The timeline

Every dated witness in the collection, from the first writing at Uruk to the scholars who recovered these gods. A date marks when the evidence was written down, not when the belief began.

The scale changes at 1000 BCE: the first 2,400 years take the left two fifths.

Before 2000 BCE

14 witnesses

c. 4000–3100 BCEPredynastic regional symbols, burials, standards, and animal cults provide the deep background to later divine iconography.The Gift of the Nile
c. 3400–3000 BCEUruk-period writing and monumental temple economies create the earliest recoverable administrative setting for named divine institutions.The Cradle of Cities
c. 3100–2686 BCEEarly Dynastic kingship joins royal ideology to local cult centers and establishes many durable divine emblems.The Gift of the Nile
c. 2900–2350 BCEEarly Dynastic city-states preserve local cults, hymns, royal inscriptions, and god lists; later copies often transmit older compositions.The Cradle of Cities
c. 2686–2181 BCEOld Kingdom pyramid complexes and the Pyramid Texts preserve the earliest large religious corpus.The Gift of the Nile
Old KingdomPyramid Texts preserve early Atum, Re, and royal cosmogonic language.The Gift of the Nile, The Cosmogonies
Old Kingdom onwardRegional cult centers and nome emblems are integrated into royal administration.The Gift of the Nile, The Cities and the Sacred Animals
c. 2600 BCEEarly god lists and royal inscriptions attest city pantheons in historically recoverable form.The Cradle of Cities, Sumer
late Old KingdomOsiris becomes increasingly prominent in royal mortuary texts and Abydene associations.The Gift of the Nile, The Osirian Cycle
c. 2334–2154 BCEThe Akkadian Empire expands bilingual and imperial patterns of divine identification without erasing local cult titles.The Cradle of Cities
c. 2181–1650 BCEFirst Intermediate and Middle Kingdom traditions broaden mortuary access; Coffin Texts develop older royal materials.The Gift of the Nile
c. 2112–2004 BCEUr III administration and scribal schooling standardize many Sumerian literary and liturgical forms.The Cradle of Cities
c. 2100–1800 BCEThe main manuscript horizon of many Sumerian hymns and school copies preserved in modern composite editions.The Cradle of Cities, Sumer
Middle Kingdom onwardProtective wands and domestic objects preserve constellations of birth and household guardians.The Gift of the Nile, The Protectors and the Sages

