Home›Chinese Deities›Era Attested Start Year›By Century›2nd century BCEBrowse By2nd century BCEThis page groups deities by the earliest year a surviving written or inscribed source places them, sorting gods by how far back their documented worship can actually be traced. Archaeologists call this kind of earliest possible date a terminus post quem, which Wikipedia defines as "the earliest date the event may have happened or the item was in existence." Browsing by first attestation separates deities known from the oldest surviving records from ones who only appear in much later texts.FactsLearn More2nd century BCESourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsAttestationEra of AttestationWell-attestedDivine names appear in the Shang oracle-bone inscriptions of about 1250 to 1050 BCE, the earliest Chinese writing. The pantheon is documented continuously thereafter and is in worship today. 3Veneration TodayWell-attestedWorshipped today in temples, at domestic altars and at festivals across the Chinese-speaking world. 2OverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedThe gods of Chinese religion taken across its parts rather than within one of them: the Taoist canonical pantheon, the deities of the imperial state cult, buddhas and bodhisattvas naturalised into popular worship, and the local and household gods of folk religion. The pantheon is ordered like a bureaucracy, with rank, office and promotion, and many of its members are deified humans. 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedDeities 1Learn MoreThe gods of Chinese religion This group gathers the deities of Chinese folk religion, Taoism and the state cult, a pantheon organised much like an imperial bureaucracy, with a supreme heaven, ranked officials and local gods answerable upward. Figures move between Taoist, Buddhist and popular contexts, and many are deified humans elevated for merit. The browser will find the Jade Emperor at the head of the celestial administration, the Three Pure Ones of Taoist cosmology, the Queen Mother of the West, city gods and kitchen gods, and popular protectors such as Mazu and Guan Yu. The tradition is syncretic and living, and the entries note where a figure belongs to Taoist, Buddhist or folk contexts.2nd century BCEFilter Results3 entriesPlanetary FaceAllChiron (1)Moon (1)Neptune (1)Interpretatio OfAllSukunabikona (1)HistoricityAllLegendary: known from narrative tradition, not the historical record (1)Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being (2)TheologyAllPolytheistic: many gods (3)ArchetypeAllThe Caregiver (2)The Innocent (1)Veneration StatusAllActively venerated in a living tradition (2)Historically attested; no continuous cult (1)Worshipped InAllChinese Folk Religion (3)Domain / FunctionAllAgriculture and harvest (1)Chaos and adversary (1)Healing and medicine (1)Moon (1)Rivers, lakes and springs (1)GenderAllFemale (1)Male (2)PantheonAllChinese (3)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 3Chang e2nd century BCEGonggong2nd century BCEShennong2nd century BCESources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Chinese ReligionView the Source3. Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age Chinatier 1David N. Keightley, University of California Press, 1978chs. 1-2View the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.