Religious Level List
A viewset for viewing and editing Religious Levels.
GET /api/sc/religious-levels/?format=api&page=8
{ "count": 446, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/religious-levels/?format=api&page=9", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/religious-levels/?format=api&page=7", "results": [ { "id": 352, "polity": { "id": 571, "name": "ru_romanov_dyn_2", "long_name": "Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II", "start_year": 1776, "end_year": 1917 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 6, "religious_level_to": 6, "comment": null, "description": "From 1776 to 1910, the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, after the establishment of the Holy Synod in 1721, remained relatively consistent in its structure:\r\n\r\nThe Holy Synod (governing body in place of the Patriarch).\r\nMetropolitan (senior bishops overseeing large regions).\r\nArchbishop (overseeing archdioceses).\r\nBishop (in charge of dioceses or eparchies).\r\nPriest (serving individual parishes).\r\nDeacon §REF§Kallistos, The Orthodox Church, New ed. (London, England ; New York, N.Y: Penguin Books, 1993).<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/LIM65SMM\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: LIM65SMM</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 353, "polity": { "id": 409, "name": "bd_bengal_sultanate", "long_name": "Bengal Sultanate", "start_year": 1338, "end_year": 1538 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 1, "religious_level_to": 1, "comment": "levels. No formal hierarchy in Islam.", "description": null }, { "id": 354, "polity": { "id": 780, "name": "bd_chandra_dyn", "long_name": "Chandra Dynasty", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1050 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "(1) Śāntivārika (a brāhmaṇa priest) <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/84Q49F5X\">[Furui 2020]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 355, "polity": { "id": 783, "name": "in_gauda_k", "long_name": "Gauda Kingdom", "start_year": 600, "end_year": 625 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "levels.<br>(1) Priest<br>“There are thirty or so monasteries with about 2,000 priests.”", "description": null }, { "id": 356, "polity": { "id": 250, "name": "cn_qin_emp", "long_name": "Qin Empire", "start_year": -338, "end_year": -207 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "\"... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J8V2UKSP\">[Lorge 2006, p. 7]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 357, "polity": { "id": 423, "name": "cn_eastern_zhou_warring_states", "long_name": "Eastern Zhou", "start_year": -475, "end_year": -256 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "Legalism took precedence over rites in this period = no state cult?", "description": null }, { "id": 358, "polity": { "id": 506, "name": "gr_macedonian_emp", "long_name": "Macedonian Empire", "start_year": -330, "end_year": -312 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": "King was chief priest and religious leader. Conducted daily sacrifices. Phillip II believed in \"his special relationship with Zeus, maintained the cult of the Temenid family, and worshipped his his ancestor, Herakles, the son of Zeus.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A5VCK5NQ\">[Gabriel 2010, p. 21]</a> After Alexander III, divine worship of king emerged. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6C2NVJQX\">[Christesen_Murray 2010]</a> 1. King<br>2. Priests", "description": null }, { "id": 359, "polity": { "id": 711, "name": "om_busaidi_imamate_1", "long_name": "Imamate of Oman and Muscat", "start_year": 1749, "end_year": 1895 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": "levels.<br>1. Imam (leader)<br>\"Salim b. Sa'id b. 'All al-Sa'ighi's Kanz al-adib wa suldfat al-labib (a work probably of the second half of the twelfth/eighteenth century)\" says: \"No army is assembled, no judgement or legal opinion is held nor legal punishment imposed, except through the Imam.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RIM8EFNG\">[Wilkinson 1976]</a> 2. Local religious leaders\"On the death of the Ya’ariba Imam Sayf bin Sultan in 1711, his son Sultan bin Sayf’s succession was resented by religious and tribal leaders in the interior.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/EHPCHGDM\">[Jones_Ridout 2015]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 360, "polity": { "id": 708, "name": "pt_portuguese_emp_1", "long_name": "Portuguese Empire - Renaissance Period", "start_year": 1495, "end_year": 1579 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 4, "religious_level_to": 4, "comment": "levels. Considering the historical conservatism of the Portuguese church, it seems reasonable to infer that the following description largely applies to succeeding periods as well: \"In the early fourteenth century the first order – the clero – comprised about 10,000 persons divided almost equally between the secular clergy and the regulars. There was a tiny elite made up of nine archbishops and bishops, the abbots and priors of the leading monasteries and the masters of the military orders. These were great men in their own right who enjoyed generous incomes, kept court, dispensed patronage and often lived in as much opulence as powerful lay magnates. Usually they were well born; but sometimes their social origins were quite modest, for it was not impossible for men to attain prominence in the fourteenth-century church through a combination of luck, ability and good connections. There was a large gap between this elite and the middle-ranking secular clergy, which comprised cathedral canons, chaplains and the like. Finally, there were the lower secular clergy, the great bulk of whom, especially in rural areas, lived material lives that differed little from the common people around them.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a> Note, too, that, judging by Disney's description of the church reform that King Manuel implemented in the 16th century, the fundamental hierarchy was left untouched.<br>1. Archbishop of Lisbon<br>\"Not until 1393 was the bishop of Lisbon raised to archiepiscopal status and the Portuguese dioceses previously attached to Compostela transferred to his authority.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a> 2. Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Masters of Military Orders<br>3. Middle-ranking secular clergy, e.g. cathedral canons, chaplains<br>4. Lower secular clergy<br>Note that a parallel hierarchy seems to have existed in the colonies: \"In 1514 a bishopric was created at Funchal in Madeira, initially with jurisdiction over all Portuguese Asia, Africa and Brazil. This diocese of impossible dimensions clearly could not last, and in 1534 new bishoprics were established for Angra (Açores), the Cape Verdes, Sâo Tomaè and Goa. More followed later in both the East and Brazil, with Goa raised to metropolitan status in 1551. The hierarchy of this colonial church functioned quite separately from that of Portugal, and little interchange of senior personnel occurred between the two systems. A high proportion of the overseas bishops, and most missionary priests, were recruited from the religious orders.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 361, "polity": { "id": 709, "name": "pt_portuguese_emp_2", "long_name": "Portuguese Empire - Early Modern", "start_year": 1640, "end_year": 1806 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 4, "religious_level_to": 4, "comment": "levels.<br>Considering the historical conservatism of the Portuguese Church at this time, it seems reasonable to infer that the following description largely applies to succeeding periods as well: \"In the early fourteenth century the first order – the clero – comprised about 10,000 persons divided almost equally between the secular clergy and the regulars. There was a tiny elite made up of nine archbishops and bishops, the abbots and priors of the leading monasteries and the masters of the military orders. These were great men in their own right who enjoyed generous incomes, kept court, dispensed patronage and often lived in as much opulence as powerful lay magnates. Usually they were well born; but sometimes their social origins were quite modest, for it was not impossible for men to attain prominence in the fourteenth-century church through a combination of luck, ability and good connections. There was a large gap between this elite and the middle-ranking secular clergy, which comprised cathedral canons, chaplains and the like. Finally, there were the lower secular clergy, the great bulk of whom, especially in rural areas, lived material lives that differed little from the common people around them.