2000 to 1000 BCE

30 witnesses

c. 2000–1600 BCEOld Babylonian schools copy major myths, laments, hymns, debates, and heroic narratives in the form most often used by modern editors.The Cradle of Cities
Indo-Iranian backgroundSome divine names and ritual concepts have Vedic cognates without implying unchanged identity.The Persian World, The Yazatas
late 2nd–early 1st millennium BCE, debatedThe Old Avestan Gathas and Yasna Haptanghaiti emerge in an eastern Iranian ritual-poetic setting; Zarathustra’s date remains disputed.The Persian World
2nd–1st millennia BCEBronze and Iron Age regional cultures establish the archaeological backgrounds later labeled Thracian, Illyrian, Iberian, Caucasian, and Libyan.The Edges of Empire
2nd–1st millennia BCELibyan groups appear in Egyptian records and regional archaeology.The Edges of Empire, The Berber Amazigh Pantheon
2nd–1st millennia BCEIndo-European language dispersals and regional Bronze Age cultures provide a remote comparative background, not a recoverable common canon.The Northern Inheritance
after c. 1800 BCESumerian remains a learned and liturgical language as Akkadian becomes dominant in daily administration.The Cradle of Cities, Sumer
c. 18th century BCEOld Babylonian literature and Hammurabi-era royal theology elevate Babylon while preserving older gods.The Cradle of Cities, Akkad, Babylon and Assyria
c. 17th–16th centuries BCEOld Hittite royal and ritual texts begin the major written archive.The Cradle of Cities, Anatolia
c. 1650–1200 BCEHittite and Hurrian archives at Hattusa transmit Anatolian myths, imported Syrian materials, and ritual compositions.The Cradle of Cities
c. 1600–1100 BCEMycenaean palace tablets in Linear B record offerings and divine names, but little continuous myth.The Olympian Order
Mycenaean periodLinear B tablets attest several later Olympian names in palace cult.The Olympian Order, Hades and the Lesser Olympians
Mycenaean periodLate Bronze Age places and warfare form a historical horizon later transformed by heroic tradition.The Olympian Order, The Heroic Cycle and the Tragic Houses
c. 1550–1070 BCENew Kingdom temple wealth, royal hymns, underworld books, and the Book of Going Forth by Day greatly expand the record.The Gift of the Nile
New KingdomAmun-Re theology integrates Theban supremacy with older solar creation.The Gift of the Nile, The Cosmogonies
New KingdomAmulets, medical-magical texts, and funerary books richly attest protective beings.The Gift of the Nile, The Protectors and the Sages
Old Avestan periodGathic poetry frames truth, choice, beneficent spirit, and destructive opposition.The Persian World, Ahura Mazda and the Cosmic Dualism
Old AvestaSeveral qualities appear as central theological terms and powers.The Persian World, The Amesha Spentas
Avestan periodYima, Thraetaona, Keresaspa, and future renovators appear in ritual-poetic forms.The Persian World, Heroes, Adversaries and the Final Renewal
c. 14th–13th centuries BCEImperial Hattusa collects Hurrian epics, state treaties, festival texts, and cult inventories.The Cradle of Cities, Anatolia
c. 1400–1190 BCEThe tablets of Ugarit preserve the Baal Cycle, Kirta, Aqhat, ritual lists, and a dense Late Bronze Age West Semitic pantheon.The Cradle of Cities
c. 1400–1190 BCEUgarit’s archives preserve alphabetic cuneiform myths, rituals, and administrative cult lists.The Cradle of Cities, Canaan and Phoenicia
Middle–New KingdomsOsirian afterlife access broadens and the judgment tradition becomes richly elaborated.The Gift of the Nile, The Osirian Cycle
c. 1353–1336 BCEAkhenaten’s Aten program reorganizes royal cult but does not permanently erase the older divine plurality.The Gift of the Nile
late 2nd millennium BCEEnūma eliš takes shape in a form that grounds Marduk’s kingship in cosmic victory.The Cradle of Cities, Akkad, Babylon and Assyria
c. 1200 BCECollapse of the Hittite empire ends the central archive, while Luwian and local traditions continue in successor states.The Cradle of Cities, Anatolia
traditional 12th century BCERoman chronology places Aeneas’ migration after the fall of Troy.The Roman Inheritance, The Founders
c. 1200–900 BCEAramaean polities emerge in Syria within the post–Late Bronze Age political landscape.The Levantine Borderlands
c. 1100–800 BCEPost-palatial oral traditions and changing cult landscapes precede the surviving alphabetic epics.The Olympian Order
c. 1070–664 BCEThird Intermediate Period priestly and regional powers reshape cult administration and divine kingship.The Gift of the Nile

