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Periods

56 historical periods covering all traditions, from the Predynastic Egyptian period (c. 3200 BCE) to the 20th-century occultist reception layer. Used to anchor entity classifications and relationships in time.

Data license: MIT · Data source: jebboone/deitydb

start_year
{'description': 'Start year (negative = BCE)'}
end_year
{'description': 'End year (negative = BCE)'}
notes
{'description': 'Description of the period and its significance for this tradition'}

131 rows

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period_id ▼ tradition period_name start_year end_year notes
PER_19C_OCCULT Cross-traditional 19th Century Occultism 1800 1900 Éliphas Lévi, Theosophy (Blavatsky), Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; synthesis of Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and comparative religion.
PER_20C_OCCULT Cross-traditional 20th Century Occultism 1900 2000 Aleister Crowley / Thelema (The Book of the Law, 1904), Hermetic Order successor bodies (A∴A∴, OTO), Wicca / Gerald Gardner (1951), Chaos Magick (1970s+), New Age Movement. Documented modern religious and esoteric developments distinct from 19th-century occultism.
PER_ALAWITE   Alawite / Nusayri tradition 850 2025  
PER_ALCHEMY   Western Alchemical Era 1200 1700  
PER_ALEVI   Alevi-Bektashi (Anatolian) 1300 2025  
PER_ANGLO_SAXON   Anglo-Saxon period 400 1000  
PER_APOSTOLIC   Apostolic Age 1 100  
PER_ARA_IRON_AGE Aramean Aramean and Syrian Hellenistic Religion -1100 650 The period spanning the emergence of the Aramean states in the Iron Age (c. 1100 BCE) through their Hellenistic and Roman-period continuations, ending with the Islamic conquest of Syria (636–638 CE). The Aramean states of the Iron Age — most importantly Damascus (Aram-Damascus), Arpad, Hamath, Sam'al/Zinjirli, and Carchemish — were the major political powers of northern Syria from the 10th to 8th centuries BCE, in constant competition with the Neo-Assyrian Empire (which eventually absorbed them: Damascus fell to Tiglath-Pileser III in 732 BCE). Their religion preserved continuities with the Canaanite/Ugaritic Bronze Age tradition (Hadad as storm deity = Canaanite Baal, Astarte → Atargatis) while developing distinctive Aramean forms and new cult centers. The Aramean language (a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew and Phoenician) became the lingua franca of the Near East under the Neo-Assyrian and Achaemenid empires, spreading Aramean religious forms widely. The Hellenistic period (after Alexander's conquest, 332 BCE) saw the major Aramean cults — especially Atargatis at Hierapolis-Bambyce — acquire international prestige across the Mediterranean world. Palmyra (a major Aramaic-speaking city on the Syrian desert caravan route) continued Aramean religious traditions through the 3rd century CE. The Islamic conquest of Syria ends the period; some cult traditions (veneration of Baalshamin as "Lord of Heaven" under various names) had already been absorbed into local Christian practice. Lipiński (2000) and Kaizer (2002) are the principal references.
PER_ARA_PRE_ISLAMIC Pre-Islamic Arabian Pre-Islamic Arabia (Jahiliyyah) -600 622  
PER_ARMENIAN_CHR   Armenian Christian period 300 1100  
PER_ARM_PAGAN Armenian Pre-Christian Armenian -500 301 Period of documented pre-Christian Armenian religious practice, from the earliest traces of the Zoroastrian-derived divine court (c. 500 BCE, corresponding to the Orontid dynasty's Iranian connections) through Armenia's formal conversion to Christianity as the state religion in 301 CE under King Tiridates III and Gregory the Illuminator — making Armenia the first nation to adopt Christianity officially. The canonical Armenian pantheon (Aramazd, Anahit, Vahagn, Nane, Tir, Astghik) is primarily attested in two 5th-century CE texts that look back on the pre-Christian period: Agathangelos's History of the Armenians and Movses Khorenatsi's History of Armenia. The Artaxiad dynasty (189 BCE – 1 CE) represents the peak of organized cult practice; the Arsacid dynasty (52–428 CE) continued the Iranian religious inheritance until conversion. Russell (1987) is the standard scholarly reference for the Iranian substratum.
