From Ritual to God in the Ancient Near East : Tracing the Origins of Religion

Cambridge University Press

From Ritual to God in the Ancient Near EastTracing the Origins of Religion\nAuthor(s): Nicola Laneri\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781009306645, 978-1009306645\nSynopsis\nHuman belief systems and practices can be traced to ca. 10,000 BCE in the Ancient Near East, where the earliest evidence of ritual structures and objects can be [url] architecture, the relics of human skeletons, animal symbolism, statues, and icons all contributed to a complex network into which the spiritual essence of the divine was materially present. In this book, Nicola Laneri traces the transformation of the belief systems that shaped life in ancient Near Eastern communities, from prehistoric times until the advent of religious monotheism in the Levant during the first millennium BCE. Considering a range of evidence, from stone ceremonial enclosures, such as as Gbleki Tepe, to the construction of the first temples and ic.