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Meaning “way of blessedness” in Sanskrit, Ānanda Mārga is the name of a Hindu reforming movement that was started in 1955 at Jamalpur, in Bihar, India. Its originator was Prabhata Ranjana Sarkar (b. 1921), who called himself Shree Ānanda-murti, and to whom his followers attached a further title “shree.” With the Ānanda he thought of himself as a member of the classical Vedanta triad sat (being), chit (thought), and nanda (bliss), which, as attributes of Atman or Brahman, compose the true nature of humanity and the univers…

“Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh” is the guru name of Rajneesh Chandra Mohan (1931–81). It combines with the given name “Rajneesh” the appellative “Bhagwan,” commonly used in India for gods, demigods, and holy men (from Skt. bhag(a)van, meaning “reverend” or “divine”), and the title “Shree.” Rajneesh was born in Kuchwada (Madhya Pradesh), India, on December 11, 1931. On March 21, 1953, he experienced the “other reality,” which his philosophy enabled him to interpret as God, truth, dharma, tao, and so forth. He deepened the experience by techniqu…

Afghanistan became a separate kingdom under Aḥmad Shāh Durrāni (ruled 1747–73), who, as an officer of Nāder Shāh of Persia, left the army and was able to build his small Pashtuni state on the subjection of various ethnic groups in northeast Iran and central Asia. About 90 percent of the present-day population are rural peasants or nomads. Approximately 78 percent belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, 20 percent are Shiites, and 1 percent are Ismailis. The rest consist primarily of Hindus, Si…

1. Term The prophets of Israel with their criticism of Canaanite worship, as well as the philosophers of antiquity with their attacks on Greek myths, held aloof from what we now call religion, an attitude that is essential in the study of religion. The same applies to Islamic geographers, Christian missionaries, European explorers, and students of mythology from the days of the Enlightenment, also of comparative linguistics from the days of Romanticism, especially when new knowledge was brought to light. The whole complex of what might be called religion in the form of a secta, lex, latr…

Yoga, the Vedic term for “exertion,” “strain,” or “venture” (related to Gk. zygon and Lat. iugum, “yoke”), is a technical term used in various senses. 1. In a less technical sense yoga has to do with forms of trance (Ecstasy), asceticism, and meditation¶ . Two or three such rituals reach back to the end of the second century b.c. in southern Asia. Then in a more crystallized sense we find jñānayoga, bhaktiyoga, and karmayoga (yoga through the ways of knowledge, surrender/devotion, and action) in the Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (lived between 2d cent. b.c. and 2d cent. a.d.).…

1. Cultures that have loanwords from Lat. visio (a seeing, view) often use them for visionary hallucinations. Such a vision, which takes place when the person is awake, is not a dream. Psychokinetic phenomena may accompany it, and it may include paranormal information. If the visionary is religiously inclined, it might seem to contain a revelation. The vision itself is not a revelation and must be interpreted. The visionary might be the interpreter, or some other person might be. Interpretation imparts mystical knowledge, falling between the rational and the occult (Occultism). 2. A …

Cyprus (Heb. Kittim, after the harbor Citium, mentioned often by the Phoenicians and the site of present-day Larnaca), from the Greek “Kypros” (etymology unknown), is a Mediterranean island 100 km. (60 mi.) west of the Syrian coast and 65 km. (40 mi.) south of the coast of Turkey. 1. Late Paleolithic and Neolithic settlement of Cyprus before the fourth millennium b.c. points to close relations with the Near East. During the third and second millennia the Copper and Bronze Age of Egypt, Crete, Mycenae, Syria, and Anatolia made Cyprus, with its rich m…

[English version] (n. Pl., ἡ τῶν ξυλοφορίων ἑορτή). Das jüdische “(Fest des) Holztragens”. An ihm wurde, vielleicht schon seit E. des 5. Jh. v. Chr. (Neh 10,35; 13,31) und wohl bis Anf. des 2. Jh. n. Chr. (Taan. 4,4: Simon ben Azzai, um 110 n. Chr.), einmal im Jahr (Mitte August/Anf. September) die Darbringung des Holzes hervorgehoben, das zur dauernden Erhaltung des für das morgendliche und abendliche Brandopfer brennenden Feuers nötig war bzw. - nach Zerstörung des Tempels (III.) - gewesen wäre (Ios. bell. Iud. 2,17,6). Colpe, Carsten

