HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 472,
"next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/moralizing-enforcement-is-broad/?format=api&page=7",
"previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/moralizing-enforcement-is-broad/?format=api&page=5",
"results": [
{
"id": 257,
"polity": {
"id": 24,
"name": "us_woodland_3",
"long_name": "Cahokia - Late Woodland I",
"start_year": 300,
"end_year": 450
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "We infer the absence of MSP beliefs in the Woodland and Emergent Mississippian periods, because of evidence for lack of MSP in later Mississippian religion. However, note there is little data on Woodland or Emergent Mississippian cosmology in general. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IPMSN86M\">[Peregrine 2017]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 258,
"polity": {
"id": 23,
"name": "us_woodland_2",
"long_name": "Cahokia - Middle Woodland",
"start_year": -150,
"end_year": 300
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "We infer the absence of MSP beliefs in the Woodland and Emergent Mississippian periods, because of evidence for lack of MSP in later Mississippian religion. However, note there is little data on Woodland or Emergent Mississippian cosmology in general. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IPMSN86M\">[Peregrine 2017]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 259,
"polity": {
"id": 26,
"name": "us_woodland_5",
"long_name": "Cahokia - Late Woodland III",
"start_year": 600,
"end_year": 750
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "We infer the absence of MSP beliefs in the Woodland and Emergent Mississippian periods, because of evidence for lack of MSP in later Mississippian religion. However, note there is little data on Woodland or Emergent Mississippian cosmology in general. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IPMSN86M\">[Peregrine 2017]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 260,
"polity": {
"id": 144,
"name": "jp_yayoi",
"long_name": "Kansai - Yayoi Period",
"start_year": -300,
"end_year": 250
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following description suggests a relatively narrow range of actions considered punishable by the kami. “[T]here is compelling evidence that the kami did consider some interpersonal violations to be punishable by divine intervention. In a twice-yearly purification ritual codified later but thought to have originated in this period, priests performed incantations designed to purge the sins of the entire populace (Anesaki 2012). The word translated here as “sins,” tsumi, in fact comprises all things seen as impure by the kami, including certain human wrongdoings as well as forms of ritual pollution and disasters themselves (Takeshi 1993). The mass purification ritual, however, functioned to purge a number of tsumi that clearly comprised interpersonal violations. These included a set of agricultural transgressions, from breaking down divisions between rice fields to filling in irrigation ditches, as well as a set of nonagricultural transgressions, such as cutting living bodies, witchcraft, and incest. That it was seen as necessary to purge this list of sins from the population suggests that the sins displeased the kami, and if they were not purged, collective punishment would be brought upon the population.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 234]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 261,
"polity": {
"id": 145,
"name": "jp_kofun",
"long_name": "Kansai - Kofun Period",
"start_year": 250,
"end_year": 537
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following description suggests a relatively narrow range of actions considered punishable by the kami. “[T]here is compelling evidence that the kami did consider some interpersonal violations to be punishable by divine intervention. In a twice-yearly purification ritual codified later but thought to have originated in this period, priests performed incantations designed to purge the sins of the entire populace (Anesaki 2012). The word translated here as “sins,” tsumi, in fact comprises all things seen as impure by the kami, including certain human wrongdoings as well as forms of ritual pollution and disasters themselves (Takeshi 1993). The mass purification ritual, however, functioned to purge a number of tsumi that clearly comprised interpersonal violations. These included a set of agricultural transgressions, from breaking down divisions between rice fields to filling in irrigation ditches, as well as a set of nonagricultural transgressions, such as cutting living bodies, witchcraft, and incest. That it was seen as necessary to purge this list of sins from the population suggests that the sins displeased the kami, and if they were not purged, collective punishment would be brought upon the population.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 234]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 262,
