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=6", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/theological-syncretism-of-different-religions/?format=api&page=4", "results": [ { "id": 205, "polity": { "id": 589, "name": "in_sur_emp", "long_name": "Sur Empire", "start_year": 1540, "end_year": 1556 }, "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 analysing Bangladesh society, writers overwhelmingly privilege ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ as mutually exclusive, oppositional and monolithic terms. It is crucial to recognise that there has always been strong cultural resistance in Bangladesh to such bipolar categorisation, not only with regard to social stereotyping but also at the most basic religious level.”§REF§ Van Schendel, W. (2009). A History of Bangladesh. Cambridge University Press, 37. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JD6ZB9SG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JD6ZB9SG </b></a> §REF§ There was a long process of ‘harmonizing’ Hinduism and indigenous cults, from around the thirteenth century through the sultanate period, which involved both official and popular adoption/incorporation of different deities and religious practices. “As elsewhere in India, there arose in Bengal a need to harmonize Vedic religion, which focused on male deities, with indigenous Indian cults, in which female deities dominated.” […] “By the late sixteenth century, while the ecstatic spirit of Chaitanya’s devotional movement was still vibrant, the upper castes had already begun to ally themselves with the movement in the process redefining it along orthodox lines. In subsequent centuries, Vaishnava piety, though originating in cities, would make deep inroads among Begal’s Hindu artisan and cultivating castes.” §REF§ Eaton, R. M. (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press, 103 & 112. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UFZ2JWS8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UFZ2JWS8 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 206, "polity": { "id": 587, "name": "gb_british_emp_1", "long_name": "British Empire I", "start_year": 1690, "end_year": 1849 }, "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": "“New cultures and new religious systems emerged among the Indians as European expansion continued.” §REF§ (Butler 2007, 99-100) Butler, Jon. 2007. New World Faiths: Religion in Colonial America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PPDI9F4I\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: PPDI9F4I </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 207, "polity": { "id": 796, "name": "in_gangaridai", "long_name": "Gangaridai", "start_year": -300, "end_year": -100 }, "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": "\"Although religious specialists such as Xuanzang clearly distinguished between traditions, we do not know to what extent ordinary believers in Bangladesh understood these religious forms as separate or as an amalgamated whole. Neither do we know how these forms interacted with pre-existing religions or to what extent they spread beyond urban centres. It is clear, however, that very gradually many local deities became incorporated into the Sanskritic religions, giving these a particular regional flavour. One distinct regional feature is the persisting popularity of powerful female deities: Monosha (manasā), who protects worshippers against snakebites, Chondi (candī), the goddess of forest life and hunting, Shitola (śītalā), who guards against smallpox, and the fierce and vengeful Kali (kāli).\"§REF§(Van Schendel 2009: 26-27) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JD6ZB9SG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JD6ZB9SG </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 208, "polity": { "id": 385, "name": "in_sunga_emp", "long_name": "Magadha - Sunga Empire", "start_year": -187, "end_year": -65 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Unclear exactly what time period this applies to, but it suggests it was a centuries-long process. “The early history of religious identities in Bangladesh is still poorly understood. Archaeologists have unearthed many images of female and male figures that they interpret as representations of powerful goddesses and gods, but we know little about the community religions that gave these images meaning. The picture becomes clearer when, over 2,000 years ago, deities came to exhibit iconographical characteristics that place them within broader religious traditions found in other parts of South and South-east Asia. In the Bengal delta, these traditions – now known as Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism – appear to have coexisted for centuries as part of the eastward expansion of Sanskritic culture. […] // It is clear, however, that very gradually many local deities became incorporated into the Sanskritic religions, giving these a particular regional flavour. One distinct regional feature is the persisting popularity of powerful female deities: Monosha (manasa¯), who protects worshippers against snakebites,Chondi (can_d_ı¯), the goddess of forest life and hunting, Shitola (s´ı¯tala¯), who guards against smallpox, and the fierce and vengeful Kali (ka¯li).7 Evidence of the overlapping of various frontiers – Sanskritic, agrarian, state and religious – is provided by early Bengali literature.” §REF§ Van Schendel, W. (2009). Region of Multiple Frontiers. In A History of Bangladesh (pp. 24–38). Cambridge University Press, 26 & 27. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A2NBIZRP\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: A2NBIZRP </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 209, "polity": { "id": 409, "name": "bd_bengal_sultanate", "long_name": "Bengal Sultanate", "start_year": 1338, "end_year": 1538 }, "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": "“Now about Islam, which came to Bangladesh comparatively late. Though Arab Muslim traders came to coastal Bengal within a hundred years of the advent of Islam, proselytizing Muslim Sufi saints came only from the eleventh century. Influenced by the teachings and ideals of the Sufi saints, huge numbers of Hindus and Buddhists and other indigenous people embraced Islam. Islam entered here in full force, however, with the Turkish conquest towards the beginning of the thirteenth century. Islam, with its social justice and principles of equality and fraternity, came to downtrodden people as a saviour at a time when the society was steeped in inequality and caste oppression. It may be mentioned here that many of the Muslim converts retained their inherited customs and social behaviour, as is evident even today. Thus, while the social and religious life of the Muslims profoundly influenced Hinduism, conversely some practices of the Hindus entered into the life of the Muslims.” §REF§ Islam, K. N. (2011). Historical Overview of Religious Pluralism in Bengal. Bangladesh E-Journal of Sociology, 8(1), 26–33, 30. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/I7HSKHZ2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: I7HSKHZ2 </b></a> §REF§ “In analysing Bangladesh society, writers overwhelmingly privilege ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ as mutually exclusive, oppositional and monolithic terms. It is crucial to recognise that there has always been strong cultural resistance in Bangladesh to such bipolar categorisation, not only with regard to social stereotyping but also at the most basic religious level.” §REF§ Van Schendel, W. (2009). A History of Bangladesh. Cambridge University Press, 37. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JD6ZB9SG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JD6ZB9SG </b></a> §REF§ There was a long process of ‘harmonizing’ Hinduism and indigenous cults, from around the thirteenth century through the sultanate period, which involved both official and popular adoption/incorporation of different deities and religious practices. “As elsewhere in India, there arose in Bengal a need to harmonize Vedic religion, which focused on male deities, with indigenous Indian cults, in which female deities dominated.” […] “By the late sixteenth century, while the ecstatic spirit of Chaitanya’s devotional movement was still vibrant, the upper castes had already begun to ally themselves with the movement in the process redefining it along orthodox lines. In subsequent centuries, Vaishnava piety, though originating in cities, would make deep inroads among Begal’s Hindu artisan and cultivating castes.” §REF§ Eaton, R. M. (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press, 103 & 112. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UFZ2JWS8\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: UFZ2JWS8 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 210, "polity": { "id": 779, "name": "bd_deva_dyn", "long_name": "Deva Dynasty", "start_year": 1150, "end_year": 1300 }, "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": "\"Although religious specialists such as Xuanzang clearly distinguished between traditions, we do not know to what extent ordinary believers in Bangladesh understood these religious forms as separate or as an amalgamated whole. Neither do we know how these forms interacted with pre-existing religions or to what extent they spread beyond urban centres. It is clear, however, that very gradually many local deities became incorporated into the Sanskritic religions, giving these a particular regional flavour. One distinct regional feature is the persisting popularity of powerful female deities: Monosha (manasā), who protects worshippers against snakebites, Chondi (candī), the goddess of forest life and hunting, Shitola (śītalā), who guards against smallpox, and the fierce and vengeful Kali (kāli).\"§REF§(Van Schendel 2009: 26-27) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JD6ZB9SG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: JD6ZB9SG </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 211, "polity": { "id": 783, "name": "in_gauda_k", "long_name": "Gauda Kingdom", "start_year": 600, "end_year": 625 }, "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": "\"Although religious specialists such as Xuanzang clearly distinguished between traditions, we do not know to what extent ordinary believers in Bangladesh understood these religious forms as separate or as an amalgamated whole. Neither do we know how these forms interacted with pre-existing religions or to what extent they spread beyond urban centres. It is clear, however, that very gradually many local deities became incorporated into the Sanskritic religions, giving these a particular regional flavour. One distinct regional feature is the persisting popularity of powerful female deities: Monosha (manasā), who protects worshippers against snakebites, Chondi (candī), the goddess of forest life and hunting, Shitola (śītalā), who guards against smallpox, and the fierce and vengeful Kali (kāli).