| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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17th Century: Clerical education was informal and unsystematic, with many priests supplementing their income through other means like farming.
18th Century (Starting with Peter the Great, ruled 1682–1725): The clergy started receiving more systematic and formal training. They became more integrated with state functions and increasingly resembled a hereditary professional estate. [1] [1]: Pospielovsky, Dimitry. The Orthodox Church in the History of Russia. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998. Zotero link: BSA6XCTP |
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levels.
In the later Uruk phase "Urban Revolution" c3800-3000 BCE that the following quote refers to religious ideology became more complex, so can infer low level religious complexity in this period: "Early state formation therefore featured both the rise of a ruling class, making decisions and benefiting from a privilaged position, and the development of a political and religious ideology. The latter was able to ensure stability and cohesion in this pyramid of inequality." [1] Liverani says "possible existence of specilised priests" in reference to nearby Ubaid culture 5100-4000 BCE temples. [2] This suggests that before 5100 BCE unlikely to be specialised priests in Susiana or the wider region. The fact no symbolic buildings (i.e. temples) so far referenced for this time period suggests a code of inferred absent. [1]: (Leverani 2014, 79) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 53) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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The introduction of professional priesthood occurred during the New Kingdom
[1]
As there is no professional priesthood in the Dynastic Egypt up to New Kingdom it seems improbable that this institution existed in the predynastic times
[2]
[1]: Doxey, D. M. 2001. "Priesthood". [in:] Redford, D. B. [ed.]. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pg: 77. [2]: Doxey D. M. 2001. "Priesthood".[in;] Redford, D. B. [ed.]. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford:Oxford University Press. pg: 77. |
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Full-time specialists
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Full-time specialists
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Full-time specialists
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Full-time specialists ‘A Garo religious practitioner is known as KAMAL. The word is used to mean ’specialist’; thus a midwife may be a kamal. A kamal has neither special privilege nor prestige from his service to the society.’
[1]
‘It is the duty of the Kamal to perform certain rites and the ceremonies of naming a child, marriage, funeral and the investiture of chiefs.’
[2]
The Kamal is not a full-time specialist: ‘Professional shamans, or any other kind of professional intermediaries between human beings and supernaturals are absent among the Garo. Any person who is conversant with the technicalities of magico-religious rites can perform them. However, magico-religious rites performed for the well-being of the community in general are performed by the village priest ( kamal) who is supposed to be well acquainted with the procedure of such rites. There may be several such specialists in the village. Usually after the death of the seniormost the next senior man steps in. The office of the kamal is in no way hereditary. He does not enjoy any special privilege in the village community.’
[3]
‘There may be more than one kamal in a village, but the major rites are performed by the oldest and the most experienced kamal. The office of kamal is not hereditary. Anybody who is able to master the rites can be engaged as a kamal. The word kamal implies the sense of a specialist-a midwife is also known as a kamal. Often rites of propitiation for minor ailments in the household are performed by the head of the family himself. The kamal does not enjoy any privilege because of his services to the villagers. He has to cultivate his plot of shifting land just like any other villager. He also does not get any remuneration for performing the rites.’
[4]
‘The kamal’s life has certain drawbacks, for his duties are often both onerous and unpleasant; for instance, when he has to watch by the side of the dead for long hours together, reciting tedious funeral dirges. Very little remuneration is given him, and in no way does the priest enjoy privileges which his fellow-villagers do not share. He must work in the fields and grow his crops like the rest, and the only way in which his lot is different from that of his neighbours, is that he must devote his attention to the requirements of others, even at personal inconvenience. In such circumstances it would be imagined that the post was a difficult one to fill, yet every village has its kamal and he never seems to shirk his duties.’
[5]
[1]: Roy, Sankar Kumar: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Garo [2]: Thomas, M. C. 1995. “Religious Beliefs And Customs Among The Garo”, 206 [3]: Goswami, M. C., and Dhirendra Narayan Majumdar 1968. “Study Of Social Attitudes Among The Garo”, 65 [4]: Majumdar, Dhirendra Narayan 1978. “Culture Change In Two Garo Villages”, 25 [5]: Playfair, Alan 1909. “Garos”, 98 |
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’Before the establishment of the Church in 1056 CE, the chieftains doubled as religious leaders of Nordic paganism. Even after 1056 CE, they often doubled as church owners and some of them became priests. But many Christian priests were full-time, all of them had some training and most or all of them were paid or had a secure income from their own or ecclesiastical estates.’
[1]
Christianity was introduced in 1000ce: ’Iceland was settled before any significant impact of Christianity in Scandinavia and the early Icelanders were pagans. Many of the Celtic people incorporated in the foundational population were probably Christian but this appears to have had little impact in the society in general. Pre-Christian religious practices are known largely by poetic and literary sources, all recorded during the Christian era, and some traces of material culture. These sources depict a rich cosmology including the Norse pantheon of gods and giants. Thor held a place of special significance based on his frequent inclusion in person and place names. The Icelanders inhabited an environment rich in supernatural entities including trolls, elves, and ghosts. Prescience and magical abilities were often attributed to individuals. In 1000 A.D., responding to a combination of internal and foreign pressure exerted by the Norwegian king, the Icelanders meeting at the General Assembly decided to adopt Christianity as the common religion. Hencefor th Iceland was officially Christian although many of the traditional beliefs remained.’
[2]
’By the end of the 10th century, the Norwegians were forced by their king, Olaf I Tryggvason, to accept Christianity. The king also sent missionaries to Iceland who, according to 12th-century sources, were highly successful in converting the Icelanders. In 999 or 1000 the Althing made a peaceful decision that all Icelanders should become Christians. In spite of this decision, the godar retained their political role, and many of them probably built their own churches. Some were ordained, and as a group they seem to have closely controlled the organization of the new religion. Two bishoprics were established, one at Skálholt in 1056 and the other at Hólar in 1106. Literate Christian culture also transformed lay life. Codification of the law was begun in 1117-18. Later the Icelanders began to write sagas, which were to reach their pinnacle of literary achievement in the next century.’
[3]
During the pagan period, chiefs frequently fulfilled religious functions: ’Pagan ceremonies were varied, and the details handed down by later Christian texts are not clear. Sacrificial rites performed by household heads or chieftains played a part in the ritual. Certain rituals seeking the intercession of spirits for divination or assistance (SEIÐR) were largely performed by women. Special cultic sites or buildings (HOFS) existed but religious ceremonies were not limited to these settings. Sacrificial activities were banned shortly after the conversion and Christian ceremonies such as baptism and communion were introduced.’
[2]
The offices of priest and bishop were introduced after the formal adoption of Christianity, but chiefs and farmers remained primary actors in the performance of rituals: ’The political institution of chieftaincy (GOÐORÐ) was rooted in religious function, a priestly office of intermediary between the community and supernatural forces. It is unclear the degree to which the role of chieftains had been secularized by the occupation of Iceland, but it is likely chiefs played a continued role in local religious activities by performing rites and sacrifices. Religious activities were not exclusive to chieftains. Individuals played a variety of intermediary between the mundane and supernatural roles including private devotions, divination, and sorcery. The conversion to Christianity brought with it the institutions of priest and bishop to Iceland. Throughout much of the early period, the institutional power of the church was weak. Churches were located on privately owned farmlands and were built and maintained by the local farmers who maintained a priest or served as priest himself. The early farm churches were small and probably served little more than the household and immediate neighbors.’
[2]
The few Icelandic bishops of the Commonwealth period resembled chiefs in their reliance on additional household labour: ’Although I would prefer to flout the conventional wisdom that slavery had all but died out by the eleventh century (Karras 1988a), the household laborers that replaced them in the Commonwealth period were numerous. When Þórðr kakali returns to Iceland Kolbeinn ungi immediately sends out thirty húsmenn to look for him in Eyjafjörðr. Þorsteinn Cod-biter had sixty free men in his household (Eyrbyggja saga, ÍF 4, ch. 11); Guðmundr the Mighty had one hundred (Brennu-Njáls saga, ÍF 12, ch. 113); Sörla þáttr (Ljósvetninga saga), ÍF 10, ch. 1:109); Bishop Páll’s household at Skálholt (ca 1200) had seventy to eighty residents, and a household with eighty has been discussed above. It is probably not unfair to say that by the Commonwealth period the majority of the wealth of great bœndur and goðar was the product of teams of house-men and women.’
[4]
The interests of the church and the ’secular’ elites were in conflict during the phase of intensified internal strife that preceded the Norwegian period: ’As I have mentioned earlier, the era of the Sturlungs was a period bordering on civil war, in which the Sturlunga family was central. What kinds of sentiments would the author of the Eyrbyggja saga, who must have been close to the Sturlungs, be likely to express? Although some of the Sturlung family’s most prominent members in Norway had solemnly obliged themselves to further the king’s cause, they nevertheless tended to forget the vow when they returned to Iceland. As also was the case with other chieftains, they preferred to act independently of the king. Some of the Sturlungs clearly harbored dreams of being Icelandic kings; others preferred a society governed by an oligarchy of Icelandic [Page 144] chieftains. In both cases sentiments would have been against the Norwegian king’s growing influence in Iceland. The Sturlungs were therefore likely to express anti-royal feelings, even though they might admire the king’s person. As the aristocracy was competing with the Church, we may also assume that the Sturlungs were against the ascending dominance of the Church in juridical, economic, and moral matters (Hastrup 1985, ch. 7). Two of the Sturlungs had in fact been instrumental in removing bishop Ari Guðmundsson from his bishopric in northern Iceland in 1222 (ST 1:287-298). As representatives of the dominant class, the Sturlungs were also likely to express contempt towards the lower classes. We find all these structurally determined resentments in Eyrbyggja saga.’
[5]
[1]: Árni Daniel Júlíusson and Axel Kristissen 2017, pers. comm. to E. Brandl and D. Mullins [2]: Bolender, Douglas James and Beirle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for Early Icelanders [3]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Iceland/Government-and-society#toc10088 [4]: Samson, Ross 1992. “Goðar: Democrats Of Despots?”, 179 [5]: Odner, Knut 1992. “Þógunna’S Testament: A Myth For Moral Contemplation And Social Apathy”, 143 |
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Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. However, this period might be too early.
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Inferred from the following quote. "In sum, we have not found unambiguous evidence of social complexity and the often suggested highly advanced social system of the Nok Culture. [...] As demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, such a larger social network apparently was not organised and maintained in a way as to infer social inequality, social hierarchies or other signs of internal demarcation traceable by available archaeological data. None of the numerous excavations brought to light architectural remains of specified buildings or the spatial organisation of housing areas that might have been occupied by high-ranking members of the community. Further, among the admittedly few features interpreted as graves there is no evidence of any heterogeneity pointing to a difference between burials of elite members or commoners. Nowhere, an accumulation of valuable objects neither of iron nor any other materials signifying inequality in terms of property or prosperity was found."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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Sunni Islam did not have the equivalent of a professional priest. The leader of the daily prayers was given a special title and a person widely thought to be learned would be awarded a title of Imam, but this did not connote a hierarchy of belief. Certain originators of judiciary schools were awarded special titles, but these rare individuals were not the equivalent of saints. The increasing fractured nature of Sunni and Shiite religious controversy led to a divergence in the use of titles to members of the umma. In Afghanistan, local practice could be widely divergent from mainstream Islam.
[1]
[1]: Lapidus, 2002, pp. 133-155 |
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Full-time specialists Village-based specialists were not full-time professionals: ’Full time religious specialists were absent, however, there were part-time male and female specialists known as Keepers of the Faith whose primary responsibilities were to arrange and conduct the main religious ceremonies. Keepers of the Faith were appointed by matrisib elders and were accorded considerable prestige.’
[1]
’Part time religious specialists known as Keepers of the Faith served in part to censure anti-social behavior. Unconfessed witches detected through council proceedings were punished with death, while those who confessed might be allowed to reform.’
[1]
’Illness and disease were attributed to supernatural causes. Curing ceremonies consisted of group shamanistic practices directed towards propitiating the responsible supernatural agents. One of the curing groups was the False Face Society. False Face Societies were found in each village and, except for a female Keeper of the False Faces who protected the ritual paraphernalia, consisted only of male members who had dreamed of participation in False Face ceremonies.’
[1]
Christian attempts at proselytization were not successful on a large scale: ’The Iroquoian confederacy was organized sometime between 1400 and A.D. 1600 for the purpose of maintaining peaceful relations between the 5 constituent tribes. Subsequent to European contact relations within the confederacy were sometimes strained as each of the 5 tribes sought to expand and maintain its own interests in the developing fur trade. For the most part, however, the fur trade served to strengthen the confederacy because tribal interests often complemented one another and all gained from acting in concert. The League was skillful at playing French and English interests off against one another to its advantage and thereby was able to play a major role in the economic and political events of northeastern North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Iroquois aggressively maintained and expanded their role in the fur trade and as a result periodically found themselves at war with their neighbors, such as the Huron, Petun, and the Neutral to the West and the Susquehannock to the south. Much of the fighting was done by the Seneca, the most powerful of the Iroquoian tribes. From 1667 to the 1680s the Iroquois maintained friendly relations with the French and during this time Jesuit missions were established among each of the 5 tribes. However, Iroquois aggression and expansion eventually brought them into conflict with the French and, at the same time, into closer alliance with the English. In 1687, 1693 and 1696 French military expeditions raided and burned Iroquois villages and fields. During Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) the Iroquois allied with the English and at the War’s end were acknowledged to be British subjects, though they continued to aggressively maintain and extend their middleman role between English traders at Fort Orange (Albany) and native groups farther west.’
[1]
[1]: Reid, Gerald: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Iroquois |
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Full-time specialists Village-based specialists were not full-time professionals: ’Full time religious specialists were absent, however, there were part-time male and female specialists known as Keepers of the Faith whose primary responsibilities were to arrange and conduct the main religious ceremonies. Keepers of the Faith were appointed by matrisib elders and were accorded considerable prestige.’
[1]
’Part time religious specialists known as Keepers of the Faith served in part to censure anti-social behavior. Unconfessed witches detected through council proceedings were punished with death, while those who confessed might be allowed to reform.’
[1]
’Illness and disease were attributed to supernatural causes. Curing ceremonies consisted of group shamanistic practices directed towards propitiating the responsible supernatural agents. One of the curing groups was the False Face Society. False Face Societies were found in each village and, except for a female Keeper of the False Faces who protected the ritual paraphernalia, consisted only of male members who had dreamed of participation in False Face ceremonies.’
[1]
During the early 19th century, new religious movements under supra-local leadership emerged: ’Around 1800 a Seneca sachem named Handsome Lake received a series of visions which he believed showed the way for the Iroquois to regain their lost cultural integrity and promised supernatural aid to all those who followed him. The Handsome Lake religion emphasized many traditional elements of Iroquoian culture, but also incorporated Quaker beliefs and aspects of White culture.’
[1]
’About the time Christian missions were being established among the Senecas, there was developing among them what later came to be called the “new religion of Handsome Lake.” In June 1799 the Seneca chief known by the chiefly name of Handsome Lake, who had been born at Canawaugas on the Genesee River 64 years before but was then living at the settlement of his half brother, Cornplanter on the Allegheny River, had the first of a series of visions. In this and subsequent visions, the messengers from the Creator (there were four such messengers) appeared to Handsome Lake. They told him what the Creator wished the Iroquois to do, and these messages Handsome Lake duly communicated to his people.’
[2]
’Handsome Lake preached on Cornplanter’s Grant until a quarrel with his half-brother led him and his followers to move to Coldspring on the Allegany Reservation in 1803. A worsening political position at Coldspring induced Handsome Lake to move to Tonawanda where he continued to preach. He died in 1815 on a visit to Onondaga.’
[2]
’The Code of Handsome Lake, called káiwi[unknown] yo[unknown] h ‘the good message’, touched on many aspects of life and included the admonitions that the Iroquois should not drink, that witchcraft should stop, that abortion and adultery should cease, that children and old people should be treated kindly and taken care of, and that the Four Sacred Rituals (the Four Sacred Ceremonies)--Feather Dance, Thanksgiving Dance, Personal Chant,and Bowl Game--should continue to be given (see also“Origins of the Longhouse Religion,” this vol.).’
[3]
’After his death, the various teachings of Handsome Lake were codified and the preaching of them became an annual event. The Tonawanda Seneca were designated as the “firekeepers” of the new religion, and each year the Tonawanda Longhouse still sends out invitations to the other Longhouses requesting them to come to Tonawanda to hear the Code of Handsome Lake preached there. It is subsequently preached in a biennial circuit that includes the Coldspring Longhouse on the Allegany Reservation one year and the Newtown Longhouse onthe Cattaraugus Reservation the other (see “IroquoisSince 1820,” this vol.).’
[3]
It remains unclear whether the early movement provided for full-time preachers other than the prophet, although this does not seem likely. Christian attempts at proselytization were not successful until mid-century: ’In the early decades of the nineteenth century, variousministers visited the Onondaga and other efforts weremade to convert them, with only limited success. In 1816 Eleazar Williams, an adopted Mohawk catechist and layreader (see “Oneida,” this vol.), visited the Onondagas. Inthat and the following year, a few Onondagas were [Page 497] baptized by Episcopalian clergymen, and subsequentlysome attended the church at Onondaga Hill (Clark 1849,1:238-240). About the same time, a local Presbyterian minister also proselytized among the Onondagas, and in1821 there were said to be 34 who professed Christianityin the Presbyterian form of worship. In 1820 a schooltaught by a Stockbridge woman opened, but the teacherdied a few years later (J. Morse 1822:323-324, 394; Clark1849, 1:240-241). About 1828 a Quaker opened anindustrial school and stayed for six or seven years(Fletcher 1888:551). Nevertheless, there remained considerableopposition to Christian missionaries, and aftera Methodist church was established at Oneida in 1829, Indian exhorters rather than ministers were appointed tovisit Onondaga as the Onondagas remained hostile toChristianity (Clark 1849, 1:241).’
[4]
’Most Iroqueis were non-Christian in 1820; however, by 1860 most had become Christian. The spread of Christianity was accsnpanied by a number of intorrolated eausal facters.’
[5]
’During the transformation peried from 1785-1850, when the Six Nations became an agrarian society, two criteria of economical prestige developed. First, missionaries extolled the rural homestead farmer as the ideal. However, the Protestant Ethic required a material accumulation not a redistribution of goods.’
[6]
While Christian communities certainly relied on preachers, no significant body of full-time specialists should be presumed for the early phase of Iroquois Christianity.
[1]: Reid, Gerald: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Iroquois [2]: Abler, Thomas S., and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Seneca”, 510 [3]: Abler, Thomas S., and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Seneca”, 511 [4]: Blau, Harold, Jack Campisi, and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Onondaga”, 496 [5]: Foley, Denis 1994. “Ethnohistoric And Ethnographic Analysis Of The Iroquois From The Aboriginal Era To The Present Suburban Era”, 182 [6]: Foley, Denis 1994. “Ethnohistoric And Ethnographic Analysis Of The Iroquois From The Aboriginal Era To The Present Suburban Era”, 153 |
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Full-time specialists ‘A Garo religious practitioner is known as KAMAL. The word is used to mean ’specialist’; thus a midwife may be a kamal. A kamal has neither special privilege nor prestige from his service to the society.’
[1]
‘It is the duty of the Kamal to perform certain rites and the ceremonies of naming a child, marriage, funeral and the investiture of chiefs.’
[2]
The Kamal was not a full-time specialist: ‘Professional shamans, or any other kind of professional intermediaries between human beings and supernaturals are absent among the Garo. Any person who is conversant with the technicalities of magico-religious rites can perform them. However, magico-religious rites performed for the well-being of the community in general are performed by the village priest ( kamal) who is supposed to be well acquainted with the procedure of such rites. There may be several such specialists in the village. Usually after the death of the seniormost the next senior man steps in. The office of the kamal is in no way hereditary. He does not enjoy any special privilege in the village community.’
[3]
‘There may be more than one kamal in a village, but the major rites are performed by the oldest and the most experienced kamal. The office of kamal is not hereditary. Anybody who is able to master the rites can be engaged as a kamal. The word kamal implies the sense of a specialist-a midwife is also known as a kamal. Often rites of propitiation for minor ailments in the household are performed by the head of the family himself. The kamal does not enjoy any privilege because of his services to the villagers. He has to cultivate his plot of shifting land just like any other villager. He also does not get any remuneration for performing the rites.’
[4]
‘The kamal’s life has certain drawbacks, for his duties are often both onerous and unpleasant; for instance, when he has to watch by the side of the dead for long hours together, reciting tedious funeral dirges. Very little remuneration is given him, and in no way does the priest enjoy privileges which his fellow-villagers do not share. He must work in the fields and grow his crops like the rest, and the only way in which his lot is different from that of his neighbours, is that he must devote his attention to the requirements of others, even at personal inconvenience. In such circumstances it would be imagined that the post was a difficult one to fill, yet every village has its kamal and he never seems to shirk his duties.’
[5]
[1]: Roy, Sankar Kumar: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Garo [2]: Thomas, M. C. 1995. “Religious Beliefs And Customs Among The Garo”, 206 [3]: Goswami, M. C., and Dhirendra Narayan Majumdar 1968. “Study Of Social Attitudes Among The Garo”, 65 [4]: Majumdar, Dhirendra Narayan 1978. “Culture Change In Two Garo Villages”, 25 [5]: Playfair, Alan 1909. “Garos”, 98 |
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Full-time specialists ’There are three religious practitioners: the bard (LEMAMBANG), the augur (TUAI BURONG), and the shaman (MANANG). Individually or in teams, bards are invited to chant at all major rituals. They are highly respected men, capable of recalling and adapting as appropriate, chants that go on for hours. The augur is employed for critical activities, such as farming or travelling. The shaman is a psychotherapist, who is consulted for unusual or persistent ailments.’
[1]
’Ritual is essential to preserve the spiritual well-being of the whole longhouse, as well as its families separately, and in the middle sections of this study Mr.Sandin outlines the major ritual festivals, or gawai , performed by the longhouse and describes the adat gawai , or rules of ritual procedure, that govern the performance of each of these festivals. More generally yet, observance of adat and ritual well-being are closely interrelated, a point I shall return to presently. As the author stresses at the outset of this study, the longhouse is a religious congregation, whose members are bound together by ties of ritual interdependence. For this reason, adat is of special importance to the Iban, for not only does it preserve social harmony among longhouse members, but, in doing so, it makes possible ritual cooperation upon which their collective prosperity and well-being is thought to depend.’
[2]
Augurs act as experts in the interpretation of omens, with village leaders often doubling as augurs: ’For deliberate auguries the knowledge of an expert augur is usually sought. If the undertaking involves the efforts of the whole community, as, for example, house-building, responsibility for seeking omens generally falls on the tuai burong , or community augur. The latter is a man generally recognized for his experience and skill as an augur. In practice, beburong ordinarily precedes a great many lesser occasions, aside from the major ones mentioned, and responsibility for taking auguries normally rests with tuai burong or with the person who leads the undertaking. Because of the importance of augury, any man traditionally aspiring to leadership within the community, as a longhouse headman or senior family head, or within the wider region, as a war chief, migrational leader, or the head of a trading venture, was expected to possess a proficient knowledge of augury. The position of the tuai burong was traditionally one of considerable influence in Iban society and a knowledge of practical augury was an important requirement of leadership more generally.’
[3]
Shamans officiate at communal rituals: ’A month or two after the opening of the ulit mourning period, the deceased’s family will now sever the bonds of affection between the deceased and the members of his or her family remaining in this world in a final rite of farewell. To accomplish this a manang , or shaman, is invited by the bereaved family to recite the incantations of the besarara bunga ceremony, meaning, literally, “the severing of the flowers”.’
[4]
Augurs are not full-time specialists, but farmers like their co-villagers: ’The office of tuai burong is not inherited, although there is no reason why a son should not inherit from his father the same propensity, skill, and good fortune which would enable him to qualify. The essential qualification is success, success in rice farming. Consequently, when the community seeks a new tuai burong to lead the community, it is customary to seek among those who are regularly successful ( ni orang ti sebak bulih dia nanya ). When a tuai burong has been provisionally selected by the community as a whole, it is expected that his appointement will be confirmed to him in a dream. Should the spirits fail to give their approval in this way, the provisional tuai burong does not qualify to take office and it becomes necessary to consider an alternative candidate.’
