Ancient Origins articles related to Religions, we investigate the creation beliefs of the major world religions and then address the controversies surrounding the account.
The most profound mystery of mankind is the origin of the universe. In juxtaposition, its origin is also the most profound event known to man. Since about 1200 BC the Bible has declared in its first...
What we see is not always what we expect, whether from nature or man-made. This is often true with archaeological remains of cities or human settlement, when new discoveries shed unexpected light on...
Israeli archeologist Dr. Aaron Greener asks “what are clay female figurines doing in Judah during the biblical period?” My non-archeologist answer is; they represent kosher (suitable for religious...
The Pacific Ocean is a world filled with diverse and remote islands, which are the home to some truly unique natives. Many of these islands were discovered comparatively recently in our history, and...
According to George Orwell, Sir Walter Raleigh stopped writing his History of the World after he was unable to identify the cause of the scuffle and murder that took place outside his cell in the...
Take notice of any debate in the media and you’ll see that science and religion are, and always were, at loggerheads. Science is about evidence-based fact, religion is about faith-based belief. But...
The twelve tribes of ancient Judaism were united into a single kingdom under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. The destruction of this kingdom and the forced exile of its population is known as...
Laos is a country that we know little about, it is only in recent years that the nation has opened to the outside world. But the country has many important archaeological sites, amongst the most...
The Eye of Providence (known also as the all-seeing eye of God) is a well-known and popular symbol. This symbol has been used for centuries in both religious and secular contexts, and therefore its...
Our fascination with ghostly tales around Christmas time goes back thousands of years and is rooted in ancient celebrations of the winter solstice. In the depths of winter, pagan traditions included...
The Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England began towards the end of the 6 th century AD, and by the end of the succeeding century, all the kings of Anglo-Saxon England were Christian, at least...
Christianity, as one of the world’s most prominent and widely practiced religions, brings along a whole string of myths, stories, historical occurrences, and relics. From saints and their remains, to...
Who were the nephilim ? The word nephilim appears twice in the Old Testament of the Bible. They are first mentioned in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis and then again in Number 13:33. But their brief...
The White Lotus Society / Sect (written in Chinese as 白莲教, and Romanized as ‘Bai Lian Jiao’) was a millenarian movement that existed in imperial China. As a religious movement, the teachings of the...
The idea of the human soul has fascinated humankind for thousands of years. Cultures around the world have sought to explain the soul or spirit in a wide and fascinating variety of ways. The soul is...
Almost without exception, mythological and folkloric traditions around the ancient world were concerned with the matter of deep time and the earth’s creation. While creation myths exhibit great...
The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones prophecy is one of the most powerful prophecies of the prophet Ezekiel . In this vision, Ezekiel finds himself in a valley full of dry human bones of Israelite...
According to tradition, the city of Carthage was founded in 814 BC by the legendary Queen Dido . The founder of this city was originally a princess from the Phoenician city of Tyre. She was, however...
For most of our history, scientists have primarily believed that the universe is eternal and unchanging. Aristotle in the fourth century BC asserted that the world is without beginning or end. But...
The Flower of Life is a name for a geometrical figure composed of seven or more evenly-spaced, overlapping circles. This figure, used as a decorative motif since ancient times, forms a flower-like...
As more and more people describe themselves as ‘spiritual’ rather than religious, experts expect eco-friendly pagan movements will continue to grow. Already there are perhaps a million pagans in the...
Amenhotep IV, also known as the Pharaoh Akhenaten, was destined to be remembered for his attempt at a religious conversion of ancient Egypt; one that saw the old gods put aside and replaced by a...
The Sumerian religion was polytheistic in nature, and the Sumerians worshipped a great number of deities. These deities were anthropomorphic beings, and were meant to represent the natural forces of...
My pious Baptist grandmother once shockingly confessed, at the ripe old age of 93, that she didn’t want to go to heaven. “Why,” we asked? “Well, I think it will be rather boring just sitting around...
