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[German Version] Religions have a frequent tendency to rethink steady, continuous changes and developments in space and time from a religious perspective as a series of discontinuous sequential states, marked by distinct transitions; both the alternation and the transition are times of crisis, requiring a religious response, usually in some kind of ritual. The best-known example is the religious and ritual interpretation of continuously changing human life as a sequence of distinct stages. Depending ¶ on astronomical scale, the passage of time, too, is variously organi…

[German Version] Obelisk, a high, slender pillar found in Egypt from the time of the Old Kingdom (Gk ὀβελός/ obelós, “pointed column,” actually “skewer”), mostly with a square base and a pyramid-shaped top, often gilded. Its cultic significance, linked with the sun god Re, comes from the fact that the first rays of the sun reached the top and illuminated it. Pairs of obelisks were often set up in the temple of the sun god; their sides and plinth were usually inscribed with hieroglyphs. In antiquity it was already …

[German Version] Pyramid, a term borrowed from Greek (πυραμί ς/ pyramís) for monumental structures in various cultures and serving various religious functions, whose form ¶ approximates that of a geometrical pyramid (a solid on a polygonal base with edges that meet at a point above it). In Egypt pyramids served as tombs. Beginning in the early Old Kingdom they had rectangular ground plans; with King Snefru (c. 2570–2545 bce), the characteristic square ground plan became standard until the New Kingdom. A precursor of the true pyramid was the step pyramid, with si…

[German Version] (Jul 13, 1642, Golzern, Saxony – Apr 5, 1705, Hamburg). After studying in Leipzig and Jena, Winckler worked as a private tutor in Tübingen, then held pastoral office in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (1671), Braubach (1672), Darmstadt (1676), Mannheim (1678), and Wertheim (1679); in 1684 ¶ he was appointed chief pastor of Sankt Michaelis in Hamburg, and in 1699 senior pastor of Hamburg. As one of P.J. Spener’s closest friends, he defended the Collegia pietatis and was a spokesman for Pietism in the Hamburg controversies. He did, however, attack the chiliasm of…

[German Version] is one of a group of languages in the Uto-Aztec linguistic family; also the collective name for the peoples who speak these languages in Central America (Mexico). According to their nominal ending, the languages are divided into those of the Nahuatl and the Nahuat̲ groups. The second group probably included the now extinct Toltecs in the highlands of Mexico, and Pipil in El Salvador, who died out only at the beginning of the 20th century; the first group probably included the language of the Aztecs (Aztec religion). Hans Wißmann Bibliography R. Siméon, Dictionnaire de la…

[German Version] (Arab. qubbat aṣ-ṣaḫra), in Jerusalem (VI), a domed structure on an octagonal foundation erected around a rock ( ṣaḫra), was constructed in 691–92 ce (72 in the Islamic calendar) under the Umaiyade caliph, ʿAbdalmalik (685–705 ce). A circular structure with four pillars, with three columns between each pair, supporting a dome of 20.44 m in diameter, was erected around the rock, which is holy according to Islamic tradition. A second circle of ei…

[German Version] Atmospheric phenomena and events such as wind, rain, lightning, thunder, clouds, and ¶ hailstones hold particular significance for agricultural societies on account of their potential to influence, increase, or destroy their chances of survival in the most elementary way. These meteorological conditions, which are widely believed to be hardly influenceable or predictable, are conducive to an anthropomorphic conceptualization of their causes (as in the expression “furious storm”). They also enc…

[German Version] The Parthenon is the temple of AthenaParthenos on the acropolis in Athens. It was built between 447 and 432 bce on the foundations of an earlier building destroyed by the Persians in 480. The rebuilding was supervised by Phidias, who also created the cultic statue of Athena Parthenos placed inside the temple (taken to Constantinople in 426 ce). The center or cella of the Doric temple consisted of two rooms: one served as the treasury of the Delian League, the other held the statue of Athena. The peripheral columns of the temple (eight under…

[English Version] Pyramide, aus dem Griech. (πυραμι´ς/pyrami´s) übernommene Bez. für monumentale Bauten in verschiedenen Kulturen und mit unterschiedlicher rel. Funktion, deren Bauform annähernd der einer geometrischen P. (Kantenlinien über einem ebenen Vieleck in einem Punkt darüber verbunden) gleicht. In Ägypten dienten die P. als Grabbauten, seit dem frühen Alten Reich mit rechteckigem Grundriß, seit König Snofru (um 2570–2545 v.Chr.) mit dem seither bis zum Neuen Reich charakteristischen quadrati…

[English Version] Wind, religionsgeschichtlich. Unter den zahlreichen atmosphärischen Wettererscheinungen (Wetter) nimmt der W. eine herausragende Stellung ein. Seine Insubstantialität, aber auch seine nicht an einen Ort gebundene Erscheinungsweise zus. mit seiner schwankenden Intensität und Unberechenbarkeit haben in vielen Rel. den Gedanken an eine personale Qualität des W. entstehen lassen. Neben der Bedeutung des W. als Beweger der für die Vegetation notwendigen Regenwolken kommt ihm bei Völker…

