Living with Many Gods
The role and expression of beliefs with a focus on societies living with many gods.
In the mid-1840s, a Roman earthenware jar was dug from the earth near Felmingham Hall in Norfolk. Inside, excavators found several belief systems, all mixed up together - for buried in the pot was a jumble of gods, deities of different kinds and origins, that tell us what it meant for people in Roman Britain around the year 250 to be living with many gods.
The great ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh includes a narrative with striking similarities to - but important differences from - the story of Noah in the Bible. Here a council of gods is persuaded to unleash a great flood to wipe out humankind.
Producer Paul Kobrak
The series is produced in partnership with the British Museum, with the assistance of Dr Christopher Harding, University of Edinburgh.
(Photo: Roman figurines of different gods. Credit: Trustees of the British Museum)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
Broadcasts
- Sun 25 Mar 2018 02:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Australasia, East Asia, News Internet & South Asia
- Sun 25 Mar 2018 03:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, South Asia & East Asia only
- Sun 25 Mar 2018 18:32GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except News Internet
Animations
Neil MacGregor tells the stories of some of the key objects in the series.
Living with the Gods - the Podcast
Your weekly dose of anthropology and spirituality to subscribe to or download