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Berber Mythology
The traditional Berber religion is the sum of ancient and native set of beliefs and deities adhered to by the Berbers. Originally, the Berbers seem to have believed in worship of the sun and moon, animism and in the afterlife, but interactions with the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans influenced religious practice and merged traditional faiths with new ones. By the seventh century, apart from some Berber tribes, most of North Africa's population was Christian and after the Arab conquest of the Maghreb the traditional Berber religion gradually disappeared. Some of the ancient Berber beliefs still exist today subtly within the Berber popular culture and tradition, such as the idea of holy men (marabouts). Syncretic influences from the traditional Berber religion can also be found in many other faiths around the Mediterranean. Pantheon Worship of sun and the moon According to Herodotus, all ancient Berbers worshipped the moon and sun (''Tafukt'' in Tamazight) and sacrificed solely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. He is considered to be the most beautiful god and is represented as the ideal of the ''kouros'' (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth). Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as ''Apulu''. As the patron deity of Delphi (''Apollo Pythios''), Apollo is an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Pythia, Delphic Oracle and also the deity of ritual purification. His oracles were often consulted for guidance in various matters. He was in general seen as the god who affords help and wards off e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star-worship
The worship of heavenly bodies is the veneration of stars (individually or together as the night sky), the planets, or other astronomical objects as deities, or the association of deities with heavenly bodies. In anthropological literature these systems of practice may be referred to as astral cults. The most notable instances of this are Sun gods and Moon gods in polytheistic systems worldwide. Also notable are the associations of the planets with deities in Sumerian religion, and hence in Babylonian and Greco-Roman religion, viz. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Gods, goddesses, and demons may also be considered personifications of astronomical phenomena such as lunar eclipses, planetary alignments, and apparent interactions of planetary bodies with stars. The Sabians of Harran, a poorly understood pagan religion that existed in Harran during the early Islamic period (7th–10th century), were known for their astral cult. The related term astrolatry usually imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veneration Of The Dead
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a afterlife, continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups Veneration, venerate their direct, familial ancestors. Certain religious groups, in particular the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Anglican Church, and Catholic Church venerate saints as Intercession, intercessors with God; the latter also believes in prayer for Soul, departed souls in Purgatory. Other religious groups, however, consider veneration of the dead to be idolatry and a sin. In Culture of Europe, European, Culture of Asia, Asian, Oceanian, Culture of Africa, African and Afro-American religion, Afro-diasporic cultures (which includes but should be distinguished from multiple cultures and Indigenous populations in the Americas who were never influenced by the African Diaspora), the goal of ancestor vene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sol Invictus
Sol Invictus (, "Invincible Sun" or "Unconquered Sun") was the official Solar deity, sun god of the late Roman Empire and a later version of the god Sol (Roman mythology), Sol. The emperor Aurelian revived his cult in 274 AD and promoted Sol Invictus as the chief god of the empire. From Aurelian onward, Sol Invictus often appeared on imperial coinage, usually shown wearing a sun crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. His prominence lasted until the emperor Constantine the Great, Constantine I legalized Christianity and restricted paganism. The last known inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD 387, although there were enough devotees in the fifth century that the Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo, Augustine found it necessary to preach against them. In recent years, the scholarly community has become divided on Sol between traditionalists and a growing group of revisionists. In the traditional view, ''Sol Invictus'' was the second of two dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Algeria–Niger border, the southeast by Niger; to Algeria–Western Sahara border, the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and Western Sahara; to Algeria–Morocco border, the west by Morocco; and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The capital and List of cities in Algeria, largest city is Algiers, located in the far north on the Mediterranean coast. Inhabited since prehistory, Algeria has been at the crossroads of numerous cultures and civilisations, including the Phoenicians, Numidians, Ancient Rome, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantine Greeks. Its modern identity is rooted in centuries of Arab migrations to the Maghreb, Arab Muslim migration waves since Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, the seventh century and the subsequent Arabization, Arabisation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thagaste
