In antiquity, historians such as Herodotus theorized that the Greek gods had been stolen directly from the Egyptians. Later on, Christian writers tried to explain Hellenic paganism through degeneration of Biblical religion. Since then, the sciences of archaeology and linguistics have been applied to the origins of Greek mythology with some interesting results. To begin with, extant literary sources indicate that the ancient Greeks used the word Αιθιοπία to refer to a peoples: whom they considered sacred, favored by the gods, and li ...

See also:

Greek mythology, Greek mythology - Nature and sources of Greek mythology, Greek mythology - An overview, Greek mythology - The age of gods, Greek mythology - The age of gods and men, Greek mythology - The age of heroes, Greek mythology - Theories of origin, Greek mythology - Did the Greeks believe their myths?, Greek mythology - Hellenistic rationalism, Greek mythology - Syncretizing trends, Greek mythology - Modern interpreters, Greek mythology - Greek cosmology, Greek mythology - Related subjects, Greek mythology - Sources

Read more here: » Greek mythology: Encyclopedia II - Greek mythology - Theories of origin

The unclear concept of matriarchy, and of its replacement by "patriarchy" can be linked to the historical "inevitabilities" which the nineteenth century's concept of progress through cultural evolution introduced into anthropology. Friedrich Engels, among others, formed the notion that some primitive peoples did not grasp the link between sexual intercourse and pregnancy. They therefore had no clear notion of paternity, according to this hypothesis; women produced children mysteriously, without necessary links to the man or men they had sex ...

See also:

Matriarchy, Matriarchy - Matriarchal societies, Matriarchy - Nair Matrifocality, Matriarchy - Archaeological hypotheses, Matriarchy - Matriarchies in mythology, Matriarchy - Origins of the unclear concept, Matriarchy - Matriarchies in literature

Read more here: » Matriarchy: Encyclopedia II - Matriarchy - Origins of the unclear concept

The idea of peaceful matriarchal civilizations being put to the torch by patriarchal, nomadic barbarian invaders has lived on as a powerful literary trope. The Nazi ideology of a master race of Aryan patriarchal conquerors was based in part on Müller's hypothesis about conquering Aryans being the founders of the European 'race.' More recent uses of the theme share essentially the same narrative. Goddess worship is one motif referred to by James Joyce in his novels such as Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. In addition to Robert Graves, poets ...

See also:

Matriarchy, Matriarchy - Matriarchal societies, Matriarchy - Nair Matrifocality, Matriarchy - Archaeological hypotheses, Matriarchy - Matriarchies in mythology, Matriarchy - Origins of the unclear concept, Matriarchy - Matriarchies in literature

Read more here: » Matriarchy: Encyclopedia II - Matriarchy - Matriarchies in literature

Gerald Gardner is credited with re-introducing the word 'Wicca' into the English language, although he himself used the spelling 'Wica' in his published work of 1954. The spelling 'Wicca' is now used almost exclusively, (Seax-Wica being the only major use of the four-letter spelling). In Old English wicca meant "A wizard, soothsayer, sorcerer, magician" (Bosworth, 1898 [1]). The word has long been out of use. Its modern English descendant is the word witch. Other disputed derivations are from the Old English roots wic ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes, Wicca - Bibliographical and Encyclopedic Sources, Wicca - Academic Studies

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Definition

edit Since Wicca was first publically revealed in 1954, it has not had a long history of persecution. However, some Wiccans claim a historical link between Wicca and earlier religious and/or spiritual traditions, and thus may claim that the witch trials were persecutions against their faith.[citation needed] There is no independently verifiable evidence for any sort of actual traditional lineage for Wicca that is older than the early 20th century. In light of that, individual and group claims of persec ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes, Wicca - Bibliographical and Encyclopedic Sources, Wicca - Academic Studies

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans

Wiccan morality can be summarised in the form of a text that is commonly titled The Wiccan Rede. The core maxim of that text states "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." ("An" is an archaic word meaning "if".) Many Wiccans promote the Law of Threefold Return. This is the idea that anything that one does will be returned to them threefold. In other words, good deeds are magnified in like forms back to the doer, and so are ill deeds. It can also be interpreted to mean that your deeds come back to you emotionally, spiritually, and physic ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes, Wicca - Bibliographical and Encyclopedic Sources, Wicca - Academic Studies

