RELG 102 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lecture 1 Lecture 1 January 16 Introduction to Roots of Western Religions What are the three major world religions studied in this course Judaism Christianity Islam What ancient cultures are studied Egyptians Mesopotamians Persians Greeks Romans Theriomorphic images images of animals portrayed as gods Theriomorphic literally means wild animal form Animals were chosen as great courageous and fierce o Lions horses bulls Many cultures portrayed animals as gods Egyptians were doing this some 5 000 years ago Egyptian God Bes A god portrayed as a fierce looking dwarf He scared away demons during childbirth Also associated with humor and music Sometimes depicted surrounding by monkeys or wearing a monkey on his back This is showing the link between humans animals and gods Also a god of good fortune and fertility One of the earliest religious cave drawings from France appears to show a human dressed up in animal s skins This drawing is called The Sorcerer Dating back 15 000 years ago May be intended as a religious leader Virtually all ancient religions were polytheistic Meaning they believed in more than one god It was simply the normative form of religion 3 000 to 4 000 years ago Ancient Pharaoh Akhenaton This pharaoh was the first to attempt to change the Egyptian system of worship from polytheism to monotheism o Monotheism meaning one god Ordered everyone to stop worshiping all god except the sun god Aton He believed Aton was creator of all things This attempt was a failure his own son changed his name to avoid the embarrassment After his death around 1362 his successor destroyed any and all statues or references to Akhenaton Egyptian Religion One of the first great cultures to arise from the ancient world Written documents appeared 5 000 years ago and the pyramids were completed over 4 500 years ago The pyramids were built by Khefra and Khufu Brilliant engineers and builders but lacked critical thinking and reasoning skills There was belief in the afterlife Egyptians were one of the first to think about the happenings after death More concerned about living rather than dying Viewed the world literally and saw everything in it the same way Everything was either male or female and full of life Many god and goddesses such as Horus and Isis performed many functions and sometimes more than one god could perform the same function Gods made Egyptians feel secure Three levels of existence The heavens The earth The afterworld The book of dead was written as a guidebook 3 000 years ago to help a dead person navigate the very treacherous and frightening terrors that awaited one after death The ultimate goal was to stay alive forever Anubis under the watchful eye of Osiris was the god of the dead There are two sides of the afterlife 1 If your judgment was favorable you went to a paradise where you could dwell forever 2 If it was bad you were eaten by a horrible beast Egyptians would worship many gods that would help them achieve their goal of eternal life that is why there are so many temples in ancient Egypt