"polity": {
"id": 151,
"name": "jp_azuchi_momoyama",
"long_name": "Japan - Azuchi-Momoyama",
"start_year": 1568,
"end_year": 1603
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"Throughout this history, Japanese notions of [moralistic supernatural enforcement] seem to have followed a path distinctive in several ways from those of other Buddhist societies. In general, the focus of [moralistic supernatural enforcement] tended to be mechanisms leading to fortune and misfortune in this lifetime rather than in the afterlife. Over time, actions deemed liable to bring about [moralistic supernatural enforcement] expanded from a set largely focused on proper propitiation to encompass increasing numbers of interpersonal transgressions.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 243]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 263,
"polity": {
"id": 152,
"name": "jp_tokugawa_shogunate",
"long_name": "Tokugawa Shogunate",
"start_year": 1603,
"end_year": 1868
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"Throughout this history, Japanese notions of [moralistic supernatural enforcement] seem to have followed a path distinctive in several ways from those of other Buddhist societies. In general, the focus of [moralistic supernatural enforcement] tended to be mechanisms leading to fortune and misfortune in this lifetime rather than in the afterlife. Over time, actions deemed liable to bring about [moralistic supernatural enforcement] expanded from a set largely focused on proper propitiation to encompass increasing numbers of interpersonal transgressions.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 243]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 264,
"polity": {
"id": 139,
"name": "jp_jomon_2",
"long_name": "Japan - Initial Jomon",
"start_year": -9200,
"end_year": -5300
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 265,
"polity": {
"id": 140,
"name": "jp_jomon_3",
"long_name": "Japan - Early Jomon",
"start_year": -5300,
"end_year": -3500
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 266,
"polity": {
"id": 138,
"name": "jp_jomon_1",
"long_name": "Japan - Incipient Jomon",
"start_year": -13600,
"end_year": -9200
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 267,
"polity": {
"id": 141,
"name": "jp_jomon_4",
"long_name": "Japan - Middle Jomon",
"start_year": -3500,
"end_year": -2500
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 268,
"polity": {
"id": 142,
"name": "jp_jomon_5",
"long_name": "Japan - Late Jomon",
"start_year": -2500,
"end_year": -1200
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 269,
"polity": {
"id": 143,
"name": "jp_jomon_6",
"long_name": "Japan - Final Jomon",
"start_year": -1200,
"end_year": -300
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 270,
"polity": {
"id": 148,
"name": "jp_kamakura",
"long_name": "Kamakura Shogunate",
"start_year": 1185,
"end_year": 1333
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“In this period, these beings came to be seen as rewarding good behavior and punishing transgressions generally; this was now referred to as shobatsu, “reward and punishment,” as opposed to the older, but still current, term tatari, that is, causing misfortune as a result of pollution.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 240]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 271,
"polity": {
"id": 149,
"name": "jp_ashikaga",
"long_name": "Ashikaga Shogunate",
"start_year": 1336,
"end_year": 1467
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“In this period, these beings came to be seen as rewarding good behavior and punishing transgressions generally; this was now referred to as shobatsu, “reward and punishment,” as opposed to the older, but still current, term tatari, that is, causing misfortune as a result of pollution.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 240]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 272,
"polity": {
"id": 263,
"name": "jp_nara",
"long_name": "Nara Kingdom",
"start_year": 710,
"end_year": 794
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "\"As it spread, Buddhist divinities (buddhas, bodhisattvas, and foreign deities associated with Buddhism) were at first seen as “foreign kami,” who differed from Japanese kami only in their geographic origins and the rituals they required; otherwise, like their Japanese counterparts, “they were thought to cause diseases when angered, and to lend their power to the clan that conducted their cult, if only they were worshipped correctly and generously” (Teeuwen and Rambelli 2003: 7).\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 236]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 273,
"polity": {
"id": 146,
"name": "jp_asuka",
"long_name": "Asuka",
"start_year": 538,
"end_year": 710
