Category: History - Religious
The extent of the Persian Empire and its government—Alexander’s aim, the marriage of Europe and Asia, attained after his death—Greek becomes common language—Importance of this for History of Religions—Ideas of antiquity about gods—Monotheism of philosophers, and of Hebrew Prop...
The extent of the Persian Empire and its government—Alexander’s aim, the marriage of Europe and Asia, attained after his death—Greek becomes common language—Importance of this f...
2. CHAPTER IIAlexander’s Egypt and the policy of the Ptolemies—The Egyptian priesthoods and their disastrous rule—Popularity of worship of Osiris—Legend of Osiris according to Plutarch—Its c...
3. CHAPTER IIIReligion and Magic—Knowledge chief necessity in magic—Origin of myths, cosmogonies, and apocalypses—Spells and charms—Examples from Magic Papyri, Sumerian invocation of Persepho...
4. CHAPTER IVThe Orphic poems and the Pythagoreans—The Orphic Theology and Legend of Dionysos—Orphics first to connect this with man’s fate in next world—Asceticism of Orphic ideal—Initiatio...
5. CHAPTER VContrast between religious ideas of Greeks and Jews—Fate of Jews under Alexander’s Successors and Maccabaean Wars—Josephus’ account of the Essenes—Its accuracy shown by Philo an...
6. CHAPTER VIAdherence of Jews to Mosaic Law—Inconvenience of this to rich, and necessity for compromise between Judaism and Hellenism—System of Philo Judaeus and formation of secret sects a...
7. CHAPTER IA glance at the map of Asia at the coming of Alexander will convince us that all but a corner of the world known to the ancients was then ruled by a single power. The Persian Em...
8. CHAPTER IIWhen Alexander’s marshals began immediately after his death to divide his Empire among them, and Ptolemy the son of Lagos claimed and received for his share the province of Egyp...
9. CHAPTER IIIThe worship of the Alexandrian gods was in every sense a religion. Not only did it form a common bond between men and women of different rank and origin, but it had its roots in...
10. Book IV. c. 4, _passim_, especially the device for making sheep cutoff their own heads by rubbing their necks against a sword, or for producing an earthquake by burning upon coals the dung of an ichneumon mixed with magnetic ore (pp. 99, 111, C...
11. CHAPTER IVAll scholars seem now agreed that the legendary Orpheus never really existed[368], and that the many verses and poems attributed to him were the work of various hands, one of th...
12. CHAPTER VIt comes as rather a wrench to leave the graceful, if vain, speculations of the Greeks, with their joyous and free life and their passionate worship of beauty, which saw in ever...
13. CHAPTER VIWe see, then, that the Essenes, in spite of the quietism and love of peace that they professed, became in the long run either the instigators of political revolt or, at best, th...