Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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12 Powerful Women that Held the Position of Rulers/Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

Here are the names and possible dates for these women who may have been rulers. 1. Queen Meryt-Neith ruled 5,020 years ago. 2. Queen Nimaathap (Third Dynasty, 4,706–4,633 years ago). 3. Queen Khentkaus (Fourth Dynasty, 4,633–4,514 years ago). 4. Queen Ankhesenpepi II (Sixth Dynasty, 4,385–4,201 years ago). 5. Princess Neithhikret (Died 4,201 years ago). 6. Princess-Queen Sobeknefru (Died 3,822 years ago). 7. Queen Ashotep (3,580–3,550 years ago). 8. Princess-Queen Ahmose-Nefertari (3,582–3,515 years ago). 9. Queen Hatshepsut (3,527–3,478 years ago). 10. Queen Nefertiti (3,390–3,350 years ago). 11. Queen Tausret (Died 3,209 years ago). 12. Queen Cleopatra I (2,224–2,196 years ago).

Evidence from the ancient past show that female value was likely a little different than before the sexism that later became so pervasive. Today, with our now male centric religions or the many cultures of our current or past historic societies, which seem often to devalue or give a lesser status or limited value of women. Many present day thinkers may find it difficult to comprehend that women could have been valued, be equal to some extent, or even hold a position or power, especially political power in early historic or prehistoric times but even more so in the Middle East region where today, the most heavy restrictions are on women’s rights. The following is a list of women as leaders or rulers and other positions of political authority that may help support a different thinking: 6,530 – 5,240 years ago Legendary Queen Eyleuka of Ethiopia 5,000 years ago Shagshag ruled as Queen in Mesopotamia 4,952 – After 4,939 years ago Pharaoh Meritneith (Meryet-Nit) of Egypt 4,720 years ago Regent Dowager Queen Ni-Maat-Hepi of Egypt 4,585 – 4,145 years ago Legendary Queen Nehasset Nais of Ethiopia 4,580 – 4,510 years ago Controller of the Affairs of the Kiltwearers Queen Hetepheres II of Egypt 4,570 years ago Politically Influential Queen Meresankh III of Egypt 4,530 years ago Politically Influential Queen Khamerernebti II of Egypt 4,500 years ago Queen Ku-baba Azag-bau of Kis (Iraq) 4,500 years ago Co-Ruler Pu-Abi of Ur (Iraq) 4,459 – 4,401 years ago Governor of Markellashi in the Elam District (Iraq) 4,420 years ago Queen Su-bad of Ur (Iraq) 4,334 years ago High Priestess Enheduanna of the Moon Temple at Ur (Iraq) 4,295 – 4,250 years ago Vizier, Judge and Magistrate Nebet of Egypt 4,295 – 4,250 years ago Politically Influential Princess Chui of Egypt 4,295 years ago Regent Dowager Queen Iput of Egypt 4,250 years ago Regent Dowager Sister Queens Ankhesenmeryre I & II of Egypt 4,180 years ago Pharaoh Queen Nitocris of (Egypt) in Turin Canon, not the Abydos Kings’ List 4,168 years ago High Priestess Nannepadda of the Moon Temple at Ur (Iraq) 4,107 years ago High Priestess Enniragalanna of the Moon Temple at Ur (Iraq) 4,094 – 4,047 years ago Politically Influential Queen Shulgi-shimti of Ur (Iraq) 4,089 – 4,041 years ago High Priestess Ennirzianna of the Moon Temple at Ur (Iraq) 4,065 – 4,008 years ago De-facto Co-ruler Queen Neferukayet in Upper Egypt 4,023 – 3,999 years ago High Priestess of the Moon Temple at Ur (Iraq) 4,025 – 4,001 years ago High Priestess and Ruler of Isin (Iraq) 3,939 – 3,909 years ago Co-ruler Queen Neferu of Egypt 3,875 years ago Queen Kasiopo of Kush (Sudan) 3,834 years ago High Priestess En-an-e-du of the Moon Temple at Ur (Iraq) 3,800 years ago Politically Active Queen Sabitu of Mari (Egypt) 3,790 – 1,745 years ago Mayor Kirum of Khaya-Sumu’s City in Ilansura (Mesopotamia) 3,763 years ago Pharaoh Sebekneferu of Egypt 3,590 years ago Co-Regent Tawananna Harapscheki of the Hitite Kingdom (Turkey) 3,570 years ago Ruler Queen Ahhotep I of Egypt 3,539 years ago Regent Queen Ahmose Nefertari of Egypt 3,472 years ago Joint Reigning Queen Jopes Cassiopeia of Jaffa (Israel) 3,467 – 3,445 years ago Pharaoh Hatshepsut of Egypt 3,458 years ago Joint Queen Regnant Itey the Corpulent of Punt (Somalia) 3,440 years ago De-facto Ruler Queen Asmunikal of the Hittite Empire (Turkey) 3,426 – 3,388 years ago Politically Influential Queen Meritamen II of Egypt 3,400 years ago Ruler Queen Mumazes Moso of Ethiopia 3,388 years ago Regent Dowager Queen Mutemwia of Egypt 3,390 -3,327 years ago Politically Influential Queen Tiye of Egypt 3,358 years ago Ruler Queen Helena of Ethiopia 3,353 years ago Politically influential Queen Nefertiti of Egypt by 1336 Possibly as Pharaoh 3,323 – 3,305 Joint Ruler Queen Ankhesenpaaton Ankhesenaun of Egypt 3,300 years ago Politically Influential Queen Ninurmahmes of Ayalon (Israel) 3,250 years ago Co-Regent, The Tawananna Puduhepa of the Hittite Kingdom (Turkey) 3,235 years ago Regent Dowager Queen Ahatmilku of Ugarit (Syria) 3,200 years ago Possible Co-Regent Queen Tharriyelli of Ugarit (Syria) 3,194 – 3,192 years ago Joint Regent Queen Tausret of Egypt by 1192-1186 Pharaoh 3,117 years ago Divine Adoratrix Wife of Amun Isis IV at Thebes, Mistress of the Lands (Egypt) 3,120 years ago Judge and Phrophetess Debrah of Judeah (Israel) 3,045 – 2,992 years ago Joint Ruler Princess Isetemachbit III in Thebes (Egypt) 3,028 years ago Byzantine empress consort co-ruler Zoe Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey 3,005 – 2,965 years ago Ruler Queen Makeda of Sheba (Yemen and Ethiopia) As can be seen in all the female rulers, equality is nothing new. According to a scientific study, there is further confirmation which shows that sexual equality is nothing new even if it is something long forgotten and only now being reached for again. Evidence shows that in contemporary hunter-gatherer tribes, men and women tend to have equal influence on important decision-making. Such findings challenge the idea that sexual equality is a recent invention, suggesting that it has been the norm for humans for most of our evolutionary history. In addition, for even more validation archeologists in Central Anatolian found 4,000 year old tablets citing women’s rights. By Damien Marie AtHope References  12345