1000 to 500 BCE

52 witnesses

c. 1000–750 BCEIron Age communities of Latium and neighboring peoples develop the cult landscapes later absorbed into Roman tradition.The Roman Inheritance
10th–8th centuries BCEAramaean royal inscriptions and monumental art attest dynastic patron gods.The Levantine Borderlands, The Aramaean Gods of Syria
c. 1000–612 BCENeo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires collect, revise, and politically reinterpret older learned traditions.The Cradle of Cities
c. 1000–500 BCEPhoenician city-states and colonies spread local cults through maritime networks.The Cradle of Cities, Canaan and Phoenicia
Younger Avestan periodAngra Mainyu and hostile beings receive fuller mythic and ritual definition.The Persian World, Ahura Mazda and the Cosmic Dualism
Younger AvestaThe six form a more explicit liturgical group around Ahura Mazda.The Persian World, The Amesha Spentas
Younger Avestan periodMajor Yashts develop the personalities and cult praise of individual yazatas.The Persian World, The Yazatas
1st millennium BCEYounger Avestan hymns, ritual texts, and legal-purity materials develop over a long period of oral transmission.The Persian World
1st millennium BCERegional Iron Age communities form the archaeological setting later called Illyrian.The Edges of Empire, The Illyrian Pantheon
1st millennium BCE–early CEKingdoms and regional cults develop amid Iranian, Anatolian, Greek, and local influences.The Edges of Empire, The Caucasian Georgian Pantheon
1st millennium BCE–early CEIranian-speaking steppe cultures provide a distant linguistic and comparative background.The Edges of Empire, The Ossetian Nart Pantheon
1st millennium BCESiwa, Phoenician-Punic cities, and interior communities create multiple contact zones.The Edges of Empire, The Berber Amazigh Pantheon
c. 900–750 BCEVillanovan communities establish the Iron Age background from which historically Etruscan cities emerge.The Etruscan World
9th–8th centuries BCERoyal inscriptions and regional monuments attest Aramaean dynasties and their divine patrons.The Levantine Borderlands
late 8th–7th centuries BCEThe Iliad, Odyssey, Hesiodic Theogony and Works and Days give influential but non-exclusive divine orders.The Olympian Order
late 8th–7th century BCEHesiod’s Theogony supplies the most influential surviving archaic cosmogonic sequence.The Olympian Order, The Primordial Powers
8th–7th centuries BCEEpic and Hesiod preserve early monster names and genealogies.The Olympian Order, The Heroic Bestiary
8th–7th centuries BCENeo-Assyrian conquest redistributes populations and embeds Syrian cults within imperial networks.The Levantine Borderlands
8th–6th centuries BCEEpic, catalogue poetry, and local cult organize major heroic cycles.The Olympian Order, The Heroic Cycle and the Tragic Houses
8th–6th centuries BCEAssyrian and Babylonian rule displaces courts while local cults continue.The Levantine Borderlands, The Aramaean Gods of Syria
8th–6th centuries BCEGreek and Phoenician colonization creates new inscriptional, artistic, and commercial contact zones.The Edges of Empire
archaic periodHesiod’s succession myth establishes the canonical Titan genealogy and war.The Olympian Order, The Titans and Their Children
archaic periodEpic and hymns shape the divine household and major cult narratives.The Olympian Order, Hades and the Lesser Olympians
archaic periodEpic, Hesiod, and hymns establish major sea and wilderness genealogies.The Olympian Order, The Sea, the Wild and the Wind
archaic periodHesiod and epic organize many collective beings and monster genealogies.The Olympian Order, The Margins and the Monsters
traditional 753 BCERoman foundation chronology places Romulus and the first civic institutions at the beginning of the city’s sacred history.The Roman Inheritance
traditional 753 BCERomulus founds Rome and establishes first institutions.The Roman Inheritance, The Founders
