The Encyclopedia of World Religions

atman S 37

through its association with powerful ideologies like communism. But though many people may be nonreligious for all intents and purposes, atheism as a deeply-felt personal commitment remains a minority stance. Athena The most important GODDESS of the ancient Greeks. Athena was a warrior goddess renowned for her intelligence. In that regard she contrasts with Ares, the god of military chaos and unthinking violent rage. According to myth Athena was born from the head of Z EUS . She her self remained always a virgin. Thus, the name for her most famous temple, the Parthenon in Athens, derived from the Greek word parthenos, “virgin.” Many cities worshipped Athena, but she was especially the goddess of Athens. At Athens the major festival in her honor was the Panathe naia. During this festival an enormous procession paraded through the city. It accompanied a newly made peplos or embroidered robe, which was sus pended from the masts of a ship-like cart. Then the Athenians presented the robe to the image of Athena on the Acropolis. Because of her intelligence, Athena was the goddess of all skillful undertakings, especially spin ning and weaving. In myth she was the patron of many heroes, especially the crafty Odysseus. Her special animal was the owl. Images also show her with the aegis, a mythical object shown as either a cloak or a shield (interpretations vary). The aegis is decorated with the head of Medusa. Later gener ations have seen Athena, like A POLLO , as embody ing characteristics distinctive of the Greeks. atman A term used for the inmost self in the V EDANTA schools of Hindu philosophy. The Sankhya and YOGA schools have a similar concept. They call it purusha, “person.” Others, such as the Jains, talk about the jiva, that is, the living component of human beings and animals, as opposed to inert matter. The U PANISHADS are the last layer of the sacred writings known as the V EDA . For that reason they are called Vedanta, “end of the Veda.” Among

A zodiac shown in an Italian manuscript page from the portolan of Admiral Coligny (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)

compromise free will. They also say it shows there is a fundamental pattern to the universe, and that astrology demonstrates that our human lives have cosmic meaning because we are interconnected parts of that cosmic pattern. Others say the basis of astrology is false and that true religion has no need of it. atheism Denial of the existence of any G OD or supreme supernatural being. Atheists have long been around. In ancient India, China, and Greece a few philosophers said that the gods were only fig ments of human imagination, and everything that happens in the universe could be given a natural explanation. Religionists have also accused one another of atheism. Christians have sometimes said that Buddhists are atheists because they do not have a personal God as God is understood by the Western religions, even though B UDDHISM has most other features of what they would call a “real” religion. Atheism has probably grown in the modern world with the rise of science, and