\" (Van Schendel 2009: 26-27)" }, { "id": 212, "polity": { "id": 304, "name": "fr_merovingian_emp_1", "long_name": "Early Merovingian", "start_year": 481, "end_year": 543 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "The following quote seemed to indicate some degree of theological syncretism. \"Romano-Celtic temples did not represent an 'indigenous' cult structure, then, nor a rural one. Instead they illustrate the very wide extension of the system of fusions, combinations and replacements that constituted Gallo-Roman religion. No religion of the town, no Roman cults against a backdrop of a barbaric rites; rather a new ritual system developed from numerous currents but representing a unified if complex whole.\"§REF§(Woolf 1998: 236) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XAMPZR6R\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XAMPZR6R </b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\nHowever, in a 2023 conversation with Rachel Ainsworth, Yaniv Fox stated that there was no theological syncretism at this time." }, { "id": 213, "polity": { "id": 456, "name": "fr_merovingian_emp_3", "long_name": "Proto-Carolingian", "start_year": 687, "end_year": 751 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“By the middle ofthe eighth century missionaries and reformers such as Boniface had begun, with the support of the mayors of the Merovingian palace, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short and his brother Carloman, to try to cut back the tangled jungle of pagan religious beliefs and customs that still predominated in northern Europe, mixing with and compromising orthodox Christianity.” §REF§Dutton, E.P. (Ed), 2009, pg 3 - 4. A List of Superstitions and Pagan Practices. Carolingian Civilization - A Reader (Second Edition) University of Toronto Press Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/M5E94H7I\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: M5E94H7I </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 214, "polity": { "id": 306, "name": "fr_merovingian_emp_2", "long_name": "Middle Merovingian", "start_year": 543, "end_year": 687 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "“In addition to regulating the lives of the Christian subjects of the Merovingian kings – and also to circumscribing the activities of the Jews, the one recognized religious minority in the kingdom – the bishops at least tried to monopolize the local centres and objects of devotion, which might have presented a focus of religious power outside their control.”§REF§ Wood, I. (2014) The Merovingian Kingdoms 450 - 751. 1st edn. Taylor and Francis. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ARUIRN35\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ARUIRN35 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 215, "polity": { "id": 333, "name": "fr_valois_k_1", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Early Valois", "start_year": 1328, "end_year": 1450 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "“Despite the presence of many clerics of varying types in the countryside and the efforts of the higher clergy to extend its control there, religious beliefs retained features which barely seemed Christian to educated contemporaries - a finding emphasised by Jacques Le Goff and Jean Delumeau. In the Évangiles des Quenouilles, a text probably written in the circle of Philip the Good, Duke of of Burgundy (1419 - 67), tales attributed to old peasant women describe how husbands could be bent to their wives’ will by placing their shirts under the altar on Good Friday. In the region of Toulouse, Marie-Claude Marandet still finds ‘a mix of superstition and magic’ close to the surface of religious beliefs in the fifteenth century.”§REF§ Small, G. 2009. Late Medieval France. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Pg 92. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J8FTT66Z\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: J8FTT66Z </b></a> §REF§\r\n\r\n\"The existence of different popular interpretations of Catholicism by the laity does not seem evidence of theological syncretism of different religions (ie Christianity and Islam for eg). What two or more systems is it blending? This seem more like popular interpretations but the people would understand themselves as Catholics, probably even good Catholics. Similarly at the level of Church officials, there are distinctions between political factions within the Catholic Church, the Avignon Papacy falls in this period, for example, so there is a ‘schism’ but it’s more political/administrative than theological.\" §REF§(Susan Broomhall, 2023, pers. comm.)§REF§" }, { "id": 216, "polity": { "id": 457, "name": "fr_capetian_k_1", "long_name": "Proto-French Kingdom", "start_year": 987, "end_year": 1150 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "“The penaltiesmeted out to heretics were consequently often extreme and savage. In the early eleventh century isolated groups of heretics had been identified in France, especially in the decade between 1018 and 1028. A group at Orléans, for example, had denied Christ’s human form and the validity of the sacraments, penance and marriage, and Robert the Pious had intervened to crush it in 1022. The council of Charroux in 1028 had condemned heresy and in the later part of the century the sources are silent on it. In the twelfth century, however, it began to revive again in France as a number of heretical sects were discovered.” […] “As well as extending the coverage of royal justice, the twelfth-century French kings began to issue ordinances for the whole kingdom, not just for the principality. Probably the first was Louis VII’s instructions of 1144 banishing Jewish converts to Christianity who had relapsed, and this was followed in 1155 by the constitutions of Soissons, which established the peace of God throughout the kingdom for ten years.” §REF§ (Hallam and West 2020: 186) Hallam, Elizabeth and West, Charles. 2020. Capetian France: 987-1328. Third Edition. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/66GFGV49\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 66GFGV49 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 217, "polity": { "id": 458, "name": "fr_capetian_k_2", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Late Capetian", "start_year": 1150, "end_year": 1328 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "“If crusading could serve to frame the Capetians as fighting God’s war beyond the bounds of Christendom, scholars have recently been ever-more interested in the way the Capetiansaugmented their power by identifying enemies within the realm and then claiming to act as God’s agents by defending France against such internal threats. A central element in this campaign was the intensifying persecution of Jews. The trajectory is clear, from Philip II’s arrests and expulsions around 1180, to tightening restrictions on Jewish economic activities under Louis VIII and Louis IX, through Philip IV’s massive expulsion of 1306. [...] Following a strain of recent scholarship that treats heresy as always at least partly a construct serving the needs of social, intellectual, and governmental elites, Capetian support for the repression of heresy can also be seen as an element in the establishment of royal power. Mark Pegg’s treatment of the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) highlights the way the extension of Capetian power to the south rested on the construction of a half-imagined, largely unlocatable “Albigensian” enemy, leading to Louis VIII’s successful claim of sovereignty over new parts of the Languedoc in exchange for large scale royal intervention in a languishing “crusade.” Royal support was then crucial in determining what level of success inquisitors in Toulouse and Carcassonne would enjoy. This mutually reinforcing link between royal and inquisitorial power reached its zenith under Philip IV. When the main Dominican inquisitor of heretical depravity for northern France, William of Paris, also became Philip IV’s personal confessor at the end of 1305, the unprecedented attack on the Templars followed, along with inquisitorial attention to cases of “relapse” among the few Jews who had chosen to stay and convert in 1305.” §REF§ Field, S.L. & Gaposchkin, C.M. 2014. Questioning the Capetians, 1180 - 1328. History Compass 12/7 (2014) Pg 573. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A9M84BNF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: A9M84BNF </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 218, "polity": { "id": 461, "name": "fr_bourbon_k_2", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Late Bourbon", "start_year": 1660, "end_year": 1815 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "In conversation with expert, Sean Health, he mentioned that he is not aware of this within Bourbon France, but this might have been something that happened in the colonies.Regarding the colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti) there is evidence of theological syncretism “Moreover, many of the Central Africans who bulked so large in the slave population arrived in Saint Domingue with a superficial familiarity with Christianity, the product of centuries of missionary influence, primarily Portuguese and Italian. Besides complicating the concept of acculturation in the New World, this factor must have facilitated the combining of Catholic ritual with African rites and theology that characterizes voodoo.” §REF§ (Geggus 1991: 22) Geggus, David. 1991. ‘Haitian Voodoo in the Eighteenth Century: Language, Culture, Resistance’. Jahrbuch fu Geschichte Lateinamerikas. 28(1): Pp 21-51. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GJTRCZXS\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GJTRCZXS </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 219, "polity": { "id": 460, "name": "fr_bourbon_k_1", "long_name": "French Kingdom - Early Bourbon", "start_year": 1589, "end_year": 1660 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"The demographic evidence even suggests that in areas where Protestants were a minority, they were as receptive as their Catholic neighbours to the wide variety of folk beliefs about lucky and unlucky seasons to marry (customs and habits that both the Protestant and Catholic churches were doing their best to destroy). On the other hand, in Protestant regions where Catholics were a minority, Catholics also showed a tendency to postpone the baptism of their children by a week or more as was the Protestant custom. Thus, 'a degree of interpenetration of religious practices clearly occurred between the two confessional groups living side by side in seventeenth-century France. They were not [the] hermetically sealed communities of belief and practice' they may have once been.\" §REF§ Holt, M.P. 2005. The French Wars of Religion, 1562 - 1629. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pg 187. