Theo Sync Dif Rel List
A viewset for viewing and editing Theological Syncretism of Different Religions.
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{ "count": 296, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/theological-syncretism-of-different-religions/?format=api&page=3", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/theological-syncretism-of-different-religions/?format=api", "results": [ { "id": 52, "polity": { "id": 652, "name": "et_harar_emirate", "long_name": "Emirate of Harar", "start_year": 1650, "end_year": 1875 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"The second aspect in which the Somalis integrated into the history of Harar was the ethnic and religious realm. The Somalis were connected to the first half of the sixteenth century enterprise of Gragn, whose mother, it seemed, was Somali. They were part of the Islamic revival on the coast and contributed to its political momentum. The Somali tribes merged Islam, headed by the wadād (the religious priest and spiritual leader) into their lives. Local beliefs survived among the Somali tribes alongside the Sharī‘a and the Quran. Even after fully adopting Islam, especially during the times of Gragn, the Somalis continued to adhere to a variety of popular beliefs, witchcraft, and sorcery.\" §REF§(Ben-Dror 2018: 22) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8XRCTHJZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 8XRCTHJZ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 53, "polity": { "id": 660, "name": "ni_igodomingodo", "long_name": "Igodomingodo", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1450 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "“The time of the so-called “1st (Ogiso) Dynasty” probably the early 10th first half of 12th centuries, is one of the most mysterious pages of the Benin history. The sources on this period are not abundant. Furthermore, it is obvious that archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence, rather scarce, should be supplemented by an analysis of different records of the oral historical tradition while it is well known that this kind of source is not very much reliable. However, on the other hand, it is generally recognized that it is unreasonable to discredit it completely. Though Benin students have confirmed this conclusion and demonstrated some possibilities of verifying and correcting its evidence, a reconstruction of the early Benin history will inevitably contain many hypothetical suggestions and not so many firm conclusions.” §REF§ (Bondarenko and Roese 2001: 185-186) Bondarenko, Dmitri M. and Peter M. Roese, 2001. “Ancient Benin: Where did the First Monarchs Come from?”, Asian and African Studies, 10 (1), pp.185-198. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/P4DQ36NB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: P4DQ36NB </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 54, "polity": { "id": 674, "name": "se_cayor_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Cayor", "start_year": 1549, "end_year": 1864 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following suggests a combination of traditional Wolof religion with a veneer of Islam. \"The veneration of ancestors constituted the foundation of this traditional religion, which remains not too well understood, but which resisted Islam for a very long time. [...] At the margins and often in the interior of this traditional division of society, Islam appeared as a new class consisting of the marabout and his followers. [...] The Portuguese reports in the fifteenth century also inform us about the expansion of Islam into Senegambia. This expansion was, however, very relative and unequal. Indeed, as Dapper says: “The religion is little observed by them; there is neither a church nor open places where they could hold some assemblies, each one follows his own sensibility and sentiment which however leans towards the Muslim doctrine.” [...]” Nevertheless, Islam began increasingly to supplant the traditional religion, which itself remains little known. Indeed, the role played by the marabouts in the social life ended up acquiring a considerable dimension. Some believe that this role included presiding over the majority of baptisms, weddings and funerals. \"However, this Islamic influence still remained superficial.\" §REF§ (Barry 2012, 33-34) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9KV5MEKN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9KV5MEKN </b></a> §REF§ \"Little is known of pre-Islamic Wolof religion, for by the nineteenth century only vestiges of it remained. Most observers mentioned no religion but Islam, agreeing that, 'the Muslim religion, whose precepts are very badly observed ... reigns exclusively.' Yoro Jaw wrote that the Wolof religion was based on worship of family gods, but that Islamic practices and ideas had been added; he called it, 'a sect of fetishism. . .with some borrowings from Islam.' [...] Marabouts taught the precepts of Islam and the Arabic language; the level of their teaching ranged from that of simple village clergy to scholars who attracted pupils from the whole Senegambian area. They were, however, best known to the general population for the Islamic amulets or gri-gris they made and which both rulers and commoners sought, to bring good fortune and ward off evil. This situation, which was similar to pre-jihad conditions in other parts of West Africa, continued for several centuries, with Islamic influence slowly permeating Wolof society.\" §REF§(Charles 1977: 19) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NRGZDV3Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NRGZDV3Z </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 55, "polity": { "id": 672, "name": "ni_benin_emp", "long_name": "Benin Empire", "start_year": 1140, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1140, "year_to": 1400, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "“[The] initial attempts to introduce Christianity to Benin failed. Between the periods of 16th to 19th centuries only little success was registered. Ryder maintains that the Benin rulers and peoples were not prepared to flirt at all with Christian missionaries (Ryder, 1961).” §REF§ (Aremu and Ediagbonya 2018: 85-86) Johnson Olaosebikan Aremu; Michael Ediagbonya(2018). “Trade and Religion in British-Benin Relations, 1553-1897”, Global Journal of Social Sciences Studies, 4(2), pp.78-90. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BZ3FI3NU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BZ3FI3NU </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 56, "polity": { "id": 672, "name": "ni_benin_emp", "long_name": "Benin Empire", "start_year": 1140, "end_year": 1897 }, "year_from": 1401, "year_to": 1897, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "“[The] initial attempts to introduce Christianity to Benin failed. Between the periods of 16th to 19th centuries only little success was registered. Ryder maintains that the Benin rulers and peoples were not prepared to flirt at all with Christian missionaries (Ryder, 1961).” §REF§ (Aremu and Ediagbonya 2018: 85-86) Johnson Olaosebikan Aremu; Michael Ediagbonya(2018). “Trade and Religion in British-Benin Relations, 1553-1897”, Global Journal of Social Sciences Studies, 4(2), pp.78-90. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BZ3FI3NU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BZ3FI3NU </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 57, "polity": { "id": 717, "name": "tz_early_tana_2", "long_name": "Early Tana 2", "start_year": 750, "end_year": 999 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No information found in the sources consulted." }, { "id": 58, "polity": { "id": 676, "name": "se_baol_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Baol", "start_year": 1550, "end_year": 1890 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following suggests a combination of traditional Wolof religion with a veneer of Islam. \"The veneration of ancestors constituted the foundation of this traditional religion, which remains not too well understood, but which resisted Islam for a very long time. [...] At the margins and often in the interior of this traditional division of society, Islam appeared as a new class consisting of the marabout and his followers. [...] The Portuguese reports in the fifteenth century also inform us about the expansion of Islam into Senegambia. This expansion was, however, very relative and unequal. Indeed, as Dapper says: “The religion is little observed by them; there is neither a church nor open places where they could hold some assemblies, each one follows his own sensibility and sentiment which however leans towards the Muslim doctrine.” [...]” Nevertheless, Islam began increasingly to supplant the traditional religion, which itself remains little known. Indeed, the role played by the marabouts in the social life ended up acquiring a considerable dimension. Some believe that this role included presiding over the majority of baptisms, weddings and funerals. \"However, this Islamic influence still remained superficial.\" §REF§ (Barry 2012, 33-34) Barry, Boubacar. 2012. The Kingdom of Waalo: Senegal Before the Conquest. New York: Diasporic Africa Press. Seshat URL:<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9KV5MEKN\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 9KV5MEKN </b></a> §REF§ \"Little is known of pre-Islamic Wolof religion, for by the nineteenth century only vestiges of it remained. Most observers mentioned no religion but Islam, agreeing that, 'the Muslim religion, whose precepts are very badly observed ... reigns exclusively.' Yoro Jaw wrote that the Wolof religion was based on worship of family gods, but that Islamic practices and ideas had been added; he called it, 'a sect of fetishism. . .with some borrowings from Islam.' [...] Marabouts taught the precepts of Islam and the Arabic language; the level of their teaching ranged from that of simple village clergy to scholars who attracted pupils from the whole Senegambian area. They were, however, best known to the general population for the Islamic amulets or gri-gris they made and which both rulers and commoners sought, to bring good fortune and ward off evil. This situation, which was similar to pre-jihad conditions in other parts of West Africa, continued for several centuries, with Islamic influence slowly permeating Wolof society.\" §REF§(Charles 1977: 19) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NRGZDV3Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NRGZDV3Z </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 59, "polity": { "id": 613, "name": "bf_west_burkina_faso_yellow_5", "long_name": "West Burkina Faso Yellow I", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Suspected unknown due to the antiquity of this quasi-polity, the nature of the data, and the fact that this aspect of the quasi-polity's culture is not mentioned in a recent and comprehensive series of articles on prehistoric West Burkina Faso by Stephen Dueppen." }, { "id": 61, "polity": { "id": 716, "name": "tz_early_tana_1", "long_name": "Early Tana 1", "start_year": 500, "end_year": 749 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No information available in the literature consulted." }, { "id": 62, "polity": { "id": 649, "name": "et_funj_sultanate", "long_name": "Funj Sultanate", "start_year": 1504, "end_year": 1820 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“In November 1606, the Funj king, ‘Abd al-Qadir II was driven from his throne after a reign of less than three years. According to ‘Abdallabi tradition, he was expelled by ‘Ajib [viceroy] because of his religious innovations, i.e. his Islamic unorthodoxy.” §REF§ (Holt 2008, 42) Holt, P.M. 2008. ‘Egypt, the Funj and Darfur.’ In The Cambridge History of Africa Volume 4 C. 1600- C. 1790. Edited by Richard Grey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VZVIMQWU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VZVIMQWU </b></a> §REF§ “The Funj Sultan was obliged to plough a field with his own hand at the beginning of his reign, probably in order to insure fertility. The common Funj throne name, Badi (farmer) reflected this royal rite. At the conclusion of the investiture ceremony the new king performed ritual ablutions, and he took part in an annual festival that entailed the burning of ceremonial fires and animal sacrifice. When the king appeared in public he was praised as ‘the most-mighty, the most just, the richest, and a hundred titles of honor of a similar sort.’ For his part, the king used boast formulas such as ‘I am a bull, the son of a bull and will die or conquer!’ While it was believed in Sinnar that the Funj had become Muslim at the founding of the sultanate, much of the above clearly bears little resemblance to Islamic concepts. Brun-Rollet expressed the situation tactfully: ‘In Sinnar and the neighboring regions various beliefs, usages and festivals [exist], of which one cannot explain the origin but by proceeding to before the establishment of modern religions.’” §REF§ (Spaulding 1973, 28) Spaulding, Jay. 1973. ‘The Government of Sinnar.’ The International Journal of African Historical Studies. Vol 6:1. Pp 19-35. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KKJC836D\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: KKJC836D </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 63, "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": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "The following suggests that the proto-Yoruba came into contact with religions different from their own. This suggests the possibility of some form of syncretism. However, due to te antiquity of this quasi-polity, and the nature of the available data, it seems reasonable to infer that this information remains unknown. \"The landscape that these proto-Yoruboid ancestors were moving into, however, was not devoid of human populations. The Later Stone Age (LSA) populations had occupied the region as early as the ninth millennium BC as shown by the findings at IwòElérú, near Àkúré. [...] Nevertheless, the proto-Yorùbá migrants seem to have gained the upper hand in their southward radiation. They displaced, and also integrated, with these aboriginal LSA populations, who were already practicing a combination of agriculture, horticulture, and hunting, similar to what the proto-Yorùbá and their descendant migrants were familiar with in their Niger-Benue ancestral homeland.\"§REF§(Ogundiran 2020: 44-45) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ADQMAKPW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ADQMAKPW </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 64, "polity": { "id": 616, "name": "si_pre_sape", "long_name": "Pre-Sape Sierra Leone", "start_year": 600, "end_year": 1400 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No information found in the literature. Indeed, what little literature we have been able to access provides little information on this period, not just with regards to religious matters. Some of the region's modern-day ethnic groups first arrived in the region or already inhabited it in the period under consideration, but it is unclear to us whether any aspect of their traditional beliefs and practices was also present at this time." }, { "id": 65, "polity": { "id": 680, "name": "se_futa_toro_imamate", "long_name": "Imamate of Futa Toro", "start_year": 1776, "end_year": 1860 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following quote suggests admixture between Islam and Fulani beliefs, even though the latter were prevalent. \"The toorodbe did not institutionalize the vision of the Islamic state beyond this [central] level. The Almamy's control over Futa was very uneven, even in Abdul Qadir's day. Fulbe clans like the Denyanke in the east and the Lam Toro in the west were able to maintain their control of land and followers and became Muslim only in the most superficial way.\"§REF§(Robinson 1973: 295) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CMRM3RTG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CMRM3RTG </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 66, "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": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Suspected unknown due to the antiquity of this quasi-polity, the nature of the data, and the fact that this aspect of the quasi-polity's culture is not mentioned in a recent and comprehensive cultural history of the Yoruba, Ogundiran 2020. §REF§(Ogundiran 2020) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ADQMAKPW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ADQMAKPW </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 67, "polity": { "id": 685, "name": "ug_buganda_k_1", "long_name": "Buganda I", "start_year": 1408, "end_year": 1716 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "\"[A] singular Bugandan religion was common to all Baganda, with a variety of deities called lubaale to whom temples and priests were devoted. While lubaale were considered former clan members, they could be and were worshipped by all Baganda, since “it was the question of locality, not of kinship, that decided to which of the prophets an inquirer should go.” Indeed, according to Mair this is one of several “peculiarities” that “distinguish it from the religious ceremonies of Bantu Africa” along with the lack of any regular obligatory ceremonies.\"§REF§(Green 2010) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/248264BS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 248264BS </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 68, "polity": { "id": 666, "name": "ni_sokoto_cal", "long_name": "Sokoto Caliphate", "start_year": 1804, "end_year": 1904 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"The conversion of some bori spirits into Islam and their transformation into Muslims has contributed to its survival in Northern Nigeria. Moreover, bori members accept iskoki as creatures of Allah. [...] Members of the bori cult believe that the spirits are subject to Allah’s control and owe their power, existence and origin to Him. [...] The influence of Islam is also evidenced in the bori initiation ceremonies. This is exemplified, for example, in the constant invocation of the name of Allah throughout the initiation ceremony of a neophyte, and in initiation songs sang by the goge, the local guitar players and singers usually invited on such occasions. [...] With the conquest of Fulani jihadists from 1804, bori spirits adopted Fulani names, making it possible for Fulani Muslim spirits to fit well into the cult.\"§REF§(Danfulani 1999: 433-434, 438) Seshat URL <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NG9ZRZX3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NG9ZRZX3 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 69, "polity": { "id": 648, "name": "so_majeerteen_sultanate", "long_name": "Majeerteen Sultanate", "start_year": 1750, "end_year": 1926 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"African Islam, at least south of the Sahara, has been strongly influenced by Sufism. This has made it much more eclectic, flexible, and less vulnerable, if not wholly immune, to external stridency than might otherwise have been the case. Although there has been and continues to be disagreement about the precise nature of Sufi influence in Africa, the emphasis placed by Sufism historically on personal piety and exemplary behaviour, in the words of Knut Vikor, has been rather more important than ‘its external functions as a focus for political combat and jihad’. In other words, African Muslims have been historically less responsive to the call to arms than others of the Faith. Second, and more directly pertinent to north-east Africa, it has been suggested that Somali ‘xenophobia’ has likewise rendered Islam in that area comparatively immune to external influence. This goes some way to explaining what Iqbal Jhazbhay terms ‘the relative inter-faith détente that has existed between Christian and Islamic spheres of influence in the Horn of Africa’. Somali Islam ‘appears to be solidly located within a tradition of regional, geo-cultural, peaceful co-existence between Christianity, Islam and indigenous animistic tendencies’.\" §REF§ (Reid 2011, 59) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CZB48WKQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CZB48WKQ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 70, "polity": { "id": 37, "name": "kh_funan_1", "long_name": "Funan I", "start_year": 225, "end_year": 540 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 71, "polity": { "id": 38, "name": "kh_funan_2", "long_name": "Funan II", "start_year": 540, "end_year": 640 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following quotes suggest the syncretism between Funan religion and Buddhism and Funan religion and Hinduism, respectively. “The Cambodian civilization in Funan, Chen-la and Angkor periods witnessed a good deal of Indian influence. The Khmers accepted some of the Indian cultural elements and adapted it according to their necessity. The legend of Kaundinya was mixed with indigenous myth of moon, serpent and water to give the rule of kings legitimization. Erection of pesonal royal lingas on top of mountains was a blending of autochthonous mountain cult with Hindu beliefs. Siva with the linga as his icon were moulded to the local tradition of prior cults like earth gods and the Cambodian inscription of pre-Angkorean times make reference to 'god of the stone pond’.” §REF§ Mishra, P. P. (2014). 3 Orissa in Trans-National Migration: A Discourse on Commercial and Cultural Rapprochement with Indochina. p.53. In Subhan, M. et al. (eds.) Port, Maritime and Hinterland Development in Southeast Asia (UUM Press), 44-75. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/H3MPMD3V\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: H3MPMD3V </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 72, "polity": { "id": 43, "name": "kh_khmer_k", "long_name": "Khmer Kingdom", "start_year": 1432, "end_year": 1594 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Expert David Kyle Latinis remarking on the subject of syncretism states: \"Comments from Latinis: The concept of fused, mixed, “syncretized”, etc. likely prevailed for the last two millennia or longer – as somewhat evidenced by the material culture (from Hindu and Buddhist architecture, statuary, shrines, inscriptions, objects, votive tables, etc.) The fused belief systems likely included separate but simultaneously practiced local and very powerful belief traditions typical of the region: ancestor placation/worship – i.e., neak ta (literally, ancestral people). This is often conflated with animism – as spirits can be tied into geographic places and objects. Some spirits are legendary/mythical/folkloric; some possibly real historic entities/persons; some perhaps deities from other world religions. This is widely practiced among the Khmer historically and today. Non-Khmer people often mistake neak ta shrines for Buddhist spirit houses – many actually incorporate elements of both. Even modern Theravada Buddhist monasteries of the Khmer people incorporate statuary, murals etc. of Hindu deities (e.g., Durga, Vishnu, Siva, others); Chinese Zodiac spiritual characters; stories from the Ramayana, and even neak ta shrines… This is also evident in early historic Theravada monasteries. The important point about the Buddha and Buddhism is that it [Buddhism] is an organizing platform for community mobilization, education, information transfer, and interaction/engagement. Certain ceremonies are also important from national to local, family and individual scales. However, the Buddha is an example of moral belief and behaviour. The neak ta hove power in the real world to influence positive or negative outcomes of existing life (safety, health, prosperity, etc.). Even among the second largest minority religion among the ethnic Cham in Cambodia, Islam, incorporates a substantial amount of folk belief and other world religion elements. The Muslim Cham or divided into two main categories now: traditional and modern for lack of a better dichotomy – with the influence of Islam from other countries being more orthodox and less syncretized. The Cham have likely always an ethnic part/minority of of the Khmer/Angkor kingdoms to some degree, although their traditional kingdoms and power centers were in pre-modern Central Vietnam when they were dominantly Hindu). Their ethnic conversion to Islam is more recent history in line with other Austronesian speakers and cultures in the region (e.g., many Indonesian, Malay and other groups). Although historically, oral history, and inscriptionally, there were periodic conflicts with the Cham, it was likely political and economic rather than ethnic or religious (they were mostly both Hindu-Saivaite at the same time with the exception of the Jayavarman VII period (12th/13th centuries – when the royal Khmer converted briefly to Mahayana Buddhism). By and large, they were likely well integrated trading partners in mutually beneficial economic relations most of the time. The Austronesians typically have slightly different ancestor worship/placation practices and and folk beliefs which are also varyingly powerful historically through today. Most likely separate but parallel folk belief systems. The seeming conflicts or contradictions are easily accomodated – as best described by Austronesians who separate Agama (formal religion) with Adat (culture inclusive of traditional belief systems and practices). “Syncretism” or multiple accommodations with mutual tolerance seems to be the norm rather than the exception through history. Often (as with the modern Malukan War; East Timor; Southern Philippines; Southern Thailand; etc.) - what are seemingly religious intolerances and conflicts [or have been conflated as such], were and are economic, political, and ethic at their core and origin – with economic competition, control, etc. being the most prominent variable.