Cybele
Cybele, the mother goddess, wearing a crown in the form of a towered wall, a symbol of her role as a protectress of cities, Roman sculpture, c. 50 CE.
Getty Museum.
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Questions & Answers
Who is the oldest god in world history?
- There are many contenders for the "oldest god" title. Among them are Brahma and Shiva of Hinduism and Inanna of ancient Sumer.
What is the dying-and-reviving god?
- The dying-and-reviving god is a religious paradigm involving a deity who dies and returns to life for the good of the people. Among the earliest such figures is Osiris of ancient Egypt, and the best known is Jesus Christ.
What was the purpose of ancient religious festivals?
- Ancient religious festivals honored a specific god, spirits, or one’s ancestors, and served the purpose of uniting the people in a common belief system, as well as giving them the opportunity to celebrate the positive aspects of their lives.
What is the oldest religious festival still happening today?
- The oldest religious festival still observed today is Nowruz, the Persian New Year’s celebration, though the Hindu festival of Diwali is also a contender for that title. The first religious holiday to appear in the historical record is Akitu, the Babylonian New Year’s Festival, which developed from the celebration of Zagmuk of ancient Sumer.
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License & Copyright
Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished.Original image by Dave & Margie Hill / Kleerup. Uploaded by Karen Barrett-Wilt, published on 04 February 2015. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon a work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
