flesh of the gods, equipped not only with surpassing wisdom and knowledge but also physical perfection and extraordinary strength. He was considered to partake in the divine scheme and bridge the division between mortals and immortals.”§REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 44). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “A considerable number of persons, especially of the ‘better’ families took part in the daily provisioning of the temple.” §REF§ (Sallaberger, 2007, 268) Sallaberger, Walther. 2007. ‘The Palace and The Temple in Babylonia’, in The Babylonian World, ed. Gwendolyn Leick, Routledge (pp.265-275). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UXSXSGHC\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UXSXSGHC </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 328, "polity": { "id": 474, "name": "iq_uruk", "long_name": "Uruk", "start_year": -4000, "end_year": -2900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Mesopotamian Religion ♥ \"The elites, such as priests, may have gained access to the major temples’ holy areas, while common folk may by this period been excluded but worshipped remotely or through votive offerings.\" (pers. comm. Mark Altaweel 2024). Sources consulted highlight the challenges of interpreting the archaeological evidence of religious activity from this early period, although significant temple sites have been excavated and are thought to have occupied a key position in new patterns of governance. “In the truly revolutionary transition from largely kinship organized society of the pre-Uruk to the state societies of the fourth and even more clearly the third millennia, leaders needed a public rationale for their political and economic authority. Association with the gods provided one such rationale.” §REF§(Rothman, 2004, 102). Rothman, M. S. (2004). Studying the Development of Complex Society: Mesopotamia in the Late Fifth and Fourth Millennia BC. Journal of Archaeological Research, 12(1), 75–119. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VV3ICSVM\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VV3ICSVM </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 329, "polity": { "id": 346, "name": "iq_neo_babylonian_emp", "long_name": "Neo-Babylonian Empire", "start_year": -626, "end_year": -539 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“Ancient Near Eastern societies did not make a distinction between religious and secular power. Their cultural discourse sacralized kingship and the sociopolitical hierarchy, which was thought to have been established by the gods. Myth imagined the king to be made of the flesh of the gods, equipped not only with surpassing wisdom and knowledge but also physical perfection and extraordinary strength. He was considered to partake in the divine scheme and bridge the division between mortals and immortals.”§REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 44). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “A considerable number of persons, especially of the ‘better’ families took part in the daily provisioning of the temple.” §REF§ (Sallaberger, 2007, 268) Sallaberger, Walther. 2007. ‘The Palace and The Temple in Babylonia’, in The Babylonian World, ed. Gwendolyn Leick, Routledge (pp.265-275). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UXSXSGHC\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UXSXSGHC </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 330, "polity": { "id": 10, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_5", "long_name": "Late Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -400, "end_year": -101 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“In our opinion, the previous lack of standardization in the specifics of monumental construction suggests that the rulers of Puebla–Tlaxcala’s large Late and Terminal Formative centers were constructing their own particular expressions of political and religious power; they acted as independent competitors experimenting with novel building techniques and overlapping ritual practices that varied in relation to their shifting exchange networks and political alliances during what many consider to have been the region’s cultural climax (Garcı ́a Cook and Merino 1989). Some communities, like Capulac-Concepcio ́n and La Laguna, built enormous I-shaped ballcourts (Barba et al. 2009; Carballo 2009, p. 478, fig. 3; Garcı ́a Cook 1983); others engaged in rituals that required stone basins set at the base of huge mounds. Some favored talud-tablero fac ̧ades, and some began to install carved stone images in both public and domestic spaces. Some ceremonial buildings faced west, others faced north or east. Some groups plastered their buildings with stucco, others with clay. Part of this variation is certainly temporal, but more work will be required to clarify intersite relations and define regional cultures (cf. Castanzo 2002; Seiferle-Valencia 2007).” §REF§ (Plunket & Uruñuela 2012, 22-23) Plunket, Patricia and Uruñuela, Gabriela. 2012. ‘Where East Meets West: The Formative in Mexico’s Central Highlands’. In Journal of Archaeological Research. Vol. 20:1. Pp. 1-51. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9FVQN8UD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9FVQN8UD </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 331, "polity": { "id": 9, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_4", "long_name": "Middle Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -800, "end_year": -401 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“Interrelated trends of the Middle Formative period included population growth and expansion into the northern Basin of Mexico, agricultural intensification, development of small hierarchical polities, intensification of social network exchange, and hereditary leaders linked with ancestors and cosmic forces.” §REF§ (Nichols 2015, 412) Nichols, Deborah L. 2015. ‘Intensive Agriculture and Early Complex Societies of the Basin of Mexico’. In Ancient Mesoamerica. Vol. 26:2. Pp. 407-421. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZDAQ8PBN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZDAQ8PBN </b></a> §REF§ “ Ancestors and rulers, however, can be overlapping categories (Grove 1999; J Archaeol Res (2012) 20:1–51 15 12 Grove and Gillespie 2002), and the distinction between them, particularly in Middle Formative societies, might be blurred.” §REF§ (Plunket & Uruñuela 2012, 16) Plunket, Patricia and Uruñuela, Gabriela. 2012. ‘Where East Meets West: The Formative in Mexico’s Central Highlands’. In Journal of Archaeological Research. Vol. 20:1. Pp. 1-51. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9FVQN8UD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9FVQN8UD </b></a> §REF§ “This era of priestly ritual performance is also when religious and ritual-specific art appears in permanent mediums (clay and stone) that can be recovered archaeologically. Certainly the earliest and most numerous of these objects are the clay figurines that become ubiquitous at this time (Flannery 1976, Niederberger 1996a, 1996b: 103–104). Significantly, Middle Formative Period clay figurines often are crafted as masked individuals. Furthermore, life-sized ceramic masks themselves, as well as clay masquettes, have been excavated from graves, strongly suggesting that significant portions of a given population were organized into sodalities, or dance and medicine societies, for public rituals during the same period. The archaeological recovery of conch-shell trumpets and turtle-shell rattles also from the Middle Formative Period is compelling evidence of increased ritual intensification, which required greater quantities of ritual objects and specialized regalia items (Flannery 1976: 333345).” §REF§ (Reilly III 2012, 768) Reilly III, F. Kent. 2012. ‘Mesoamerican Religious Beliefs: The Practices and Practitioners’. In The Oxford handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K6DPAVSS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: K6DPAVSS </b></a> §REF§ “Significantly, the iconography that disappeared from the ceramics reappeared in jadeite and greenstone, the medium now restricted to and controlled by the chiefs and elite. The symbols relating to the cosmos were now used to legitimize their status. Perhaps the Middle Preclassic chief and his prestige and power now assumed the major \"identity\" for his society as well. While the transformations just described were major, village lifeways, domestic rituals, and farming techniques were not altered significantly.” §REF§ (Grove 2000, 139) Grove, David C. 2000. ‘The Preclassic Societies of the Central Highlands of Mesoamerica’. In The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Vol. II: Mesoamerica, Part. I. Edited by Richard E.W. Adams and Murdo J. MacLeod. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WAKHWVIH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WAKHWVIH </b></a> §REF§ “Early evidence for status differentiation in central Mexico is less demarcated and typically presents as individual graves that possess more offerings than others (Niederberger 2000; Tolstoy 1989). This leads us to suggest that until late in the Middle Formative—when the earliest ballcourt (likely a communal structure) was constructed in the region (Serra Puche and Ramírez Sánchez 2001)—the primary means of obtaining social status was through exotic trade goods used in visual displays at local feasts or rituals (Clark 1997; Helms 1993; Stark 2017). Gradually over time, however, external finance gave way to internally focused activities such as the construction of civic-ceremonial architecture (Grove 1987; Serra Puche and Ramírez Sánchez 2001), irrigation canals (Nichols 1987), and control over developing settlement hierarchies (Sanders et al. 1979).” §REF§ (Nichols 2019, 251) Nichols, Deborah L. 2018. ‘The Altica Project: Reframing the Formative Basin of Mexico’. In Ancient Mesoamerica. Vol. 30. Pp. 247–265. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5PXURK49\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5PXURK49 </b></a> §REF§ Chalcatzingo is one of the most important archaeological sites of Middle Formative central Mexico and is located in Morelos, south of the Basin of Mexico. This interpretation of Chalcatzingo C-8 figurines is in contrast with Cyphers Guillén’s “Unlike the rather generic quality of most figurines of the Middle Formative period, the facial features on C-8 figurines have a portrait-like aspect, and we have been able to define at least twenty different individuals in multiple occurrences in our sample. We believe that these figurines probably represent specific persons, most likely leaders or ancestral founders. They were probably used in ritual activities we once referred to as the “cult of the ruler” (Grove and Gillespie 1984, Gillespie 1987:269-270, Grove 1987b:423-426), although we now realize the greater likelihood that ancestors are portrayed in the imagery (Gillespie 1999). While at Chalcatzingo and Gulf coast Olmec sites this cult is also represented in stone portraiture restricted to the elites, we find it significant that at Chalcatzingo it is heavily represented by C-8 figurines in every excavated Cantera phase house in the settlement (Gillespie 1987:Figs. 15.3—15.10).” §REF§ (Grove & Gillespie 2002, 15) Grove, David C. and Gillespie, Susan D. 2022. ‘Middle Formative Domestic Ritual at Chalcatzingo, Morelos’. In Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica. Edited by Patricia Plunket. Los Angeles: The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2SPXZAMK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2SPXZAMK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 332, "polity": { "id": 11, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_6", "long_name": "Terminal Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -100, "end_year": 99 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“In our opinion, the previous lack of standardization in the specifics of monumental construction suggests that the rulers of Puebla–Tlaxcala’s large Late and Terminal Formative centers were constructing their own particular expressions of political and religious power; they acted as independent competitors experimenting with novel building techniques and overlapping ritual practices that varied in relation to their shifting exchange networks and political alliances during what many consider to have been the region’s cultural climax (Garcı a Cook and Merino 1989). Some communities, like Capulac-Concepcio ́n and La Laguna, built enormous I-shaped ballcourts (Barba et al. 2009; Carballo 2009, p. 478, fig. 3; Garcıa Cook 1983); others engaged in rituals that required stone basins set at the base of huge mounds. Some favored talud-tablero facades, and some began to install carved stone images in both public and domestic spaces. Some ceremonial buildings faced west, others faced north or east. Some groups plastered their buildings with stucco, others with clay. Part of this variation is certainly temporal, but more work will be required to clarify intersite relations and define regional cultures (cf. Castanzo 2002; Seiferle-Valencia 2007).” §REF§ (Plunket & Uruñuela 2012, 22-23) Plunket, Patricia and Uruñuela, Gabriela. 2012. ‘Where East Meets West: The Formative in Mexico’s Central Highlands’. In Journal of Archaeological Research. Vol. 20:1. Pp. 1-51. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9FVQN8UD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9FVQN8UD </b></a> §REF§ “Although certain ritual practices and symbols from La Laguna seem to match those at contemporary, incipient urban centres, and foreshadow most closely those of Teotihuacan and Cholula, heterogeneity between centres is apparent, and it is clear that the inhabitants of La Laguna were not emulating one centre wholesale. Tripod Storm God effigy vessels and obsidian eccentrics with conflated centipede attributes appear, for the time being, to represent local variants of growing macro-regional traditions. It is therefore important to consider the variable strategies of individuals within this broader sphere of interaction and how differential power and participation may have encouraged continuity or change in ritual practice and religious symbols. Continuities between the rituals and symbols of the Terminal Formative and later periods may be explained in part by their sharing a sustained, internal cultural logic and momentum, the fact that, ‘Once ritual comes into existence, it generates its own emergent dynamics’ (Handelman 2004, 219).” §REF§ (Carballo 2012, 348) Carballo, David M. 2012. ‘Public Ritual and Urbanization in Central Mexico: Temple and Plaza Offerings from La Laguna, Tlaxcala’. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. Vol. 22.3. Pp. 329-352. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UPAMHRH8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UPAMHRH8 </b></a> §REF§ “Storm God jars (Figure 5.7) (Bracamontes 2001) foreshadow later forms but have clay fillets suggestive of straps, suggesting that they are imitations(skeuomorphs) of vessels made of other materials (gourds?) tied with some kind of cordage. This is another sign that the Storm God has deep pre-Teotihuacan roots and that later Teotihuacanos (probably elites) significantly reinterpreted him. A ceramic cup with Storm God attributes found at the Sun Pyramid (Millon et al. 1965) is an atypical variant.” §REF§ (Cowgill 2015, 73) Cowgill, George L. 2015. Ancient Teotihuacan: Early Urbanism in Central Mexico. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D2M5GMC9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: D2M5GMC9 </b></a> §REF§ “The houses of Tetimpa utilize a highly standardized building program (Plunket and Uruñuela, 1998a) that, as Flannery (2002, p. 431) has recently noted, combine \"the flexibility of 'growth on demand' with the formality of a Stereotypie module\" in a pattern suggesting population growth with segmentation at the nuclear family level. The mature house uses the same format as Plaza One, a first century A.D. Three Temple Complex in Teotihuacan (Cook de Leonard, 1957, 1971, p. 192; Plunket and Uruñuela, 2002c). This consists of a large central platform flanked by two smaller lateral structures that together frame a courtyard (Fig. 3). An altar or shrine marks the midpoint of the courtyard, and in some cases, an elongated platform located opposite the central building serves to restrict access to the compound. The stone-faced platforms, usually about 0.7-2.0 m high, have a central staircase and use talud-tablero architecture, a feature that although long considered diagnostic of Classic period Teotihuacan religious constructions, appears on both domestic (Plunket and Uruñuela, 1998a) and civic-ceremonial (Garcia Cook, 1981, p. 252) structures in western Puebla during the Late Formative. The presence of the talud-tablero \"temple\" diagnostic on the residential platforms of Tetimpa leads us to believe that the earliest first century A.D. three-temple-complexes of Teotihuacan were originally elite houses and not specialized religious structures, although they subsequently seem to have acquired temple status (compare with Grove and Gillespie, 2002; Kirch, 2000). […] Although the courtyards of the Tetimpa houses were used for a variety of domestic tasks (Uruñuela and Plunket, 1998), the midpoint is always marked by a small shrine or at least a stone cobble; this is true for all houses and detached kitchens. The shrines are highly variable and probably reflect aspects of individual family history, but most include carved anthropomorphic or zoomorphic stones set on top of subfloor chimneys. In five cases, shrine stones were placed on top of effigy volcanoes, a reference that obviously relates to Popocatepetl (Smoking Mountain) whose crater lies only 13 km to the southeast (Plunket and Uruñuela, 1998c). Ritual activity around these shrines is manifested in the presence of incense burners (Uruñuela and Plunket, 2002a, p. 28, Fig. 3.8), ash, reddened areas of burnt earth, prismatic obsidian blades, concentrations of small stones, and cremated bird remains inside the chimneys (Plunket and Uninuela, 20202a).” §REF§ (Plunket & Uruñuela 2005, 95-97) Plunket, Patricia and Uruñuela, Gabriela. 