PER_ARTHURIAN   Arthurian Literary Cycle (Matter of Britain) 1100 1500  
PER_BAHAI   Bahá'í Era (Badí') 1844 2025  
PER_BALT_PAGAN Baltic Baltic Pre-Christian Period -2000 1400 The pre-Christian religious tradition of the Baltic peoples (Lithuanians, Latvians, Old Prussians), from the Bronze Age through the late conversion period. Lithuania was the last European nation formally Christianised (1387 for the ruling class; folk paganism persisted through the 17th century). Deity names attested in chronicles from the 13th century onward; reconstructed earlier from comparative IE linguistics and folk song traditions. Gimbutas (1963) is the standard secondary source for this period.
PER_BASQUE_PAGAN   Basque Pre-Christian Period -500 1000  
PER_CAN_BRONZE_AGE Canaanite/Ugaritic Canaanite Bronze Age -1500 -1200 Period of Ugaritic texts (KTU corpus); primary attestation for Baal cycle, El, Asherah, Mot, Yam.
PER_CARIAN   Carian Civic Polytheism (Hekatomnid–Hellenistic Caria) -600 -31  
PER_CEL_IRON_AGE Celtic Celtic Iron Age -800 -50 Iron Age Celtic cultures; Gaulish religion, Continental and Insular Celtic religious forms.
PER_CEL_MEDIEVAL_IRISH Celtic/Irish Medieval Irish 400 1200 Medieval Irish literary tradition; Lebor Gabála Érenn, mythological cycle; Christian-influenced mythography.
PER_CEL_MEDIEVAL_WELSH Celtic/Welsh Medieval Welsh 1050 1400 Period of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi and other Welsh mythological texts preserved in the White Book of Rhydderch (c. 1350) and Red Book of Hergest (c. 1382). Linguistic evidence dates the Four Branches composition to c. 1050-1120 CE; oral traditions behind them are older.
PER_CHR_HERESY   Christian Heresy and Dissent 300 1400  
PER_COMMAGENE   Commagenian Kingdom -100 -31  
PER_CONTINENTAL_GERMANIC   Continental (Romano-)Germanic -100 400  
PER_COUNTER_REFORMATION   Counter-Reformation & Baroque Catholicism 1517 1800  
PER_DIGITAL_FOLKLORE   Digital-Age Folklore & Vernacular Religion (21st c.) 2000 2025  
PER_DISCORDIAN   Discordian Era (Principia Discordia to present) 1958 2025  
PER_DMT_AKSUM   Dʿmt and Pre-Christian Aksum -800 400  
PER_DRUZE   Druze Tradition (Fatimid origins to present) 1017 2025  
PER_EARLY_MODERN Cross-traditional Early Modern 1600 1800 Early Modern occultism; grimoire tradition, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, systematic Kabbalah reception in European esotericism.
PER_EARLY_MODERN_OCCULT   Early-Modern Western Esoteric / Grimoire Era 1450 1900  
PER_EAST_ORTHODOX Christian/Orthodox Byzantine and Slavic Orthodox 330 1900 Eastern Orthodox Christianity from the founding of Constantinople (330 CE) through the Byzantine and Slavic Orthodox traditions to the great Russian wonderworkers of the modern period.
PER_EGY_COPTIC Egyptian/Christian Coptic Egypt 395 1000 Christian Egypt and transformed angelic/saintly landscape.
PER_EGY_EARLY_DYNASTIC Egyptian Early Dynastic Period -3150 -2686 Formation of dynastic Egyptian religion.
PER_EGY_FIRST_INTERMEDIATE Egyptian First Intermediate Period -2181 -2055 Regional religious developments.
PER_EGY_LATE_PERIOD Egyptian Late Period -664 -332 Revival, archaism, and temple cult expansion.
