Classification of Animal Cults
When a god is respected or worshipped by means of a representative animal, an animal cult is formed (Teeter et al., 2002, p. 355). Such cults may result from early man's awareness of his essential equality with animals (Raglan, 1935, p. 331). Given this fundamental equality, it was just as reasonable for them to represent their gods in animal form (Gilbert, Qtd. in Raglan, 1935, p. 331).
Animal cults may be classified in two ways:
- according to their outward form;
- according to their inward meaning, which may of course undergo transformations.
Read more about this topic: Animal Worship
Famous quotes containing the words animal and/or cults:
“All things are flowing, even those that seem immovable. The adamant is always passing into smoke. The plants imbibe the materials which they want from the air and the ground. They burn, that is, exhale and decompose their own bodies into the air and earth again. The animal burns, or undergoes the like perpetual consumption. The earth burns, the mountains burn and decompose, slower, but incessantly.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“Mother goddesses are just as silly a notion as father gods. If a revival of the myths of these cults gives woman emotional satisfaction, it does so at the price of obscuring the real conditions of life. This is why they were invented in the first place.”
—Angela Carter (19401992)