MESOPOTAMIA Polytheist
Pessimistic
Over 3600 gods (duplication of gods in various city-states)
Enuma Elish a key religious text
Epic of Gilgamesh also contains religious elements
Dismal afterlife
EARLY GODS—SPECIFIC TO NATURAL PHENOMENA
Goddess of rainstorms, 18th-17thc BCE, Oriental Institute, Chicago
God of the four winds, 18th-17thcBCE, Oriental Institute, Chicago
EGYPT Polytheist
Optimistic
Unified list of gods (like unified political organization)
Book of the Dead
Mummies at British Museum
Glorious afterlife
THE STORY OF OSIRIS, ISIS, HORUS
Osiris, Hunefer Papyrus, British Museum
Isis and Horus, Brooklyn Museum
Horus, Source Unknown
JUDAISM Monotheist
Ethics Prophets
The Tanakh
Sefer Torah, Cologne Germany, (Wikipedia Commons)
ZOROASTRIANISM Monotheist
Ahuramazda
Dualist Ethics
Zend Avesta
Influential for early Christianity
Zoroastrian Tomb, Wikipedia Commons
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