What is the first religion in the world. The most ancient religions

Traditionally, questions of faith cause the most controversy and disputes. How many copies have been broken in finding out which religion is the most correct, which reflects the essence of man and the world more deeply, which is better than all the others.

And rarely are such debates peaceful. Most often, exhausting all arguments, the participants grab at clubs (in ancient times), swords (closer to us) or bombs and rockets (today).

As a result, it may seem that such disputes have been going on forever, and just as forever religion has surrounded man. But this is far from true. And even the most ancient religions of the world appeared in the very visible past, which only confirms this. So, let's figure out what our distant ancestors actually believed in and how exactly they did it.

Forerunners of religion

It is sometimes believed that any belief in supernatural forces is already a religion. But scientists clearly list its main characteristics, separating it from mythology and primitive beliefs. Each of these forms of worldview was based on the previous one, logically flowing from it. Therefore, in order to understand the ancient religions, it is necessary to briefly describe their forerunners.

ancient beliefs

With ancient beliefs, everything is relatively simple. Man did not distinguish much difference between himself, a tree, a stone, a stream and a wolf. Just think, one lies on the ground and does not run anywhere, and the other regularly howls in the nearby forest, all the same, each of them is alive in its own way.

This is how they appeared:

• Animism- faith in living, in the truest sense of the word, nature.
• totemism- the belief that a wolf, an owl or a deer can be the closest relative, if not by blood, then definitely by spirit.
• Fetishism- but not in modern understanding, but as a belief in the possibility of a thought process in inanimate objects.
• Shamanism and magic- the belief that some people can interact not only with their fellow tribesmen, but also with the spirits of everything that surrounds them.

In a certain sense, these beliefs are the most ancient religions. But in them, a person did not separate himself from the outside world, he lived next to him, and everyone was easy and comfortable.

Mythology

But then mythology appeared - a slightly complicated previous version. In it, too, animals easily turned into people, people became plants, rocks came to life, or vice versa, people turned to stone. But entities have already appeared that surpass this strange cycle - the gods (so far - in the plural). Although the line between them and people was also quite fragile. The gods were happy to foul or help people, those, to the best of their ability, took revenge on them or begged for various gingerbread, but, in general, it was a single closed system. Anyone also knows examples:

• Greek myths- a multi-part love-tragicomic film about the relationship of a dozen Olympian gods, a myriad of smaller gods and goddesses, many incomprehensible creatures like satyrs, nymphs and other centaurs-minotaurs and people.
• Ancient Roman mythology is the same multi-part film adapted to Roman conditions.
• Egyptian myths- passions around the solar cycle, its birth, death, next birth - and further in a circle with the participation of hybrid gods.
• Indian mythology is a mixture of beliefs of several hundred tribes and nationalities that inhabited today's India, absolutely incomprehensible to a stranger.
• Slavic mythology is the basis of many fairy tales familiar to us from childhood. As a rule, it is not recommended to read them to children in the original version in order to avoid stress.

You can continue in this spirit for a very long time, because each nation had its own mythology, and sometimes even several.

Religions

With such a long and difficult path, we have finally come to religions. So why even the most ancient religion world is different from the most recent mythology? The duality of the world. Previously, everything was simple and clear for a person: here I am, here are the gods, here is nature, everyone lives together and does not interfere with each other.

But people do not look for simple ways, and in order to finally complicate and confuse everything, they created religions. In them, god (or gods - it doesn't matter) stand out outside this world, are placed above it, having the ability to set and create circumstances for those living in it.

A person also receives a dual nature: on the one hand, he lives in this world, on the other hand, then he will leave it and move on to a better one (or a worse one, depending on how he behaves). Both the oldest religion and the youngest have such principles.

Examples of ancient religions

To make it a little easier to navigate, here are some examples of the most ancient religions:

• Judaism. The first of a series of Abrahamic religions, which also includes Christianity (a very common religion), Islam (also popular) and many of their offshoots.
• Taoism. Search and follow the "path" that every object, phenomenon and person has.
• Hinduism. Based on the mythology of this people, only more complicated and intricate. Base for many other religions: Shintoism, Krishnaism, Buddhism, Shaivism, Shaktism and many other interesting words.
• Zoroastrianism. Worship of fire in all possible forms.