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Morality

There is some difficulty in describing beliefs and practices because of the fact that there is a great deal of diversity within the religion: between individuals and between traditions. It is commonly understood that most Wiccans worship two deities: the Goddess and the God (sometimes known as the Horned God). Some traditions, such as the Dianic Wiccans, mainly worship the Goddess. In those traditions, the God plays either no role, or a diminished role. Many Gardnerian Wiccans do not claim to be dualist. They may practice some form of polyth ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes, Wicca - Bibliographical and Encyclopedic Sources, Wicca - Academic Studies

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Beliefs and practices

The general issues in studying myths are discussed in the mythography article. While all cultures throughout the world have their own myths, the term mythology is a Greek coinage and had a specialized meaning within Greek culture. The Greek term mythologia is a compound of two smaller words: mythos — which in Homeric Greek means roughly "a ritualized speech act", as of a chieftain at an assembly, or of a poet or priest. logos — which in cla ...

See also:

Greek mythology, Greek mythology - Nature and sources of Greek mythology, Greek mythology - An overview, Greek mythology - The age of gods, Greek mythology - The age of gods and men, Greek mythology - The age of heroes, Greek mythology - Theories of origin, Greek mythology - Did the Greeks believe their myths?, Greek mythology - Hellenistic rationalism, Greek mythology - Syncretizing trends, Greek mythology - Modern interpreters, Greek mythology - Greek cosmology, Greek mythology - Related subjects, Greek mythology - Sources

Read more here: » Greek mythology: Encyclopedia II - Greek mythology - Nature and sources of Greek mythology

There are many traditions, sub-traditions, and lineages of Wicca; among these is Solitary Wicca, which is Wicca practiced by oneself and often in secret. Other Wiccan traditions include: Alexandrian Wicca Blue Star Wicca Celtic Wicca Christian Wicca Correllian Nativist Church (Correllian Wicca) Dianic or Feminist Wicca Eclectic Wicca Faery Wicca Feri Tradition Gardnerian Wicca Kemetic Wicca Odyssean Wicca Pagans for Peace Tradition Seax-Wica Shakti Wicca Stregher ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes, Wicca - Bibliographical and Encyclopedic Sources, Wicca - Academic Studies

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Wiccan traditions

The idea about a peaceful matriarchal civilisation being put to the torch by patriarchal, nomadic barbarian invaders has lived on as a powerful literary trope. The Nazi ideology of a master race of Aryan patriarchal conquerors was based in part on Müller's hypothesis about conquering Aryans being the founders of the European 'race.' More recent uses of the theme share essentially the same narrative. Goddess worship is one motif referred to by James Joyce in his novels such as Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. In addition to Robert Graves, poets ...

See also:

Matriarchy, Matriarchy - Matriarchal societies, Matriarchy - Nair Matrifocality, Matriarchy - Archaeological hypotheses, Matriarchy - Matriarchies in mythology, Matriarchy - Origins of the unclear concept, Matriarchy - Matriarchies in literature

Read more here: » Matriarchy: Encyclopedia II - Matriarchy - Matriarchies in literature

19th century - 1800s. 1801: The Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merge to form the United Kingdom. 1801-15: Barbary Wars between the United States and the Barbary States of North Africa 1803: The United States buys out France's territorial claims in North America via the Louisiana Purchase. This begins America's westward expansion to the Pacific referred to as its Manifest Destiny which involves annexing and conquering land from Mexico, Britain, and Native Americans.See also:

19th century, 19th century - Europe, 19th century - Americas, 19th century - Other regions, 19th century - Events, 19th century - 1800s, 19th century - 1810s, 19th century - 1820s, 19th century - 1830s, 19th century - 1840s, 19th century - 1850s, 19th century - 1860s, 19th century - 1870s, 19th century - 1880s, 19th century - 1890s, 19th century - Significant people, 19th century - Anthropology, 19th century - Painters, 19th century - Music, 19th century - Literature, 19th century - Science, 19th century - Philosophy and religion, 19th century - Politics, 19th century - Inventions discoveries introductions, 19th century - Decades and years

Read more here: » 19th century: Encyclopedia II - 19th century - Events

In antiquity, authors like Herodotus speculated that the Greeks had borrowed their gods wholesale from the Egyptians. Later, Christian writers would attempt to explain Hellenic paganism as a degeneration of Biblical religion. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, however, the sciences of archaeology and linguistics were brought to bear on the origins of Greek mythology. To begin with, extant literary sources indicate that the ancient Greeks used the word Αιθιοπία to refer to a peoples: whom they considered sacred, favored by the gods, and li ...