c. 750–600 BCEOrientalizing exchange and urban growth transform elite ritual, iconography, writing, and sanctuary display.The Etruscan World
Orientalizing periodImported motifs and local practice reshape solar and celestial iconography.The Etruscan World, The Powers of the Sun, Moon and Earth
7th century BCEThe library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh preserves major scholarly recensions, including Enūma eliš and the Standard Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic.The Cradle of Cities
7th century BCENineveh’s scholarly collections preserve Assyrian revisions and major Standard Babylonian works.The Cradle of Cities, Akkad, Babylon and Assyria
7th–6th centuries BCEHomeric Hymns, lyric poetry, colonization, and local sanctuary traditions multiply regional narratives.The Olympian Order
7th–6th centuries BCEEleusinian and Dionysiac institutions become increasingly visible in text and archaeology.The Olympian Order, The Mysteries
7th–6th centuries BCEMonumental temples and urban cult establish major civic divinities.The Etruscan World, The Sky Triad and the Civic Cult
traditional 7th–6th centuries BCEThe regal period is credited with priesthoods, calendars, temples, and the organization of public rites.The Roman Inheritance
7th–5th centuries BCEVase painting fixes influential visual forms for sphinxes, Gorgons, centaurs, and heroic combats.The Olympian Order, The Heroic Bestiary
664–332 BCELate Period archaism, animal cults, and temple scholarship preserve and reinterpret older forms.The Gift of the Nile
Late PeriodLarge-scale animal cemeteries and pilgrimage economies become especially visible archaeologically.The Gift of the Nile, The Cities and the Sacred Animals
c. 600–475 BCEEtruscan city-states reach their widest political and artistic influence; temples and mythic imagery proliferate.The Etruscan World
6th–5th centuries BCEOrphic, Pythagorean, and mystery materials develop alternative cosmogonies and afterlife doctrines.The Olympian Order
6th–5th centuries BCEGreek narrative art is extensively adapted in Etruscan objects and tombs.The Etruscan World, The Gods of Love, Wine, War and Craft
6th–5th centuries BCETomb imagery presents banqueting, journey, and mythic themes.The Etruscan World, The Underworld and the Spirits of Death
6th–4th centuries BCEEarly philosophical and Orphic materials propose alternative first principles and divine successions.The Olympian Order, The Primordial Powers
6th–4th centuries BCEClassical authors begin describing frontier peoples and translating local gods into Greek categories.The Edges of Empire
6th–3rd centuries BCEIndigenous scripts, sanctuaries, and Mediterranean contacts diversify the religious record.The Edges of Empire, The Iberian Pantheon
c. 550–330 BCEAchaemenid inscriptions invoke Ahuramazda in imperial royal ideology; their relationship to later Zoroastrian orthodoxy requires care.The Persian World
Achaemenid–Sasanian periodsRoyal inscriptions, iconography, and ritual institutions reshape public prominence.The Persian World, The Yazatas
539–332 BCEAchaemenid rule sustains Aramaic as a major administrative language and connects Levantine and Arabian routes.The Levantine Borderlands
539–331 BCEAchaemenid rule continues Mesopotamian temple scholarship while changing the political setting of its transmission.The Cradle of Cities
regal and early Republican traditionRoman memory assigns foundational cults, priesthoods, and festivals to the kings.The Roman Inheritance, The Indigenous Italic Gods
509–264 BCERepublican expansion incorporates Latin, Sabine, Etruscan, and Italian cults through treaty, migration, and evocatio.The Roman Inheritance
Republican periodDomestic shrines and legal-religious language attest household powers across social levels.The Roman Inheritance, The Household and Ancestral Spirits