PER_EGY_MIDDLE_KINGDOM Egyptian Middle Kingdom -2055 -1650 Coffin Texts and wider afterlife traditions.
PER_EGY_NEW_KINGDOM Egyptian New Kingdom -1550 -1069 Major temple theology and imperial cults.
PER_EGY_OLD_KINGDOM Egyptian Old Kingdom -2686 -2181 Pyramid Texts and early royal theology.
PER_EGY_PTOLEMAIC Egyptian Ptolemaic Period -332 -30 Greek-Egyptian syncretism and temple continuity.
PER_EGY_ROMAN Egyptian Roman Egypt -30 395 Roman imperial Egypt, Isis cult, Serapis, magical religion.
PER_EGY_SECOND_INTERMEDIATE Egyptian Second Intermediate Period -1650 -1550 Hyksos period and regional complexity.
PER_EGY_THIRD_INTERMEDIATE Egyptian Third Intermediate Period -1069 -664 Priestly and regional developments.
PER_ELAM_CLASSICAL Elamite Kingdom of Elam -2200 -539 The period of the Kingdom of Elam (Elamite: haltamti; Sumerian: NIM.MA; Akkadian: Elam) from the Old Elamite period through the Neo-Elamite period, ending with the Achaemenid Persian conquest of Susa in 539 BCE. Elam was the dominant non-Mesopotamian civilisation of the ancient Near East for nearly two millennia, centered on Susa (modern Shush, Khuzestan, SW Iran) in the lowlands and Anshan (near Shiraz, Fars, SW Iran) in the highlands. The three principal phases: Old Elamite (c. 2200–1600 BCE), during which Elamite civilization interacted intensively with Ur III Mesopotamia and developed its cuneiform-based recording tradition; Middle Elamite (c. 1600–1100 BCE), the period of Elamite imperial expansion, including the sacking of Babylon (1155 BCE, when Shutruk-Nahhunte captured the stele of Hammurabi and the stele of Naram-Sin, now in the Louvre); and Neo-Elamite (c. 1100–539 BCE), the period of conflict with the Neo-Assyrian Empire culminating in Assurbanipal's destruction of Susa (647 BCE) and the subsequent Achaemenid incorporation of Elamite territory. The Elamite language (a language isolate — not related to Semitic or Indo-European families) was used in administration through the Achaemenid period; Elamite religious traditions directly influenced the emerging Achaemenid Iranian religious culture, making Elam the missing link between the Mesopotamian and Zoroastrian/Iranian layers in the DeityDB dataset. Potts (1999) and Carter & Stolper (1984) are the standard references.
PER_ETHIOPIAN   Ethiopian Christian (Aksumite to Solomonic) 330 1500  
PER_ETR_ARCHAIC Etruscan Archaic Etruscan -700 -480 Formative and Archaic Etruscan culture; Orientalizing phase through early contact with Greek and Phoenician traders; major urban centers established. Pyrgi tablets (c. -500) fall in this period.
PER_ETR_CLASSICAL Etruscan Classical Etruscan -480 -300 Height of Etruscan political power and artistic production; the twelve-city Etruscan League with its pan-Etruscan sanctuary at the Fanum Voltumnae; rich tomb painting traditions at Tarquinia and Vulci.
PER_ETR_LATE Etruscan Late Etruscan -300 -89 Gradual Roman absorption of Etruscan cities; Piacenza liver falls in this period; Etruscan haruspicy persists into the Roman period as a formal discipline. Enfranchisement of Etruscans under Roman law 89 BCE marks the cultural endpoint.
PER_FINN_TRADITIONAL Finnish Finnish Traditional / Pre-Christian -500 1300 Period of Finnish and Karelian pre-Christian religious practice, from the emergence of the Baltic Finnic culture group (c. 500 BCE) through the completion of formal Christianization (12th–14th centuries CE; Bishop Henry's crusade in Finland c. 1155 CE; full Christianization of Karelia by c. 1300 CE). The religious traditions documented in the Kalevala oral poetry represent this period, though the surviving written attestation comes later: Mikael Agricola's 1551 deity list is the earliest written primary source, and Elias Lönnrot's 1835/1849 Kalevala compilations are the main documentary corpus. The oral runo-song tradition preserved in the Kalevala is estimated to reflect religious practices from the Iron Age through early medieval Finnish/Karelian culture. Pentikäinen (1999) is the standard scholarly reference for this period's religious content.