\" “Yaśodharapura lost its status as capital of the Khmer Empire in the middle of the 15th century as the Khmer kings moved south of the Tonle Sap. Over time, the name of the city evolved into Mahānagara, or ‘great city’. It remained, however, a place of religious significance. Despite a brief backlash against Buddhism at one point in the late classic period, Buddhist motifs were incorporated in the art and architecture of the site, often resulting in hybrid forms that were retained throughout the Middle Period. Other elements of non-Theravada tradition can also be found; significantly, many concern women.” §REF§ (Jacobsen 21013: 79) Jacobsen, Trude. “In Search of the Khmer Bhikkhunī: Reading Between the Lines in Late Classical and Early Middle Cambodia (13th–18th Centuries).” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 4 (2013): 75-87. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VSSVGJ2V\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VSSVGJ2V </b></a> §REF§ “The chronicles are clear that Ang Chan was a pious Theravadin. However, he is also known to have executed a series of Brahmanical bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat, including depictions of Krsna’s victory over Bāna and Visnu’s victory over Asuraas. It is worth bearing in mind that the Buddha was regarded as an incarnation of Visnu in Brahmanical circles and that there had been a tendency to associate him with Rama, another incarnation of Visnu, since the time of Suryavarman II (Thompson 1999, 249). Ang Chan was merely continuing the tradition. On the other hand, some previously Brahmanical structures such as the Bakheng and Baphuon were rededicated to Buddhism. […] A vogue for Buddhist rock-carved images, particularly large images of the Buddha lying in parinirvana, is an emerging feature of the public art of the period.”” §REF§ (Harris 2008: 33) Harris, Ian. Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Hong Kong: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5S9J7EKX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5S9J7EKX </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 73, "polity": { "id": 39, "name": "kh_chenla", "long_name": "Chenla", "start_year": 550, "end_year": 825 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following quotes suggest syncretism between Chenla indigenous religion, Hinduism, and Buddhism. There was also syncretism between Saivist Hinduism and Vaisnavist Hinduism, as indicated by the existence of the Śiva-Visnu combinations (i.e., Harihara). “The deities of the Chenla period that are known to us are a mix of Hindu, Buddhist, and indigenous personalities. The local gods comprise vrah and kpoñ, who are, respectively, male and female. Although the vrah appear to have a local origin, Siva, Vishnu, and the Buddha were included in their numbers indicating an integration of the religious traditions. Vickery (1998, 149) believes that most localities had their own deities, and these vrah and kpoñ could have Indian-derived names. [...] It does not appear that during the Chenla period there was a wholesale adoption of the religions of India. The inscriptions appear to suggest that Indic deities were absorbed into the indigenous pantheon and that some of the Khmer gods began to be given Sanskrit names. Vickery (1998, 170) suggests that the idea of \"Khmer Hinduism\" may be a valid concept in that the religion was adapted to fit the needs of the Khmer rulers. It does not appear that the Khmer of Chenla explicitly thought of themselves as Hindu, nor is there any evidence that a caste system was extant. It also appears as though the suffix, -isvara, accorded to many deities, was a Khmer invention, and these -isvara were placed in a pantheon of gods with Khmer names (Vickery 1998, 170).” §REF§ O'Reilly, D. J. (2006). Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian Polities. p.113-114. Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia. Rowman Altamira. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DB628MBV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DB628MBV </b></a>§REF§ “Vickery's survey (1998, 140-141) of extant Khmer inscriptions dating from Zhenla lists ninety differently named Indic gods (vrah). More than half, given their -iśvara suffix, are probably references to Śiva. Of those remaining, fourteen concern Visnu, eight mention Śiva-Visnu combinations (i.e., Harihara), and there is one reference to the sun god, Sürya.” §REF§ Harris, I. (2008). Origins to the Fall of Angkor. p.8-10. In Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5S9J7EKX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5S9J7EKX </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 74, "polity": { "id": 45, "name": "th_rattanakosin", "long_name": "Rattanakosin", "start_year": 1782, "end_year": 1873 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“Dramatic visual portrayal of the cosmography in Bangkok monastery art at this time provides further evidence of the text's vitality. When Wat Phrachettuphon in Bangkok was restored and expanded in Rama i's reign, paintings of the Traibhuimi adorned the walls of the northern vihara; and this monastery was not unique. […] It was by means of these visual portrayals, as well as the teachings of monks, that most Siamese learned how they fitted into the Buddhist cosmos. Paintings of the Hindu-Buddhist heavens also covered walls within the Grand Palace compound.” §REF§ (Reynolds 1976 : 211) Reynolds, C. J. (1976). Buddhist Cosmography in Thai History, with Special Reference to Nineteenth-Century Culture Change. The Journal of Asian Studies, 35(2), 203–220. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BQFT2V9U\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BQFT2V9U </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 75, "polity": { "id": 40, "name": "kh_angkor_1", "long_name": "Early Angkor", "start_year": 802, "end_year": 1100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following quotes suggest the syncretism between Buddhism, Saivist Hinduism, and Vaisnavist Hinduism. “A more markedly syncretic outlook is revealed around this period. An early piece of evidence from Preah Khan of Kompong Svay [K. 161], dated 1002, starts with an invocation to Śiva Natarāja and is followed by one to the Buddha. It contains a mélange of Buddhist and Śaiva ideas (Bhattacharya 1961, 35–36). Similarly, the inscription from 1041 CE at Phimai [K. 953] has a Sanskrit invocation to Śiva on one side of the stele, while a Khmer verse honors the Buddha on the reverse. That this state of affairs persisted is evidenced by the Trapan Don On inscription [K. 254] of 1129, which lists offerings to Śiva, Visnu, and the Jina (victor) of Vanśārāma—an epithet of the Buddha (v. 30). A probable explanation is that it is related to the growth of tantrism in the region.” §REF§ Harris, I. (2008). Origins to the Fall of Angkor. p.12-18. In Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice. Honolulu. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6FUXX8D5\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 6FUXX8D5 </b></a>§REF§“Although Shaivite like his father and many of the brahmans at the court, Jayavarman V was tolerant of Buddhism, and Buddhist scholarship flourished during his reign. An elegantly written inscription from Wat Sithor in Kompong Cham dating from this period shows how syncretic Buddhist thinking inside Cambodia had become, fusing elements of Buddhism and Shaivism in a way that led the nineteenth-century scholar Emile Senart to note, “Everywhere one senses a manifest preoccupation to disturb people’s habits as little as possible, and to submerge deep differences inside surface similarities.”” §REF§ Chandler, D. (2018). KINGSHIP AND SOCIETY AT ANGKORA. p.58. A history of Cambodia (Fourth ed.). London. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/AXUKZQ4M\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: AXUKZQ4M </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 76, "polity": { "id": 41, "name": "kh_angkor_2", "long_name": "Classical Angkor", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1220 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“Even though Jayavarman’s cult was syncretic, with large sections of his temple complexes dedicated to Brahmanical rites for Siva and Visṇu, the central sanctuaries were emphatically Buddhist.” §REF§ (Sharrok 2013, 9) Sharrok, P.D. 2013. ‘The tantric roots of the Buddhist pantheon of Jayavarman VII.’ In Materializing South East Asia’s Past. Edited by Marijke J. Klokke and Veronique Degroot. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/EZQ9EUIU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: EZQ9EUIU </b></a> §REF§The primary religious building within Angkor Thom was the Bayon Temple, a Buddhist temple that retained elements of the preceding Hinduism. The temple was originally a Shiva temple and only converted to a Buddhist worship center as it was being constructed, a process stretched out over several decades. The top of the temple followed the theme of the city gates with some 50 towers, each with a representation of Avalokitesvara with four faces to greet individual worshippers from whatever direction they approached the temple.” §REF§ (Irons, 2016) Irons, E.A. 2016. ‘Jayavarman VII’. In Encyclopedia of World Religion: Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Second Edition. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A28ATT22\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: A28ATT22 </b></a> §REF§ “It has been argued that the Jayavarman’s megalomania drove the unprecedented building campaigns (Stern 1927: 182), but there is now a growing consensus that the construction program was closely related to his endeavor to convert the Angkorian realm to a Buddhist kingdom after four centuries of Saivite rule (Hindu devotion to Shiva) (Sharrock 2009). Indeed, since the ninth century, Buddhist sects had been repressed, marginalized, or sublimated into a predominately (but decidedly syncretic) Khmer-Hindu cult (Maxwell 2007; Sharrock 2009).” §REF§ (Swenson 2013, 480) Swenson, Edward. 2013. ‘The Political Landscape of Early State Religions.’ In A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Edited by Janice Boddy and Michael Lambek. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/E8TII8Z4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: E8TII8Z4 </b></a>§REF§ “the shrines to Siva, Visnu and other Khmer-Hindu deities in Jayavarman’s many temples were subverted to the Buddhist mandala of the larger edifices in which they were emplaced. In other words, Hindu deities were literally converted to advance Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist interests.” §REF§ (Swenson 2013, 481) Swenson, Edward. 2013. ‘The Political Landscape of Early State Religions.’ In A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Edited by Janice Boddy and Michael Lambek. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/E8TII8Z4\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: E8TII8Z4 </b></a>§REF§ “The change in Jayavarman’s Garuda icon that Boisselier detected, along with the widespread deployment of the new model around consecration platforms, when seen along other late changes in Jayavarman’s temples, are found to signal a major religious event. The new icon points to an important background role in the new state Buddhism for the warrior Bodhisattva of Tantrism, Vajrapani (‘thunderbolt-in-hand’), as the protector of all who turn to the Buddha. The deployment of this Garuda/Vajrapaini icon is then seen to align with both the appearance in the material record of a dozen bronze consecration conches embossed with the tantric Buddhist supreme deity Hevajra, and with the addition of large new sanctuaries in the king’s existing temples that are emblazoned with a striking new dancing goddess motif. It is proposed that the sanctuaries were established to undertake large-scale tantric Buddhist initiations. Together, these and other overlooked iconic pointers are seen to disclose a well-planned and sustained campaign to get at least the ancient Khmer elite to accept the historical shift to state Buddhism.” §REF§ (Sharrock 2009, 112) Sharrock, P.D. 2009 ‘Garuda, Vajrapani and Religious Change in Jayavarman VII’S Angkor’. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. Vol 40:1. Pp 111-151. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZCKW2Q23\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZCKW2Q23 </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 77, "polity": { "id": 44, "name": "th_ayutthaya", "long_name": "Ayutthaya", "start_year": 1593, "end_year": 1767 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"In practice, this pure form of Theravada was blended with other religious practices, including roles for Hindu gods, notions of supernatural power often borrowed from tantric types of Buddhism, and folk beliefs in spirits - especially in their power to foretell and influence the future.” §REF§ (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 19) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FVDASFPF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FVDASFPF </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 78, "polity": { "id": 541, "name": "ye_qasimid_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen - Qasimid Dynasty", "start_year": 1637, "end_year": 1805 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following quote suggests evidence of religious syncretism between Zaydi and Shafi’i Muslims: “The latter half of the 17th century, was a period of great intellectual ferment in the Yemeni highlands. Some scholars were crossing traditional sectarian and school boundaries, making it difficult to pigeonhole them according to the accepted categories of Hadawi and Shafi'I. Study of and reliance on hadlth and its attendant sciences, however, appears to have united these scholars.” §REF§ (Haykel 2003, Pg. 42) B. Haykel. 2003. Revival and Reform in Islam: The Legacy of Muhammad Al-Shawkani. Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CZQNUAHA\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CZQNUAHA </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 79, "polity": { "id": 359, "name": "ye_ziyad_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen Ziyadid Dynasty", "start_year": 822, "end_year": 1037 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "“No contemporary account survives, so that Ziyadid Yemen remains poorly understood, a ‘missing piece of the puzzle’ as regards the early Islamic Red Sea.” §REF§ (Power 2012, 216) Power, Timothy. 2012. The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500-1000. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4KCRGQVX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 4KCRGQVX </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 80, "polity": { "id": 80, "name": "pe_wari_emp", "long_name": "Wari Empire", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 999 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": "\"Inferred present is apt, insofar as Wari trophy skull practices and iconography borrowed from Nasca practices, probably acquired through trade between the two cultures. In the Cusco region, there is Wari-influenced local pottery with some local distribution, and the site of Muyu Roqo indicates some Wari patronage at local ceremonies in places where there is no clear political or economic connection, suggesting a consonance of colonist and local religious practices.\"(R. A. Covey, pers. comm. to R. Ainsworth, June 2023)", "description": "\"Inferred present is apt, insofar as Wari trophy skull practices and iconography borrowed from Nasca practices, probably acquired through trade between the two cultures. In the Cusco region, there is Wari-influenced local pottery with some local distribution, and the site of Muyu Roqo indicates some Wari patronage at local ceremonies in places where there is no clear political or economic connection, suggesting a consonance of colonist and local religious practices.\" (R. Alan Covey, pers. comm. to R. Ainsworth, June 2023) <br> “Just like with the Inca, in the case of Wari the establishment of alliances was not based on military superiority (like that of the Macedonian phalanx or the Roman legions). With their bows and bronze weapons, the southerners certainly could be fearsome adversaries. Even so, the political strategy used was more sophisticated—and the only one possible in such difficult ecological conditions, and with such rudimentary means of transportation and communication. The big pyramid of subject-peoples was moved to submit to the conqueror when the ancestors of their curacas were included in the great imperial cult. This is why the Wari model for expansion and territorial control seems to have been very similar to that of the Incas: they introduced both peaceful policies and mediations with the local chiefs of given lands, as well as alliances and an efficient manipulation of ‘the institution of Andean reciprocity.’ When these means failed, however, they turned to military solutions. The discovery of weapons, the presence of trophy heads, the modelled ceramic depictions, and the images on metals and textiles all evince the presence of an institutionalised military force, and in turn show that Wari elites combined military and ritual power in order to establish and sustain imperial control.\" §REF§ (Giersz & Makowski 2014, 290) Giersz, Milosz and Krzysztof Makowski. 2014. ‘The Wari Phenomenon: In the Tracks of a Pre-Hispanic Empire’. In Castillo de Huarmey: El Mausoleo Imperial Wari. Edited by Milosz Giersz and Cecilia Pardo. Lima: MALI. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VBKPHAPI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VBKPHAPI </b></a> §REF§ “Survey data generally do not provide representative regional perspectives on religious change, but a few site-based observations hint at the existence of Wari patronage and influence in certain locations. Bauer’s (1999) test excavations at Muyu Roqo in the Paruro region suggest Wari involvement in a local festival event, although such patronage is not evident at other sacred locales. Furthermore, excavations at the local EIP/MH center at Ak’awillay reveal continuity of local ritual practices with little evidence of Wari state influence (Bélisle, 2011; Bélisle and Covey, 2010). In contrast, the burial remains recovered by Glowacki (2002) in the Huaro area provide notable examples of Wari ritual paraphernalia and iconography (cf. Zapata, 1997). Clearly, additional excavation work is needed throughout the region to gauge the nature and extent of Wari religious influence.” §REF§ (Covey et al. 2013, 547-548) Covey, Alan, Bauer, Brian S., Béslise, Véronique and Lia Tsesmeli. 2013. ‘Regional perspectives on Wari state influence in Cusco, Peru (c. AD 600–1000)’. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. Num 32. Pp. 538-552. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6MQUZCBK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 6MQUZCBK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 81, "polity": { "id": 83, "name": "pe_inca_emp", "long_name": "Inca Empire", "start_year": 1375, "end_year": 1532 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"The syncretism was multidirectional, in that the Inca state cult grew out of broader landscape ritual practices, and it also engaged with and modified to accommodate places where people worshiped a creator or the moon instead of the sun. Inca practices intervened in and drew from diverse religious practices seen in different parts of the Andes, as seen in their development of creation pilgrimages (Pachacamac, Titicaca), their occupation or patronage of local shrines (Huarochirí, Tiwanaku, Chinchacamac, Raqchi), and the local acceptance of elements of Inca religion. For the last, the non-Inca people of the Huánuco region testified to making sacrifices to Huanacaure, the sacred mountain of the Cusco Basin, to ensure prosperity (Ortíz de Zúñiga 1967[1562]).\" (R. Alan Covey, pers. comm. to R. Ainsworth, June 2023) <br> “Even though Pachacamac was not an Inca god and seemed to have been redundant to Viracocha, the Incas nevertheless co-opted this cult into the imperial religion and enlarged and embellished the shrine, eager to share in the prestige of the cult.” §REF§ (McEwan 2006, 142-143) McEwan, Gordon F. 2006. The Incas: New Perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QCNQH7TU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QCNQH7TU </b></a>§REF§ <br> “The Incas transformed structures of gender parallelism which shaped human and divine relations in the ayllu into institutions of imperial politics. The Moon dominated the female side of the Inca cosmos, and the queen as her closest human descendant, dominated all other women. Her control was realized through religious structures that took their form from the women’s organizations of kin-based communities. […] Imperial ideology made Mamacocha (Mother Sea) a descendant of the Moon. She was proclaimed the “mother” of all waters: streams, rivers, and mountain springs expressed her powers. […] Pachamama (or an equivalent) was adored by men and women living in Andean ayllus for providing them with the earth’s bounty; women felt a particularly close kinship to her since human birth was one aspect of the earthly procreation which she sponsored. The Incas also worshipped Pachamama. […] Peoples in kin-based communities imaged Pachamama as the guardian of the powers of fertility which allowed them to reproduce their existence. By reverencing her, the Incas were changing the nature of her powers. Ayllu procreation and ayllu well-being, which used to be in the hands of a goddess whose source of support was localized, were now tied to the welfare of the empire’s upper class. No longer a local sponsor, Pachamama had become the benefactress of the empire through her bond with the lords of Cuzco. The Incas had compromised her allegiance to kin-based communities. Although the Incas may have legitimized an aspect of community religious belief by venerating Earth Mother, that legitimization was conferred at a price. By worshipping her at festivals that representatives from conquered provinces were obliged to attend, the Incas ensured that the Pachamama’s new message was not ignored. The Incas not only appropriated Pachamama from kin-based communities, they took away her attributes and gave them to the deities and heroines of imperial Cuzco. Andean communities bestowed goddesses like Pachamama and her daughter, Saramama, with powers to generate corn. The Incas proselytized a different version. […] The Moon, as supreme goddess of the Incas, reigned over all other female divinities. Taking away some of Pachamama’s luster, Cuzquenans claimed that the Moon was the ultimate controlling force over everything female and all things concerning women. Andean commoners invested Pachamama with powers of fertility, yet the Incas insisted that the Moon dominated all earthly procreation. The Moon even controlled the tools of female labor. […] The Incas pushed the Moon onto the belief systems of subjugated groups. […] One of the ways, then, that the Incas tried to articulate the religious hierarchies which they dominated was by grafting divinities of imperial origin onto local religious structures. To have local groups claim Inca gods and goddesses as divine ancestors or as the source of their material well-being would be an ideological victory; the subjugated envisage their history and their welfare in terms of a shared ancestry with those who conquered them.” §REF§ (Silverbatt 1987, 47-52) Silverbatt, Irene M. 1987. Moon, sun, and witches : gender ideologies and class in Inca and colonial Peru. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NSBQEF7K\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NSBQEF7K </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 82, "polity": { "id": 59, "name": "gr_crete_nl", "long_name": "Neolithic Crete", "start_year": -7000, "end_year": -3000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "The following quote suggests relative cultural isolation, making syncretism less likely. “Essential is the fact for most of the Neolithic period (approximately 7000 to 3000 cal BC) Knossos was the only settlement on the island, and was relatively isolated from cultural developments elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. Although only 1% of Neolithic Knossos has been excavated, the surviving evidence, fragmentary figurines, suggest religious life was focused on the simplicity of the household rather than the broader community. The change comes in the Final Neolithic period, wherein there is a massive dispersal of settlements across the island, indicating population growth perhaps supported by an influx of new settlers. Religiously this manifest in a enriched diversification of ritual material culture, including cave shrines and burial sites, communal feasting at population power centres, and perhaps also the beginning of a ritual landscape.”§REF§ (Peatfield 2016, 174-185) Peatfield, Alan. 2016. ‘Ritual and Religion in Neolithic Crete?’ In Decoding Neolithic Atlantic and Mediterranean Island Ritual. Edited by George Nash and Andrew Townsend. Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RSR2X6GK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: RSR2X6GK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 83, "polity": { "id": 79, "name": "pe_cuzco_3", "long_name": "Cuzco - Early Intermediate II", "start_year": 500, "end_year": 649 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "“THE QOTAKALLI PERIOD in the Cuzco region covers an era between the rise of the first chiefly societies and invasion of the area by the Wari Empire. Unfortunately, this is one of the least-understood time periods of the Cuzco region.” §REF§ (Bauer 2004, 47) Bauer, Brian S. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NFKCCC8X\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NFKCCC8X </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 84, "polity": { "id": 78, "name": "pe_cuzco_2", "long_name": "Cuzco - Early Intermediate I", "start_year": 200, "end_year": 499 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "“THE QOTAKALLI PERIOD in the Cuzco region covers an era between the rise of the first chiefly societies and invasion of the area by the Wari Empire. Unfortunately, this is one of the least-understood time periods of the Cuzco region.” §REF§ (Bauer 2004, 47) Bauer, Brian S. 2004. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NFKCCC8X\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NFKCCC8X </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 85, "polity": { "id": 72, "name": "tr_east_roman_emp", "long_name": "East Roman Empire", "start_year": 395, "end_year": 631 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“It was Hypatius’ task to displace such cult practices and reorganize them around the name of Christ (Ritenchristianisierung).” […] “Some scholars have seen certain kinds of religious enthusiasm in behaviours of sixth-century Christians of the Phrygian borderlands as a survival of older methods of associating with the mother goddess Kybele, wherein the person became ‘possessed’ or ‘enthused’ by her divine force.” […] “One inscription contains a passage in Phrygian. The local rustics made offerings to Attis, the chthonic male deity seemingly worshipped in synoikism with the Christian archangel Michael at Colossae.” §REF§ (Trombley 2014, 80, 97, 101) Trombley, Frank. Hellenic Religion and Christianity c. 370-529. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RXEDSXID\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: RXEDSXID </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 86, "polity": { "id": 175, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_2", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire II", "start_year": 1517, "end_year": 1683 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“In Ottoman studies the concept of syncretism has been associated with the theory about the proselytizing ‘heterodox’ Sufi mystics […] According to this theory, antinomian dervishes unconcerned with Islamic orthodoxy incited numerous conversions among Christian peasantry in Anatolia and Rumeli by preaching a heavily, ‘Christianized’ Islam. Particularly important sites of the proselytizing activity, according to scholars working in this vein, were the so-called ambiguous sanctuaries’ scattered around Ottoman Rumeli and Anatolia where Muslims began to worship their own saints at traditionally Christian places of worship.” §REF§ (Krstic 2011, 16) Krstic, Tijana. 2011. Contested Conversions to Islam: Narratives of Religious Change in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DBRUGACB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DBRUGACB </b></a> §REF§ “Certainly the order [Bektashi] was heterodox and more than any other served as a refuge for dissidents fleeing persecution. As a result, Hurufis, in addition to Shi’ites and especially Kizilbas, have left traces of their ideas in the doctrine of the order, syncretistic to a fault. But, even so, the Bektasis remained licit and, as is well known, had considerable influence among the janissaries.” §REF§ (Veinstein 2013, 346-347) Veinstein, Gilles. 2013. ‘Religious Institutions, Policies and Lives’ In The Cambridge History of Turkey Vol. 2: The Ottoman Empire as a World Power, 1453-1603. Edited by Suraiya N. Faroqhi and Kate Fleet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NGWQMJZI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NGWQMJZI </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 87, "polity": { "id": 176, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_3", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire III", "start_year": 1683, "end_year": 1839 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The Ma’min or the religious followers of Sabbatai Zevi were originally Judeo-Spanish of Salonica who converted to Islam after Zevi converted to the Muslim faith. “Over time they developed a kind of mystical Islam with a Judaic component not found in mainstream Muslim life. While they attended mosque and sometimes made the haj, they initially preserved Judeo-Spanish for use within the home […] They celebrated Ramadan, and ate the rational sweets on the 10th of Moharrem, to mark the deaths of Hasan and Huseyn. Like their cooking, the eighteen commandments which they attributed to Zevi showed clearly the influence of both Muslim and Talmudic practice […] They prayed to their Messiah, ‘our King, our Redeemer,’ in ‘the name of God, the God of Israel,’ but followed many of the patterns of Muslim prayer. They increasingly followed Muslim custom in circumcising their males just before puberty, and read the Qur’an, but referred to their festivals using the Jewish calendar [...] “The Bektashi themselves had a close connection with the worship of Christ. Their use of bread and wine in their rituals, their stress on the twelve Imams (akin to the twelve apostles), and many other features of their rites all bore a close resemblance to Christian practices.” §REF§ (Mazower 2006, 73-79) Mazower, Mark. 2006. Salonica City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950. New York: Vintage Books. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JX5W2B2S\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JX5W2B2S </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 88, "polity": { "id": 173, "name": "tr_ottoman_emirate", "long_name": "Ottoman Emirate", "start_year": 1299, "end_year": 1402 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“As observed above, the Christianity of the Anatolian population was created from an amalgam of the influences of old pagan cults and local religions within Christianity. A similar process applied too, to popular Islam. Thus, the formation in the towns and villages of an Islam and a Christianity which tended to superstition, outside the medreses and political government circles, brought the two people close to each other.” […] “Hasluck, basing his argument on convincing evidence, shows very clearly that just as, during the period of the conversion of the towns and villages of Anatolia to Christianity, the gods of the classical period, who now became Christian saints, were assured a smooth transition, so too a similar process occurred in the conversion from Christianity to Islam. For example, the graves or tombs of certain Christian saints and particularly of martyrs of the early Christian era over time became saint turbes among the Turks. These graves and tombs were thus transformed into shared pilgrimage sites of the two populations.” […] “It is important to remember that the seyhs and dervishes of the popular Sufi circles, members of the syncretic tarikats which were not tied to Sunnism, such as, in particular, the Kalenderi and the Bektasi, played a large role in this transformation. They benefited to a considerable degree from the saintly cults existing among the non-Muslim population in their spread of Islam. Thus over time very many of these cults of Christian saints turned into an Islamic mystic cults. Some of the saintly turbes became, again over time, shared places of pilgrimage among the non-Muslim population. For example, the cult of St Charalambos in the region of Urgup was combined with that of Haci Bektas, that of St Theodor and St Georgein the region of Amasya with the cult of Baba Ilyas, and, in the same way, the cult of Sari Saltik joined with the cults of saints such as St Spiridon and St Nikola in various places in the Balkans.” §REF§ (Ocak 2010, 400-402) Ocak, Ahmet Yasar. 2010. ‘Social, Cultural and Intellectual Life 1071-1453’. In Cambridge History of Turkey Vol. 1: Byzantium to Turkey 1071-1453. Edited by Kate Fleet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/US5KKCXU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: US5KKCXU </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 89, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“In Syria syncretism developed between Luwian and Semitic deities (Tarhunzas/Ba’al Runzas/Resef).” §REF§ (Singer 1994, 102) Singer, Itamar. 1994. ‘The Thousand Gods of Hatti: The Limits of an Expanding Pantheon.’ In Concepts of the Other in Near Eastern Religions. Edited by Ilai Alon et.al. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NX7AFSZ9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NX7AFSZ9 </b></a> §REF§ “Partial syncretism of the Hittite and Aramaean pantheons is found at Karatepe where Tarkhunzas is identified with Ba’al and Runzas with Resheph ‘of the He-Goats.’ In Hamath the Hittite dynasty worshipped the Semetic goddess Ba’alat (Pahalatis).” §REF§ (Hawkins 1982, 439 ) Hawkins, J.D. 1982. ‘The Neo-Hittite States in Syria and Anatolia.’ In The Cambridge Ancient History: The Prehistory of the Balkans, Middle East, and the Aegean World. Vol. III. Edited by John Boardman et.al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WIKBRIF9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WIKBRIF9 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 90, "polity": { "id": 174, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_1", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire I", "start_year": 1402, "end_year": 1517 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“In Ottoman studies the concept of syncretism has been associated with the theory about the proselytizing ‘heterodox’ Sufi mystics […] According to this theory, antinomian dervishes unconcerned with Islamic orthodoxy incited numerous conversions among Christian peasantry in Anatolia and Rumeli by preaching a heavily, ‘Christianized’ Islam. Particularly important sites of the proselytizing activity, according to scholars working in this vein, were the so-called ambiguous sanctuaries’ scattered around Ottoman Rumeli and Anatolia where Muslims began to worship their own saints at traditionally Christian places of worship.” §REF§ (Krstic 2011, 16) Krstic, Tijana. 