500 BCE to the turn of the era

59 witnesses

5th century BCEAthenian tragedy and comedy recast heroic houses and divine justice for civic audiences.The Olympian Order
5th century BCEAeschylean Prometheus traditions give the Titan a new political and ethical prominence.The Olympian Order, The Titans and Their Children
5th century BCE onwardTragedy and later mythography create the most familiar continuous family narratives.The Olympian Order, The Heroic Cycle and the Tragic Houses
5th century BCEHerodotus and Athenian evidence provide influential descriptions of Thracian gods and rites.The Edges of Empire, The Thracian Pantheon
5th–4th centuries BCEDrama, civic cult, and visual art differentiate named members and functions.The Olympian Order, The Margins and the Monsters
5th–4th centuries BCEInitiation, tragedy, philosophical critique, and gold tablets provide diverse evidence.The Olympian Order, The Mysteries
5th–4th centuries BCETomb painting, mirrors, votive deposits, and regional cults provide dense evidence for divine and funerary imagery.The Etruscan World
5th–3rd centuries BCEInscriptions and mirrors develop named divine iconography.The Etruscan World, The Sky Triad and the Civic Cult
c. 500 BCE–1 CEIron Age material culture, names, sanctuaries, and classical ethnography offer early but external evidence for Celtic and Germanic religions.The Northern Inheritance
classical periodSanctuaries, healing cults, and drama deepen Artemis, Hecate, and Asclepius traditions.The Olympian Order, The Sea, the Wild and the Wind
classical Etruscan periodMirrors and sanctuaries provide named scenes and dedications.The Etruscan World, The Powers of the Sun, Moon and Earth
c. 474 BCEThe defeat at Cumae marks changing Etruscan power in Campania and the Tyrrhenian world.The Etruscan World
4th century BCEPhilosophers, antiquarians, and local historians interpret or criticize inherited myth.The Olympian Order
4th century BCE–106 CEThe Nabataean kingdom develops Petra, Hegra, and a distinctive epigraphic and aniconic cult tradition.The Levantine Borderlands
4th–3rd centuries BCEMirrors multiply labeled divine and heroic scenes.The Etruscan World, The Gods of Love, Wine, War and Craft
4th–2nd centuries BCEThe Nabataean kingdom and script emerge in the caravan landscape.The Levantine Borderlands, The Nabataean Pantheon of Petra and the Hijaz
4th–2nd centuries BCEDarker underworld demons and labeled figures become especially prominent.The Etruscan World, The Underworld and the Spirits of Death
Roman incorporationSeveral Etruscan gods are increasingly interpreted through Roman names.The Etruscan World, The Gods of Love, Wine, War and Craft
4th–1st centuries BCEThracian kingdoms and Hellenistic exchange produce rich tomb and cult art.The Edges of Empire, The Thracian Pantheon
4th–1st centuries BCEGreek colonies and regional kingdoms increase written and artistic contact.The Edges of Empire, The Illyrian Pantheon
396–264 BCERoman conquest progressively incorporates Etruscan cities while Etruscan priestly expertise remains prestigious.The Etruscan World
332–64 BCEHellenistic kingdoms introduce Greek civic and iconographic forms while local cults persist and hybridize.The Levantine Borderlands
332–30 BCEPtolemaic temples produce extensive hieroglyphic ritual and theological inscriptions amid Greek-Egyptian exchange.The Gift of the Nile
330 BCE–224 CEHellenistic and Parthian eras preserve Iranian cults through sparse and regionally varied evidence.The Persian World
323–31 BCEHellenistic poets and scholars systematize variants across an enlarged Greek world.The Olympian Order
classical–Hellenistic periodsCivic cult, philosophy, and mystery religion multiply epithets and theological interpretations.The Olympian Order, Hades and the Lesser Olympians
3rd–1st centuries BCEHellenistic kingdoms, Carthage, and Rome intensify political and cultic exchange.The Edges of Empire
3rd–1st centuries BCEExpansion and Greek interpretation reshape native divine biographies.The Roman Inheritance, The Indigenous Italic Gods
3rd–1st centuries BCETemples to personified virtues and imported cults multiply with conquest.The Roman Inheritance, The Deified Virtues and the Imperial Mystery Cults
264–146 BCEMediterranean conquest accelerates Greek interpretation and the importation or redefinition of foreign gods.The Roman Inheritance
