Religious

Compiled in conjunction with Gemini

Pre-3000 BCE

  • 100,000 BCE: Earliest Burials – Intentional burials in the Middle East suggest an early belief in an afterlife or a "spiritual" state beyond death.
  • 10,000 – 9,000 BCE: Göbekli Tepe – Located in modern-day Turkey, this is the world's oldest known temple. It predates agriculture, suggesting that organized religion may have been why humans settled down, not the other way around.
  • 3100 BCE: Sumerian & Egyptian Polytheism – With the invention of writing, we see the first records of complex pantheons (gods like Enlil and Ra).

3000 BCE – 1000 BCE

  • 2000 – 1800 BCE: Traditional Origins of Judaism – Traditionally traced to the covenant of Abraham. Historians and archaeologists generally place the emergence of proto-Israelite monolatry (worship of one god among many) later, around 1200 BCE.
  • 1500 – 1200 BCE: The Vedic Period (Hinduism) – The composition of the Rigveda begins in India. While Hinduism has no single founder, this period establishes the foundational concepts of the Dharma and the Vedas.
  • 1350 BCE: Atenism (Egypt) – Pharaoh Akhenaten establishes the worship of the sun-disk, Aten, as the first recorded instance of monotheism in a state religion.

800 BCE – 200 BCE

  • 6th Century BCE: Zoroastrianism – Founded by the prophet Zoroaster in Persia. It introduced the concepts of a binary struggle between good and evil, heaven and hell.
  • 563 BCE: Buddhism – Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) begins teaching in India after his enlightenment.
  • 551 BCE: Confucianism – Confucius begins teaching ethics and social harmony in China.
  • 500 BCE: Jainism – Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, formalizes Jainist teachings on non-violence (ahimsa).

1 CE – 1900 CE

  • 30 CE: Christianity – Emerging from Second Temple Judaism, Christianity begins with the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.
  • 610 CE: Islam – The Prophet Muhammad receives his first revelation in Mecca. By 632 CE, Islam had unified the Arabian Peninsula.
  • 1469 CE: Sikhism – Founded by Guru Nanak in the Punjab region, emphasizing the unity of God and the equality of all humans.
  • 1844 – 1863 CE: The Baháʼí Faith – Originating in Persia with the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, focusing on the spiritual unity of all humankind.