RELIGIONS: EXPERIENCES AND SPIRITUALITY

Module 4 – Religious Expressions of Bronze Age Humans

Lesson 1. Lifestyle

a. The Bronze Age marked the first time humans started to work with metal; bronze tools and
weapons soon replaced earlier stone versions; ancient Sumer (in present-day southern
Iraq) may have been the first civilization to start adding tin to copper to make bronze;
bronze was harder and more durable than copper, which made bronze a better metal for
tools and weapons
b. Humans made many technological advances during the Bronze Age, including the first writing
systems and the invention of the wheel and the ox-drawn plow; in the Middle East and
parts of Asia, the Bronze Age lasted from roughly 3300 to 1200 B.C., ending abruptly with
the near-simultaneous collapse of several prominent Bronze Age civilizations
c. The Bronze Age was marked by the rise of states or kingdoms – large-scale societies joined
under a central government by a powerful ruler; Bronze Age states interacted with each
other through trade, warfare, migration and the spread of ideas; prominent Bronze Age
kingdoms included Sumer and Babylonia in present-day Iraq, and Athens in present-day
Greece
c. Cultures in the ancient Near East (often called the Cradle of Civilization ) practiced intensive
year-round agriculture, developed a writing system, invented the potter’s wheel, created a
centralized government, law codes and empires, and introduced social stratification,
slavery, and organized warfare; societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy
and mathematics
c. In China, Bronze Age civilizations centered around the Yellow River during the Shang Dynasty
(1600-1046 B .C.) and Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B. C.); chariots, weapons and vessels were
fashioned in bronze using piece-mold casting as opposed to the lost-wax method used in
other Bronze Age cultures; this meant a model had to be made of the desired object, and
then covered in a clay mold. The clay mold would then be cut into sections that were re-
fired to create a single mold
d. The Minoans of Bronze Age Greece were traders who exported timber, olive oil, wine and dye
to nearby Egypt, Syria, Cyprus and the Greek mainland; they imported metals and other
raw materials, including copper, tin, ivory and precious stones; in Greek mythology, the
city of Mycenae was founded by Perseus, the Greek hero who beheaded Medusa

Lesson 2. Religious expressions

a. In the early Bronze Age, there was a moral community between the living and the dead,
meaning that the dead were an essential part of society there were religious practices
concerning the dead, their afterlife, and their influence on the living; there was a highly
developed belief system behind the afterlife and a part of it involved an intense passage to
enter the afterlife; the elaborate mortuary practices and burial practices that occurred
before and after death were all to ensure a safe and successful voyage into the afterlife
b. People believed in life after death, as they buried the dead with objects of daily use; these
objects were thought to be useful to the deceased in the afterlife; at the beginning of the
Bronze Age the dead were buried in the fetal position; on some occasions, tombs were

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 collective; as the Bronze Age progressed, in some regions the dead began to be cremated,
and at times, the ashes were placed in containers
c. The members of society included ritual chiefs, priests, and gods or goddesses; societies of the
Bronze Age were almost exclusively theocratic (a system of government in which priests
rule in the name of God or a god); political leaders, chiefs, and kings, were thought
to be “empowered by the gods” and were in command of any religious texts used by the
society; often, these texts were delivered orally, but would eventually be written down
as written language developed
d. The sun was the main deity of this time, sometimes represented as a god, sometimes as a
goddess; other times, a couple who created the whole universe was depicted; these were
the forms that some of the solar gods of the time took
e. The 3,000-line poem Epic of Gilgamesh from Sumer (in present-day Iraq) follows the
adventures of a Sumerian king as he battles a forest monster and quests after the secrets of
eternal life
b. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture, and many aspects of
religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period and lasted until about 2,686 B. C.;
during this period, the pantheon of the gods was established; bodies of the royal and the
elite were mummified because it was thought by the Egyptians that the body must remain
intact and in order for the deceased to continue living in the afterworld; the journey
to the afterworld was a passage filled with challenges and difficulties; one of these
obstacles was a judgement after death where the deceased’s heart was weighed; if the
deceased failed the test, then they would die a second time and would be cast outside the
ordered cosmos; the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians would heavily influence other
religions of the region
c. In the Bronze Age Minoan civilization in Greece, the caves were abandoned for their use of
homes, but were instead used for cemeteries; eventually they became centers for Minoan
cult worship practices; evidence for these practices consists of the findings of pottery,
animal figurines, and occasionally bronze objects; these objects found in caves that were
used for habitation through the Neolithic and then used for cult purposes, as well as in
caves that their only known use was for religious reasons
c. Chinese bronze artifacts are generally either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or
ritual bronzes, more elaborate versions of everyday vessels in precious materials of
everyday vessels, tools, and weapons; in addition to numerous large sacrificial tripods
known as dings in Chinese, there are many other distinct shapes; ritual bronzes were
highly decorated with taotie (bulging eyed, mouth gaping dragon) motifs, including highly
stylized animal faces, in three main types: demons, symbolic animals, and abstract
symbols
d. In Bronze Age Great Britain, burial of the dead, previously communal, became individual as
bodies were interred in barrows (mound) and cists (ancient coffins or burial chambers
made from stone or a hollowed tree) covered with cairns (man-made piles or stacks of
stones)