PER_FOLK_CATHOLIC   Modern Latin American Folk Catholicism 1900 2025  
PER_GERMANIC_SAGA   Germanic Heroic-Legendary Cycle (Matter of the North) 500 1300  
PER_GNO_2ND_4TH Gnostic/Late Antique Gnostic and Neoplatonic (2nd–4th c.) 100 400 Flourishing of Gnostic schools (Sethian, Valentinian, Ophite), Neoplatonism, Iamblichean theurgy; Nag Hammadi texts.
PER_GRK_ARCHAIC Greek Archaic Period -800 -480 Formation of major polis cults.
PER_GRK_CLASSICAL Greek Classical Period -480 -323 Classical Greek religion.
PER_GRK_DARK_AGE Greek Greek Dark Age -1100 -800 Transitional period.
PER_GRK_HELLENISTIC Greek Hellenistic Period -323 -31 Expansion and syncretism.
PER_GRK_LATE_ANTIQUE Greek Late Antique Period 400 700 Transition to Christian dominance.
PER_GRK_MYCENAEAN Greek Mycenaean Period -1600 -1100 Bronze Age Greek religion.
PER_GRK_ROMAN Greek Roman Greek Religion -31 400 Greek cults under Roman rule.
PER_HARRANIAN   Harranian Sabian Star-Religion 200 1000  
PER_HER_HELLENISTIC Hermetic/Greco-Egyptian Hermetic Hellenistic Period -200 400 Hellenistic and early Imperial Egypt; composition of Corpus Hermeticum, Greek Magical Papyri; Hermes Trismegistus synthesis.
PER_HIGH_MEDIEVAL_WEST   High & Late Medieval Latin West 1000 1450  
PER_HTT_EMPIRE Hittite Hittite Empire Period -1650 -1180  
PER_HUNGARIAN_PAGAN   Pre-Christian Magyar Period -500 1000  
PER_IAM   I AM Activity & Ascended-Master New Religions 1930 2025  
PER_IB_IRON_AGE Iberian/Lusitanian Pre-Roman and Roman-period Hispanian Indigenous Religion -600 400 The period of the pre-Roman indigenous religious tradition of the Iberian peninsula, particularly the Lusitanian/NW Iberian zone (modern Portugal, Galicia, and Extremadura), from the Iron Age through the Roman provincial period. The indigenous religion of Hispania before Roman conquest (the systematic conquest of Lusitania was completed by 27 BCE under Augustus after a long series of wars) is known almost exclusively through Latin votive inscriptions of the Roman period — the 1st to 4th centuries CE — which preserve pre-Roman theonyms that resisted complete Romanization. The Lusitanian language (a pre-Celtic or para-Celtic Indo-European language of the peninsula) is attested in a handful of inscriptions, most importantly the Bronze Plaque of Arronches (c. 1st c. CE, from a sanctuary in the Portalegre district, Portugal), which preserves a religious ritual text with theonyms including Trebaruna, Reve, Laebo, and Ilurbeda. The distribution of votive inscriptions for indigenous deities (Endovelicus at São Miguel da Mota, Ataegina across SW Iberia, Bandua across a broad NW-to-SE axis, Nabia in the NW) gives a picture of a polytheistic tradition tied to landscapes (rivers, mountains, healing springs) and community life (oath-bonds, tribal solidarity). Blázquez (1962) and Olivares Pedreño (2002) are the primary scholarly references.
PER_ILLYRIAN   Illyrian (Iron Age to Roman attestation) -800 300  
PER_IRISH_HEROIC   Irish Heroic & Legendary Age -100 400  
PER_ISL_CLASSICAL Islamic Classical Islam 750 1258 Abbasid Golden Age; systematization of Islamic theology, tafsir, Sufi traditions, Shi'a cosmology.
