tour 2 of 16
Enlightenment: Religion and Ritual
Gods
Interest in the gods and myths of other
cultures expanded rapidly during the Enlightenment. The translation
of religious texts from Asia and the decipherment of hieroglyphs
revealed the religious worlds of India, East Asia, and Egypt to
British readers for the first time. Travellers and researchers also
brought new information from the Americas, Africa, and the
Pacific.
They classified
the gods into pantheons, extended divine families, and identified
their specific areas of responsibility. The quest was on for
universal themes underlying the diversity of human religion, and
for its ultimate source. Egypt and India were many people's
preferred options.
Writers
on religion drew parallels between gods and rituals from different
cultures, and especially with the familiar worlds of Greece and
Rome. Supposed similarities between the religious imageries of far
distant cultures were often used to derive one mythological
tradition from another.