[5]
The same is true for shamans: ’The manang , as someone capable of intercourse with the spirit world may be a person of some power in the locality where he operates. Usually his influence is confined to a limited area, though the reputation of certain exceptional manang may extend more widely. But although known for his achievements when effective, the manang is not otherwise a man of consequence or status in the community. Nor did I come across an instance of a manang who was also an augur ( tuai burong ) or headman ( tuai rumah ). On the contrary, the expression ‘to be like a manang’ ( baka manang ) is derogatory since it implies that a man grows insufficient rice for his bilek. [...] In the terms of normal Iban values, the manang is not a success. Success is measured largely in plentiful harvests, and the manang , who has frequently to be absent from his farm, is rarely a successful farmer, although his own farm-work may be supplemented by the labour of others given in lieu of payment for his services. Since a good name among men is also associated with physical prowess and skill in felling, hunting, and on expeditions, the manang is seldom a man of standing. The majority of manang suffer or have suffered from a physical handicap of which blindness or poor sight is by far the commonest, and a characteristic associated with the manang . While the manang may not enjoy the prestige of a respected position in Iban society, he is nevertheless likely to be widely known and feared by many. This is partly because the Iban acknowledge their need for a manang in certain circumstances, and partly because a human being at times so intimately associated with the spirits carries some of the attributes of spirit power or has the aura of it.’
[6]
[1]: Vinson H. Sutlive, Jr. and John Beierle: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Iban [2]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, xxip [3]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, xxxviiip [4]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 38 [5]: Jensen, Erik 1974. “Iban And Their Religion”, 60 [6]: Jensen, Erik 1974. “Iban And Their Religion”, 142p |
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"... 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."
[1]
Buddhism was present in northern China "In addition to commerce, these Central Asian kingdoms were also centers of Buddhism, and it was from the cities on the Central Asian trade route that Buddhism spread into the Middle Kingdom. Thus it is no accident that it was during the Western Jin that Buddhism began to establish itself as a significant presence, at least in north China." [2] [1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) [2]: (Knechtges 2010, 183) Knechtges, David R. in Chang, Kang-i Sun. Ownen, Stephen. 2010. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. |
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Shamans "engage in ordinary work, and only the most important religious activities require them to don special items of dress and decoration to mark them from others. There are no written texts for learning the chants, songs, dances, and rituals: they are memorized. If called by a family, specialists receive a small payment (often in foodstuffs) for their assistance".
[1]
[1]: Diamond, Norma: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Miao |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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Archaeological evidence suggests a ranked society with only part-time specialization in burgeoning sociopolitical, religious, and/or military institutional roles.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Santley, Robert S. (1977). "Intra-site settlement patterns at Loma Torremote, and their relationship to formative prehistory in the Cuautitlan Region, State of Mexico." Ph.D. Dissertation, Depatartment of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, pp. 365-425. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 94-7, 305-334. [3]: Niederberger, Christine. (2000) "Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico Toward 1200 BC." In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 169-192. [4]: Paul Tolstoy. (1989) "Coapexco and Tlatilco: sites with Olmec material in the Basin of Mexico", In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, Robert J. Sharer & David C. Grove (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pg. 87-121. [5]: Charlton, Thomas H., & Deborah L. Nichols. (1997). "Diachronic studies of city-states: Permutations on a theme—Central Mexico from 1700 BC to AD 1600." In Charlton and Nichols, eds. The Archaeology of City-States: Cross-Cultural Approaches. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.169-207. |
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Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. However, this period might be too early. "Most settlements were simple collections of huts with no evidence for internal differentiation in architecture or material culture than might suggest clear-cut divisions in society."
[1]
[1]: G. Barker, Mediterranean Valley (1995), p. 156 |
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Full-time specialists
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The best evidence for ritual activity are the ritual “Men’s Houses” at San José Mogote, but sources do not suggest there is evidence for a professional priesthood.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). "The Cloud People." New York. |
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There was a Celestial Master at Pingcheng.
[1]
It was "standard practice" for new emperors to take part in a "Daoist ritual to receive talisman registers."
[2]
"... 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." [3] [1]: (Xiong 2009, xcix) [2]: (Xiong 2009, c) [3]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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Clay figurines have been found but there is no evidence for a professional priesthood at Mehrgarh.
[1]
.
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge |
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Full-time specialists Shamans served local communities even after the spread of Christianity: ’As with other Siberian peoples, Yakut shamans (OIUN if male, UDAGAN if female) combine medical and spiritual practice. [...] In the nineteenth century a few Yakut leaders financed the building of Russian Orthodox churches, and many Yakut declared themselves Christian, but this did not mean that they saw Christianity and shamanism as mutually exclusive. The Yakut also believed in the spiritual power of blacksmiths.’
[1]
’Nevertheless, the outward conditions of life have hardly changed after the Russian conquest. There is always the same uncertainty of existence; the unsatisfactory conditions for men as well as for animals continue to exist. The sacrificial priests still everywhere and always hold position and duties of priests, physicians, and fortune-tellers (prophets).’
[2]
’In the Yakut district all Yakuts with rare exceptions have been baptized according to the ‘ancient faith’ [RCH: i.e. , Christianity] rite, or were born from parents of that faith. Yet one can hardly be sure that a Yakut, professing the ancient faith, has given up his shamanist creed, or that he does not have recourse to the latter. I have personally known two shamans, one of them in the Yakutsk district, the other on the Kytach island on the mouth of the Lena, who were both known as followers of the ‘ancient faith.’’
[3]
There where black and white shamans: ’Supernatural power was attributed to blacksmiths, since their art was considered a divine gift. The old Sakha religion had many supernatural spirits, good and evil. Black shamans dealt with evil spirits and could be benevolent or harmful; white shamans were concerned with spiritual intercession for human beings. Two major religious festivals were celebrated with ritual use of koumiss (fermented mare’s milk), one in spring for good spirits and one in fall accompanied by blood sacrifices of livestock for evil spirits.’
[4]
Shamans officiated at seasonal festivals: ’The most important festival among the Yakut is connected with the preparation and use of kumiss, and is called ysyax, or kumiss festival. It has both a social and a religious significance. During the summer, in olden times, every rich man arranged a kumiss festival, at which all members of the clan assembled and were entertained. Other people, and frequently whole clans, were invited; and during the festival, defensive and offensive leagues were concluded. Every such festival commenced with sacrifices, and was accompanied with songs, dances, games, horse and foot races, and other contests.’
[5]
’The first night of the festival is in honor of Big-Lord ( Ulu-Toyon ) and the evil spirits of the upper world subordinate to him. The second night is in honor of Axsan Duolai and his subordinates, the evil spirits of the lower world. To all of these evil spirits, in addition to the libations of kumiss made to the benevolent deities, blood sacrifices of cattle and horses are also made. This ceremony, according to Trostchansky, is superintended by nine male and nine female shamans.’
[6]
Shamans were compensated for their services, but did not receive sufficient payments for their livelihood: ’I at least never heard anything about a wealthy shaman; on the contrary, the shaman often gets no more than 5 kopeks for healing a sick eye. And how little is this sum worth north of Yakutsk! Some Yakuts refused to accept a twenty kopeks coin for a hazel-hen I wanted to buy, saying that they could not manage to use the money; if it had an eye, they would have used it as a button; but as there was no such, I was to take it back. The smallest unit for them is the ruble.’
[7]
Contact with Russian Orthodox priests was irregular: ’The aborigines seldom have an opportunity to see a priest of the ancient faith. In view of the enormous extension of the parishes, of the scattered settlements, and of the extraordinary difficulties in securing communications, he is hardly in a position to see each member of his faith once a year; and if he visits him in one of the settling-places he may not stay longer than two or three days because he must be through with his travel as long as the paths and roads are practicable. One may safely estimate that eight [probably eighty rather than eight, given the context: comment by RA] per cent of the aborigines population has never seen a Christian church. His eminency, the former Yakut bishop Dionysius even told me that sometimes priests had died without having communicated, leaving a written confession of sins.’
[3]
Accordingly, the material is coded for Sakha rather than Orthodox institutions.
[1]: Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Yakut [2]: Priklonski, Vasilij, and Friedrich S. Krauss 1888. “Shamanism Among The Yakut”, 166 [3]: Priklonski, Vasilij, and Friedrich S. Krauss 1888. “Shamanism Among The Yakut”, 167 [4]: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Sakha-people [5]: Jochelson, Waldemar 1906. “Kumiss Festivals Of The Yakut And The Decoration Of Kumiss Vessels”, 263 [6]: Jochelson, Waldemar 1906. “Kumiss Festivals Of The Yakut And The Decoration Of Kumiss Vessels”, 265 [7]: Priklonski, Vasilij, and Friedrich S. Krauss 1888. “Shamanism Among The Yakut", 175 |
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At Susa by second half-fifth millennium: "I argue that an agrarian society that relied on ritual specialists to control the forces of nature failed and ultimately gave way to a society based on secular control of human labor in the service of both man and gods."
[1]
Liverani says "possible existence of specilised priests" in reference to nearby Ubaid culture 5100-4000 BCE temples.
[2]
In the later Uruk phase "Urban Revolution" c3800-3000 BCE that the following quote refers to religious ideology became more complex, so can infer still low level religious complexity in this period: "Early state formation therefore featured both the rise of a ruling class, making decisions and benefiting from a privilaged position, and the development of a political and religious ideology. The latter was able to ensure stability and cohesion in this pyramid of inequality."
[3]
[1]: (Hole 2006, 228) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 53) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [3]: (Leverani 2014, 79) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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Most Yemenis were Muslims.
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The following refers to Ancient Hawaiki, not Hawaii. The former is the ancestral Polynesian homeland, in the first millennium BCE. It’s not entirely clear how much of their ancestral heritage the earliest Hawaiians might have retained. Expert guidance needed. "As best we can infer, in ancient Hawaiki the *ariki played a role that was part secular leader, part priest. He had the responsibility for conducting most if not all of the sacred rituals of the group, including supplications to the ancestors."
[1]
[1]: (Kirch 2012, 45) |
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Full-time specialists. Shamans served local communities even after the spread of Christianity: ’As with other Siberian peoples, Yakut shamans (OIUN if male, UDAGAN if female) combine medical and spiritual practice. [...] In the nineteenth century a few Yakut leaders financed the building of Russian Orthodox churches, and many Yakut declared themselves Christian, but this did not mean that they saw Christianity and shamanism as mutually exclusive. The Yakut also believed in the spiritual power of blacksmiths.’
[1]
’Nevertheless, the outward conditions of life have hardly changed after the Russian conquest. There is always the same uncertainty of existence; the unsatisfactory conditions for men as well as for animals continue to exist. The sacrificial priests still everywhere and always hold position and duties of priests, physicians, and fortune-tellers (prophets).’
[2]
’In the Yakut district all Yakuts with rare exceptions have been baptized according to the ‘ancient faith’ [RCH: i.e. , Christianity] rite, or were born from parents of that faith. Yet one can hardly be sure that a Yakut, professing the ancient faith, has given up his shamanist creed, or that he does not have recourse to the latter. I have personally known two shamans, one of them in the Yakutsk district, the other on the Kytach island on the mouth of the Lena, who were both known as followers of the ‘ancient faith.’’
[3]
There where black and white shamans: ’Supernatural power was attributed to blacksmiths, since their art was considered a divine gift. The old Sakha religion had many supernatural spirits, good and evil. Black shamans dealt with evil spirits and could be benevolent or harmful; white shamans were concerned with spiritual intercession for human beings. Two major religious festivals were celebrated with ritual use of koumiss (fermented mare’s milk), one in spring for good spirits and one in fall accompanied by blood sacrifices of livestock for evil spirits.’
[4]
Shamans officiated at seasonal festivals: ’The most important festival among the Yakut is connected with the preparation and use of kumiss, and is called ysyax, or kumiss festival. It has both a social and a religious significance. During the summer, in olden times, every rich man arranged a kumiss festival, at which all members of the clan assembled and were entertained. Other people, and frequently whole clans, were invited; and during the festival, defensive and offensive leagues were concluded. Every such festival commenced with sacrifices, and was accompanied with songs, dances, games, horse and foot races, and other contests.’
[5]
’The first night of the festival is in honor of Big-Lord ( Ulu-Toyon ) and the evil spirits of the upper world subordinate to him. The second night is in honor of Axsan Duolai and his subordinates, the evil spirits of the lower world. To all of these evil spirits, in addition to the libations of kumiss made to the benevolent deities, blood sacrifices of cattle and horses are also made. This ceremony, according to Trostchansky, is superintended by nine male and nine female shamans.’
[6]
Shamans were compensated for their services, but did not receive sufficient payments for their livelihood: ’I at least never heard anything about a wealthy shaman; on the contrary, the shaman often gets no more than 5 kopeks for healing a sick eye. And how little is this sum worth north of Yakutsk! Some Yakuts refused to accept a twenty kopeks coin for a hazel-hen I wanted to buy, saying that they could not manage to use the money; if it had an eye, they would have used it as a button; but as there was no such, I was to take it back. The smallest unit for them is the ruble.’
[7]
[1]: Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Yakut [2]: Priklonski, Vasilij, and Friedrich S. Krauss 1888. “Shamanism Among The Yakut”, 166 [3]: Priklonski, Vasilij, and Friedrich S. Krauss 1888. “Shamanism Among The Yakut”, 167 [4]: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Sakha-people [5]: Jochelson, Waldemar 1906. “Kumiss Festivals Of The Yakut And The Decoration Of Kumiss Vessels”, 263 [6]: Jochelson, Waldemar 1906. “Kumiss Festivals Of The Yakut And The Decoration Of Kumiss Vessels”, 265 [7]: Priklonski, Vasilij, and Friedrich S. Krauss 1888. “Shamanism Among The Yakut", 175 |
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"The religious beliefs of the Türk focused on a sky god, Tängri, and an earth goddess, Umay.9 Some of the Turks—notably the Western Turks in Tokharistan—converted very early to Buddhism, and it played an impor- tant role among them. Other religions were also influential, particularly Christianity and Manichaeism, which were popular among the Sogdians, close allies of the Türk who were skilled in international trade. Although the Sogdians were a settled, urban people, they were like the Türk in that they also had a Central Eurasian warrior ethos with a pervasive comitatus tradi- tion, and both peoples were intensely interested in trade."
[1]
"Türk religious life, not extensively documented, was based on an ancient complex of beliefs widespread in Inner Asia.84 The term “shamanism,” although conventional, is a misleading name for this belief system. Shamans, male and female, served as religious specialists, who could communicate with the spirit world. They were called on, however, only for exceptional reli- gious or medical needs, not for routine religious practice. Their ability, real or reputed, to divine the future or conjure up storms on the battlefield made their services especially significant for rulers. However, the heroic, ecstatic quest that transformed an individual from sickness and alienation through initiation into a shaman capable of performing such wonders little resembled his or her neighbors’ usual religious observance." [2] [1]: (Beckwith 2009, 115) [2]: (Findley 2005, 45-47) |
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Not in this period since for the 7000-6000 BCE period our reference is: "While there were shared warehouses, certain fundamental expressions of communal life were still lacking, such as temples or other cultic buildings."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 43) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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levels.
In the later Uruk phase "Urban Revolution" c3800-3000 BCE that the following quote refers to religious ideology became more complex, so can infer low level religious complexity in this period: "Early state formation therefore featured both the rise of a ruling class, making decisions and benefiting from a privilaged position, and the development of a political and religious ideology. The latter was able to ensure stability and cohesion in this pyramid of inequality." [1] Liverani says "possible existence of specilised priests" in reference to nearby Ubaid culture 5100-4000 BCE temples. [2] This suggests that certainly before 5100 BCE highly unlikely to be specialised priests in Susiana or the wider region. However the existence of temples in the wider region of this period might appear to contradict this logic so coding uncertain_absent_present due to time uncertaintly. [1]: (Leverani 2014, 79) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 53) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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Clay figurines have been found but there is no evidence for a professional priesthood at Mehrgarh.
[1]
.
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge |
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Archaeological evidence suggests a ranked society with only part-time specialization in burgeoning sociopolitical, religious, and/or military institutional roles.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Santley, Robert S. (1977). "Intra-site settlement patterns at Loma Torremote, and their relationship to formative prehistory in the Cuautitlan Region, State of Mexico." Ph.D. Dissertation, Depatartment of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, pp. 365-425. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 94-7, 305-334. [3]: Niederberger, Christine. (2000) "Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico Toward 1200 BC." In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 169-192. [4]: Paul Tolstoy. (1989) "Coapexco and Tlatilco: sites with Olmec material in the Basin of Mexico", In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, Robert J. Sharer & David C. Grove (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pg. 87-121. [5]: Charlton, Thomas H., & Deborah L. Nichols. (1997). "Diachronic studies of city-states: Permutations on a theme—Central Mexico from 1700 BC to AD 1600." In Charlton and Nichols, eds. The Archaeology of City-States: Cross-Cultural Approaches. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.169-207. |
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Full-time specialists Ritual specialists were not full-time professionals: ’The Ch’uan Miao are an agricultural people. They are all sons of the soil and get their living from the soil. Even those who are blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, hunters, priests or shamans have farms, sometimes owned but generally rented, and they depend primarily on farming for a living. Sometimes there are houses that are only a few rods apart but I have not seen or heard of a single Ch’uan Miao village or a locality that could boast of a single street.’
[1]
’Most religious ritual is performed or guided by various part-time specialists who act as priests, diviners, or shamans for the local community or for kin groups. Most of them are males. They engage in ordinary work, and only the most important religious activities require them to don special items of dress and decoration to mark them from others. There are no written texts for learning the chants, songs, dances, and rituals: they are memorized. If called by a family, specialists receive a small payment (often in foodstuffs) for their assistance. Shamans play a key role at funerals and postburial rites. They are also involved in analysis and healing of illness: some are skilled in herbal medicine as well as ritual procedures. Shamans also provide explanations of the possible causes of misfortune and can provide protective amulets. Ceremonies on behalf of the village community or a gathering of kin from several villages are conducted by skilled male elders who function as priests, following ritual procedures, administering the necessary animal and food sacrifices, and chanting the songs and myths without going into trance or communicating directly with the supernaturals and spirits. Some ceremonies are led by the male head of household on behalf of his immediate family.’
[2]
Shamans were not part of an organized body, instead serving their own communities: ’In religion, most Miao practice ancestor worship and believe in a wide variety of spirits. They have shamans who may exorcise malevolent spirits or recall the soul of a sick patient, and animal sacrifice is widespread (see shamanism; soul loss).’
[3]
’(1) Spiritual Media. The names for spiritual media in An-shun are the same in the Miao-I language as in the Chinese. The men are known as Kwei-shin or Tuan-kung; the women, Mi-la or Mi-pu. Their duty is to sacrifice to the spirits to invoke their aid and to provide a medium between the spiritual and the human worlds. As such they are respected by the people. All ancestor worship and funeral events have to be presided over by the Kwei-shih. Every Miao-I center has one or two Kwei-shih, who learned their trade since childhood. Among the Chung-chia people the magic charms used for such spiritual purposes are marked with Chinese characters as phonetic symbols and written down as a scripture to be transmitted from master to disciple. The Kwei-shih, who are farmers by trade, take up mediumship as a side line to supplement their income from remunerations gained from its practice. In case of sickness the Miao-I believe the evil spirits are causing trouble, and it is the duty of the Mi-la to chase them away in order to cure the sick person. Often she is invited to the house to do her work. Sometimes in public gatherings the Mi-la is surrounded by people inquiring from her as to the best method of driving away spirits. Evidently the Mi-la is less able than the Kwei-shih, for in case of very serious illness or in the performance of funeral rites the man medium is always preferred.’
[4]
’The eleventh part is performed in front of the main house. A bamboo mat is spread on the ground and on it are placed the caps and clothes of the members of the lower generation. Behind the mat there is a bench, on which are placed a bowl of wine and a piece of water-buffalo meat. The sorcerer-priest stands outside the entrance, wearing a wide rain hat on his head and carrying a bamboo cage on his back, in which are clothes and other articles. Wielding a wooden rod, he utters an incantation, telling of the source of the kuei of pigs. After the incantation he goes directly into the house and partakes of the wine and meat on the bench.’
[5]
Non-shamans generally also had some knowledge of healing practices: ’Aside from the shaman’s extensive knowledge, ordinary persons also have some knowledge of plants and other materials that have healing properties. The Chinese invert this by claiming that Miao women engage in magical poisoning, but all evidence suggests this is a Han myth rather than Miao practice. Divination and exorcism of ghosts and evil spirits are also a part of healing.’
[2]
Chrisitan missionaries also attracted followers: ’Since the reign of Kwang-hsu /1875-1907/ in the Ch’ing Dynasty, foreign Protestant and Catholic missionaries had come to Kweichow to rent houses for dispensing medicine and preaching the gospel. The Miao-I people were attracted by their kind and dignified bearings and many were subsequently converted. These preachers bought property where their congregation was the largest and established schools with teachers instructing the people in the gospel. Today Shih-men-k’an at Wei-ning is the southwest headquarters of the Christian missions. There many Hua Miao become sincere believers and followers. The missionaries have also introduced a romanized form of Miao language based on the English alphabet, which the Hua Miao learn as the “Miao language.”’
[6]
The material is coded for Hmong shamanism rather than converts to Christianity.
[1]: Graham, David Crockett 1937. “Customs Of The Ch’Uan Miao”, 21 [2]: Diamond, Norma: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Miao [3]: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Miao [4]: Chen, Guojun, and Lien-en Tsao 1942. “Religious Beliefs Of The Miao And I Tribes In An-Shun Kweichow”, 3 [5]: Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 199 [6]: Che-lin, Wu, Chen Kuo-chün, and Lien-en Tsao 1942. “Studies Of Miao-I Societies In Kweichow”, 15 |
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Not in this period since for the 7000-6000 BCE period our reference is: "While there were shared warehouses, certain fundamental expressions of communal life were still lacking, such as temples or other cultic buildings."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 43) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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Full-time specialists. If the religious practices of Great Zimbabwe are similar to the Karanga, as is expected, then chiefs will fulfil the various religions functions, and no distinct priesthood would exist. “The Karanga chief serves as both political and religious leader…. His power was believed to derive from the link between the land and his ancestral spirits…, thereby making the chief’s ancestors of vital importance to the entire population…When a chief died, power passed to his male heir. The chief then became an important ancestor who had joined the rank [sic] of spirits offering guardianship and aid to the people…. As is the case among the Karanga today, recognition and propitiation of ancestor spirits at Great Zimbabwe seem to have been a central part of the belief system…. Karanga oral tradition suggests that the Mwari cult began at Great Zimbabwe.”
[1]
[1]: (Steadman 2009, 264-266) Sharon R. Steadman, The Archaeology of Religion: Cultures and Their Beliefs in Worldwide Context (London: Routledge, 2009). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4R4GHNJ/collection |
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Inferred from the following quote. "In sum, we have not found unambiguous evidence of social complexity and the often suggested highly advanced social system of the Nok Culture. [...] As demonstrated by the uniformity of their material culture and their presumed belief system, most prominently reflected by the terracotta sculptures, external contacts within their culture must have existed. However, such a larger social network apparently was not organised and maintained in a way as to infer social inequality, social hierarchies or other signs of internal demarcation traceable by available archaeological data. None of the numerous excavations brought to light architectural remains of specified buildings or the spatial organisation of housing areas that might have been occupied by high-ranking members of the community. Further, among the admittedly few features interpreted as graves there is no evidence of any heterogeneity pointing to a difference between burials of elite members or commoners. Nowhere, an accumulation of valuable objects neither of iron nor any other materials signifying inequality in terms of property or prosperity was found."
