Religion In The Parthian Empire
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Religion In The Parthian Empire
Despite ongoing studies by archaeologists, the religious characteristics of the Iranians of the Parthian era (founded in 247 BC - collapsed in 224 AD), like many other social and economic issues of that era, have not yet been clarified. It seems that the Parthians initially worshiped natural elements such as the sun, moon, and stars. The Parthians did not convert to a specific religion after entering Iran. Mazdaism religions Mithra worship After the fall of the Achaemenids to Alexander the Great in 330 BC, much of Iran came under the control of the Greco-Macedonian Seleucid dynasty, during which time Greek influence was felt in these areas. The Seleucid kings repeatedly associated themselves with the image of the solar god Helios, which in their eastern possessions may reflect a desire to appropriate the image of local solar deities, including Mithras, and the legitimacy this conferred on the rulers in the eyes of their non-Greek subjects. The eastern regions of the Seleucid ...
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Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I ( BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce. The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and regalia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Pe ...
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Arthur Upham Pope
Arthur Upham Pope (February 7, 1881 – September 3, 1969) was an American scholar, art historian, and architecture historian. He was an expert on historical Persian art, and he was the editor of the ''Survey of Persian Art'' (1939). Pope was also a university professor of philosophy and aesthetics, an archaeologist, photographer, museum director, interior designer, and the co-founder of an international scholarly organization. Education and early career Born in Phenix in West Warwick, Rhode Island on February 7, 1881. His family was descended from English Puritans that had settled in the Boston-area. Pope graduated from Worcester Academy in 1899. He attended Brown University, and graduated with a B.A. degree in 1904 and a M.A. degree in 1906. He taught at Brown University for two years during his master's degree studies. In 1909, he married Bertha Louise Clark. He pursued further graduate-level teaching work at Cornell University and Harvard University and again taught at Bro ...
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Metempsychosis
In philosophy and theology, metempsychosis () is the transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. The term is derived from ancient Greek philosophy, and has been recontextualized by modern philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Kurt Gödel, Mircea Eliade, and Magdalena Villaba; otherwise, the word "transmigration" is more appropriate. The word plays a prominent role in James Joyce's '' Ulysses'' and is also associated with Nietzsche. Another term sometimes used synonymously is '' palingenesis''. Orphism A belief in metempsychosis has been associated with Orphism, the name given to a religious movement said in antiquity to have been founded by the legendary poet Orpheus. Orphism is said to hold that soul and body are united by a contract unequally binding on either. The soul is divine but immortal and aspires to freedom, while the body holds it in fetters as a prisoner. Death dissolves that contract but only to reimprison the liberated soul after ...
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Babylonian Astrology
Babylonian astrology was the first known organized system of astrology, arising in the second millennium BC. In Babylon as well as in Assyria as a direct offshoot of Babylonian culture, astrology takes its place as one of the two chief means at the disposal of the priests (who were called ''bare'' or "inspectors") for ascertaining the will and intention of the gods, the other being through the inspection of the livers of sacrificial animals (see haruspicy). Early origins There is speculation that astrology of some form appeared in the Sumerian period in the 3rd millennium BC, but the isolated references to ancient celestial omens dated to this period are not considered sufficient evidence to demonstrate an integrated theory of astrology. The history of scholarly celestial divination is therefore generally reported to begin with late Old Babylonian texts ( 1800 BC), continuing through the Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian periods ( 1200 BC). By the 16th century BC, the ex ...
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Heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christianity, Christianity, Heresy in Judaism, Judaism, and Bid‘ah, Islam has at times been met with censure ranging from excommunication to the death penalty. Heresy is distinct from apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one's religion, principles or cause; and from blasphemy, which is an impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things. Heresiology is the study of heresy. Etymology Derived from Ancient Greek ''haíresis'' (), the English ''heresy'' originally meant "choice" or "thing chosen". However, it came to mean the "party, or school, of a man's choice", and also referred to that process whereby a young person would examine various philosophies to determine how to live. The word ''heresy'' is usually used within a C ...
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Sect
A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had separated from a main body, but it can now apply to any group that diverges from a larger organization to follow a distinct set of beliefs and practices. Sects often form when there is a perception of heresy either within the subgroup or from the larger group. In an Indian context, sect refers to an organized tradition. Etymology The word ''sect'' originates from the Latin noun ''secta'' (a feminine form of a variant past participle of the verb ''Wikt:sequi, sequi'', to follow) which translates to "a way, road". Figuratively, it signifies a (prescribed) way, mode, or manner. Metonymously, sect refers to a discipline or school of thought as defined by a set of methods and doctrines. The various modern usages of the term stem largely from ...
