Category موضوعي
Ritual and changes in belief
Worship, ritual and religious change, including Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.
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Original photograph
Entity
Safaitic
Ancient North Arabian script preserving names and prayers; not one uniform creed.
BES19s 77.1, Firʿ Wadi al-Khudari, Mafraq, Jordan. Its reading invokes Allat and then Allah. This photograph shows stone and writing; animal and human drawings are not identified as depictions of these deities. Original preserved without cropping or alteration
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Original photograph
Entity
OCIANA
Digital corpus of Ancient North Arabian inscriptions, with texts, images and commentary.
BES19s 77.1, Firʿ Wadi al-Khudari, Mafraq, Jordan. Its reading invokes Allat and then Allah. This photograph shows stone and writing; animal and human drawings are not identified as depictions of these deities. Original preserved without cropping or alteration
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Original photograph
Entity
Epigraphy
Study of inscriptions on surviving materials, including writing, context and dating.
BES19s 77.1, Firʿ Wadi al-Khudari, Mafraq, Jordan. Its reading invokes Allat and then Allah. This photograph shows stone and writing; animal and human drawings are not identified as depictions of these deities. Original preserved without cropping or alteration
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Illustration
Entity
Quran
Central text of Islam, used here as evidence of its religious discourse.
Modern diagram separating acknowledgment of a creator from exclusive worship. The Quran rejects worship of intermediaries and conditions angelic intercession on permission; it does not categorically abolish all intercession
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Illustration
Concept
Eschatology
Study of destiny and endings, including individual judgment, resurrection and renewal; not one uniform creed.
Modern conceptual comparison, not inevitable stages or a bridge map. Separates soul judgment, resurrection and cosmic renewal. Neither universal resurrection in Daniel nor identical detail across Iranian layers is assumed
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Illustration
Concept
Resurrection of the dead
The dead returning to life, distinguished from soul immortality, with differing scope and form among texts.
Modern conceptual comparison, not inevitable stages or a bridge map. Separates soul judgment, resurrection and cosmic renewal. Neither universal resurrection in Daniel nor identical detail across Iranian layers is assumed
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Illustration
Entity
Amesha Spentas
Benevolent beings and concepts in Iranian tradition, approximately “holy/bounteous immortals.”
Original comparative diagram, not ancient artwork or portraits. Heavenly organization does not establish Michael and Gabriel as renamed Iranian beings
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Illustration
Concept
Frashokereti: final renovation
Creation’s completion or renovation in Iranian tradition, linked to incorruptible life and evil’s retreat.
Modern conceptual comparison, not inevitable stages or a bridge map. Separates soul judgment, resurrection and cosmic renewal. Neither universal resurrection in Daniel nor identical detail across Iranian layers is assumed
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Illustration
Concept
Chinvat Bridge
Avestan image of moral destiny after death, with passage elaborated in later traditions.
Modern conceptual comparison, not inevitable stages or a bridge map. Separates soul judgment, resurrection and cosmic renewal. Neither universal resurrection in Daniel nor identical detail across Iranian layers is assumed
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Illustration
Entity
Angra Mainyu / Ahriman
Hostile spirit; Ahriman is a Middle Persian name in later traditions with changing theological relations.
Modern terminology diagram, not divine portraits or genealogy. Distinguishes Gathic spirits from later Pahlavi opposition; early theology is debated. These names are not equated with Yahweh and Satan
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Illustration
Entity
Ahura Mazda
Wise Lord in Iranian traditions, associated with truth, goodness and creation; not a Persian name for Yahweh.
Modern terminology diagram, not divine portraits or genealogy. Distinguishes Gathic spirits from later Pahlavi opposition; early theology is debated. These names are not equated with Yahweh and Satan
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Illustration
Entity
Zoroastrianism
Iranian religious tradition associated with Zoroaster, with changing texts and conceptions of goodness, evil and endings.
Modern diagram of textual layers, not a Zoroaster portrait or Avesta manuscript. No single composition year for each layer; surviving-copy age is not an idea’s age
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Original photograph
Entity
Amun
Egyptian god associated with Thebes, a major target of Atenist erasure whose cult later regained royal support.