[1]
[1]: (Breunig and Ruppe 2016: 252) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/ES4TRU7R. |
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Full-time specialists
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Full-time specialists
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Full-time specialists
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Full-time specialists
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’Ritual practices were conducted by their own specialists. They included spirit mediums, breadfruit summoners, fish summoners, healers, masters of spells, masters of sorcery, builders, navigators, diviners, and most importantly the masters of magic and ritual relating to war and politics. Their knowledge was private property passed down to their children and junior lineage mates.’
[1]
S’All religious practitioners as well as craftsmen and magicians are owners of the knowledge necessary to exercise their specialties. The Trukese make no distinction between them and other skilled personnel. There is one important exception to this rule, the spirit medium ( wäättwa or wään ëny). His (or her) position is not based on knowledge so much as on having been possessed by a spirit. This spirit is in no way classed as the medium’s property, nor can it be inherited automatically by a son or lineage mate. The position of a spirit medium, therefore, is different from that of a property holder, except as he uses his abilities to diagnose illness.’
[2]
[1]: Goodenough, Ward and Skoggard 1999) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E. [2]: Goodenough, Ward Hunt 1951. “Property, Kin, And Community On Truk”, 55 |
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Ritual practices were initially confined to the household level:’The belief in ghosts and spirits is a predominant characteristic of the northern native. In almost every tribe I have observed the propitiation of family ghosts with individual offerings of food by ordinary persons to secure the vitality of their food supply, and by sorcerers to stimulate their charms. Ghosts are invoked during ceremonies by divination to reveal crimes and criminals. Food offerings to ghosts are made during death feasts and during certain initiation rites. The house of initiation and the paraphernalia of the dance are believed to have spiritual powers, and when the paraphernalia are thrown into the river at the completion of the rites, they are invoked to smite the enemies of the dancers.’
[1]
’The traditional beliefs of the Orokaiva, though in many respects vague and locally variable, focused primarily on the "spirits of the dead" and their influence on the living. The Orokaiva had no high god. Formerly, they were animists, believing in the existence of souls (ASISI) in humans, plants, and animals. The taro spirit was of particular importance and was the inspiration and foundation of the Taro Cult. The Orokaiva have been swept recently by a series of new cults, indicative of their religious adaptability in the face of fresh experience. Mission influence is strong in the Northern District. Religious training is provided almost exclusively by the Anglican church, although mission influence has not totally eradicated traditional beliefs, producing an air of mysticism about the resultant religious system.’
[2]
The colonial period saw both the spread of Christianity and the emergence of new religious movements: ’Mission influence is strong in the Northern District. This is provided almost exclusively by the Anglican church and is of a fairly orthodox nature. Mission influence is mixed somewhat with traditional beliefs and there is an air of mysticism about the resultant religious system.’
[3]
’There has been European contact of some form over a long period. The people are perhaps best known by the work of Williams (1928 and 1930) in which he describes the earlier cult movements and the attempts to master and control new contact situations. Two of these were the cult of the Baigona men and the Taro cult. The former was concerned with healing and sorcery through a type of priest who was in communication with the spirits of the dead and now resident in various reptiles, particularly the snake. The latter was evidenced in sorcery through a priest who was possessed with the spirit of the Taro. Violent dancing or ecstatic movements often accompanied by a trance were not unlike the dance of St Vitus or St John which swept Europe in the fourteenth century (Sargant 1957).’
[4]
The Taro and Snake Cults are notable examples: ’The Orokaiva religious history is also particularly interesting here. Their traditional faith, Williams says, though in many respects vague and locally variable, concerned itself “primarily with the spirits of the dead” and their influence on the welfare of the living. Death was appraised with particular realism, although it was considered ultimately as the result of supernatural causes. Magic had a consistent place. Orokaiva country, however, has been swept in modern times by a series of new cults indicative of religious adaptability in the face of fresh experience. First to come into prominence was the Baigona, or “snake cult” of 1911-12, succeeded from 1914 on by the so-called “Taro cult” which in turn had undergone a series of local reformulations by the time Williams reported on it in 1924. Central features of the Taro cult were association of successful taro cultivation with the ancestral spirits, approached by way of a “shaking-fit” technique of revelation, together with somewhat new types of public ritual and symbols, including fragmentary elements from Christianity. Later Belshaw and others reported that “Christian Co-operative Evangelist” societies, which were developed by the Anglican Mission among some Orokaiva converts for the cooperative growing of rice and other crops, tended to assume a somewhat parallel and absorbing mystical agriculture context. Rumors spread of “an order from the King (of England) that co-operatives should be formed … (and that) as a result of their activities the white people would leave Papua and the villagers would be in charge of their own affairs.” This type of cooperative movement was stimulated after the war, and included putting crosses in the gardens, offering prayers before gardening activity, building special houses in which cooperators could meet and eat, and collecting money for vague purposes. Even in the face of Mission reluctance and some Orokaiva opposition, Government finally stepped in to try to give it better direction; a Cooperative officer was trying to bring the situation under control when the volcano exploded.’
[5]
The specialists serving the Taro Cult are known as Taro men: ’Orokaiva shamans, or "taro men" serve as healers, weather magicians, and sorcerers.’
[2]
The movement has produced leaders of intertribal renown: ’It is perhaps on law and organization that the Taro cult has the most significant effect, albeit a rudimentary and indefinite one. The voluntary acceptance of a new ritual, however lax, the observance of taboos, the necessity for probation, are all influences making for law and law-abidingness. More significant still is the elementary hierarchy which we have observed among the Taro men (p. 32). The existence of leaders in one tribe who are recognized by distant votaries of the cult in another tribe stands perhaps for a new idea among the Orokaiva. The absence of any political cohesion among and within the peoples of Papua has been remarked by others. It is conceivable that such a movement as Taro might give the initial impetus to some more or less spontaneous political organization.’
[6]
It remains unclear whether Taro Men can be considered full-time specialists: ’While practically every one has been a willing convert to the Taro cult in so far as it meant participation in the song and feast, and while perhaps the majority have given way at some time or other to the pleasant abandonment of the jipari, there is a wide class of Taro experts or special exponents of the cult. It is impossible to set a definite limit to this class. There are some who are recognized as leaders and who are very strongly ‘possessed’, and others who are little more than laymen. However, it is possible to include them all under the name of ba-embo, which means literally ‘Taro man’. Such men, who, like the Baigona men, might be called priests of the cult, officiate and lead in the ceremonial feasting; they perform certain duties in the taro gardens; they make a special practice of jipari and similar contortions; and they subject themselves to certain taboos. The theory of their conduct is that of possession by a spirit, either of the taro itself or of the dead.’
[7]
[1]: Chinnery, E. W. P., and Alfred C. (Alfred Cort) Haddon 1917. “Five New Religious Cults In British New Guinea”, 448 [2]: Latham, Christopher S.: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Orokaiva [3]: Kearney, George E. 1966. “Cognitive Capacity Among The Orokaiva”, 6 [4]: Kearney, George E. 1966. “Cognitive Capacity Among The Orokaiva”, 5 [5]: Keesing, Felix Maxwell 1952. “Papuan Orokaiva Vs Mt. Lamington: Cultural Shock And Its Aftermath”, 19 [6]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar) 1928. “Orokaiva Magic”, 95 [7]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar) 1928. “Orokaiva Magic”, 10 |
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Full-time specialists Ritual practices were initially confined to the household and community level: ’The belief in ghosts and spirits is a predominant characteristic of the northern native. In almost every tribe I have observed the propitiation of family ghosts with individual offerings of food by ordinary persons to secure the vitality of their food supply, and by sorcerers to stimulate their charms. Ghosts are invoked during ceremonies by divination to reveal crimes and criminals. Food offerings to ghosts are made during death feasts and during certain initiation rites. The house of initiation and the paraphernalia of the dance are believed to have spiritual powers, and when the paraphernalia are thrown into the river at the completion of the rites, they are invoked to smite the enemies of the dancers.’
[1]
’The Orokaiva religious history is also particularly interesting here. Their traditional faith, Williams says, though in many respects vague and locally variable, concerned itself “primarily with the spirits of the dead” and their influence on the welfare of the living. Death was appraised with particular realism, although it was considered ultimately as the result of supernatural causes. Magic had a consistent place.’
[2]
’Orokaiva shamans, or "taro men" serve as healers, weather magicians, and sorcerers.’
[3]
The spread of Christianity and the emergence of new religious movements did not predate the colonial period: ’The traditional beliefs of the Orokaiva, though in many respects vague and locally variable, focused primarily on the "spirits of the dead" and their influence on the living. The Orokaiva had no high god. Formerly, they were animists, believing in the existence of souls (ASISI) in humans, plants, and animals. The taro spirit was of particular importance and was the inspiration and foundation of the Taro Cult. The Orokaiva have been swept recently by a series of new cults, indicative of their religious adaptability in the face of fresh experience. Mission influence is strong in the Northern District. Religious training is provided almost exclusively by the Anglican church, although mission influence has not totally eradicated traditional beliefs, producing an air of mysticism about the resultant religious system.’
[3]
’Mission influence is strong in the Northern District. This is provided almost exclusively by the Anglican church and is of a fairly orthodox nature. Mission influence is mixed somewhat with traditional beliefs and there is an air of mysticism about the resultant religious system.’
[4]
[1]: Chinnery, E. W. P., and Alfred C. (Alfred Cort) Haddon 1917. “Five New Religious Cults In British New Guinea”, 448 [2]: Keesing, Felix Maxwell 1952. “Papuan Orokaiva Vs Mt. Lamington: Cultural Shock And Its Aftermath”, 19 [3]: Latham, Christopher S.: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Orokaiva [4]: Kearney, George E. 1966. “Cognitive Capacity Among The Orokaiva”, 6 |
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If not initially, later developed.
Sunni Islam did not have the equivalent of a professional priest. The leader of the daily prayers was given a special title and a person widely thought to be learned would be awarded a title of Imam, but this did not connote a hierarchy of belief. The Caliph was in theory the head of the entire religious community made up of all Muslims. Certain originators of judiciary schools were awarded special titles, but these rare individuals were not the equivalent of saints. The increasing fractured nature of Sunni and Shi’ite religious controversy led to a divergence in the use of titles to members of the umma. [1] [1]: (Lapidus 2002, 133-155) |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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Full-time specialists Shamans were local practicioners: ’There are no gods who play ethical or moral roles in the Jivaro pantheon, nor are there any priests or other religious specialist except the shaman (UWISIN ) whose primary role in the society is magical curing, although he also has the power to send illness into an individual as a form of sorcery (Service, 1958: 196). Lacking true political organization, the shaman may be the most influential individual in the community frequently acting the role of KAKARAM as well as shaman.’
[1]
’The Jivaro lack any formal political organization, although an informal form of leadership is found in the role of individuals referred to as UNYÄ ("big" or "old" men) or KAKARAM ("powerful" or "powerful ones") who are renown as killers in feuds or war, or exercise important shamanistic powers in the community. These individuals acquire their reputation in the community by being old enough to have grandchildren, and are friendly, honest, and generous in dealing with others in the society. Because of these characteristics the UNYÄ or KAKARAM are believed to possess great ARUTAM soul power and the ability to curse to death anyone who incurs their anger. Generally most neighborhoods have at least one or two UNYÄ as well as a few superior shamans who provide protection for their relatives or other individuals with whom they are on friendly terms.’
[1]
Many rituals could be performed by non-specialists: ’“Under this general heading it seems to me convenient to treat of certain customs of the Indians which are clearly of a religious or magical nature and are regularly practised when the Indians have to enter into relations with the spiritual world. Everybody is not prepared to take part in religious ceremonies; children for example are excluded until they have passed through the initiations. Fullgrown women, on the other hand, as we have seen, take part in many of them, and there are even religious rites which can only be peformed by the women, because only they possess the ‘inner’ qualifications necessary for success. But when ordinary conjurations of evil spirits are in question, the men, and particularly old men, are both physically and mentally far in advance of the women.”’
[2]
Shamans were capable of sorcery and healing: ’In the Aguaruna tribe only men can act as sorcerers. Their magic is monistic. The sorcerer is called ananténtšo or tuntsi. They do not believe in a separation of a being from its body. They have only one kind of sorcerer: the sorcerer who kills has at the same time healing faculties.’
[3]
Shamans trained novices themselves: ’According to Karsten (The Religion, pp. 319 ff.), in the Chiwaro-Makas tribe an old sorcerer supervises the novice, putting in his mouth the spines of the Guilelma palm mixed with some saliva. It seems, however, that the novice receives the actual magic substance from the demon. This demon, in the shape of a giant snake or in the shape of some other serpentiform monster, appears before the entranced novice. The sorcerer must eat certain animals; others he must avoid-all this on account of certain analogous properties. The demon is said to hand the magic spines to the newly initiated. The derivation of the magic properties of a sorcerer is not quite clear to me. The leading sorcerer is remunerated for his services.’
[4]
Shamans were frequently the target of accusations of sorcery: ’“Since supposed sorcery is nearly always the nearest cause of murders within the tribe, it is clear that the professional sorcerers or medi-[270] cine men are those members of Jibaro society which are most frequently exposed to the revengeful attacks of their enemies. As a matter of fact, in large Indian societies sorcerers are very often assassinated, or at least threatened with death, by their enemies. When a medicine-man has undertaken to cure a sick person and the latter dies in spite of the treatment, the ‘doctor’ is also generally made responsible for the death, the relatives of the dead reasoning that the medicine-man, instead of curing the patient, on the contrary used his art to kill him. The unsuccessful curer is therefore murdered unless he escapes by flight. Since the Jibaros, on the whole, do not recognize what we call a natural death but always attribute a death to supernatural causes, any death among them tends to give rise to a murder, the relatives of the deceased considering it as their duty to take revenge upon the supposed author of the accident.”’
[5]
Shamans were usually not full-time specialists. Here also, some fluidity may be involved in the distribution of roles. [Shamans do not often act as war leaders (except in the invisible realm) ; the more usual pattern is a sort of dyarchy between a war leader and a shaman (brother in law or son in law). However, men can slide in and out of ‘shamanship’ so it is not unheard of for a shaman to become a war leader and vice versa.]
[1]: Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Jivaro [2]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru", 425 [3]: Tessmann, Günter, b. 1884. 1930. “Indians Of Northeastern Peru”, 357 [4]: Tessmann, Günter, b. 1884. 1930. “Indians Of Northeastern Peru”, 357 [5]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 269p |
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Full-time specialists. Shamans were local practicioners: ’There are no gods who play ethical or moral roles in the Jivaro pantheon, nor are there any priests or other religious specialist except the shaman (UWISIN ) whose primary role in the society is magical curing, although he also has the power to send illness into an individual as a form of sorcery (Service, 1958: 196). Lacking true political organization, the shaman may be the most influential individual in the community frequently acting the role of KAKARAM as well as shaman.’
[1]
’The Jivaro lack any formal political organization, although an informal form of leadership is found in the role of individuals referred to as UNYÄ ("big" or "old" men) or KAKARAM ("powerful" or "powerful ones") who are renown as killers in feuds or war, or exercise important shamanistic powers in the community. These individuals acquire their reputation in the community by being old enough to have grandchildren, and are friendly, honest, and generous in dealing with others in the society. Because of these characteristics the UNYÄ or KAKARAM are believed to possess great ARUTAM soul power and the ability to curse to death anyone who incurs their anger. Generally most neighborhoods have at least one or two UNYÄ as well as a few superior shamans who provide protection for their relatives or other individuals with whom they are on friendly terms.’
[1]
Many rituals could be performed by non-specialists: ’“Under this general heading it seems to me convenient to treat of certain customs of the Indians which are clearly of a religious or magical nature and are regularly practised when the Indians have to enter into relations with the spiritual world. Everybody is not prepared to take part in religious ceremonies; children for example are excluded until they have passed through the initiations. Fullgrown women, on the other hand, as we have seen, take part in many of them, and there are even religious rites which can only be peformed by the women, because only they possess the ‘inner’ qualifications necessary for success. But when ordinary conjurations of evil spirits are in question, the men, and particularly old men, are both physically and mentally far in advance of the women.”’
[2]
Shamans were capable of sorcery and healing: ’In the Aguaruna tribe only men can act as sorcerers. Their magic is monistic. The sorcerer is called ananténtšo or tuntsi. They do not believe in a separation of a being from its body. They have only one kind of sorcerer: the sorcerer who kills has at the same time healing faculties.’
[3]
Shamans trained novices themselves: ’According to Karsten (The Religion, pp. 319 ff.), in the Chiwaro-Makas tribe an old sorcerer supervises the novice, putting in his mouth the spines of the Guilelma palm mixed with some saliva. It seems, however, that the novice receives the actual magic substance from the demon. This demon, in the shape of a giant snake or in the shape of some other serpentiform monster, appears before the entranced novice. The sorcerer must eat certain animals; others he must avoid-all this on account of certain analogous properties. The demon is said to hand the magic spines to the newly initiated. The derivation of the magic properties of a sorcerer is not quite clear to me. The leading sorcerer is remunerated for his services.’
[4]
Shamans were frequently the target of accusations of sorcery: ’“Since supposed sorcery is nearly always the nearest cause of murders within the tribe, it is clear that the professional sorcerers or medi-[270] cine men are those members of Jibaro society which are most frequently exposed to the revengeful attacks of their enemies. As a matter of fact, in large Indian societies sorcerers are very often assassinated, or at least threatened with death, by their enemies. When a medicine-man has undertaken to cure a sick person and the latter dies in spite of the treatment, the ‘doctor’ is also generally made responsible for the death, the relatives of the dead reasoning that the medicine-man, instead of curing the patient, on the contrary used his art to kill him. The unsuccessful curer is therefore murdered unless he escapes by flight. Since the Jibaros, on the whole, do not recognize what we call a natural death but always attribute a death to supernatural causes, any death among them tends to give rise to a murder, the relatives of the deceased considering it as their duty to take revenge upon the supposed author of the accident.”’
[5]
Shamans are usually not full-time specialists. Here also, some fluidity may be involved in the distribution of roles. [Shamans do not often act as war leaders (except in the invisible realm) ; the more usual pattern is a sort of dyarchy between a war leader and a shaman (brother in law or son in law). However, men can slide in and out of ‘shamanship’ so it is not unheard of for a shaman to become a war leader and vice versa.]
[1]: Beierle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Jivaro [2]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru", 425 [3]: Tessmann, Günter, b. 1884. 1930. “Indians Of Northeastern Peru”, 357 [4]: Tessmann, Günter, b. 1884. 1930. “Indians Of Northeastern Peru”, 357 [5]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 269p |
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There is no official priesthood in Islam.
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There is no priesthood in Islam.
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The following description suggests that professional roles likely did not exist among the Shiwei. “The Shiwei, in the periods of the Sui and Tang, were relatively weak in the northwestern Manchuria. Their form of social organization appeared fairly loose and still remained at tribal level. Clans and tribes were the basic social patterns. The productive activities were organized by the tribal leaders, as described in the Xin Tangshu, "in hunting (the tribes) were banded together, and dispersed afterward; the tribes did not rule over one another or submitted to one another".”
[1]
[1]: (Xu 2005, 180) |
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Temples were built and used, but sources do not suggest there is evidence for full-time priests until the MA II period when standardised temples were constructed.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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The following reconstruction of small communities consisting of extended families based in autonomous homesteads suggests minimal social diffrentiation. ”For the first 400 years of the settlement’s history, Kirikongo was a single economically generalized social group (Figure 6). The occupants were self-sufficient farmers who cultivated grains and herded livestock, smelted and forged iron, opportunistically hunted, lived in puddled earthen structures with pounded clay floors, and fished in the seasonal drainages. [...] Since Kirikongo did not grow (at least not significantly) for over 400 years, it is likely that extra-community fissioning continually occurred to contribute to regional population growth, and it is also likely that Kirikongo itself was the result of budding from a previous homestead. However, with the small scale of settlement, the inhabitants of individual homesteads must have interacted with a wider community for social and demographic reasons. [...] It may be that generalized single-kin homesteads like Kirikongo were the societal model for a post-LSA expansion of farming peoples along the Nakambe (White Volta) and Mouhoun (Black Volta) River basins. A homestead settlement pattern would fit well with the transitional nature of early sedentary life, where societies are shifting from generalized reciprocity to more restricted and formalized group membership, and single-kin communities like Kirikongo’s house (Mound 4) would be roughly the size of a band.”
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 27, 32) |
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At Jenne-jeno no evidence of "social ranking or authoritarian institutions such as a ’temple elite’ has been found.
[1]
’In several decades of excavation, clear evidence for hierarchies of any kind has yet to be unearthed: it seems that Jenne-jeno had no palaces, rich tombs, temples, public buildings, or monumental architecture. Indeed, the city’s very layout ‒ an assemblage of dispersed clusters - suggests a resistance to centralization.’
[2]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 230) [2]: (McIntosh 2006, 189) Roderick McIntosh. 2006. Ancient Middle Niger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. |
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Probably absent? Shamans, probably not a full-time occupation.
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The best evidence for ritual activity are the ritual “Men’s Houses” at San José Mogote, but sources do not suggest there is evidence for a professional or permanent priesthood.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London. [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). "The Cloud People." New York. |
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’Ritual practices were conducted by their own specialists. They included spirit mediums, breadfruit summoners, fish summoners, healers, masters of spells, masters of sorcery, builders, navigators, diviners, and most importantly the masters of magic and ritual relating to war and politics. Their knowledge was private property passed down to their children and junior lineage mates.’
[1]
S’All religious practitioners as well as craftsmen and magicians are owners of the knowledge necessary to exercise their specialties. The Trukese make no distinction between them and other skilled personnel. There is one important exception to this rule, the spirit medium ( wäättwa or wään ëny). His (or her) position is not based on knowledge so much as on having been possessed by a spirit. This spirit is in no way classed as the medium’s property, nor can it be inherited automatically by a son or lineage mate. The position of a spirit medium, therefore, is different from that of a property holder, except as he uses his abilities to diagnose illness.’
[2]
[1]: Goodenough, Ward and Skoggard 1999) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5IETI75E. [2]: Goodenough, Ward Hunt 1951. “Property, Kin, And Community On Truk”, 55 |
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Cult was performed by priests annually elected by the Ecclesia (Εκκλησία).
[1]
[2]
[1]: Willetts, R. F. 1965. Ancient Crete. A Social History, London and Toronto, 56-75 [2]: Chaniotis, A. 1897. "Κλασική και Ελληνιστική Κρήτη," in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός, Heraklion, 199. |
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The wanax is the head of the religious hierarchy.
[1]
Like the gods themselves he received offerings (e.g. perfumed oil) but he had not a divine status. He was assisted by a considerable priesthood.
[2]
[1]: Shelmerdine, C. W. and Bennet, J. 2008. "12: Mycenaean states. 12A: Economy and administration," in Shelmerdine, C. W. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, Cambridge, 293. [2]: Ventris, M. and Chadwick, J. 1973. Documents in Mycenaean Greek, London,128-29. |
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There were full-time priests
[1]
[2]
[1]: Sahlins, Marshall 1958. Social Stratification in Polynesia. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. Pg. 14. [2]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 57. |
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Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
Professional clergy.
[2]
[1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Cunningham 2008, 535) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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"Religious employees included the imams , the hatibs and the muezzin, who led daily prayers and served in local mosques. Some state employees, such as the muftis, the kadıs and the muderris, had both a legal and religious identity. The Ulema, scholars of the Quran and the holy law, were not priests in the sense of rituals."
[1]
[1]: (Cosgel, Metin. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. April 2020) |
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e.g. Imans. A full time Islamic priesthood worked in the mosques.
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"A text from Late Bronze Age Ugarit that is of particular interest on the issue of priest residences mentions that the animals referred to earlier in the text are to be sacrificed at the house of the priest (Pardee and Lewis 2002: 52). This text, and the idea that priests were responsible for the temple, in addition to performing various duties and receiving tributes at the temple, suggests that it would have been logical for the priest to reside at the temple or in a room adjacent to it."
[1]
(Ugarit is not part of Canaan, but practices there were similar and there were certainly many Canaanite temples.)
