Browse By

Tradition

This page groups figures by the wider religious tradition that recognizes them. Wikipedia notes that "within Christianity, veneration is practiced by groups such as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, all of which have varying types of canonization or glorification processes." Browsing by tradition lets a visitor read every figure from one religious tradition together.

Facts

Overview

What Defines This Grouping

The great figures of myth and legend, often born of a god and a mortal, whose deeds carry a tradition's ideals. In Greece the hero was the object of a tomb cult distinct from the worship of the gods; that institution is Greek, and using the word of Irish, Norse or Indian figures is a comparative move rather than a translation. 2

Peoples and Traditions Covered

A cover term. It gathers the Greek heroes and their tomb cult, the warriors of the Irish cycles, the legendary Volsungs of Norse tradition and the epic warriors of the Mahabharata. Each tradition has its own word and its own institutions for these figures. 3

Sources

1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree

2. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition

Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2012s.v. hero-cultView the Source

3. Encyclopedia of Religion

Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005Heroes; QuestsView the Source

Switch Atlas

The Inner World

The Civil World

The Natural World

Tradition

Ancient Greek Religion

Celtic Paganism

Chinese Folk Religion

Hinduism

Judaism

Maya Religion

Norse Paganism

Roman Religion