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a> Note, too, that, judging by Disney's <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a> description of the church reform that King Manuel implemented in the 16th century, the fundamental hierarchy was left untouched; moreover, in the 18th century, King João V appears to have been more interested in attaining control over the nomination of bishops, than, again, changing the overall hierarchy. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a> 1. Archbishop(s) of Lisbon (known from 1740 as Cardinal-Patriarch)<br>\"João V’s absolutism appears to have been at its most unambiguous in relation to the church. He repeatedly pressured the papacy into granting him concessions to enhance his royal prestige, securing a major triumph in 1710 when Clement XI agreed to create the patriarchate of Lisbon. To accommodate this move the archdiocese of Lisbon was divided into two, and the new patriarch was made archbishop of the western division. Thirty years later the two divisions were reunited under a single archbishop, who thenceforth always carried the title of cardinal-patriarch.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a> 2. Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Masters of Military Orders<br>3. Middle-ranking secular clergy, e.g. cathedral canons, chaplains<br>4. Lower secular clergy\"At a more informal level the church exercised a pervasive influence through its network of parishes, priests providing their flocks with counselling and often arbitrating disputes.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TKKDT5CZ\">[Disney 2009]</a> Note that a parallel hierarchy seems to have existed in the colonies: \"In 1514 a bishopric was created at Funchal in Madeira, initially with jurisdiction over all Portuguese Asia, Africa and Brazil. This diocese of impossible dimensions clearly could not last, and in 1534 new bishoprics were established for Angra (Açores), the Cape Verdes, Sâo Tomaè and Goa. More followed later in both the East and Brazil, with Goa raised to metropolitan status in 1551. The hierarchy of this colonial church functioned quite separately from that of Portugal, and little interchange of senior personnel occurred between the two systems. A high proportion of the overseas bishops, and most missionary priests, were recruited from the religious orders.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SB2P8RNF\">[Disney 2009]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 362, "polity": { "id": 337, "name": "ru_moskva_rurik_dyn", "long_name": "Grand Principality of Moscow, Rurikid Dynasty", "start_year": 1480, "end_year": 1613 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 4, "religious_level_to": 4, "comment": "levels.<br> 1. Metropolitan 2. Archbishop 3. Bishop 4. Priest", "description": null }, { "id": 363, "polity": { "id": 314, "name": "ua_kievan_rus", "long_name": "Kievan Rus", "start_year": 880, "end_year": 1242 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 3, "religious_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>1. Bishop<br> Capital town had a bishop (only open to monks), who had an \"entourage.\"§REF§(Feldbrugge 2017, 437) Ferdinand J M Feldbrugge. 2017. A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br> 2. Priest Priests§REF§(Feldbrugge 2017, 438) Ferdinand J M Feldbrugge. 2017. A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br> 3. Deacons 4. Towns had priests and deacons.§REF§(Feldbrugge 2017, 437) Ferdinand J M Feldbrugge. 2017. A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§ Woman who prepares the Eucharist bread.<br> Healer<br> Hospitals<br> Hostels<br> Refuges for wayfarers.<br>\"In 988, Vladimir the Great adopted Orthodox Christianity, and proceeded to have baptized the entire population.\"§REF§(Martin 2017, 158-159) Michael Martin. 2017. City of the Sun: Development and Popular Resistance in the Pre-Modern West. Algora Publishing. New York.§REF§" }, { "id": 364, "polity": { "id": 773, "name": "mw_pre_maravi", "long_name": "Pre-Maravi", "start_year": 1151, "end_year": 1399 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 365, "polity": { "id": 774, "name": "mw_early_maravi", "long_name": "Early Maravi", "start_year": 1400, "end_year": 1499 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 366, "polity": { "id": 775, "name": "mw_northern_maravi_k", "long_name": "Northern Maravi Kingdom", "start_year": 1500, "end_year": 1621 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 368, "polity": { "id": 793, "name": "bd_sena_dyn", "long_name": "Sena Dynasty", "start_year": 1095, "end_year": 1245 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "levels.<br>(1) Brāhmaṇas (Brahman priest)", "description": null }, { "id": 369, "polity": { "id": 795, "name": "bd_yadava_varman_dyn", "long_name": "Yadava-Varman Dynasty", "start_year": 1080, "end_year": 1150 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "levels.<br>(1) Brāhmaṇas (priest)", "description": null }, { "id": 370, "polity": { "id": 223, "name": "ma_almoravid_dyn", "long_name": "Almoravids", "start_year": 1035, "end_year": 1150 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "levels. a range of 2-4 levels would be appropriate if this predominantly Islamic polity also had a three-tiered hierarchy: sultan, ulama and imams. AD.<br>\"Some small centres of militant Malikism existed in southern Morocco, like the dar al-murabitin of Waggag ibn Zallu, but it seems that until the emergence of Abdallah ibn Yasin their efforts did not bring any appreciable improvement.\" §REF§(Hrbek and Devisse 1988, 342)§REF§<br>Ibn Yasin was \"religious commander.\" He was succeeded in this position by Sulayman b. Addu but his successor did not have the power and influence of Yasin. §REF§(Hrbek and Devisse 1988, 348)§REF§<br>Jurists.§REF§(Hrbek and Devisse 1988, 348)§REF§" }, { "id": 371, "polity": { "id": 210, "name": "et_aksum_emp_2", "long_name": "Axum II", "start_year": 350, "end_year": 599 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 3, "religious_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "levels. Little is known. Possibly more levels.<br>Note on use of terminology. Today the Oriental Orthodox Churches use the term Miaphysite or non-Chalcedonian and claim that Monophysite, a term often used by Western scholars, means something they don't believe in.<br>1. King<br> \"The Axum Empire was ruled by a divine monarch\".§REF§(Newman et al. 1997, 231) Mark Newman. Lanny B Fields. Russell J Barber. Cheryl A Riggs. 1997. The Global Past: Prehistory to 1500. Macmillan Higher Education.§REF§ Pagan period only?<br> \"The stone-cut inscriptions of Ezana also demonstrate the support that the monarchy sought from religion, calling first on pre-Christian deities and subsequently on the Christian god.\"§REF§(Connah 2016, 143) Graham Connah. 2016. African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§<br> \"Currency coined in the time of Ezana and his successors bore a Greek motto signifying 'May the country be satisfied!' It is evident that this demagogic device reflects an official doctrine, the first traces of which may be discerned in the inscriptions of Ezana.\"§REF§(Kobishanov 1981, 394) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.§REF§ King Ezana was the last ruler of this period and the first ruler of the succeeding period. He changed the official state religion to Christianity.<br>1. Alexandrian patriarchs<br> The metropolitan bishops of Ethiopia were appointed by the Alexandrian patriarchs and \"were always foreigners, usually Egyptians. This institution lasted, incredibly enough, until the 1950s, when the first Ethiopian was appointed to the post. Only after this was the independent Ethiopian patriarchate of today established.