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Ref: Insoll, T. (2012). The Oxford handbook of the archaeology of ritual and religion. Oxford, United Kingdom. Oxford University Press.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Part one (ancestor archetype totem?): ref, ref, ref, ref

Part two (archetype “femaleness” tutelary spirit protector?): ref, ref, ref, ref

Part three (protector tutelary goddesses?): ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Bottom right map figurines: ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Sitting Female statuette: Paleolithic (30,000-12,000 years ago) Totem Venuses become the later Goddesses of the Neolithic (12,000-4,000 years ago) and beyond? I believe there are deep similarities and cultural connections.

A So-Called “Venus” Figurine: Prehistoric Female Statuette

I think it may have started as an ancestor archetype totem, then archetype “femaleness” spirit protector, then finally protector goddesses…?

NEOLITHIC FIGURINES: SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

“Statuettes of human beings and animals, mostly small and made of clay, elements of the Neolithic world of symbols and imagery. Although at first glance they seem quite diverse, the greater part of clay statuettes nonetheless follows an imaging scheme that was already developed during the 11,000-10,000 years ago. Figures of the Palaeolithic period with common bent legs can-not stand; their heads were bowed/lowered.” ref

“Neolithic figures, in contrast, are commonly free-standing and their view is often directed upwards, as can be observed in the statuette from Mureybet. Aside from free-standing figures, there are also several seated figures in Neolithic statuary, like-wise with the head tilted back and the face directed forward or upwards. Emerging here, in contrast to Palaeolithic statuettes, is something new in form, which presumably should also express something new in the way of thinking as well as execution.” ref