[English Version] Parthenon, der Tempel der Athena Parthenos (Athene) auf der Akropolis in Athen, 447–432 v.Chr. auf den Fundamenten eines 480 zerstörten Vorgängerbaus unter der Oberaufsicht des Phidias errichtet, der auch das im Innern aufgestellte Kultbild der Athena Parthenos schuf (426 n.Chr. nach Konstantinopel verbracht). Das Zentrum des dorischen Tempels, die Cella, bestand aus zwei Räumen. In dem einen wurde der Bundesschatz des Attisch-Delischen Seebundes aufbewahrt, in dem anderen stand …

[English Version] Nahua, Sprachengruppe der uto-aztekischen Sprachfamilie, zugleich Sammelbez. für die diese Sprachen sprechenden Völker Mesoamerikas (Mexiko). Nach der Nominalendung werden ihre Sprachen unterschieden in die der Nahuatl- und der Nahuat̲-Gruppe. Zur zweiten gehörten wahrscheinlich das untergegangene Toltekische (Tolteken) im Hochland von Mexiko und das erst Anfang des 20.Jh. ausgestorbene Pipil der Pipil von El Salvador, zur ersten v.a. die Sprache der Azteken (aztekische Religion). Hans Wißmann Bibliography R. Sime´on, Dictionnaire de la langue …

[English Version] Obelisk, ein in Ägypten seit dem Alten Reich bezeugter hoher, schmaler Pfeiler (griech. ο᾿βελο´ς/obelo´s, »Spitzsäule«, eigentlich »Bratspieß«), meist mit quadratischem Grundriß und einer häufig vergoldeten pyramidenförmigen Spitze. Seine mit dem Sonnengott Re verbundene kultische Bedeutung beruht darauf, daß die ersten Sonnenstrahlen die Spitze trafen und aufleuchten ließen. Häufig wurden O. paarweise am Tempel des Sonnengottes aufgestellt, Seitenflächen und Sockel waren zumeist mit Hierogly…

[English Version] Wetter, religionswissenschaftlich. Atmosphärische Erscheinungen und Ereignisse wie Wind, Regen, Blitz, Donner, Wolken und Hagel haben v.a. für ackerbautreibende Gesellschaften eine deren Grundlagen in elementarer Weise beeinflussende, fördernde wie zerstörende Bedeutung. Diese als in hohem Maße für kaum beeinflußbar und kaum vorhersagbar geltenden Wettereinflüsse legen den Gedanken an eine anthropomorphe Konzeptualisierung von deren Ursachen nahe (so noch in der modernen Alltagssp…

[German Version] I. General 1. Geography. The northern half of the American double continent (America) comprises the North American Arctic including Greenland (Danish), the Canadian Arctic Archipelago north of the mainland, the French overseas Département Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon off the east coast of Canada, the British Bermuda Islands in the Atlantic, and the continent itself, divided today into the countries of Canada and the United States of America, south to the northern boundary of Mexico. The territory of North America covers 21.5 million km2 and has roughly 274 milli…

[German Version] I. General – II. History of Religion I. General Sometime after the Europeans became familiar with the New World, they gave it the name “America.” The German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, who was apparently unaware of the great deeds of Christopher Columbus, proposed in 1507 that the hemisphere be named “America” in honor of the voyages of discovery of Amerigo …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Legal History I. Religious Studies Trial by ordeal is a means of decision-making as to the guilt or innocence of a suspect in legal cases where there is no available evidence or testimony, and where no guilty plea has been entered. In place of an oath, but in ¶ line with the inherent logic of the oath, a conditional self-curse was sometimes employed; this would apply in cases where, for example, a slave was disqualified from a hearing under oath, and a divine declaration of the truth was so…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament I. Religious Studies In many cultures, human beings have been ritually killed with religious intent. Human sacrifice is a particular kind of sacrifice, differing from other types only in the special nature of the victim; therefore any theory about human sacrifice must appear in the context of one of the many theories about the nature, purpose and meaning of sacrifice in general. In many cases, the sacrifice was followed by ritual …

[English Version] I. Allgemein 1.  Geographie Der nördliche Teil des amer. Doppelkontinents (Amerika) umfaßt das Gebiet der nordamer. Arktis einschließlich Grönlands (dänisch), den im Norden vorgelagerten kanadisch-arktischen Archipel, das Übersee-De´partement Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (vor der Küste Kanadas, franz.), die brit. Bermuda-Inseln im Atlantik und das Festland mit den heutigen Staaten Kanada und den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika bis zur Nordgrenze Mexikos im Süden. Das Gebiet N. erstreckt sich über 21,5 Mio. km 2 und wird von rund 274 Mio. Menschen …

[German Version] I. Literary History 1. Unlike fairy tales, which are set in a fictional world that takes wonders for granted, tales (Ger. Sagen) and legends recount the irruption of miracles and wonders into the real world. Tales treat this irruption as a mysterious and terrifying experience, while legends embed it in a religiously structured explanatory context. 2. The etymology of the terms tale and legend points to two different forms of transmission: oral in the case of tales (“what is told”) and sagas (“what is said”), written in the case of legends (Lat. legenda, “what is to be re…