Ancient Religions of the West

1.Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest living religions in the world and it began to flourish in ancient Iran, which was known as Persia. Zoroastrianism began in the fifth or fourth century due to the influence of the Persian Empire.

2.Zoroastrianism spread beyond the Persian Empire thanks to them being conquered by Alexander the Great and caused all aspects of Persian culture to spread.

3.An angel called Good Thought brought him as a disembodied soul before Ahura Mazda, the wise lord. Zarathustra recognized Ahura Mazda as the one true God. He went around preaching the radical message of monotheism to his polytheistic society.

4.The sacred text of Zoroastrianism is called the Avesta. The oldest part of this text is the Gathas which are seventeen hymns written by Zarathustra.   

5.Ahura Mazda is eternal and universal goodness, controlling the cosmos and the destiny of humans. Ahura is the creator of everything.

6.Ethical Dualism is the belief in universal forces of good and evil.

7.The lie is an evil cosmic force that opposes Ahura who is good.

8.Humans must choose between the truth (good) and the lie (evil).

9.Zarathustra doctrine on human destiny discusses resurrection and judgment of the dead and that a human either goes to heaven or hell depending on the choices they made.

10.The general ethical demands of traditional Zoroastrian life are caring for livestock and fields.

11.The Parsis are the followers of Zoroastrianism and the majority of them live in India today.

12.The Iliad and the Odyssey are commonly regarded as being the Bible for ancient Greeks.

13.The sentence saying the gods of Olympus are anthropomorphic means they had human attributes such as talents and limitations.

14.Aeshylus’ main contribution to the understanding of the gods was that he introduced the concept of divine justice. An example would be in the play Agamemnon he writes that suffering is a necessary part of the divine plan of Zeus.

15.An oracle is a sanctuary at which revelations of a god are received. The most famous oracle in ancient Greece is Delphi and she was consulted because Greeks sought the wisdom of Apollo through her.

16.The three basic aspects of the mystery religions are that individuals went through an initiation ceremony, the initiates experienced an encounter with a deity, and the initiates gained a spiritual renewal, which will help them in the afterlife.

17.The mystery religion that honored Demeter and Persephone was Eleusinian religion.

18.Dionysus is mainly associated as the god of fertility and is usually depicted with wine and grapes.

19.The goal of the ascetic practices of the Orphics was to lead a pure life.

20.Plato’s theory of knowledge is that we know things in this life specifically because we have experienced them in our past life.

21.Platonic dualism says that the truth of the world is independent from any bodily or material ideas in reality. Truth lies within oneself that can only be found through wisdom.

22.Jesus seemed to have much in common with ancient Asclepius because they were both revered as saviors who had a strong relationship with their followers.

23.The Numina were supernatural beings that were in charge of specific functions such as populating towns. They were able to inhabit streams, fields, and doorways.

24.The most powerful Roman deity was Jupiter.

25.The six planets of our solar system that are named after Roman deities are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mars.

26.The Roman state considered it essential to maintain official worshiping practices so that ways they would never anger the gods and they would always be at peace.

27.The mystery religions that were the main rivals of Christianity in the later Roman Empire were Mithraism and the Cult of Iris.

28.Osiris was killed and hacked to pieces by his evil brother. His wife Iris found the pieces and mummified them, causing him to come back to life.

29.Augustus told his worshipers to worship the Roman state and his guardian spirit.

30.Christian and Roman rulers argued over emperor worship because Romans believed the main focus of worship should be the state while Catholics believed it should be God and the Romans views contradicted their religion.

Judaism

1. The three functions of a synagogue are to sever as a house of assembly, a house of study, and a house of prayer.
2. A synagogue is a place of worship for Jews and it has items in very specific locations. In every synagogue there are three things in it that are in all synagogue's and that is the holy ark, the ten commandments and the Torah Scrolls.  On the eastern wall there is the holy ark which contains the Torah scrolls. The ark is usually located in the front of the room on a stage. The ark is highly decorated and people use it to focus on there prayers. The Torah scrolls are covered by a cloth. The Torah is usually decorated with such objects like a crown or a breastplate. The ten commandments in synagogues are written in Hebrew and are usually located on the wall. 
3. A rabbi is a man who is appointed to teach and preach to the jewish community. To become a rabbi a person has to be Jewish, a scholar of Jewish law, fluent in Hebrew, and hired by other rabbi's to lead a congregation. A rabbi is different from a clergyman because the rabbi has not authority from god like a clergyman (priest). A rabbi is just a leader of a community who has extensive knowledge on Jewish law.
4. Shabbat is a day of rest in which a jew uses to enrich their spirit. This is observed everyday for three times a day. 
5. Torah has five books. They are
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8. Yiddish is the language of modern Jewish culture. It is mainly spoken by people who live in the West. 
9. Mazal Tov: Congratulations. Shalom: Hello/Peace/Goodbye. Mitzvah: A commandment.
10. Brit Milah is the ceremony of circumcision. On the eighth day of a babies life he is circumcised just as Abraham was told to do with his son. A Bar Mitzvah is when a boy reaches the age of 13 he assumes the full responsibility of observing the commandments.
11. 1. Rosh Hashanah known as the Jewish New Year. Yom Kippur is the most important in Jewish holidays and on this day Jew's reflect and atone for the sins they have committed throughout the year. Hanukkah is the equivalent of Christmas in Christianity however Jews light candles signifying a story in Jewish scriptures. The Passover is a holiday observed in response to the Exodus and the Jews being free from slavery.
    2. One thing i had confirmed about Jewish tradition that I knew was that Bar Mitzvah's occur when a boy has turned 13.
    3. The most interesting thing I found out is that Hanukkah is not that important in Jewish Tradition because it is one of the main holidays everyone knows about.
    4. One aspect of Judaism that is similar to my life is mariage. 
    5. One aspect of Judaism that is different from my life is Shabbat in which Jews take time to pray three times a day.