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BRM4FZCX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BRM4FZCX </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 220, "polity": { "id": 311, "name": "fr_carolingian_emp_2", "long_name": "Carolingian Empire II", "start_year": 840, "end_year": 987 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“The rise in popularity of a monotheism such as Christianity thus often created untidy situations in which religious beliefs blended. An important model for this process, borrowed from anthropology, is ‘enculturation’, in which conversion is seen as an initial confrontation between religious systems that gives way to a dialectic. [...] More successful pagan adoptions of Christian elements might include King Raedwald of East Anglia’s use of pagan and Christian altars, and the willingness of ninth-century Swedes at Birka to include Christ amongst their gods. Christianity was also changed by missionary activity; even where it was victorious, it still adapted to circumstance. James Russell’s thesis concerning the ‘Germanization’ of Christianity is a good, if flawed, example of how we might focus on religious transformation. Here is something one can maybe identify in Carolingian productions such as the Old Saxon Heliand, which famously transposed Germanic morals and expectations into the story of the Gospels.”§REF§ Palmer, J. (2007) pg 409/410. Defining paganism in the Carolingian World. Early Medieval Europe, 15: 402-425. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X2TVBSHK\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: X2TVBSHK </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 221, "polity": { "id": 309, "name": "fr_carolingian_emp_1", "long_name": "Carolingian Empire I", "start_year": 752, "end_year": 840 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The following suggests that many commoners understood the world through a combination of Christian and non-Christian concepts. “The most famous example of Carolingians attempting to define popular non-Christian religion is the weather magic condemned by Archbishop Agobard of Lyons. Agobard was a Spaniard – a conspicuous outsider in the Frankish north – educated at the court of Charlemagne and frequently embroiled in controversy. As archbishop of Lyons, he once had fraudsters from Magonia (‘Magic Land’, from the word magia) arrested after they had taken payment from villagers to stop thunder and hail. It is the challenge to scripture that upset Agobard most: ‘so much stupidity has already oppressed the wretched world that Christians now believe things so absurd that no one ever before could persuade the pagans to believe them, even though these pagans were ignorant of the Creator of all things’. Here folk practices are reduced to ignorance and stupidity, with paganism highlighted as positively civilized by comparison.” §REF§ Palmer, J. (2007) pg 406. Defining paganism in the Carolingian world. Early Medieval Europe, 15: 402-425. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0254.2007.00214.x §REF§" }, { "id": 222, "polity": { "id": 480, "name": "iq_isin_dynasty2", "long_name": "Second Dynasty of Isin", "start_year": -1153, "end_year": -1027 }, "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": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism. Within this system, the rule of Nebuchadnezzar in the Second Dynasty of Isin is associated with a reordering of the pantheon, positioning Marduk as the most important deity. However, as the latter quote shows, Nebuchadnezzar continued to honour other local deities as an integral part of affirming his regional power. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “Donations made to the Moon-god at Ur helped to keep the loyalty of the Sealand people under Nebuchadnezzar’s control; and there he made a special dedication of his daughter as a priestess. In Nippur, he dedicated a throne to Enlil and a powerful governor kept control over the country’s ancient centre of religion and culture.” §REF§ (Dalley, 2021, 164) Dalley, Stephanie. (2021) The City of Babylon: A History, c. 2000 BC – AD AD 116, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4HSRAKT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: U4HSRAKT </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 223, "polity": { "id": 482, "name": "iq_dynasty_e", "long_name": "Dynasty of E", "start_year": -979, "end_year": -732 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism. As the latter quotes indicate, there is evidence of the syncretised worship of Assyrian and Babylonian gods in the period. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “Increasingly, Assyria and Babylonia shared the same gods and had similar rituals. Marduk was venerated in Assyrian shrines; in Babylon, a branch cult of the great Assyrian goddess of war Ishtar-of-Nineveh had long been in place.” §REF§ (Dalley, 2021, 174-5) Dalley, Stephanie. (2021) The City of Babylon: A History, c. 2000 BC – AD 116, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4HSRAKT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: U4HSRAKT </b></a>§REF§ “During the Assyrian king’s control over Babylon [Adad-nirari, reigned 810–783], Marduk was invoked in Assyria alongside Assyrian gods, not as a captive god stripped of power, but as an equal of the great Assyrian deities.” §REF§ (Dalley, 2021, 182) Dalley, Stephanie. (2021) The City of Babylon: A History, c. 2000 BC – AD 116, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4HSRAKT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: U4HSRAKT </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 224, "polity": { "id": 481, "name": "iq_bazi_dyn", "long_name": "Bazi Dynasty", "start_year": -1005, "end_year": -986 }, "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": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 225, "polity": { "id": 477, "name": "iq_ur_dyn_3", "long_name": "Ur - Dynasty III", "start_year": -2112, "end_year": -2004 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism and tolerance. As the latter quote indicates, during the Ur Dynasty this attitude became part of a more aggressive centralisation of power. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ Regarding the following quote, expert Mark Altaweel stated \"The building programme was to legitimise the kings in the minds of the local population. They attempted to benefit cities that were independent before so to keep them happy and loyalty to Ur.\" (pers.comm. 2024). “The new ruler [Ur-Nammu] projected a view of himself as a religious man, upholding and respecting the old traditions and, at the same time, leaving nobody in doubt that his power and the new order were absolute, without alternative. The new and the old stood side by side, but the new did not threaten the old. Ur-Nammu insured this through his clever placement of new cultic monuments and by according due respect to the gods of each local tradition. Even where local gods were worshipped in new temples, the effort put into building them demonstrated Ur-Nammu’s high regard for them. The imperial building program thus contained two messages: the new was both powerful and obviously accepted by the local gods. At the same time, it served as an invitation to local populations to identify with it, as well as an admonition to be aware that there was no alternative.” §REF§ (Heinz, 2012, 708-9). Heinz, Marlies (2012). The Ur III, Old Babylonian, and Kassite Empires. In Potts, D. T. (Ed.), A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, pp.706-721). John Wiley & Sons. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HIN8NS88\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HIN8NS88 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 226, "polity": { "id": 475, "name": "iq_early_dynastic", "long_name": "Early Dynastic", "start_year": -2900, "end_year": -2500 }, "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": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “The placement of contemporary temples at high and low places on the mound at Uqaor and Uruk-Warka may, according to Oates, indicate that the ancients recognised differences between state religion and older folk religion at the same centre.” §REF§(Rothman, 2004, 104). Rothman, M. S. (2004). Studying the Development of Complex Society: Mesopotamia in the Late Fifth and Fourth Millennia BC. Journal of Archaeological Research, 12(1), 75–119. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VV3ICSVM\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VV3ICSVM </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 227, "polity": { "id": 478, "name": "iq_isin_larsa", "long_name": "Isin-Larsa", "start_year": -2004, "end_year": -1763 }, "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": "Regarding the following quote expert Mark Altaweel stated \"Structured but mutable. Gods can gain in popularity or rise or decline in relative power on the heirarchy.\" (pers. comm. 2024). Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism and tolerance. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 228, "polity": { "id": 479, "name": "iq_babylonia_1", "long_name": "Amorite Babylonia", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1600 }, "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": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism. As the latter quotes demonstrate, the centralisation of power during the Babylonian Empire impacted the structure and hierarchy of the pantheon, and it is implied, led to increased uniformity in this period. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “Hammurabi’s reign [c.1792-50 BCE] was a period of significant religious reforms. Firstly, the unification of the region effectively removed the pre-eminence of the local cities’ pantheons .[…] The new structure of the pantheon placed Marduk, god of Babylon, as its head. Since Marduk was a local deity, the operation was not simple to implement, since it was difficult to link him to the previous theologies. The old hierarchy, featuring the supremacy of Enlil and his city Nippur, did not exist anymore. At the same time, the new hierarchy was still under construction.” §REF§ (Liverani, 2013, 248-9) Liverani, Mario. The Ancient near East: History, Society and Economy, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7DRZQS5Q\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7DRZQS5Q </b></a> §REF§ “The periodic expansion of political control could generate not only the transfer of roles and functions from one deity to another but also actual identifications. […] Such identifications culminated in the transfer of the Enlilship, that is, the divine rulership, of the Sumero-Babylonian chief god Enlil, to Marduk as he rose into the position of the chief god of the Babylonians.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 36). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 229, "polity": { "id": 474, "name": "iq_uruk", "long_name": "Uruk", "start_year": -4000, "end_year": -2900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism and tolerance. “There may have been a political need to cooperate with other towns that had different gods but were viewed as friendly, and the interaction of the gods was assumed to have been benign. Polytheisms seem especially good at avoiding religious conflict, partly because they are open-ended and can admit any number of new names of gods. Syncretism allows them to simplify a burgeoning system and yet retain the names and panoply preferred in each locality […] The mechanism was available to create a pantheon that included the gods of various towns, but no one may have bothered when the early farming villages, dependent on irrigation, did not amalgamate into larger political entities. When they began to combine, the issue arose, however, and gods became identified with other gods, their qualities becoming homogenized. This is the earliest polytheism we know much about. Religious feelings may have been different in different towns as the objects of religion varied, but religion itself did not appear to be divisive.” §REF§(Snell, 2011, 12, 13) Daniel C. Snell. (2011). Religions of the Ancient Near East. Cambridge University Press. §REF§“Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “The placement of contemporary temples at high and low places on the mound at Uqaor and Uruk-Warka may, according to Oates, indicate that the ancients recognised differences between state religion and older folk religion at the same centre.” §REF§(Rothman, 2004, 104). Rothman, M. S. (2004). Studying the Development of Complex Society: Mesopotamia in the Late Fifth and Fourth Millennia BC. Journal of Archaeological Research, 12(1), 75–119. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VV3ICSVM\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: VV3ICSVM </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 230, "polity": { "id": 342, "name": "iq_babylonia_2", "long_name": "Kassite Babylonia", "start_year": -1595, "end_year": -1150 }, "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": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism. As the latter quote demonstrates, like previous rulers, the Kassite Dynasty probably used this polytheistic system to their own advantage. “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§ “Kassite adherence to Babylonian religion found its material expression in the care of extant Babylonian temples as well as in the building of new ones, such as the Ishtar temple at Uruk. This temple presented a specific aspect of Kassite acculturation. Like the rulers of earlier empires, Kassite kings understood the importance of connecting the traditional cultural traits with new ones, concealing the fact that they had created a new geopolitical order and thus in reality broken with local traditions. Nominally, the Kassite kings ruled in the name of the Babylonian gods, but the gods who protected and guided them remained Kassite ones.” §REF§ (Heinz, 2012, 718). Heinz, Marlies (2012). The Ur III, Old Babylonian, and Kassite Empires. In Potts, D. T. (Ed.), A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, pp.706-721). John Wiley & Sons. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HIN8NS88\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HIN8NS88 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 231, "polity": { "id": 346, "name": "iq_neo_babylonian_emp", "long_name": "Neo-Babylonian Empire", "start_year": -626, "end_year": -539 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Ancient Mesopotamian religion is recognised as being polytheistic, accommodating a broad range of local gods into an increasingly structured framework. Sources speculate that this allowed for a degree of syncretism. “Many local rulers, or their representatives, came to Babylon and renewed their oaths of loyalty at the New Year Festival. Trends towards the conflation of great gods and the use of symbols in preference to anthropomorphic images may help to explain how Jeremiah could call Nebuchadnezzar the servant of Yahweh, and how Nabonidus could call Cyrus II the servant of Marduk.” §REF§ (Dalley, 2021, 232) Dalley, Stephanie. (2021) The City of Babylon: A History, c. 2000 BC – AD 116, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U4HSRAKT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: U4HSRAKT </b></a>§REF§ “Mesopotamian religion was primarily local in its character. Only through institutional efforts (such as the foundation of palaces and temples) and theological systematization did religion gain regional and supra-regional features. Notwithstanding the local character of religion in Mesopotamia, archaeological and textual evidence attests to a religious system that was intended to foster cultural cohesion.” §REF§ (Pongratz-Leisten, 2013, 33). Pongratz-Leisten, B. (2013). Mesopotamia. In B. Spaeth (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions (Cambridge Companions to Religion, pp. 33-54). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZEG8QMQQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZEG8QMQQ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 232, "polity": { "id": 12, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_7", "long_name": "Classic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 649 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": "Within the Mesoamerican context, syncretism before the advent of Christianity did not involve the melding of distinct religious traditions, but rather of local variants of the same shared set of beliefs and practices. At the same time, it is worth noting that several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“Teotihuacan gained converts all over Mesoamerica at unprecedented rates. At some sites, syncretic practices may be observed where Teotihuacan or Teotihuacan-related elements were combined with local religious aspects. Syncretism thus also gained ground, and it was another major tool of expansion. […] The diverse polities within Teotihuacan’s exchange network developed a dialectic relationship with the latter’s symbolic structure. Local actors were able to redefine, transform, and designate new meanings for the same symbols. Teotihuacan symbols, thus, were differentially interpreted and generated dissimilar rituals across Mesoamerica. The authors of such transformative processes, agents, or players, consciously took advantage of attractive ideas and strategies to condition, reproduce, or change structure.” […] The manipulation of the Teotihuacan ideology was accomplished via incorporation, resistance, and reinvention of the foreign symbols. Ideas resulted in localized meta-structures, which included local and foreign cultural elements but were dependent on the Teotihuacan symbolic structure for their social reproduction (see Hallam & Street, 2000). In any single local “node” of the network, all three aforementioned mechanisms are detected.” […] “In contrast, other groups reveal elements of more hybrid cultures, which kept some identifying markers of their culture of origin and adopted some from common Teotihuacan urban culture. For example, a culturally distinct group occupied the western Mexican barrio known as Structure 19. Although the ceramics and burial patterns there show a clear affiliation to western Mexico (Gómez Chávez, 2002, 2007), the dwellings are architecturally similar to other Teotihuacan apartment compounds.” §REF§ (Filini 2015, 100, 107, 113) Filini, Agapi. 2015. Teotihuacan: Ritual Economy, Exchange, and Urbanization Processes in Classic Period Mesoamerica. Economic Anthropology. Vol. 2. Pp. 97–119. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D6MQXIMH\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: D6MQXIMH </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 233, "polity": { "id": 7, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_2", "long_name": "Initial Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1201 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "“The Late Archaic and initial Formative of the central highlands of Mexico are still poorly understood. Niederberger (1976, 1979) found evidence for year-round exploitation of the lake environment at Tlapacoya-Zohapilco around 2500-2000 B.C., suggestive of early sedentism tied to abundant natural resources. There is not, however, evidence for large Late Archaic populations, sedentary or otherwise, and indeed, the Formative is likewise poorly known before approximately 1400 B.C. The Nevada phase in the basin is identified primarily from Zohapilco. The best record of pre-1400 B.C settlement comes from lower-lying areas of Morelos and Puebla (Aviles 1997; Cyphers Guillen and Grove 1987; Grove 1974; Hirth 1987). It is only with Manantial and related phases beginning circa 1150 B.C. (2950 B.P. in radiocarbon years) that occupation is documented across much of central Mexico (e.g., Aufdermauer 1973; Niederberger 1987; Ramirez et al. 2000; Tolstoy 1989).” §REF§ (Lesure et al. 2006, 475-476) Lesure et al. 2006. ‘Chronology, Subsistence, and the Earliest Formative of Central Tlaxcala, Mexico’. Latin American Antiquity. Vol. 17:4. Pp. 474-492. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XMXH6V7V\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XMXH6V7V </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 234, "polity": { "id": 6, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_1", "long_name": "Archaic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -6000, "end_year": -2001 }, "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 archaeological record of the Archaic period (ca. 8000–2000 BC) is still very fragmentary, and this hinders understanding both of the change from foraging societies to kin-based villages and of the development of early hierarchical polities.” §REF§ (Nichols & Pool 2012, 13) Nichols, Deborah L. and Pool, Christopher A. 2012. ‘Mesoamerican Archaeology: Recent Trends’. In The Oxford handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A. Pool. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/I2EHZSUW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: I2EHZSUW </b></a> §REF§ “Even greater difficulties are faced when it comes to reconstructing social organization, ceremonialism, and ideology from the archaeological traces of people whose material manifestations of these phenomena, even where preserved, were very limited.” §REF§ (Zeitlin & Zeitlin 2000, 50) Zeitlin Robert N. and Zeitlin Judith Francis. 2000. ‘The Paleoindian and Archaic Cultures of Mesoamerica’. In The Cambridge History of the native People of the Americas. Vol II: Mesoamerica. Part I. Edited by Richard E.W. Adams and Murdo J. MacLeod. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/C6KJ9FU9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: C6KJ9FU9 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 235, "polity": { "id": 15, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_10", "long_name": "Middle Postclassic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 1200, "end_year": 1426 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": "Within the Mesoamerican context, syncretism before the advent of Christianity did not involve the melding of distinct religious traditions, but rather of local variants of the same shared set of beliefs and practices. At the same time, it is worth noting that several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“As with the evolution of its social, economic, and political institutions, the religious system of Mexica society increasingly came to resemble that of its more ‘civilized’ Mesoamerican neighbors. By the late fourteenth century, the Mexica shared both the gods and the rituals of other Central Mexican societies. The complex Postclassic pantheon included ancient deities of fertility and agriculture (e.g., the primordial Mesoamerican rain god, goggle-eyed Tlaloc, and Xipe Totec, patron of spring and renewal), as well as the Toltec-chichimec god-hero fusions (e.g., the familiar Quetzalcoatl and the cloud-serpent, Mixcoatl). Yet the principal deities were not gods in the Western sense; rather, they were divine complexes that could unfold into myriad aspects depending on specific temporal and spatial associations.” §REF§ (Conrad 1984, 26) Conrad, Geoffrey. 1984. Religion and empire: the dynamics of Aztec and Inca expansionism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BGTJ339C\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BGTJ339C </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 236, "polity": { "id": 16, "name": "mx_aztec_emp", "long_name": "Aztec Empire", "start_year": 1427, "end_year": 1526 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": "Within the Mesoamerican context, syncretism before the advent of Christianity did not involve the melding of distinct religious traditions, but rather of local variants of the same shared set of beliefs and practices. At the same time, it is worth noting that several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“The major inspirations for the development of the Aztec gods, myths, and rituals were the traditions of earlier central Mexican civilizations (particularly Teotihuacan), the Aztlan migrants from northern Mexico, and the peoples conquered by the expanding Aztec Empire. A number of Aztec gods can be traced back to Classic-period Teotihuacan. Carvings on the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, for example, depict two of these deities (figure 9.2). The feathered serpent was either Quetzalcoatl or an earlier form of this god, and the goggle-eyed figure, known as the storm god at Teotihuacan, may have been an early form of the Aztec rain god Tlaloc, or perhaps Xiuhcoatl. Other gods were brought to central Mexico by the Aztlan migrants. Huitzilopochtli, whose primary associations were with blood and warfare, had been the patron deity of the Mexica from the time of their migration from Aztlan. The ascension of the Mexica to power was accompanied by the elevation of Huitzilopochtli from a simple patron god to a powerful high god. Tlacaelel, adviser to the Mexica kings, “went about persuading the people that their supreme god was Huitzilopochtli.” The two temples atop the Templo Mayor pyramid were dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. These central temples of the Aztec Empire symbolized the social and cultural blend that made up the Aztec world: Tlaloc, the ancient central Mexican god of rain and fertility, sat next to Huitzilopochtli, the newly arrived Mexica god of warfare and sacrifice. Some gods also were adopted from conquered peoples and integrated into the imperial pantheon of Tenochtitlan. The idols of these gods were removed from their home temples and set up in the Coacalco, a special temple that was a kind of museum or prison for foreign gods.” §REF§ (Smith 2012, 202-203) Smith, Michael E. 2012. The Aztecs. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/W3PNEUBJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: W3PNEUBJ </b></a> §REF§ “The political economy of Postclassic Mesoamerica was articulated by the recognition that each altepetl controlled a territory granted by particular tutelary mountains, so hegemonic claims were symbolically consolidated by the ritual appropriation of specific hills and mountains. Upon their arrival in the Basin in the early fourteenth century, the Mexica-Tenochca attempted to occupy the fertile terrain next to the hill of Chapultepec and appropriate the hill’s tutelage, but they were chased away by the combined forces of the Tepanecas and Culhuas. Later, when the Mexica-Tenochca legitimized their territorial establishment in the Basin by assuming the royal lineage of the altepetl of Culhuacan, they became inscribed in the ritual circuit, linking their altepetl to the hill of Huixachtecatl, the tutelary patron of the Colhuas, south of the Basin. The foundational ritual of Mexico would from then on be performed every 52 years in the ceremony of the Tying of the Years (Xiuhmolpilli), an eschatological ritual that reiterated a new cosmic cycle by lighting the New Fire at the summit of Huixachtecatl. During the nocturnal Xiuhmolpilli ceremony, all fires were extinguished, symbolizing the end of the world. Four priests slowly proceeded from the temple of Huitzilopochtli in Mexico south to Huixachtecatl. At midnight they lit the New Fire on the chest of a sacrificial victim. This fire was then transferred to all the hearths and temple braziers throughout the territory dominated by Mexico. The Xiuhmolpilli ritual periodically delineated the limits of the city and the renewal of its regional hegemony (Florescano 2009:75).” §REF§ (García Garagarza 2017, 600-601) García Garagarza, León. 2017. ‘The Aztec Ritual Landscape’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríquez-Alegría. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HVUJQJCJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: HVUJQJCJ </b></a> §REF§ “Throughout this chapter I have repeatedly mentioned the ties that existed between gods and different social groups (Broda and Carrasco 1978). Most of the deities were closely linked to specific people: for example, Huitzilopochtli with the Mexicas, Mixcoatl with Tlaxcala, Quetzalcoatl with the inhabitants of Cholula. In addition, every village and neighborhood had its own temple to venerate its divine protector. Similarly, groups of people engaging in the same activity also had a patron deity, such as Yacatecuhtli for merchants, Quetzalcoatl for priests, Coyotl Inahual for feather artisans, and Xipe Totec for goldsmiths. Even the most downtrodden, slaves (tlatlacotin) were protected by a deity as powerful as Tezcatlipoca.” §REF§ (Olivier 2017, 579) Olivier, Guilhem. 2017. ‘Humans and Gods in Mexica Universe’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríquez-Alegría. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GSNPXAIV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: GSNPXAIV </b></a> §REF§ “The places described in the primary sources (Tepepulco and the Xochimilco area) evidently enjoyed many religious liberties and therefore were able to introduce “local” elements to the Aztec feast. They added local deities and patron gods (Yacatecuhtli, Cihuacoatl, and Atlahua) to the scenario of the festival and “customized” the Aztec celebration. The act of “customizing” Toxcatl in the areas remaining under the Aztec sphere of influence resulted in the introduction of themes which were considered distinctive of the local social conditions, to the local economy of a given region. The choice of the elements which were added to the “original scenario” of the festival (connected to the cycle of harvest and drought, and originating in ancient agrarian celebrations) indicated the themes and figures that had been considered important to the identity of a particular group of people.” §REF§ (Wilkosz 2014, 237) Wilkosz, Izabela. 2014. Power, Performance and Propaganda – Sociopolitical Aspects of the Aztec Feast of Toxcatl. PhD Thesis. Berlin: Freien Universität Berlin. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/223JJMM6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 223JJMM6 </b></a> §REF§ “George Vailliant (1937, 1938) first suggested that the New Fire ceremony would have created archaeologically recognizable middens consisting of nearly reconstructable vessels deposited simultaneously. Christina Elson and Michael Smith (2001) added the expectation that New Fire ceremony deposits would be located near houses and reflect typical household assemblages in type and proportions of objects. They found archaeological evidence of New Fire ceremonies at Nonoalco and Chiconauhtla in the Basin of Mexico and Cuexcomate in Morelos, indicating that this ceremony took place widely across the Aztec Empire. Elson and Smith (2001) cite New Fire iconography at Epiclassic Xochicalco (Sáenz 1967) and Mixtec codex depictions of new fires being drilled in rituals celebrating a town’s founding (Boone 2000:94–160) as evidence that the New Fire ceremony was a widespread, popular pre-Aztec ritual. Rather than the imposition of Aztec imperial ideology, they argue the New Fire ceremony demonstrates imperial appropriation of an ancient ritual and the imposition on conquered subjects of a version adorned with imperial pomp and circumstance. This argument is supported by De Lucia’s (2014) excavations of a twelfth- or thirteenth-century house at Xaltocan featuring a ritual deposit of smashed complete ceramic objects. Aztec ritual practices were thus developed “through a dialectic between traditional local and household practices … and innovative imperial policies” (Elson and Smith 2001:172).” §REF§ (Overholtzer 2017, 631-632) Overholtzer, Lisa. 2017. ‘Aztec Domestic Ritual’. In The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríquez-Alegría. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/22QVUKFF\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 22QVUKFF </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 237, "polity": { "id": 14, "name": "mx_toltec", "long_name": "Toltecs", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1199 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“Ehécatl worship, and the round temples dedicated to him, are thought to have originated in the Huasteca. Four other deities known from Tula also had strong Huastec associations: Xipe Totec, the Flayed Skin God who represented agricultural renewal, and three important female deities, Tlazolteotl (“Filth God”) and Xochiquetzal (“Flower Quetzal”), both concerned with sexuality, and Itzpapalotl (lit. “Obsidian Butterfly”), a Tamoanchan-based death goddess who made her first iconographic appearance at Tula.” §REF§ (Evans 2008, 403) Evans, Susan Toby. 2008. Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. New York: Thames and Hudson. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZZJW3E58\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZZJW3E58 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 238, "polity": { "id": 13, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_8", "long_name": "Epiclassic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 899 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": "Within the Mesoamerican context, syncretism before the advent of Christianity did not involve the melding of distinct religious traditions, but rather of local variants of the same shared set of beliefs and practices. At the same time, it is worth noting that several issues related to religious beliefs and practices that are very difficult to reconstruct based on the available sources.