Blog Post 22- Ancient Western Religions

1. The Zoroastrianism began to flourish in ancient Iran in the 4^th and 5th centuries B.C.

2. Zoroastrianism spread beyond its place of origin after Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great in 328 BC.

3. An angel named Good Thought brought Zarathustra a disembodied soul in front of the one true God, Abura Mazda.

4. The sacred text of Zoroastranism is the Avesta. The oldest material is the Gathas and was written by Zarathustra.

5. The Ahura Mazda is eternal and universal goodness and controls the cosmos and destiny of humans.  

6. Ethical dualism is the belief in universal forces of good and evil.

 7. The Lie is the evil force. It is associated with Ahura Mazda because his child, the hostile spirit, chose the Lie.

8. In the Zoroastrianism cosmic scheme, humans must choose between good and evil.

9. Zarathustra’s understanding of human destiny is that humans will die and then be judge whether to go to heaven or hell based on the good and evil in their life.

10. The general ethical demands of traditional Zoroastrian life calls for followers to pray five times daily.

11. The Parsis are the followers of Zoroastrianism . They live in India.

12. The Iliad and the Odyssey are commonly regarded as the Bibles of the ancient Greeks.

13. The sentence means that the Greek gods who competed in the Olympics competed while in human form.

14. Aeschylus’s main contribution to the understanding of the Olympic gods was the idea of divine justice. For example, he believed that the gods’ actions were in response to the humans’ actions.

15. An oracle is a sanctuary favored by a god, who communicates with those who visit it. The most famous Greek oracle was Delphi. It was consulted  because it received her wisdom from Apollo.  

16. The three basic aspects of the mystery religious are an initiation ritual, members experience a personal encounter with the deity, and initiates gain spiritual renewal through participation and hope for a better life.  

17. Eleusinian honored Demeter and Persephone.  

18. The god Dionysus is associated with fertility, vegetation, and wine. He is often depicted with vines and grapes.  

19. The goal of the ascetic practices of the Orphics was to lead a pure life so the soul can escape the body.  

20. Plato’s theory of knowledge is that knowledge is recollection.  

21. Platonic dualism is that reality has eternal and perfect Forms, and the material, bodily world is a reflection of the world of Forms.

22. Jesus seemed to have much in common with the ancient Asclepius because both were called Savior and the worshipers’ relationship with Asclepius resembled the relationship Christ has with Christians.

23.  Numina supernatural beings that were the ancient Roman equivalent of deities. They controlled various things such as populating towns.

24.  The most powerful Roman deity was Jupiter.

25.  The six planets that are named after Roman deities are Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune and Saturn.

26. The Roman State thought that it was essential to maintain official worship practices because they did not want to anger the gods.  

27. Mithraism and the Cult of Isis were the two mystery religions that rivaled main Christianity in the late Roman empire.

28. The Egyptians believed that Osiris was killed by his brother. However, his wife, Isis, put him back together, which later turns him into a mummy.

29. Augustus encouraged the worship of the spirit of the emperor.

30. Christians and Roman rulers clashed over emperor worship because Romans believed the focus of worship should be the state and Christians believed that the focus should be God.