Buddhism

15 09, 2017

Zoroastrianism – Iran – West Asian religion

By |2019-09-04T05:58:45-07:00September 15th, 2017|West Asia|Comments Off on Zoroastrianism – Iran – West Asian religion

An Iranian fire sacrifice Zoroaster/Zarathustra himself Around 1000 BC (probably), about the same time that people in India were writing the Rig Veda, a man named Zoroaster (also called Zarathustra) was a priest in a small [...]

15 09, 2017

Monotheism and polytheism – West Asian religion

By |2020-05-11T06:36:44-07:00September 15th, 2017|West Asia|Comments Off on Monotheism and polytheism – West Asian religion

The Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar or Inanna What is polytheism? The earliest people in West Asia were all polytheistic: they all worshipped many gods. From 3000 BC to 539 BC, the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Assyrians and the Babylonians all [...]

4 09, 2017

Plotinus and the Neoplatonists – Roman philosophy

By |2017-09-04T11:34:58-07:00September 4th, 2017|Philosophy, Romans|Comments Off on Plotinus and the Neoplatonists – Roman philosophy

Bust of Plotinus (Ostia, ca. 250 AD) Around the time of Jesus, philosophers (and regular people) in West Asia and the Roman Empire started to think a lot about what happened to you after you died. [...]

23 08, 2017

The end of animal sacrifice – History of religion

By |2018-04-21T12:09:34-07:00August 23rd, 2017|Religion|Comments Off on The end of animal sacrifice – History of religion

Sacrificial procession (Pitsa, ca. 530 BC) People probably began to do animal sacrifice around the time they began farming and keeping domesticated animals, about 10,000 BC. They were certainly sacrificing animals to their gods all over Europe and Asia [...]

21 08, 2017

St. Benedict – Christianity – History of Religion

By |2019-02-13T08:19:08-08:00August 21st, 2017|Medieval, Religion|Comments Off on St. Benedict – Christianity – History of Religion

Egyptian caves where early monks and nuns lived Who was Benedict? In the 500s AD, Benedict was the founder of a new Christian movement toward monasticism: living as monks or nuns. What are [...]

Go to Top