Of these religions, like mushrooms after the rain, several hundred more, and even thousands of new ones have developed. And they keep showing up every day. As you can see, the most common religions today are not only not the most ancient, but also secondary, in relation to others.

And this makes it absolutely meaningless to search for an answer to the question of which religion is the most ancient, the most correct or the best. All of them have the right not to exist as long as they bring people benefit, joy and an incentive for self-improvement, and not vice versa.

The newest religions

But even today, more and more new religions appear, and not only as offshoots from existing ones, but also completely unique:

• Pastafarianism. Adherents believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster and even defended the right to be photographed for a passport in a colander - their sacred element of clothing.
• Kopimism. The sacred symbols for them are the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, and the rite of copying and disseminating information is a religious rite. So gracefully bypassed the ban on torrent trackers.
• Googleism. This youngest religion recognizes the Sacred Google as an eternal, immortal and omniscient being.

So, even such strange not at first glance (and at the second glance too) beliefs are also recognized as religions. It's funny, isn't it?

Religion is an integral part of the life of almost every person. The need to worship higher powers expressed in the spiritual awareness of the world and faith in the supernatural. Arises interest Ask about how it arose and developed.

Having studied all the available information about the Paleolithic period, scientists came to the conclusion that people of this era developed spiritual relationships, as indicated by the customs of ritual burials of that time, and most likely, our ancestors believed that the world was inhabited by deities, and they considered different places to be alive. . In addition, the customs of burial give us an idea of ​​the belief in the afterlife.

But still, what was the most ancient religion? The answers to the question depend on the position taken by the various authors who study Some argue that religion was artificially created by man, and not the result of evolutionary development. So, according to this point of view, a woman and a man knew only one God, who created them, they worshiped him, bringing various sacrifices. The monotheism and sacrifice described in the Bible were the first characteristics of religion in its original form. The oldest literary monuments of China, Greece, Egypt and the traditions of many peoples can serve as evidence of this.

But there is another point of view, based on the theory of evolution of Charles Darwin. According to her, it took a long period of time for the formation and development religious beliefs. At first, these beliefs were based on people worshiping spirits, as there was a fear of their power. Then Israel reduces the diversity of the gods of the various nations to one tribal god, which paves the way for the improvement of religion as such.

Considering which religion is the most ancient, it should be noted that in modern times there are a large number of religious directions, the so-called spiritual knowledge, which are divided into several systems. So, the Aryan - Vedantism (occult science) is referred to the primary teaching. Further, it was transformed into Brahmanism, and then into Buddhism. The Aryan traditions were adopted by the Russian prehistoric religion, so paganism appeared - the worship of the elements. These beliefs were not completely defeated, and after several millennia a religion developed on their basis.

And Babylon became the basis for the birth of knowledge, which is partially transmitted to us in the Bible (therefore, the opinion that Christianity is the most ancient religion is erroneous). Based on them, a system that had a great influence on spiritual development throughout Europe. In addition, these teachings formed the basis of the religion of ancient Judea, on which Christianity will continue to rely. The knowledge of the ancient Egyptian civilization, Jews and Christians is partially preserved in Islam.

The black race practiced ceremonial magic, preserving the rituals and customs of African sorcerers. The yellow race gave rise to the teachings of Lao Tzu (Daonism), as well as shamanism, Zen Buddhism and Shintu.

Thus, it is impossible to say with accuracy which is the most ancient religion on Earth, since from early times all knowledge, rituals, rituals and customs spread during the mixing of peoples and the migration of tribes. So, the idea of ​​sacrifice first belonged to the civilization of the black race, later it was adopted by the peoples of all continents and existed for more than one millennium on Earth.

Thus, the answer to the question of which is the most ancient religion on the planet is ambiguous, and depends on the worldviews and views of historians.

