Mesopotamian, as an example of Near Eastern, have a creation fable that elucidates the geneses of the heavens, earth, and life. In such a society, the way the natural world functions was mysterious. Creation myths therefore ensure that people understand where they came from thus bringing a sense of understanding and comfort. The Mesopotamian creation myth shows how the Sun-God Marduk struggles with Tiamat who is the mother of all gods. Marduk is able to defeat Tiamat by killing her using an arrow that tears her body. He, therefore, is to become the chief of all the gods. Earlier though, he had been the patron god of Babylon. By winning this struggle, it meant that Babylon was more superior therefore capable of dominating other cities like Euphrates valley. Marduk instead becomes the chief god of Pantheon. After he kills Tiamat, he splits her carcass into two parts. He then uses half of her to set up the sky and the other half to set up the earth. After these activities he crosses the heavens and addresses his father stating that “blood he will mass and cause bones to be”. A savage by the name man is established at this juncture and is charged with servicing the gods. And that is how life, Earth and the heavens are created in the Mesopotamian culture.
Archaic Greece, as a part of the Greek, contains the cult of Dionysus who was the god of wine. Dionysus invented wine and sort to teach humans how to cultivate the vine. He traversed the lands ensuring that many lands were brought into cultivation. This aspect has brought him lots of honor from humans. Dionysus is also credited for inventing beer made from barley. He was a just god basically going around with an army in an effort to push out the unjust and profane. He founded the city of freedom. He is also known to have campaigned in India from where he came back with a good amount of booty. He celebrated it on an Indian elephant being the fast to do that. Thus from that time humans offer sacrifices and believe that during such occasions the god manifests himself to human beings. Women are mostly used in such occasions to sing hymns and honor gods as they act like Maenads who were god’s escorts. Therefore, this myth tells us that people basically regard and praise to gods who led to the discovery of good things like good wine and the best solid food that can be found example being wheat.
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"Religion in Major Civilizations".
Christianity in Rome provides a sketch of lifestyle in Rome. The city only had three gates. The city was divided into fourteen districts. These had 265 crossroads under guardianship of Lares. Lares are little shrines that stood at each crossing. On the eastern city the city was bounded by the mound of Tarquinius Superbus. There was also a stadium, the Circus Maximus, built by Dictator Caesar that was broad and enormous. The Temple of Peace built by Emperor Vespasian Augustus are among the finest works that the world hadn’t seen before. The Roman emperors did not give much credit to Christianity and were only interested in coming up with artistic designs that were favorable to them. Christianity during this time faced many challenges including prosecutions and complete disregard of the religion even to the point of it being banned.
There is transformation of the Mediterranean world as depicted in the “Edict of Milan”. Here Constantine Augustus and I Licinius Augustus fortunately meet to discuss matters pertaining to the public welfare and security. They see fit that regulations on reverence of divinity ought to be considered so as to ensure every person observes their preferred religion. Christians were to be given free access and unrestricted opportunity to participate in their religious worship. The places of worship, especially those used by Christians which had been occupied by people were to be returned to Christians to ensure they have a place of worship. This was an important event as it led to the end of Christian manipulation and allowed Christians to worship and serve their God in a manner they deemed fit.