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "\"As it spread, Buddhist divinities (buddhas, bodhisattvas, and foreign deities associated with Buddhism) were at first seen as “foreign kami,” who differed from Japanese kami only in their geographic origins and the rituals they required; otherwise, like their Japanese counterparts, “they were thought to cause diseases when angered, and to lend their power to the clan that conducted their cult, if only they were worshipped correctly and generously” (Teeuwen and Rambelli 2003: 7).\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 236]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 274,
"polity": {
"id": 67,
"name": "gr_crete_archaic",
"long_name": "Archaic Crete",
"start_year": -710,
"end_year": -500
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"Semantic studies of the Greek word hosiē and cognates show that they referred collectively to moral (including religious) norms regarded as subjects of divine supervision. The interpersonal component of hosiē included all conventions pertaining to guests, strangers, and suppliants; all actions involving oaths; all actions involving curses; everything to do with death and burial; respect for parents and care of them in old age; and all conventions between poleis regarding warfare and treaties (Blok 2011: 238, 2014: 19–22; Peels 2016: 27–67). Together, these norms comprised an implicit “canon” of offenses punishable by the gods. Mistreating one’s parents, kin murder, and incest were the most serious kinship-based offenses, considered forms of impiety that could evoke divine anger (Mikalson 2010: 171–7). Mistreating a corpse (particularly by refusing burial or by mutilation) and murder (of kin or nonkin) were crimes that could draw a special type of superhuman punishment: the anger of those murdered or left unburied was liable to awaken superhuman avengers to hound the culprit.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 26]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 275,
"polity": {
"id": 66,
"name": "gr_crete_geometric",
"long_name": "Geometric Crete",
"start_year": -1000,
"end_year": -710
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "\"Homer’s Iliad represents the viewpoint of the aristocratic chieftain, who rules over a group of settlements in a warrior culture. In the world of the Iliad, the gods rarely pay attention to the behavior of lowly people. Zeus’s moral concern is usually limited to enforcement of the warrior code and the norms of behavior between elite males in three domains: guest friendship, oaths, and supplication.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 22]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 276,
"polity": {
"id": 69,
"name": "gr_crete_hellenistic",
"long_name": "Hellenistic Crete",
"start_year": -323,
"end_year": -69
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "Inferring continuity with preceding period. “[…] Greek tragedy mainly reinforces MSP beliefs within the moral domains traditionally subject to divine supervision: oaths, xenia, suppliants, and burial rites. Violators in these areas are always punished (Mikalson 1991: 129–30), whether the playwright is Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides. As in the Archaic period, the concept of impiety included various forms of sacrilege or blasphemy, such as insulting the gods, as well as a canonical list of interpersonal offenses that had not changed much since the Early Iron Age.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 28]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 278,
"polity": {
"id": 510,
"name": "eg_badarian",
"long_name": "Badarian",
"start_year": -4400,
"end_year": -3800
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 279,
"polity": {
"id": 473,
"name": "iq_ubaid",
"long_name": "Ubaid",
"start_year": -5500,
"end_year": -4000
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Iconographic and archaeological data from the Ubaid period (c. 6500 BCE-4000 BCE, with regional variation) strongly suggests belief that gods primarily rewarded those who provided them with correct ritual worship and suitable offerings. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TDGABWZ\">[Hole_Carter_Philip 2010, pp. 228-238]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7SJIX8HS\">[Peasnall_Peregrine_Ember 2002, p. 381]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 280,
"polity": {
"id": 474,
"name": "iq_uruk",
"long_name": "Uruk",
"start_year": -4000,
"end_year": -2900
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Evidence from the Uruk period strongly suggests belief that gods primarily rewarded those who provided them with correct ritual worship and suitable offerings. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U43PKNTU\">[Cunningham 2013, pp. 41-48]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 281,
"polity": {
"id": 515,
"name": "eg_dynasty_2",
"long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty II",
"start_year": -2900,
"end_year": -2687
