| Preface
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| 1. In the Beginning ... : Magico-Religious Behavior of the Paleanthropians
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| 1. Orientatio. Tools to make tools. The "domestication" of fire.
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| 2. The "opaqueness" of prehistoric documents.
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| 3. Symbolic meanings of burials.
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| 4. The controversy concerning deposits of bones.
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| 5. Rock paintings: Images or symbols?
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| 6. The presence of woman.
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| 7. Rites, thought, and imagination among the Paleolithic hunters.
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| 2. The Longest Revolution: The Discovery of Agriculture — Mesolithic and Neolithic
| 29
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| 8. A lost paradise.
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| 9. Work, technology, and imaginary worlds.
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| 10. The heritage of the Paleolithic hunters.
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| 11. The domestication of food plants: Origin myths.
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| 12. Woman and vegetation. Sacred space and periodical renewal of the world.
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| 13. Neolithic religions of the Near East.
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| 14. The spiritual edifice of the Neolithic.
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| 15. Religious context of metallurgy: Mythology of the Iron Age.
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| 3. The Mesopotamian Religions
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| 16. "History begins at Sumer."
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| 17. Man before his gods.
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| 18. The first myth of the flood.
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| 19. Descent to the underworld: Inanna and Dumuzi.
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| 20. The Sumero-Akkadian synthesis.
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| 21. Creation of the World.
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| 22. Sacrality of the Mesopotamian sovereign.
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| 23. Gilgamesh in quest of immortality.
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| 24. Destiny and the gods.
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| 4. Religious Ideas and Political Crises in Ancient Egypt
| 85
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| 25. The unforgettable miracle: The "First Time."
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| 26. Theogonies and cosmogonies.
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| 27. The responsibilities of an incarnate god.
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| 28. The pharaoh's ascent to heaven.
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| 29. Osiris, the murdered god.
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| 30. Syncope: Anarchy, despair, and "democratization" of the afterlife.
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| 31. Theology and politics of" solarization."
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| 32. Akh-en-Aton, or the unsuccessful reform.
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| 33. Final synthesis: The association Re-Osiris.
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| 5. Megaliths, Temples, Ceremonial Centers: Occident, Mediterranean, Indus Valley
| 114
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| 34. Stone and banana.
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| 35. Ceremonial centers and megalithic constructions.
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| 36. The "enigma of the megaliths."
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| 37. Ethnography and prehistory.
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| 38. The first cities of India.
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| 39. Protohistorical religious concepts and their parallels in Hinduism.
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| 40. Crete: Sacred caves, labyrinths, goddesses.
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| 41. Characteristic features of Minoan religion.
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| 42. Continuity of the pre-Hellenic religious structures.
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| 6. The Religions of the Hittites and the Canaanites
| 139
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| 43. Anatolian symbiosis and Hittite syncretism.
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| 44. The "god who disappears."
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| 45. Conquering the Dragon.
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| 46. Kumarbi and sovereignty.
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| 47. Conflicts between divine generations.
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| 48. A Canaanite pantheon: Ugarit.
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| 49. Baal conquers the sovereignty and triumphs over the Dragon.
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| 50. The palace of Baal.
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| 51. Baal confronts Mot: Death and return to life.
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| 52. Canaanite religious vision.
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| 7. "When Israel Was a Child"
| 162
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| 53. The first two chapters of Genesis.
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| 54. Paradise lost. Cain and Abel.
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| 55. Before and after the flood.
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| 56. The religion of the patriarchs.
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| 57. Abraham, "Father of the Faith."
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| 58. Moses and the departure from Egypt.
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| 59. "I Am Who I Am."
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| 60. Religion under the judges: The first phase of syncretism.
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| 8. The Religion of the Inda-Europeans. The Vedic Gods
| 187
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| 61. Protohistory of the Inda-Europeans.
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| 62. The first pantheon and the common religious vocabulary.
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| 63. The Inda-European tripartite ideology.
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| 64. The Aryans in India.
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| 65. Varuna, primordial divinity: Devas and Asuras.