“The Neolithic invention of depiction was very successful. Corresponding statuettes were produced for over five thousand years, until at the end of the 7,200-6,000 years ago the production of anthropomorphic art was completely abandoned in many regions or was replaced regionally by new conceptions. Clay figurines were created in the crescent of Neolithic cultures in the Near East, Anatolia, and Southeastern Europe.” ref

“Yet, their emergence was not ubiquitous. No clay statuettes were produced in the distribution areas of pottery with cardial and impresso decoration, especially in Northern Africa, Spain, and Southern France. The invention of the figural pictorial scheme during the Early Neolithic (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) constitutes the foundation for the entire further history of Neolithic clay figures. Within a geographic sphere, extending from the Tigris to the Middle Danube Rivers, this pictorial scheme varied within a narrow range.” ref

“The position of the arms was variable, so that different types of images can be discerned. General and basic characteristics of figural art to underscore here are axial symmetrical structure, frontality, and stylization. Axial symmetry dwindled only in seated figures with legs folded to the side, especially in Anatolia and Greece. However, attempts to lessen axial symmetry did not catch on in the Balkan Peninsula.” ref

“The restriction of Neolithic figurines to only a few representational types implies that they were not just secondary decorative works or children’s toys. They were far more an expression of the self-perception and the self-reassurance of these early farming communities. A new economic basis of subsistence was not the sole great change effected by the “Neolithic revolution”; transformation from hunter-gatherer societies to rural farming societies was a more complex process,  associated with it was also a basic transformation in thinking and a change in the system of social symbols.” ref

“The dissemination of an agricultural way of life towards the West followed, as of around 9,000-8,000 years ago, in a new model of village organization. No special cult houses that replaced large communal buildings for cultic purposes are attested in Neolithic villages of the following times. Quite the opposite: the structures are all of almost the same size and shape. And in the emerging bundle of different innovative techniques, through which the farming economy and way of life spread abroad, were also anthropomorphic figurines. Clay figures still appear in settlements of the Pottery Neolithic period, but their form is clearly more elaborate. Further, there is a greater variety in the types of Halaf art, as noticeable in the finds from Domuztepe.” ref

“This variety in types is displayed in several small collections of figurines, for example, in the settlement of Girikihaciyan. In Tülintepe, east of Elazığ, two settlement phases could be distinguished: one phase of the early and one phase of the Late Chalcolithic period. The figurines found there, thought to be females because of their breasts, have marked elongated heads. The face is shown with protruding eyes, eyebrows, and a nose in relief. The same can be noted in the head of a statuette found in TilHuzur-Yayvantepe. Even in details, statuettes from the sphere of the Halaf culture display the same configuration.” ref

Goddesses / Archetype ancestor shapes relating to the three realms and moon phases: Waxing, Full, and Waning Moon: As well as relating to Heaven, Earth, and Underworld. The figure with the arms up likely represents both bull horns and the worship and parse/dancing for the heavens. It seemingly relates to different functions with different meanings but I think are all part of a widespread gatherer cult/farming paganism cult magic by shamanistic paganism.

In the picture above is a reference to the larger theme in connection with what I see as the farming paganistic Goddess cult concepts and as stated before relating to the three realms: heaven (I assumed goddess figure arms up from the Badarian culture with the earliest direct evidence of agriculture in Upper Egypt during the Predynastic Era), earth (I assumed pre-goddess archetype ancestor figure in hunter-gather shamanism Magdalenian with links to both Iberomaurusians and connections to the First Paganists or arms around the body or little to no arms), and the last the underworld (I assumed goddess figure arms down: a Badarian culture female mortuary figurine).

Venus of Courbet figure is one of many similar abstract sitting position women figurines and the oldest listed above to me is a pre-goddess expression of the mother goddesses that are more fully developed in response to the new social demands seen in the neolithic expressions of culture or full moon representation and moon references stretch back to Venus of Courbet found at one of the three sites of Courbet, Bruniquel and Montastruc, which are all very close to each other, and are often treated as a single site. The Roc du Courbet is one of a series of Upper Palaeolithic rock shelters near the village of Bruniquel, in France‘s Tarn region. It is believed that the majority of the remains recovered were derived from de Lastic’s black layer or ‘couche noire’, which is thought to date to Magdalenian V or VI.

