Week 3 Flashcards
Define the concept of Hypsistos:
- The fact that different civilizations all worship very similar deities leads to a belief in a common single Supreme Being
- Ex. The reverence of Zeus is at one with that of Ra
What are 5 notable attributes of Revolutionary Monotheism?
- NOT evolving directly from polytheism
- Counter-religious movement
- Rejects folklike religion
- Hierarchical; top down
- Canonization: This truth cannot be relived naturally without the codification for future worshippers
What is one blaming-point every monotheism needs?
- Monotheism always needs a construction of “the other” to justify and rally it’s power
- Ex. the Pagan within
In short, Revolutionary monotheism centres around:
The power of the Elite
How do most Revolutionary Monotheists interpret theology, and it’s link to justice?
- The supreme god is not only just, but JUSTICE itself
Ancient Egyptian priests were organized into groups called:
Phyles
Each Phyle was assigned a __________ and an __________
Name and animal emblem
What was the largest Egyptian temple?
Amun at Karnak
What was the official name for the Egyptian pantheon?
The Great Ennead
Which Egyptian city had its own separate Ennead (that coexisted with the pre-established general one)?
Heliopolis
Cults in Egypt are first attested to in the period of the ___________.
Middle Kingdom
What duties did cult membership entail in Egypt?
- Delivering food, aromatic resins, money, drinks, etc. to the temples
What were the priests of Ka?
- Private mortuary priests hired by families to performed frequent rituals at a deceased loved one’s tomb.
What was the Parsu?
The essential laws and offices of Mesopotamian civilization, Aetiologically derived from the primordial mother, Nammu
What was the chief priest in Syro-Canaanite cultures called?
Rb (predecessor to rabbi?)
True or False: Syro-Canaanite cults often owned real estate.
TRUE
Describe Syro-Canaanite cult practices:
- Essentially a funerary and dinner party club
Jewish schools to train scribes began in the _______ Temple Period.
First Temple Period
In what century AND where was the first ever synagogue established?
3rd century BC in Egypt
True or False: Jerusalem was the only place where early Jews could sacrifice.
TRUE
What was the Hittite king’s role in cult activities?
- Chief Priest of all state cults
True or False: Upkeep of Hittite temples was a state business.
TRUE
How did Zoroastrian priests get their position?
Hereditarily
What types of Cults existed in Ancient Greece?
- Family level, Municipal level, State level, International level, etc.etc.etc.
- They were omnipresent and existed in every single fold and level of society
True or False: ALL volunteer organizations in Ancient Greece were listed as “cult association”.
TRUE
Why? Because they always had some religious component, no matter what
Ancient Greek cult meetings occurred every ______
month
What were the 4 stages of a Greek cult meeting?
- Sacrifice
- Procession
- Prayers
- Feast
What did Greek cults do with the real estate they owned?
- Used it to privately bury their members
What was the women only festival in Athens?
Thesmophoria
What were the Collegias?
- Collegias were Roman “clubs” essentially, both religious and lay
- They were permitted so long as they met maximum once a month and abided by the law
- Caesar abolished all lay collegias except those that had significant seniority
Who disbanded all lay collegias that did not have sufficient age?
Caesar
What type of collegias were very popular for poor and middle class Romans?
- Collegia Funeraticia (Funerary clubs)
- Why? Being a member was one of the few ways to receive a respectable burial and funeral as a poorer citizen.
What were the 4 priestly collegias in Rome?
- Pontificiales
- Augurales
- Quimdeciviri sacris faciundis
- Septemviri Epulones
True or False: The Bacchiadae cult was banned in Rome.
FALSE
Contrary to popular conception, the Bacchiadae cult was not banned outright, but rather, heavily limited in new cultic decrees, and thus, fizzled out overtime.
Why did early Christianity draw bad attention from the Romans?
- Because it operated completely outside traditional parameters of organized religion (different organization, different moral expectation for adherents, different hierarchy, etc.)
In which century did monarchial episcopacy begin to rise?
2nd century AD
By the __ century AD, Bishops were advising Emperors.
4th century AD
What are rituals?
Repeated actions and words that will influence the divine in a way that is predictable and useful for humans.
Which civilization has the best records on their rituals?
Greece
What are 5 common intercultural rituals of the ancient world?
- Processions
- Purifications
- Old/New Year festivals
- Scapegoating
- Aetiological myths
Acronym SOAPP
How was communal impurity purified in Ancient Israel?
- Scapegoat ceremony
- Two goats were brought up
- One was sacrificed for the sins of the community (instead of sacrificing the community itself)
- Similar to the Idea of the sacrificial lamb
What 2 things caused a personal impurity in ancient Israel?
- Cultic defilement (ex. touching a corpse)
- Amoral activities (ex. bribery)
What kind of animals are used for blood sacrifices?
- Always an unblemished animal
- No blisters, growths, birth marks, etc.
What is the etymology of the word Sacrifice?
- Sacrificus: To cut off from this world
What is a Tithe?
- The practice of giving 1/10th of your annual income to your local temple
What is an often common means of transporting offerings to a god?
- Burning
- (ex. burning a wooden picture of the god to honour him)
What were Egyptian sacrificial victims often deemed as?
- The Enemy
(i.e supporters of Seth) - Sacrifice is a victory over evil
What does the Eye of Horus represent?
- Health and completeness
- Why? It made Horus complete again after he lost his eye fighting Seth
What is different about the nature of most Mesopotamian offerings?
- They mostly did bloodless food offerings (i.e. bread)
- Blood sacrifices were seemingly reserved for higher status individuals
How many times a day would Mesopotamian landowners give offerings to the gods?
Twice a day
True or False: All offerings in Mesopotamia were owned by the god it was given to, but retained the name of the original owner.
TRUE
Were the Syro-Canaanites picky with which animal they sacrificed ?
Not at all –> No animal is deemed unworthy of sacrifice
True or False: There were child sacrifices in ancient Israel.
TRUE
True or False: The Israelites were super strict with what animals could be sacrificed.
TRUE
- NO pigs
- Animal had to be unblemished
How did the Israelites transport the sacrificial animal to the gods?
- Through Holocaust (Greek word for the complete burning of something) of the meat and blood at the altar.
True or False: Israelite sacrifices gave vows to YHWH in return for NOTHING.
TRUE
True or False: In Israelite sacrificial ceremonies, the meat is always eaten by those participating.
FALSE
- Only in well-being sacrifices do all people get to eat the meat
- In reparation sacrifices, only the priests get to eat the meat
During which kind of ceremonies did laypersons have the privilege to consume the sacrificial meat in Ancient Israel?
Wellbeing ceremonies