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| 66. Varuna, universal king and magician: rta and maya.
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| 67. Serpents and gods. Mitra, Aryaman, Aditi.
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| 68. Indra, champion and demi urge.
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| 69. Agni, chaplain of the gods: Sacrificial fire, light, and intelligence.
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| 70. The god Soma and the drink of "non-death."
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| 71. Two Great Gods in the Vedic period: Rudra-Siva and Visnu.
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9. India before Gautama Buddha: From the Cosmic
Sacrifice to the Supreme Identity Atman-Brahman
| 215
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| 72. Morphology of the Vedic rituals.
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| 73. The supreme sacrifices: asvamedha and purusamedha.
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| 74. Initiatory structure of rituals: Initiation (diksa), royal consecration (rajasuya).
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| 75. Cosmogonies and metaphysics.
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| 76. The doctrine of sacrifice in the Briihmal)as.
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| 77. Eschatology: Identification with Prajapati through sacrifice.
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| 78. Tapas: Technique and dialectic of austerities.
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| 79. Ascetics and ecstatics: Muni, vratya.
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| 80. The Upanishads and the quest of the rsis:
How can deliverance from the "fruits" of one's own acts be obtained?
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| 81. The identity atman-Brahman and the experience of "inner light."
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| 82. The two modalities of the Brahman and the mystery of the atman captive in matter.
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| 10. Zeus and the Greek Religion
| 247
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| 83. Theogony and struggles between divine generations.
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| 84. Triumph and sovereignty of Zeus.
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| 85. The myth of the first races: Prometheus, Pandora.
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| 86. The consequences of the primordial sacrifice.
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| 87. Man and destiny: The meaning of the "joy of life."
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| 11. The Olympians and the Heroes
| 264
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| 88. The fallen great god and the smith-magician: Poseidon and Hephaestus.
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| 89. Apollo: Contradictions reconciled.
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| 90. Oracles and purification.
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| 91. From "vision" to knowledge.
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| 92. Hermes, "the companion of man."
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| 93. The goddesses. I: Hera, Artemis.
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| 94. The goddesses. II: Athena, Aphrodite.
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| 95. The heroes.
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| 12. The Eleusinian Mysteries
| 290
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| 96. The myth: Persephone in Hades.
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| 97. The initiations: Public ceremonies and secret rituals.
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| 98. Can the Mysteries be known?
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| 99. "Secrets" and "Mysteries."
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| 13. Zarathustra and the Iranian Religion
| 102
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| 100. The enigmas.
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| 101. The life of Zarathustra: History and myth.
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| 102. Shamanic ecstasy?
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| 103. The revelation of Ahura Mazda: Man is free to choose good or evil.
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| 104. "Transfiguration" of the world.
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| 105. The religion of the Achaemenids.
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| 106. The Iranian king and the New Year festival.
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| 107. The problem of the Magi. The Scythians.
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| 108. New aspects of Mazdaism: The cult of Haoma.
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| 109. Exaltation of the god Mithra.
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| 110. Ahura Mazda and the eschatological sacrifice.
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| 111. The soul's journey after death.
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| 112. The resurrection of the body.
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| 14. The Religion of Israel in the Period of the Kings
and the Prophets
| 334
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| 113. Kingship and the monarchy: The apogee of syncretism.
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| 114. Yahweh and the creature.
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| 115. Job, the just man tried.
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| 116. The time of the prophets.
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| 117. Amos the shepherd. Hosea the ill-loved.
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| 118. Isaiah: "A remnant of Israel" will return.
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| 119. The promise made to Jeremiah.
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| 120. The fall of Jerusalem. The mission of Ezekiel.
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| 121. Religious valorization of the "terror of history."
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| 15. Dionysus, or Bliss Recovered
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| 122. Epiphanies and occultations of a "twice-born" god.
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| 123. The archaism of some public festivals.
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| 124. Euripides and Dionysiac orgiasm.
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| 125. When the Greeks rediscover the presence of the God.
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