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "Earliest written attestations of the concept of ma'at (meaning order, including in a moralising sense) date to the Second Dynasty, in the early third millennium BCE. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VWKRCV7X\">[Goebs_Wilkinson 2011, p. 276]</a> “The presence of the strongly ethical concept of ma’at by the Second Dynasty opens up the possibility that deities could have had a role in enforcing human morality and punishing transgressions.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZQ2347BZ\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 71]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 282,
"polity": {
"id": 516,
"name": "eg_old_k_1",
"long_name": "Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom",
"start_year": -2650,
"end_year": -2350
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Biographical texts inscribed in the tombs of officials from the late Fifth Dynasty (c. 2400 BCE) onward, and foreshadowed in brief assertions from its beginning, attest to the centrality of altruism and refraining from harming others, and they relate these qualities to ma’at (Lichtheim 1992: 10–11). Several texts contain statements that the deceased had “done justice (ma’at)” in his lifetime, denying any misconduct and insisting on his generosity to the less fortunate (Lichtheim 1992; Strudwick 2005: 275–6).” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZQ2347BZ\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 72]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 283,
"polity": {
"id": 517,
"name": "eg_old_k_2",
"long_name": "Egypt - Late Old Kingdom",
"start_year": -2350,
"end_year": -2150
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Biographical texts inscribed in the tombs of officials from the late Fifth Dynasty (c. 2400 BCE) onward, and foreshadowed in brief assertions from its beginning, attest to the centrality of altruism and refraining from harming others, and they relate these qualities to ma’at (Lichtheim 1992: 10–11). Several texts contain statements that the deceased had “done justice (ma’at)” in his lifetime, denying any misconduct and insisting on his generosity to the less fortunate (Lichtheim 1992; Strudwick 2005: 275–6).” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZQ2347BZ\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 72]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 284,
"polity": {
"id": 165,
"name": "tr_neo_hittite_k",
"long_name": "Neo-Hittite Kingdoms",
"start_year": -1180,
"end_year": -900
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "“The small polities that occupied the south and southeast of the peninsula during the Early and Middle Iron Age are known as “Neo-Hittite” because they preserved certain aspects of the older Hittite culture, especially the iconography and rhetoric of kingship, but the degree of religious continuity after 1200 BCE remains unclear in many cases.” Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer a degree of continuity in this case. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 136]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 285,
"polity": {
"id": 344,
"name": "tr_urartu_k",
"long_name": "Urartu Kingdom",
"start_year": -1200,
"end_year": -710
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "“Overall, iconography and epigraphy suggest that Urartian religion primarily served to bolster royal legitimacy rather than promote proper moral conduct (Smith 2000). The king occupied a divinely legitimated position like the monarchs of both Ḫatti and Mesopotamia (Kravitz 2003: 90–92; Zimansky 1995: 1144). Haldi, the supreme god, was a warlike deity who supported the king’s conquests; both he and the lesser gods required regular animal sacrifices and festivities in their honor (Taffet and Yakar 1998; Zimansky 1995). However, as in the Hittite case, it should be kept in mind that the surviving sources are heavily biased toward elite ideologies.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 137]</a> Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer some continuity with Hittite religion, which was lightly moralizing; in particular, it seems reasonable to infer the persistence of the belief in supernatural punishment for oath-breakers.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 286,
"polity": {
"id": 167,
"name": "tr_tabal_k",
"long_name": "Tabal Kingdoms",
"start_year": -900,
"end_year": -730
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "“Phrygian religion is even less well understood than Urartian religion because of the very small corpus of textual evidence.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 137]</a> Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer some continuity with Hittite religion, which was lightly moralizing; in particular, it seems reasonable to infer the persistence of the belief in supernatural punishment for oath-breakers, widespread in the region at the time.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 287,
"polity": {
"id": 168,
"name": "tr_lydia_k",
"long_name": "Kingdom of Lydia",
"start_year": -670,