\"§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 20) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§<br> 2. Metropolitan Bishops \"Although information on the religion of the Aksumites is still extremely fragmentary, it may be considered a relatively developed religion, linked to a complicated ritual and a professional priesthood. During the early Aksumite period religious ideas from countries near and far penetrated into Ethiopia.\"§REF§(Kobishanov 1981) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.§REF§<br> 3.<br> 4.<br> 5.<br>\"The Ethiopian Church undoubtedly instituted its own local hierarchy apart from these foreign bishops - whose chief function was the ordination of priests - but we hear very little of it in early times. Occasionally some assistant bishops are recorded. The chief figures in the native Church hierarchy in later times consisted of the echege, or head of the monks, who was the prior of the famous monastery of Debra Libanos, the highest-ranking ecclesiastic after the abun, the Egyptian metropolitan bishop. He was the real leader of the church, and at his investiture the emperor placed his own crown briefly on the echege's head. The third in rank was the aqabe-sa'at, 'Guardian of the Hour', earlier an office in the hands of the abbots of Debra Estifanos at Hayq (the first aqabe-sa'at of Debra Estifanos was apparently Abba Za-Iyasus in the reign of Amda Seyon, 1270-85) and later more of less a palace chaplain. These ecclesiastics (whose offices and titles are now redundant), with the abbots of some of the greater monasteries and some of the chief priests, supervised the day-to-day running of the Church, whose legal head could not even speak the local language.\"§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 42-43) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§<br> \"Apart from familiar offices, metropolitans (generally called abun, liqapappasat, pappas) and other bishops (episqopos), abbosts or priors (mamher) and deacons (diyaqon), the title qese gabaz seyon, indicating a provost of a church dedicated in the name of Zion, is known from these charters. Qala-pappas, interpreter for the abun or metropolitan bishop, qas-hasani, the royal chaplain, and loqa diyaqonat, archdeacon, are further titles attested in land charters attributed to King Lalibela ... Abba, father, is a general title bestowed on many monks and other revered holy men. A certain Nablis, with the vague title of aleqa (master, or administrator of a church), is traditionally supposed to have been a teacher of sacred poetry and songs (qene, zema) and religious literature in King Lalibela's time, also performing in the choir at Aksum\".§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 43) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§ King Lalibela 1189-1229 CE<br> \"the head of the church was a metropolitan or archbishop, generally an Egyptian monk, consecrated by the patriarch of Alexandira as the chief bishop for the Ethiopians.\"§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 43) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§" }, { "id": 372, "polity": { "id": 213, "name": "et_aksum_emp_3", "long_name": "Axum III", "start_year": 600, "end_year": 800 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 3, "religious_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "levels. Little is known. Possibly more levels.<br>Note on use of terminology. Today the Oriental Orthodox Churches use the term Miaphysite or non-Chalcedonian and claim that Monophysite, a term often used by Western scholars, means something they don't believe in.<br>1. King<br> \"The Axum Empire was ruled by a divine monarch\".§REF§(Newman et al. 1997, 231) Mark Newman. Lanny B Fields. Russell J Barber. Cheryl A Riggs. 1997. The Global Past: Prehistory to 1500. Macmillan Higher Education.§REF§ Pagan period only?<br> \"The stone-cut inscriptions of Ezana also demonstrate the support that the monarchy sought from religion, calling first on pre-Christian deities and subsequently on the Christian god.\"§REF§(Connah 2016, 143) Graham Connah. 2016. African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§<br> \"Currency coined in the time of Ezana and his successors bore a Greek motto signifying 'May the country be satisfied!' It is evident that this demagogic device reflects an official doctrine, the first traces of which may be discerned in the inscriptions of Ezana.\"§REF§(Kobishanov 1981, 394) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.§REF§ King Ezana was the last ruler of this period and the first ruler of the succeeding period. He changed the official state religion to Christianity.<br>1. Alexandrian patriarchs<br> The metropolitan bishops of Ethiopia were appointed by the Alexandrian patriarchs and \"were always foreigners, usually Egyptians. This institution lasted, incredibly enough, until the 1950s, when the first Ethiopian was appointed to the post. Only after this was the independent Ethiopian patriarchate of today established.\"§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 20) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§<br> 2. Metropolitan Bishops \"Although information on the religion of the Aksumites is still extremely fragmentary, it may be considered a relatively developed religion, linked to a complicated ritual and a professional priesthood. During the early Aksumite period religious ideas from countries near and far penetrated into Ethiopia.\"§REF§(Kobishanov 1981) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.§REF§<br> 3.<br> 4.<br> 5.<br>\"The Ethiopian Church undoubtedly instituted its own local hierarchy apart from these foreign bishops - whose chief function was the ordination of priests - but we hear very little of it in early times. Occasionally some assistant bishops are recorded. The chief figures in the native Church hierarchy in later times consisted of the echege, or head of the monks, who was the prior of the famous monastery of Debra Libanos, the highest-ranking ecclesiastic after the abun, the Egyptian metropolitan bishop. He was the real leader of the church, and at his investiture the emperor placed his own crown briefly on the echege's head. The third in rank was the aqabe-sa'at, 'Guardian of the Hour', earlier an office in the hands of the abbots of Debra Estifanos at Hayq (the first aqabe-sa'at of Debra Estifanos was apparently Abba Za-Iyasus in the reign of Amda Seyon, 1270-85) and later more of less a palace chaplain. These ecclesiastics (whose offices and titles are now redundant), with the abbots of some of the greater monasteries and some of the chief priests, supervised the day-to-day running of the Church, whose legal head could not even speak the local language.\"§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 42-43) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§<br> \"Apart from familiar offices, metropolitans (generally called abun, liqapappasat, pappas) and other bishops (episqopos), abbosts or priors (mamher) and deacons (diyaqon), the title qese gabaz seyon, indicating a provost of a church dedicated in the name of Zion, is known from these charters. Qala-pappas, interpreter for the abun or metropolitan bishop, qas-hasani, the royal chaplain, and loqa diyaqonat, archdeacon, are further titles attested in land charters attributed to King Lalibela ... Abba, father, is a general title bestowed on many monks and other revered holy men. A certain Nablis, with the vague title of aleqa (master, or administrator of a church), is traditionally supposed to have been a teacher of sacred poetry and songs (qene, zema) and religious literature in King Lalibela's time, also performing in the choir at Aksum\".§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 43) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§ King Lalibela 1189-1229 CE<br> \"the head of the church was a metropolitan or archbishop, generally an Egyptian monk, consecrated by the patriarch of Alexandira as the chief bishop for the Ethiopians.\"§REF§(Munro-Hay 2003, 43) Stuart Munro-Hay. 2003. Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide. I.B. Tauris. London.