2011. Contested Conversions to Islam: Narratives of Religious Change in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DBRUGACB\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: DBRUGACB </b></a> §REF§ “Certainly the order [Bektashi] was heterodox and more than any other served as a refuge for dissidents fleeing persecution. As a result, Hurufis, in addition to Shi’ites and especially Kizilbas, have left traces of their ideas in the doctrine of the order, syncretistic to a fault. But, even so, the Bektasis remained licit and, as is well known, had considerable influence among the janissaries.” §REF§ (Veinstein 2013, 346-347) Veinstein, Gilles. 2013. ‘Religious Institutions, Policies and Lives’ In The Cambridge History of Turkey Vol. 2: The Ottoman Empire as a World Power, 1453-1603. Edited by Suraiya N. Faroqhi and Kate Fleet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NGWQMJZI\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NGWQMJZI </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 91, "polity": { "id": 177, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_4", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire IV", "start_year": 1839, "end_year": 1922 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“The Bektashi themselves had a close connection with the worship of Christ. Their use of bread and wine in their rituals, their stress on the twelve Imams (akin to the twelve apostles), and many other features of their rites all bore a close resemblance to Christian practices.” §REF§ (Mazower 2006, 73-79) Mazower, Mark. 2006. Salonica City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950. New York: Vintage Books. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JX5W2B2S\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JX5W2B2S </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 92, "polity": { "id": 169, "name": "tr_lysimachus_k", "long_name": "Lysimachus Kingdom", "start_year": -323, "end_year": -281 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“The Hellenistic period has been characterized as the time of religious syncretism.[…] Originally the religions of the Greeks as well as of Near Eastern peoples were local cults, firmly established by a state, city, or nation. Their deities were bound to particular places, like a shrine, a sacred grove, or a mountain. But this view was changing, due to the influence of philosophy and enlightenment, as well as the mobility of the population. Greek gods were brought to the east, sometimes literally carried in the form of a statue or another sacred object, to become gods of the new Greek cities. As the Hellenistic kings sought to strengthen the Greek element in their countries, this development was officially encouraged. […] Rites and practices of the eastern deities were usually preserved, but their myths and cult legends were translated into Greek, which also supplied Greek concepts along with the language.” §REF§(Koester, 1995, 156-8) Helmut Koester. (1995). History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age. Second edition. De Gruyter. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/86TFTD7M\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 86TFTD7M </b></a> §REF§ “The spread of Hellenism that followed Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire had a marked impact on the cities and cult centers of the non Greek Anatolian peoples. The older Anatolian languages and cultural forms disappeared, as centers such as Gordion, Ankara, Pessinous, and Sardis became increasingly Hellenized. The effect of the spread of Hellenism on the cult of the Phrygian Matar was not simply a replacement of Anatolian forms with Greek ones but a blending of the two that created a new formulation of Meter.” §REF§ (Roller, 1999, 188). Lynn E. Roller. (1999). In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. University of California Press. §REF§ “Gordion, the principal city of Phrygia, was an important center for the worship of the major Phrygian divinity, the Great Mother of Anatolia, the Greek and Roman Cybele. […] After the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander and the increasing influence of Hellenism which followed in his wake, a much stronger degree of Hellenization appears in several classes of material at Gordion. […] Characteristically Greek features of iconography, attributes, and newly appearing Greek deities in the cult of the Mother at Hellenistic Gordion signal some critical syncretisms that shaped the older Anatolian cult practices at the site. There is no evidence of a gradual infiltration of Greek cult practices, but rather a sudden fusion of the two traditions, Anatolian and Greek, in the third century BC. By that time the Mother goddess had long since passed from Phrygia into Greece and had been absorbed into the Greek pantheon. When this Hellenized deity was reintroduced into Phrygia, she was accepted unquestioningly, and her older Phrygian iconography disappeared without a trace. At the same time, however, we can see that the Hellenic aspects of the Mother's cult only reinforced Phrygian aspects that were already present. The Phrygians adopted Greek ideas, but they did so selectively, using the Greek forms and practices which they could relate to their own.” §REF§ (Roller, 1991, 128, 138, 142-3). Lynn E. Roller. (1991). The Great Mother at Gordion: The Hellenization of an Anatolian Cult. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 111, 128–143. §REF§ “During the Hellenistic period, Hellenes began to equate the gods of foreign lands with their own native deities in a process often referred to by scholars as interpretatio or “translation”. A Hellene could, without any apparent theological dilemma, worship any foreign god that most closely resembled his own native deity. […] In the past these equations were seen as evidence of the impact of Hellenism in foreign lands. However, recent scholars have pointed out that these equations are found only in Greek sources, not Near Eastern ones, making them unlikely representations of Hellenization. Of course, this does not mean that they do not represent an effort to spread Hellenic culture, only that they do not represent the successful result of such an effort. Others have seen these translations as evidence for “syncretism” or “hybridity”, that is, the fusion of Aegean and Near Eastern religions. However, neither “syncretism” or “hybridity” offers a particularly useful model for understanding the process of interpretatio, and not just because of their tainted colonial histories. Neither model helps us to ascertain the processes that underlie these equations, and so neither is able to provide anything but a characterization of a phenomenon.” §REF§(Noegel, 2007,32 ) Noegel, S.B. 2007: Greek Religion and the Ancient Near East. In: D. Ogden (ed.): A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden MA, 21–37. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WGAEUJT7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: WGAEUJT7 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 93, "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": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“While the intricacies of the Lydians’ religious cosmos are invariably lost, the emerging picture such as can be reconstructed, is of particular interest for its interconnections with Anatolian and Greek traditions.” §REF§( Payne & Wintjes, 2016, 87), Payne, A., & Wintjes, J. (2016). The Lydian Civilisation. In Lords of Asia Minor: An Introduction to the Lydians (1st ed., pp. 87–116). Harrassowitz Verlag. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HJISWH44\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HJISWH44 </b></a> §REF§ “At the end of the series of Phrygian cult monuments representing Matar, probably in the second half of the sixth century B.C., are a number of seated statuettes depicting the Mother Goddess that seem to reflect direct Greek influence. The closest point of reference is the seated pose found in Meter statuettes in mid sixth century B.C. Ionia. Examples include two pieces from sites near Konya (south central Anatolia) and statuettes from Zonguldak (Black Sea cost), Gordion, and Takmaköy (near Eskisehir *). In all of these works, the goddess is shown seated on a formal throne, and in the first three, she is framed in a niche.” §REF§(Roller, 1999, 105) Roller, Lynn E. (1999). In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. University of California Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5TT58SDG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5TT58SDG </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 94, "polity": { "id": 159, "name": "tr_konya_lca", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Late Chalcolithic", "start_year": -5500, "end_year": -3000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "“One of the main obstacles to reach interpretations of a higher level in Anatolia is the general lack of defined cultural units with specified spatial and chronological extension. Most regions are represented only by a few sites or even a single excavation during any particular period, making it very difficult to arrive at generalizing statements.” §REF§ (Schoop 2011, 165-166) Schoop, Ulf-Dietrich. 2011. ‘The Chalcolithic on the Plateau.’ In The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QS8HNST2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QS8HNST2 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 95, "polity": { "id": 166, "name": "tr_phrygian_k", "long_name": "Phrygian Kingdom", "start_year": -900, "end_year": -695 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“We know from both Herodotos and the archaeological record that the Phrygians were in contact with Greece […] The change that I have suggested took place in Phrygian religion with regard to the emphasis of Matar, the earliest deity to be anthropomorphically depicted, can also be explained as a conscious political initiative taken by Midas. Greek religion is dominated by female deities of similar character as Matar during this period [c.700BC]. There is for example Hera on Samos, in Argos and Olympia, Artemis in Sparta and on Paros, and Athena in Lindos (Rhodes). All these sanctuaries have been suggested to have received Phrygian votive gifts. The Phrygian interest in these sanctuaries paired with the appearance of Matar in anthropomorphic shape and her new position as the dominant deity may not be a coincidence, but should rather be interpreted as the result of a deliberate religious policy chosen by Midas. It may have been a decision ruled by his political motives concerning the Greeks.