"end_year": -546
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "“Though current impressions of Lydia are colored by Greek authors’ stereotypes of Eastern decadence and tyranny, it must be admitted that, again, there is little evidence of any belief in [supernatural moralizing enforcement].” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 137]</a> Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer some continuity with Hittite religion, which was lightly moralizing; in particular, it seems reasonable to infer the persistence of the belief in supernatural punishment for oath-breakers.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 288,
"polity": {
"id": 243,
"name": "cn_late_shang_dyn",
"long_name": "Late Shang",
"start_year": -1250,
"end_year": -1045
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "“Nowhere in the texts do we see clear indication that the Powers are beneficent …. The Shang rulers seek advance approval for their actions - sometimes, it seems, obsessively - but there is no suggestion that the basis for approval will be anything other than the arbitrary inclinations of the Powers”. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HRDEVGKT\">[Eno_Lagerway_Kalinowski 2009, p. 100]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 289,
"polity": {
"id": 244,
"name": "cn_western_zhou_dyn",
"long_name": "Western Zhou",
"start_year": -1122,
"end_year": -771
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": true,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Tian and the Mandate of Heaven may mark the earliest known appearance of belief in supernatural moralizing enforcement in China. However, there is some scholarly debate and question on the nature of Tian. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5RG5R4P7\">[Clark_Winslett 2011]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/25FF647C\">[Nichols_et_al 2017]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/62ZUUPPT\">[Nichols_et_al 2021, pp. 165-166]</a> Robert Eno points to a 998 BCE Western Zhou bronze inscription that quotes a ruler named King Kang claiming the Shang had lost the Mandate of Tian because of its king’s acceptance of poor behavior like drunkenness and overall bad governance; based on this inscription, Eno infers that Tian had “taken onthe role of ethical guardian” and was concerned with moral standards and correct rule. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HRDEVGKT\">[Eno_Lagerway_Kalinowski 2009, p. 101]</a> However, the inscription could also be interpreted ascritiquing drunkenness at sacrificial rituals involving wine and the inscriptioncould be referringto correct rites and rituals rather than moral behavior. The first Zhou king received de (merit) from Tian, which was earned by subsequent kings through “military and ritual performances as well as through prescribed sacrifices to the earlier Zhou kings.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B2ZKMSYY\">[Cook_Childs-Johnson 2020, p. 443]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 290,
"polity": {
"id": 358,
"name": "sa_rashidun_dyn",
"long_name": "Yemen Hijaz",
"start_year": 632,
"end_year": 661
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"In Islam, divine law is known as Sharīʿa (Emon and Ahmed 2018; Hallaq 2009; Nakissa 2019; Schacht 1982). […] The Sharīʿa specifies which moral norms Muslims must follow if they wish to win rewards from Allāh and avoid His punishments. […] Many Sharīʿa norms concern relationships between Muslims and the relationship of the Muslim community with other communities. Hence, numerous Sharīʿa norms are designed to strengthen and preserve marital relationships (e.g., penalizing adultery), familial relationships (e.g., the obligation to care for elderly parents), an individual’s relationship with God (e.g., daily worship), and relationships between Muslims as a community (e.g., charity and mutual military defense). Sharīʿa norms encourage general altruism toward Muslims. Matters are more complex with respect to non-Muslims (kuffār). The Sharīʿa encourages honesty, fairness in commercial transactions, and basic kindness when dealing with individual non-Muslims.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A9X3RAQW\">[Nakissa_et_al 2024, pp. 137-138]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 291,
"polity": {
"id": 710,
"name": "tz_tana",
"long_name": "Classic Tana",
"start_year": 1000,
"end_year": 1498