See also:

Greek mythology, Greek mythology - Nature and sources of Greek mythology, Greek mythology - An overview, Greek mythology - The age of gods, Greek mythology - The age of gods and men, Greek mythology - The age of heroes, Greek mythology - Theories of origin, Greek mythology - Did the Greeks believe their myths?, Greek mythology - Hellenistic rationalism, Greek mythology - Syncretizing trends, Greek mythology - Belles and Beaus of Greek Mythology, Greek mythology - Modern interpreters, Greek mythology - Greek cosmology, Greek mythology - Related subjects, Greek mythology - Sources

Read more here: » Greek mythology: Encyclopedia II - Greek mythology - Theories of origin

For the rest of the world, there were few places not influenced by the West in some fashion, whether through colonialism, imperialism, or war. European powers gained increasing influence in China, where Qing control had weakened, and wars were fought by the western powers against China, such as the first and the second Opium wars and Sino-French War. Japan, which was forcibly opened to Western trade, began a rapid industrialisation. The Russian Empire began expanding into Central Asia, where there was rivalry between the Russians and the British in India, in what is known as The Great Game, as the British ...

See also:

19th century, 19th century - Europe, 19th century - Americas, 19th century - Other regions, 19th century - Events, 19th century - 1800s, 19th century - 1810s, 19th century - 1820s, 19th century - 1830s, 19th century - 1840s, 19th century - 1850s, 19th century - 1860s, 19th century - 1870s, 19th century - 1880s, 19th century - 1890s, 19th century - Significant people, 19th century - Anthropology, 19th century - Painters, 19th century - Music, 19th century - Literature, 19th century - Science, 19th century - Philosophy and religion, 19th century - Politics, 19th century - Inventions discoveries introductions, 19th century - Decades and years

Read more here: » 19th century: Encyclopedia II - 19th century - Other regions

The United States began expansion across the North American Continent, beginning with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. This expansion was asserted to be the Manifest Destiny of the country. This was accompanied by the subjugation and dispersal of Native Americans. The expansion was accelerated by the building of transcontinental railroads, and growing numbers of immigrants. On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in California, leading to the largest of many gold and silver "rushes" throught the century. Millions of people flocked to mines a ...

See also:

19th century, 19th century - Europe, 19th century - Americas, 19th century - Other regions, 19th century - Events, 19th century - 1800s, 19th century - 1810s, 19th century - 1820s, 19th century - 1830s, 19th century - 1840s, 19th century - 1850s, 19th century - 1860s, 19th century - 1870s, 19th century - 1880s, 19th century - 1890s, 19th century - Significant people, 19th century - Anthropology, 19th century - Painters, 19th century - Music, 19th century - Literature, 19th century - Science, 19th century - Philosophy and religion, 19th century - Politics, 19th century - Inventions discoveries introductions, 19th century - Decades and years

Read more here: » 19th century: Encyclopedia II - 19th century - Americas

"Our own myths we call reality" is one of the axioms with which Carl A.P. Ruck and Danny Staples commence The World of Classical Myth; to the Greeks, mythology was a part of their history; few ever doubted that there was truth behind the account of the Trojan War in the Iliad and Odyssey. The Greeks used myth to explain natural phenomena, cultural variations, traditional enmities, and friendships. It was a source of pri ...