[German version] The term anti-Semitism, coined in 1879 by Wilhelm Marr, wrongly assumes the existence of a uniform race speaking the Semitic languages. It also integrates into the ideology, which underlies this error and is expressed in this self-characterization, earlier (Christian) religious, political, social and cultural motifs of anti-‘Semitic’ behaviour in the 19th cent. It glances over the fact that such behaviour was not directed against Semites in general but exclusively against Jews. Th…

(Ἡλιάδης; Hēliádēs). [German version] [1] Officer of Alexander [13] Balas Officer of  Alexander [13] Balas, whom he betrayed after the defeat he suffered in 145 BC at Oenoparas at the hands of Ptolemy VI and  Demetrius [8] II (Jos. Ant. Iud. 13,4,8), with another officer and a north Syrian Bedouin sheikh, in exchange for securities offered by the victors, and helped to murder (Diod. Sic. 32,10,1). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) [German version] [2] Sisters of Helios see  Helios

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pompeius (Aramaic bēt ṣaydā, ‘house of the catch’ or ‘of the booty’). Place in Gaulanitis ( Batanaea) on Lake Genezareth (in today's plain el-ibṭeḥa) east of the confluence with the Jordan; established as a city in 3 BC by the tetrarch  Herodes Philippus and named Iulias after Augustus' daughter (Jos. Ant. 18,2,1; Bell. 2,9,1; probably today's et-tell), only 2 kms further inland), but in all four gospels mentioned with an Aramaic name (probably just the fishing settlement on the lake, today's ḫirbet el-araǧ). B./Iulias was…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Syria | Zenobia | | Coloniae | Hellenistic states | Hellenistic states | Limes | Pompeius | Rome (Amm. Marc. 14,8,9; Plin. HN 5,19,81 Hemeseni), city in Syria on the Orontes, today's Ḥimṣ (< Byzantine Χέμψ; Chémps). According to archaeological evidence it had been settled from the 3rd millennium BC but E. has been known to us only from Pompey's time as the seat of a clan of Arab ‘kings’, who were Roman vassals from the time of  Herodes Agrippa I (Jos. Ant. Iud. 18,5,4; …

[German version] (modern Ḫirbat ehdeb). Town in lower Gaulanitis ( Batanaea; Jos. BI 4,1,1) with a large Jewish component in the population (Jos. Ant. Iud. 13,15,3; BI 1,4,8) because of the settlement policy of  Alexander [16] Iannaios. Under the Zealots and  Iosephus (cf. Vita passim), G. therefore became a bulwark against the Romans (Jos. BI 2,20, 4; 6). After an uprising in AD 68, the town was captured by Vespasian, who had all the inhabitants put to death as punishment (Jos. BI 4,1,3-10). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) Bibliography O. Keel, M. Küchler, Orte und Landschaften der Bibel…

[German version] (by analogy with plur., ἡ τῶν ξυλοφορίων ἑορτή/ hē tôn xylophoríōn heortḗ). The Jewish '(festival of) wood-carrying'. Once a year (middle of August/beginning of September) it celebrated, possibly from as early as the end of the 5th cent. BC (Neh 10,35; 13,31) and probably until the beginning of the 2nd cent. AD (Taan. 4,4: Simon ben Azzai, c. AD 110), the fetching of wood, which was, or - after the destruction of the Temple (III.) - would had been, necessary to maintain the eternal fire which burned for the morning and evening burnt sacrifices (Jos. BI 2,17,6). Colpe, Cars…