§REF§" }, { "id": 373, "polity": { "id": 379, "name": "mm_bagan", "long_name": "Bagan", "start_year": 1044, "end_year": 1287 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>Early 12th century CE inscriptin mentions a \"mahathera of Bukam [Pagan]\", a \"baddhasima [permanent 'thein' or chapter-house]\", \"the ordained monk mahadev\" and pagoda slaves.§REF§(Wicks 1992, 127) Robert S Wicks. Money, Markets, And Trade In Early Southeast Asia. The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems To AD 1400. Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications.§REF§" }, { "id": 374, "polity": { "id": 308, "name": "bg_bulgaria_early", "long_name": "Bulgaria - Early", "start_year": 681, "end_year": 864 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>_Tangrism_<br>1. King<br> The Bulgarian king's leadership was \"divinely-sanctioned\".§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 86) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br> \"Although the evidence eludes us, there can be no doubt that he also acquired the role of the supreme lawgiver. Omurtag could then convincingly present himself as the ultimate source of authority - political, religious and judicial - in the realm. None of his nobles held a position that even approached his\".§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 292) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br> Omurtag \"actively promoted the cult of Tangra, with its close association with the ruling dynasty, into the official ideology of the Bulgar state.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 291) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br> Construction of a building complex at Madara (2nd quarter of ninth century?) contains shrine and ruler's residence. Ceremonial sacrifices carried out here. \"It is certainly no mere coincidence that the title kana sybigi, emphasizing the notion of a 'mandate' granted to the khan by a divine entitity, becomes clearly visible during this period.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 291) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br> In the Responsa \"the Pope indicates that the khan exercised priestly authority. Thus, in a time of drought he used to command his subjects to pray to summon the rain.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 82) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§ Was this still true after the conversion to Christianity?<br> 2. Priest? 3. ?<br>_Shamanism_<br>Shamanism was \"also discernible in the khanate in the pre-conversion period.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 87) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br>_Christian levels (next period)_1. King<br> In the Responsa \"the Pope indicates that the khan exercised priestly authority. Thus, in a time of drought he used to command his subjects to pray to summon the rain.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 82) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§ Was this still true after the conversion to Christianity?<br>1. Patriarch<br> With Boris I's conversion \"Bulgaria was made part of the Byzantine church and was denied the right to have its own, Bulgarian, patriarch or to appoint its own bishops.\"§REF§(Crampton 2005, 14) R J Crampton. 2005. A Concise History of Bulgaria. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§<br> Under Byzantine occupation from 1018 CE \"the Patriarchate, which during the period of the western Bulgarian Empire had had its seat successively at Vodena, Prespa, and finally at Ochrida, was reduced to the rank of an Archbishopric.\"§REF§(Miller 1923, 243) William Miller. The Rise and Fall of the First Bulgarian Empire (679-1018). J B Bury. J R Tanner. C W Previte-Orton. Z N Brooke. eds. 1923. The Cambridge Medieval History. Volume IV. The Eastern Roman Empire (717-1453). Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. <a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up\">https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up</a>§REF§<br> 2. Bishops \"Under Boris I, the Bulgarians became Christians and the Ecumenical Patriarch agreed to allow an autonomous Bulgarian Archbishop at Pliska.\"§REF§(Ertl 2008, 438) Alan W Ertl. 2008. Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration. Universal-Publishers.§REF§<br> Bishoprics.§REF§(Miller 1923, 243) William Miller. The Rise and Fall of the First Bulgarian Empire (679-1018). J B Bury. J R Tanner. C W Previte-Orton. Z N Brooke. eds. 1923. The Cambridge Medieval History. Volume IV. The Eastern Roman Empire (717-1453). Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. <a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up\">https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up</a>§REF§<br> 3. Clergy \"the vast majority of the new clergy, especially its upper echelons, were Greek.\"§REF§(Crampton 2005, 14-15) R J Crampton. 2005. A Concise History of Bulgaria. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§<br>\"Despite the fact that the Bulgars venerated numerous deities, the proto-bulgarian inscriptions, which express the official ideology of the state, refer explicitly to only one god ... This could suggest that the warrior aristocracy stood closer to henotheism, a term meaning belief in, and possible worship of, multiple gods, one of which is supreme. By failing to specify his name, the khans had evidently tried to make this god recognizable to many different peoples. Thus, for the Greek-speaking populations of the khanate, the anonymous god invoked in the title of the Bulgar ruler as the provider of his divine mandate ... is very likely to have been the Christian god. There is good reason to believe that in the mind of the khan and his nobles this god was Tangra. While originally this Turkic name designated the physical sky, Tangra/Tangri eventually emerged as a sky-god and supreme divine being of many Central and Inner Asian nomads. ... The qaghan was not merely a head of state but a divinely appointed ruler, whose heavenly status was especially emphasized in the Orkhon inscriptions. ... There are two direct references to Tangra as a Bulgar deity in the sources. One is found in an Ottoman manuscript where it is stated that the name of god in Bulgarian was 'Tangri' ... The other is in a badly-damaged inscription (carved on a marble column) which commemorates a sacrifice made by Omurtag 'to the god Tangra'... The inscription was found at the rocky cliff of Madara, a site that is commonly associated with the Tangra cult.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 83-85) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§ \"the late eight/early ninth century marked the period of transition to henotheism and totemism (i.e. the existence of an intimate, 'mystical' relationship between a group or an individual and a natural object), both of which were incapable of furnishing a principle of spiritual (and political) unity, proved to be persistent and strong among the masses.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 86) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§" }, { "id": 375, "polity": { "id": 312, "name": "bg_bulgaria_medieval", "long_name": "Bulgaria - Middle", "start_year": 865, "end_year": 1018 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 3, "religious_level_to": 4, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>1. King<br> In the Responsa \"the Pope indicates that the khan exercised priestly authority. Thus, in a time of drought he used to command his subjects to pray to summon the rain.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 82) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§ Was this still true after the conversion to Christianity?<br>1. Patriarch<br> With Boris I's conversion \"Bulgaria was made part of the Byzantine church and was denied the right to have its own, Bulgarian, patriarch or to appoint its own bishops.\"§REF§(Crampton 2005, 14) R J Crampton. 2005. A Concise History of Bulgaria. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§<br> Under Byzantine occupation from 1018 CE \"the Patriarchate, which during the period of the western Bulgarian Empire had had its seat successively at Vodena, Prespa, and finally at Ochrida, was reduced to the rank of an Archbishopric.