However, the provenance of remains within this layer is not clear. Furthermore, both human and animal remains were found within not only a black layer (‘limon noir’), but also a red layer (‘limon rouge’) and a breccia deposit. The piece was excavated from Courbet Cave, Montastruc, Tarn-et-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France with a sitting posture figure outlined om it dated to around 13 000 years ago, locally the Late Magdalenian period of the Upper Palaeolithic, towards the end of the last Ice Age. The headless figure is shown from the side, bending to the right, with the large rounded buttocks and thigh carefully drawn. The thin torso features a small sharp triangle that may indicate the breasts, or perhaps arms held out and on the legs.

Similar to The Venus figures of Neuchâtel – Monruz as well as The Venus figures of Petersfels (Engen). One of the last and smallest Venus Figurines to be carved during the era of Paleolithic art, the Venus of Monruz (also known as the “Venus of Neuchatel” or the “Venus of Neuchatel–Monruz“) is a pendant made of black jet, in the shape of a stylized female body in a sitting posture with an engorged buttocks and no arms. It was discovered in Switzerland. It is among the world’s oldest items of jewellery art, and exemplifies prehistoric sculpture created during the final phase of Magdalenian art, which ended 12,000-10,000 years ago. The Monruz venus bears a strong resemblance to the Venus of Engen (“Frauenidol von Engen”), one of a dozen jet pendants excavated from the shelter of Petersfels (Baden-Wurtemberg), in Germany, except that the Engen figurine is dated to 15,000 years ago. Another jet figurine is the Venus of Pekarna, which dates to 14,500 years ago. The Magdalenian was the richest period of prehistoric art, notably in the craft of cave painting, although it also witnessed exceptional sculptures like the Venus of Eliseevichi. ref, ref

I dont totally agree with these articles but it’s very informative:

Function of Predynastic Female Figurines from the Badarian to the Late Naqada II Periods (Honours Thesis, Monash University, 2013)

Supernatural Pregnancies Common Features and New Ideas concerning Upper Paleolithic Feminine Imagery Duncan Caldwell

A Study Of Anthropomorphic Figurines In The Neolithic

“In the Neolithic, figurines largely appear at a time when human cultures were going through significant and critical changes, so significant and critical that the period has often been referred to as the “Neolithic revolution.” These figurines do not appear in every Neolithic society but seem to be common to a great many. Nor do they appear continuously through time in each culture where they are found. Agriculture and sedentism begin to replace the lifeways of the hunter-gatherer nomads, and some of the earliest clear examples of public architecture and ceremonial gatherings begin to show up in the material records of such places as Nevalı Çori, Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük. Prior to the invention of writing, symbols and signs appear in the archaeological record in the form of pictographs, petroglyphs, murals, pottery designs, and figurines. These artifacts are among the precious few sources of information about cultures long dead before the advent of writing.” ref

“The Neolithic periods of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe total at least 403 anthropomorphic figurines, around 11,000 to 4,300 years ago, 148 (36.7%) were from sites in Southwest Asia and 255 (63.3%) were from sites in Southeastern Europe mostly of terracotta and stone, a disproportionate number of figurines are representative of the female sex compared to male as well as that asexual-figurines are also equally disproportionate. Although most Neolithic societies may have differences among the many commonalities that these cultures shared are small portable figurines of terracotta and, sometimes, stone. Anthropomorphic figurines are recovered in a variety of archaeological contexts, many of which can be clearly defined as domestic, burial, and ritual. In Bulgaria and Moldavia, for instance, figurines are frequently found in association with Neolithic cemeteries. Neolithic figurines filled a variety of roles which included rituals for curing, protection, initiation, and marriage, as well as to support oral narratives.” ref

“Anthropomorphic figurines are also very striking examples of Neolithic artifacts that have the potential to act as external symbolic storage. The quality of individual identity within Chalcolithic Bulgarian settlements by analyzing figurines within burials. Offers five methods of decoration: incising, piercing, painting, piercing and painting, and non-decoration, and sexual identities in the figurines excavated: female (69%), male (less than 1%) and asexual (31%) thus probably multi-sexual and multi-gendered culture. Most male figurines dominated the cemeteries and female figurines prevailed in the domestic spaces, a significant presence of asexual figurines were found throughout the Neolithic and Chalcolithic.” ref