[German version] [1] Relative and friend of King Herodes [1] Agrippa I Relative and friend of King  Herodes [1] Agrippa I (Jos. Ant. Iud. 19,9,1; 20,7,1), in AD 40 a member of the deputation to the Syrian governor P. Petronius (ibid. 18,8,4), which achieved its goal of stopping Caligula's statue from being erected in the Temple; after that he probably took over the position of commander-in-chief of the army from Silas (ibid. 19,6,3; 7,1), whom he had killed after Agrippa's death in AD 44 (ibid. 19,8,3). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) [German version] [2] Temple treasurer in Jerusalem Temple treas…

[German version] Jos. Ant. Jud. 1,6,2 (§ 137 N.) calls Cheslimus (Χέσλοιμος; Chésloimos) the eponym of a tribe descended from the Egyptians, which in his model is called kasluḥı̄m (Gen. 10.14 and 1 Chr. 1.12; LXX Χασλ- and Χασμωνι[ε]ιμ, Vulg. C(h)asluim). In Josephus their kindred people are the  Philistines, whilst in his model these had previously inhabited the land of the kasluḥı̄m. If the commentary which states this does not belong to the kaptōrı̄m (cf. Jer 47,4 and Am 9,7), then the kaptōrı̄m must have settled in the coastal areas of Egypt, which were attacked in the 1…

[English version] [1] Verwandter und Freund des Königs Herodes [1] Agrippa I. Verwandter und Freund des Königs Herodes [1] Agrippa I. (Ios. ant. Iud. 19,9,1; 20,7,1), 40 n.Chr. Mitglied der Deputation an den syr. Statthalter P. Petronius (ebd. 18,8,4), welche erreichte, daß Caligulas Statue nicht im Tempel aufgestellt wurde; danach hat er wohl die Stelle eines Oberbefehlshabers des Heeres von einem Silas (ebd. 19,6,3; 7,1) übernommen, den er nach Agrippas Tod 44 n.Chr. umbringen ließ (ebd. 19,8,3). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) [English version] [2] Tempelschatzmeister in Jerusalem Tem…

[English version] (h. Ḫirbat ehdeb). Stadt in der unteren Gaulanitis (Batanaia; Ios. bell. Iud. 4,1,1), durch Siedlungspolitik des Alexandros [16] Iannaios mit hohem jüd. Bevölkerungsanteil (Ios. ant. Iud. 13,15,3; bell. Iud. 1,4,8). Unter den Zeloten und Iosephos (vgl. vita passim) war G. daher ein Bollwerk gegen die Römer (Ios. bell. Iud. 2,20, 4; 6); nach einem Aufstand 68 n.Chr. wurde die Stadt von Vespasianus, der alle Einwohner zur Strafe töten ließ, erobert (Ios. bell. Iud. 4,1,3-10). Colpe, Carsten (Berlin) Bibliography O. Keel, M. Küchler, Orte und Landschaften der Bi…

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Coloniae | Hellenistische Staatenwelt | Hellenistische Staatenwelt | Limes | Pompeius | Roma | Sāsāniden | Syrien | Zenobia | Straßen (Amm. 14,8,9; Plin. nat. 5,19,81 Hemeseni), Stadt in Syrien am Orontes, h. Ḥimṣ (< byz. Χέμψ). Nach arch. Hinweisen seit dem 3. Jt.v.Chr. besiedelt, wird E. uns doch erst seit der Zeit des Pompeius als Sitz eines Geschlechts arab. “Könige” bekannt, die von den mit ihnen verschwägerten Herodes Agrippa I. (Ios. ant. Iud. 18,5,4; 19,8,…

[English version] Der Begriff A., 1879 von Wilhelm Marr geprägt, setzt fälschlich die Existenz einer die semit. Sprachen sprechenden einheitlichen Rasse voraus. Er integriert ferner der mit ihm ausgesprochenen Selbstcharakteristik der zugrunde liegenden, diesen Irrtum einschließenden Tendenz auch die bisherigen (christl.-) rel., polit., sozialen und kulturellen Motive “semiten”- feindlichen Verhaltens im 19. Jh. Er überdeckt zudem die Tatsache, daß sich solche Verhaltensweisen nicht gegen Semiten,…