The Etruscan believed that every physical phenomenon was a clear act of divine power and this power could be dissuaded or persuaded to favor human acts. The Etruscan had a god for everything: The sun, Catha and Usil; a civil god, Selvans; Turan, the goddess of love; there was a god for war, a god for the moon, etc. The Etruscan afterlife was negative, gods were hostile and were said to bring misfortune, so their religion was centered on interpreting the will of the gods and satisfying it. The Egyptian's had a large belief in the afterlife, and also believed heavy in divine right. They believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts or aspects.
Religion gave meaning and explained human existence, agriculture, natural biological occurrences, and even the light of day. Religion and the gods surrounded the Aztecs lives in every direction. In order to further understand the reasoning behind why the Aztecs felt they needed to practice sacrifice, one needs to understand the importance religion held within the Aztec race. Sacrifice of any form was considered to be a payment to their gods. According to Michael Graulich (2000), the director of religious studies at a school in Paris, the primary reason for sacrifice was atonement (p. 2).
Often gods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal much like the civilization of the Aztecs whose gods were viewed as having the appearance of an animal or having animal parts on their body. Temples were built as places for the gods to stay in. Each city had a temple built for the god of that city such as the great pyramid of Giza that was built for the sun god Ra. Daily life in Ancient China and Ancient
Incas were pastoralists meaning their military strength and success based on how many llamas and alpacas you had. Woman in the Inca society wove cloth and the men drove animals to trade. The chiefs did judicial functions. The royal family supposedly came from the sun which was the most important Inca god. The Incas sacrificed a lot like the Aztecs did, they sacrificed textiles, animals, and more.
Two of the most popular myths are Genesis and the Popul Vuh, which explains how the earth was created and how humans were created. Genesis and the Popol Vuh creation myth have a lot of similarities and differences which are very important to mention. In Genesis and Popol Vuh myth there are some important similarities of how the world was created and how it was destroyed. One is that in both myths are gods involved. Other similarity is that Genesis says that God created the man from the dust and in the Popol Vuh myth the four gods created the man out of the flesh.
The Aztec and Maya were Mesoamerican civilizations (living in Mexico and Central America) while the Incas lived in South America. The religious beliefs and practices of the Mayans and Aztecs were similar, but the Incas worshiped the sun. The Mayans are credited for the Mayan calendar and the Aztecs also have a calendar, while the Incas are famed for their masonry and engineering skills. All three were great civilizations. The Mayans made several breakthroughs in these fields.
They believed the earth was flat. Also, they believed that if they feed the sun with human blood the sun would rise up. They thought that there was thirteen heavens and nine hells. The Aztecs had a lot of respect to there
Most scholars of Pre-Columbian civilization see human sacrifice among the Aztecs as a part of the long cultural tradition of human sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Contents [hide] 1 The antecedents of Mesoamerican sacrifice 2 The role of sacrifice in Mesoamerica 2.1 The 52-year cycle 3 Sacrifices to specific gods 3.1 Huitzilopochtli 3.2 Tezcatlipoca 3.3 Huehueteotl 3.4 Tlaloc 3.5 Xipe Totec 4 The Flower Wars 5 The sacrifice ritual 6 Estimates of the scope of the sacrifices 7 Discussion of primary sources 7.1 Accounts from the Grijalva expeditions 7.2 Juan Díaz 7.3 Bernal Díaz
The Aztecs lived in the valley of Mexico. They too had a polytheistic religion. Some of their gods were nature deities and other were patron deities. They had a supreme god, but he wasn’t as important compared to others. They also needed human sacrifice.
The Mayans and Incans were very similar culturally. An emperor ruled the civilizations, beneath him was the nobles and priests and following them was the merchants and artisans and at the very bottom were the serfs. Both the Incans and Mayans valued their religion very strongly and they both were polytheistic, meaning they believed in many gods. The people sacrificed human and animal blood in rituals because they believed that their gods were nourished by blood. Agriculture was also a very important role in the Mayan and Incan civilizations.