To date, there are many religions that millions of people trust and impeccably follow their religion. But can anyone give a definite answer to the question: "What is the oldest religion?". There are quite a few disputes and opinions on this topic, and archaeologists every year find the latest evidence and grounds for controversy regarding which very first religion appeared on earth. In this material, we will try to talk about all the main religions of the world, and we will also try to find answers to all questions of interest on this topic.

The "youngest" religion in the world

Well, it would be logical if we start our story with the youngest religion, which, despite its relatively young age compared to others, was able to gain no small popularity and respect around the world. It's about and slama . Islam in Arabic means "giving oneself to God." Islam has become one of the largest world religions, and at the moment, Muslims who have converted to Islam live in 49 countries of the world. If we turn to statistics, then 23% of the world's population are Muslims. Islam originated in the 7th century.

But, despite such an advanced age, Islam is the youngest religion in the world. Islam is based on such vital principles as the search for one's own "I", helping a loved one and not causing harm. Muslims are always open to God's gaze and believe that only God decides when to take the soul and when to create it.

ancient christianity

The oldest religion on earth has undergone many transformations, but the foundations Christianity , followed by a huge number of people to this day, originated at the beginning of the first century AD. The birthplace of Christianity can be called the Eastern Mediterranean.

Before the advent of Christianity, people had mythological ideas about the world order and the foundations of life. Christianity, however, brought with it faith in a single patron god, who is ready to accept the soul of every person with open arms, if only the person himself wishes it.

Early Christianity interpreted faith in God through the prism of suffering. This religion was opened only exclusively for people suffering in life. Christianity has always called for a single faith and professed unity in love, and has never divided its own into others. Every person in the world, regardless of belonging to any nationality, could become a Christian. Every Christian who has lived on earth must perceive himself as a temporary wanderer. But at the same time, everyone had to decide for himself in which direction he would direct his path to the Kingdom of God. There is no single right way. There is only love and commandments, but people have different ways. Because of its benevolent principles, Christianity quickly gained popularity all over the world. And to this day, the very first religion on earth naturally remains the most popular.

Other ancient religions

Mankind, in addition to Christianity, knew other ancient religions that were not rooted in modern world, but, nevertheless, for a long time they were part of the life of many people who lived on earth. Considered to be one of the most ancient Sumerian religion . Unlike other religions, the Sumerians had a whole pantheon of gods, whose will a believer had to obey throughout his life. Between ordinary people and the seven gods on earth there were so-called intermediaries through whom the gods addressed their servants. The Sumerians called such intermediaries the Anunnaki.

Religion of the Incas , despite its short existence, is also considered one of the oldest and most unusual. The fact is that after the conquest of new lands, it was customary for the Incas to add deities of the defeated gods to their pantheon.

Well, of modern religions, the oldest can be called Buddhism , which appeared no more than 2500 years ago. Buddhism was based on the oldest teachings of India, including enlightenment and the desire for nirvana and the divine principle. Buddhists have been trying to achieve this state all their lives and at the same time decide on a complete rejection of earthly attachments. Buddhists pray during meditation and thus improve themselves.

The oldest religion in the world

It's hard to believe, but long before the advent of Christianity, the foundations modern religion carried in himself Hinduism . If you believe this most ancient religion, then a person, like everything else on Earth, appeared from parts of the body of a huge giant.

Despite the fact that all the foundations of Hinduism were obviously losing and religion, as such, lasted less than all the others, in some villages of India they still tend to believe that the world was created in this way, and that earlier Hinduism was much more popular than Christianity. Many religious scholars believe that Hinduism was obviously doomed to failure, because it contained the foundations of paganism, from which people, on the contrary, wanted to get rid of.

70 thousand years ago

Today it is rather difficult to answer the question of what was the most ancient religion. It is known that before the birth of modern world religions, paganism dominated the world. Previously, it was believed that the most ancient religious rituals took place about 30-40 thousand years ago in Europe.

However, recent archaeological excavations carried out in the South African country of Botswana give reason to believe that 70 thousand years ago, even before homo sapiens formed, the predecessors of Homo sapiens performed ritual worship.