2005. ‘Recent Research in Puebla Prehistory’. Journal of Archaeological Research. Vol. 13:2. Pp. 89-127. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WEQU4V37\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WEQU4V37 </b></a> §REF§ “An important distinction in the representations and corresponding ritual practices of the two deities was further elaborated at Teotihuacan, where the Old God remained primarily in the domestic sphere while the Storm God was venerated in domestic contexts but was also central to public rituals conducted by state rulers.” §REF§ (Carballo 2007, 53) Carballo, David M. 2007. ‘Effigy Vessels, Religious Integration, and the Origins of the Central Mexican Pantheon’. Ancient Mesoamerica. Vol. 18:1. Pp. 53-67. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/R92IISZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: R92IISZE </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 333, "polity": { "id": 12, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_7", "long_name": "Classic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 649 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“Moreover, it is difficult to discern between political and religious power, for the archaeological evidence indicates that there was a conflation of both.” §REF§ (Filini 2015, 98) Filini, Agapi. 2015. Teotihuacan: Ritual Economy, Exchange, and Urbanization Processes in Classic Period Mesoamerica. Economic Anthropology. Vol. 2. Pp. 97–119. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D6MQXIMH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: D6MQXIMH </b></a> §REF§ \"Although Teotihuacan ideas cannot be measured directly, and there are many interpretations regarding their meaning, material culture reflects how these ideas were put into action or ritualized. Rituals may also serve to negotiate the differing relationships with “Others” and, in that process, “reformulate cultural values and self-knowledge and with whom their relationships need to be negotiated” (Baumann, 1992: 99). Ritual practices at Teotihuacan were highly diverse, reflecting the multicultural populations that lived in different barrios. However, at the elite level, there were official common practices, as seen in elaborate artifacts and material culture found abroad. ” §REF§ (Filini 2015, 100, 107, 113) Filini, Agapi. 2015. Teotihuacan: Ritual Economy, Exchange, and Urbanization Processes in Classic Period Mesoamerica. Economic Anthropology. Vol. 2. Pp. 97–119. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D6MQXIMH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: D6MQXIMH </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 334, "polity": { "id": 8, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_3", "long_name": "Early Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -1200, "end_year": -801 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "The following quotes refer to Mesoamerica in general and to Olmecs archaeology which had a great influence in the region “Also during this period, the earlier shamanic rituals of accessing ancestral power are expanded into a cult of the dead, demonstrated through the proliferation of elaborate burials, throughout much of Mesoamerica, and their accompanying grave goods (McAnany, 1995). Appearing for the first time during this period is a category of grave ritual objects that take the form of large hollow ceramic figures with infant like features and elongated heads. Referred to in the literature as “Olmec babies” because of their naturalistic poses and expressions, these figures usually are crafted as unsexed and may have been dressed (Figure 57.1). This unique figure category may replace earlier shamanic soul catchers or containers that were intended to hold the souls of the departed. It is noteworthy that the eyes of many of these white-slipped figures are blank. In the grave, then, a soul was housed within this infant-shaped container in order to await rebirth as a future lineage or family member. Also present in graves or ritual caches are stone and obsidian bloodletters that attest to the increasing importance of blood and human sacrifice within the expanded range of ritual practices during this period. This era of priestly ritual performance is also when religious and ritual-specific art appears in permanent mediums (clay and stone) that can be recovered archaeologically. Certainly the earliest and most numerous of these objects are the clay figurines that become ubiquitous at this time (Flannery 1976, Niederberger 1996a, 1996b: 103–104).” […] “Another aspect of ceremonial practice that is first depicted in the art of the Formative period is the ritual bundle (Guernsey and Reilly 2007). Not only did religious practitioners bundle objects during ritual performances, but even large-scale monuments also were kept wrapped or bundled (Reilly 2007: 1–21) by Mesoamerican religious practitioners. Werner Stenzel, one of the earliest researchers to explore the function of sacred bundles (1968), compared bundle use in the Mesoamerican highlands and in the Maya area. From his studies, he drew a series of basic premises that summarized how bundles function among the wider array of Mesoamerican ritual objects.” […] “Certainly, the fact that sacred bundles figure prominently in art and ritual during the Formative period strongly supports the interpretation of the pivotal role of the priesthood during this period. As previously stated, one identifier of the priestly ritual function lies in the fact that priests are full-time religious specialists who indirectly access the supernatural by focusing their religious practices on precisely conducted, repetitive, or formulaic rituals of renewal. Indeed, the widely diffused and highly significant activities of the wrapping and unwrapping of sacred bundles conform to this definition of priestly ritual—as precisely conducted repetitive and formulaic rites. During the Formative period, the roles of priestly ritual practitioners and their ritual practices expanded, as is clear in their functions of fostering artistic production and contributing to the development of written language. Many of the individuals depicted on Olmec-style monuments have long been recognized as holding ritual implements, including torches, “knuckledusters,” bloodletters, and maize vegetation. The discovery in 1998 or 1999 of the Cascajal Block near the great Olmec site of San Lorenzo (Veracruz) has sparked a great deal of speculation as to the nature and ritual function of early Mesoamerican writing and its origins (Skidmore 2006; Freidel and Reilly 2010). Dating to the San Lorenzo B Phase (ca. 900 BC), the Cascajal Block is a roughly 15-inch-long block of greenish serpentine (Figure 57.4). The block bears sixty-two incised signs or symbols that can be interpreted as a record of the display of ritual objects contained within three opened or unwrapped ritual bundles (Freidel and Reilly 2010: 658–670). As such a depiction, the Cascajal Block is “a memorial to public prophecy and divination” (Freidel and Reilly 2010: 659). The Cascajal Block likely served as a permanent record, carved in stone, of a sacred bundle ritual: the assuredly positive effect of such a ritual is now permanently recorded in the enduring medium of stone; thus, the ritual results were intended to be permanent and ongoing.”