“Many figurines express obesity and while obesity is definitely represented in the archaeological records of Neolithic cultures, the discontinuity between the obesity in figurines found at Çatalhöyük and the body types excavated. To date, no clear evidence has been discovered that would indicate a body was that of an obese or robust person. The mortuary data retrieved thus far from Çatalhöyük are far from conclusive and at least one case of a burial “special treatment” could exist of a person that was obese.” ref

“The Neolithic in Southeastern Europe begins by many accounts (e.g., Talalay at around 8,500 years ago). In southern Greece and the Aegean, a large corpus of anthropomorphic figurines emerge in many places beginning around this time in the regions of Thessaly and Central Greece, Macedonia, and Crete. The region of Greece that has, to date, produced the most Neolithic figurines. The Sesklo culture in Thessaly at Dimini Sesklo and Achilleion. Notably, Sesklo figurines share many attributes with those of the Near East, such as seated posture, conical shaped heads, and coffee-bean or cowrie-shaped eyes.” ref

“North of Greece, the Karanovo culture begins in the Eastern Balkan region at about 7,800 years ago and figurines produced are marked by “focus[ed] attention on faces and hips, buttocks and the pubis”. In the Central Balkans,theVinča Complex begins around 7,265 and the figurines from this culture are very striking with distinctive triangular, mask-like faces, detailed incisions, and symmetrical perforations. Several other regions in Southeastern Europe also provide a rich body of distinct anthropomorphic figurine styles. The Tisza culture in Hungary emerged during the Late Neolithic (around 6,970-6,380 years ago), the Cucuteni culture in modern Romania and Moldavia flourished from around. 6,800-5,500 years ago.” ref

“And closer to the Adriatic but still on the Balkan Peninsula, the Butmir culture is dated to around 7,300-6,200 years ago also in the Middle and Late Neolithic periods. Also considered to be within Southeastern Europe are the island sites of Malta and Sardinia. Malta was first settled by Neolithic farmers around 7,000 years ago and through the Final Neolithic, the island produced a rich body of figurines modeled in clay or carved from stone and bone. Malone notes that current evidence supports the idea that Sardinia was occupied continuously from the Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic which began on the island around 7,230 years ago. The figurines of Sardinia are more likely to be carved of stone than modeled in clay and many are found carved from tuff, marble, alabaster, gypsum, and steatite.” ref

“It is also possible that the idea that figurines are not simply media that communicate messages or store information but also to express or be utilized as representations that have meanings that can change over time and vary from observer to observer. The mental representation of the figurine becomes the ideas and concepts held by the observer, likely influenced the figurine’s context as it was used in domestic, ritual, and ceremonial settings. Posture for most figurines is a central attribute though often one that includes a combination of limb positions. So while standing and seated are two very general descriptions of posture, the positions of limbs could define the figurine as seated with a left leg crossed over the right, legs folded underneath the figure, or even kneeling. Figurines, of course, do not have an agency that is independent of humans.” ref

“Southeastern Europe contributed a more diverse and dispersed set of sites to the corpus, with a majority of 73 (18.1%) originating from sites in Romania. Other significant contributors were sites in the regions of Bulgaria (34 figurines at 8.4%), Central Greece (23figurines at 5.7%), Sardinia (23 figurines at 5.7%), Serbia (22 figurines at 5.6%), Malta (21figurines at 5.2%), and the Peloponnese of Greece (19 figurines at 4.7%). Other contributing sites were in the regions of Kosovo (10 figurines at 2.5%), Hungary (9 figurines at 2.2%), Bosnia(9 figurines at 2.2%), and then Crete, Macedonia, and Moldavia (each with 3 figurines at 0.7%). A single contributing Neolithic figurine was from Italy which was 0.3% of the corpus.” ref

“A male figurine from Nevalı Çori dating to between 10,500 and 9,900 years ago that appears to be wearing a belt or sash around the hips that may have a leopard design. This stylistic motif is similar to that of the somewhat younger design associated with an anthropomorphic figure in a mural at Çatalhöyük also of a male(s) (which could represent a hunting cult).
If their creators fashioned figurines to represent bodies they knew best, then many or most of the creators may have been female since figurines that are clearly male represent a small percentage of the corpus but what would it mean in relation to the very high percentage of asexual figurines in the Neolithic, (could mean trans/intersex people or that they were for use by several male and female individuals, or diverse gendered duties, maybe a little of both?).” ref

