Pantheon (gods)

Pantheon ( from Ancient Greek πᾶν pan " all " and θεός theos "god" ) is the ancient name for a sanctuary dedicated to all the gods.

This idea comes from the environment of the Sumerian, Greek and Manichaean mythology and was soon connected to a specific place or temple.

In the latter sense, the idea in the Roman world was transmitted. Since the Pantheon in Rome is the only well preserved Pantheon as a building, it has become the epitome for more buildings with a similar function.

So the Panthéon in Paris called the memorial for all the major personalities of the French nation.

Term shift

In the European history since the Enlightenment, as well as in the science of religion, the term pantheon has been generalized and for ( according to responsibilities / functions ordered ) set of all gods used not only of the Sumerian, Greek, Manichaean and Roman religion but also for other polytheistic religions. He was occasionally applied to religions, where this notion of an ordered set of all gods is alien connected to a gathering at bottom, such as for Hinduism, Buddhism and the Celtic deities.

Hence the term pantheon is not congruent with the German concept of gods, which is, usually but applied to all of the ancient polytheistic religions.

Today, the term is also frequently used Pantheon secularized and says, starting from the Parisian Pantheon, a Hall of Fame, which will provide significant personalities of a particular state or cultural community in mind as fully as possible.