[…] “The appearance of the Cascajal Block also signals a major shift in Mesoamerican religious practice in the form of a more rigid form of institutionalized ritual and the replacement of shamanic religious practitioners by priests. While a shaman depends greatly on personal charisma for effectively performing a ritual, a priest relies more specifically on the formally learned, clear standardization of ritual performance, as well as on the ability of a well-trained initiate to repeat, verbatim, specific incantations, ritual postures, and gestures.” §REF§ (Reilly III 2012, 767-768, 769-772) Reilly III, F. Kent. 2012. ‘Mesoamerican Religious Beliefs: The Practices and Practitioners’. In The Oxford handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K6DPAVSS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: K6DPAVSS </b></a> §REF§ “The transitional period represented by Altica also features more widespread adoption of an agricultural economy after thousands of years dabbling with domesticated crops in a mixed subsistence strategy (Arnold 2009; Blake et al. 1992; Clark et al. 2007; Killion 2013; McClung de Tapia et al. 2019; Rosenswig et al. 2015; Storey et al. 2019; VanDerwarker 2006). Mesoamerica definitively proves that complex civilizations can develop without intensive reliance on agriculture (Niederberger 2000; VanDerwarker 2006), but addition of agricultural crops expanded the realm of opportunities that nascent elites exploited to elevate themselves. Early cultivation may have served to make edible plants more predictable and concentrated at specific geographic locations disturbed by human activity (Nichols 2015). Stored grains added stability to existing subsistence economies, enabling sustained permanent village occupations in relatively marginal environments. Surpluses were used in conjunction with rituals and feasts that allowed the sponsor to accumulate social capital essential for early status distinctions (Clark and Blake 1994; Hayden 1995). Changing subsistence eventually gave rise to a new worldview and religious programs (e.g., maize fertility cults, deities, and human sacrifice). Stored food also served to finance labor projects, including Mesoamerica’s first monumental art and architecture (Benson and de la Fuente 1996; Cyphers 2004; Flannery and Marcus 2000; Joyce 2004;Love2002; Niederberger 1976; Sanders et al. 1979; Serra Puche and Ramírez Sánchez 2001; Stirling 1943).” §REF§ (Nichols 2019, 150-251) Nichols, Deborah L. 2018. ‘The Altica Project: Reframing the Formative Basin of Mexico’. In Ancient Mesoamerica. Vol. 30. Pp. 247–265. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5PXURK49\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5PXURK49 </b></a> §REF§ “Masked Tlapacoya and Tlatilco figurines can be classified into several categories. Most common are the representations of musicians, dancers, and actors with particular disguises, which strongly evoke the existence of cofradia-type associations (civic-religious groups that channel wealth community wide through ceremonies and fiestas, while also conferring status and prestige) with specific ritual responsibilities, engaged in public performances at given dates, such as observed with historical Amerindian groups (see Flannery1976:336; Niederberger 1987: 710-711). More sporadic are sophisticatedly dressed and masked personages that evoke specialized religious agents who temporarily embody a supernatural category of the mythological system. Noteworthy figurines of this category, whose faces are characterized by large quadrangular or round eyes as well as a central pointed tooth with lateral curving fangs, associated in Tlatilco with a U-bracket symbol, seem to be related to a pristine expression of a rain icon (see Reyna Robles n.d.: 304; Niederberger 1987: 435, 712; Taube 1995: 98).” §REF§ (Niederberger 2000, 181) Niederberger, Christine. 2000. ‘Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico toward 1200 B.C’ In Studies in the History of Art, Symposium Papers XXXV: Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica. Vol. 58. Pp. 168-191. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/AWMQEPUH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: AWMQEPUH </b></a> §REF§ “Exchange systems during the Early Formative emphasize an externally focused economy in which elites sought exotic goods, materials, and ritual knowledge to set them apart from the general populace.” […] “Early evidence for status differentiation in central Mexico is less demarcated and typically presents as individual graves that possess more offerings than others (Niederberger 2000; Tolstoy 1989). This leads us to suggest that until late in the Middle Formative—when the earliest ballcourt (likely a communal structure) was constructed in the region (Serra Puche and Ramírez Sánchez 2001)—the primary means of obtaining social status was through exotic trade goods used in visual displays at local feasts or rituals (Clark 1997; Helms 1993; Stark 2017).” §REF§ (Nichols 2019, 251) Nichols, Deborah L. 2018. ‘The Altica Project: Reframing the Formative Basin of Mexico’. In Ancient Mesoamerica. Vol. 30. Pp. 247–265. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5PXURK49\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5PXURK49 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 335, "polity": { "id": 7, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_2", "long_name": "Initial Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1201 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“In the Late Archaic and Early Formative periods (7000–1500 BC), technological breakthroughs occur in several cultural areas, including advances in pottery and the domestication of plants, which led to horticulture and ultimately agriculture. The archaeologist David Freidel (1995: 3–9) has proposed that shamans may have played a major role in achieving plant domestication, through their function as healers who collected medicinal plants. During this same dynamic period, permanent villages developed and larger populations became more settled than in the earlier Paleolithic and Early Archaic periods. Plant domestication and its metaphysical dimensions became centered on maize, beans, and squash, and these were added to shamans’ ceremonies and ritual practices. These new and evolving rituals focused on agricultural fecundity, rain making, the successful growth of plants, and greater agricultural yields. This new ritual focus did not replace the shamanic practices of the previous age; rather, it incorporated the hallowed rituals of ancestral contact and transformation into the new, complementary, agriculturally focused ritual cycles. The practitioners responsible for conducting and performing these also cyclically driven ritual practices for rain and agriculture fertility functioned fully as priests. Unlike the earlier part-time shamans, priests are full-time religious specialists who access the supernatural indirectly by focusing their religious practice on precisely conducted repetitive or formulaic rituals of renewal (Hultkrantz 1963).” §REF§ (Reilly III 2012, 766) Reilly III, F. Kent. 2012. ‘Mesoamerican Religious Beliefs: The Practices and Practitioners’. In The Oxford handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K6DPAVSS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: K6DPAVSS </b></a> §REF§ “By the beginning of the Initial Formative period, around 2000 BC, maize, squash, and several other food crops had been domesticated, and settled villages supported by varying mixes of agricultural products and wild resources sprang up across Mesoamerica over the next thousand years. The resulting ability to intensify and control access to staples and ceremonial foods alike aided the subsequent development of social inequalities and political hierarchies.” §REF§ (Pool 2012, 171) Pool, Christopher A. 2012. ‘The Formation of Complex Societies in Mesoamerica’. In The Oxford handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KISGMGK6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KISGMGK6 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 336, "polity": { "id": 15, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_10", "long_name": "Middle Postclassic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 1200, "end_year": 1426 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“Religious practitioners became increasingly specialized during the Postclassic, and the total number of specialists expanded. Although difficult to document archaeologically, many of these practitioners must have existed earlier in the Postclassic. There was a hierarchy of professional priests and priestesses, along with shamans, diviners, and sorcerers.” §REF§ (Nichols & Charlton 2001, 27) Nichols, Deborah L. and Charlton, Timothy H. 2001. ‘Central Mexico Postclassic’. In Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Middle America. Vol. 5. Edited by Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember. Boston: Springer Science. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CUDGUNH2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CUDGUNH2 </b></a> §REF§ “Processes of elite interaction and class-formation had begun among the MPC Aztec city-states, and were then put to work by the imperial rulers. Specific activities of this strategy included marriage alliances, gift-giving, common participation in key ceremonies and events, and the use of particular styles and forms of art, iconography, and material culture.” §REF§ (Smith 2001, 145) Smith, Michael. 2002. ‘The Aztec empire and the Mesoamerican world system’. In Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History. Edited by Susan E. Alcock et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JISQD9FK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JISQD9FK </b></a> §REF§“Although Postclassic cities varied in their levels of collectivity, it should be noted that in all cases political organization exhibited collective elements. Ruling councils that elected leaders were the norm, and these leaders were not viewed as divine. Dynastic propaganda was present in all cities (except, perhaps, Tlaxcala), with some being more dynastically oriented than others; yet the art and architecture of Postclassic central Mexican cities emphasized broader religious themes over specific individuals, as was the case during most of the history of the macroregion.” §REF§ (Carballo 2016, 45) Carballo, David M. 2016. Urbanization and Religion in Ancient Central Mexico. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UX23J6C6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UX23J6C6 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 337, "polity": { "id": 16, "name": "mx_aztec_emp", "long_name": "Aztec Empire", "start_year": 1427, "end_year": 1526 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“In Mexico-Tenochtitlan, although the tlahtoani was the supreme leader, he shared power with the cihuacoatl (“serpent woman”)— whom the Spanish called the “viceroy.” In the most general terms, the king associated with the Sun focused on “foreign policy” (particularly war), while the cihuacoatl—named after the goddess of the earth—was in charge of internal affairs. This dualism is reflected in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, which was also a double building: the southern part was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the sun god of war, and the northern section to Tlaloc, god of the earth and rain (López Austin and López Luján 2009).” §REF§ (Olivier 2017, 580) Olivier, Guilhem. 2017. ‘Humans and Gods in Mexica Universe’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríquez-Alegría. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GSNPXAIV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GSNPXAIV </b></a> §REF§ “Like other powers before them, the Mexica rulers reiterated their territorial dominance through the performance of other pilgrimages and perambulations across the hills and islands of the Basin, appropriating their tutelage (see Arnold 1991; Aveni 1991; Broda 1991, 2003; Townsend 1992). For instance, in the festival of Huey Tozoztli, the Mexica ruler asserted his universal hegemony by ritually investing the ancient statue of Tlaloc on the sanctuary atop Mount Tlaloc. The rulers of Tetzcoco, Tlacopan, and Xochimilco then followed in the investiture, thereby fulfilling their role as representatives of the four Tlaloqueh dispensing food and fertility to the whole world. The festival included a parallel ritual in which a maiden impersonator of Tlaloc’s consort, the goddess Matlacueye, was sacrificed and offered to the whirlpool of Pantitlan down in the lake, while four cosmic trees were erected in the center of Tenochtilan. The ritual expressed the gendered notion of landscape and communicated the fertilizing powers of the earth deities to the people via their rulers.” §REF§ (García Garagarza 2017, 601) García Garagarza, León. 2017. ‘The Aztec Ritual Landscape’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríquez-Alegría. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HVUJQJCJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HVUJQJCJ </b></a> §REF§ “Mexica power was based on two factors: (a) the direct descent of the ruling lineage from the god Quetzalcoatl and (b) the link to ancient Tula through the blood ties of Acamapichtli, founding tlahtoani of the royal dynasty (López Luján and López Austin 2009:391–392). Through this tremendous concentration of the powerful forces of ancestors and gods—both their own and those of other groups—the Sacred Precinct linked the preservation of the well-being of the Mexican people and the fertility of the land to the achievement of state cohesion, the sacralization of centralized government power, and military domination over other peoples. Obviously, all of this was subordinate to religious discourse; however, this discourse held that the supreme divinities were represented not by priests but by the tlahtoani himself.” §REF§ (López Austin & López Luján 2017, 611) López Austin, Alfredo and Leonardo López Luján. 2017. ‘State Ritual and Religion in the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríquez-Alegría. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8NZ5DPEN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 8NZ5DPEN </b></a> §REF§ “Above the tlamacazqui was a smaller group of elite priests called fire priests, tlenamacac or “fireseller.” These priests were responsible for the performance of the highest ritual – human sacrifice. Regular priests assisted at the stone of sacrifice, but only a fire priest could wield the lethal flint knife. At the top of the priestly hierarchy were two high priests with the title quetzalcoatl. The holiest and most devout of all priests, one presided over each temple at the top of the Templo Mayor pyramid – the Tlaloc temple and the Huitzilopochtli temple.” §REF§ (Smith 2012, 219) Smith, Michael E. 2012. The Aztecs. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/W3PNEUBJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: W3PNEUBJ </b></a> §REF§ “Aztec state religion was not necessarily geared to produce a uniform world-view and a common value system within Tenochtitlan, nor to sanctify, the ruler in the eyes of his subjects. Rather, it was intended to win the loyalty of a relatively small target group, the young men who formed the core of the Aztec army. This achievement-based system of social status cut across particularistic loyalties of kinship and ethnicity. From the beginning, Aztec rulers rewarded both their own warriors and men from other city-states who distinguished themselves in the Aztec cause (Oman 1967: 11, 100). This centralized system of reward and prestige created a cohesive imperial force at the expense of various kinship groups, ethnic groups, and local city-states.” §REF§ (Brumfiel 2001, 309) Brumfiel, Elisabeth M. 2001. ‘Aztec hearts and minds: Religion and State in the Aztec Empire’. In Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History. Edited by Susan E. Alcock et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QSENKW96\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QSENKW96 </b></a> §REF§ “The state priesthood was hierarchic. At its apex high priests were dedicated to major gods (Caso 1958:82). The head of state and other high officials also presided as priests in important state ceremonies (Caso 1937:54, 1958:82). State priests were involved in local level affairs and may have exercised a loose suzerainity over the priesthoods of tributary communities, even occasionally imposing Aztec cults upon them (Nicholson 1971:436). Although calpulli kin groups worshipped their own gods, state priests infiltrated their cults (Carrasco 1971:363; Caso 1958:90; Duran 1964:32). Priests forced obedience to state norms, using the threat of divine retribution against nonconformers (Duran 1971:274). Priests attended court to ensure that religious observations concerned with the law were carried out and that justice was dispensed with the approval ofthe gods (George 1961:39). In some instances oaths to the gods were accepted as truth of the testimony being given (George 1961:39). Priests also served as judges and military commanders (Caso 1937:54, 59; 1958:85). Complementing the preceding strategies were others aimed at socializing citizens regarding state expectations.” §REF§ (Kurtz 1984, 309) Kurtz, Donald V. 1984. ‘Strategies of Legitimation and the Aztec State’. In Ethnology. Vol. 23:4. Pp. 301-304. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B6CF38TF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: B6CF38TF </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 338, "polity": { "id": 14, "name": "mx_toltec", "long_name": "Toltecs", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1199 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“The apparently unusual phenomenon of partly theocratic rule ostensibly continuing during a period of increased centralization and militarism is not therefore necessarily an isolated one. The evidence for the prevalence of such a state of affairs in Tollan is certainly plentiful. To take only one source, the Andes de Cuauhtitldn call Quetzalcoatl both priest and king. Though enjoying certain clearly temporal functions, he is also addressed as \"my son and priest, Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl.\" Quauhtli, who established himself as Quetzalcoatl's substitute and likeness, is a tlenamacac, or sahumador, and therefore also of priestly rank. Sahagun is equally at pains to stress the sacerdotal role of Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl, whereas the Memorial Breve of Chimalpain and the Historia de los Mexicanos on the contrary treat him as a temporal ruler. Notwithstanding, Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl, according to most accounts, is not merely a king, but also a priest and the personification of a god.” […] “It has already been stressed that a distinction constantly has to be maintained between the heavenly and earthly Tollan. It would seem that Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl is likewise portrayed on two different planes, on the one hand the eternal and ethereal hero and on the other the human ruler who governed Tollan, perhaps alone, but more probably with other rulers, as will shortly be seen. One must think not in terms of a single and unified Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl but of several concepts concentrated in one being or succession of beings; not only does one encounter the contrasting notions of god and mortal, but in addition the tired old man, the bold warrior, and even the little child” […] “In conclusion, it may again be stressed that reasonable evidence exists of plural rule in Tollan. Indications are also offered by the sources of a regime part secular and part theocratic. In this respect Tollan may have represented an intermediate stage between the governments of Teotihuacan and of Tenochtitlan. It seems, moreover, probable that a series of holders of the title Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl played a leading part in the collective ordering of the state, even if their precise role is not absolutely clear.” §REF§ (Davies 1977, 287-288, 291, 295) Davies, Nigel. 1977. The Toltecs: Until the fall of Tula. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3KTP86GD\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3KTP86GD </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 339, "polity": { "id": 13, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_8", "long_name": "Epiclassic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 899 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 290, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesoamerican Religions", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "The label “Mesoamerican Religions” is broadly accurate: though some practices and beliefs varied from group to group, area to area, and period to period, the overall system of religious practices and beliefs was fundamentally the same across the region and during much of the timeline under consideration. Moreover, it was an inclusive system rather than an exclusive one, meaning that any variations would not have been considered as significantly distinct. However, it is also worth noting that there was no true Mesoamerican equivalent to the word or indeed the concept of “religion”. Not only that, but there are several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“Late Classic elites may have adopted Flower World ideology in order to bolster claims of legitimacy. Eastern goods such as cacao may have been used to edify elite status through feasting in honor of apotheosized royal ancestors. Another export from the Maya region was likely a model of divine kingship that equated rulers to solar deities and cast the royal soul as the point of access to an aesthetic realm of fragrant flowers and radiant objects. Adoption of this role required fine trappings associated with Maya rulers, such as objects of jade. While the role of religion in interregional interaction during the Late Classic has not been given due attention, the Flower World complex was an important means of interaction that promoted militarism and long-distance exchange.” §REF§ (Turner 2015, 146) Turner, Andrew David. 2015. Cultures at the Crossroads: Art, Religion, and Interregional Interaction in Central Mexico, AD 600-900. PhD Dissertation. Riverside: University of California. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZZ5ACP74\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZZ5ACP74 </b></a> §REF§ “Shared ritual practices at Late Classic sites reinforced widely shared Mesoamerican religious concepts, while simultaneously providing a venue for social cohesion and statements of power. Religious rituals, by necessity, are deliberately anachronistic and imply continuity with past traditions (Fogelin 2007:57). Late Classic ritual practitioners actively perpetuated prior traditions, such as those pertaining to rain-bringing, the ballgame, and human sacrifice. However, they added and combined elements, and often manipulated the scale of such practices, perhaps in effort to impress and instill a sense of unity among ethnically diverse populations. Through public ritual, Late Classic elites could also express their authority, might, and proximity to the supernatural. While the successes they achieved during the tumultuous Late Classic period were brief, they set a foundation for state ritual practices of the later Toltecs and Aztecs.” §REF§ (Turner 2015, 208-209) Turner, Andrew David. 2015. Cultures at the Crossroads: Art, Religion, and Interregional Interaction in Central Mexico, AD 600-900. PhD Dissertation. Riverside: University of California. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZZ5ACP74\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZZ5ACP74 </b></a> §REF§ “The data from Non-Grid 4 indicate rituals either during or after the collapse of the Teotihuacan state. Following Teotihuacan’s decline, ritual practitioners in Lake Xaltocan integrated human sacrifice into their repertoire of practices. At least 31 individuals were sacrificed. The heads of 13 were lined up facing east. The remaining individuals are also represented by cranial bones and were likely deposited in a similar fashion. Both AMS and ceramic data point to an Epiclassic chronology for these practices at the shrine. Rituals were tied to regional processes, but they were fundamentally local phenomena. Ritual experience had both corporeal and spiritual dimensions. In addition to humans, ritual practitioners made offerings of food, flowers, and incense. During periods of political and social transformation, ritual can offer a means by which people make sense of their world and can provide a resource for those seeking political power. […] The cessation of ritual at the shrine possibly was connected to systemic sociopolitical transformations, reinforcing the fact that local practices were connected to broader conditions in the fabric of society.” §REF§ (Morehart et al. 2012, 443-444) Morehart, Christopher T. et al. 2012. ‘Human Sacrifice During the Epiclassic Period in the Northern Basin of Mexico’. In Latin American Antiquity. Vol 23:4. Pp. 426-448. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ZT27ZC2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ZT27ZC2 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 340, "polity": { "id": 508, "name": "ir_ak_koyunlu", "long_name": "Ak Koyunlu", "start_year": 1339, "end_year": 1501 }, "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 Aq-Qoyunlu were Sunni Muslims, but many of the Armenians and Kurds that came under their control were Christian.” §REF§ (Stokes 2009, 31) Stokes, James. 