In the summer of 2006, Sheila Coulson, a professor at the University of Oslo, discovered on the northern side of the Tsodilo Hills (Kalahari Desert) a small cave, inside which was a stone statue of a python two meters high and 6 meters wide. Scientists believe that this statue could serve as an object of worship.

Sumerian religions

Also in this place, as a result of excavations, about 13 thousand tools for working on stone were found. It should be noted that until the 90s, access to the cave was difficult, and therefore it could not be found earlier. If scientists were not mistaken with dating, then this find will force us to reconsider modern ideas about human evolution and migration.

Of course, the religion of one of the most ancient civilizations is very interesting - the Sumerian civilization. The pantheon of the gods of the Sumerians was very complex: there were seven main gods and gods called the Anunnaki, who were considered intermediaries between people and the main gods. Oaths were sealed with the names of the Anunnaki.

According to the myth of the creation of people "Enki and Ninmah", the gods fashioned a man from clay, the fate of man was to serve the gods. Each had a personal deity that guarded the person (the prototype of the guardian angel in Christianity).

Afterlife and Inca Religion

The Sumerians' ideas about the afterlife were quite specific. It was believed that the dead, having passed through the seven gates of the underworld, crossed the river, which served as the border between the world of the living and world of the dead. The Sumerians have no representations at the court of the dead. It was believed that the fate of each deceased in the afterlife is not easy, only those who fell in battle, those with many children and those for whom the funeral rite was performed were honored with a tolerable life.

The Inca religion is one of the most unusual. The pantheon of gods is very diverse, which is explained by their tolerant policy towards the conquered peoples: they generously included foreign gods in their pantheon, and did not try to ban other beliefs, therefore the duties of many gods are repeated.

The holy places of the Incas were called "huaca", they could be rocks, hills, cliffs, streams, mountains, caves, houses and even mummies. Many of them are still revered by the peoples of Peru. From the Report to the King of Spain it is known that the Indians of Peru had 10422 idols, of which 1365 were mummies. It is noteworthy that some of the mummies of the Huacs were the founders of the Inca clans, tribes and villages.

ancient buddhism

To date, it is reliably known that Buddhism is the oldest of the three modern world religions. Buddhism originated about 2500 years ago on the basis of the ancient teachings of India. The founder of Buddhism was Buddha Shakyamuni (623-544 BC).

In Buddhist teaching earthly life, as well as heaven and hell, seems to be just one of the steps that a person must overcome on the path to the divine, through liberation from the chain of rebirth. Liberation from the chain of rebirth is achieved by strict observance of all the rules such as: do not cause suffering to either a person or an animal, do not eat animal food, meditation, etc.

The basis of the Buddhist doctrine is the desire of a person for the divine principle, enlightenment and nirvana, which can be achieved by rising above earthly attachments, spiritual self-improvement and meditation.

No one can give an exact answer to the question of when the very first religion on our planet appeared. However, it is known for certain that burial rituals appeared among ancient people, which is direct evidence of the presence of some kind of faith. From ancient times, man, trying to explain his appearance in this world, as well as the very emergence of the world, came up with various beliefs. Also, religion has always provided an answer to the eternal question about the meaning of human life.

Faith in many ways shapes the life of both an individual and a society in which any particular faith dominates. Customs, traditions, moral standards and even the political structure of the state are formed from it.

Some religions exist even now, differing from each other in their prevalence around the world and the number of “adepts”, while others are long forgotten and died along with the last believers. Gods have been born and died throughout human history. In this article, we will talk about which of the religions is the most ancient, and also compile a selection of the ten oldest religions in the world. It will collect beliefs from all over the world.

According to some evidence, it can be assumed that the first beliefs appeared already 70,000 years ago. However, if you believe only reliable and confirmed data, the first religion appeared around 3500 BC. In those days, the Sumerian people built the first civilization on the planet.

The Sumerians left behind many many reminders in the form of clay tablets, the remains of some buildings. The Sumerians had a large pantheon of deities, each of which controlled some elemental or natural phenomenon. The Sumerians often explained favorable and unfavorable weather conditions by the good or bad disposition of the spirit of one or another god.

