The Lost Religions Of The World

With the rise of modernism, religion has taken a back seat around the world. Right from time immemorial, the new order has replaced the old ones, thereby replacing all the old traditions, customs and beliefs. With the course of time, many religions have been almost wiped off from the list. Along with the extinction of these religions, the old traditions and customs have also been lost.

The reasons for the religions getting extinct can be numerous. Natural calamity, invasions, wars, mass conversions or merging into a new religious order. Some old world religions have improvised with the changing times and are still practised by many like Hinduism. While some of the old religions have become completely extinct. We just have some edicts or hieroglyphs to confirm their existence like the Sumerian or the Egyptian religions.

Let us have a look at some of the lost religions of the world:

Sumerian

Like every old world religion, the Sumerian religion mainly involved nature worship. An was their major God who is considered equivalent to heaven and His consort Ki or Earth.

Greek

The dominance of the Greeks in the old world is renowned. Greek religion also involved nature worship along with some cult practices. It was destroyed in AD 475 when the Byzantine ruler ordered the Temple of Zeus to be burnt in Olympia.

Rumva

It was the last pagan religion of Europe. Rumva had its roots in Lithuania, and was destroyed by the Teutonic order in the Livonian Crusades of 1387.

Mithraism

This religion grew in parallel with Christianity. It taught the path of salvation through devotion. It was a popular religion in the Mediterranean and also in some parts of Britain. It was destroyed in the 5th century AD.

Manichaeism

It was the first prophetic religion started by Prophet Mani somewhere around 200 AD. It was quite similar to the present Zoroastrian religion. There were many Manichaei temples in Syria, Egypt and Central Asia. It was wiped out around the 13th century but no records have been found to ascertain the reason.

Mesoamerican Religions

The Aztec, Mayan and the religion of Mississippi are some of the popular Mesoamerican religions which have become extinct with time. All of these were either destroyed by the invasions or due to natural calamities.

Din E Ilahi

Din e Ilahi was an Indian religion started by the great Mughal emperor Akbar in 1582 AD. It was a religion found to end communalism by merging all the best elements of all religions. With the death of the Emperor, the religion also lost foot and was lost in the pages of history.