Paganism

==History==
===Prehistoric===
*[[Prehistoric religion]]
**[[Paleolithic religion]]

====Bronze Age to Early Iron Age====
* [[Religions of the ancient Near East]]
** [[Ancient Egyptian religion]]
** [[Ancient Semitic religion]]
** [[Ancient Iranian religion]]
** [[Ancient Mesopotamian religion]]

===Ancient history===
====Classical antiquity====
{{main article|Ancient Greek religion|Ancient Roman religion|Hellenistic religion|Roman imperial cult}}
[[Ludwig Feuerbach]] defined the paganism of [[classical antiquity]], which he termed {{lang|de|Heidentum}} ('heathenry') as "the unity of religion and politics, of spirit and nature, of god and man",<ref>cf. the civil, natural and mythical theologies of [[Marcus Terentius Varro]]</ref> qualified by the observation that man in the pagan view is always defined by [[ethnicity]], i.e., As a result, every pagan tradition is also a national tradition. Modern historians define paganism instead as the aggregate of cult acts, set within a civic rather than a national context, without a written creed or sense of [[orthodoxy]].<ref>A summary of the modern view is given in Robin Lane Fox, ''Pagans and Christians'' 1989, pp. 31 ''ff.'': "The modern emphasis on {{sic|hide=y|reason=Fox appears to have used "pagan", lower case, per external sources quoting him.|paganism}}'s cult acts was also acknowledged by {{sic|hide=y|pagans}} themselves. It shaped the way they tried and tested Christians."</ref>

====Late Antiquity and Christianization====
{{further|Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism|Hellenic philosophy and Christianity}}
The developments in the religious thought of the far-flung [[Roman Empire]] during [[Late Antiquity]] need to be addressed separately, because this is the context in which [[Early Christianity]] itself developed as one of several monotheistic cults, and it was in this period that the concept of ''pagan'' developed in the first place. As Christianity emerged from [[Second Temple Judaism]] and [[Hellenistic Judaism]], it stood in competition with other religions advocating pagan monotheism, including the cults of [[Dionysus]],<ref>E. Kessler, ''Dionysian Monotheism in Nea Paphos, Cyprus''
"two monotheistic religions, Dionysian and Christian, existed contemporaneously in Nea Paphos during the 4th century C.E. [...] the particular iconography of Hermes and Dionysos in the panel of the Epiphany of Dionysos [...] represents the culmination of a {{sic|hide=y|reason=Kessler capitalized; verified with source.|Pagan}} iconographic tradition in which an infant divinity is seated on the lap of another divine figure; this {{sic|hide=y|Pagan}} motif was appropriated by early Christian artists and developed into the standardized icon of the Virgin and Child. Thus the mosaic helps to substantiate the existence of {{sic|hide=y|Pagan}} monotheism." [https://books.google.com/books?id=y1-hBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA91]</ref> [[Neoplatonism]], [[Mithraism]], [[Gnosticism]], and [[Manichaeanism]].{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} [[Dionysus]] in particular exhibits significant parallels with Christ, so that numerous scholars have concluded that the recasting of [[historical Jesus|Jesus the wandering rabbi]] into the image of [[Christ the Logos]], the divine saviour, reflects the cult of Dionysus directly. They point to the symbolism of wine and the importance it held in the mythology surrounding both Dionysus and Jesus Christ;<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' 6. 26. 1–2</ref><ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''Deipnosophistae'' 2. 34a</ref> Wick argues that the use of wine [[religious symbolism|symbolism]] in the [[Gospel of John]], including the story of the [[Marriage at Cana]] at which Jesus turns water into [[wine]], was intended to show Jesus as superior to Dionysus.<ref name="Wick 2004 179–198"/> The scene in ''The Bacchae'' wherein Dionysus appears before King Pentheus on charges of claiming divinity is compared to the New Testament scene of Jesus being interrogated by [[Pontius Pilate]].<ref name="Wick 2004 179–198">{{cite journal |last=Wick |first=Peter |title=Jesus gegen Dionysos? Ein Beitrag zur Kontextualisierung des Johannesevangeliums |journal=Biblica |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=179–98 |publisher=Pontifical Biblical Institute |location=Rome |year=2004 |url=http://www.bsw.org/?l=71851&a=Comm06.html |access-date=2007-10-10 }}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0fLPOx1B-AwC&dq=%22dionysus+had+been+at+home+in+palestine+for+a+long+time%22&pg=PA331 Studies in Early Christology], by [[Martin Hengel]], 2005, p. 331 ({{ISBN|0567042804}})</ref><ref name=Powell>Powell, Barry B., ''Classical Myth'' Second ed. With new translations of ancient texts by Herbert M. Howe. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998.</ref>

===Postclassical history===
The medieval church accused sects deemed heretical such as the [[Waldensians]] and Cathars of participating in pagan fertility rites.<ref name="Byrne 2017 p. 626">{{cite book | last=Byrne | first=J.P. | title=The World of Renaissance Italy: A Daily Life Encyclopedia [2 volumes] | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-4408-2960-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_kmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA626 | access-date=2023-05-14 | page=626}}</ref>