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Ancient Roman Architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture. Roman architecture flourished in the Roman Republic and to an even greater extent under the Roman Empire, Empire, when the great majority of surviving buildings were constructed. It used new materials, particularly Roman concrete, and newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make buildings that were typically strong and well engineered. Large numbers remain in some form across the former empire, sometimes complete and still in use today. Roman architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture. Few substantial examples survive from before about 100 ...
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Vologases I Of Parthia
Vologases I ( ''Walagash'') was the King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 51 to 78. He was the son and successor of Vonones II (r. 51). He was succeeded by his younger son Pacorus II, who continued his policies. Name Vologases is the Greek language, Greek and Latin form of the Parthian language, Parthian ''Walagaš'' (). The name is also attested in New Persian as ''Balāsh'' and Middle Persian as ''Wardākhsh'' (also spelled ''Walākhsh''). The etymology of the name is unclear, although Ferdinand Justi proposes that ''Walagaš'', the first form of the name, is a compound of words "strength" (''varəda''), and "handsome" (''gaš'' or ''geš'' in Modern Persian). Background Vologases was a son of Vonones II, a Parthian prince who ruled the northern Iranian kingdom of Media Atropatene, and possibly subsequently the whole Parthian Empire for a few months. Vologases' mother was a Greeks, Greek concubine of the Parthian Harem#Pre-Islamic origins, harem. The name of the Arsacid ...
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Gareus
Gareus is a Mesopotamian deity who was introduced to Uruk (in modern-day Iraq) by the Parthians, who built a temple attributed to him there around 110 AD. Nothing is known so far of this deity outside of what has been found from the scattered remnants around that temple, which suggest that Gareus combined elements from both Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ... and Babylonian religious traditions.Armstrong, James A. (1996), "Uruk", in Fagan, Brian M.; Beck, Charlotte; Michaels, George; Scarre, Chris; Silberman, Neil Asher (eds.), ''The Oxford Companion to Archaeology'', Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, pp. 736, See also * Temple of Gareus * List of Mesopotamian deities References Mesopotamian gods {{MEast-myth-stub ...
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Shamash
Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the Ancient Mesopotamian underworld, underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa. The Moon God, moon god Nanna (Sumerian deity), Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat (goddess), Manzat and Pinikir, could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (goddess), Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe ...
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Hatra
Hatra (; (); ) was an ancient Arab city in Upper Mesopotamia located in present-day eastern Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. The ruins of the city lie northwest of Baghdad and southwest of Mosul. It is considered the richest archaeological site from the Parthian Empire known to date. Hatra was a strongly fortified caravan city and capital of the small Arab Kingdom of Hatra, located between the Roman and Parthian/Sasanian Empires. Hatra flourished in the 2nd century, and was destroyed and deserted in the 3rd century. Its ruins were discovered in the 19th century. Name Hatra is known as () in Arabic. It is recorded as (, vocalized as: ) in Hatran Aramaic inscriptions, probably meaning "enclosure, hedge, fence". In Syriac, it is usually recorded in the plural form ''Ḥaṭrē''. In Roman works, it is recorded as Greek ''Átra'' and Latin ' and '. The temple of Shamash, at was officially called ''Beit ʾElāhāʾ'' "House of God", in Hatran Aramaic inscriptio ...
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Nanaya
Nanaya ( Sumerian , DNA.NA.A; also transcribed as "Nanāy", "Nanaja", "Nanāja", '"Nanāya", or "Nanai"; antiquated transcription: "Nanâ"; in Greek: ''Ναναια'' or ''Νανα''; , ) was a Mesopotamian goddess of love closely associated with Inanna. While she is well attested in Mesopotamian textual sources from many periods, from the times of the Third Dynasty of Ur to the Fall of Babylon and beyond, and was among the most commonly-worshipped goddesses through much of Mesopotamian history, both her origin and the meaning of her name are unknown. It has been proposed that she originated either as a minor Akkadian goddess or as a hypostasis of Sumerian Inanna, but the evidence is inconclusive. Her primary role was that of a goddess of love, and she was associated with eroticism and sensuality, though she was also a patron of lovers, including rejected or betrayed ones. Especially in early scholarship, she was often assumed to be a goddess of the planet Venus like Inanna ...
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