Thagaste (or Tagaste) was a Roman Empire, Roman-Berbers, Berber city in present-day Algeria, now called Souk Ahras. The town was the birthplace of Saint Augustine. History Thagaste was originally a small Numidian village, inhabited by a Berbers, Berber tribe into which Augustine of Hippo was born in AD 354. His mother Monica of Hippo, Saint Monica was a Christian and his father Patricius (with Roman roots) was at first a pagan who later adopted Christianity. The city was located in the north-eastern highlands of Numidia. It lay around from Hippo Regius, (modern Annaba (city), Annaba), southwest of Khamissa, Thubursicum (Khamissa), and about from Carthage (on the coast of Tunisia). Thagaste was situated in a region full of dense forest. In antiquity, this area was renowned for its mounts, which were used as a natural citadel against different foreign invaders, including the Romans, the Byzantine Empire, Byzantines, the Vandals, and the Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyads. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Souk Ahras
Souk Ahras () is a municipality in Algeria. It is the capital of Souk Ahras Province. The Numidian city of Thagaste (or Tagaste), on whose ruins Souk Ahras was built, was the birthplace of Augustine of Hippo and a center of Berber culture. Etymology The name derives from the Arabic word ''souk'' which means "market", and the Chaoui Berber word ''ahra'' (plural ''ahras'') which means "lion", in reference to the Barbary lions which existed in the neighboring forests until their extinction in 1930; hence ''Souk Ahras'' means "market of lions" (see also Oran (''Wahran'') and Tahert for names with a related etymology). The old name of the Numidian city of Thagaste derives from the Berber Thagoust, which means ''the bag'', given that the site of the town is located at the foot of a mountain surrounded by three peaks in the form of a bag containing the city. Subsequently, when the Arabic language appeared in the region it was called ''Soukara''. In other sources it is cited as the Pala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel The Confessor
Samuel the Confessor (referred to in academic literature as Samuel of Kalamoun or Samuel of Qalamun) was a Coptic Orthodox saint, venerated in all Oriental Orthodox Churches. He is most famous for his torture at the hands of the Chalcedonian Byzantines, for his witness of the Arab invasion of Egypt, and for having built the monastery that carries his name in Mount Qalamoun. He carries the label " confessor" because he endured torture for his Christian faith, but was not a martyr. The manuscripts of the Coptic text known as the Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun give his name as the author. Biography Samuel was born in 597 AD in the city of Daklube, Egypt, to a non-Chalcedonian priest called Arselaos. He spent most of his early years as a disciple of Agathon. While at the Monastery of Saint Macarius, a Byzantine imperial envoy attempted to convince the desert monks to confess the Chalcedonian faith. Samuel became zealous and seized the imperial letter and rent it into pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustine Of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. His many important works include '' The City of God'', '' On Christian Doctrine'', and '' Confessions''. According to his contemporary, Jerome of Stridon, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith". In his youth he was drawn to the Manichaean faith, and later to the Hellenistic philosophy of Neoplatonism. After his conversion to Christianity and baptism in 386, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives. Believing the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, he helped formulate the doctrine of original sin and m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apuleius
Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province of Numidia, in the Berbers, Berber city of Madauros, modern-day M'Daourouch, Algeria. He studied Platonism in Athens, travelled to Roman Italy, Italy, Asia (Roman province), Asia Minor, and Egypt (Roman province), Egypt, and was an initiate in several cults or Greco-Roman mysteries, mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the attentions (and fortune) of a wealthy widow. He declaimed and then distributed his own defense before the proconsul and a court of magistrates convened in Sabratha, near Oea (modern Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli, Libya). This is known as the ''Apologia''. His most famous work is his bawdy picaresque novel the ''Metamorphoses'', otherwise known as ''The Golden Ass''. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massylii
The Massylii or Maesulians ( Neo-Punic: , ) were a Berber federation in eastern Numidia (central and eastern Algeria), which was formed by an amalgamation of smaller tribes during the 4th century BC.Nigel Bagnall, The Punic Wars, p. 270. They were ruled by a king. On their loosely defined western frontier were the powerful Masaesyli. To their east lay the territory of the rich and powerful Carthaginian Republic. Their relationship to Carthage resembled that of a protectorate. Carthage maintained its dominance over the Massylii by skillful diplomatic manoeuvering, playing off local tribal and kingdom rivalries. The principal towns of the Massylii were Cirta, Tébessa and Thugga in modern-day Algeria and Tunisia. Role in the Second Punic War In 218 BC, war broke out between the Carthaginians and the Romans. The Massylii and the Masaesyli, who both possessed a strong and proficient cavalry force, were allied to the Carthaginian cause and performed valuable service for them in Iber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