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"In Islam, divine law is known as Sharīʿa (Emon and Ahmed 2018; Hallaq 2009; Nakissa 2019; Schacht 1982). […] The Sharīʿa specifies which moral norms Muslims must follow if they wish to win rewards from Allāh and avoid His punishments. […] Many Sharīʿa norms concern relationships between Muslims and the relationship of the Muslim community with other communities. Hence, numerous Sharīʿa norms are designed to strengthen and preserve marital relationships (e.g., penalizing adultery), familial relationships (e.g., the obligation to care for elderly parents), an individual’s relationship with God (e.g., daily worship), and relationships between Muslims as a community (e.g., charity and mutual military defense). Sharīʿa norms encourage general altruism toward Muslims. Matters are more complex with respect to non-Muslims (kuffār). The Sharīʿa encourages honesty, fairness in commercial transactions, and basic kindness when dealing with individual non-Muslims.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A9X3RAQW\">[Nakissa_et_al 2024, pp. 137-138]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 292,
"polity": {
"id": 669,
"name": "ni_hausa_k",
"long_name": "Hausa bakwai",
"start_year": 900,
"end_year": 1808
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"In Islam, divine law is known as Sharīʿa (Emon and Ahmed 2018; Hallaq 2009; Nakissa 2019; Schacht 1982). […] The Sharīʿa specifies which moral norms Muslims must follow if they wish to win rewards from Allāh and avoid His punishments. […] Many Sharīʿa norms concern relationships between Muslims and the relationship of the Muslim community with other communities. Hence, numerous Sharīʿa norms are designed to strengthen and preserve marital relationships (e.g., penalizing adultery), familial relationships (e.g., the obligation to care for elderly parents), an individual’s relationship with God (e.g., daily worship), and relationships between Muslims as a community (e.g., charity and mutual military defense). Sharīʿa norms encourage general altruism toward Muslims. Matters are more complex with respect to non-Muslims (kuffār). The Sharīʿa encourages honesty, fairness in commercial transactions, and basic kindness when dealing with individual non-Muslims.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A9X3RAQW\">[Nakissa_et_al 2024, pp. 137-138]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 293,
"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": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Based on current knowledge, broad moralizing enforcement is absent from most pre-Christian polytheistic cultures, especially in Europe. We are inferring this absence backwards to the Bell Beaker period. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DYW2LWKS\">[Johnston 2004]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WCMV3GFJ\">[Watts 2013]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 294,
"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": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Based on current knowledge, broad moralizing enforcement is absent from most pre-Christian polytheistic cultures, especially in Europe. We are inferring this absence backwards to the Bell Beaker period. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DYW2LWKS\">[Johnston 2004]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WCMV3GFJ\">[Watts 2013]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 295,
"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": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "A~P",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 297,
"polity": {
"id": 476,
"name": "iq_akkad_emp",
"long_name": "Akkadian Empire",
"start_year": -2270,
"end_year": -2083
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "A~P",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 299,
"polity": {
"id": 216,
"name": "mr_wagadu_2",
"long_name": "Middle Wagadu Empire",
"start_year": 700,
"end_year": 1077
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 300,
"polity": {
"id": 110,
"name": "il_judea",
"long_name": "Yehuda",
"start_year": -141,
"end_year": -63
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"The Deuteronomist’s system of supernatural punishment and reward, originally focused on the monopoly of a single deity, was applied by the period of Early Judaism to the whole spectrum of Torah law. This spectrum ranged from prosocial behavior and ethics to civil, criminal, and ceremonial legislation.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D6RSSBZ4\">[Biró_et_al 2024, p. 76]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 301,
"polity": {
"id": 647,
"name": "er_medri_bahri",
"long_name": "Medri Bahri",
"start_year": 1310,
"end_year": 1889
},
"year_from": 1310,
"year_to": 1750,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "The idea of loving one's neighbour implies a broad range of moral activity. “We have said that deification means ‘following the commandments’; and these commandments were briefly described by Christ as love of God and love of neighbour. The two forms of love are inseparable. A man can love his neighbour as himself only if he loves God above all; and a man cannot love God if he does not love his fellow men (1 John iv, 20).” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N4A4ZTEH\">[Ware 1963, p. 241]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 302,
"polity": {
"id": 103,
"name": "il_canaan",
"long_name": "Canaan",
"start_year": -2000,