§REF§ (Berndt-Ersöz, 2006, 210) Berndt-Ersöz, S (2006), Phrygian Rock-Cut Shrines, Brill: Leiden Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7BSTB7FH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7BSTB7FH </b></a> §REF§ “The Phrygians used many symbols for their Mother Goddess that they had inherited from earlier Anatolian peoples, including the bird of prey and the presentation of the divinity standing in the sacred doorway, and developed these into specifically Phrygian forms of religious expression. The continuity with the past illustrated through the use of such older Anatolian symbols suggests strongly that the Mother Goddess became part of the Phrygians' religious tradition during their earliest presence as a distinct Anatolian people in the Early Iron Age, although the goddess may not have received a monumental expression in sculpture until the flourishing period of Phrygian civilization, the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. One may even wonder, following the bold hypothesis of Machteld Mellink, whether contact between the Phrygian king Midas and the Neo Hittite rulers of the later eighth century B.C. exposed the Phrygians to the court iconography of the Neo Hittite sculptural monuments and led them to develop an iconographic form for their own goddess.” §REF§ (Roller, 1999, 83) Roller, Lynn E. (1999). In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. University of California Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5TT58SDG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5TT58SDG </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 96, "polity": { "id": 167, "name": "tr_tabal_k", "long_name": "Tabal Kingdoms", "start_year": -900, "end_year": -730 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“Within this region we not only find local cults which can be attributed to Luwians, but also after the collapse of the Hittite empire we find local Luwian states like Tabal preserving the older traditions.” […] “The close connection of the Storm-god with grapes and grain lives on to the first millennium, as can be seen from various reliefs from the region of Tabal in the 8th century. Tarhunt as the god of Tabal and Tuwana provides then fertility, grain and wine, and his main cultic center perhaps can be found at the Golludug.” […] “One new aspect as a result of theological changes must not be overlooked. Tarhunt’s companion in Tabal is Hebat, so we must have to assume that the Luwian Storm-god had become identified with or was at least understood as correspond’’’ to the Hurrian Storm-god Teshub. We cannont date precisely when this Luwian-Hurrian syncretism actually took place in Tabal, but the god-lists show a deeply ‘Hurrianized’ pantheon […] The other two gods mentioned in the lists, Ea and Kubaba, may also have entered the Tabalean pantheon by similar theological processes.” […] “ […] Luwians lived among people from another ethnic background. This situation continued up to the first millennium, but the emergence of new local (city)-states brought one important change for the history of religion. The HLuwian language still functioned as a common bond in the minor states of Tabal, thus most probably starting a unifying process also among the different population groups concerning their religious concepts. Therefore the traditions from Tabal no longer can be attributed to ‘Luwian religion’ exclusively, but we find various traditions melting together. In other words, we observe a change from ‘Luwian’ (or even ‘Hurrian’ or Syrian) religion to a new ‘Tabalean’ religion, which is made up from these different traditions, but – as is clearly the case with the funerary cult- which works as a system of symbols and thought to preserve life and hope for the help of the gods. Some bear Luwian names, others continue the Hurrian pantheon of the second millennium.” §REF§ (Hutter 2003, 214- 279) Hutter, Manfred. 2003. ‘Aspects of Luwian Religion.’ In The Luwians. Leiden: Brill. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FX9QA4ZF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FX9QA4ZF </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 97, "polity": { "id": 163, "name": "tr_konya_lba", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Late Bronze Age II", "start_year": -1500, "end_year": -1400 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "According to expert Gary Beckman, he states: Syncretism: There is a good deal of syncretism between “Hittite” deities and Mesopotamian gods and goddesses from the start, and with Hurrian deities in the Empire period.\" (pers.comm 2025)\r\n\r\nThe following quote suggests mixing between Hattian, Hittite, Luwian and Paphlagonian traditions. “While the predominant deity in the pantheons – Hattian, Hittite, Luwian, and Hurrian – of the second millennium BC is most widely reckoned to have been the Weather Gods or Storm – God, greater emphasis is sometimes placed on the god or gods of earth and especially of water, notably in the Hattian pantheon. This certainly had far-reaching impact on Hittite religion, so much so that it is hard to separate the two, although the Hurrian pantheon is readily distinguishable.” […] “The development of the ancestor cult among the Hittites, most evident in the royal family, had its roots in several ethnic backgrounds, initially Hattian from the central lands in and around the Halys basin and then also Palaic, from Paphlagonia adjoining the Black Sea, Luwain from the Taurus region, and eventually Hurrian from Kizzuwadna. Thus it reflected the heterogenous character of the religion of the Hittite state, in due course codified as the official pantheon, the ‘thousand gods.’” §REF§ (Burney 2018, 32-33) Burney, Charles. 2018. Historical Dictionary of the Hittites. London: Rowman and Littlefield. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q43QX75C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q43QX75C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 98, "polity": { "id": 506, "name": "gr_macedonian_emp", "long_name": "Macedonian Empire", "start_year": -330, "end_year": -312 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“The Hellenistic period has been characterized as the time of religious syncretism.[…] Originally the religions of the Greeks as well as of Near Eastern peoples were local cults, firmly established by a state, city, or nation. Their deities were bound to particular places, like a shrine, a sacred grove, or a mountain. But this view was changing, due to the influence of philosophy and enlightenment, as well as the mobility of the population. Greek gods were brought to the east, sometimes literally carried in the form of a statue or another sacred object, to become gods of the new Greek cities. As the Hellenistic kings sought to strengthen the Greek element in their countries, this development was officially encouraged. […] Rites and practices of the eastern deities were usually preserved, but their myths and cult legends were translated into Greek, which also supplied Greek concepts along with the language.” §REF§(Koester, 1995, 156-8) Helmut Koester. (1995). History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age. Second edition. De Gruyter. §REF§ “The spread of Hellenism that followed Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire had a marked impact on the cities and cult centers of the non Greek Anatolian peoples. The older Anatolian languages and cultural forms disappeared, as centers such as Gordion, Ankara, Pessinous, and Sardis became increasingly Hellenized. The effect of the spread of Hellenism on the cult of the Phrygian Matar was not simply a replacement of Anatolian forms with Greek ones but a blending of the two that created a new formulation of Meter.” §REF§ (Roller, 1999, 188). Lynn E. Roller. (1999). In Search of God the Mother : The Cult of Anatolian Cybele. University of California Press. §REF§ “Gordion, the principal city of Phrygia, was an important center for the worship of the major Phrygian divinity, the Great Mother of Anatolia, the Greek and Roman Cybele. […] After the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander and the increasing influence of Hellenism which followed in his wake, a much stronger degree of Hellenization appears in several classes of material at Gordion. […] Characteristically Greek features of iconography, attributes, and newly appearing Greek deities in the cult of the Mother at Hellenistic Gordion signal some critical syncretisms that shaped the older Anatolian cult practices at the site. There is no evidence of a gradual infiltration of Greek cult practices, but rather a sudden fusion of the two traditions, Anatolian and Greek, in the third century BC. By that time the Mother goddess had long since passed from Phrygia into Greece and had been absorbed into the Greek pantheon. When this Hellenized deity was reintroduced into Phrygia, she was accepted unquestioningly, and her older Phrygian iconography disappeared without a trace. At the same time, however, we can see that the Hellenic aspects of the Mother's cult only reinforced Phrygian aspects that were already present. The Phrygians adopted Greek ideas, but they did so selectively, using the Greek forms and practices which they could relate to their own.” §REF§ (Roller, 1991, 128, 138, 142-3). Lynn E. Roller. (1991). The Great Mother at Gordion: The Hellenization of an Anatolian Cult. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 111, 128–143. §REF§ “During the Hellenistic period, Hellenes began to equate the gods of foreign lands with their own native deities in a process often referred to by scholars as interpretatio or “translation”. A Hellene could, without any apparent theological dilemma, worship any foreign god that most closely resembled his own native deity. […] In the past these equations were seen as evidence of the impact of Hellenism in foreign lands. However, recent scholars have pointed out that these equations are found only in Greek sources, not Near Eastern ones, making them unlikely representations of Hellenization. Of course, this does not mean that they do not represent an effort to spread Hellenic culture, only that they do not represent the successful result of such an effort. Others have seen these translations as evidence for “syncretism” or “hybridity”, that is, the fusion of Aegean and Near Eastern religions. However, neither “syncretism” or “hybridity” offers a particularly useful model for understanding the process of interpretatio, and not just because of their tainted colonial histories. Neither model helps us to ascertain the processes that underlie these equations, and so neither is able to provide anything but a characterization of a phenomenon.” §REF§(Noegel, 2007,32 ) Noegel, S.B. 2007: Greek Religion and the Ancient Near East. In: D. Ogden (ed.): A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden MA, 21–37. §REF§" }, { "id": 100, "polity": { "id": 162, "name": "tr_hatti_old_k", "long_name": "Hatti - Old Kingdom", "start_year": -1650, "end_year": -1500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "According to expert Gary Beckman, he states \"Syncretism: There is a good deal of syncretism between “Hittite” deities and Mesopotamian gods and goddesses from the start, and with Hurrian deities in the Empire period.\" (pers.comm 2025)\r\n\r\nThe following quote suggests mixing between Hattian, Hittite, Luwian and Paphlagonian traditions. “While the predominant deity in the pantheons – Hattian, Hittite, Luwian, and Hurrian – of the second millennium BC is most widely reckoned to have been the Weather Gods or Storm – God, greater emphasis is sometimes placed on the god or gods of earth and especially of water, notably in the Hattian pantheon. This certainly had far-reaching impact on Hittite religion, so much so that it is hard to separate the two, although the Hurrian pantheon is readily distinguishable.” […] “The development of the ancestor cult among the Hittites, most evident in the royal family, had its roots in several ethnic backgrounds, initially Hattian from the central lands in and around the Halys basin and then also Palaic, from Paphlagonia adjoining the Black Sea, Luwain from the Taurus region, and eventually Hurrian from Kizzuwadna. Thus it reflected the heterogenous character of the religion of the Hittite state, in due course codified as the official pantheon, the ‘thousand gods.’” §REF§ (Burney 2018, 32-33) Burney, Charles. 2018. Historical Dictionary of the Hittites. London: Rowman and Littlefield. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Q43QX75C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Q43QX75C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 101, "polity": { "id": 164, "name": "tr_hatti_new_k", "long_name": "Hatti - New Kingdom", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -1180 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“The number of individual deities mentioned in the Hittite texts is staggering (Laroche 1947; Gurney 1977: 4-23). The Hittites themselves referred to their “thousand gods,” but many of these figures are cited infrequently in the texts and remain little more than names to us today. This multiplicity is due in part to a resistance to syncretization. For example, many Hittite towns maintained individual storm-gods, declining to identify the local deities as manifestations of a single national figure. As the Hittite state expanded from its core in central Anatolia, the range of gods mentioned in the royal archives came to include deities that were worshiped in the urban centers of Syria and Mesopotamia as well as those of Indo-European and Hattic origin. In the earliest period, the Hattic deities of cult centers such as Nerik (Haas 1970} and Hattusa predominated, later to be joined by increasing numbers of newcomers at home in regions to the south and east. The Luwian deities of Hupesna, Istanuwa, and Lallupiya, and particularly the Hurrian gods of Samuha (Lebrun 1976), Kummanni, Karkamis, and Aleppo should be mentioned here. Lists of divine witnesses to treaties present the imperial pantheon most clearly (Kestemont 1976], although it is puzzling that these groupings omit several otherwise prominent deities. In the thirteenth century B.c.E. some efforts were made at systemization, and many divinities were grouped into kaluti, or “circles” of males and females, as depicted visually in the bas-relief processions of Yazilikaya. It is significant that, although their iconography makes most of these deities immediately recognizable as long-standing members of the Hittite pantheon, their hieroglyphic labels give their namesin Hurrian (Laroche 1948, 1952). That is, syncretization had finally been carried out. […] This systematizing approach reflected the opinion of only a small group at the Hittite court, however, and at no time was a single unitary hierarchy of gods established.” §REF§ (Beckman 1989, 99-1000) Beckman, Gary. 1989. ‘The Religion of the Hittites’. In The Biblical Archaeologist. Vol. 52:2/3. Pp. 98-108. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4T4FHM3I\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 4T4FHM3I </b></a> §REF§ “‘The explicit identification of Anatolian with Hurrian deities is attested only in the Empire period (mid-fourteenth to early twelfth centuries). The most striking example is provided by an excerpt from a prayer of Queen Puduhepa (mid-thirteenth century): “Sun-goddess of (the town of) Arinna, my lady, you are the queen of all lands! In the land of Hatti you have assumed the name Sun-goddess of Arinna, but in respect to the land that you have made (the land) of cedars (that is, Syria), you have assumed the name Hebat” (KUB 21.27 i 3-6). It is significant in this regard that the carved labels accompanying the figures of the gods in the temple of Yazlkaya present their names in the Hurrian language, not Hittite, thus confirming that this assimilation of pantheons was carried out at the highest level of the state cult.” §REF§ (Beckman 2013, 89) Beckman, Gary. 2013. ‘Hittite Religion’. In The Cambridge History of the Religions in the Ancient World: From the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Age. Edited by Michele Renee Salzman and Marvin A. Sweeney. Vol 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sehat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/35ZH8IHU\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 35ZH8IHU </b></a> §REF§ “May the thousand gods give you life,” wrote a scribe to his father and mother who lived in Tapikka. Their expansive pantheon was a point of pride for the Hittites, and they invoked them collectively in blessings and as witnesses in their treaties. The actual number of deities attested in the surviving Hittite documents has not yet reached the canonical one thousand, but the number was hardly an exaggeration.34 The pantheon in its final form evolved through a process of territorial expansion and assimilation, over time absorbing the gods of the Hattians, Palaians, and the Luwians. Eventually the expansion of the Hittite state resulted in the introduction of gods not only from other parts of Anatolia but also from Hurrian Syria and Mesopotamia. The size of the Hittite pantheon may be attributed to a resistance to syncretism, since in general the Hittites tended not to identify their own gods with either foreign or native deities of a similar type, in the way, for example, that members of the Greek pantheon were identified with those of the Roman. Scribes brought a certain order to the system by grouping together local deities who showed a common character. For example, they designated all bringers of rain and thunder with the same Mesopotamian ideogram (U) indicating a storm-god. This system, however, renders it difficult to tell which deity is meant by the generic designation—the sign for tutelary deity (LAMMA) could refer to any number of deities, including Zithariya, Hapantaliya, and Inara—and often the original names of the deities are entirely lost. So, to distinguish deities belonging to a particular “type,” the scribes sometimes attached the name of the city that served as the deity’s cult center. Thus are attested the Storm-Gods of Nerik, Zippalanda, and Aleppo. We know, however, that these gods were worshiped individually because they appear side by side in the texts as separate divinities. Where the original names of the gods do survive, it is often a result of the fact that the Hittites sometimes addressed them in the gods’ native tongue in an effort to please them. For this reason we know that the Sun-God of Heaven in Hittite is called Istanu but in Hurrian is worshiped as Shimegi, in Luwian as Tiwat, in Palaic as Tiwaz, in Hattian as Eshtan, and in Akkadian as Shamash. […] Under a religious reform instituted by Puduhepa and completed by Tudhaliya IV, a level of syncretism was achieved within the official pantheon through the creation of a divine family, at the head of which were Hurrian Hebat and Teshub with their son Sharruma. This divine triad was identified with the deities who headed the traditional pantheon, the Sun-Goddess of Arinna, the Storm-God of Hatti, and their son the Storm-God of Nerik. The divine figures carved into the rock sanctuary at Yazılıkaya depict this syncretism of the Hittite and Hurrian gods in its official and final form. These identifications were artifical, manufactured in the royal court as a means of promoting the Hurrian element within the empire and of encouraging religious cohesion and political unity. In spite of efforts to reshape the official pantheon, at no point was a divine hierarchy ever imposed on a wide scale, for this would potentially have undermined the king’s efforts to retain the loyalty of his subjects.” §REF§ (Collins 2007, 173-177) Collins, Billie Jean. 2007. The Hittites and their World. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QJ9J6WHG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: QJ9J6WHG </b></a> §REF§ “In the final decades of the empire, attempts were made at the highest levels to bring some order to the vast array of gods who were crowding the pantheon. In her role as chief priestess, the indefatigable Puduhepa, wife of Hattusili III, embarked on a major review of religious practices and traditions throughout the Hittite world, and began rationalizing the pantheon by establishing syncretisms between some of its chief deities, in particular identifying Hittite gods with their Hurrian counterparts. Thus the great Storm God of Hatti was now formally equated with Teshub. His consort (as recognized in the official state cult) the Sun Goddess of Arinna, chief female deity of the Hittite world, was equated with Hurrian Hepat, as reflected in the opening lines of the queen’s prayer to the goddess: ‘O Sun Goddess of Arinna,My Lady, Queen of all countries! You are called “Sun Goddess of Arinna” in the Land of Hatti, but in the country which you have made the cedar land you are called “Hepat”.’ In her purely Hurrian milieu Hepat, who was in origin a kind of Syrian mother-goddess figure, had never actually had the character of a solar deity. But her prime position alongside her consort Teshub in the Hurrian pantheon and in numerous individual cult centres in Syria and eastern Anatolia made quite natural the syncretism with the most important divine couple in the Hittite pantheon. The couple’s offspring were now reduced essentially to one prominent son Sharruma, a southern Anatolian Hurrian god who was equated with the Storm God of Nerik,and a daughter Allanzu,who had a particularly close association with the cult centre Kummanni. Sharruma achieved high prominence in the last decades of the empire as the personal deity of King Tudhaliya IV. At Yazılıkaya he appeared in both the male and female files of deities, in each case immediately behind his respective parent. He is symbolized in Hittite art as a pair of human legs. On one level these syncretisms were obviously aimed at reducing the multiplicity of like gods in the pantheon. But they also clearly reflect the progressive Hurrianization of Hittite culture. This had become particularly marked in Hattusili’s reign, no doubt partly under his Hurrian wife’s influence. The syncretizing process seems not to have extended, at least officially, below the highest level of divine society. But further efforts were made to give some sort of system to the divine ranks of the pantheon by new groupings of male and female deities into kaluti or ‘circles’, as depicted in the separate male and female files at Yazılıkaya (with one exception on each side). Such reforms were not just a matter of theological housekeeping. They must also have been intended to promote a greater sense of coherence and unity, both cultural and political, within the empire as a whole. Not a plethora of different gods of different regions, but the same gods for all peoples and all regions of the empire. In theory the advantages are obvious, if one takes the overlord’s point of view. But care had to be taken that the promotion of imperial unity, on a cultural and political level, and official attempts to rationalize and systematize the gods of the realm, did not run contrary to the spirit of tolerance in which the Hittites obviously took such pride, and to the preservation and maintenance of local traditions, local beliefs, local gods. Theological rationalization, abstract concepts of cultural homogeneity and unity count for little with local communities if they believe that the individuality and the very ‘localness’ and distinctiveness of the gods whom they worship are in danger of being lost to a broader, more impersonal unity.” §REF§ (Bryce 2002, 136-138) Bryce, Trevor. 2002. Life and Society in the Hittite World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/53S7DKVT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 53S7DKVT </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 102, "polity": { "id": 73, "name": "tr_byzantine_emp_1", "long_name": "Byzantine Empire I", "start_year": 632, "end_year": 866 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following source suggests widespread combination, at the level of individual believers, of Christian and non-Christian concepts. \"The degree to which Christianity had been adopted by the populations of the territories remaining to the empire in the second half of the seventh century is still far from clear. While it had been the official religion of the Roman state since the time of Theodosius I, and while, by the end of the sixth century at least, non-Christians are treated by both Chalcedonian and monophysite writers alike as either maginal or backward, it is nevertheless clear that considerable numbers of people continued to observe traditional and pre-Christian cult practices, whether this occurred in a thinly disguised but nevertheless Christian form, in which non-Christian rituals and practices received a Christian veneer, or whether it occurred in an overtly pagan form.\"§REF§(Haldon 1990: 327) Haldon, J. F. 1990. Byzantium in the Seventh Century. Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/haldon/titleCreatorYear/items/K8BJIJ9V/item-list§REF§" }, { "id": 103, "polity": { "id": 445, "name": "pg_orokaiva_pre_colonial", "long_name": "Orokaiva - Pre-Colonial", "start_year": 1734, "end_year": 1883 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "The spread of Christianity and the emergence of new supralocal religious movements did not predate colonization: 'The traditional beliefs of the Orokaiva, though in many respects vague and locally variable, focused primarily on the \"spirits of the dead\" and their influence on the living. The Orokaiva had no high god. Formerly, they were animists, believing in the existence of souls (ASISI) in humans, plants, and animals. The taro spirit was of particular importance and was the inspiration and foundation of the Taro Cult. The Orokaiva have been swept recently by a series of new cults, indicative of their religious adaptability in the face of fresh experience. Mission influence is strong in the Northern District. Religious training is provided almost exclusively by the Anglican church, although mission influence has not totally eradicated traditional beliefs, producing an air of mysticism about the resultant religious system.' Latham, Christopher S.: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Orokaiva (2004) §REF§ Latham, Christopher and John Beierle. 2004. ‘Culture Summary: Orokaiva’. In: eHRAF World Cultures. Online: http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=oj23-000. <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/V2AK2FR7\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: V2AK2FR7 </b></a> §REF§" } ] }