218–19 BCERoman conquest progressively transforms local political and cult institutions.The Edges of Empire, The Iberian Pantheon
204 BCEThe Magna Mater is formally brought from Pessinus during the Second Punic War.The Roman Inheritance
2nd–1st centuries BCELate inscriptions and Roman antiquarian interest document cultural integration and the persistence of divinatory traditions.The Etruscan World
Late–Ptolemaic periodsImhotep and other learned figures receive developed healing and temple cults.The Gift of the Nile, The Protectors and the Sages
1st century BCE–2nd century CEDiodorus, Apollodorus, Plutarch, Pausanias, and imperial-period authors preserve major summaries and local evidence.The Olympian Order
1st century BCE–1st century CEPetra’s monumental architecture and inscriptions document mature royal and civic cult.The Levantine Borderlands, The Nabataean Pantheon of Petra and the Hijaz
1st century BCEPalmyra grows as a caravan center under changing regional powers.The Levantine Borderlands, The Gods of Palmyra
1st century BCE–3rd century CERoman provincial rule produces dedications, coins, reliefs, and interpretive equations across the Balkans, Iberia, Caucasus, and North Africa.The Edges of Empire
1st century BCE–4th century CERoman North African inscriptions and authors preserve local cults through imperial forms.The Edges of Empire, The Berber Amazigh Pantheon
1st century BCE–1st century CECicero, Varro, Livy, Seneca, and others preserve testimony about haruspicy, lightning, and prodigies.The Etruscan World
1st century BCEVarro, Cicero, and other antiquarians document rites and divine names amid civil war and institutional change.The Roman Inheritance
1st century BCE–3rd century CEClassical accounts and inscriptions provide early external and local evidence.The Northern Inheritance, The Celtic Mythologies
64 BCE onwardRoman incorporation of Syria creates new military, civic, and commercial settings for local gods.The Levantine Borderlands
late 1st century BCEAugustan literature binds Aeneas, Romulus, Venus, Mars, and imperial ancestry into a monumental narrative.The Roman Inheritance, The Founders
30 BCE–4th century CERoman rule sustains major temples before Christianization and institutional change end most public cults.The Gift of the Nile
Hellenistic–Roman periodsGreek equations and late mythographic reports preserve transformed accounts of Phoenician gods.The Cradle of Cities, Canaan and Phoenicia
Ptolemaic–Roman periodsTemple walls at Esna, Edfu, Dendera, and elsewhere elaborate local cosmogonies in monumental form.The Gift of the Nile, The Cosmogonies
Ptolemaic–Roman periodsTemple inscriptions systematize local triads and sacred-animal theology.The Gift of the Nile, The Cities and the Sacred Animals
Hellenistic–Roman periodsPoets and mythographers expand minor Titan biographies and rationalize genealogies.The Olympian Order, The Titans and Their Children
Hellenistic–Roman periodsTransformation poetry and geographic learning expand minor sea and wind figures.The Olympian Order, The Sea, the Wild and the Wind
Roman periodHandbooks and transformation poetry stabilize many familiar lists.The Olympian Order, The Margins and the Monsters
Hellenistic–Roman periodsMystery associations and Orphic-Bacchic texts spread through the Mediterranean.The Olympian Order, The Mysteries
Hellenistic–Roman periodsMythographers and poets connect local monsters into a standardized heroic sequence.The Olympian Order, The Heroic Bestiary
Hellenistic–Roman periodsHierapolis, Edessa, and other centers preserve transformed Syrian cult institutions.The Levantine Borderlands, The Aramaean Gods of Syria
Roman periodWriters retrospectively describe Etruscan triads, federal cult, and divinatory institutions.The Etruscan World, The Sky Triad and the Civic Cult
Roman periodEtruscan funerary motifs persist within changing Italian culture.The Etruscan World, The Underworld and the Spirits of Death
27 BCE–14 CEAugustan restoration monumentalizes selected ancestral cults and rewrites Roman sacred history.The Roman Inheritance
Augustan periodOvid, Virgil, calendars, and temple restoration monumentalize selected Italic traditions.The Roman Inheritance, The Indigenous Italic Gods
Augustan periodNeighborhood Lares are reorganized within imperial civic administration.The Roman Inheritance, The Household and Ancestral Spirits