All Sumerian gods were associated with some kind of astronomical body. Religion for the Sumerians was the main part of their life and social structure. The Sumerians believed that their kings were fulfilling the divine will. The Sumerians built temples and ziggurats where they believed the gods lived.

2 - Religion of ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians were an extremely religious people. This is confirmed by the abundance of huge pyramids, which testify to how firmly the Egyptians believed in the afterlife. It is known that after the death of the pharaoh, his servants went to the tomb with him in order to serve him in the afterlife.

In total, the Egyptians had about 450 gods. Of these, only 30 were recognized as the main ones in the pantheon. This happened because the pharaohs, who had divine status, often wanted to expand their possessions, and in order to annex a new tribe, it was enough for the pharaoh to accept the local god as his own. With the addition of more and more tribes, the list of recognized gods ancient egypt expanded to a certain extent.

The abundance of gods inevitably created confusion in the public understanding of religion, but the belief in the afterlife and some other provisions were unchanged. The pharaohs of Egypt ruled from 3100 BC. before 323 AD

3 - Greek and Roman religion

In general, the ancient Greeks invented several thousand gods, but of this huge number, only 12 deities make up a recognized and widely known pantheon. During the prosperity of Rome, when Greece was also under its control, Greek gods were adapted to the Roman world. Rome borrowed from the Greeks much of their religion and mythology. Thus, even such a thing as the Greco-Roman religion appeared.

The gods of Greece, according to beliefs, lived on Mount Olympus, and were not examples of morality, and in general, their character was most often bad. People had to cajole them in every possible way in order to convince the gods to help humanity, and not harm it.

4 - Druidism

One of the most peaceful religions in the world. Belief is based entirely on nature and its reverence. Its beginnings were laid in witchcraft and shamanistic practices common in prehistoric times. For some time he confessed throughout Europe, but then concentrated in the tribes of the Celts.

The basic premise of this belief is that no one should ever be harmed, not even oneself. Druids did not oppose other religions, believing that the gods were able to figure everything out on their own, and people were considered an extremely small part of the world.

5 - Asatru

A religion largely based on ancient Scandinavian paganism. Maintains many Viking traditions. Courage, wisdom, energy, freedom, honor, joy and strength were considered the main values ​​of this faith. It originates around 1000 BC.

The followers of Asatru believed that the gods live in Asgard, their kingdom, and the Earth on which people live was called Midgard. In general, the universe was divided into nine such worlds. In many ways, religion was based on nature and the changing seasons.

6 - Hinduism

It cannot be called one religion, it is rather the union of all the beliefs that appeared in India. The first manifestations of Hinduism can be traced back to 3000 BC. The basis of religion is the belief in reincarnation and the idea of ​​liberation from it. According to Hinduism, a person is doomed to eternal reincarnation, and the better he behaved in this life, the better his next life will be. If a person completely cleanses his soul, he can be freed from reincarnation and find true peace.

7 - Buddhism

Buddha means "enlightened", that is, freed from worldly suffering. In many ways, this belief is similar to Hinduism, since it also sets out the idea of ​​reincarnation and sets the goal to get rid of them. Due to the fact that there is not much attention to deities in this religion, it is more aimed at self-discipline, sometimes Buddhism is considered as philosophical concept and not as a religion. Buddhism originated around the 5th-6th century BC.

8 - Jainism

The main idea of ​​this religion is similar to Hinduism and Buddhism. The goal is also liberation, enlightenment, renunciation of worldly fuss, achievement of higher knowledge and understanding. It originates around the 9th century BC.

9 - Judaism

The most ancient monotheistic religion. The foundation of faith is Holy Bible Torah, which includes the five books of Moses. As in Christianity and Islam, 10 of the many commandments and postulates are recognized as the main ones. This religion says that one day the Jewish people will return to Israel, their former home.

10 - Zoroastrianism

It originates in 1700-1500 BC. and is based on the teachings of Zarathustra, a prophet from Persia. The essence of religion is in the eternal struggle between evil and good, as well as in the human choice between these categories. Zoroastrianism says that after death a person goes either to a place of torment or to paradise, and this depends on what choice he made during his life.