[1]: Kennedy (2013:58). |
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The Bible (I Kings 18:19) describes how King Ahab maintained hundreds of functionaries of the Phoenician Baal "who eat at Jezebel’s table". Professional priests are widely attested to in the region.
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"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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At Susa by second half-fifth millennium: "I argue that an agrarian society that relied on ritual specialists to control the forces of nature failed and ultimately gave way to a society based on secular control of human labor in the service of both man and gods."
[1]
Liverani says "possible existence of specilised priests" in reference to nearby Ubaid culture 5100-4000 BCE temples.
[2]
In the later Uruk phase "Urban Revolution" c3800-3000 BCE that the following quote refers to religious ideology became more complex, so can infer still low level religious complexity in this period: "Early state formation therefore featured both the rise of a ruling class, making decisions and benefiting from a privilaged position, and the development of a political and religious ideology. The latter was able to ensure stability and cohesion in this pyramid of inequality."
[3]
[1]: (Hole 2006, 228) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 53) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [3]: (Leverani 2014, 79) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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"Together with writing, the Sogdians also brought Buddhism. Türk Buddhism was, in its oldest stratum, under Sogdian and Chinese influ- ence.12 The Bugut inscription shows that Buddhism was present in the empire at the time of the first sovereigns.13 Maniakh, the ambas- sador of the Türks at Constantinople, bore a Buddhist name14 and his family seems to have been well established at the court of Sizabul, since his son was raised there and while still young was given the sec- ond rank in a second Türk embassy: everything therefore indicates that this Sogdian family was strongly integrated into the framework of the Türk hierarchy, where it possessed rank and hereditary titles even thought the Türk Empire had only just been created."
[1]
"As the Türk Qaganate expanded and came into greater contact witb surrounding cultures, it was influenced by the religions of the conquered populations. Tbus, Mazdaism, other Iranian religious systems (e.g. Zurvanism) and Buddbist influences came to the fore during the era of the First Qaganate. Mugan and Taspar both fostered Buddbism. This is reflected in the Bugut inscription whicb dates to the second generation of Türk rulers (570’s or 580’s) and was written in Sogdian."
[2]
[1]: (De la Vaissière 2005, 203) [2]: (Golden 1992, 150) |
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’The bestowal of usufruct could bring tax benefits to a landowner; the orders of scholar-priests dwelling within them offered careers to the sons of great families; the sacramental power of their holy offices ensured rewards in the lives to come for their pious benefactors.’
[1]
’Gifts made to temples included all that was needed to support the cycle of rituals and its attendant priesthood: beans, sesame, beeswax, ginger, honey, syrup, clarified butter made from the milk of specially maintained herds, perfume specially ground for temple use.’
[1]
’It was everyone’s ambition to be "rescued from the mud", but very few were. Most of those were placed, in Angkorean times, into various varna, or caste groupings, which made up perhaps a tenth of society as a whole. These people included clerks, artisans, concubines, artists, high officials, and priests, as well as royal servants, relatives, and soldiers.’
[2]
’Temple building and maintenance of monuments, large numbers of state-supported Buddhist clergy, and punitive wars, coupled with the more egalitarian characteristics of THERAVADA BUDDHISM and the rise of the T’AIS, contributed to the decline of ANGKOR.’
[3]
’Evidence permits only a few observations about the economic, social, and political organization of the Angkorean polity. It is certain that the economy was based upon wet-rice agriculture, that temples were promi- nent custodians of land and peasants, and that royal authority was expressed through a relatively well-developed hierarchy that included priests and religious sanctions.’
[4]
’Khmers even travelled to Laos to proselytise for Theravadism. The new religion was ‘democratic’ in that there were no hereditary priests, such as the Brahmans—anyone might don the saffron robes and become a monk, and even a king who converted might beg for alms in the street. The new religion made a huge impact on those exhausted by the worldly demands of their sybaritic rulers. The material world was one full of vanity and one’s best chance of a better reincarnation and eventual ascendance to nirvana lay not with the accumulation of power and wealth, but in renouncing it and dedicating one’s life to good works. And what were the temples but monuments to the monstrous vanity of men who presumed to be gods when, accord- ing to the Theravadins, not even Buddha himself was a god?’
[5]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.115) [2]: (Chandler 2008, pp. 28-29) [3]: (Ooi 2004, p. 12) [4]: (Taylor 2008, p. 160) [5]: (Tully 2005, pp. 50-51) |
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’From the middle of the first millennium C.E., more early historical states are known (for example, Chenla, Dvaravati, Champa, Kedah, and ̋rivijaya). These states exhibit a shared in- corporation of Indian legal, political, and reli- gious ideas and institutions, including the use of Sanskrit names by rulers, as seen in stone inscriptions (first in South Indian and then in indigenous scripts) and in the layout and styles of religious architecture and carvings.’
[1]
[1]: (Bacus 2004, 619) |
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’A Sanskrit inscription of the sixth century from Prasat Pram Loven mentions that a prince of the line of Kaundinya, entrusted a sanctu- ary containing an image of Vishnu’s feet to his son Gunavarman, in a domain that he had “wrested from the swamp.” Another undated Sanskrit inscription from Nak Ta Dambang Dek (Ta Prohm, Bati) is Buddhist rather than Hindu and refers to Jayavarman and his son Rudravarman. The first two stanzas praise Buddha; the next two praise King Rudravarman; the fifth says that his father, King Jayavar- man, gave the office of inspector of royal goods to the son of a brahmin. The rest praise this functionary and his family and describe a foundation made by him during Rudravarman’s reign. George Co- edès, who studied the inscription, concluded that the inscription can- not refer to Jayavarman I, who reigned around 660, because the script style was older, slightly before 550. He therefore concluded that this Jayavarman must be the same king as Chinese sources mention in 514 (Jayavarman died, Rudravarman succeeded). Chinese texts showed that Buddhism flourished under Jayavarman I. The inscrip- tion, however, betrays no suggestion of Mahayana influence; thus the Palembang inscription of 684 is still the oldest to demonstrate the existence of Mahayanism in Southeast Asia.’
[1]
[1]: (Miksic 2007, p. 125) |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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Full-time priests who held not other functions were common in Ptolemaic Egypt. They were the ones who conducted the rituals. However, there were only a few of those priests for every temple.
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Christianity
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Christianity
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inferred continuity with earlier/later periods, with no clear evidence of discontinuity
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Christianity.
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Druids.
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Druids.
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Christianity
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Christianity.
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Full-time specialists Priests and spirit mediums communicated with deities and other spirits: ’Indigenous Akan religion is based upon the worship of a High God, various spirits or deities, and ancestors. The High God-known as Onyame, Onyankopon, and by other names-is the Creator, now otiose; Asase Yaa, the goddess of the earth, accompanies him. The ancestors live in the land of the dead and may demand offerings, in the past including those of slaves.’
[1]
’Spirits or deities are many, and the living can communicate with them through prayer, sacrifice, and possession. Each has its own OSOFO, or priest; an OKOMFO is a living spirit medium who interprets the words of a spirit who is consulted to remove sickness and human disasters.’
[1]
Rulers and royal lineages were closely connected to the cult: ’The royal ancestors are at the heart of the ritual protection of a kingdom. They are "fed" at shrines in the form of blackened stools of wood and kept in the "stool rooms" in palaces and houses. Traditionally, the stools were anointed with human blood, gunpowder, and spider webs, and given alcoholic drink; human sacrifices are no longer made. Each kingdom and town has, or had in past years, an annual purification ritual, known as ODWIRA, in which the king, the office of kingship, the kingdom, and the town are purified of the pollution of the preceding year; this is often known in the literature as a "yam festival."’
[1]
In Fante communities, high-ranking priests played a prominent role in the polity: ’The object, however, of this work is not to deal with religious theories, deities, or matters of belief. In the Fanti districts, with their numerous free and independent communities, the priests who officiated at the shrine of Nanaam (that is ancestors), the national deities, situate at Mankesim, exercised large powers and wielded great [Page 52] influence, so much so that the opinion has been expressed that the high priest, a Braffo, was the sovereign ruler of the Fanti people. The physician was so often a priest that it is not surprising to discover him possessed of much influence; but this much may be said, the priests did not rule the people. The general name for God is Nyankupon (Nyankrupon according to the Akanfu), meaning the Only One, than who none is greater, or, as others say, the Great Friend. Nyankupon is invisible. He lives above the heavens, and the winds are His messengers. The common saying is, “Speak to the winds, and God will hear thee.” This word has different pronunciations, and the difficulty of finding its root may be through this cause. Rain is called Nyankum; rainbow is nyankunton. Nyan is to awaken, and it has been suggested that probably Onyan (the awakener) was an old name for the sky. One is rather inclined to form the opinion that Nyankupon is not derived from ye, meaning to do, act, create, as some say. This subject is certainly interesting, and requires further study and much thinking over.’
[2]
This seems to suggest a degree of professionalization.
[1]: Gilbert, Michelle, Lagacé, Robert O. and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Akan [2]: Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 51p |
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Full-time specialists
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The priestly caste that served in the Temple.
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"At its height the Kalmyk chief lama’s estate of shabinar (disciples, or serfs), for example, reached 3,000-4,000 households. Galdan-Tseren organized the entire clergy into nine jisai (Mongolian, jisiya), with 9,000 lamas and 10,600 households of shabinar. To improve the clergy, he requisitioned 500 pupils, each with two yurts, three ser- vants, two horses, and 100 sheep to be trained by a respected Tibetan lama. One special otog, or camp dis- trict, named Altachin, “goldsmiths,” was dedicated to making Buddhist images."
[1]
[1]: (Atwood 2004, 422) |
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Full-time priests are inferred present as the temple design was changed during the MA II period to allow for an inner, more private room (for example, Building X at the Main Plaza of Monte Alban). Ethno-historic evidence from the Spanish colonial period suggests that this inner room was used by full-time priests for more sacred rituals, and some priests (the bigana) had to stay permanently within the temple.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p182 |
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"Finally, group participation in a chicha drinking ceremony and association of supernatural symbols with an individual suggests that the Wari developed the role of priest to manage the increasing social complexity of their expanding political system."
[1]
. Likely if there were temples.
[2]
[1]: (Knobloch 2000, 400) [2]: (McEwan and Williams in Bergh 2012, 65) |
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Clay figurines have been found at Mehrgarh but there is no evidence for a professional priesthood.
[1]
However, in the broader Harappan tradition there is evidence for priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist".
[2]
[1]: Petrie, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge [2]: Avari, Burjor, India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from C. 7000 BC to AD 1200 (London: Routledge, 2007), p.48; Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370 |
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In the broader Harappan tradition there is evidence for priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist".
[1]
[1]: Avari, Burjor, India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from C. 7000 BC to AD 1200 (London: Routledge, 2007), p.48; Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370 |
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"Alexander is cited by Zoroastrian tradition as having "killed the magi ... many teachers, lawyers, Herbats [the lower magi], Mobats [the upper magi]. Much of the literature of Persia, notably works of learning and Zoroastrian texts, simply perished during the Alexandrian conquests."
[1]
[1]: (Farrokh 2007, 108) Farrokh, Kaveh. 2007. Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Osprey Publishing. |
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inferred continuity with the Neo Elamite 2 period.
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Ulema means "scholars" - they are scholars of the Quran and the holy law, but not priests in the sense of rituals etc. But one should discuss this categorisation with an expert on Islam.
[1]
"Religious employees included the imams , the hatibs and the muezzin, who led daily prayers and served in local mosques. Some state employees, such as the muftis, the kadıs and the muderris, had both a legal and religious identity. The Ulema, scholars of the Quran and the holy law, are not priests in the sense of rituals etc."
[2]
[1]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. [2]: (Cosgel, Metin. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. April 2020) |
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“Of particular interest however is the fact, of which no explanation was forthcoming, that a modified form of the early morning rite is carried out by the Atebo (Chief Priest), who appeals to the ancestral spirits on behalf of the Ata-regnant. This official, to whom further reference will be made, is a person of great importance, and his office has acquired some of the element of divinity attaching to that of the Ata himself. Ape, the first to be accorded this title, was a priest in the household of Ayagba when the latter founded the Idah dynasty, and the office, which like most others is hereditary, passes in turn between the three branches of the family. Some indication of the status of the Atebo may be gained from the fact that he alone is excused obeisance to the Ata and addresses him standing up; it may however be less a question of status than of the fact that in his office and person he is representative of the religious aspect of the kingship, and contact with the earth by obeisance would mean a dissipation of dynamism. It is observed also that he is never without a cows-tail fly whisk in his hand which he " points " at the Ata when addressing him and, further, it is said that the Ata will allow the Atebo to scold him without remonstrance.”
[1]
“Successive chapters deal with sacred precincts, family and household religion, and village religion. The distinction between family and village religious systems is crucial to the latter part of the study, as the Igala were able to capitalize on it to enforce their control. The former deals predominantly with the arua or ancestor spirits, while the latter deals with the alusi, which are non- human spirit beings. The third part of the book ("Control and Adaptation") concerns the use of religious values and institutions in social control under the Igala colonial system and the resulting religious and social changes in Igbo life. From the Igala point of view, of course, social control was the crucial question. This they astutely achieved by replacing traditional Igbo shrine priests concerned with the alusi cults with Igala priests called attama. In this way, they seized control of the super- natural forces that had to do with any issues transcending one family or clan, for instance matters involving different clans in a village or village group. Since the Igala priests controlled the alusi, these became increasingly unpredictable and dangerous to the Igbo, and the Igbo were at the mercy of the Igala priests in all their relations with the alusi. From the Igbo perspective, the goal was to maintain identity and to maximize Igbo power. The strategy they used was complex. In the religious sphere, they emphasized (apparently more than in pre-conquest days) the cult of the arua, the ancestor spirits, who were by definition Igbo and whose worship enhanced the status of the Igbo headmen and elders. Parallel efforts to emphasize the worship of the High God and of the Earth Goddess, and to bring to prominence various Igbo and other non-Igala medicine shrines are judged by Shelton to have failed. In the social sphere, in the presence of a good deal of intermarriage, Igbo attempted to maintain their numerical strength by emphasizing, in the case of the children of Igala fathers and Igbo mothers, allegiance to the mother’s clan. This was, it will be evident, consistent with Igala tradition but in conflict with Igbo tradition. The Igala, who were interested in preserving the attama inheritance in pure Igala clans, pragmatically accepted the identification as Igbo of many mixed children.”
[2]
[1]: Clifford, Miles, and Richmond Palmer. “A Nigerian Chiefdom.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 66, 1936, pp. 393–435: 418. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/TF7MM698/collection [2]: Taber, Charles R. “Review of The Igbo-Igala Borderland: Religion and Social Control in Indigenous African Colonialism.” American Anthropologist, vol. 75, no. 6, 1973, 1876–77: 1876. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/M65F6WG9/collection |
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Full-time specialists
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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eg. archbishops, bishops, chief priests and cantors (in Candia, La Canea, Rettimo, and Sitia)
[1]
[1]: (Viggiano 2013: 166-7) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3TCVQMYV |
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"The religious beliefs of the Türk focused on a sky god, Tängri, and an earth goddess, Umay.9 Some of the Turks—notably the Western Turks in Tokharistan—converted very early to Buddhism, and it played an impor- tant role among them. Other religions were also influential, particularly Christianity and Manichaeism, which were popular among the Sogdians, close allies of the Türk who were skilled in international trade. Although the Sogdians were a settled, urban people, they were like the Türk in that they also had a Central Eurasian warrior ethos with a pervasive comitatus tradi- tion, and both peoples were intensely interested in trade."
[1]
"Türk religious life, not extensively documented, was based on an ancient complex of beliefs widespread in Inner Asia.84 The term “shamanism,” although conventional, is a misleading name for this belief system. Shamans, male and female, served as religious specialists, who could communicate with the spirit world. They were called on, however, only for exceptional reli- gious or medical needs, not for routine religious practice. Their ability, real or reputed, to divine the future or conjure up storms on the battlefield made their services especially significant for rulers. However, the heroic, ecstatic quest that transformed an individual from sickness and alienation through initiation into a shaman capable of performing such wonders little resembled his or her neighbors’ usual religious observance." [2] [1]: (Beckwith 2009, 115) [2]: (Findley 2005, 45-47) |
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Full-time priests are inferred present as the temple design was changed during this period to allow for an inner, more private room (for example, Building X at the Main Plaza of Monte Alban). Ethno-historic evidence from the Spanish colonial period suggests that this inner room was used by full-time priests for more sacred rituals, and some priests (the bigana) had to stay permanently within the temple.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p182 |
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In the broader context of the Mature Harappan there is evidence for priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist".
[1]
[2]
[1]: Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370 [2]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6. |
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“Therefore, the Roman Catholic Church reserved to itself the right and responsibility to interpret the Bible for the faithful. Holy Scripture was to be studied and expounded by religious professionals: the pope, bishops, and priests of the Church who were thought to have a special mandate from God to do so. In theory, priests studied Scripture and Church doctrine rigorously in Church-run schools and universities. At their ordination they became consecrated, even semi-sacred beings.”
[1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 94) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U |
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There were priests, bishops and archbishops in larger towns such as London, Elham, Canterbury and Hereford
[1]
[1]: (Yorke 1990: 31, 69) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN |
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There were priests, bishops and archbishops in larger towns such as London, Elham, Canterbury and Hereford
[1]
[1]: (Yorke 1990: 31, 69) York, Barbara. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203447307. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/YXTNCWJN |
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’the authorities took a different tack, deciding that all male disciples over the age of sixty-one and all female disciples over fifty-five, could become certified priests or nuns if they really respected Buddhist teachings.’
[1]
[1]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.250 |
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’The bestowal of usufruct could bring tax benefits to a landowner; the orders of scholar-priests dwelling within them offered careers to the sons of great families; the sacramental power of their holy offices ensured rewards in the lives to come for their pious benefactors.’
[1]
’Gifts made to temples included all that was needed to support the cycle of rituals and its attendant priesthood: beans, sesame, beeswax, ginger, honey, syrup, clarified butter made from the milk of specially maintained herds, perfume specially ground for temple use.’
[1]
’It was everyone’s ambition to be "rescued from the mud", but very few were. Most of those were placed, in Angkorean times, into various varna, or caste groupings, which made up perhaps a tenth of society as a whole. These people included clerks, artisans, concubines, artists, high officials, and priests, as well as royal servants, relatives, and soldiers.’
[2]
’Temple building and maintenance of monuments, large numbers of state-supported Buddhist clergy, and punitive wars, coupled with the more egalitarian characteristics of THERAVADA BUDDHISM and the rise of the T’AIS, contributed to the decline of ANGKOR.’
[3]
’Evidence permits only a few observations about the economic, social, and political organization of the Angkorean polity. It is certain that the economy was based upon wet-rice agriculture, that temples were promi- nent custodians of land and peasants, and that royal authority was expressed through a relatively well-developed hierarchy that included priests and religious sanctions.’
[4]
:’There was a caste of hereditary priests (a remnant of the broader Indian caste system, perhaps) who purported to trace their ancestry back to those who had served Jayavarman II.’
[5]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.115) [2]: (Chandler 2008, pp. 28-29) [3]: (Ooi 2004, p. 12) [4]: (Taylor 2008, p. 160) [5]: (Tully 2005, p. 39) |
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"Zhou found three religions enjoying official status at Angkor: they appear to have been Brahmanism, TheravadaBuddhism, and Shaivism. The brahmans, Zhou noted, often attainedhigh positions as officials, but he could find little else to say about them:“I don’tknow what the source of their doctrine is. They have nowherethat can be called an academy or place of learning, and it is hard to findout what books they study.” The Theravada monks, known colloquially by a Thai phrase (chao ku), closely resembled their counterparts inTheravada Southeast Asia today: “They shave their heads and dress inyellow. They leave their right shoulder uncovered, and wrap themselvesin a robe made of yellow cloth and go barefoot. And wear yellow robes,leaving the right shoulder bare. For the lower half of the body, theywear a yellow skirt. They are barefoot.”
[1]
’The bestowal of usufruct could bring tax benefits to a landowner; the orders of scholar-priests dwelling within them offered careers to the sons of great families; the sacramental power of their holy offices ensured rewards in the lives to come for their pious benefactors.’
[2]
’Gifts made to temples included all that was needed to support the cycle of rituals and its attendant priesthood: beans, sesame, beeswax, ginger, honey, syrup, clarified butter made from the milk of specially maintained herds, perfume specially ground for temple use.’
[2]
’It was everyone’s ambition to be "rescued from the mud", but very few were. Most of those were placed, in Angkorean times, into various varna, or caste groupings, which made up perhaps a tenth of society as a whole. These people included clerks, artisans, concubines, artists, high officials, and priests, as well as royal servants, relatives, and soldiers.’
[3]
’Temple building and maintenance of monuments, large numbers of state-supported Buddhist clergy, and punitive wars, coupled with the more egalitarian characteristics of THERAVADA BUDDHISM and the rise of the T’AIS, contributed to the decline of ANGKOR.’
[4]
’Evidence permits only a few observations about the economic, social, and political organization of the Angkorean polity. It is certain that the economy was based upon wet-rice agriculture, that temples were promi- nent custodians of land and peasants, and that royal authority was expressed through a relatively well-developed hierarchy that included priests and religious sanctions.’
[5]
’Khmers even travelled to Laos to proselytise for Theravadism. The new religion was ‘democratic’ in that there were no hereditary priests, such as the Brahmans—anyone might don the saffron robes and become a monk, and even a king who converted might beg for alms in the street. The new religion made a huge impact on those exhausted by the worldly demands of their sybaritic rulers. The material world was one full of vanity and one’s best chance of a better reincarnation and eventual ascendance to nirvana lay not with the accumulation of power and wealth, but in renouncing it and dedicating one’s life to good works. And what were the temples but monuments to the monstrous vanity of men who presumed to be gods when, according to the Theravadins, not even Buddha himself was a god?’
[6]
[1]: (Chandler 2008, 83-84) [2]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.115) [3]: (Chandler 2008, pp. 28-29) [4]: (Ooi 2004, p. 12) [5]: (Taylor 2008, p. 160) [6]: (Tully 2005, pp. 50-51) |
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Full-time specialists
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Samans (shamans) were full-time religious specialists.
R 2004, K+S 2006 |
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Priests were clearly important, but I can’t find confirmation that they were full-time roles. “The most important shrines were attended by priests, who dwelled near by. One of the highest-ranking priests, the Agasun-no, called Dahomey’s Archbishop of Canterbury by Burton, had his "country palace" along the royal road.”
[1]
“Subsequent secular travelers grumbled at delays along the road due to the emergence of priests from shrines to say prayers and solicit alms, or simply to the presence of barriers marking religious sites.”
[2]
“In Dahomey, however, national cults were closely supervised by the king. The priests of these cults - which were of great importance and influence in the country - were his loyal subordinates. Royal agents supervised their activities constantly. The king was also high-priest in a state religion. With the political elaboration of the kingdom the cults associated with the royal dynasty quickly assumed primacy over others. Unlike the chiefs of some West African societies, the king was never enstooled by an indigenous ‘chief of the earth’, a representative of the original inhabitants, but by the priest of the royal ancestor cult. Besides this, no religious ritual, however domestic or private in nature, could be performed before the annual celebration in honour of the royal ancestors.”
[3]
[1]: Alpern, S. B. (1999). Dahomey’s Royal Road. History in Africa, 26, 11–24: 19. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J4ZASAV6/collection [2]: Alpern, S. B. (1999). Dahomey’s Royal Road. History in Africa, 26, 11–24: 22. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J4ZASAV6/collection [3]: Lombard, J. (1976). The Kingdom of Dahomey. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 70–92). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 79–80. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/T6WTVSHZ/collection |
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"[D]uring the 5th century clerical identity was clearly defined through an emphasis on sexual continence and the delineation of external characteristics (e.g. distinctive clothing, tonsure, and specific ritual access to the sacred orders), which made the clerical ordo recognizable as a class, distinct from the laity."