§REF§summary of Jesper Nielsen’s pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni via Zoom conversation, May 10 2024. Summary approved by Jesper Nielsen via email on May 14, 2024.§REF§", "description": "“Although no previous systematic study of their deities has been made, Late Classic sites of Central Mexico recognized a common group of gods. Many Late Classic supernatural beings are part of continued traditions in Mesoamerica, and can be traced to previous eras such the Classic and Formative periods. Deities such as Tlaloc and Huehueteotl that occupied paramount positions at Teotihuacan continued to be of central importance, while others that had been more obscure gained greater importance. However, the supernatural pantheon of Late Classic Central Mexico is not simply a continuation of that of Teotihuacan, but it rather draws on numerous traditions, both local and foreign, such as those of the Gulf Coast and Maya regions. This syncretism of regional pantheons was an ongoing process that continued into later periods, but the origins of the Late Postclassic Central Mexican pantheon, shared by Highland cultures and to an extent, the Gulf Coast, and Oaxaca, can largely be found in the Late Classic period.” […] “In tracing the deities that appear in Late Classic Central Mexico, several interesting patterns emerge. The important contributions of sites like Xochicalco, Cacaxtla, and (to a lesser extent) Teotenango toward the religious pantheons of Postclassic Central Mexico were not so much in their innovations, but rather in their integration of deities from other regions of Mesoamerica, a task begun by Teotihuacan. Deities such as the Old Fire God, Tlaloc, the macaw solar deity, and possibly Xochiquetzal were likely inherited from Teotihuacan. Some deities were clearly imported directly from the Maya region, with Cacaxtla as a major agent in these transactions. God L, the scorpion-tailed star deity, and the Maize god, as he appears in the Red Temple Mural, have obvious direct parallels in the Maya region, and the solar beings that appear in the Structure A murals are closely aligned with Late Classic Maya imagery and symbolism as well. […] The incorporation of deities into Late Classic Central Mexican pantheons was a selective and locally variable process.” […] “Shared religion in Late Classic Central Mexico involved multiple deities, and was by no means uniform from polity to polity. While in some instances the fusion of foreign gods into local cults was an organic process, in others it was likely a deliberate ideological maneuver to reify cosmopolitan identities and facilitate cultural and economic interactions. Rather than an overarching cult related to a single deity, elites and commoners alike from different polities were linked through several interrelated cults devoted to various deities. Regional deities and smaller cults undoubtedly became amalgamated with those of other polities or regions through cultural and economic interaction. The integration of religious cults from various regions within Mesoamerica was an ongoing process as polities sought to expand their economic networks, with Teotihuacan and Tula playing key roles during the Classic and Early Postclassic periods, respectively. This process was perhaps accelerated during the Late Classic period, as sites like Xochicalco and Cacaxtla struggled to define themselves as regional superpowers with far-reaching foreign ties. The roots of the shared religion and art styles during the Late Postclassic period can be found in the efforts of Late Classic sites to foster allegiances with foreign powers, and the study of Late Classic deity cults can demonstrate the complexity local variability of exchange networks between sites and across regions.” §REF§ (Turner 2015, 41, 107-108, 110-111) Turner, Andrew David. 2015. Cultures at the Crossroads: Art, Religion, and Interregional Interaction in Central Mexico, AD 600-900. PhD Dissertation. Riverside: University of California. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZZ5ACP74\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: ZZ5ACP74 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 239, "polity": { "id": 498, "name": "ir_elam_4", "long_name": "Elam - Late Sukkalmah", "start_year": -1700, "end_year": -1500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The Elamites shared a number of gods with the Suso-Mesopotamian pantheon, and the Hurrians: “Direct evidence from the long sukkalmah period, broadly confirmed by the inscriptions of Šilhak-Inšušinak, shows that Inšušinak continued to dominate the Acropolis at Susa, where he was surrounded by a majority of Suso-Mesopotamian gods.” §REF§ Vallat, F. 2011. ELAM VI. Elamite Religion. ‘’Encyclopedia Iranica’’, online edition, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-vi Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3ACKKUDJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3ACKKUDJ </b></a> §REF§ “Since Elamite Pin(n)kir and Hurrian Pirinkir are thus both forms of Ištar, and since both of their names are foreign to the languages oftheir worshipers, it is almost certain that the goddesses were borrowed by the Elamites and the Hurrians from a common source.” §REF§ Beckman, G. (1999). The Goddess Pirinkir and her ritual from Hattusa (CTH 644). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NI2RB5I3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NI2RB5I3 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 240, "polity": { "id": 128, "name": "ir_sassanid_emp_1", "long_name": "Sasanid Empire I", "start_year": 205, "end_year": 487 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“His [Mani’s] religious system was by all accounts dualistic and, as Mani himself explains in the Šabuhragan, based on the two principles (dw bwn). Thus this system was dualistic and used Zoroastrian terminology to propagate its message to those who were familiar with Zoroastrian deities and doctrine. This should also give us another clue as to the importance and popularity of Zoroastrianism in the third century. It does not mean, however, that this was the Zoroastrianism of the Sasanians and it appears to be unlikely that in such a short span of time the population of the Iranian plateau was to have become familiar with the Sasanian brand of Zoroastrianism. Consequently we must suspect that Mani propagated his message to the Iranian population who believed in Ohrmazd and other Zoroastrian/Mazdean deities (such as Mihr/Mithra who has an important function in Manichaeism) and who were not altogether accepting of the particular doctrinal nuances espoused by the Sasanians and the religious establishment which now attached itself to the state.” §REF§ (Daryaee 2014, 73) Touraj Daryaee 2014. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London, England: I.B. Tauris. Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ETDRZZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ETDRZZE </b></a> §REF§ “We should turn back to Kerdir and discuss the second significance of his inscriptions in the third century. This has to do with his religious mission and his journey to the other world to find out matters about the true religion and the correct way in rites and ritual. In his inscription he has a fascinating account of his vision of heaven, hell and purgatory. F. Grenet has, however, suggested that the idea that Kerdir himself had made the journey is wrong and placed someone else, a young boy (rahıg) in a squatting position (nisast) to have the vision. M. Schwartz has shown that this vision of the other world was made possible through the reciting of the mantra while the young boy stared into a mirror (ewen mahr). This method of divination is not Iranian in origin and is found in the Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity, and thus it demonstrates a foreign borrowing by the Zoroastrian priesthood in the early Sasanian period. This fact suggests that Zoroastrian ritual and tradition had not yet been formed and was susceptible to foreign influence.” §REF§ (Daryaee 2014, 80) Touraj Daryaee 2014. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London, England: I.B. Tauris. Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ETDRZZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ETDRZZE </b></a> §REF§ “Shabuhr, the King of Kings, son of Ardashir, further collected the nonreligious writings on medicine, astronomy, movement, time, space, substance, accident, becoming, decay, transformation, logic and other crafts and skills which were dispersed throughout India, Rome and other lands, and collated them with the Avesta, and commanded that a copy be made of all those writings which were flawless and be deposited in the Royal Treasury. And he put forward for deliberation the annexation of all those pure teachings to the Mazdean religion. This passage is important in that it tells us that the king ordered that ideas should be drawn from Greek and Indian sciences and incorporated into the Avesta. Thus, the Sasanian Avesta was a melange of ideas and learning from the world which seemed useful or in accordance with the Zoroastrianism in which Shabuhr believed or was creating.” §REF§ (Daryaee 2014, 83) Touraj Daryaee 2014. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London, England: I.B. Tauris. Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ETDRZZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ETDRZZE </b></a> §REF§ “That is why Shabuhr I may have liked Mani’s religious syncretism and universalism, and was to live peacefully under the next king as well.” §REF§ (Daryaee 2014, 74) Touraj Daryaee 2014. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London, England: I.B. Tauris. Seshat ULR: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5ETDRZZE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 5ETDRZZE </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 241, "polity": { "id": 505, "name": "ir_neo_elam_3", "long_name": "Elam III", "start_year": -612, "end_year": -539 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "‘’’ Due to geographical proximity, the Elamites shared a number of religious beliefs and gods with nearby Assyria and Babylonia: “The three regions were geographically connected with fluid borders, and intensive interaction between them can be witnessed over a long time period (Brinkman 1986). Assyrians and Babylonians shared a common religious heritage and their interaction with Elam resulted in at least some shared religious beliefs and gods, as well as beliefs about death and the afterlife (Potts 2012: 47–49). Elamites evidently also shared Mesopotamian notions about the divine nature of shining materials and the apsû (Vallat 1998; Potts 2012: 50)” §REF§ Wicks, Y. (2014). The Journey of a Visual Idea: Bronze «Bathtub» Coffins in Elite Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Elamite Funerary Contexts. Proceedings, 9th ICAANE, 1, 281-293. