religion and cosmology: Greece dead with goods such as food suggests that they believed in an afterlife in which the dead would need or want the goods They seem to have believed that deceased family members could be good influences for their living kin Historians and archaeologists disagree about exactly where the Germanic peoples thought people went after death Many argue that the notion of Valhalla, the home in the afterlife for those slain in battle, came late to the Germanic peoples, the ancient peoples believing only in a dark place in the earth governed by a goddess of the dead EARLY EUROPEAN CHRISTIANITY Christianity was making itself felt in Europe by the end of the first century c.e It was one of several religions circulating at the time, especially in central Europe One competing faith was Mithraism, an exclusively male religion especially popular among soldiers Mithras was a warrior god, and dead soldiers could hope to join him after death in a battle against evil Perhaps the key to the growth of Christianity in Europe in these early years was that it welcomed women in its religious rites Roman men often served decades in the army, leaving women at home to raise the children It is a tiny logical step to imagine many women taking their sons and daughters to a church that treated women with greater respect than did other European religions By the time the Roman emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity (ca 312 c.e.), the faith already had a strong European following Thereafter, Christian priests often became secular as well as spiritual leaders—for example, as bishops who governed towns and regions around towns During this same period, however, Christians themselves were embroiled in bitter theological disputes with one another The main issues concerned the divinity of Christ and particularly whether, if divine, he was of the same substance as God Conflict over such questions, resulting often in executions and sometimes in wholesale massacres of “heretics,” continued in Europe long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 c.e GREECE BY BRADLEY SKEEN Religion was the main binding force in ancient Greek culture Greek religion gave birth to philosophical speculation that in time not only led to the development of science but also provided the theological language of Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, and Islam It formed the basis for the creation of the first modern literature, which is still among the most important ever produced Greek religion has remained a source of inspiration for artists, writers, and composers as well as theologians and philosophers down to the present day MINOAN RELIGION The Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (ca 2000–ca 1400 b.c.e.) was the beginning of Greek civilization, though 853 its people did not speak Greek Minoan culture centered on a number of palace complexes; the most important was Knossos The agricultural produce of the surrounding countryside was dedicated to various gods in the palace storehouses; obviously religion was very important We know about the religion of Minoan Greeks from their art and from myths that were written down centuries later For example, frescoes in the palace at Knossos make it clear that one of the most important activities of Minoan culture was an athletic festival in which young male and female athletes leaped over bulls Meanwhile, the classical myth of Theseus (a legendary king of Athens) tells that each year every city in Greece had to send young men and women to Knossos, where they were sacrificed by being killed by the Minotaur—a monster with a human body and the head of a bull No definite connection between the historical evidence and the myth can be made, however The Minoans left extensive records written in an alphabet known as Linear A, but these texts have never been deciphered Minoans did not build temples like later Greeks but instead worshipped the gods on hilltops and in caves Perhaps they thought these locations were nearest the gods of the sky and the gods below the earth, respectively These shrines were generally located near palaces, and their service was one of the chief duties of the kings The most important form of worship was animal sacrifice, especially of bulls Cave shrines sometimes contained a statue of the goddess honored in them, but shrines also held many offerings of double-headed axes and swords that suggest important male deities Private houses generally had small shrines Many statuettes of a woman have been found, wearing the clothing of a Minoan aristocrat and holding her arms above her head with a writhing snake in each hand Undoubtedly, the statuettes depict goddesses Invaders from the north—the first people we know of who spoke the historical Greek language—eventually overwhelmed the Minoan civilization They founded many new cities, especially on mainland Greece; the most important was Mycenae, so their culture is called Mycenaean (1400–1100 b.c.e.) They wrote a form of Greek in a Minoan alphabet later than Linear A and known as Linear B, generally inventories of the royal palaces of the cities Many of the listed items were dedicated to various gods, the same as those worshipped by later Greeks, such as Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, and Dionysus The Homeric epics of the Iliad and the Odyssey are another source of information about the Mycenaeans The most important works of Greek literature, they were written down around the sixth century b.c.e but are both set in Mycenaean times (as was the narrative of much Greek myth) and were based on oral traditions that went back to that era These texts suggest that many institutions of historical Greek religion, such as priesthood and sacrifice, were already formed in the Mycenaean culture But as in the case of the Minoans, the sparse evidence provides more questions than answers Between 1200 and 1000 b.c.e the whole eastern Mediterranean world, including Greece, underwent a terrible collapse