[1]
[1]: (Testa 2016: 453) Testa, L. Bishops, Ecclesiastical Institutions, and the Ostrogothic Regime. In Arnold, Bjornlie and Sessa (eds) A Companion to Ostrogothic Italy pp. 451-479. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WDZRJZID/library |
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Buddhism
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Only at the time of Conquest? AD "The chronicles make frequent reference to naomas and mohanes, of whom there could be several in each town. The two words are often used interchangeably, and these people are usually considered to be priests and ritual specialists,the possible ancestors of the present-day Kogi and Ika mamas (Dussán de Reichel 2000: 88; for a contrary view see Bischof 1971; 1982-83: 88). In this connection, there is an interesting mention in the Relación de Tayrona (1571) to a town with two caciques; the principal one was called Mamanauma (Oyuela- Caycedo 1998: 52).The mohanes are undoubtedly priests (see Castellanos 1955, 2: 596), but the status of the naomas is less clear."
[1]
There is no confirmation from Bray that the mohanes were full-time priests. However, training to become a priest seems to have been intense: "In 1561, an account tells of an incursion to the Nueva Salamanca de la Ramada, an area where the town of Dibulla is located today (Restrepo Tirado 1943: 860). During this trip, the process of the accession of a priest was described: "They obeyed an Indian called mohán who cured them of sickness. At his death he would be succeeded by his son who had been kept enclosed without seeing the sun for ten years." This description greatly resembles the process of training for priesthood noted by Reichel-Dolmatoff (1976b) for the Kaggaba."
[2]
"In any case, that there were no strict boundaries between civil and religious authority should not be surprising at all. Rather, what must be interrogated and explored are the various ways in which these intersect and overlap."
[3]
"There is also the question concerning the social positioning of people living in these different residential areas. Were they full time attached specialists such as warriors, masons, featherworkers, bead manufacturers, goldsmiths, or religious specialists as Groot (1985) argues?"
[4]
[1]: (Bray 2003; 302) [2]: (Oyuela-Caycedo 1998, 52) [3]: (Giraldo 2010, 61) [4]: (Giraldo 2010, 304) |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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Christianity
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Full-time specialists ’There are three religious practitioners: the bard (LEMAMBANG), the augur (TUAI BURONG), and the shaman (MANANG). Individually or in teams, bards are invited to chant at all major rituals. They are highly respected men, capable of recalling and adapting as appropriate, chants that go on for hours. The augur is employed for critical activities, such as farming or travelling. The shaman is a psychotherapist, who is consulted for unusual or persistent ailments.’
[1]
’Ritual is essential to preserve the spiritual well-being of the whole longhouse, as well as its families separately, and in the middle sections of this study Mr.Sandin outlines the major ritual festivals, or gawai , performed by the longhouse and describes the adat gawai , or rules of ritual procedure, that govern the performance of each of these festivals. More generally yet, observance of adat and ritual well-being are closely interrelated, a point I shall return to presently. As the author stresses at the outset of this study, the longhouse is a religious congregation, whose members are bound together by ties of ritual interdependence. For this reason, adat is of special importance to the Iban, for not only does it preserve social harmony among longhouse members, but, in doing so, it makes possible ritual cooperation upon which their collective prosperity and well-being is thought to depend.’
[2]
Augurs act as experts in the interpretation of omens, with village leaders often doubling as augurs: ’For deliberate auguries the knowledge of an expert augur is usually sought. If the undertaking involves the efforts of the whole community, as, for example, house-building, responsibility for seeking omens generally falls on the tuai burong , or community augur. The latter is a man generally recognized for his experience and skill as an augur. In practice, beburong ordinarily precedes a great many lesser occasions, aside from the major ones mentioned, and responsibility for taking auguries normally rests with tuai burong or with the person who leads the undertaking. Because of the importance of augury, any man traditionally aspiring to leadership within the community, as a longhouse headman or senior family head, or within the wider region, as a war chief, migrational leader, or the head of a trading venture, was expected to possess a proficient knowledge of augury. The position of the tuai burong was traditionally one of considerable influence in Iban society and a knowledge of practical augury was an important requirement of leadership more generally.’
[3]
Shamans officiate at communal rituals: ’A month or two after the opening of the ulit mourning period, the deceased’s family will now sever the bonds of affection between the deceased and the members of his or her family remaining in this world in a final rite of farewell. To accomplish this a manang , or shaman, is invited by the bereaved family to recite the incantations of the besarara bunga ceremony, meaning, literally, “the severing of the flowers”.’
[4]
Augurs are not full-time specialists, but farmers like their co-villagers: ’The office of tuai burong is not inherited, although there is no reason why a son should not inherit from his father the same propensity, skill, and good fortune which would enable him to qualify. The essential qualification is success, success in rice farming. Consequently, when the community seeks a new tuai burong to lead the community, it is customary to seek among those who are regularly successful ( ni orang ti sebak bulih dia nanya ). When a tuai burong has been provisionally selected by the community as a whole, it is expected that his appointement will be confirmed to him in a dream. Should the spirits fail to give their approval in this way, the provisional tuai burong does not qualify to take office and it becomes necessary to consider an alternative candidate.’
[5]
The same is true for shamans: ’The manang , as someone capable of intercourse with the spirit world may be a person of some power in the locality where he operates. Usually his influence is confined to a limited area, though the reputation of certain exceptional manang may extend more widely. But although known for his achievements when effective, the manang is not otherwise a man of consequence or status in the community. Nor did I come across an instance of a manang who was also an augur ( tuai burong ) or headman ( tuai rumah ). On the contrary, the expression ‘to be like a manang’ ( baka manang ) is derogatory since it implies that a man grows insufficient rice for his bilek. [...] In the terms of normal Iban values, the manang is not a success. Success is measured largely in plentiful harvests, and the manang , who has frequently to be absent from his farm, is rarely a successful farmer, although his own farm-work may be supplemented by the labour of others given in lieu of payment for his services. Since a good name among men is also associated with physical prowess and skill in felling, hunting, and on expeditions, the manang is seldom a man of standing. The majority of manang suffer or have suffered from a physical handicap of which blindness or poor sight is by far the commonest, and a characteristic associated with the manang . While the manang may not enjoy the prestige of a respected position in Iban society, he is nevertheless likely to be widely known and feared by many. This is partly because the Iban acknowledge their need for a manang in certain circumstances, and partly because a human being at times so intimately associated with the spirits carries some of the attributes of spirit power or has the aura of it.’
[6]
[1]: Vinson H. Sutlive, Jr. and John Beierle: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Iban [2]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, xxip [3]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, xxxviiip [4]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 38 [5]: Jensen, Erik 1974. “Iban And Their Religion”, 60 [6]: Jensen, Erik 1974. “Iban And Their Religion”, 142p |
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Full-time specialists
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"Before the entrance of Buddhism, there was nothing in China resembling the monastic institution: celibate communities of like-minded men and women devoted to the performance of ritual, the study and dissemination of religious doctrines, and self-cultivation.20 Patronage from the laity and revenue from monastic services and enterprises were essential for the success of this ideal of dedicated religious professionals living in communities with at least symbolic isolation from secular pursuits."
[1]
[1]: (Kieshnick 2019: 539-540) Kieschnick, J. 2019. Buddhism. In Dien and Knapp (eds) The Cambridge History of China Volume 2: The Six Dynasties, 220–589 pp. 531-552. Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPEUIH7T/library |
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Bishops and senior clergy were full-time religious professionals, managing dioceses and performing significant administrative, liturgical, and pastoral duties. [webpage_Home | Domesday Book], [Barlow 1979]
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Clergy, including bishops, abbots, monks, and parish priests, were professionally trained and lived exclusively for their religious roles. [Riché 1993]
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Imans in the mosques.
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At Susa by second half-fifth millennium: "I argue that an agrarian society that relied on ritual specialists to control the forces of nature failed and ultimately gave way to a society based on secular control of human labor in the service of both man and gods."
[1]
Depictions on seals at Tepe Gawra (NW Iraq not in NGA region but around the same time): "The human form, in stylized posture, is the first convincing evidence of humans acting a role that we think of today as namash. A namash is a person who is thought to be endowed with the ability to communicate with, and influence the behavior of, supernatural forces."
[2]
At Susa "sealings show ceremonies in which a number of individuals perform (fig. 15.8h-j). The latter examples are especially interesting in that they also show dress and the use of beakers and bowls like those found in the cemetery (fig. 15.8i-j). More importantly, they also show hierarchical relations among participants with principal figures flanked by smaller attendants."
[2]
"At Susa, leaders determined that only ceremonies of sacrifice and supplication carried out on top of platforms would impress the forces that could not be controlled by secular human effort. An elaborate set of rituals, with participation by numerous individuals under the direction of priests, emerged (fig. 15.9)."
[3]
“If a primary motivation for specialized diversification in Khuzistan was to ameliorate the effects of variable resources and agricultural unpredictability, another rational and obvious solution to the same problem was to enhance the ability of mortals to plead their cases before the whimsical forces of nature which capriciously meted out their agricultural blessings. This would explain the emergence of specialized shamans or priests to conduct the services, and the establishment of a stable, monumental edifice in which to perform these rites. I see the platform at Susa as having been constructed specifically for such rites.” [4] “In short, I see a system that had achieved a certain level of sophistication through specialized diversification, but one in which social relations were regulated largely on a familial level and the roles such as priesthood were a normal reward of elderly status. At death the priests took the copper symbol of their roles with them.” [5] Liverani says "possible existence of specialised priests" in reference to nearby Ubaid culture 5100-4000 BCE temples. [6] [1]: (Hole 2006, 228) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [2]: (Hole 2006, 234) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [3]: (Hole 2006, 238) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [4]: (Hole 1987, 95) [5]: (Hole 1987, 96) [6]: (Leverani 2014, 53) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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’Before the establishment of the Church in 1056 CE, the chieftains doubled as religious leaders of Nordic paganism. Even after 1056 CE, they often doubled as church owners and some of them became priests. But many Christian priests were full-time, all of them had some training and most or all of them were paid or had a secure income from their own or ecclesiastical estates.’
[1]
Christianity was introduced in 1000ce: ’Iceland was settled before any significant impact of Christianity in Scandinavia and the early Icelanders were pagans. Many of the Celtic people incorporated in the foundational population were probably Christian but this appears to have had little impact in the society in general. Pre-Christian religious practices are known largely by poetic and literary sources, all recorded during the Christian era, and some traces of material culture. These sources depict a rich cosmology including the Norse pantheon of gods and giants. Thor held a place of special significance based on his frequent inclusion in person and place names. The Icelanders inhabited an environment rich in supernatural entities including trolls, elves, and ghosts. Prescience and magical abilities were often attributed to individuals. In 1000 A.D., responding to a combination of internal and foreign pressure exerted by the Norwegian king, the Icelanders meeting at the General Assembly decided to adopt Christianity as the common religion. Hencefor th Iceland was officially Christian although many of the traditional beliefs remained.’
[2]
’By the end of the 10th century, the Norwegians were forced by their king, Olaf I Tryggvason, to accept Christianity. The king also sent missionaries to Iceland who, according to 12th-century sources, were highly successful in converting the Icelanders. In 999 or 1000 the Althing made a peaceful decision that all Icelanders should become Christians. In spite of this decision, the godar retained their political role, and many of them probably built their own churches. Some were ordained, and as a group they seem to have closely controlled the organization of the new religion. Two bishoprics were established, one at Skálholt in 1056 and the other at Hólar in 1106. Literate Christian culture also transformed lay life. Codification of the law was begun in 1117-18. Later the Icelanders began to write sagas, which were to reach their pinnacle of literary achievement in the next century.’
[3]
During the pagan period, chiefs frequently fulfilled religious functions: ’Pagan ceremonies were varied, and the details handed down by later Christian texts are not clear. Sacrificial rites performed by household heads or chieftains played a part in the ritual. Certain rituals seeking the intercession of spirits for divination or assistance (SEIÐR) were largely performed by women. Special cultic sites or buildings (HOFS) existed but religious ceremonies were not limited to these settings. Sacrificial activities were banned shortly after the conversion and Christian ceremonies such as baptism and communion were introduced.’
[2]
The offices of priest and bishop were introduced after the formal adoption of Christianity, but chiefs and farmers remained primary actors in the performance of rituals: ’The political institution of chieftaincy (GOÐORÐ) was rooted in religious function, a priestly office of intermediary between the community and supernatural forces. It is unclear the degree to which the role of chieftains had been secularized by the occupation of Iceland, but it is likely chiefs played a continued role in local religious activities by performing rites and sacrifices. Religious activities were not exclusive to chieftains. Individuals played a variety of intermediary between the mundane and supernatural roles including private devotions, divination, and sorcery. The conversion to Christianity brought with it the institutions of priest and bishop to Iceland. Throughout much of the early period, the institutional power of the church was weak. Churches were located on privately owned farmlands and were built and maintained by the local farmers who maintained a priest or served as priest himself. The early farm churches were small and probably served little more than the household and immediate neighbors.’
[2]
The few Icelandic bishops of the Commonwealth period resembled chiefs in their reliance on additional household labour: ’Although I would prefer to flout the conventional wisdom that slavery had all but died out by the eleventh century (Karras 1988a), the household laborers that replaced them in the Commonwealth period were numerous. When Þórðr kakali returns to Iceland Kolbeinn ungi immediately sends out thirty húsmenn to look for him in Eyjafjörðr. Þorsteinn Cod-biter had sixty free men in his household (Eyrbyggja saga, ÍF 4, ch. 11); Guðmundr the Mighty had one hundred (Brennu-Njáls saga, ÍF 12, ch. 113); Sörla þáttr (Ljósvetninga saga), ÍF 10, ch. 1:109); Bishop Páll’s household at Skálholt (ca 1200) had seventy to eighty residents, and a household with eighty has been discussed above. It is probably not unfair to say that by the Commonwealth period the majority of the wealth of great bœndur and goðar was the product of teams of house-men and women.’
[4]
The interests of the church and the ’secular’ elites were in conflict during the phase of intensified internal strife that preceded the Norwegian period: ’As I have mentioned earlier, the era of the Sturlungs was a period bordering on civil war, in which the Sturlunga family was central. What kinds of sentiments would the author of the Eyrbyggja saga, who must have been close to the Sturlungs, be likely to express? Although some of the Sturlung family’s most prominent members in Norway had solemnly obliged themselves to further the king’s cause, they nevertheless tended to forget the vow when they returned to Iceland. As also was the case with other chieftains, they preferred to act independently of the king. Some of the Sturlungs clearly harbored dreams of being Icelandic kings; others preferred a society governed by an oligarchy of Icelandic [Page 144] chieftains. In both cases sentiments would have been against the Norwegian king’s growing influence in Iceland. The Sturlungs were therefore likely to express anti-royal feelings, even though they might admire the king’s person. As the aristocracy was competing with the Church, we may also assume that the Sturlungs were against the ascending dominance of the Church in juridical, economic, and moral matters (Hastrup 1985, ch. 7). Two of the Sturlungs had in fact been instrumental in removing bishop Ari Guðmundsson from his bishopric in northern Iceland in 1222 (ST 1:287-298). As representatives of the dominant class, the Sturlungs were also likely to express contempt towards the lower classes. We find all these structurally determined resentments in Eyrbyggja saga.’
[5]
[1]: Árni Daniel Júlíusson and Axel Kristissen 2017, pers. comm. to E. Brandl and D. Mullins [2]: Bolender, Douglas James and Beirle, John: eHRAF Cultural Summary for Early Icelanders [3]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Iceland/Government-and-society#toc10088 [4]: Samson, Ross 1992. “Goðar: Democrats Of Despots?”, 179 [5]: Odner, Knut 1992. “Þógunna’S Testament: A Myth For Moral Contemplation And Social Apathy”, 143 |
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The pope himself was, of course, a priest. The city of Rome possessed dozens of parish churches for each neighborhood, while the territory of the Patrimony, mirroring that of Latin Christendom as a whole, possessed a similar array of professional priests.
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There was "a local variety of Zoroastrianism (Mazdaism) in Tokharistan, various expressions of Buddhism and Hinduism in the territory of Gandhara and also, probably, the official Sasanian doctrine."
[1]
[1]: (Zeimal 1996, 137) Zeimal, E. V. The Kidarite Kingdom In Central Asia. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.123-137. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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Full-time specialists
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"Reflecting the major social and political development of the region, this monumental architecture is evidence of a strong local state organization. The inner buildings of these courtyards are at present difficult to reconstruct. Although this question has still to be resolved, it would seem that the courtyards of Koktepe housed earlier religious and administrative institutions."
[1]
[1]: (Rapin 2007, 35) Rapin, Claude. "Nomads and the Shaping of Central Asia: from the Early Iron Age to the Kushan Period." in Cribb, Joe. Herrmann, Georgina. 2007. After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam. British Academy. |
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"The office of s.adr seems to have originated with the Kartid dynasty, and involved supervision of ranks and offices within the religious classes; officially at least, Timurid s.adrs oversaw salaries, appointments, and ranks of all religious offices..."
[1]
[1]: (Manz 2007, 213) Manz, Beatrice Forbes. 2007. Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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Priests and other religious professionals, like diviners, existed.
There were "specialists in divination, who were likely to be self-made, that is their authority derived not from a hereditary office, but from their success in giving accurate information. This meant that they were as often women as men. Many of them were itinerant, offering their services at pilgrim fairs, perennial markets and tribal gatherings; a few were attached to such courts, as existed; others had fixed abodes to which their customers would come, often from far away." [1] [1]: (Hoyland 2001, 157) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. |
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Priests and other religious professionals, like diviners, existed.
There were "specialists in divination, who were likely to be self-made, that is their authority derived not from a hereditary office, but from their success in giving accurate information. This meant that they were as often women as men. Many of them were itinerant, offering their services at pilgrim fairs, perennial markets and tribal gatherings; a few were attached to such courts, as existed; others had fixed abodes to which their customers would come, often from far away." [1] [1]: (Hoyland 2001, 157) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. |
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A priesthood at the very least composed of spirit mediums was present in this society throughout its known duration. “…the Changamires adopted the Torwa institution, Mwari, used for rainmaking. Mwari was the guardian spirit of the Torwa kingdom and was propitiated through a well-developed priestly organization....”
[1]
. “A consideration of religion in the Mutapa and Torwa–Changamire states shows the clear separation of religious and political powers (Mudenge 1988). The two roles were essential for the functioning of the state, with spirit mediums (possessed by the spirit of deceased kings) providing spiritual guidance to the incumbent chiefs. These mediums were thus ‘senior’ to ruling chiefs (Lan 1985). They played an important role in prayers for healing, rain, success in battle, and the overall success of the state. Their role extended to virtually all the areas of Shona divinity and spirituality. Often spirit mediums were drawn from the same houses of power (dzimba dzoushe) as the chiefs.”
[2]
. “Traditions recall the strong link between the Rozvi and the Mwari religion because Rozvi chiefs exploited and elaborated the cults for political purposes. Kuper… highlighted that rainmaking enhanced the political influence of chiefs; as such the ritual position of Rozvi Mambos (Chiefs) therefore became more advanced than any other. Bourdillion… also observed that chiefs political power often arises from the religious power of their ancestors because even those members not related to the chief also speak of spirit guardians of the chiefdom as their ancestors who had the duty of providing rain and caring for the crops.”
[3]
.
[1]: (Waite 1987, 202) Gloria Waite, “Public Health in Pre-Colonial East-Central Africa,” in Social Science & Medicine Vol. 24, No. 3 (1987): 197-208. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4Z9DU9S/item-list [2]: (Chirikure & Moffett 2018, 26) Abigail Moffett & Shadreck Chirikure, “Exotica in Context: Reconfiguring Prestige, Power and Wealth in the Southern African Iron Age,” in Journal of World Prehistory Vol. 29 No. 3 (2016). Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z29GV5VQ/item-list [3]: (Machiridza 2012, 94) Lesley Machiridza, Material Culture and Dialectics of Identity and Power: Towards a Historical Archaeology of the Rozvi in South-Western Zimbabwe, MA Archaeology Dissertation, University of Pretoria 2012. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/RT3ZFDBC/item-list |
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Appears to be present in this society, by the work of Chirikure, and appear to be sufficiently distinct from the state’s rulers. “Furthermore, spirit mediums associated with deceased kings or chiefs (mhondoro) played an important role in royal inauguration, national prayer, dethroning a cruel leader and, among others, communicating with Mwari [God] via ancestors (Lan 1987). The power of chiefs or kings was counterpoised by that of spirit mediums… // …Lan’s study of the spirit mediums in the Mutapa state demonstrated that they resided in their own homes and not at the centres of power. Furthermore, they played an intercessory role between the living and God via royal ancestors. Mediums led prayers for rain, they installed chiefs and were instrumental in dethroning incompetent chiefs. This separation of powers between religious leaders and chiefs was an important balancing act.”
[1]
[1]: (Chirikure et al. 2017, 48-62) Shadreck Chirikure et al. “No Big Brother Here: Heterarchy, Shona Political Succession and the Relationship between Great Zimbabwe and Khami, Southern Africa,” in Cambridge Archaeological Journal Vol. 28 No. 1 (2017): 45-66. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3A53J92/item-details |
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Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals"
[1]
; Vestals were "supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the Priestess of Ceres and Proserpina."
[2]
[1]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938) [2]: (Flower ed. 2004, 143) |
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“The most multilayered and central signs accreted in the Oyo-Yoruba religions of spirit possession are the signs of wifeliness and of horsemanship, which the Oyo royal empire in the 16th to the early 19th century appears to have made into important signs and means of political delegation. The possession priesthood of Sango is not only the preeminent priesthood of the Oyo kingdom but also the priesthood richest in the symbolism of wifeliness and horsemanship. By contrast, the symbolism of guns, iron and men’s hunting and warfare predominates in the non-possession priesthood of Ogun, at the expense of wifely and equestrian symbolist. Despite the politically central contrast between them, or perhaps because of it, Sango and Ogun are the two most popular orisa in all of circum-Atlantic Yoruba religion.”
[1]
There were priestly roles which also served administrative purposes. “Outsiders without any natal claim to the throne, the ayaba – wives of the reigning king and his predecessors – were entrusted somewhat more safely with administrative functions and prerogatives. They served as the heads of empire-wide priesthoods, as royal advisors, as intermediaries between the king and subject chiefs, and as provincial representatives of the palace. Some of the ayaba were “wives” of the apotheosized king Sango as well (Alaafin Adeyẹmi III, personal communication, 17 October 1988; see also Morton-Williams 1964a:255) Other wifelike palace delegates, known as ilari, served as diplomatic observers, toll collectors, messengers, cavaliers, royal guards, and priests (Biobaku 1952:40).”
[2]
“[T]he organization of the Sango cult in the provincial towns was controlled from the capital, and Sango priests in the provinces had to travel to Oyo to receive instruction and initiation from the Mogba, the Sango priests of the royal shrine at Koso.”
[3]
[1]: Matory, J. L. (2005). Sex and the Empire That Is No More: Gender and the Politics of Metaphor in Oyo Yoruba Religion. Berghahn Books: xviii. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C6VWWF8Q/collection [2]: Matory, J. L. (2005). Sex and the Empire That Is No More: Gender and the Politics of Metaphor in Oyo Yoruba Religion. Berghahn Books: 9. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/C6VWWF8Q/collection [3]: Law, R. (1977). The Oyo Empire c. 1600 – c. 1836: A West African Imperialism in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Oxford University Press: 103. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB32ZPCF/collection |
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“Probably the more enduring contacts and interactions between the two predated the rise of Bini to imperial greatness, going back to those quieter days when Nri priests moved from one corner of the globe to the other (eluwa dum) spreading the gospel that they came down from the sky and that Chukwu had empowered them to crown kings, make yam medicine, remove nso, control the agricultural calendar and make peace in return for giving yam and other food crops to all peoples.”
[1]
[1]: Afigbo, A. E. (1996). The Anthropology and Historiography of Central-South Nigeria before and since Igbo-Ukwu. History in Africa, 23, 1–15: 11. |
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Can’t find details in the scholarship of what the priestly roles mentioned actually encompassed, but they do seem to be distinct positions with their own titles. “These attitudes were deliberately fostered by the Oba’s retainers and priests”.