====Islam in Arabia====
{{See also|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia}}
Arab paganism gradually disappeared during [[Muhammad]]'s era through [[Islamization]].<ref name="sealednectar2">{{citation|title=The sealed nectar: biography of the Noble Prophet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_80rJHIaOMC&pg=PA245|first=Saifur Rahman Al|last=Mubarakpuri|year=2005|publisher=Darussalam Publications|isbn=978-9960-899-55-8|pages=245–46}}</ref><ref name="online">Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nmUrN0B8cvQC&pg=PA139 Tafsir Ibn Kathir Juz' 2 (Part 2): Al-Baqarah 142 to Al-Baqarah 252 2nd Edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102164909/https://books.google.com/books?id=nmUrN0B8cvQC&pg=PA139 |date=2 January 2023 }}, p. 139, MSA Publication Limited, 2009, {{ISBN|1861796765}}. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20090529214150/http://www.fda.gov/fsrscripts/triggerParams.js online])</ref> The sacred months of the Arab pagans were the 1st, 7th, 11th, and 12th months of the Islamic calendar.<ref name="The Sealed Nectar Free Version">Mubarakpuri, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-ppPqzawIrIC&pg=PA129 The Sealed Nectar (Free Version)]{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p. 129</ref> After Muhammad had conquered [[Mecca]] he set out to convert the pagans.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite book|last=Sa'd|first=Ibn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfnXAAAAMAAJ&q=Hatim|title=Kitab al-tabaqat al-kabir, By Ibn Sa'd, Volume 2|year=1967|publisher=Pakistan Historical Society|asin=B0007JAWMK|page=380}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated1>{{citation|title=The Sealed Nectar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ppPqzawIrIC&pg=PA269| first=Saifur|last=Rahman al-Mubarakpuri|year=2005|publisher=Darussalam Publications|page=269|isbn = 9798694145923}}</ref><ref name="Mufti Dec 2007 103">{{citation|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oiAtbfbHgVoC&pg=PA103| first=M. Mukarram Ahmed|last=Mufti|year=2007|publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt Ltd
|isbn=978-81-261-2339-1|page=103}}</ref> One of the last military campaigns that Muhammad ordered against the Arab pagans was the [[Demolition of Dhul Khalasa]]. It occurred in April and May 632 AD, in 10AH of the Islamic Calendar. [[Dhul Khalasa]] is referred to as both an idol and a temple, and it was known by some as the [[Ka'ba]] of Yemen, built and worshipped by polytheist tribes.<ref name=b3>{{cite book| title= Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VHufEXRlR6EC&pg=PA297 | first= William|last= Robertson Smith|year= 2010|publisher= Forgotten Books| isbn= 978-1-4400-8379-2| page = 297}}</ref><ref name=b2>{{cite book|title=Who Was Jesus?: Conspiracy in Jerusalem|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yWzcsddrx_wC&pg=PA146 | first= Kamal|last= S. Salibi|year= 2007|publisher= Tauris Parke Paperbacks|isbn= 978-1-8451-1314-8 | page = 146}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=When the Moon Split|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xJL6gxPUV4EC&pg=PA296 | first=Saifur Rahman Al|last=Mubarakpuri |year=2002|publisher=DarusSalam|isbn=978-9960-897-28-8|page= 296}}</ref>

===Modern history===
====Early Modern Renaissance====
Interest in pagan traditions was first revived during the [[Renaissance]], when [[Renaissance magic]] was practiced as a revival of [[Greco-Roman magic]]. In the 17th century, the description of paganism turned from a theological aspect to an [[ethnology|ethnological]] one, and religions began to be understood as part of the [[ethnic]] identities of peoples, and the study of the religions of so-called primitive peoples triggered questions as to the ultimate historical [[origin of religion]]. [[Jean Bodin]] viewed pagan mythology as a distorted version of Christian truths.<ref name="Franklin 2017 p. 413">{{cite book | last=Franklin | first=J.H. | title=Jean Bodin | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-351-56179-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA413 | access-date=2023-01-24 | page=413}}</ref> [[Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc]] saw the pagan [[religions of Africa]] of his day as relics that were in principle capable of shedding light on the historical paganism of Classical Antiquity.<ref>"It would be a great pleasure to make the comparison with what survives to us of ancient {{sic|hide=y|reason=Miller used lower case; verified with online copy found in search results.|paganism}} in our old books, in order to have better [grasped] their spirit." Peter N. Miller, "History of Religion Becomes Ethnology: Some Evidence from Peiresc's Africa" ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 67.4 (2006) 675–96.[http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_ideas/v067/67.4miller.html]</ref>

====Late Modern Romanticism====
{{rquote|right|Great God! I'd rather be<br>A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;<br>So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,<br>Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;<br>Have sight of [[Proteus]] rising from the sea;<br>Or hear old [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]] blow his wreathèd horn.|[[William Wordsworth]], "[[The World Is Too Much with Us]]", lines 9–14}}

Paganism resurfaces as a topic of fascination in 18th to 19th-century [[Romanticism]], in particular in the context of the literary [[Celtic Revival|Celtic]], [[Slavic reconstructionism|Slavic]] and [[Viking Revival|Viking]] revivals, which portrayed historical [[Celtic polytheism|Celtic]], [[Slavic paganism|Slavic]] and [[Germanic polytheism|Germanic]] polytheists as [[noble savage]]s.

The 19th century also saw much scholarly interest in the reconstruction of pagan mythology from folklore or fairy tales. This was notably attempted by the [[Brothers Grimm]], especially [[Jacob Grimm]] in his ''Teutonic Mythology'', and [[Elias Lönnrot]] with the compilation of the ''[[Kalevala]]''. The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were the Russian [[Alexander Afanasyev]], the Norwegians [[Peter Christen Asbjørnsen]] and [[Jørgen Moe]], and the Englishman [[Joseph Jacobs]].<ref>Jack Zipes, ''The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm'', p. 846, {{ISBN|0-393-97636-X}}</ref>

Romanticist interest in non-classical antiquity coincided with the rise of [[Romantic nationalism]] and the rise of the [[nation state]] in the context of the [[1848 revolutions]], leading to the creation of ''[[national epic]]s'' and [[national myth]]s for the various newly formed states. Pagan or folkloric topics were also common in the [[musical nationalism]] of the period.