The Evolution of Religion

[pocaracas]

Religions, or the mythology they embrace, are usually presented as a static body, however, there is evidence that each new religion that takes the place of an older one is simply building upon many of the myths which already existed. This is evolution.

An example to make things a bit clearer:
A few days ago, while I was researching for a reply, and I came across ancient sumerian gods and I noticed a great parallel between An (or Anu) and the god of the OT.

A quick brush of History: In Mesopotamia (present day Iraq, give or take a few acres), around the year 4000BCE a people were settled there, around a city called Sumer. These people were the Sumerians. Around 2270BCE they were conquered by the Akkadians (yes, it's a locked wiki article). About the year 1900BCE, Babylon, further South, became the ruling city, retaining the semitic language of the Akkadians for everyday use, and the Sumerian language for religious rites (About Babylonia).

Ok, I think this is sufficient to understand the rest.

Sumerians had a pantheon of gods, but there were 3 (yes, three) that were the main ones:

Anu, (Akkadian), Sumerian An, Mesopotamian sky god and a member of the triad of deities completed by Enlil and Ea (Enki). Like most sky gods, Anu, although theoretically the highest god, played only a small role in the mythology, hymns, and cults of Mesopotamia. He was the father not only of all the gods but also of evil spirits and demons, most prominently the demoness Lamashtu, who preyed on infants. Anu was also the god of kings and of the yearly calendar. He was typically depicted in a headdress with horns, a sign of strength.
His Sumerian counterpart, An, dates from the oldest Sumerian period, at least 3000 bc. Originally he seems to have been envisaged as a great bull, a form later disassociated from the god as a separate mythological entity, the Bull of Heaven, which was owned by An.

Enlil, Mesopotamian god of the atmosphere and a member of the triad of gods completed by Anu (Sumerian: An) and Ea (Enki). Enlil meant Lord Wind: both the hurricane and the gentle winds of spring were thought of as the breath issuing from his mouth and eventually as his word or command. He was sometimes called Lord of the Air.
Although An was the highest god in the Sumerian pantheon, Enlil had a more important role as the embodiment of energy and force and authority.

and

Ea, (Akkadian), Sumerian Enki, Mesopotamian god of water and a member of the triad of deities completed by Anu (Sumerian: An) and Enlil. From a local deity worshiped in the city of Eridu, Ea evolved into a major god, Lord of Apsu (also spelled Abzu), the fresh waters beneath the earth (although Enki means literally “lord of the earth”). In the Sumerian myth “Enki and the World Order,” Enki is said to have fixed national boundaries and assigned gods their roles. According to another Sumerian myth Enki is the creator, having devised men as slaves to the gods. In his original form, as Enki, he was associated with semen and amniotic fluid, and therefore with fertility. He was commonly represented as a half-goat, half-fish creature, from which the modern astrological figure for Capricorn is derived.

Ea, the Akkadian counterpart of Enki, was the god of ritual purification: ritual cleansing waters were called “Ea’s water.” Ea governed the arts of sorcery and incantation. In some stories he was also the form-giving god, and thus the patron of craftsmen and artists; he was known as the bearer of culture. In his role as adviser to the king, Ea was a wise god although not a forceful one. In Akkadian myth, as Ea’s character evolves, he appears frequently as a clever mediator who could be devious and cunning.

The fact that they're 3 is reminiscent of the christian mythology's trinity.
God the father is clearly a mirror of An. Embraced by the hebrews and renamed yahweh.
Enlil as the embodiment of Energy and force appears as the original idea of "holy ghost".
Ea appears as a purifier, appears in later myths in baptisms.

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From a non-believer point of view, the evolution of the concept of the divine may appear almost intuitive.
At some point in the evolution of the human species, the concept of another plane of existence must have sprout up on the minds of people.

Possibly, originating in the cult of the dead, the fear of death, the unknown of what comes after you die.
As a first approach, people would like the idea that death was not the end. Eventually, they would realize that good and bad people should be separated in that different plane, someone should have the power to enforce such separation.... someone eternally living in that plane.

I don't know, but this view seems realistic.
Eventually the concept evolved to encompass several features of the natural world and you'd get a god for each unexplainable event.

Noticing the strong effect such beliefs have over the common people, their leaders would then encourage them as a way to consolidate their own power.

And you end up with city-states where you can find organized religion playing a big role in the lives of the people.

Some cities get conquered, others share their beliefs through trade, well, beliefs spread, become even more organized, more followers, more more.

Countries/empires are created under one religion and they keep spreading.


And the rest is history.



What causes some particular religion to take on more adherents than another?
- Well, in the dark ages, we had the inquisition forcing christianity on the European peoples.
- Before that, there were the romans which spread their ideologies quite efficiently, but I fail to know the exact method.
- Before the romans, there was a tendency to incorporate the conquered people's gods into the conqueror's pantheon.