2009. ‘Aq-Qoyunlu’. In Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East. New York: Facts on File. Seshat URL:<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IW92F692\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: IW92F692 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 341, "polity": { "id": 500, "name": "ir_elam_6", "long_name": "Elam - Igihalkid Period", "start_year": -1399, "end_year": -1200 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "“ Šilhak-Inšušinak mentions the rulers of the Igihalkid dynasty who preceded him in (re-)construction works on the Inšušinak temple (cf. D. POTTS [2004], p. 205) among whom Untaš-Napiriša, son of Humbanumena.” §REF§ Gorris, E. 2020. When God is forgotten… THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF THE THEOPHORIC ELEMENT HU (M) BAN IN ELAMITE AND MESOPOTAMIAN ONOMASTICS. Les Études classiques 88: 163-180. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9ATVZD66\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9ATVZD66 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 342, "polity": { "id": 374, "name": "ir_safavid_emp", "long_name": "Safavid Empire", "start_year": 1501, "end_year": 1722 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 9, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Shia Islam", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "Again \r\n\r\n\"The Safavid period marks an obvious watershed in the religious history of Iran in that it witnesses the elevation of Twelver Shi'ism to the position of state religion and the practical fusion of Iran and Shi'ism into a single religio-national entity.\" §REF§Algar, H. 1991. Religious forces in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Iran. In Avery, P., G.R.G. Hambly and C. Melville (eds) \"The Cambridge History of Iran\" pp. 705-729. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.§REF§ “In Safavid Iran, the main religious ‘others’ in the eyes of the Shi’i dynasty were the Sunni Afghans and Baluchis of the frontier regions- which eventually brought the Empire to its demise-together with other Muslims (even nominally Shi’i groups whose practices did not adhere to the legalistic Shi’I views espoused by the ulema at any given time.” <ref> (Tiburcio 2020, 2) Tiburcio, Alberto. 2020. Muslim-Christian Polemics in Safavid Empire 1505-1722 CE. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/EREAXUVP/items/WNFMPUEV/collection </ref>" }, { "id": 343, "polity": { "id": 501, "name": "ir_elam_7", "long_name": "Elam - Shutrukid Period", "start_year": -1199, "end_year": -1100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "‘\" The following quote suggests that Shutruk-Nakhunte, second King of the Shutrukid Dynasty, was devoted to the gods of the Elamite Religion: “\"I am Shutruk-Nahhunte, son of Hallutush-Inshushinak, beloved servant of the god Inshushinak, king of Anshan and Susa, who has enlarged the kingdom, who takes care of the lands of Elam, the lord of the land of Elam. When the god Inshushinak gave me the order, I defeated Sippar. I took the stele of Naram-Sin and carried it off, bringing it to the land of Elam. For Inshushinak, my god, I set it as an offering.” §REF§ Mieroop, Marc Van De (2015). A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC. John Wiley & Sons. p. 199. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9H88VQ7A\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9H88VQ7A </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 344, "polity": { "id": 499, "name": "ir_elam_5", "long_name": "Elam - Kidinuid Period", "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": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "The following quote depicts Kidinu and Tepti-ahar (Kings of the Kidinuid Dynasty) as ‘servants’ of the Elamite god Kirmasir. “Kidinu and Tepti-ahar styled themselves “servant of Kirmašir” (Steve, Gasche, and De Meyer, p. 92; Herrero, 1976, p. 104). §REF§ Vallat, F. 2011. ELAM VI. Elamite Religion. ‘’Encyclopedia Iranica’’, online edition, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-vi (accessed 2 August 2016)\" Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3ACKKUDJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3ACKKUDJ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 345, "polity": { "id": 498, "name": "ir_elam_4", "long_name": "Elam - Late Sukkalmah", "start_year": -1700, "end_year": -1500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "‘\"The first quote suggests rulers such as Ebarat, Silhaha and Atta-husu built and restored the temples of deities in the Elamite religion. The second quote identifies these rulers as of the Sukkalmah Dynasty: “Ebarat, Silhaha, and Atta-hušu built and restored the temple of Nanna…Under Kutir-Nahhunte and Temti-Agun, Inšušinak shared a temple with Ea and Enzag, and another was dedicated to Išnikarab. Most rulers, however, devoted their efforts to restoring the various monuments dedicated to Inšušinak.” §REF§ Vallat, F. 2011. ELAM VI. Elamite Religion. ‘’Encyclopedia Iranica’’, online edition, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-vi Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3ACKKUDJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3ACKKUDJ </b></a> §REF§ “and the names of the Šimaškean and Sukkalmah rulers mentioned in the cuneiform and LE inscriptions written on these vessels, including notably Kindatu, Indatu (I), Ebarat (II), Šilhaha, Atta-hušu, Temti-Agun and Pala-iššan.” §REF§Desset, F. (2018). Nine Linear Elamite Texts Inscribed on Silver “Gunagi” Vessels (X, Y, Z, F’, H’, I’, J’, K’and L’): New Data on Linear Elamite Writing and the History of the Sukkalmaḫ Dynasty. Iran, 56(2), 105-143. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3ACKKUDJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3ACKKUDJ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 346, "polity": { "id": 128, "name": "ir_sassanid_emp_1", "long_name": "Sasanid Empire I", "start_year": 205, "end_year": 487 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 28, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Zoroastrianism", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": "\"In truth, mapping out the contours of elite religion in the Sasanian realm is probably a pointless exercise, and Daryaee is right to be skeptical of ever knowing what was really happening. Another take on the uncertainties is provided by Manfred Hutter on p. 10 of Hutter, M. (1993), ‘Manichaeism in the Early Sasanian Empire’, Numen 40.1, pp. 2-15: “One problem within the history of Iranian religions is the question of the relationship between Zoroastrianism and Zurwanism. After having analysed Mani's own contribution to the religions in the Sasanian empire we think that we can also offer some insight into trends in this religious history. Mary Boyce who certainly knows the material best argues that in the early Sasanian empire Zurwanism was the leading religion favoured by the kings besides the \"orthodox\" Zoroastrianism. But a great number of Iranists, even if they acknowledge the importance of Zurwanism, hold the opposite to be true. Thus Gh. Gnoli says that the development of orthodox Zoroastrianism took place in the third century together with the political and politico-religious propaganda of the Sasanian rulers. J. Duchesne-Guillemin assigns the spread and prospering of Zurwanism to the Arsacid period and to the beginning of the Sasanian era thus Zoroastrianism necessarily being revived by the kings and the Zoroastrian priests in early Sasanian times.”\" (Lee Patterson, pers. comm. to R. Ainsworth, December 2023)", "description": "“Ardashir’s religious views were not accepted by all the Zoroastrians in the empire. First the text [the De¯nkard (Acts of Religion)] states that there was scattered information on the Zoroastrian doctrine which may mean that there were different beliefs or understandings of Zoroastrianism.” §REF§ (Daryaee 2014, 70) Touraj Daryaee 2014. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London, England: I.B. Tauris. Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ETDRZZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ETDRZZE </b></a> §REF§ “We may even see Ardashir and the religion which he proclaimed to be the official religion of the empire as a deviation from the traditions(s) of Zoroastrianism, hence a heresy. That is, the Zoroastrian religion he proclaimed as “orthodoxy” did not appear to have been accepted by all. This new tradition which the Sasanian invented was adopted by the Sassian states and priests and the Zoroastrians were made to conform to it.” §REF§ (Daryaee 2014, 71) Touraj Daryaee 2014. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London, England: I.B. Tauris. Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ETDRZZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ETDRZZE </b></a> §REF§ “For some time it has been suggested that Zurvanism was the dominant mode of thought among certain Zoroastrian mowbeds and kings in the Sasanian period. For the early Sasanian period it is not the Sasanians who tell us about this orientation, but rather it is inferred from the Manichaean sources. Mani, in relating his doctrine in Middle Persian and Parthian (obviously written or aimed at the population of the Iranian plateau), does not use Ohrmazd as the supreme deity but rather Zurvan who in he mentions as the highest god. Based on this evidence it is thought that the early Sasanian kings and even Kerdir may have been followers of Zurvan, although this is speculation based on the Manichaean sources. […] It should, however, be stated that since no reference is made to Zurvan in the Sasanian sources and since Ohrmazd is the deity that is venerated in the inscriptions, we should not give too much weight to the Zurvanite hypothesis as a distinct school of thought. This may be an infatuation of modern scholars with Zurvan rather than a reflection of its importance in the Sasanian period. As Sh. Shaked has mentioned, this creation myth which was projected onto the Sasanian state religion probably never existed as a distinct doctrine of Zoroastrianism in this period.” §REF§ (Daryaee 2014, 81-82) Touraj Daryaee 2014. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London, England: I.B. Tauris. Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ETDRZZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ETDRZZE </b></a> §REF§ “It is all to east to take the Great Kings at their word as they championed the doctrines of Zoroastrianism in their political pronouncements especially as some of them also persecuted Christianity. Whether or not such sentiments were genuine, a closer analysis of the evidence suggests a more pragmatic royal use of religion. The political realities on the ground were more often the deciding factor in how the kings related to the religious sectors of Sasanian society. This state of affairs sometimes set the kings against the Zoroastrian clerics, whose agendas were not always in alignment, and it explains why Christian persecutions were usually motived more by politics than doctrine. Moreover, this dynamic also explains the prominence of the Christian church in the later Sasanian period as kings employed it as a base of support, much as they had the Zoroastrian hierarchy.” §REF§ (Patterson 2017:181) Patterson, Lee E. 2017. ‘Minority Religions in the Sasanian Empire: Supression, Integration and Relations with Rome.’ In Sasanian Persia: Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia. Edited by Eberhard W. Sauer. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5JDM2MSE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5JDM2MSE </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 347, "polity": { "id": 505, "name": "ir_neo_elam_3", "long_name": "Elam III", "start_year": -612, "end_year": -539 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 348, "polity": { "id": 504, "name": "ir_neo_elam_2", "long_name": "Elam II", "start_year": -743, "end_year": -647 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 349, "polity": { "id": 495, "name": "ir_elam_1", "long_name": "Elam - Awan Dynasty I", "start_year": -2675, "end_year": -2100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "‘’' The following religion \"Yet Kirrisha never lost her title as the main goddess of Elam, and it is significant for later developments that she married two of her brothers who were major gods. Kings often built temples to honor her and appear to her for protection.” §REF§ (Nashat 2003, 14) Nashat, Guity. Women in Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Iran. in Nashat, Guity. Beck, Lois. eds. 2003. Women in Iran: From The Rise Of Islam To 1800. University of Illinois Press. Urbana. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BTP3R993\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BTP3R993 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 350, "polity": { "id": 497, "name": "ir_elam_3", "long_name": "Elam - Early Sukkalmah", "start_year": -1900, "end_year": -1701 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "‘\"The first quote suggests rulers such as Ebarat, Silhaha and Atta-husu built and restored the temples of deities in the Elamite religion. The second quote identifies these rulers as of the Sukkalmah Dynasty: “Ebarat, Silhaha, and Atta-hušu built and restored the temple of Nanna…Under Kutir-Nahhunte and Temti-Agun, Inšušinak shared a temple with Ea and Enzag, and another was dedicated to Išnikarab. Most rulers, however, devoted their efforts to restoring the various monuments dedicated to Inšušinak.” §REF§ Vallat, F. 2011. ELAM VI. Elamite Religion. ‘’Encyclopedia Iranica’’, online edition, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-vi Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3ACKKUDJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3ACKKUDJ </b></a> §REF§ “and the names of the Šimaškean and Sukkalmah rulers mentioned in the cuneiform and LE inscriptions written on these vessels, including notably Kindatu, Indatu (I), Ebarat (II), Šilhaha, Atta-hušu, Temti-Agun and Pala-iššan.” §REF§Desset, F. (2018). Nine Linear Elamite Texts Inscribed on Silver “Gunagi” Vessels (X, Y, Z, F’, H’, I’, J’, K’and L’): New Data on Linear Elamite Writing and the History of the Sukkalmaḫ Dynasty. Iran, 56(2), 105-143. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3ACKKUDJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3ACKKUDJ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 351, "polity": { "id": 507, "name": "ir_elymais_2", "long_name": "Elymais II", "start_year": 25, "end_year": 215 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 249, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Mesopotamian Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": "‘\" “Zoroastrianism seems to have encountered a rigid barrier in the mountainous area of Elymais, which was decidedly within the Semitic Mesopotamian sphere of influence.” §REF§ Salaris, D. (2014). Space and rite in Elymais: Considerations on Elymaean religious Architecture and rock reliefs during the Arsacid Period (Master's thesis, University of Sydney.). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IEZT7HFX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: IEZT7HFX </b></a> §REF§ \"After these considerations, the tetrastyle temple of Bard-e Neshandeh—definitively removed from the list of places of Zoroastrian worship (Schippmann 1971: 498)—may be confidently interpreted as a cult place based on a proficient integration between Mesopotamian and Iranian architectural models and dedicated to local deities (Fig. 15).\"§REF§ Salaris, D. (2017). A Case of Religious Architecture in Elymais: The Tetrastyle Temple of Bard-e Neshandeh, Annali Sezione Orientale, 77(1-2), 134-180. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/24685631-12340029 Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2WMU83FE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 2WMU83FE </b></a>§REF§ \"But the hostility shown by the Elymaeans to the Achaemenid kings, as recorded by Nearchus, and the fact that the Elymaeans worshipped non-Iranian gods would seem to suggest that the people of Elymais were descendants of the traditional Elamite inhabitants of these regions. A comparative study of Elymaean religious iconography supports the view that the Elymaeans worshipped Semitic gods of Babylon and Assyria, possibly in syncretization with traditional Elamite deities (Hansman, 1985, pp. 229-46).\" §REF§ Hansman 1998. Elymais. Encyclopedia Iranica Online. Available at https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elymais (last consulted February 6, 2023). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/C2GQDMMV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: C2GQDMMV </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 352, "polity": { "id": 503, "name": "ir_neo_elam_1", "long_name": "Elam I", "start_year": -900, "end_year": -744 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Elites_religion", "coded_value": { "id": 262, "name": "Religion", "religion_name": "Elamite Religion", "religion_family": null, "religion_genus": null }, "comment": null, "description": null } ] }