\"§REF§(Miller 1923, 243) William Miller. The Rise and Fall of the First Bulgarian Empire (679-1018). J B Bury. J R Tanner. C W Previte-Orton. Z N Brooke. eds. 1923. The Cambridge Medieval History. Volume IV. The Eastern Roman Empire (717-1453). Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. <a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up\">https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up</a>§REF§<br> 2. Bishops \"Under Boris I, the Bulgarians became Christians and the Ecumenical Patriarch agreed to allow an autonomous Bulgarian Archbishop at Pliska.\"§REF§(Ertl 2008, 438) Alan W Ertl. 2008. Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration. Universal-Publishers.§REF§<br> Bishoprics.§REF§(Miller 1923, 243) William Miller. The Rise and Fall of the First Bulgarian Empire (679-1018). J B Bury. J R Tanner. C W Previte-Orton. Z N Brooke. eds. 1923. The Cambridge Medieval History. Volume IV. The Eastern Roman Empire (717-1453). Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. <a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up\">https://archive.org/stream/RiseAndFallOfTheFirstBulgarianEmpire-ZenithOfBulgariaAndSerbia-/bulgaria_bury-ROM1923#page/n19/mode/2up</a>§REF§<br> 3. Clergy \"the vast majority of the new clergy, especially its upper echelons, were Greek.\"§REF§(Crampton 2005, 14-15) R J Crampton. 2005. A Concise History of Bulgaria. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§<br> 4. Clergy<br>\"Despite the fact that the Bulgars venerated numerous deities, the proto-bulgarian inscriptions, which express the official ideology of the state, refer explicitly to only one god ... This could suggest that the warrior aristocracy stood closer to henotheism, a term meaning belief in, and possible worship of, multiple gods, one of which is supreme. By failing to specify his name, the khans had evidently tried to make this god recognizable to many different peoples. Thus, for the Greek-speaking populations of the khanate, the anonymous god invoked in the title of the Bulgar ruler as the provider of his divine mandate ... is very likely to have been the Christian god. There is good reason to believe that in the mind of the khan and his nobles this god was Tangra. While originally this Turkic name designated the physical sky, Tangra/Tangri eventually emerged as a sky-god and supreme divine being of many Central and Inner Asian nomads. ... The qaghan was not merely a head of state but a divinely appointed ruler, whose heavenly status was especially emphasized in the Orkhon inscriptions. ... There are two direct references to Tangra as a Bulgar deity in the sources. One is found in an Ottoman manuscript where it is stated that the name of god in Bulgarian was 'Tangri' ... The other is in a badly-damaged inscription (carved on a marble column) which commemorates a sacrifice made by Omurtag 'to the god Tangra'... The inscription was found at the rocky cliff of Madara, a site that is commonly associated with the Tangra cult.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 83-85) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§ \"the late eight/early ninth century marked the period of transition to henotheism and totemism (i.e. the existence of an intimate, 'mystical' relationship between a group or an individual and a natural object), both of which were incapable of furnishing a principle of spiritual (and political) unity, proved to be persistent and strong among the masses.\"§REF§(Sophoulis 2012, 86) Panos Sophoulis. 2012. Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§" }, { "id": 376, "polity": { "id": 400, "name": "in_chandela_k", "long_name": "Chandela Kingdom", "start_year": 950, "end_year": 1308 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": "levels.<br>1. Chief minister (manthrimukya)<br>\"Besides being the administrative head, the Prime minister of the Candellas had also to look after military and even religious affairs, and the king was largely ruled by his council.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ATJMGIDM\">[Bose 1956, p. 129]</a> 2. Purohita and Panditas\"[T]he Purohita probably performed the religious ceremonies of the palace and the Panditas and Purohitas must have had some influence on the administrative affairs relating to religion and similar functions.\" 130 Panditas were \"[l]earned Brahmans well versed in Dharmasastras and other sacred literature\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ATJMGIDM\">[Bose 1956, p. 130]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 377, "polity": { "id": 401, "name": "in_chauhana_dyn", "long_name": "Chauhana Dynasty", "start_year": 973, "end_year": 1192 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": "levels.<br>1. Pauranika<br>\"Under Hammira of Ranthambhor we find also an amatya called, Pauranika, who like the Purohita of an earlier period may have been in charge of religious affairs.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SI5HWMDE\">[Sharma 1959, p. 226]</a> 2. Ritual specialists who were not part of royal administration", "description": null }, { "id": 378, "polity": { "id": 399, "name": "in_chaulukya_dyn", "long_name": "Chaulukya Dynasty", "start_year": 941, "end_year": 1245 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 0, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>There are no official priestly hierarchies in Hinduism §REF§<a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556\">http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556</a>§REF§. However, several sources allude to the importance, at least for some branches of the religion, of the relationship between student and teacher or guru (e.g. §REF§G. Flood, Introduction, in G. Flood (ed), The Blackwell Comapnion to Hinduism (2003), p. 4§REF§), which suggests that perhaps it would not be entirely inappropriate to say that there is indeed a Hindu religious hierarchy, and that it is composed of two levels." }, { "id": 379, "polity": { "id": 277, "name": "kz_chionite", "long_name": "Chionites", "start_year": 300, "end_year": 388 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>\"Ghirshman writes that under the influence of Brahmanism, a fusion resulted between the Iranian cult of the god Sun-Mithra-Mihira and the religion of India, so that Mihira became not only Surya but also Vishnu and Shiva without, however, losing the Iranian aspect of monotheism. He also noted that the main god of the Chionites-Hephthalites was the Sun-god and that later the cult of this God was connected with the cult of Mithra\" §REF§Kurbanov 2010 p.236§REF§§REF§Ghirshman 1948, p.122-124.§REF§" }, { "id": 380, "polity": { "id": 246, "name": "cn_chu_dyn_spring_autumn", "long_name": "Chu Kingdom - Spring and Autumn Period", "start_year": -740, "end_year": -489 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 1, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": "\"The religious practices and beliefs associated with Chu and Yue - use of shamans in the worship of ghosts and spirits - most likely referred to local variations of ancient practices that can be attested at least back to the Spring and Autumn period (770-481 BCE) and probably as far back as the Shang.\"§REF§(Cook and Blakeley 1999, 4) Cook, Constance A. and Blakeley, Barry B. in Cook, Constance A. Major, John S. 1999. eds. Defining Chu: Image and Reality in Ancient China. University of Hawai'i Press. Honolulu.§REF§" }, { "id": 381, "polity": { "id": 299, "name": "ru_crimean_khanate", "long_name": "Crimean Khanate", "start_year": 1440, "end_year": 1783 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>\"Neighboring the Latin West and the Orthodox East, the Tatar state was the northern stronghold of the Ottoman Empire and the Islamicate world for more than three centuries.\"§REF§(Klein 2012, 3) Denise Klein. Introduction. Denise Klein. ed. 2012. The Crimean Khanate between East and West. (15th-18th Century). Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden.§REF§" }, { "id": 382, "polity": { "id": 307, "name": "fr_aquitaine_duc_1", "long_name": "Duchy of Aquitaine I", "start_year": 602, "end_year": 768 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 5, "religious_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>1. Papacy<br>2.Archibishop<br>3. Bishop<br>\"Carolingian connection with the papacy meant that Aquitanian bishops had more frequent contact with the popes than would their later colleagues\" §REF§Jones, Anna Trumbore. Noble lord, good shepherd: episcopal power and piety in Aquitaine, 877-1050. Vol. 17. Brill, 2009. p.18§REF§<br>4. Church Councils<br>\"Finally, striking evidence for bishops' involvement in the wider Caroligian church in this period lies in their presence at numerous church councils throughout the empire. While it is rare to find tenth-century bishops meeting in council with clerics from outside Aquitiane, in the Caroligian era it was a regular occurence.\"§REF§Jones, Anna Trumbore. Noble lord, good shepherd: episcopal power and piety in Aquitaine, 877-1050. Vol. 17. Brill, 2009. p.18-19§REF§<br>5. Clergy<br>§REF§Jones, Anna Trumbore. Noble lord, good shepherd: episcopal power and piety in Aquitaine, 877-1050. Vol. 17. Brill, 2009§REF§" }, { "id": 383, "polity": { "id": 774, "name": "mw_early_maravi", "long_name": "Early Maravi", "start_year": 1400, "end_year": 1499 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "levels.<br>\"A common feature were the 'spirit wives', women living in permanent celibacy and set apart from the cult of the godhead. One of their tasks was to transmit to those concerned mesages of communal interest which they received in dreams. [...] [T]hey were held in high esteem, their office being considered the highest in the cult hierarchy. They acted as overseers of the female initiation rites, and they are said to have been [...] confidantes of local rulers. The spirit wives were members of the Banda clan and thus were associated with the prestate period in Malawi. This is emphasized in oral traditions cited by Ntara, according to which the Chewa at first had no chiefs but spirit wives, suggesting that they embodied a form of regional jural authority before the emergence of centralized state systems. \"A final feature to be considered is the apparent universality of a priesthood at the great shrines, which consisted of members of the Mbewe clan. These Mbewe were also of pre-Maravi stock, and their presence at the great shrines functioned as an additional factor which bound these shrines together into some form of common organization. The central cult object was conceived of as a snake, called tunga, which was associated both with the shrine hut and with the sacred pool, another invariable feature of each cult complex. The snake spirit was visibly represented by the senior Mbewe official, who was himself known as tunga and who acted as the spirit wife's ritual consort.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A88E23E4\">[Schoeffeleers 1992]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 384, "polity": { "id": 218, "name": "ma_idrisid_dyn", "long_name": "Idrisids", "start_year": 789, "end_year": 917 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>1. Caliph<br> The founder 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and his sons and descendants considered that they had a legitimate claim to the office of caliph and became known as the 'Alawis or occasionally the Shi'is.\"§REF§(El Hareir 2011, 395) Idris El Hareir. Islam in the Maghrib (21-641/1041-1631). Idris El Hareir. Ravane M'baye. ed. 2011. The Spread of Islam Throughout the World. Volume Three. UNESCO Publishing.§REF§<br>Mamlakat al-Islam (Domain of Islam)<br>Mamlakat al-'arab (Domain of Arabs)<br>Mamlakat al-'adjam (Domain of non-Arabs)<br>§REF§al-Mukaddasî, Ahsan al-Takâsîm (985 A.D.)§REF§" }, { "id": 385, "polity": { "id": 407, "name": "in_kakatiya_dyn", "long_name": "Kakatiya Dynasty", "start_year": 1175, "end_year": 1324 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 0, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>There are no official priestly hierarchies in Hinduism §REF§<a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556\">http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556</a>§REF§. However, several sources allude to the importance, at least for some branches of the religion, of the relationship between student and teacher or guru (e.g. §REF§G. Flood, Introduction, in G. Flood (ed), The Blackwell Comapnion to Hinduism (2003), p. 4§REF§), which suggests that perhaps it would not be entirely inappropriate to say that there is indeed a Hindu religious hierarchy, and that it is composed of two levels." }, { "id": 386, "polity": { "id": 406, "name": "in_kalachuri_emp", "long_name": "Kalachuris of Kalyani", "start_year": 1157, "end_year": 1184 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 5, "religious_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>_Hinduism_<br>There are no official priestly hierarchies in Hinduism §REF§<a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556\">http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556</a>§REF§. However, several sources allude to the importance, at least for some branches of the religion, of the relationship between student and teacher or guru (e.g. §REF§G. Flood, Introduction, in G. Flood (ed), The Blackwell Comapnion to Hinduism (2003), p. 4§REF§), which suggests that perhaps it would not be entirely inappropriate to say that there is indeed a Hindu religious hierarchy, and that it is composed of two levels.<br>_Virashaivism_<br>Virashaivism is a branch of Hinduism that was briefly prominent under Bijjala II, and which shuns hierarchies of all kinds §REF§S. Wise Bauer, The History of the Renaissance World (2013), p. 114§REF§.<br>_Jainism_<br>NOTE: I have found two equally authoritative sources on Jain hierarchy:<br>(1) §REF§Singh, Upinder. A History of Ancient and Early medieval India, pp 312-319§REF§<br> 1. Arihants (ones who have conquered their inner enemies)<br> 2. Siddhas (Liberated Ones)<br> 3. Acharyas (who head the Order)<br> 4. Upadhyays (who teach the message)<br> 5. Sadhus (Monks/Seekers)<br>(2) §REF§M. Adiga, The Making of Southern Karnataka (2006), pp. 269-276§REF§<br> 1. Guru (teacher)<br> 2. Monks<br> 2. Male figure (not specified by author whether a monk) in charge of nuns<br> 3. Pravartini or ganini (aides to the male figure in charge of nuns)<br> 4. Nuns<br>_Buddhism_<br>\"Buddhist monastic communities replaced the caste system with one based on year of ordination. Previously ordained monks enjoyed rights and privileges higher in status than monks ordained later, and monks were categorically of higher status and privilege than nuns. In effect seniority and gender provided criteria for social status and increased access to 'pure' teachings and exemption from 'impure' duties.\" §REF§P. Nietupsky, Hygiene: Buddhist Perspective, in W.M. Johnson, Encyclopedia of Monasticism (2000), p. 628§REF§." }, { "id": 387, "polity": { "id": 389, "name": "in_kamarupa_k", "long_name": "Kamarupa Kingdom", "start_year": 350, "end_year": 1130 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": "levels.<br>1. Rajaguru (royal priest)<br>Among the \"officials\" who \"helped the king in discharging his duties\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/58FRDM4B\">[Baruah 1985, p. 139]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 388, "polity": { "id": 273, "name": "uz_kangju", "long_name": "Kangju", "start_year": -150, "end_year": 350 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>The Kangju had a 'sacred center'.§REF§(Andrianov 2016, 213) Boris V Andrianov. Chapter 5. The Lower Syrdarya. Boris V Andrianov. Simone Mantellini. ed. 2016. Ancient Irrigation Systems of the Aral Sea Area: Ancient Irrigation Systems of the Aral Sea Area. Oxbow Books Limited. Oxford.§REF§<br>\"'Kangiui' [Kangju], sees the full flourishing of an independent region. Fortresses, farmsteads, 'urban' sites and religious complexes were built at this time, while the material culture experienced a period of conservatism lasting until the late first or early second century ad, suggesting little outside influence until contact with the Kushan empire effected a major cultural shift.\"§REF§(Hermann and Cribb 2007, 437) Georgina Hermann. Joe Cribb. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. Oxford University Press.