Tutankhamun’s head and remains of Amun’s hand on the crown, limestone, Dynasty 18, The Met 50.6. Fragment of a statue group, not a complete Amun statue; context for renewed royal relations with Amun. Uncropped display copy
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Original photograph
Entity
Aten
Solar divine power central to Akhenaten’s program, depicted by disk and rays, with a history predating the king.
Akhenaten offering a duck, limestone relief with paint, Dynasty 18, The Met 1985.328.2. Aten rays and hands survive; the complete disk is not preserved here. The museum gives a probable Amarna origin. Original preserved; display copy uncropped
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Illustration
Concept
Holy of Holies
Innermost sacred space in sanctuary descriptions; Kings places the Ark under room cherubim. Textual concept, not an excavated site identified here.
Diagram distinguishing textual contexts and scales; not an archaeological temple plan or one original image merging the traditions
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Illustration
Concept
Kapporet
Gold Ark cover linked with cherubim and speech in Exodus and atonement ritual in Leviticus; “seat” in translation does not prove a chair.
Modern diagram of Exodus 25:10–22, not an original artifact or cherub anatomy. No mentioned statue is a textual observation, not an excavated empty space
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Illustration
Concept
Ark of the Covenant
Portable sacred chest in Hebrew texts, keeping testimony and associated with presence; no verified original artifact in this study.
Modern diagram of Exodus 25:10–22, not an original artifact or cherub anatomy. No mentioned statue is a textual observation, not an excavated empty space
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Illustration
Entity
Demonology
Study or organization of harmful powers, names, origins and roles within specific traditions; no single doctrine or claim about existence beyond the text is assumed.
Modern functional comparison of different witnesses, not a fixed chronology or historical portrait. A council role alone does not date Job
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Illustration
Entity
Asael / Azazel
Name forms in Enochic tradition associated with corrupting teaching and punishment; witness variation cautions against one fixed form and identity everywhere.
Modern comparison of Enoch 8/10, Jubilees 10 and 1QM 13. Not one figure’s transformation. Jubilees 10:11 uses Satan in Mastema’s context; local overlap is not denied
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Illustration
Entity
Belial
Figure associated with darkness and wickedness in some Qumran texts; not a fixed alias for every heavenly adversary.
Modern comparison of Enoch 8/10, Jubilees 10 and 1QM 13. Not one figure’s transformation. Jubilees 10:11 uses Satan in Mastema’s context; local overlap is not denied
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Illustration
Entity
Mastema
Leader of harmful spirits in Jubilees; requests some spirits and proposes Abraham’s test, subject to divine limits.
Modern comparison of Enoch 8/10, Jubilees 10 and 1QM 13. Not one figure’s transformation. Jubilees 10:11 uses Satan in Mastema’s context; local overlap is not denied
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Illustration
Entity
Seraphim
Six-winged beings in Isaiah 6’s throne vision, associated with praise and purification; not automatically identical to cherubim or every angel.
Modern paraphrase of Genesis 3/32, Exodus 25 and Isaiah 6. Not a historical depiction of the beings or a fixed taxonomy for all Judaism
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Illustration
Entity
Cherubim
Beings or figures with guarding and sacred functions in Hebrew texts, at the tree-of-life access and on the ark; not equivalent to every heavenly messenger.
Modern paraphrase of Genesis 3/32, Exodus 25 and Isaiah 6. Not a historical depiction of the beings or a fixed taxonomy for all Judaism
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Illustration
Entity
Watchers
Designation for heavenly beings in Daniel and Enochic literature, covering an obedient holy watcher or a rebellious group according to context.
Modern comparison of Daniel 4 and 1 Enoch 6–15: a watcher is not necessarily fallen, and giant spirits are not simply watchers renamed. Row order does not date composition
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Illustration
Entity
Angelology
Study and organization of angels and heavenly beings: names, ranks and roles within particular traditions, without assuming one fixed system.
Modern analytical diagram separating structure, role and identity. Comparative questions, not an archaeological chain proving a god became an angel
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Illustration
Entity
Second Isaiah
Scholarly label for Isaiah 40–55, substantially linked to exile and Cyrus; not proof of one author or one year for every verse.
Modern editorial paraphrase of three Isaiah passages, not a manuscript or full translation. Wording is attested; historical meaning and layered dating remain research questions
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Illustration
Entity
Babylonian exile
Judean deportations to Babylonia and the kingdom’s collapse in the early sixth century BCE; several phases, not everyone removed or returned at once.