[1]
“In its relation to the capital, the village had the quality of a peasant culture. Except for the heirs to enigie and hereditary priests of community cults, the ultimate pinnacles of ambition lay outside the village.”
[2]
Fetish priests were present from at least the reign of Ewuare. “The Eghaevbo n’Ore, which seems to have replaced the Uzama Nihinron as the most effective check on the Oba’s political power, was created by Ewuare, before the coming of the Europeans. Since the senior members of the Eghaevbo n’Ore transacted "most of the day-to-day administration of the kingdom", these men were probably the "fetish priests" or the "ju-ju men" which so impressed European visitors from the time of Pereira to that of Gallwey. In other words, both human sacrifices and "fetish priests" existed in Benin prior to the beginnings of the European slave trade, and prior to the great military victories of Ozolua and Esigie”.
[3]
“Therefore, from about 1428 to 1455, Benin began to develop and exploit productive capacity and direct economic development toward control of trade, trade goods, and trade routes. One method utilised successfully to expand Beni domination of the east-west trading system was the founding of the Olokun cult. Olokun, as the god of wealth, provided a religious sanction for the pursuit of commercial profit and established a mechanism through which trade and commerce could be organised, licensed, administered, and taxed. The Olokun priests, usually relatives of the Oba, were charged with the responsibility for maintaining an orderly flow of trade, and establishing viable market controls. The domination by the palace and the expansion of commercial enterprise through palace-controlled religious institutions established trade as an important source for elite wealth.”
[4]
Nineteenth century: “The use of magical protection, albeit pre-scientific in Benin world view, was considered part of the preparations for war. Its psychological potency for the warriors explains why they had to seek the services of ‘traditional doctors’ before any campaign. The priest of Okhuahie was responsible for the state army. The Ewaise, a guild of ‘traditional doctors’ who controlled the shrine of Osun-okuo (war medicine) also played a prominent role.”
[5]
“The Iwebo palace association is in charge of the regalia and belongings of the king. Many craft guilds are affiliated with this society and throughout Benin’s history they have worked primarily for the king. They have been allowed to execute commissions for other clients only with his approval. Benin’s bronze casters, ivory carvers, weavers, costume makers, and leather workers are some of the guilds controlled by the Iwebo. Leopard hunters (Fig. 13), royal drummers, hornblowers, executioners, astrologers, and high priests accorded with important ritual functions also belong to this palace association. The second palace soci ety of the Iweguae is responsible for personal duties for the king. It comprises all the personal attendants to the Oba, such as his sword bearers and guards, but also diviners, healers, priests caring for his ancestor shrines, and other ritual specialists.”
[6]
[1]: Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection [2]: Bradbury, R. E. (1967). The Kingdom of Benin. In West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Repr, pp. 1–35). Published for the International African Institute by Oxford University Press: 20. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Z8DJIKP8/collection [3]: Graham, J. D. (1965). The Slave Trade, Depopulation and Human Sacrifice in Benin History: The General Approach. Cahiers d’Études Africaines, 5(18), 317–334: 327. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/4AS9CVZH/collection [4]: Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 411. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection [5]: Osadolor, O. B. (2001). The Military System of Benin Kingdom, c.1440–1897. University of Hamburg, Germany: 201. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/N4RZF5H5/collection [6]: Plankensteiner, B. (2007). Benin: Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria. African Arts, 40(4), 74–87: 83. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/7AR425BC/collection |
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Suggested, in the following quote, both by the fact that one needed much training to become a babaláwo, and by the fact that a babaláwo "transacted exclusively in the life of the mind". "The master ifá diviner, the babaláwo, was the fountain of knowledge in the Yorùbá community of practice. The babaláwo was (and still is) a learned man who sought to solve material, social, spiritual, and ailing problems through processes of diagnosis and prescription that came out of learning and knowledge. An authority on metaphysics, everyday riddles, and religion, he was required to have an in-depth understanding of the history, sociology, and philosophy associated with each of the deities and the other forces that inhabited the Yorùbá world. Through his divination, he prescribed the sacrifices that were appropriate for the òrìsà, the ajogun (malevolent forces), and the ancestors in order to solve his clients’ problems. His position required many years of training and a lifelong search for knowledge. He transacted exclusively in the life of the mind, not only to seek causal relationships but also to understand the deep meanings of those relationships. The babaláwo was the focal point of civic and religious life and was accessible to everyone in private or public spaces for consultation “on every undertaking” or whenever there was any doubt about the future."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 132) |
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The Catholic Church had a full-time priesthood in Spain and its territories.
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“Understanding of the distribution of political power in Whydah also requires consideration of the sphere of religion, which both legitimated and circumscribed the actions of the ruling elite. The most important national cult in Whydah was that of the god Dangbe (incarnated in the royal python), which was celebrated by annual public processions to the principal Dangbe shrine. Dangbe was primarily concerned with regulation of the weather and of agricultural fertility, but was also invoked for political purposes, "on all occasions relating to their government." Some European accounts imply that the worship of Dangbe was controlled by the king, the head of the cult being an official of the royal palace. It appears, however, that the Dangbe priesthood had rather more autonomy vis-a-vis the king than this suggests, since other evidence shows that King Agbangla in the 1690s expressed resentment at the scale of offerings which he was obliged to make to the cult and sought to reduce the expense which they involved. There was also a publicly celebrated cult of the deceased kings of the royal dynasty, with annual processions to offer sacrifices at their tombs. These did not, however, attain the elaboration of the comparable "Annual Customs" of the kingdom of Dahomey later, where these rather than the worship of any of the gods constituted the principal national religious ceremony. The "Annual Customs" in Whydah are mentioned only in a single contemporary account, and were clearly of much less political significance than the cult of the snake god Dangbe.”
[1]
[1]: Law, Robin. “‘The Common People Were Divided’: Monarchy, Aristocracy and Political Factionalism in the Kingdom of Whydah, 1671-1727.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, 1990, pp. 201–29: 209. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/8JKAH2V5/collection |
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Religious and social roles overlapped, but if we take priest-doctor to be a priesthood role, professional priests were present. “While specific data on Amikwo dibia are lacking, it was customary for Igbo priest-doctors to segregate into ranked spheres of responsibility, with herbal knowledge at the lower echelons of the profession and more serious physical and psychosomatic healing powers confined to well-trained specialists who might also be endowed with divinatory powers. Amikwo’s dibia may have corresponded with the latter category (Green 1947: 53ff; Uchendu 1965: 81-2; Dike 1975: 10”
[1]
[1]: Neaher, N. C. (1979). Awka Who Travel: Itinerant Metalsmiths of Southern Nigeria. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 49(4), 352–366; 354 https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/W8VVXIMI/collection |
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There were religious roles in the administration of the caliphate, which must therefore have had other aspects than the purely religious. However, the state was founded through a jihad and on Islamic principles, so it seems likely from looking at other caliphates to infer the presence of professional priests. “The Caliphate was to be led by the Caliph as the amir al-muminin (Commander of the Faithful), assisted by his wazirai (advisers), alkalai (judges), a muhtasib (the officer charged upholding morals), the sa’i (in charge of the markets), the wali al-shurta (police chief), limamai, and military commanders.”
[1]
[1]: Chafe, Kabiru Sulaiman. “Challenges to the Hegemony of the Sokoto Caliphate: A Preliminary Examination.” Paideuma, vol. 40, 1994, pp. 99–109: 101. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZANHCUFH/collection |
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The following quote broadly refers to pre-Islamic Arabia. "Arabian societies with good income from agriculture or trade were not only likely to be more hierarchical than pastoralist tribes, but also to have greater division of labour. In the inscriptions of Hatra, for example, we read about the professions of stonemasons, sculptors, metalworkers, carpenters, scribes, tutors, priests, physicians, accountants, doorkeepers, merchants and winesellers. In south Arabia a number of administrative offices are known, such as kabîr, qayn and maqtawî, though their exact nature and function is unclear."
[1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 120) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list |
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Priests are explicitly referred to, but as their roles formed part of the state’s administration, it could be argued that their roles included secular duties. “Ministers were unable to make their offices hereditary; the only strictly hereditary offices in the Jukun constitution were cere- monial and priestly ones with minimal secular powers. Although some of the ministers were territorial chiefs economically independent of the king, their administrative ’ fiefs ’ were attached to their offices, so they were unable to claim lasting ties of personal allegiance from outlying parts of the state.”
[1]
Roles within the extended household had religious aspects, implying no professional priests needed for family rituals: “Tsokwa Angyu6 contends that every Jukun household was a religious organization. For instance, before Alayi obatined the important public office of Abôzikê, he personally controlled the following family cults: (1) Akwa, (2) Atsî, (3) Agbadu, (4) Kenjo, (5) Aku Maga, (6) Ajê Ma, (7) Ando Bacho, and (8) Ata Jinako or Yoado-the cult of former slaves of the household. On his election to his title, he decided to distribute these cults among the other members of the household, for no important office-holder among the Jukun continues to serve personally as priest of his family cults, though it is incumbent on him to provide the sacrificial foods.”
[2]
“Their civilisation was no doubt of a superior order, but their religion probably more nearly resembles the worship of personified principles with nationalised gods and an organised priesthood, as with the Yoruba.”
[3]
“Secondly, since the priests of the majority of the cults are hereditary and thus far independent of the king, his authority over them is validated by his spiritual ascendancy over the deities their cults attempt at control.”
[4]
[1]: Young, M. W. (1966). The Divine Kingship of the Jukun: A Re-Evaluation of Some Theories. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 36(2), 135–153: 141. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NTI9GQMF/collection [2]: Zhema, S. (2017). A History of the Social and Political Organization of the Jukun of Wukari Division, c.1596–1960 [Benue State University]: 89–90. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U667CC36/collection [3]: Ruxton, F. H. (1908). Notes on the Tribes of the Muri Province. Journal of the Royal African Society, 7(28), 374–386: 380. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2AXUQGFB/collection [4]: Young, M. W. (1966). The Divine Kingship of the Jukun: A Re-Evaluation of Some Theories. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 36(2), 135–153: 146. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NTI9GQMF/collection |
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"... 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."
[1]
Buddhism. "The great temples of the capital and other major cities, often patronized by the rulers, housed in some cases thousands of monks. But even a small county such as Yinxian (Ningpo) in Chekiang had over 100 Buddhist temples, some of which had several hundred monks and drew annual incomes from their temple lands, from donations, and from their pawnshops, temple fairs, and other businesses that made them the richest institutions in the locality." [2] [1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) [2]: (Mote 2003, 161) Mote, Frederick W. 2003. Imperial China: 900-1800. Harvard University Press. |
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Theodore: "Appointed Nestorian Christian archbishop at Merv in 540."
[1]
A number of competing faiths were present, but there is no clear evidence of what faith was sanctioned or supported by the ruling elites. One Chinese commentator from the period remarked that the Hephthalites of Gandhara ’honoured kui-shên (demons).’ [2] "There is some evidence that Buddhism was practices in some of the territories held by the Hephthalites; however, some contemporary authors also wrote of the persecution of Buddhists. There are references to sacred fire, which indicates at least some familiarity with Zoroastrianism. However, because Hephthalite graves have been found, not all aspects of Zoroastrianism would have been practiced, since the funerary ritual of this religion, entailed leaving the body in the open to be devoured by sacred birds and dogs. As was the case with language religion was probably another area in which the Hephthalites constituted a multicultural society". [3] [1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [2]: Litvinsky B.A.,Guang-da Zhang , and Shabani Samghabadi R. (eds)History of Civilizations of Central Asia, p. 150 [3]: (West 2009, 276) West, B A. 2009. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. |
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Sivaism, Vishnuism, Jainism, Buddhism - and their different schools "penetrated Central Asia" from India where there was Zoroastrianism, Greek divinities, pre-Zoroastrian cults, and ancient Iranian religions of the horseriding nomads.
[1]
"Buddhist monasteries became large economic enterprises, engaging in all kinds of business, including trading, investing, and the making of alcohol." [2] The Kara-tepe inscriptions show that an important role was played by Buddhist monks and officials as well as the Zoroastrian priesthood. [3] Buddhist monasteries had the patronage of Kushan rulers and rich traders, also Zoroastrian followers. [4] [1]: (Harmatta et al. 1994, 321) Harmatta, J. Puri, B. N. Lelekov, L. Humayun, S. Sircar, D. C. Religions in the Kushan Empire. in Harmatta, Janos. Puri, B. N. Etemadi, G. F. eds. 1994. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. UNESCO Publishing. [2]: (Liu 2010, 54) Liu, Xinru. 2010. The Silk Road in World History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bankarticle/vol_II%20silk%20road_cities%20and%20urban%20life%20in%20the%20kushan%20kingdom.pdf p. 299 [4]: , “Kanis.ka’s Bactrian Pantheon in the Rabatak Inscription: The Numismatic Evidence,” in Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea held in Ravenna, 6-11 October 2003, vol. I: Ancient and Middle Iranian Studies, ed. Antonio Panaino and Andrea Piras (Milano: Mimesis, 2006), 351-57, see 353-54, plates 37-38 |
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King likely top priest due to palaces being both religious and political structures. However, due to the significance of the ceremonial enclave, and the sacrificial rituals, must have been helped by full-time specialists.
"Exemplified by Zhengzhou and Anyang, each city was composed of a centrally situated ceremonial and administrative enclave occupied primarily by royalty, priests and a few selected craftsmen... (Wheatley 1971: 30-47)." [1] "The scale of the palace-temples and the existence of the palace-temple district from the very beginning of the site suggest that Yanshi Shangcheng was planned and built as an elite religious/political structure from the start." [2] Ritual specialists were present from at least Shang onwards [3] [1]: (Liu and Chen 2012, 295) Liu, Li. Chen, Xingcan. 2012. The Archaeology of China: From the Late Paleolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Cambridge University Press. [2]: (Campbell 2014, 75) [3]: (North China Workshop 2016) |
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e.g. Buddhist, Manichean, Nestorian. "... 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."
[1]
-- need to check in which period of the Tang the "rise of religious professionals" occurred.
Professional priesthood was present in the pre-Tang era as well as the Tang era. [2] [1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) [2]: (Mostern, Ruth. Personal Correspondance. September 2016) |
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"high-quality grave goods, have been interpreted as those of ’middle-class’ Aksumites ... It might be expected that such a class would include ... priests of temple or church ..."
[1]
Temple or church officials. [1] "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." [2] [1]: (Connah 2016, 141) Graham Connah. 2016. African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (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. |
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1620s were a turning point in terms of ecclesiastic growth, reaching a peak in the 1630s with nine out of every ten bishops being ordained priests, “and thereby fully committed to ecclesiastical careers.” Bergin also notes that the decision to be ordained a priest could never really be divorced from career prospects, especially that of the episcopate itself.
[1]
[2]
Essentially, the transformation of parish priests into liturgical performers was also part of this larger effort to professionalize the secular clergy during the second half of the seventeenth century. In addition, by 1640 a new professional identity for priesthood was being forged through seminary education.
[3]
[1]: (Bergin 1996, 253-254) [2]: (de Franceschi 2001, 41) [3]: (Palacios 2012, 14-16, 81) |
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Christianity
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Full-time specialists Priests occasionally left their homes and travelled to visit patients in other places, and formed a guild: ’When a priest is called in from a distance to attend a case, he will generally tell the friends of the patient much about the family history, and indicate that a deceased relative is troubling the patient for some act of disobedience. The deceased relative must accordingly be propitiated. How does he come to know the history of the family to which he is a stranger? There is a Guild of Priests in the country to which all Priests belong, whose members are absolutely faithful to one another.’
[1]
They received specialist training: ’A Priest’s training begins early in his life. He is generally sent away to another district to a seminary, where he serves out his apprenticeship, which may cover a period of three years. During that time he learns the use of herbs and their application to the cure of disease, at which he becomes very proficient in the course of after practice.’
[2]
The period of initiation was concluded by a possession ritual and examination of sorts: ’After training, [he] was tested at a ritual attended by his teacher and all local priests. At this he was expected to become possessed, with the god’s help to answer riddles or questions set by the other priests, and to divine successfully’
[3]
The long duration of apprenticeship, the existence of professional bodies and the involvement of priests in organized ceremonial indicate a degree of specialization. While the full-time status of lower-ranking local priests may be questionable, the head-priests employed in the centres of executive power should be defined as such.
[1]: Hayford, J. E. Casely (Joseph Ephraim Casely) 1970. “Gold Coast Native Institutions With Thoughts Upon A Healthy Imperial Policy For The Gold Coast And Ashanti”, 106 [2]: Hayford, J. E. Casely (Joseph Ephraim Casely) 1970. “Gold Coast Native Institutions With Thoughts Upon A Healthy Imperial Policy For The Gold Coast And Ashanti”, 107 [3]: McLeod, M. D. (Malcolm D.) 1981. “Asante”, 60 |
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There was a chief priest/priest caste.
[1]
"The royal priest accompanied the rajan to battle, recited prayers, and supervised the performance of rituals. The importance of royal priests such as Vasishtha and Vishvamitra is reflected in many Vedic hymns."
[2]
"The main offices within the palace of a raja of the late Vedic period would be held by the chief priest (purohit), the commander-in-chief (senani), the treasurer (samagrahitri), the collector of taxes (bhagadugha) and the keeper of the king’s household (kshata)."
[3]
[1]: J Duncan M. Derrett, ‘Social and Political Thought and Institutions’, in A. L Basham (ed.), A Cultural History of India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975), pp.128-129. [2]: Singh, U. (2008) A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Dorling Kindersley: Delhi. p188 [3]: Avari, B. (2007) India: The Ancient Past: A history of the India sub-continent from c. 7,000 BC to AD 1200. Routledge: London and New York. p73 |
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Male and female figures depicted in various iconographic media were often identified as priests and priestesses.
[1]
The frequency of such depictions during the New Palace period has been interpreted as " a need for a more pronounced identity arose as a result of the greater consolidation of the ruling class."
[2]
The sacerdotal figures were dressed with sumptuary adorned robes and dresses, have special hairstyles and hold insignia of their authority (curved axes, double-axes, stone maces, and ritual objects). They were also often accompanied by certain symbolic images: animal heads (scarified victims), winged creatures, and animals attacker/predators. All evidence points to a division between priest and priestess: priest were associated with hunting and perhaps in the daily administration while priestess to pouring of libations, processions, bringing offerings and performing dances. The most important ritual performed by priestesses was the impersonation of the goddess. According Marinatos "Minoan priesthood was a permeant profession and not a stage in the "career" of the nobility" and "I would think that the priesthood in palatial Crete formed a strong corporation from the ranks of which the priest-king and the goddess impersonator were chosen."
[3]
It should be noted, however, that because of the absence of sound information all these are speculations.
[1]: See the discussion in Marinatos, N. 1993. Minoan Religion. Ritual, Image, and Symbol, Columbia, 127-46. [2]: Marinatos, N. 1993. Minoan Religion. Ritual, Image, and Symbol, Columbia, 127. [3]: See the discussion in Marinatos, N. 1993. Minoan Religion. Ritual, Image, and Symbol, Columbia, 145-46. |
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Full-time specialists "The circa 1500-1600 B.P. inscriptions at Kutai, East Borneo, and Taruma, Jakarta bay, refer to the kings’ gifts to their newly arrived Brahmans. Given the lack of wider direct archaeological evidence on religious specialization, we must revert to generalized Austronesian ethnographic analogy to imagine the late prehistoric situation. In that case, the single required qualification in egalitarian communities, of enhanced mystical prowess, would have increasingly been overshadowed by the religious authority of the head of the extended family in ranked societies, and the chief in kinship-centralized societies. Specialist priesthoods no doubt emerged along with other occupational specialists in the largest societies and so paved the way for the ready incorporation of Buddhist and Brahmanic concepts in the historical Indianized states."
[1]
" Purnavarman’s Brahmans, or the Indian Buddhist pilgrim Gunavarman who preached Buddhism in Ho-ling (Central Java) in 1538 B.P. (Hall 1985: 104-107), presumably had to content themselves with limited headway, as the earliest Indic religious architecture (at least, as preserved) post- dates 1300 B.P. (Van Bemme11994: 5). It can be assumed that specialist religious practicioners attached to the courts, and distributed through the countryside in various capacities, would have resisted the incursion of any Indian ideas that might have challenged the priests’ authority or conflicted with traditional beliefs."
[2]
[1]: (Bulbeck in Peregrine and Ember 2000, 88) [2]: (Bulbeck in Peregrine and Ember 2000, 106) |
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"The more important or specialist cultic officials (“priests,” although there was no blanket Mesopotamian term with this meaning), administrative staff, scribes, and artisans would have been permanent employees of the temple[...] At their head was the sanga / shangum (chief priest), whose role was as much administrative as religious. Others had a more exclusively ritual role".
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 206) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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At Susa by second half-fifth millennium: "I argue that an agrarian society that relied on ritual specialists to control the forces of nature failed and ultimately gave way to a society based on secular control of human labor in the service of both man and gods."
[1]
Depictions on seals at Tepe Gawra (NW Iraq not in NGA region but around the same time): "The human form, in stylized posture, is the first convincing evidence of humans acting a role that we think of today as namash. A namash is a person who is thought to be endowed with the ability to communicate with, and influence the behavior of, supernatural forces."
[2]
At Susa "sealings show ceremonies in which a number of individuals perform (fig. 15.8h-j). The latter examples are especially interesting in that they also show dress and the use of beakers and bowls like those found in the cemetery (fig. 15.8i-j). More importantly, they also show hierarchical relations among participants with principal figures flanked by smaller attendants."
[2]
"At Susa, leaders determined that only ceremonies of sacrifice and supplication carried out on top of platforms would impress the forces that could not be controlled by secular human effort. An elaborate set of rituals, with participation by numerous individuals under the direction of priests, emerged (fig. 15.9)."
[3]
Liverani says "possible existence of specialised priests" in reference to Ubaid culture 5100-4000 BCE temples. [4] [1]: (Hole 2006, 228) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [2]: (Hole 2006, 234) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [3]: (Hole 2006, 238) Hole, Frank in Carter, Robert A. Philip, Graham. eds. 2006. Beyond The Ubaid. Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Illinois. [4]: (Leverani 2014, 53) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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Religions and full-time religious professionals were present within the Parthian realm including Christian bishops
[1]
, Zoroastrian priests, Jewish priests? etc.
However, "We have no information about the place occupied at the court of the Parthian ruler by the Zoroastrian priests, since the part played by Zoroastrianism in the Parthian state has not been entirely clarified." [2] [1]: (Raschke 1976, 824) Raschke, Manfred G. in Haase, Wolfgang ed. 1976. Politische Geschichte (Provinzen und Randvölker: Mesopotamien, Armenien, Iran, Südarabien, Rom und der Ferne Osten). Walter de Gruyter. [2]: Lukonin, V.G., ‘Political, Social and Administrative Institutions: Taxes and Trade’, in The Cambridge history of Iran: the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Part 2, ed. by Ehsan Yar-Shater (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), vol. III, P.713. |
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"Rome had no full-time male priests, but the Vestals were supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the priestess of Ceres and Proserpina."
[1]
Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals" [2] ; Vestals were "supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the Priestess of Ceres and Proserpina." [3] Priests "who interpreted the rules surrounding the auspices" were called augurs. [4] The augurs worked within two defined areas: a "sacral boundary formed by the circuit of the old city wall (pomerium)" referred to as public auspices and "Outside the city (militae, ’in the field’), another set obtained the ’military’ auspices." [4] [1]: (Culham 2014, 131) Culham, Phyllis. Women in the Roman Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. [2]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938) [3]: (Flower ed. 2004, 143) [4]: (Brennan 2004, 37) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. |
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Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals"
[1]
; Vestals were "supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the Priestess of Ceres and Proserpina."
