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The term Western Religion refers to those religions that originated in the Western Roman Empire, such as as seen in Roman religion, Nordic religion, etc. It is often opposed to Eastern Religion. See Comparative religion.
Rome
Religion in ancient Rome combined several different cult practices and embraced more than a single set of beliefs.
The Romans originally followed a rural animistic tradition, in which many spirits (gods) were each responsible for specific, limited aspects of the cosmos and human activities.The early Romans referred to these gods as numina. For example, there were different numina for ploughing, for horses, and for cattle. See Faun. The Etruscans provided the context out of which Roman culture and religious beliefs evolved. See Etruscan mythology.
Another aspect of this animistic belief was ancestor worship, with each family honouring their own dead by their own rites. See Genius.
Early in the history of the Roman Republic, foreign gods were imported, especially from Greece, which had a great cultural influence on the Romans after they conquered it. In addition, the Romans connected some of their indigenous deities with Greek gods and goddesses.
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Some important ones, with the Greek equivalents in parentheses, were Jupiter (= Zeus), Juno (= Hera), Minerva (= Athena), Mars (= Ares), Vesta (= Hestia), Saturn (= Kronos), Vulcan (= Hephaistos), Cupid (= Eros), and Neptune (= Poseidon)and Dionysus or Bacchus in Rome
As the Roman Empire expanded, and included people from a variety of cultures, there were more and more gods. The legions brought home cults originating from Egypt, Britain, Iberia, Germany, and Persia. The cults of Cybele Isis and Mithras were particularly important.
Along with this, the ancient Roman beliefs and practices continued, especially in and around Rome itself. This included the worship of the lares and penates (spirits specific to a family, with altars in the home), festivals such as the Lupercalia and Saturnalia, and a complex system of lucky and unlucky days.
Another important aspect of religion in Roman times was the divinity of the Emperor. More than just being the Pontifex Maximus (the head of the Roman Religion), Roman Emperors endorsed the various popular cult religions. In an effort to enhance political loyalty among the populace, they often called subjects to participate in the cults and revere the emperors as gods. Examples of this include "The Achievements of the Divine Augustus", which are two large bronze pillars in Rome inscribed with the deeds of Augustus, roman coins where the Emperor is portrayed with a halo or divine glow, temple inscriptions such as "Divine Augustus Caesar, son of a god, imperator of land and sea..." (Roman Temple Inscription in Myra, Lycia).
Eventually, Christianity came to replace the older pantheon as the state religion.
Related topics
Nordic religion
Nordic religion is a termed used to abbreviate the religion preferably amongst the Germanic tribes living in Nordic countries under pre-Christian period that are supported by archaeology findings and early written materials.
There are scholars (such as Georges Dumézil's theory) suggesting structural similarities with the Norse religion and the whole Indo-European languages region.
Archaeology
There are many archaeology findings in Scandinavia. The eldest may be seen in petroglyphs and are usually divided into two categories from its age: "hunting-glyphs" and "agricultural-glyphs". The huntingglyphs are the oldest (ca. 9,000 -- 6,000 B.C.) and dominate in Northern Scandinavia (Jämtland, Nordtrøndelag and Nordland) and describe an economy mainly based on hunting and fishing culture. These more real motifs are later (ca. 4,000 -- 2,000 B.C.) replaced with more zoological (or perhaps religious) glyphs. Animals are often illustrated from a x-ray viewpoint (strongly reminiscent of the Australian's petroglyphs), hence the term zoological. The most southern glyphs (Bohuslän) are later complemented with younger agriculturalglyphs (ca. 2,300 -- 500 B.C.), which describe an economy based on agriculture. These are motifs of ships, shamans and worship in the sun, rain and geometrical figures. There is also a third, younger (ca. 900 -- 500 B.C.), glyphs showing a culture that have not been archaeologically supported other than these petroglyphs (containing a large part of sexual acts and feuds.)
It is only speculation that humans (such as The elk-man or Bog bodies) were sacrificed in a religious context.
There is also one category of artefact finding which has called into question the archeologies, and that is, the "gripdjur" (=grip-animal). The datings go back to the period 700 -- 900 A.D. Other younger objects include the well known runestones, written in runes, sometimes indicating ones property, other times a secret ciphered message, or finally a memory of a brave person who has been killed in a foreign country. Even small runic notes written on wood have been found, containing diary-like messages.
Kylver (Gotland), Mojbro (Uppland) and |Istaby stone (Blekinge) are the oldest runestones currently known (2004). The Runic script originates from Southern Europe (ca. 1st century), but there have been (not yet satisfactory) attempts to connect them to Turkish or Orkhon script. The major part of Scandinavian runestones appear in the 11th century.
The society was certainly divided into an upper and lower class. Slaves were probably used as workers for the upper-class. Most archeology remains do certainly belong to the upper-class families, but also early christian graves in villages allow us to tell more about "ordinary" people.
Texts
The younger religion which is commonly termed Norse mythology was by the Christians (in a degrading purpose) frequently termed hedendom (Scandinavian), Heidentum (German), Heathenry (English) or Paganismus (Latin, also a modern English term) due to the fact that the heathen or pagan people, i.e. people living on the country side (Lat. paganus; also cf. the English word heath), professed these beliefs. The profession of Heathenry was on Iceland commonly termed Forn Siðr and was seen as a crime from medieval till modern times.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are Eastern Religions which have become fairly successful in the West. Many in the West, in fact, mistakenly suppose Judaism and Christianity to be Western. But they originated in the Eastern Roman Empire and are fundamentally opposed to Western Culture.
See also