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CUXNZW9H\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CUXNZW9H </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 242, "polity": { "id": 504, "name": "ir_neo_elam_2", "long_name": "Elam II", "start_year": -743, "end_year": -647 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "‘’’ Due to geographical proximity, the Elamites shared a number of religious beliefs and gods with nearby Assyria and Babylonia: “The three regions were geographically connected with fluid borders, and intensive interaction between them can be witnessed over a long time period (Brinkman 1986). Assyrians and Babylonians shared a common religious heritage and their interaction with Elam resulted in at least some shared religious beliefs and gods, as well as beliefs about death and the afterlife (Potts 2012: 47–49). Elamites evidently also shared Mesopotamian notions about the divine nature of shining materials and the apsû (Vallat 1998; Potts 2012: 50)” §REF§ Wicks, Y. (2014). The Journey of a Visual Idea: Bronze «Bathtub» Coffins in Elite Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Elamite Funerary Contexts. Proceedings, 9th ICAANE, 1, 281-293. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CUXNZW9H\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CUXNZW9H </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 243, "polity": { "id": 497, "name": "ir_elam_3", "long_name": "Elam - Early Sukkalmah", "start_year": -1900, "end_year": -1701 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "The Elamites shared a number of gods with the Suso-Mesopotamian pantheon, and the Hurrians: “Direct evidence from the long sukkalmah period, broadly confirmed by the inscriptions of Šilhak-Inšušinak, shows that Inšušinak continued to dominate the Acropolis at Susa, where he was surrounded by a majority of Suso-Mesopotamian gods.” §REF§ Vallat, F. 2011. ELAM VI. Elamite Religion. ‘’Encyclopedia Iranica’’, online edition, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-vi Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3ACKKUDJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 3ACKKUDJ </b></a> §REF§ “Since Elamite Pin(n)kir and Hurrian Pirinkir are thus both forms of Ištar, and since both of their names are foreign to the languages oftheir worshipers, it is almost certain that the goddesses were borrowed by the Elamites and the Hurrians from a common source.” §REF§ Beckman, G. (1999). The Goddess Pirinkir and her ritual from Hattusa (CTH 644). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NI2RB5I3\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: NI2RB5I3 </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 244, "polity": { "id": 507, "name": "ir_elymais_2", "long_name": "Elymais II", "start_year": 25, "end_year": 215 }, "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": "\"A comparative study of Elymaean religious iconography supports the view that the Elymaeans worshipped Semitic gods of Babylon and Assyria, possibly in syncretization with traditional Elamite deities (Hansman, 1985, pp. 229-46).\" §REF§ Hansman 1998. Elymais. Encyclopedia Iranica Online. Available at https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elymais (last consulted February 6, 2023). Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/C2GQDMMV\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: C2GQDMMV </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 245, "polity": { "id": 503, "name": "ir_neo_elam_1", "long_name": "Elam I", "start_year": -900, "end_year": -744 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "‘’’ Due to geographical proximity, the Elamites shared a number of religious beliefs and gods with nearby Assyria and Babylonia: “The three regions were geographically connected with fluid borders, and intensive interaction between them can be witnessed over a long time period (Brinkman 1986). Assyrians and Babylonians shared a common religious heritage and their interaction with Elam resulted in at least some shared religious beliefs and gods, as well as beliefs about death and the afterlife (Potts 2012: 47–49). Elamites evidently also shared Mesopotamian notions about the divine nature of shining materials and the apsû (Vallat 1998; Potts 2012: 50)” §REF§ Wicks, Y. (2014). The Journey of a Visual Idea: Bronze «Bathtub» Coffins in Elite Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Elamite Funerary Contexts. Proceedings, 9th ICAANE, 1, 281-293. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CUXNZW9H\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CUXNZW9H </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 246, "polity": { "id": 496, "name": "ir_elam_2", "long_name": "Elam - Shimashki Period", "start_year": -2028, "end_year": -1940 }, "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": "‘\" Due to geographical proximity, the Elamites shared a number of religious beliefs and gods with nearby Assyria and Babylonia: “The three regions were geographically connected with fluid borders, and intensive interaction between them can be witnessed over a long time period (Brinkman 1986). Assyrians and Babylonians shared a common religious heritage and their interaction with Elam resulted in at least some shared religious beliefs and gods, as well as beliefs about death and the afterlife (Potts 2012: 47–49). Elamites evidently also shared Mesopotamian notions about the divine nature of shining materials and the apsû (Vallat 1998; Potts 2012: 50)” §REF§ Wicks, Y. (2014). The Journey of a Visual Idea: Bronze «Bathtub» Coffins in Elite Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Neo-Elamite Funerary Contexts. Proceedings, 9th ICAANE, 1, 281-293. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CUXNZW9H\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CUXNZW9H </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 247, "polity": { "id": 476, "name": "iq_akkad_emp", "long_name": "Akkadian Empire", "start_year": -2270, "end_year": -2083 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Theo_sync_dif_rel", "coded_value": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“By the time, in the mid‐third millennium BC, that we first encounter quantities of detailed religious texts, all of southern Iraq (known to its inhabitants as 'the Land of Sumer and Akkad' or simply 'the Land') shared an enormous and complex pantheon in which syncretism between Sumerian and Semitic (Akkadian) gods was already evident through their dual names (e.g. Sumerian Utu/Akkadian Shamash, the sun god). There is no reason to see this shared religious culture as a natural or inevitable state of affairs, since the many city states of the period were not only religiously distinct but to an extent defined by religious differences: a city's patron deity was a major part of that city's identity; moreover the city's major shrine would house a cult statue in which the god was at some level considered to be embodied. In such a context it is remarkable not only that all the gods of other cities were recognized, but that to some degree their genealogical relations and major deeds seem to have been widely agreed.” §REF§(Seymour 2012: 777) Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CTHTPICG\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: CTHTPICG </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 248, "polity": { "id": 131, "name": "sy_umayyad_cal", "long_name": "Umayyad Caliphate", "start_year": 661, "end_year": 750 }, "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": "“Certainly, the conquerors’ beliefs and practices – that is, the religion of Islam in an embryonic, or ‘pre-classical’ form – had particular affinities with those of both the rabbinic Jews of the Levant and also the Coptic and Syriac Christianities of the wider region. At the same time, other aspects of nascent Islam clearly relate to other pre-Islamic Arabian ‘pagan’ religious concepts and customs. §REF§ (Donner 2020, 2) Donner, Fred. 2020. ‘Introduction’. In The Umayyad World. Edited by Andrew Marsham. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8QC56ACW\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 8QC56ACW </b></a> §REF§ “[…] Mukhtar’s movement is of religious interest, although the significance of some of the information we have about this aspect of it is unclear. Generally his movement is shown to have been coloured by religious ideas and practices of non-Arab and non-Islamic origin and dubious legitimacy. One of the most striking instances is the practice ascribed to his followers of carrying a chair which they called the chair of ‘Ali and which they took into battle and walked around like the Hebrew Ark of the Covenant. It is in connection with Mukhtar’s movement too that the idea of the mahdi, the messianic figure who is expected at the end of time to restore the world to a state of justice and righteousness, occurs apparently for the first time. He is said to have proclaimed Ibn al-Hanafiyya as the mahdi while he himself was his wazir, or helper. The idea of the mahdi was to become characteristic of Islam, especially in its Shi‘ite forms, but it is not attested before the time of Mukhtar. The appearance of ideas like these in Mukhtar’s movement has sometimes been connected with the importance of the mawali in his following, the suggestion being that these non-Arabs brought with them into Islam religious concepts derived from their pre-Islamic backgrounds, such as the idea of the messiah or that of the transmigration of souls. These concepts would then have been grafted on to what was an original pure Arab Islam. The difficulty, of course, would lie in isolating the content of this alleged pure form of Islam before it became ‘contaminated’ by foreign ‘borrowings’. §REF§ (Hawting 1986, 52) Hawting, G.R. 2000. The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661-750. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N77JAM6S\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: N77JAM6S </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 249, "polity": { "id": 108, "name": "ir_seleucid_emp", "long_name": "Seleucid Empire", "start_year": -312, "end_year": -63 }, "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": "\"Regarding the “Syncretism of various religions,” syncretism is probably not the best label. Whatever the case, Seleucid integration of, say, Babylonian religion was not necessarily benign. Kosmin has argued for a sophisticated participation in, if not appropriation, of local Babylonian kingly scripts. Seleucus I retrojected the start of his year count (which his son Antiochus I continued on, thereby creating the Seleucid Era) to the year of his return from exile in 311 BCE, not the year of his actual coronation in 305 BCE. Furthermore, his return was gridded onto Day One of the Babylonian calendar’s first month (Nisannu). These calendrical gymnastics ensured the Seleucid dynasty’s founding date coincided with the akītu festival, which celebrated the rebirth of the world and the defeat of chaos forces (as described in the Enuma Elish). But there is more: the akītu dragged a statue of Marduk out of the city onto the steppes and then back again. By backdating the Seleucid Era to 311 BCE (when Seleucus I returned from exile), the Seleucid Era coincided not only with the timing of the akītu festival but also its content. Such sophisticated interaction with (and coopting of) local scripts required intense collaboration between Seleucid agents and Babylonian specialists. In short, the Seleucids may have “syncretized” (again, I very much do not think this is a helpful category), but it had political overtones which were not necessarily benign. See Kosmin, Time and Its Adversaries, particular chap. 1.