Pantheon (gods)

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Pantheon (gods)

A pantheon (from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
????e??? - pantheion, literally "a temple of all gods

Deity

A deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divinity, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by human beings....
", neut. of pa??e??? - pantheios, "of or common to all gods", from p?? - pan, "all" + ?e??? - theios, "of or for the gods", from ?e?? - theos, "god") is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion

Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
or mythology

Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
.

Max Weber

Max Weber

Maximilian Carl Emil Weber was one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Born in Germany, Weber became a lawyer, politician, scholar, political economy, and sociology....
's 1922 opus, Economy and Society
Economy and Society

Economy and Society is a book by political economist and sociologist Max Weber, published posthumously in 1922 in literature by his wife Marianne....
discusses the link between a pantheon of gods and the development of monotheism

Monotheism

In theology, monotheism is the belief that only one god exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the Neoplatonism concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite....
.

Pantheon can also refer to a temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A ??templum?? constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur....
or sacred building explicitly dedicated to "all deities", avoiding the difficulty of giving an exhaustive list. The most famous such structure is the Pantheon

Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 126 AD during Hadrian's reign....
of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, built in the year 27 BC.

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Encyclopedia

A pantheon (from Greek

Greek language

Deity

Religion

Mythology

Max Weber

Monotheism

Temple

Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 126 AD during Hadrian's reign....
of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, built in the year 27 BC. The building was dedicated to "all gods" as a gesture embracing the religious syncretism

Syncretism

Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogy several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclu...
in the increasingly multicultural Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, with subjects worshipping gods from many cultures and traditions. The building was later renovated for use as a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
church in 609 under Pope Boniface IV

Pope Boniface IV

Pope Saint Boniface IV was pope from 608 to his death.Son of Johannes, a physician, a Marsian from the province and town of Valeria ; he succeeded Boniface III after a vacancy of over nine months....
.

Specific pantheons

Sumerian pantheon
Greek pantheon
Roman pantheon
Germanic pantheon

Norse pantheon

Celtic pantheon
Celtic pantheon

The gods and goddesses, or deity of the Celts are known from a variety of sources, these include written Celtic mythology, ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects and place or personal names....
Slavic pantheon
Hindu pantheon

Rigvedic pantheon

Japanese pantheon
Aztec pantheon
Native American pantheon
Native American deities

Deities in Native American mythology....
African pantheons

Figurative use

Since the 16th century the word has also been used in a secular sense, meaning a set of exalted people. This meaning, in modern parlance, is often used to describe the rise of a person into that exalted group, e.g., "Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an England rock musician best known as the lead vocalist of the The Rolling Stones. As well as a songwriter, he is an actor, and record producer and film producer....
has joined the pantheon of rock

Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
megastars."