PER_ISL_EARLY Islamic Early Islam 610 750 Quranic revelation (610–632 CE) and early Hadith transmission; formative Islamic theology and angelology.
PER_ISL_EARLY_MODERN   Early-Modern Sufism (Ottoman/Safavid/Mughal) 1517 1850  
PER_ISL_MEDIEVAL Islamic Medieval Islam 1258 1517 Post-Abbasid era after the Mongol sack of Baghdad; flourishing of the Sufi orders (turuq) and Persian/Turkish mystical poetry, to the rise of the Ottoman and Safavid empires.
PER_ISL_MODERN   Modern Sufism (19th–21st c.) 1850 2025  
PER_ISR_EXILIC Israelite Exilic and Post-Exilic -586 -400 Babylonian exile and return; Deutero-Isaiah, Ezekiel; formative period for angelology and theodicy.
PER_ISR_IRON_AGE Israelite Iron Age Israelite -1200 -586 Iron Age Israel and Judah; pre-exilic biblical material, early Yahwism, Canaanite religious milieu.
PER_ISR_SECOND_TEMPLE Israelite/Second Temple Second Temple Period -400 70 Second Temple Judaism; Dead Sea Scrolls, 1 Enoch, Daniel; developed angelology and demonology.
PER_ITA_ARCHAIC Italic/Sabine Archaic Italic (c. 900–509 BCE) -900 -509 The period of archaic Italic religion before the Roman Republic, encompassing the Regal period, early Latin and Sabine religious forms, and the pre-Hellenized stratum of di indigetes (native Italic deities). This period covers the formative era of Roman religion before systematic Greek influence transformed the Roman pantheon, from the Villanovan archaeological horizon through the expulsion of the Tarquins (traditional date 509 BCE).
PER_JM_HEKHALOT Jewish Mystical Merkavah and Hekhalot mysticism 200 700 The late-antique Jewish mystical corpus (Hekhalot literature, 3 Enoch).
PER_JM_LURIANIC Jewish Mystical Lurianic / Safed Kabbalah 1500 1700 The Safed Kabbalah of Moshe Cordovero and Isaac Luria (the Ari, 1534-1572) and its transmission by Hayyim Vital; the theosophy of the partzufim, the tzimtzum, the breaking of the vessels and the tikkun.
PER_JM_MEDIEVAL Jewish Mystical Jewish Mystical Medieval 700 1400 Hekhalot and Merkabah literature codified; early Kabbalah; culminating in Zohar (c. 1280–1300 CE).
PER_LATE_ANTIQUE Cross-traditional Late Antiquity 200 600 Late antique synthesis era; Greek, Roman, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and Hermetic traditions in dialogue. Primary period of demonization and syncretism.
PER_LDS   Latter-day Saint / Restoration Era 1820 2025  
PER_LUW_NEO_HITTITE Luwian Neo-Hittite / Luwian Iron Age -1200 -700 The period of the Neo-Hittite and Luwian Iron Age states of Anatolia and northern Syria following the Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200 BCE). After the destruction of the Hittite Empire (c. 1185 BCE), a series of successor states emerged in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria — principally Carchemish (on the Euphrates, modern Jarabulus, Turkey/Syria border), Malatya (Melid), Gurgum, Kummuh, Sam'al/Zinjirli, Karatepe, and Hamath — that preserved Luwian language and culture while absorbing Neo-Assyrian and Aramean influences. Their inscriptions are written in Luwian hieroglyphic script, and their religious traditions represent a continuation of Hittite imperial religion adapted to Iron Age conditions. Kubaba of Carchemish is the deity most characteristic of the Luwian Iron Age: she rose to prominence as the leading deity of Carchemish (the most important Neo-Hittite state after the empire's collapse) and her name was transmitted into Phrygian as "Kubileya" (the epithet component of "Matar Kubileya"), eventually becoming the Greek "Cybele." The period ends with the Assyrian conquest of Carchemish in 717 BCE (Sargon II) and the subsequent absorption of the Neo-Hittite states into the Assyrian provincial system. Taracha (2009) is the comprehensive secondary reference.