The first five centuries CE

30 witnesses

1st–2nd centuries CEMonumental temples and inscriptions document civic and clan cult at greatest density.The Levantine Borderlands, The Gods of Palmyra
1st–3rd centuries CEPalmyra’s caravan wealth supports monumental temples and multilingual dedications to Bel, Baalshamin, Yarhibol, Aglibol, and others.The Levantine Borderlands
1st–3rd centuries CERoman provincial inscriptions and Rider reliefs create the largest material corpus.The Edges of Empire, The Thracian Pantheon
1st–3rd centuries CERoman provincial dedications preserve most named local divinities.The Edges of Empire, The Illyrian Pantheon
1st–3rd centuries CELatin votive inscriptions preserve many local divine names under Roman rule.The Edges of Empire, The Iberian Pantheon
1st–3rd centuries CEImperial cult, Mithraism, Isis, Serapis, Sol, and many local cults coexist across the empire.The Roman Inheritance
1st–3rd centuries CEImperial networks spread Isis, Serapis, Mithras, and solar cults.The Roman Inheritance, The Deified Virtues and the Imperial Mystery Cults
1st–4th centuries CERoman inscriptions and provincial cults preserve many Celtic, Germanic, and local divine names.The Northern Inheritance
1st–6th centuries CERoman accounts, inscriptions, and migration-period objects provide early continental evidence.The Northern Inheritance, The Norse and Germanic Gods
1st millennium CELinguistic and archaeological backgrounds develop across Finnic, Ugric, and Balkan regions.The Northern Inheritance, The Finnic, Hungarian and Albanian Traditions
79 CE and afterPompeian lararia and later archaeological contexts preserve exceptionally rich domestic iconography.The Roman Inheritance, The Household and Ancestral Spirits
c. 100 CEPlutarch’s On Isis and Osiris supplies the fullest surviving continuous Greco-Roman narrative.The Gift of the Nile, The Osirian Cycle
2nd–4th centuries CERoman imperial institutions continue to consult Etruscan ritual specialists and handbooks.The Etruscan World
2nd–5th centuries CEOrphic Hymns, late epic, allegory, and Neoplatonic interpretation transmit new syntheses under Roman rule.The Olympian Order
106 CERome annexes the Nabataean kingdom as Arabia Petraea; cult practice continues under new administration.The Levantine Borderlands
106 CE onwardRoman annexation changes administration while Nabataean language and cult forms persist regionally.The Levantine Borderlands, The Nabataean Pantheon of Petra and the Hijaz
3rd century CEPolitical ascendancy, Roman conflict, and destruction transform the city’s institutions.The Levantine Borderlands, The Gods of Palmyra
3rd–5th centuries CEWar, Palmyrene political rupture, and Christianization transform or close many public cult institutions.The Levantine Borderlands
224–651 CESasanian institutions sponsor priestly learning and the redactional organization associated with the Avesta and Zand.The Persian World
Sasanian and Pahlavi periodsCosmic history is systematized into creation, mixture, struggle, and final separation.The Persian World, Ahura Mazda and the Cosmic Dualism
Middle Persian traditionCosmic-material correspondences and adversarial pairings are systematically elaborated.The Persian World, The Amesha Spentas
Middle Persian periodFrashōkereti and Saoshyant traditions receive systematic eschatological narration.The Persian World, Heroes, Adversaries and the Final Renewal
late Etruscan–Roman periodsDivinatory schemata and Roman equations preserve learned classifications.The Etruscan World, The Powers of the Sun, Moon and Earth
late antiquityNeoplatonic authors preserve and interpret Orphic genealogical fragments.The Olympian Order, The Primordial Powers
late antiquityChristian authors preserve polemical or antiquarian fragments after the original ritual literature has disappeared.The Etruscan World
274 CEAurelian’s monumental cult of Sol Invictus gives solar ideology a new imperial center.The Roman Inheritance, The Deified Virtues and the Imperial Mystery Cults
4th century CEChristianization transforms royal and public religious institutions.The Edges of Empire, The Caucasian Georgian Pantheon
4th–5th centuries CEChristian imperial policy progressively restricts sacrifice and public temple institutions, while literary memory continues.The Roman Inheritance
4th–7th centuries CEChristianization and imperial change end or transform many public cult institutions while names persist in texts and places.The Edges of Empire
4th–8th centuries CEMigration-period and early medieval conversion transform ritual institutions while heroic traditions continue.The Northern Inheritance