The often largely forgotten Gender Fluidity in the Goddesses and Gods

“Many cultures have gods, demi-gods, and heroes with both male and female attributes. In Hindu mythology, Shiva is seduced by Vishnu’s female avatar, Mohini, giving birth to the god Shasta (Ayyappa). Shiva himself is often represented as Ardhanarishvara, an androgynous composite of Shiva and Parvati with a body that is male on the right-hand side and female on the left. Arjuna, the great warrior of the Mahabharata epic, spent a year as a woman, during which he took the name of Brihannala and taught song and dance to the princess Uttara.” ref

“The Mesopotamian Ishtar, the beautiful goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex, is sometimes represented with a beard to emphasize her more bellicose side. She could change a man into a woman, and the assinnu, kurgarru, and kuku’u who performed her cult had both male and female features. After the hero Gilgamesh rejected her offer of marriage, Ishtar unleashed the Bull of Heaven, ultimately leading to the death of Enkidu, whom Gilgamesh loved more than anyone: “Hear me, great ones of Uruk/ I weep for Enkidu, my friend/ Bitterly mourning like a woman mourning.” ref

“Hapi, the Egyptian god of the annual flooding of the Nile, brought such fertility as to be regarded by some as the father of the gods: he is generally depicted as intersex, with pendulous breasts and a ceremonial false beard.
To seduce the nymph Callisto, Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, took the form of the goddess Artemis.” ref

Ten Intersex Goddesses and Gods

“Many cultures have had religions and beliefs that feature human-like gods and goddesses, most of them being specifically male or female. However, for some, creation and fertility was not always a female feature, and many concepts of nature and the universe could only be explained from a dipole perspective. Sometimes, being intersex was a result of magical or mysterious events. 1. Hermaphroditus (Greek), 2. Agdistis (Phrygian, Greek, Roman), 3.Hapi (Egyptian), 4. Ardhanarishvara (Hindu), 5. Lan Caihe (China), 6. Ymir (Norse), 7. Ometeotl (Aztec), 8. Jehovah (Hermetic Kabbalah), 9. Phanes (Greek), and Ahsonnutli (Navaho).” ref

My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:

“Religion is an Evolved Product” and Yes, Religion is Like Fear Given Wings…

Atheists talk about gods and religions for the same reason doctors talk about cancer, they are looking for a cure, or a firefighter talks about fires because they burn people and they care to stop them. We atheists too often feel a need to help the victims of mental slavery, held in the bondage that is the false beliefs of gods and the conspiracy theories of reality found in religions.

“Understanding Religion Evolution: Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, Paganism & Progressed organized religion”

Understanding Religion Evolution:

“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”

It seems ancient peoples had to survived amazing threats in a “dangerous universe (by superstition perceived as good and evil),” and human “immorality or imperfection of the soul” which was thought to affect the still living, leading to ancestor worship. This ancestor worship presumably led to the belief in supernatural beings, and then some of these were turned into the belief in gods. This feeble myth called gods were just a human conceived “made from nothing into something over and over, changing, again and again, taking on more as they evolve, all the while they are thought to be special,” but it is just supernatural animistic spirit-belief perceived as sacred.

 

Quick Evolution of Religion?

Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) pre-religion is a beginning that evolves into later Animism. So, Religion as we think of it, to me, all starts in a general way with Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (Siberia/Russia: 30,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago) (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development). Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago)  with CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago).

Historically, in large city-state societies (such as Egypt or Iraq) starting around 5,000 years ago culminated to make religion something kind of new, a sociocultural-governmental-religious monarchy, where all or at least many of the people of such large city-state societies seem familiar with and committed to the existence of “religion” as the integrated life identity package of control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine, but this juggernaut integrated religion identity package of Dogmatic-Propaganda certainly did not exist or if developed to an extent it was highly limited in most smaller prehistoric societies as they seem to lack most of the strong control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine (magical beliefs could be at times be added or removed). Many people just want to see developed religious dynamics everywhere even if it is not. Instead, all that is found is largely fragments until the domestication of religion.

Religions, as we think of them today, are a new fad, even if they go back to around 6,000 years in the timeline of human existence, this amounts to almost nothing when seen in the long slow evolution of religion at least around 70,000 years ago with one of the oldest ritual worship. Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. This message of how religion and gods among them are clearly a man-made thing that was developed slowly as it was invented and then implemented peace by peace discrediting them all. Which seems to be a simple point some are just not grasping how devastating to any claims of truth when we can see the lie clearly in the archeological sites.