PER_LYCIAN   Lycian (Classical-Hellenistic Lycia) -550 -30  
PER_LYDIAN   Lydian Kingdom (Iron Age western Anatolia) -1200 -540  
PER_MAN_3RD_7TH Manichaean Manichaean Flourishing 240 700 From Mani's revelation (240 CE) through early medieval expansion; Manichaean Kephalaia, Psalm Book.
PER_MASONIC   Masonic / Rosicrucian Era (manifestos and speculative lodges to present) 1600 2025  
PER_MEDIEVAL_WEST Christian Medieval Western 450 1400 Medieval Western Christianity; Pseudo-Dionysius angelology, scholastic demonology, hagiography, Crusades.
PER_MER_NAPATAN_MEROITIC Meroitic Napatan–Meroitic Kingdom of Kush -750 350 The period of the Kingdom of Kush during which the Meroitic religious tradition reached its fullest development, spanning the Napatan phase (c. 750–270 BCE, centered on Napata and the Nile Fourth Cataract region) through the Meroitic phase (c. 270 BCE – 350 CE, centered on Meroe between the Fifth and Sixth Cataracts, in modern Sudan). The Napatan rulers conquered Egypt in the 25th Dynasty (747–656 BCE) and maintained Egyptian religious forms before returning south and developing a more distinctly Meroitic cultic tradition. The Meroitic phase sees the construction of the great indigenous temples: the Lion Temple at Musawwarat es-Sufra (principal cult center of Apedemak, c. 270 BCE), the Lion Temple at Naga (Natakamani and Amanitore, c. 1–20 CE), and the temple of Mandulis at Kalabsha (rebuilt under Augustus, c. 20 BCE). The Meroitic script (both hieroglyphic and cursive forms) was developed in this period; Meroitic remains substantially undeciphered as a language, so the religious evidence depends heavily on the relief programs and the Greek/Demotic dedications found at cult centers. The kingdom's end is conventionally placed c. 350 CE, though regional successor states (the Noba kingdoms) carried elements of the tradition forward. Török (1997) is the standard handbook; Žabkar (1975) covers Apedemak in depth.
PER_MES_EARLY Mesopotamian Early Mesopotamian -3000 -2350 Early Dynastic Sumer; Sumerian mythological texts, earliest temple literature.
PER_MES_NEO_ASS Mesopotamian Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian -900 -539 Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods; canonical cuneiform library (Ashurbanipal); most extant Akkadian texts.
PER_MES_OLD_BAB Mesopotamian Old Babylonian -2000 -1600 Old Babylonian period; Gilgamesh Epic, Atrahasis, early Enuma Elish traditions.
PER_MES_UR_III Mesopotamian Ur III / Sumerian Renaissance -2112 -2004  
PER_MITHRAIC   Mithraic Mysteries (Roman imperial) 100 400  
PER_MODERN_CATHOLIC   Modern Catholicism (19th–21st c.) 1800 2025  
PER_MODERN_FOLKLORE   Modern Urban Legend & Folklore (19th–20th c.) 1800 2000  
PER_MODERN_OCCULT   Modern Occult Revival 1850 1950  
PER_MODERN_ORTHODOX   Modern Eastern Orthodoxy (19th-21st c.) 1800 2025  
PER_MODERN_PAGANISM   Modern Pagan & Esoteric Revival 1900 2025  
PER_MODERN_SATANISM   Modern Organized Satanism (1966-present) 1966 2025  
PER_NABATAEAN   Nabataean Kingdom -312 106  

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CREATE TABLE [periods] (
   [period_id] TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
   [tradition] TEXT,
   [period_name] TEXT,
   [start_year] INTEGER,
   [end_year] INTEGER,
   [notes] TEXT
);
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