500 to 1600 CE

23 witnesses

medieval periodGeorgian chronicles and epic traditions, Iberian memory, and North African historical sources reshape pre-Christian inheritances.The Edges of Empire
medieval–modern periodsChronicles and highland oral traditions preserve distinct layers of sacred narrative.The Edges of Empire, The Caucasian Georgian Pantheon
medieval periodCaucasian peoples develop shared and regional heroic cycles through oral transmission.The Edges of Empire, The Ossetian Nart Pantheon
6th–9th centuries CEExternal descriptions and archaeology provide sparse evidence for early Slavic ritual.The Northern Inheritance, The Slavic Gods and Spirits
7th–10th centuries CEAfter the Islamic conquest, Middle Persian books record cosmology, law, exegesis, and summaries of lost material.The Persian World
7th–12th centuries CEIrish ecclesiastical learning and vernacular manuscripts preserve major sagas and pseudo-histories.The Northern Inheritance, The Celtic Mythologies
8th–11th centuries CEViking Age poetry, runic evidence, archaeology, and Scandinavian conversion form the core context of Norse myth.The Northern Inheritance
8th–11th centuries CEViking Age skaldic poetry, runes, and material culture form the closest context for many surviving myths.The Northern Inheritance, The Norse and Germanic Gods
c. 9th century CEThe Bundahišn, Dēnkard, Wizīdagīhā ī Zādspram, and related works preserve systematic late antique and early Islamic syntheses.The Persian World
9th–12th centuries CESlavic, Baltic, and Finnic traditions enter chronicles and missionary accounts, often through hostile observers.The Northern Inheritance
9th–13th centuries CERegional archaeology and scattered written notices precede conquest and conversion.The Northern Inheritance, The Baltic Pantheon
10th–12th centuries CEConversion narratives and anti-pagan sermons preserve names and practices through polemic.The Northern Inheritance, The Slavic Gods and Spirits
10th–18th centuries CEIranian and Indian Zoroastrian communities preserve manuscripts, ritual recitation, and learned correspondence.The Persian World
c. 977–1010 CEFerdowsi composes the Shāhnāmeh from epic and royal traditions with both pre-Islamic and Islamic-period mediation.The Persian World
980 CEThe Primary Chronicle attributes a public pantheon at Kyiv to Vladimir.The Northern Inheritance, The Slavic Gods and Spirits
11th–14th centuries CEIrish, Welsh, and Icelandic manuscripts preserve major narrative corpora in Christian literary environments.The Northern Inheritance
c. 1010 CEThe completed Shāhnāmeh gives the heroic cycle its most influential Persian literary form.The Persian World, Heroes, Adversaries and the Final Renewal
12th–14th centuries CEWelsh manuscript traditions transmit the Four Branches and related tales in surviving form.The Northern Inheritance, The Celtic Mythologies
12th–16th centuries CESaxo, saga compilers, Baltic chroniclers, and later antiquarians systematize or reinterpret older material.The Northern Inheritance
13th century CEThe Poetic Edda manuscripts and Snorri’s Edda preserve the main continuous literary corpus after conversion.The Northern Inheritance, The Norse and Germanic Gods
13th–15th centuries CECrusading and missionary chronicles describe Baltic rites through adversarial frames.The Northern Inheritance, The Baltic Pantheon
medieval–early modern periodsChronicles and scattered descriptions provide external evidence after conversion.The Northern Inheritance, The Finnic, Hungarian and Albanian Traditions
16th–19th centuries CEConfessional polemic, antiquarian collection, and expanding literacy reshape the written record of local custom.The Northern Inheritance

Since 1600: the modern recovery

8 witnesses

18th–19th centuriesTravelers, antiquarians, and early epigraphers record monuments and oral traditions, sometimes through colonial categories.The Edges of Empire
18th–20th centuries CELarge song and folklore collections preserve rich but late evidence.The Northern Inheritance, The Baltic Pantheon
19th–20th centuriesNart sagas and regional folklore are systematically collected; national movements also encourage synthetic pantheons.The Edges of Empire
19th–20th centuriesCollectors record extensive Ossetian and neighboring Nart variants.The Edges of Empire, The Ossetian Nart Pantheon
19th–20th centuries CEFolklore collection and national romantic movements preserve valuable evidence while also creating modern syntheses.The Northern Inheritance
19th–20th centuriesOral poetry and folklore are systematically collected and arranged into national literary corpora.The Northern Inheritance, The Finnic, Hungarian and Albanian Traditions
19th century–presentPhilology, manuscript comparison, and community scholarship reconstruct the Avestan corpus while debates over chronology continue.The Persian World
late 20th century–presentArchaeology, linguistics, and corpus epigraphy revise older identifications and foreground regional variation.The Edges of Empire