[2]
The Flamen Dialis (the chief priest of Jupiter) was also a professional. He had to follow so many restrictive rules that he was effectively restricted to priestly duties. He could for example not touch horses, iron, etc, and he was not allowed to stand for election. Some priests, however, were not professional. These included the pontifices.
[1]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938) [2]: (Flower ed. 2004, 143) |
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It seems that there are shamanistic figures - earlier period. Definitely Buddhists and Buddhist temples in later period linked to government. Mound building until change of emphasis to constructing Buddhist temples "from the sixth century onwards."
[1]
[1]: (Ikawa-Smith 1985, 396) Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko in Misra, Virenda N. Bellwood, Peter S. 1985. Recent Advances in Indo-Pacific Prehistory: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Poona, December 19-21, 1978. BRILL. |
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’Tens of thousands of priests and other officiants were sustained in order to fulfill temple rites.’
[1]
’The bestowal of usufruct could bring tax benefits to a landowner; the orders of scholar-priests dwelling within them offered careers to the sons of great families; the sacramental power of their holy offices ensured rewards in the lives to come for their pious benefactors.’
[2]
’Gifts made to temples included all that was needed to support the cycle of rituals and its attendant priesthood: beans, sesame, beeswax, ginger, honey, syrup, clarified butter made from the milk of specially maintained herds, perfume specially ground for temple use.’
[2]
’It was everyone’s ambition to be "rescued from the mud", but very few were. Most of those were placed, in Angkorean times, into various varna, or caste groupings, which made up perhaps a tenth of society as a whole. These people included clerks, artisans, concubines, artists, high officials, and priests, as well as royal servants, relatives, and soldiers.’
[3]
’Temple building and maintenance of monuments, large numbers of state-supported Buddhist clergy, and punitive wars, coupled with the more egalitarian characteristics of THERAVADA BUDDHISM and the rise of the T’AIS, contributed to the decline of ANGKOR.’
[4]
’Evidence permits only a few observations about the economic, social, and political organization of the Angkorean polity. It is certain that the economy was based upon wet-rice agriculture, that temples were promi- nent custodians of land and peasants, and that royal authority was expressed through a relatively well-developed hierarchy that included priests and religious sanctions.’
[5]
’There was a caste of hereditary priests (a remnant of the broader Indian caste system, perhaps) who purported to trace their ancestry back to those who had served Jayavarman II.’
[6]
’In its heyday, the temple {Ta Prohm] was administered by 18 high priests and 2,740 officials. There were 2,202 assistants and 615 female dancers. In all, 12,640 are listed as serving the temple, of which perhaps 1,000-2,000 were entitled to live within its walls. 66,625 people from rural villages were assigned to supply the temple, which involved mosquito nets, fine cloth, rice, honey, molasses, millet, beans, butter, milt, salt and vegetables.’
[7]
[1]: (Higham 2011, p. 479) [2]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.115) [3]: (Chandler 2008, pp. 28-29) [4]: (Ooi 2004, p. 12) [5]: (Taylor 2008, p. 160) [6]: (Tully 2005, p. 39) [7]: (Higham 2014b, p. 388) |
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There was a progressive change in religious cults in the area of Funan, the most radical one being the abandonment of inhumation practices in favour of cremation. The funerary practices incorporated gold leaves decorated with human forms with raised hands, one of which appears to represent Harihara, the combined image of Shiva and Vishnu.
[1]
This change seems to be in effect toward the 5th century CE, at the same time that Funanese rulers started to take on the Sanskrit honorific title of -varman (protected by, protege of). Indian gods were incorporated into the Funanese pantheon, particularly Siva, Visnu, and Buddha. The phallic symbol that represented Siva, the linga, was perceived as being the essence of the mandala.
[2]
. NOTE: data from ethnographic studies suggest that there was a pre-Indian religious strata that was eventually merged with Indian religions to become what today comprises the Khmer world view. In Khmer culture the world is divided into two landscapes that are marked by physical and psychological borders: the landscape of the village (srok) and the landscape of the wilderness (prei). The srok is the domesticated space of humans; the village, the paddy rice fields, a space of social organization
[3]
that is under the control of a Buddhist king
[4]
. The prei, on the other hand, is the forest, a place of uncertainty dominated by wild and dangerous spirits
[5]
[5]
beyond the control of Buddhism. This division is not immutable: forests can be cleared to create new srok, and a village may be overtaken by the forest and regain its position as prei. This perception of the world has been identified as the pre-Indian stratum of Khmer culture
[6]
. The term srok is recorded in the inscriptions as sruk, and defines a geographical/administrative entity.
[7]
Currently, the person in charge of establishing dialogues and interactions with the spirits is known as rup
[8]
. It is therefore possible to suggest that before merging Indian and local religions, the early Funanese people may have had a structured religious world view with levels, that is, with the presence of particular people who could act as intermediaries with the spirits. These hierarchical levels increased as the cult to Indian gods were incorporated. (
[1]: (Higham 2004b, p. 29-31) [2]: (Higham 1989, p. 248) [3]: (Ang Choulean 2004, p. 58) [4]: (Aransen 2012, p. 54) [5]: (Forest 1992, p. 15-16) [6]: (Forest 1992) [7]: (Vickery 2003, p. 127) [8]: (Forest 1992, p.51) |
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"Gli uffici del culto regolare, invece, erano affidati a un apposito personale, che le iscrizioni ci mostrano strutturato gerarchicamente e articolato in vari livello di ministero. Nei vari culti il clero era guidato da un sommo sacerdote e comprendeva, oltre agli altri sacerdoti e alle sacerdotesse, una schiera numerosa di personale minore, dai macellatori ai profumieri, dagli scribi agli schiavi. [...] Due cariche sembrano di particolare importanza: quella del ’sacrificatore’, probabilmente scelto con incarico pubblico e rinnovabile, dai compiti forse analoghi al ruolo del mageiros nella religione greca; e quella, meno chiara, del mqmlm, forse il sacredote ’risuscitatore della divinita’, frequente nelle inscrizioni di Cartagine, Cipro, Rodi, Tripolitania. Conosciamo anche l’esistenza di collegi sacerdotali e associazioni a sfondo religioso."
[1]
TRANSLATION: "Regular cult duties fell under the purview of specialised personnel, which, according to inscriptions, was organised hierarchically. Religious personnel was led by a chief priest and, besides regular priests and priestesses, it also included a host of minor figures, such as butchers, perfumers, scribes, and slaves. [...] It seems that two roles were particularly important among the clergy: the ’sacrificer’, possibly a publicly elected and renewable office, possibly one similar to that of a Greek mageiros; inscriptions found in Carthage, Cyprus, Rodes, and Tripolitania often mention the mqmlm, whose function is less clear than the sacrificer’s, though he may have been tasked with ’reviving the deity’. We also know of the existence of priestly assemblies and religious associations."
[1]: Ribichini, S. 1988. Le credenze e la vita religiosa. In Moscati, S. (ed) I Fenici pp. 104-125. Milano: Bompiani. |
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"In revenge, Galdan led the Junghars deep into Mongolia, where they smashed the Khalkha forces. They also captured and plundered Erdeni Zuu (located at Karakorum), the greatest monastic establishment in Mongolia, ostensibly because its abbot, the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu—the younger brother of Tüsiyetü—had claimed to be of equal rank with the Dalai Lama (the former superior of Galdan, who had long lived as a monk in Tibet)."
[1]
A monastery implies priests and monks. We can infer that the abbot had a full-time role. “Mongolia had so far been shamanist in faith, but in the second half of the sixteenth century it turned definitively towards the Tibetan form of northern (Maha ̄ya ̄na) Buddhism. Although the Yüan emperors had adopted Buddhism as the official religion of the empire, it had never gained much currency in Mongolia and, for that reason, the country had long remained almost completely shamanist."
[2]
perhaps specialised priests inferred absent before 1550 and present afterwards.
[1]: (Beckwith 2009, 234) [2]: (Ishjamts 2003, 214) |
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The Coricancha was the "principal temple in Cusco." This cult had a "high priest." Inka Roq’a required that "aqlawasi (house of cloistered women) be established in Inka-controlled towns" which produced qumpi (fancy cloth) and aqha (maize beer) used in rituals.
[1]
"In the sequestered House of the Chosen Women (aqllawasi), they were taught religion, weaving, cooking, and chicha-making by lifelong virgins dedicated to the religious institutions. Cobo said that as many as 200 women of various ages could be found in the largest aqllawasi. Although they were well protected, the girls and women were not entirely confined, since they participated in many ceremonies at locations outside their quarters. After about four years, the girls were ready to serve as mamakuna (priestesses) or to marry men who merited the honor for their service to the Inca (Cobo 1990: 172-4; Rowe 1946: 283)." [2] Alan Covey: Irene Silverblatt (Moon, Sun, and Witches) [3] is still the best-researched treatment of this institution. [4] [1]: (Covey 2003, 352) [2]: (D’Altroy 2014, 301) [3]: (Silverblatt, I.M., 1987. Moon, sun, and witches: Gender ideologies and class in Inca and colonial Peru. Princeton University Press. [4]: (Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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"In the king’s town and not far from his court of justice, is a mosque where the Muslims who arrive at his court pray. Around the king’s town are domed buildings and groves and thickets where the sorcerers of these people, men in charge of the religious cult, live."
[1]
Salaried Imans but Islam was not the official religion of the polity "In Ghana king and commoners remained loyal to their ancestral religion." [2] "The city of Ghana consists of two towns situated on a plain. One of those towns, which is inhabited by Muslims is large and possesses twelve mosques... There are salaried imams and muezzin, as well as jurists and scholars." [1] "In the king’s town and not far from his court of justice, is a mosque where the Muslims who arrive at his court pray. Around the king’s town are domed buildings and groves and thickets where the sorcerers of these people, men in charge of the religious cult, live." [1] [1]: (Al-Bakri 1068 CE in Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 15) [2]: (Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 10) |
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Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals"
[1]
; Vestals were "supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the Priestess of Ceres and Proserpina."
[2]
The Flamen Dialis (the chief priest of Jupiter) was also a professional. He had to follow so many restrictive rules that he was effectively restricted to priestly duties. He could for example not touch horses, iron, etc, and he was not allowed to stand for election. Some priests, however, were not professional. These included the pontifices.
[1]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938) [2]: (Flower ed. 2004, 143) |
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The Anglican church had a professional priesthood.
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The papacy and their members of the Roman Catholic Church.
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The Russian Orthodox Church, with its well-established hierarchy and structure, had a full-time professional clergy that included bishops, priests, and monks during this era. These clergy members were engaged in religious duties as their primary occupation.
[1]
[1]: Kent, Neil. A Concise History of the Russian Orthodox Church. Washington: Academica Press, 2021. Zotero link: YC6JFSXF |
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In the Catholic church.
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“Nevertheless, by AD 800, the beginning of Early Tiwanaku V, Tiwanaku was changing significantly.What were the causes and trajectories of these changes? An elaborate residential complex was built on top of the Akapana sometime toward the end of Late Tiwanaku IV. It incorporated elaborate architectural elements and was associated with distinctive ceramic assemblages that included an array of elaborate vessels, such as recurved bowls. The configuration of subfloor burials expressed differences of status or role among the people who perhaps once inhabited the complex, by all accounts some of the prestigious religious practitioners and their attendants who directed major Tiwanaku ceremonies. Intriguingly, associated effigy incensarios allude to an affiliation with Katari, offering the possibility that some Tiwanaku high priests came from, or identified with, the priests and specific rituals conducted in that region. These changes index a transition from relatively high rank to markedly different, institutionalized status. Together with evidence from the Akapana, they represent the emergence of an elite class and the crystallization of a rigidly defined social hierarchy in Tiwanaku. Kolata (1993a) argues that spatial and functional transformations in the city reflected the emergence of a Tiwanaku royal dynasty, an interpretation supported by Couture (Couture and Sampeck 2003). I would add that what we see is the emergence of both royal dynasties and elite castes of priests.”
[1]
“Surrounding the sunken court at Akapana’s summit, there were small rooms probably used for ceremonial purposes and as the residences of priests.”
[2]
[1]: (Janusek 2004: 223) Janusek, John Wayne. 2004. Identity and Power in the Ancient Andes: Tiwanaku Cities Through Time. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SDDCMA8P [2]: (Korpisaari 2006: 57) Korpisaari, Antti. 2006. Death in the Bolivian High Plateau: Burials and Tiwanaku Society. Oxford: BAR Publishing. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UPGSC7BF |
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Full-time specialists The bishoprics expanded their landholdings: ’In spite of the rise of a profitable export industry, it is generally believed that Iceland’s economy deteriorated in the late Middle Ages. The birchwood that had covered great parts of the country was gradually depleted, in part because it was excellent for making charcoal. The destruction of the woodland, together with heavy grazing, led to extensive soil erosion. The climate also became more severe, and grain growing was given up altogether. At the same time, more and more of the land was acquired by ecclesiastical institutions and wealthy individuals, to whom the farmers had to pay rent.’
[1]
Monastic orders were present by the Norwegian period, occasionally providing refuge to chieftains and other leaders: ’At last the people’s hatred and opposition grew so intense that he resolved to retire and enter a monastery. He had already made an agreement with Bishop Jörund of Hólar to take the monastic vow of the order of St. Augustine, but he died January 12, 1268, beforer the final arrangements could be consummated. His estate Stad, at Reynines, he gave to the church with the understanding that a monastery should be erected there. This condition was finally fulfilled in 1296, when the cloister for nuns at Reynines and the monastery at Mödruvellir were founded by Bishop Jörund of Hólar.’
[2]
The church structure was comprised of regular priests, Icelandic bishops, and Norwegian archbishops: ’At this time important changes also took place in the Icelandic church. For some time the bishops in Iceland had been Norwegian ecclesiastics, but in the latter part of Haakon Magnusson’s reign the Icelander Brand Jonsson became bishop of Hólar, and when he died a year later, his countryman Jörund Thorsteinsson succeeded him in 1267, after a long vacancy in the office. As the Norwegian born Bishop Sigurd of Skálholt was now so old and feeble that he could no longer perform his official duties, Bishop Jörund assumed supervision also over the Skálholt diocese, by placing the popular priest Arni Thorlaksson in charge of it. [...] When Bishop Sigurd died in 1268, the diocese petitioned Archbishop Jon of Nidaros to appoint Arni as his successor, but the archbishop ignored the request and chose instead a Norwegian priest, Thorleif, evidently because he wished to continue the practice of placing Norwegian ecclesiastics over the Icelandic dioceses. As Thorleif died shortly after his election, the archbishop was prevailed upon, probably by King Magnus himself, to elect Arni, who was consecrated bishop June 21, 1269.’
[3]
The Norwegian period saw protracted conflicts between clergy and laity on the matter of church property: ’Upon his return to Iceland Bishop Arni, assisted by Bishop Jörund of Hólar, summoned the people of his diocese to a general council at Skálholt, where he proposed several measures of reform, among others that the churches should be made ecclesiastical property under the control of the bishops. As nearly all churches in Iceland were privately owned, this would involve a change in property rights to which the people would not readily consent. [...] the king’s assistance could be invoked. [...] With threats of ban and excommunication he so intimidated the lesser landowners that they suffered to let the smaller churches to pass under ecclesiastical control. But the chieftains who owned the larger churches resolutely resisted. This was especially the case with the churches of Oddi and Hitardal, two of the largest in Iceland. Their owners refused to surrender them; but the bishop caused a decree of transfer to be promulgated at the Althing, threatening the owners with the ban if they resisted. [...] In 1273 King Magnus summonsed a council to meet in Bergen to consider a new code of church laws to be proposed by Archbishop Jon of Nidaros, and to deal with other questions touching the relation between church and state. At this council, Bishop Arni, Hrafn Oddsson and the Icelandic chieftains also appeared. In the trial of their case the king as inclined to favor the chieftains, but the archbishop rendered a decision in Arni’s favor. His victory was so complete that upon his return home he began to prepare a new code of church laws for Iceland, based on principles suggested to him by Archbishop Jon. The code was adopted at the Althing in 1275 with the understanding that it was later to be ratified by the king and the archbishop.’
[4]
Norwegian ecclesiastic and royal control did not prevent those conflicts: ’The Council of Bergen, which placed the churches of Iceland under ecclesiastic control, proved to be only another abortive attempt to settle the difficult question of the relation between church and state. In Norway a new controversy arose between the nobility and the clergy upon the death of King Magnus Lagaboter in 1280. [...] These events could not fail to encourage the Icelandic chieftains to in their opposition to the aggressive policy of Bishop Arni.[Gjerset then describes the adoption of the Jónsbók at the Althing against the wishes of Bishop Arni.] This was a severe defeat for Bishop Arni, as the chieftains saw that in Iceland as in Norway they could defeat the church party by cooperation and energetic action. Now that they felt sure of support from King Eirik and the Council of Regency, they were no longer afraid to join issue with the bishops regarding the question of ownership of churches and church property. [...] With him came also Erlend Olafsson, who had been appointed lawman. They brought royal letters addressed to the people of Iceland encouraging them to resist the bishops. All church property which had been unjustly seized was to be returned to the laity, and the church laws as they had been in King Haakon Haakonsson’s time were to be in force.’
[5]
Ultimately, some privately owned churches were handed over to ecclesiastic authorities: ’The church estates which still remained in the hands of the laity were surrendered to the bishops shortly after Arni’s return to Iceland. But this attempt to forestall a final settlement proved to be of little value. In 1292 royal commissioners were sent to Iceland with instructions from the king stating that with regard to churches and church property the conditions existing prior to the union should be restored, that church estates should be returned to their lay owners. Both bishops resented the royal orders, but the people, led by Thorvard Thorarinsson, seized many estates, and the controversy was renewed. In 1295 Thorvard went to Norway to plead the cause of the people. [...] the case was finally settled by a compromise embodied in a royal document of September 13, 1297. It was agreed that all the churches in which the lay people owned a share amounting to at least one-half should belong to them without any curtailment of property rights. All other churches should be surrendered to the bishops. [...] In the bishopric of Hólar the struggle between church and laity was less intense but of a similar character. Bishop Jörund died in 1313, and was succeeded by Audun Raudi, a member of the cathedral chapter at Nidaros. [...] He was consecrated bishop November 25, 1313, but did not arrive in Iceland till 1315. He was already advanced in years, but he ruled his diocese with great energy and authority, maintained a fine household and practiced the greatest hospitality. the cathedral church was improved, new buildings were erected at the bishop’s seat, and the cathedral school was kept in a high state of efficiency, as he took pains to secure able teachers. [He also faced opposition from the populace when introducing increased taxation.] The clergy had established an ascendency which no existing authority in Iceland could successfully control.’
[6]
Some bishops became very powerful: ’Bishop Arni gradually assumed the rôle of ruler in Iceland. In many cases he opposed the sýslumadr Thorvard Thorarinsson, so that the people at the Althing appealed to the decision of the bishop in purely secular matters, contrary to all law. Of these complaints were made to the king. [...] In 1277 the king sent Eindride Böngull a second time to Iceland as his commissioner, accompanied by the Icelander Nicolas Oddsson. They brought letters addressed to both the sýslumadr and and the bishop forbidding any appeal to the bishop in cases brought before the Althing. The kind had already written to the people warning them that not to accept any law before he and the archbishop had considered the measure, as the right to alter the laws of the church or any other statute belong to them alone. The church code given by Bishop Arni was accordingly rejected, and [...] the people felt that the royal government was henceforth the supreme authority in the land.’
[7]
The crown consulted with Icelandic clergy: ’In 1303 many prominent Icelanders were summoned to Norway, among others Bishop Jörund of Hólar, and Abbot Runolf, who had served as vicar in the diocese of Skálholt after the death of Bishop Arni. The king’s purpose seems to have been to obtain their advice regarding changes in the Icelandic code of laws which had been demanded, possibly also to secure their consent to new taxes to be levied in Iceland. The Icelandic annals for the year 1304 state that in that year the king collected Peter’s pence (Roma skattr) in Iceland. The supplement to the code resulting from this conference is dated June 23, 1305. It contains provisions dealing with Iceland, but it does not touch the issues bearing on the relations between the two countries. These issues do not even seem to have been considered, but the Icelandic leaders probably consented to the levying of new taxes.’
[8]
Ecclesiastic conventions, such as celibacy, were more strictly enforced among the rank and file: ’The rule respecting celibacy of the clergy was so rigorously enforced that even dubdeacons who had been married for many years and had several children were compelled to separate from their wives.’
[9]
According to Gjerset, bishops frequently acted as regional overlords, but his writing is informed by nationalist bias against foreign-born clergy: ’In the church the patriarchal relation which had once existed between the bishops and laity had wholly disappeared at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Many of the ecclesiastics who at this time were elevated to the highest position in the Icelandic church were of foreign birth. In the period 1236-1465 thirteen of the bishops of Skálholt were foreigners, while only five were native Icelanders. But whether foreigners or native-born, they had usually acquired the greed and love of power which everywhere characterized the Roman hierarchy. [...] Without regard for the welfare of the country they often resorted to extortionate practices to increase the income of their dioceses, while the people were sorely tried by great national calamities and and steadily growing poverty. [...] These oppressive practices of the leaders of the church gradually created among the people a hostile opposition to the selfish ecclesiastical officialdom which forms a distinct trait in Icelandic church life throughout the Middle Ages.’
[10]
[1]: http://www.britannica.com/place/Iceland/Government-and-society#toc10093 [2]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 212 [3]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 217 [4]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 217p [5]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 221p [6]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 225p [7]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 219p [8]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 231 [9]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 218p [10]: Gjerset, Knut [1924]. "History of Iceland", 237 |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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"The king or professional diviners hired by the king used oracle bones to make predictions about the future or to answer questions..."
[1]
[1]: (The Shang Dynasty, 1600 to 1050 BCE. Spice Digest, Fall 2007. http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/117/ShangDynasty.pdf) |
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e.g. Buddhist, Manichean, Nestorian. "... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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"... it has also been suggested that, in the realm of literature, poems that were to be performed by a collective body of celebrants of the ancestral rites gave way to poems that were sung by ritual specialists before an audience."
[1]
[1]: (Feng 2006, 96) Feng, Li. 2006. Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045-771 BC. Cambridge University Press. |
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"... 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."
[1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7) |
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During the New Kingdom the priesthood became a full-time profession. The position of "first prophet" was initially held by members of the royal family, then by officials appointed by the Pharaoh.
[1]
Temples "sustained by government grants bestowed in return for formal blessings on the undertakings of the state."
[2]
[1]: (Doxey 2001) [2]: (Mokhtar 1981, 102) |
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During the New Kingdom the priesthood became a full-time profession. The position of chief priest could be held by members of the royal family, then by officials appointed by the Pharaoh.
[1]
Temples "sustained by government grants bestowed in return for formal blessings on the undertakings of the state."
[2]
[1]: (Doxey 2001) [2]: (Mokhtar 1981, 102) |
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Full-time priests who held not other functions were common in Ptolemaic Egypt. They were the ones who conducted the rituals. However, there were only a few of those priests for every temple.
|
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Official religion modelled on Egyptian. State god Seth of Avaris.
[1]
Reference to Horemkhauef, a chief inspector of priests (late 13th Dynasty?). Lector priests. Scribes. [2] Temple overseers, temple scribes, scribes, cultivators of divine offerings, scribes of the divine seal, masters of foodbearers, high priests, overseer of singers, w’b priests, and hm-ntr, hry-hbt, wnwt, and sm3. [3] [1]: (Hayes 1990, 4) [2]: (Bourriau 2003, 186) [3]: (Shirley 2013, 562) |
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Parish priests, missionaries, friars.
[1]
[1]: (Cunningham 1919, 92) Cunningham, Charles Henry. 1919. The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies As illustrated by the Audiencia of Manila (1583-1800). Berkeley, California: University of California Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/CM5NJJRR |
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"Buddhist monasteries were usually located outside the main centres of population and influence, near enough for collecting alms and instructing the laity but far enough for tranquillity and seclusion."