§REF§" }, { "id": 389, "polity": { "id": 241, "name": "ao_kongo_2", "long_name": "Kingdom of Congo", "start_year": 1491, "end_year": 1568 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>1. King<br> \"This system of transition rendered royal successions delicate political affairs and placed a high value on the ability of the chosen candidate to assert his rule and establish his legitimacy in political, military, and supernatural terms. Kongo monarchs therefore depended heavily on a range of regalia, myths, and ritual apparatus to demonstrate their power and naturalize their rule.\"§REF§(Fromont 2014, 2) Cecile Fromont. 2014. The Art Of Conversion. Christian Visual Culture In The Kingdom Of Kongo. The University of North Carolina Press.§REF§<br> \"willful conversion of the Kongo monarch, Nzinga a Nkuwu (r.1470-1509), who celebrated his baptism with great pomp on May 3, 1491, and took the name of Joao I after the king of Portugal.\"§REF§(Fromont 2014, 4) Cecile Fromont. 2014. The Art Of Conversion. Christian Visual Culture In The Kingdom Of Kongo. The University of North Carolina Press.§REF§<br> Mvemba a Nzinga (Alfonso I) (r. 1509-1542) made Christianity the state religion.§REF§(Fromont 2014, 4) Cecile Fromont. 2014. The Art Of Conversion. Christian Visual Culture In The Kingdom Of Kongo. The University of North Carolina Press.§REF§<br> \"The padroado [padroado regio] granted the Iberian crown control over the clergy and, later, bishops of central Africa ... These rights, in fact, did not allow Portugal much power in the Kongo; throughout the period, the local crown maintained financial responsibility for and de facto authority over the priests active in the region.\"§REF§(Fromont 2014, 5) Cecile Fromont. 2014. The Art Of Conversion. Christian Visual Culture In The Kingdom Of Kongo. The University of North Carolina Press.§REF§" }, { "id": 390, "polity": { "id": 290, "name": "ge_georgia_k_2", "long_name": "Kingdom of Georgia II", "start_year": 975, "end_year": 1243 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>Christian priests clergy with literary culture.§REF§(Suny 1994, 38-39) Ronald Grigor Suny. 1994. The Making of the Georgian Nation. Indiana University Press. Bloomington.§REF§<br>King David's reforms: \"In 1103 he convened the Ruisi-Urbnisi church council, at which he purged the clerical hierarchy of his opponents. He then combined the highest secular office in his kingdom, the chancellorship or mtsignobartukhutsesi, with the highest religious office, the bishopric of Chqondideli. To the new post of mtsignobartukhutses-chqondideli David appointed his teacher and closest advisor ... The new chancellor-procurator also was given judicial powers and influence in both domestic and foreign affairs; he soon came to be called vaziri (vizier) in imitation of that powerful office in Islamic countries.\"§REF§(Suny 1994, 35) Ronald Grigor Suny. 1994. The Making of the Georgian Nation. Indiana University Press. Bloomington.§REF§" }, { "id": 391, "polity": { "id": 355, "name": "iq_lakhmid_k", "long_name": "Lakhmid Kigdom", "start_year": 400, "end_year": 611 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>\"they adopted Christianity, which also became latterly the official religion of the Lakhmids of al-Hira.\"§REF§(Bosworth et al 1982, 632) C E Bosworth. E Van Donzel. B Lewis. Ch Pellat. eds. 1982. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume V. E J BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br>Founder of the dynasty Amr b. Adi \"appears as the protector of Manichaeism after it was outlawed in Persia.\"§REF§(Bosworth et al 1982, 633) C E Bosworth. E Van Donzel. B Lewis. Ch Pellat. eds. 1982. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume V. E J BRILL. Leiden.§REF§<br>\"The short period that intervened between the death of Kabus in 573 and the accession of the last Lakhmid king in 580 was punctuated by two interregna; that of the Persian Suhrab may be assigned to 574-4, while the other, during which most probably ruled Kabisa, an Arab from the tribe of Tayyi, lasted for a few months in 580, before the accession of al-Nu'man (580-602. Between the two interregna there ruled the unpopular al-Mundhir IV.<br>\"Only the last Lakhmid king, al-Numan, adopted it openly; but since it was the Nestorian form of it, in opposition to the Chalcedonian one adopted by Byzantium, it was acceptable to the Sasanids. And yet their capital al-Hira, became the great centre of Arab Christianity and of its transmission to the Arabs of the Peninsula. The city was adorned with churches and monasteries, was the seat of a bishopric, and the refuge for many a persecuted ecclesiastic.\"§REF§(Bosworth et al 1982, 634) C E Bosworth. E Van Donzel. B Lewis. Ch Pellat. eds. 1982. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume V. E J BRILL. Leiden.§REF§" }, { "id": 392, "polity": { "id": 56, "name": "pa_cocle_3", "long_name": "Late Greater Coclé", "start_year": 1000, "end_year": 1515 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "Spanish accounts provide evidence of 'tequinas (seers) and shaman-curers' in Panamanian societies in the early 16th century. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HH4NQZBM\">[Spencer_Drennan_Uribe 1987, p. 372]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 393, "polity": { "id": 257, "name": "cn_later_qin_dyn", "long_name": "Later Qin Kingdom", "start_year": 386, "end_year": 417 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>Ruler Yao Xing (394-426 CE) was a Buddhist.§REF§(Xiong 2009, 14) Xiong, V C. 2009. Historical Dictionary of Medieval China. Scarecrow Press, Inc., Plymouth.§REF§" }, { "id": 394, "polity": { "id": 391, "name": "in_maitraka_dyn", "long_name": "Maitraka Dynasty", "start_year": 470, "end_year": 790 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 0, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>There are no official priestly hierarchies in Hinduism §REF§<a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"external free\" href=\"http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556\">http://ezinearticles.com/?Religious-Hierarchy-in-Hinduism&id=1864556</a>§REF§. However, several sources allude to the importance, at least for some branches of the religion, of the relationship between student and teacher or guru (e.g. §REF§G. Flood, Introduction, in G. Flood (ed), The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism (2003), p. 4§REF§), which suggests that perhaps it would not be entirely inappropriate to say that there is indeed a Hindu religious hierarchy, and that it is composed of two levels." }, { "id": 395, "polity": { "id": 212, "name": "sd_makuria_k_1", "long_name": "Makuria Kingdom I", "start_year": 568, "end_year": 618 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "levels.<br>At Qasr Ibrim Temple 6 \"remained in use as a place of pagan worship into the sixth or early seventh century at which time it appears to have been violently destroyed, perhaps by zealous early Christian converts.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2ZCVEFNQ\">[Welsby 2002, p. 23]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 396, "polity": { "id": 215, "name": "sd_makuria_k_2", "long_name": "Makuria Kingdom II", "start_year": 619, "end_year": 849 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 3, "religious_level_to": 5, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>\"Among the late Christian documents from Qasr Ibrim are mentioned the following church officials: bishops (papas) of Ibrim, Kourte, Sai and Ori, great priests (sorto daoul), priests (sorto), archimandrites, archdeacons, deacons, liturgists (jalligatt), chartelarius, elders (gort) and a fire-sacrificer? (eigla mosil). Most are named as witnesses to or writers of documents and there is no further information on what their functions may have been. In the monastery on Kom H at Old Dongola are references to archiepiscopos and archpresbyter.\"§REF§(Welsby 2002, 99) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.§REF§<br>The Cathedral at Ibrim had a bishops list.§REF§(Welsby 2002, 76) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.§REF§<br>Sassanid invasion broke \"the contacts between the Nubian clergy and the patriarchate of Alexandria, which officially supervised the church of Nubia.