Topic 4: Religion

In this topic students explore religious phenomena within or across one or more ancient civilisation. Examples of recommended studies include:

• the Olympian religion, the mystery cults (Greece)
• state religion, emperor worship, the mystery cults (Rome)
• polytheism, monotheism of Akhenaten, funerary beliefs and practices (Egypt)
• folk religion, ancestor worship, Taoist and Buddhist influences (China)
• Hindu culture and religious practices (India)
• polytheism (Mesopotamia).

Students develop an understanding that religions are based on unique traditions with individual beliefs and values, and play a significant role in the everyday lives of citizens. They study myths and legends and what these reveal about belief, gods, death, the afterlife, and the relationship between mortals and immortals. Students develop an appreciation of religious experience, which may include magic, meditation, sacred places or texts, rituals, the cosmos, and the natural world. Students interpret and analyse the nature of ancient religious sites, practices, and artefacts, and the importance of these to ancient and contemporary societies.