[1]
[1]: (Keay 2010, 147) Keay, John. 2010. India: A History. New Updated Edition. London: HarperPress. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HSHAKZ3X. |
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Given the intimate connection between Islam and daily life in the Hausa states, one would assume that the usual religious roles in Islam were filled in the Hausa kingdoms. No source reviewed specifically mentions this in detail, though.
|
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In Mycenaean states the wanax is the head of the religious hierarchy.
[1]
Like the gods themselves he received offerings (e.g. perfumed oil) but he had not a divine status. He was assisted by a considerable priesthood.
[2]
[1]: Shelmerdine, C. W. and Bennet, J. 2008. "12: Mycenaean states. 12A: Economy and administration," in Shelmerdine, C. W. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, Cambridge, 293. [2]: Ventris, M. and Chadwick, J. 1973. Documents in Mycenaean Greek, London,128-29. |
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A guru may have been part of the Emperor’s ministerial council
[1]
. Hinduism had its representatives in Brahmanas
[2]
, Jainism and Buddhism in monks
[3]
[4]
.
[1]: Suryanatha Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), p. 70 [2]: L. Rocher, The Dharmasastras, in G. Flood (ed), The Balckwell Companion to Hinduism (2003), p. 103 [3]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/worship/ministry.shtml [4]: L. Aldritt, Buddhism (2009), p. 12 |
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Hinduism had its representatives in Brahmanas
[1]
, Jainism and Buddhism in monks
[2]
[3]
.
[1]: L. Rocher, The Dharmasastras, in G. Flood (ed), The Balckwell Companion to Hinduism (2003), p. 103 [2]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/worship/ministry.shtml [3]: L. Aldritt, Buddhism (2009), p. 12 |
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"The more important or specialist cultic officials (“priests,” although there was no blanket Mesopotamian term with this meaning), administrative staff, scribes, and artisans would have been permanent employees of the temple[...] At their head was the sanga / shangum (chief priest), whose role was as much administrative as religious. Others had a more exclusively ritual role".
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 206) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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"The more important or specialist cultic officials (“priests,” although there was no blanket Mesopotamian term with this meaning), administrative staff, scribes, and artisans would have been permanent employees of the temple[...] At their head was the sanga / shangum (chief priest), whose role was as much administrative as religious. Others had a more exclusively ritual role".
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 206) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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Royal Purohita.
[1]
"Purohita occupied a pre-eminent position in the Vedic and post-Vedic periods. But from c. A.D., he ceased to be a member of the cabinet, and in later times he only exercised moral influence on the king".
[2]
[1]: (Mishra 1977, 138) Shyam Manohar Mishra. 1977. Yaśovarman of Kanauj: A Study of Political History, Social, and Cultural Life of Northern India During the Reign of Yaśovarman. Abhinav Publications. [2]: (Mishra 1977, 142) Shyam Manohar Mishra. 1977. Yaśovarman of Kanauj: A Study of Political History, Social, and Cultural Life of Northern India During the Reign of Yaśovarman. Abhinav Publications. |
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The Arthashastra mentions a purohita (royal priest) in the King’s household.
[1]
There were ascetics or renunciants in society: the Ajivika, a Buddhist/Janist sect had places where regular ceremonies were held, "suggest they had a corporate organizations."
[2]
There was also Brahamans and the Buddhist monastic order the sangha.
[3]
[1]: Singh, Upinder. A History of Ancient and Early medieval India: from the Stone Age to the 12th century. Pearson Education India, 2008. p.344 [2]: Singh, Upinder. A History of Ancient and Early medieval India: from the Stone Age to the 12th century. Pearson Education India, 2008. p.302. [3]: Singh, Upinder. A History of Ancient and Early medieval India: from the Stone Age to the 12th century. Pearson Education India, 2008. pp.306, 312. |
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Hinduism had its representatives in Brahmanas
[1]
, Jainism and Buddhism in monks
[2]
[3]
.
[1]: L. Rocher, The Dharmasastras, in G. Flood (ed), The Balckwell Companion to Hinduism (2003), p. 103 [2]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism/worship/ministry.shtml [3]: L. Aldritt, Buddhism (2009), p. 12 |
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Brahmanas in Hindu temples.
[1]
"The Vakataka period is particularly important as far as Vidarbha (eastern part of Maharashtra) history is concerned, as it witnessed ... increase in the land grants for religious purpose, revival of brahmanization in the form of construction of temples and evolution of Brahmanical iconography."
[2]
[1]: (Majumbar and Altekar 1946, 7) Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra. Altekar, Anant Sadashiv. 1986. Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 A.D. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. [2]: (Sawant 2009) Reshma Sawant. 2008. ‘State Formation Process In The Vidarbha During The Vakataka Period’. Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 68-69: 137-162.< |
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"The more important or specialist cultic officials (“priests,” although there was no blanket Mesopotamian term with this meaning), administrative staff, scribes, and artisans would have been permanent employees of the temple[...] At their head was the sanga / shangum (chief priest), whose role was as much administrative as religious. Others had a more exclusively ritual role".
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 206) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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levels.
In the later Uruk phase "Urban Revolution" c3800-3000 BCE that the following quote refers to religious ideology became more complex, so can infer low level religious complexity in this period: "Early state formation therefore featured both the rise of a ruling class, making decisions and benefiting from a privilaged position, and the development of a political and religious ideology. The latter was able to ensure stability and cohesion in this pyramid of inequality." [1] Liverani says "possible existence of specilised priests" in reference to nearby Ubaid culture 5100-4000 BCE temples. [2] This suggests that certainly before 5100 BCE highly unlikely to be specialised priests in Susiana or the wider region. However the existence of temples in the wider region of this period might appear to contradict this logic so coding uncertain_absent_present due to time uncertaintly. [1]: (Leverani 2014, 79) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 53) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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Religions and full-time religious professionals were present within the Parthian realm including Christian bishops
[1]
, Zoroastrian priests, Jewish priests? etc.
However, "We have no information about the place occupied at the court of the Parthian ruler by the Zoroastrian priests, since the part played by Zoroastrianism in the Parthian state has not been entirely clarified." [2] [1]: (Raschke 1976, 824) Raschke, Manfred G. in Haase, Wolfgang ed. 1976. Politische Geschichte (Provinzen und Randvölker: Mesopotamien, Armenien, Iran, Südarabien, Rom und der Ferne Osten). Walter de Gruyter. [2]: Lukonin, V.G., ‘Political, Social and Administrative Institutions: Taxes and Trade’, in The Cambridge history of Iran: the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Part 2, ed. by Ehsan Yar-Shater (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), vol. III, P.713. |
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"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals"
[1]
[1]: (Grant and Kitzinger 1988, 938) Grant, M, Kitzinger, R (1988) Civilization of the ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome, Volume 2, Scribner’s. |
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In the destruction of Elam, in particular Susa, by the Assyrians, written accounts describe ’gods and goddesses, their ritual paraphernalia and their priesthood’ being captured for Assyria.
[1]
"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[2]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: Potts, D.T. 1999. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press p.284 [2]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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An example of a priesthood is recorded through the complaint made by the priests of Sarapis and Isis in Laodicea by the Sea about the number of statues being erected on their land.
[1]
[1]: Sosin, J. 2005. Unwelcome Dedications: Public Law and Private Religion in Hellenistic Laodicea by the Sea. The Classical Quarterly, New Series. 55 (1) pp130-139. |
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|
"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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|
"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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|
"Religion strongly flourished in ancient Elam, where the female Great Goddess was considered to be very powerful and equivalent to the male God. In addition, certain kings of Elam were also elevated to the level of ’Messenger of God,’ ’regent,’ and ruler on earth. It also appears that Elamites had some conceptions of an ’after-life, in which various burial gifts would be of use.’ Administration of Elam was developed and reflected both secular and religious aspects of law, politics and government."
[1]
-- period not specified. could be general reference to whole period.
[1]: (Farazmand 2009, 22) Farazmand, Ali. 2009. Bureaucracy and Administration. CRC Press. Boca Raton. |
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"Temple complexes, such as the temple of the goddess Inanna at Eana in Uruk (3200 BC), were large-scale enterprises"
[1]
Uruk phase c3800-3000 BCE: "The ruling class had to work on an operational and ideological front, leading to the formation of a bureaucracy and a priesthood."
[2]
[1]: (Joseph 2011, 135) Joseph, George Gheverghese. The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics (Third Edition). Princeton University Press. [2]: (Leverani 2014, 79) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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|
Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals"
[1]
The cremated remains of what appears to have been a ritual specialist at Osteria dell’Osa have been found, accompanied by a small figurine depicting a human making an offering, as well as a miniaturised sacrificial knife, a ritually broken pot and miniaturised vessels of the kind that were used to make ritual offerings [2] . However, it may be excessive to leap to the conclusion that there was a "professional priesthood". [1]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938) [2]: T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome (1995), p. 52 |
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|
Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals"
[1]
; Vestals were "supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the Priestess of Ceres and Proserpina."
[2]
[1]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938) [2]: (Flower ed. 2004, 143) |
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‘The generic term for a Shinto priest is kannushi. However, Shinto in the medieval and early modern periods was not a centrally organized tradition. Hence, there is great variation in terminology used to denote Shinto priests. Historically, the office of shrine priest was typically passed down through a priestly family from father to son.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.204. |
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|
‘The generic term for a Shinto priest is kannushi. However, Shinto in the medieval and early modern periods was not a centrally organized tradition. Hence, there is great variation in terminology used to denote Shinto priests. Historically, the office of shrine priest was typically passed down through a priestly family from father to son.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.204. |
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’a priestly class, which was very small within the city proper, confined mostly to the Buddhist monks at the East and West Temples, but considerably larger if the many Shinto shrines and the growing number of Buddhist temples in the immediate neighborhood of Heian are taken into account.’
[1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.161 |
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|
‘The generic term for a Shinto priest is kannushi. However, Shinto in the medieval and early modern periods was not a centrally organized tradition. Hence, there is great variation in terminology used to denote Shinto priests. Historically, the office of shrine priest was typically passed down through a priestly family from father to son.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.204. |
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|
It seems that there are shamanistic figures - earlier period. Definitely Buddhists and Buddhist temples in later period linked to government. Mound building until change of emphasis to constructing Buddhist temples "from the sixth century onwards."
[1]
[1]: (Ikawa-Smith 1985, 396) Ikawa-Smith, Fumiko in Misra, Virenda N. Bellwood, Peter S. 1985. Recent Advances in Indo-Pacific Prehistory: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Poona, December 19-21, 1978. BRILL. |
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|
’The generic term for a Shinto priest is kannushi. However, Shinto in the medieval and early modernperiods was not a centrally organized tradition. Hence, there is great variation in terminology used to denote Shinto priests. Historically, the office of shrine priest was typically passed down through a priestly family from father to son.
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.198. |
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"Muslim clerics, once restored to favour, supplied the ideological support and the legal framework necessary for the efficient government of a large territory within which many people were constantly moving around outside their traditional ethnic areas."
[1]
Ture "appointed the first qadi of Jenne and extended Islamic judicial administration to other towns by establishing courts and appointing judges."
[2]
[1]: (Roland and Atmore 2001, 69) [2]: (Lapidus 2012, 593) |
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|
"The religious beliefs of the Türk focused on a sky god, Tängri, and an earth goddess, Umay.9 Some of the Turks—notably the Western Turks in Tokharistan—converted very early to Buddhism, and it played an impor- tant role among them. Other religions were also influential, particularly Christianity and Manichaeism, which were popular among the Sogdians, close allies of the Türk who were skilled in international trade. Although the Sogdians were a settled, urban people, they were like the Türk in that they also had a Central Eurasian warrior ethos with a pervasive comitatus tradi- tion, and both peoples were intensely interested in trade."
[1]
"Türk religious life, not extensively documented, was based on an ancient complex of beliefs widespread in Inner Asia.84 The term “shamanism,” although conventional, is a misleading name for this belief system. Shamans, male and female, served as religious specialists, who could communicate with the spirit world. They were called on, however, only for exceptional reli- gious or medical needs, not for routine religious practice. Their ability, real or reputed, to divine the future or conjure up storms on the battlefield made their services especially significant for rulers. However, the heroic, ecstatic quest that transformed an individual from sickness and alienation through initiation into a shaman capable of performing such wonders little resembled his or her neighbors’ usual religious observance." [2] [1]: (Beckwith 2009, 115) [2]: (Findley 2005, 45-47) |
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Buddhist shaman [e.g. the beki, the highest religious authority] and in the Islamic societies conquered by the Mongols, imams.
[1]
[1]: Bira, Sh. “THE MONGOLS AND THEIR STATE IN THE TWELFTH TO THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.” In History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement A.D. 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century. Part I The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by C. E. Bosworth, Muhammad S. Asimov, and Yar Muhammad Khan, Paris: Unesco, 1998. pp.255-256. |
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A female shaman is mentioned: "Ch’ou-nu kaghan (508-20) - his position shaken because of his attachment to a female shaman - was murdered, apparently on the orders of his own mother, who then had her younger son A-na-kui enthroned."
[1]
Buddhist monks/priests probably present: "The Juan-juan khagans and nobles were well acquainted with Buddhist teachings and were probably Buddhists as early as the beginning of the sixth century. It is known that in 511 they sent a Buddhist monk and preacher to China with the gift of an image of the Buddha ornamented with pearls for the emperor."
[2]
[1]: (Sinor 1990, 294) [2]: (Kyzlasov 1996, 317) |
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"Uighur culture changed dramatically with Bayan- Chor’s forced conversion of his people to Manicheism. Manichean doctrines required strict vegetarianism of the elect priests, including the renunciation of KOUMISS. Bögü exhorted his people to “let [the country] with barbarous customs and smoking blood change into one where people can eat vegetables; and let the state where men kill be transformed into a kingdom where good works are encouraged.” By 821 the Arab visitor Tamim bin Bahr at the capital, Ordu-Baligh, found the city’s population primarily Manichean. Manicheism also adapted to Uighur life; Manichean hymns, for example, incorporated the Türk-Uighur reverence for Ötüken."
[1]
[1]: (Atwood 2004, 561) |
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Salaried imams.
"The city of Ghana consists of two towns situated on a plain. One of those towns, which is inhabited by Muslims is large and possesses twelve mosques... There are salaried imams and muezzin, as well as jurists and scholars." [1] "In the king’s town and not far from his court of justice, is a mosque where the Muslims who arrive at his court pray. Around the king’s town are domed buildings and groves and thickets where the sorcerers of these people, men in charge of the religious cult, live." [1] [1]: (Al-Bakri 1068 CE in Levtzion and Spaulding 2003, 15) |
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There is evidence for an institutional religion at the contemporary primary center El Palenque, so it is likely that there were full-time priests at Monte Albán (although this cannot be confirmed due to the lack of archaeological evidence from this period at Monte Albán).
[1]
[1]: Sherman, R. J., et al. (2010). "Expansionary dynamics of the nascent Monte Alban state." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29(3): 278-301, p282 |
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Although direct evidence for a priesthood is lacking for this period, their presence in the earlier Monte Alban phases and at the time of the Spanish conquest in the 1520s suggests that priests may continued to have been present during these intermediate periods.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p182 |
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Spanish written records describe the presence of full-time priests (bigaña) who lived in temples and were the sons of the Zapotec nobility. A profesional priesthood is therefore inferred to be present, although the extent to which this information can be extended back to the entire period is not known.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1976). "Formative Oaxaca and Zapotec Cosmos." American Scientist 64(4): 374-383, p376 [2]: Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People. New York. p350 |
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Ulema means "scholars" - they are scholars of the Quran and the holy law, but not priests in the sense of rituals etc. But one should discuss this categorisation with an expert on Islam.
[1]
"Religious employees included the imams, the hatibs and the muezzin, who led daily prayers and served in local mosques. Some state employees, such as the muftis, the kadıs and the muderris, had both a legal and religious identity. The Ulema, scholars of the Quran and the holy law, were not priests in the sense of rituals etc. These scholars were trained in medreses, which first appear during the reign of Orhan."
[2]
[1]: Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences. [2]: (Cosgel, Metin. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. April 2020) |
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There is no evidence of a systematic religion at Pirak at this time. Only animal and human figurines have been found.
[1]
There is little evidence for an integrated religious system, as regional cultures split from the previous Mature Harappan system.
[2]
[3]
In the broader context of the preceding Mature Harappan there is evidence for priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist".
[4]
[5]
[1]: Jarrige, J-F. (1979) Fouilles de Pirak. Paris : Diffusion de Boccard. [2]: Wright, R. P. (2010) The Ancient Indus: urbanism, economy and society. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press [3]: Possehl, G. L. (2002) The Indus Civilization, A contemporary perspective. AltaMira Press: Walnut Creek. [4]: Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370 [5]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6. |
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In the broader context of the Mature Harappan there is evidence for priests, and Kenoyer refers to "ritual specialist".
[1]
[2]
[1]: Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, ‘The Indus Valley Tradition of Pakistan and Western India’, Journal of World Prehistory, 5 (1991), 370 [2]: Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 6. |
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If not initially, later developed.
Sunni Islam did not have the equivalent of a professional priest. The leader of the daily prayers was given a special title and a person widely thought to be learned would be awarded a title of Imam, but this did not connote a hierarchy of belief. The Caliph was in theory the head of the entire religious community made up of all Muslims. Certain originators of judiciary schools were awarded special titles, but these rare individuals were not the equivalent of saints. The increasing fractured nature of Sunni and Shi’ite religious controversy led to a divergence in the use of titles to members of the umma. [1] [1]: (Lapidus 2002, 133-155) |
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"Theravada, the way of the elder, differs from other strains of Buddhism in the prime position accorded to the monk and monastic practice. The duty of the Sangha or monkhood is to preserve the thamma or teachings of the Buddha by adhering strictly to the winaya or monastic code. Some monks study the texts, preserve them by recopying, and preach their contents to the laity. Other monks exemplify the teachings by living an imitation of the Buddha’s own life, gaining insight through ascetic rigour and meditation."
[1]
[1]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, p. 19) |
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[1]
As was stated above, there are only some traces concerning priests, who occur as witnesses to the economic transactions. Because they might have witnessed such legal acts, their position must have been well, even highly situated among MBA Anatolian society [2] [1] . [1]: Dercksen J. G. 2004. Some Elements of Old Anatolian Sofiety in Kaniš. [in:] J. G. Dercksen (ed.) Assyria and beyond: studies presented to Mogens Trolle Larsen. Leiden: NINO, pg. 139 [2]: Barjamovic G. 2011. A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, pg. 141, 206, 230, 318 |
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Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
Professional clergy.
[2]
[1]: (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Cunningham 2008, 535) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
Professional clergy.
[2]
[1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Cunningham 2008, 535) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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Based on the temple state in Cappadocia, as described by Strabo: “It is a considerable city; its inhabitants, however, consist mostly of ‘divinely inspired’ people and the sacred slaved who live in it. Its inhabitants are Kataonians, who, though in a general way classified as subjects of the king, are in most respects subject to the priest. The priest is master of the temple, and also of the sacred slaved, who, on my sojourn there, were more than six thousand in number, both men and women together. Also, considerable territory belongs to the temple, and the revenue is enjoyed by the priest. He is second in rank in Cappadocia after the king. (12.2.3)”
[1]
[1]: Potter, D. (2003) Hellenistic Religion. In, Erskine, A. (ed.) A Companion to the Hellenistic World. Blackwell: Malden, Oxford, pp 407-430. p424-425 |
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"Religious employees included the imams , the hatibs and the muezzin, who led daily prayers and served in local mosques. Some state employees, such as the muftis, the kadıs and the muderris, had both a legal and religious identity. The Ulema, scholars of the Quran and the holy law, are not priests in the sense of rituals etc."
[1]
[1]: (Cosgel, Metin. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. April 2020) |
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There were full-time priests
[1]
[2]
[1]: Sahlins, Marshall 1958. Social Stratification in Polynesia. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. Pg. 14. [2]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 57. |
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There were Hindu temples.
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"Religious Practitioners. The human face and fish motifs on the painted bowls of the Banpo phase are generally interpreted as portraits or masks of a shaman."
[1]
Temples found at Hongshan sites [2] "Xishuipo grave M45 has often been taken to be a ’shaman’s’ grave."- Other scholars argue "it is more likely to have been the resting place of a sociopolitical leader." [2] "Ritual structures (or ’temples’), which are found only in northeast China, along with the graves associated with these structures, might suggest that religious ideas and specialist practitioners (priests) were more important to the sociopolitical integration of societies in northwest China than in other parts of north China during the Early Neolithic period." [3] [1]: (Lee in Peregrine and Ember 2001, 336) [2]: (Shelach-Levi, Gideon. 2015. The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 98) [3]: (Shelach-Levi, Gideon. 2015. The Archaeology of Early China: From Prehistory to the Han Dynasty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 100) |
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Druids.
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No information found in sources so far.
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At Jenne-jeno no evidence of "social ranking or authoritarian institutions such as a ’temple elite’ has been found.
[1]
In Jenne-Jeno there is no evidence for a state bureaucracy, priesthood, military or a king
[2]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 230) [2]: (McIntosh, 31) McIntosh, Roderick J. Clustered Cities of the Middle Niger: Alternative Routes to Authority in Prehistory. in Anderson, David M. Rathbone, Richard. eds. 2000. Africa’s Urban Past. James Currey Ltd. Oxford. |
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It seems that the beginning of forming the elite dedicated to religious practices has started in the Ubaid period, however there is impossible to say whether they have been already full-time specialists or rather semi-time priest which were also responsible for many other work. Probably, the existence of elite in Ubaid is strongly connected with religious and the temples. However, there are know depictions of ’priests’ (so called ’namash’) on the seals from Tepe Gawra (level XIII and level XII - Late Ubaid) and Susa, but their interpretation is highly subjective.
[1]
[1]: Hole 2010, |
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The following quote suggests the existence of some kind of priesthood, but it does not seem that the data clearly suggests whether or not priests were true full-time specialists. "The political power formerly residing at Mound 4 during Red I and Early Red II was largely disseminated within the community; however, their role as village founders who maintain the community’s relations with the local and ancestral divinities, as well as their symbolic position as the external face of the village community, remained unchanged and was simply detached from the iron cult."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30) |
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Full-time specialists
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Not enough data, though perhaps it would be reasonable to infer absence.
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The following quote suggests the existence of some kind of priesthood, but it does not seem that the data clearly suggests whether or not priests were true full-time specialists. "The political power formerly residing at Mound 4 during Red I and Early Red II was largely disseminated within the community; however, their role as village founders who maintain the community’s relations with the local and ancestral divinities, as well as their symbolic position as the external face of the village community, remained unchanged and was simply detached from the iron cult."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30) |
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It is unclear whether shamans were full-time professionals.
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The following quote suggests the emergence of social differentiation in this period, but little appears to be understood about this phenomenon apart from the appearance of specialised smiths and the formation of senior and cadet social segments. "During Yellow II, the inhabitants of Mound 4 began a process that eventually led to centralization of iron production, as described in detail above. Iron ore extraction involves profound digging in the earth, the realm of spirits, and historically in Bwa society the practice is reserved solely for specialized smiths, who also excavate burials (see discussions below). The mid first millennium A.D. therefore witnessed a transformation from redundant social and economic roles for houses to specialization in at least one craft activity. While houses were still highly independent, even producing their own pottery, a formalized village structure was likely present with both cadet and senior social segments, founded upon common descent with a common ancestor."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 28) |
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"Contexts that could shed light on the dynamics of social structure and hierarchies in the metropolis, such as the royal burial site of Oyo monarchs and the residences of the elite population, have not been investigated. The mapping of the palace structures has not been followed by systematic excavations (Soper, 1992); and questions of the economy, military system, and ideology of the empire have not been addressed archaeologically, although their general patterns are known from historical studies (e.g, Johnson, 1921; Law, 1977)."
[1]
Regarding this period, however, one of the historical studies mentioned in this quote also notes: "Of the earliestperiod of Oyo history, before the sixteenth century, very little is known."
[2]
Law does not then go on to provide specific information directly relevant to this variable.
[1]: (Ogundiran 2005: 151-152) [2]: (Law 1977: 33) |
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