\"§REF§(Michalowski 1990, 187) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.§REF§<br>\"The Christian sources seem to prove that the union of Nubia was the work of King Merkurios, who came to the throne in +607 and is said to have introduced Monophysitism into Makuria.\"§REF§(Michalowski 1990, 187) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.§REF§<br>\"between +660 and +700 the Makurites also adopted the Monophysite doctrine\".§REF§(Michalowski 1990, 186) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.§REF§<br>\"In Faras, the aristocracy and the administrative officials spoke Greek, as did the dignitaries of the church. The clergy also understood Coptic, which was perhaps the language of many refugees.\"§REF§(Michalowski 1990, 191) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.§REF§<br>\"Like the Pharoahs of the Old Kingdom in Egypt, the kings of Nubia were also high-ranking priests. They were not only empowered to settle religious questions, but could also perform certain religious functions\".§REF§(Michalowski 1981, 334) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.§REF§<br>Xenon next to a monastery.§REF§(Welsby 2002, 39) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.§REF§ A xenon is \"an institution of Byzantine origin which was a combination of a hospice and a hospital where the efficacy of treatment was assisted by its proximity to the burials of Holy Men.\"§REF§(Welsby 2002, 276) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.§REF§" }, { "id": 397, "polity": { "id": 219, "name": "sd_makuria_k_3", "long_name": "Makuria Kingdom III", "start_year": 850, "end_year": 1099 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 3, "religious_level_to": 5, "comment": "levels.<br>\"Among the late Christian documents from Qasr Ibrim are mentioned the following church officials: bishops (papas) of Ibrim, Kourte, Sai and Ori, great priests (sorto daoul), priests (sorto), archimandrites, archdeacons, deacons, liturgists (jalligatt), chartelarius, elders (gort) and a fire-sacrificer? (eigla mosil). Most are named as witnesses to or writers of documents and there is no further information on what their functions may have been. In the monastery on Kom H at Old Dongola are references to archiepiscopos and archpresbyter.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2ZCVEFNQ\">[Welsby 2002, p. 99]</a> Xenon next to a monastery. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2ZCVEFNQ\">[Welsby 2002, p. 39]</a> Which period? A xenon is \"an institution of Byzantine origin which was a combination of a hospice and a hospital where the efficacy of treatment was assisted by its proximity to the burials of Holy Men.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2ZCVEFNQ\">[Welsby 2002, p. 276]</a> The Cathedral at Ibrim had a bishops list. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2ZCVEFNQ\">[Welsby 2002, p. 76]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 398, "polity": { "id": 383, "name": "my_malacca_sultanate", "long_name": "Malacca Sultanate", "start_year": 1396, "end_year": 1511 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels.<br>In 1445 CE \"the throne was seized by a converted Muslim half-brother of the previous ruler\".§REF§(Mauzy 1985) Diane K Mauzy. Language and Language Policy in Malaysia. William R Beer. James E Jacob. eds. 1985. Language Policy and National Unity. Rowman & Allanheld Publishers. Totowa.§REF§ \"in 1303, a community in the region of Terengganu on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula produced an inscription in Jawi, the Malay language written with the Arabic alphabet, devoted to a set of Islamic laws.\"§REF§(Riddell 2017, 5-6) Peter G Riddell. 2017. Malay Court Religion, Culture and Language: Interpreting the Qurʾan in 17th Century Aceh. BRILL. Leiden.§REF§" }, { "id": 399, "polity": { "id": 235, "name": "my_malacca_sultanate_22222", "long_name": "Malacca Sultanate", "start_year": 1270, "end_year": 1415 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 2, "religious_level_to": 2, "comment": "levels.<br>Islamic religion.", "description": null }, { "id": 400, "polity": { "id": 776, "name": "mw_maravi_emp", "long_name": "Maravi Empire", "start_year": 1622, "end_year": 1870 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": "levels.<br>\"A common feature were the 'spirit wives', women living in permanent celibacy and set apart from the cult of the godhead. One of their tasks was to transmit to those concerned mesages of communal interest which they received in dreams. [...] [T]hey were held in high esteem, their office being considered the highest in the cult hierarchy. They acted as overseers of the female initiation rites, and they are said to have been [...] confidantes of local rulers. The spirit wives were members of the Banda clan and thus were associated with the prestate period in Malawi. This is emphasized in oral traditions cited by Ntara, according to which the Chewa at first had no chiefs but spirit wives, suggesting that they embodied a form of regional jural authority before the emergence of centralized state systems.<br>\"A final feature to be considered is the apparent universality of a priesthood at the great shrines, which consisted of members of the Mbewe clan. These Mbewe were also of pre-Maravi stock, and their presence at the great shrines functioned as an additional factor which bound these shrines together into some form of common organization. The central cult object was conceived of as a snake, called tunga, which was associated both with the shrine hut and with the sacred pool, another invariable feature of each cult complex. The snake spirit was visibly represented by the senior Mbewe official, who was himself known as tunga and who acted as the spirit wife's ritual consort.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A88E23E4\">[Schoeffeleers 1992]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 401, "polity": { "id": 209, "name": "ma_mauretania", "long_name": "Mauretania", "start_year": -125, "end_year": 44 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "UND", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": null, "religious_level_to": null, "comment": null, "description": "levels. In North Africa Phoenician/Libyan religion persisted into Roman times.§REF§(Mahjoubi and Salama 1981, 463) A Mahjoubi and P Salama. The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa. G Mokhtar. ed. 1981. General History of Africa II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa. Heinemann. California.§REF§ In the c1st century BCE: \"Lix (or Lixus) was a commercial city on the west coast of Mauretania Tingitana. The observe of the coin illustrated here depicts an Egyptian North African deity similar to the Greek god Hephaistos (Roman Vulcan). The reverse seems to be a distyle entrace, with large capitals, most likely part of a temple to the deity honored on this coin.\"§REF§(Sayles 1998, 115) Wayne G Sayles. 1998. Ancient Coin Collecting IV. Roman Provincial Coins. Krause Publications. Iola.§REF§" }, { "id": 402, "polity": { "id": 531, "name": "mx_monte_alban_5_b", "long_name": "Monte Alban V Late Postclassic", "start_year": 1101, "end_year": 1520 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Religious_level", "religious_level_from": 3, "religious_level_to": 3, "comment": null, "description": "levels. Ethnohistoric records written by the Spanish after 1520 describe the presence of full-time priests, or bigaña, during this period. §REF§Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1976). \"Formative Oaxaca and Zapotec Cosmos.\" American Scientist 64(4): 374-383. p376§REF§ The bigaña were ranked beneath the uija-táo (or great seer) and above the ueza-eche, huetete colanij (sacrifice or diviner),§REF§Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People. New York. p350§REF§ although the extent to which these ranks can be inferred back to the whole period are not known.<br>1. First rank-uija-táo – “great seer”<br>2. Second rank-vuijatáo copa pitáo bigaña-“priest”/ bigaña – “young priest” or “student priest”3. Third rank-eche, huetete colanij-“sacrifice” or “diviner”" } ] }