"end_year": -1175
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following summary—based on admittedly meagre evidence—suggests a belief system that did not feature moralizing supernatural enforcement. “Syro-Canaanite religion can be best summed up as a belief in a group of deities or supernatural beings that were immanent in the natural world, although generally hidden from human view. Their powers were manifested through natural phenomena and in political and military acts of the rulers or kings whom they chose and supported. The gods and humans related in a master-servant relationship. The gods provided blessing and support to the people, and the people were expected to serve the deities, with various gifts and lavish praise. Offending the deities could anger them and bring catastrophe to humans.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A3BCAWIE\">[Wright_Iles-Johnson 2004, p. 179]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 303,
"polity": {
"id": 104,
"name": "lb_phoenician_emp",
"long_name": "Phoenician Empire",
"start_year": -1200,
"end_year": -332
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following summary—based on admittedly meagre evidence—suggests a belief system that did not feature moralizing supernatural enforcement. “Syro-Canaanite religion can be best summed up as a belief in a group of deities or supernatural beings that were immanent in the natural world, although generally hidden from human view. Their powers were manifested through natural phenomena and in political and military acts of the rulers or kings whom they chose and supported. The gods and humans related in a master-servant relationship. The gods provided blessing and support to the people, and the people were expected to serve the deities, with various gifts and lavish praise. Offending the deities could anger them and bring catastrophe to humans.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A3BCAWIE\">[Wright_Iles-Johnson 2004, p. 179]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 304,
"polity": {
"id": 660,
"name": "ni_igodomingodo",
"long_name": "Igodomingodo",
"start_year": 900,
"end_year": 1450
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 305,
"polity": {
"id": 668,
"name": "ni_nri_k",
"long_name": "Ọ̀ràézè Ǹrì",
"start_year": 1043,
"end_year": 1911
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Abominations in the first place embraces serious personal and moral crimes according to Ibo morality. Although there are local variations, these acts are generally regarded as such: patricide, incest, stealing of yams and sheep, bestiality, wilful abortion, pregnancy within a year of the husband’s death, suicide by hanging, and the killing of sacred animals. […] In all these cases, a cleansing sacrifice is necessary. There is no question of hiding such a crime or trying to omit the sacrifice. The Ibos believe firmly that if such abominations are not atoned for, be they ever so secretly committed, the penalty is sure to descend on the culprit’s head or on his relations and descendants.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/32F8RSK9\">[Arinze_Internet_Archive 1970, p. 34]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 306,
"polity": {
"id": 665,
"name": "ni_aro",
"long_name": "Aro",
"start_year": 1690,
"end_year": 1902
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Abominations in the first place embraces serious personal and moral crimes according to Ibo morality. Although there are local variations, these acts are generally regarded as such: patricide, incest, stealing of yams and sheep, bestiality, wilful abortion, pregnancy within a year of the husband’s death, suicide by hanging, and the killing of sacred animals. […] In all these cases, a cleansing sacrifice is necessary. There is no question of hiding such a crime or trying to omit the sacrifice. The Ibos believe firmly that if such abominations are not atoned for, be they ever so secretly committed, the penalty is sure to descend on the culprit’s head or on his relations and descendants.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/32F8RSK9\">[Arinze_Internet_Archive 1970, p. 34]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 307,
"polity": {
"id": 664,
"name": "ni_proto_yoruboid",
"long_name": "Proto-Yoruboid",
"start_year": -300,
"end_year": 300
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "SSP",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 308,
"polity": {
"id": 655,
"name": "ni_proto_yoruba",
"long_name": "Proto-Yoruba",
"start_year": 301,
"end_year": 649
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "SSP",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 309,
"polity": {
"id": 657,
"name": "ni_formative_yoruba",
"long_name": "Late Formative Yoruba",
"start_year": 650,
"end_year": 1049
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "SSP",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_is_broad",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
}
]
}