See also:

Greek mythology, Greek mythology - Nature and sources of Greek mythology, Greek mythology - An overview, Greek mythology - The age of gods, Greek mythology - The age of gods and men, Greek mythology - The age of heroes, Greek mythology - Theories of origin, Greek mythology - Did the Greeks believe their myths?, Greek mythology - Hellenistic rationalism, Greek mythology - Syncretizing trends, Greek mythology - Belles and Beaus of Greek Mythology, Greek mythology - Modern interpreters, Greek mythology - Greek cosmology, Greek mythology - Related subjects, Greek mythology - Sources

Read more here: » Greek mythology: Encyclopedia II - Greek mythology - Did the Greeks believe their myths?

There are many traditions, sub-traditions, and lineages of Wicca; among these is Solitary Wicca, which is Wicca practiced by oneself and often in secret. Other Wiccan traditions include: Alexandrian Wicca Blue Star Wicca Celtic Wicca Christian Wicca Correllian Nativist Church (Correllian Wicca) Dianic or Feminist Wicca Eclectic Wicca Faery Wicca Feri Tradition Gardnerian Wicca Kemetic Wicca Odyssean Wicca Pagans for Peace Tradition Seax-Wica Shakti Wicca Stregher ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Wiccan traditions

edit Since Wicca was first publically revealed in 1954, it has not had a long history of persecution. However, some Wiccans claim a historical link between Wicca and earlier religious and/or spiritual traditions, and thus may claim that witch trials are persecutions against their faith.[citation needed] There is no independently verifiable evidence for any sort of actual traditional lineage for Wicca that is older than the early 20th century. In light of that, individual and group claims of persecution ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans

Gerald Gardner is credited with re-introducing the word 'Wicca' into the English language, although he himself used the spelling 'Wica' in his published work of 1954. The spelling 'Wicca' is now used almost exclusively, (Seax-Wica being the only major use of the four-letter spelling). In Old English, wicca meant "A wizard, soothsayer, sorcerer, magician" (Bosworth, 1898 [1]). Its modern English descendant is the word witch, now used almost exclusively to describe women sorcerors, but formerly used for both sexes. Other ( ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Definition

The general issues in studying myths are discussed in the mythography article. While all cultures throughout the world have their own myths, the term mythology is a Greek coinage and had a specialized meaning within Greek culture. The Greek term muthologia is a compound of two smaller words: muthos — which in Homeric Greek means roughly "a ritualized speech act", as of a chieftain at an assembly, or of a poet or priest. logos — which in cla ...

See also:

Greek mythology, Greek mythology - Nature and sources of Greek mythology, Greek mythology - An overview, Greek mythology - The age of gods, Greek mythology - The age of gods and men, Greek mythology - The age of heroes, Greek mythology - Theories of origin, Greek mythology - Did the Greeks believe their myths?, Greek mythology - Hellenistic rationalism, Greek mythology - Syncretizing trends, Greek mythology - Belles and Beaus of Greek Mythology, Greek mythology - Modern interpreters, Greek mythology - Greek cosmology, Greek mythology - Related subjects, Greek mythology - Sources

Read more here: » Greek mythology: Encyclopedia II - Greek mythology - Nature and sources of Greek mythology

In this part of the book Gould Davis focused on the role of women in the ancient civilizations of Crete and Mycenae. Davis' research suggested that, as in her model of prehistoric civilization, that women were the dominant powers and were able to punish men who were "derelict" in their duties. The book sees the Cretan and Mycenaean civilizations as prototypes of the ancient pre-Christian Celtic culture, which Davis also believes to have granted women a great deal of power. For instance, she says that the monarchy was hereditary in ...

See also:

The First Sex, The First Sex - The Gynocratic World, The First Sex - The Patriarchal Revolution, The First Sex - Pre-Christian Women In The Celto-Ionian World, The First Sex - The Tragedy of Western Women, The First Sex - Influence and criticism

Read more here: » The First Sex: Encyclopedia II - The First Sex - Pre-Christian Women In The Celto-Ionian World

There is some difficulty in describing beliefs and practices because of the fact that there is a great deal of diversity within the religion: between individuals and between traditions. It is commonly understood that most Wiccans worship two deities: the Goddess and the God (sometimes known as the Horned God). Some traditions, such as the Dianic Wiccans, mainly worship the Goddess. In those traditions, the God plays either no role, or a diminished role. Many Gardnerian Wiccans do not claim to be dualist. They may practice some form of polyth ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Beliefs and practices