I wish people fought as hard for the actual values as they fight for the group/clan names political or otherwise they think support values. Every amount spent on war is theft to children in need of food or the homeless kept from shelter.

Here are several of my blog posts on history:

I am not an academic. I am a revolutionary that teaches in public, in places like social media, and in the streets. I am not a leader by some title given but from my commanding leadership style of simply to start teaching everywhere to everyone, all manner of positive education. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

People don’t commonly teach religious history, even that of their own claimed religion. No, rather they teach a limited “pro their religion” history of their religion from a religious perspective favorable to the religion of choice. 

We are like believing machines we vacuum up ideas, like Velcro sticks to almost everything. We accumulate beliefs that we allow to negatively influence our lives, often without realizing it. Our willingness must be to alter skewed beliefs that impend our balance or reason, which allows us to achieve new positive thinking and accurate outcomes.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

To me, Animism starts in Southern Africa, then to West Europe, and becomes Totemism. Another split goes near the Russia and Siberia border becoming Shamanism, which heads into Central Europe meeting up with Totemism, which also had moved there, mixing the two which then heads to Lake Baikal in Siberia. From there this Shamanism-Totemism heads to Turkey where it becomes Paganism.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Do you truly think “Religious Belief” is only a matter of some personal choice?

Do you not see how coercive one’s world of choice is limited to the obvious hereditary belief, in most religious choices available to the child of religious parents or caregivers? Religion is more commonly like a family, culture, society, etc. available belief that limits the belief choices of the child and that is when “Religious Belief” is not only a matter of some personal choice and when it becomes hereditary faith, not because of the quality of its alleged facts or proposed truths but because everyone else important to the child believes similarly so they do as well simply mimicking authority beliefs handed to them. Because children are raised in religion rather than being presented all possible choices but rather one limited dogmatic brand of “Religious Belief” where children only have a choice of following the belief as instructed, and then personally claim the faith hereditary belief seen in the confirming to the belief they have held themselves all their lives. This is obvious in statements asked and answered by children claiming a faith they barely understand but they do understand that their family believes “this or that” faith, so they feel obligated to believe it too. While I do agree that “Religious Belief” should only be a matter of some personal choice, it rarely is… End Hereditary Religion!

Opposition to Imposed Hereditary Religion

“Theists, there has to be a god, as something can not come from nothing.”

Well, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something. This does not tell us what the something that may have been involved with something coming from nothing. A supposed first cause, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something is not an open invitation to claim it as known, neither is it justified to call or label such an unknown as anything, especially an unsubstantiated magical thinking belief born of mythology and religious storytelling.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.

The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:

Show one: Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses.

Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!

Show seven: Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)

Show eight: Paganism 4,000 years old: Moralistic gods after the rise of Statism and often support Statism/Kings: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)

Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO

Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO

Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO

Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO

Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO

Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO

Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO

Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO

I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.

The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.

An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”

My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?

I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.

I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.

This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO

Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy

Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)

Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Eridu: First City of Power)

Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)

Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)

Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)

Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (King Lugalzagesi and the First Empire)

Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)

Show #8: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Naram-Sin, Post-Akkadian Rule, and the Gutians)

Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)

Show #10: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Third Dynasty of Ur / Neo-Sumerian Empire)

Show #11: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Amorites, Elamites, and the End of an Era)

Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”

Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.

Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?

Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.

I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.

Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.

At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.

Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d  

The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)

Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty

The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft

Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.

Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie

Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.

Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”

I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.

To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so.

My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?

Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago. 

To me, animal gods were likely first related to totemism animals around 13,000 to 12,000 years ago or older. Female as goddesses was next to me, 11,000 to 10,000 years ago or so with the emergence of agriculture. Then male gods come about 8,000 to 7,000 years ago with clan wars. Many monotheism-themed religions started in henotheism, emerging out of polytheism/paganism.

Gods?
 
“Animism” is needed to begin supernatural thinking.
“Totemism” is needed for supernatural thinking connecting human actions & related to clan/tribe.
“Shamanism” is needed for supernatural thinking to be controllable/changeable by special persons.
 
Together = Gods/paganism

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism

My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or QuotesMy YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com

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