\" (Joe Currie, pers. comm. to R. Ainsworth, November 2023)" }, { "id": 250, "polity": { "id": 699, "name": "in_thanjavur_maratha_k", "long_name": "Thanjavur Maratha Kingdom", "start_year": 1675, "end_year": 1799 }, "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 Islamic people’s peaceful co-existence with Hindus was very much perceptible in the period and they could not maintain their own identity. I was due to the fact that Islam in the Tanjore region was influenced by the native Tamils. For example saint worship is popular in the Tamil region whereas the Tamil Muslims had their faith in their worship of Pirs. Many of the Islamic festivals were identical of the Hindu festivals. Islam, in the region followed and celebrated the festivals like the Kanduri festival in all parts of the Tanjore region. Like the Hindus, the Islamic people took a procession during the Allah festival. It was very popular among the Hindus.” §REF§ (Chinnaiyan 2004, 373) Chinnaiyan, S. 2004 ‘Royal Patronage to Islam in Tanjore Maratha Kingdom [As Gleaned from Modi Records].’ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Vol. 65. Pp 370-374. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/H5PRQ47A\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: H5PRQ47A </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 251, "polity": { "id": 71, "name": "tr_roman_dominate", "long_name": "Roman Empire - Dominate", "start_year": 285, "end_year": 394 }, "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": "“After the Apollo vision, Constantine endorsed the Sun god as the highest deity, issuing coins with legends that the Unconquered Sun was his companion. Significantly, the cross in the sky, whether it was a separate vision or not, was also associated with the Sun, and probably in 313, after the defeat of Maxentius, the mint at Ticinum (modern Pavia) issued coins with the heads of both Constantine and the Sun god juxtaposed, unusually facing to the left, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS MAX AUG. referring to himself as unconquered, the epithet of the Sun god, and Maximus Augustus, or greatest Augustus, which title had been voted to him by the Senate. On the reverse of this issue, Constantine is depicted on horseback entering Rome after the elimination of Maxentius, with the legend FELIX ADVENTUS AUGG. The double G in the title Augustus acknowledges Licinius as the other Emperor, but without a third G, it means that Maximinus has been ignored. The most important point about this coin is that even if he had converted to Christianity in 312, Constantine had not renounced his allegiance to Sol Invictus, choosing to portray himself together with the Sun god. Similar coins were issued in 315–316, with a slightly different version of the heads of Sol and Constantine, which both protrude into the legend round the edge of the coin, breaking it into two halves. The equation of the Sun god with Christ was not too difficult. Constantine wrote a letter to the bishop of Arles, declaring that the two gods were the same, and some communities in the Empire were already accustomed to view the two deities as one. Paul Stephenson sees no reason why people could not be devotees of Sol and Christ, regarding the worship of Sol as a preliminary for worship and understanding of Christ, who, after all, was proclaimed as the light of the world, which is also one of the major contributions of the Sun to life on Earth.” §REF§ (Southern 2015, 287) Southern, Pat. 2015. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine Second edition. London and New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B9AQZ4RJ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: B9AQZ4RJ </b></a> §REF§" }, { "id": 252, "polity": { "id": 182, "name": "it_roman_rep_1", "long_name": "Early Roman Republic", "start_year": -509, "end_year": -264 }, "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": "“Roman religion was an amalgam of different traditions from at least as far back as we can hope to go. Leaving aside its mythical prehistory, Roman religion was always already multicultural.” §REF§ (Beard 1996, 3) Beard, Mary. 1996. Religions of Rome: Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BJPXZHID\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BJPXZHID </b></a>§REF§ “[In the early centuries of the republican period] the Romans were establishing their practice of admitting new citizens from the surrounding area into their community as full citizens; these open boundaries at the human level are surely inseparable from open boundaries to foreign gods.” §REF§ (Beard 1996, 63) Beard, Mary. 1996. Religions of Rome: Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BJPXZHID\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BJPXZHID </b></a>§REF§ “Archaeological evidence from the sixth Century B.C., for example, has shown that (whatever the political relations of Rome and Etruria may have been) in cultural and religious terms Rome was part of a civilization dominated by Etruscans and receptive to the influence of Greeks and possibly of Carthaginians too. A dedication to the divine twins Castor and Pollux found at Lavinium, which uses a version of their Greek title 'Dioskouroi', shows unmistakably that we have to reckon with Greek contacts; some of these contacts may have been mediated through the Etruscans, others coming directly from Greece itself — while it is perfectly possible that there were connections too with Greek settlements in South Italy.” §REF§ (Beard 1996, 12) Beard, Mary. 1996. Religions of Rome: Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL:<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BJPXZHID\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BJPXZHID </b></a>§REF§ \"Although some particular practices (such as haruspicy) would forever remain linked to Etruscan roots, the 'Roman' religious world had become saturated with influences from their Etruscan neighbours which had merged with and transformed the Latin culture of their ancestors. Jupiter was, after all, an ancient Latin deity with an ancient Latin name - and at the same time the focus of what we may choose to classify as (in part at least) Etruscan religious forms (such as the ceremonial of triumph or the Capitoline temple). Meanwhile, there was no alternative high culture, or vocabulary of ceremonial to which Romans could turn. It is unlikely that the early republicans ever conceived of isolating, let alone outlawing, the 'Etruscan' religion in their midst. §REF§ (Beard 1996, 60) Beard, Mary. 1996. Religions of Rome: Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BJPXZHID\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BJPXZHID </b></a>§REF§ “A remarkable feature of Roman religion was its habit of continually introducing new (usually foreign) deities and cult practices, particularly from the Greek world. This was an inherent feature which can be traced back to the very earliest times. […] The result was the proliferation of a large number, and a bewildering variety, of cults, festivals and ceremonies, which continued to be observed in the classical period, even though most of them were (and perhaps always had been) obscure, and mysterious.” §REF§(Cornell 2012, 25, 78, 162) Cornell, Tim. 2012. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/M8AKJQJZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: M8AKJQJZ </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 253, "polity": { "id": 184, "name": "it_roman_rep_3", "long_name": "Late Roman Republic", "start_year": -133, "end_year": -31 }, "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 Romans claimed — in the persona of Cicero — to be 'the most pious of all peoples'. The most obvious correlate is the large number of cults - cults that had been imported from everywhere. […] The ritual of appropriating foreign gods {evocatio deorum) established links with political entities that had been defeated or destroyed.”§REF§ ( Rupke 2006, 193-194) Rupke, Jorg. 2006. ‘Roman Religion’. In The Cambridge Companion to The Roman Republic. Edited by Harriet I. Flower. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BR6D95VQ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: BR6D95VQ </b></a>§REF§“From an initial array of gods and spirits, Rome added to this collection to include both Greek gods as well as a number of foreign cults.” §REF§ (Wasson, 2013) Wasson, Donald. 2013. ‘Roman Religion’. World History Encyclopedia. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7VA8HX2E\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: 7VA8HX2E </b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 254, "polity": { "id": 183, "name": "it_roman_rep_2", "long_name": "Middle Roman Republic", "start_year": -264, "end_year": -133 }, "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": "“Two of the hallmarks of Roman colonization were a simultaneous acceptance on the part of the Romans of the native cults of newly conquered regions and the introduction of distinctly Roman forms of worship and production.” §REF§(Livi, 2006, 113) Livi, Valentina, ‘Religious locales in the territory of Minturnae: aspects of Romanization’ in Schultz, C & Harvey, P (eds). 2006. Religion in Republican Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/FKEJ9VAT\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: FKEJ9VAT </b></a>§REF§ “A remarkable feature of Roman religion was its habit of continually introducing new (usually foreign) deities and cult practices, particularly from the Greek world. This was an inherent feature which can be traced back to the very earliest times. […] The result was the proliferation of a large number, and a bewildering variety, of cults, festivals and ceremonies, which continued to be observed in the classical period, even though most of them were (and perhaps always had been) obscure, and mysterious.” §REF§ (Cornell 2012, 25, 78, 162) Cornell, Tim. 2012. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars. London: Routledge. Seshat URL: <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/M8AKJQJZ\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: M8AKJQJZ </b></a>§REF§“" } ] }