Modern diagram of political reference points. It does not date monotheism’s birth or imply everyone’s simultaneous deportation/return
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Illustration
Entity
Henotheism
Privileging one god while acknowledging others in the working definition used here; not automatically monotheism or a fixed social phase.
Modern comparison of working definitions. Terms overlap and vary across scholars; arrangement does not date three successive stages for everyone
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Illustration
Entity
Monolatry
Worship of one deity without necessarily denying others; variable analytical term, not one uniform doctrine of all Israelites.
Modern comparison of working definitions. Terms overlap and vary across scholars; arrangement does not date three successive stages for everyone
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Illustration
Concept
Asherah cult symbol
Asherah as a cult object or symbol, often wooden in biblical contexts; relation to the goddess and inscriptional ʾšrth remains debated.
Modern distinction between goddess, ritual term and inscription reading. No invented excavated wooden pole; symbol and goddess not always mutually exclusive
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Original photograph
Concept
Judean pillar figurines
Clay female figurines with pillar bases in Judah, especially widespread in the eighth/seventh centuries BCE; identity and function not determined by form alone.
Female pillar figurine from Lachish, ceramic, about eighth–seventh century BCE; Metropolitan Museum 34.126.53, height 18.4 cm. Actual artifact; attribution to Asherah is unresolved
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Illustration
Concept
Secondary burial
Redeposition of remains after earlier mortuary treatment or deposition, established from context.
Modern guide: primary and secondary burial require anatomical and stratigraphic context. Isolated bones may result from transfer, disturbance or erosion; pigment does not identify a doctrine
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Illustration
Concept
Intramural burial
Deposition of the dead within a settlement’s built area; burial beneath a domestic floor is one form.
Modern abstract section: a burial cuts the floor, which is closed and used again. A grave physically below the house does not establish the origin of a cosmic underworld. Not an excavated-house plan
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Illustration
Concept
Personal god
An analytical concept for a deity’s relationship with an individual or family; it may overlap city worship and does not identify the god from a name alone.
Cult records and personal names in Nakata’s 1976 comparison. Modern evidence diagram; not two separate populations or proof that El’s cult was absent beyond the sample
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Original photograph
Concept
Ziggurat
Elevated temple tower of terraces in historical Mesopotamian architecture. Not every temple platform is a ziggurat; similar elevation does not establish one developmental route for all early structures.
Eridu ziggurat remains, photographed by David Stanley on 11 April 2016. The visible architecture postdates the Ubaid; it is not a photograph of its earliest temples or evidence of their deity’s identity
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Original photograph
Concept
Abzu
Deep fresh waters in historical Mesopotamian conceptions, associated with Enki/Ea. The name occurs in E-abzu, “House of the Abzu”. It cannot automatically identify an Ubaid platform or a water basin.
Cylinder seal and modern impression showing Enki/Ea; Louvre MNB 1905, Akkadian period, 2340–2200 BCE. Later than the Ubaid, not an image identifying early Eridu’s deity
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Original photograph
Concept
Bucrania
Bull heads or skulls with horns displayed or incorporated in architecture. At Çatalhöyük they occur among the installations of some houses; they do not by themselves establish a ritual’s meaning or a bull god.
A bull head from Çatalhöyük displayed in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, photographed on 22 May 2006. The museum display is not its original position within a house; the bull’s presence does not establish a divine identity
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Illustration
Concept
Work feasting
An interpretive model connecting collective labour and hospitality: food accompanies participation in a project. Proposed for some Göbekli Tepe evidence, it does not establish the details of a particular feast.
Modern conceptual diagram of work feasting: people around shared food and participation links. It does not portray specific ancient people, equipment or rites, or reconstruct an event at Göbekli Tepe
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Original photograph
Concept
Ritual
An organised or distinguished practice meaningful to a community; it may leave traces, but its form alone does not reveal an associated doctrine.
A plastered human skull from Jericho, around 7000 BCE, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Plaster remodels the face and shells mark the eyes; this treatment alone does not identify the beliefs of its makers
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Illustration
Concept
Ritualization
The acquisition of special qualities by familiar practices or places; an analytical concept that need not separate ritual from everyday life.
Modern diagram of ritualization: a house surrounded by circles suggesting accumulated practices and relationships. A conceptual illustration, not a reconstruction of an ancient house or rite
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