Religion

An editorial selection for comparing processes, events, and lives. The interval and counts describe selected records, not the historical boundaries or importance of the subject.

Canonical records: 381
Events: 212
People: 9
Processes and periods: 160

Compare in the atlas Selection criteria and limits

Topics represented

Religion (351) · Buddhist traditions (97) · Hindu traditions (62) · Chinese traditions (61) · Judaism (43) · Islam (42) · Christianity (34) · Empire and state (20) · Daoist traditions (19) · Catholic Christianity (17) · Sunni (16) · Roman Empire (14)

View distribution by region and period

Canonical records by regional label and start date. These are numerical analysis bins, not universal historical periods. A multi-region record appears in multiple rows; do not add rows as a unique-record total.
Region	Before 3000 BCE	3000–1 BCE	1–1499	1500–1799	1800–1899	1900–1999	Since 2000
Africa	2	1	18	1	2	3	0
Americas	0	2	1	3	3	7	0
Asia	2	55	154	12	15	39	25
Europe	1	5	32	17	5	16	2
Oceania	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Global / no specific region	0	0	2	1	4	14	14

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

c. 701–c. 800
Tang esoteric Buddhisms
Mandalas, rituals, and deities of Indic/Central Asian provenance flourish alongside Chan, Pure Land, and Tiantai.
710–794
Nara state Buddhism
The Nara court supports temples, texts, and rites in a changing relation to local cults and imperial politics.
711
Beginning of al-Andalus
Umayyad rule in Iberia opened a long-lived setting of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish societies, with local and temporal variation.
c. 726–c. 843
Byzantine iconoclasm
Iconoclastic controversies altered imperial and ecclesiastical politics between 726 and 843, with interruptions and regional variation. They should not be reduced to a universal ban or explained by a single cause.
c. 750
Shankara and Advaita Vedanta
Commentaries attributed to Shankara are decisive for Advaita; dates and biography require caution.
750
Abbasid Revolution
The Abbasids replaced the Umayyads and shifted political and cultural focus toward Iraq.
c. 750–c. 1000
Development of Karaite Judaism
Karaite communities affirm the primacy of Scripture over rabbinic oral authority; they are not a homogeneous rupture.
752
Consecration of Todaiji’s Great Buddha
The consecration marks imperial Japanese Buddhist patronage and transregional material mobilization.
756–773
Kailasa Temple at Ellora
Kailasa expresses Rashtrakuta patronage and a monumental Shaiva program without representing all regional practice.
762
Foundation of Abbasid Baghdad
Baghdad became a center of intellectual, theological, scientific, and commercial exchange; it does not by itself summarize all Islamic history.
c. 779
Samye and Tibetan translation
Samye is associated with monasticism and major Sanskrit-to-Tibetan translation projects; different traditions recount details of its foundation and debate.
c. 800–c. 1100
Kashmir Shaiva schools
Kashmir intellectual and ritual traditions developed nondual Shaiva theologies, including those associated with Abhinavagupta.
804–806
Kukai and Shingon
Kukai studied in China between 804 and 806 and developed Shingon in Japan. Transmission included doctrinal, ritual, and institutional adaptations.
804
Saicho’s mission to China
Saicho was sent to China on an official mission in 804. After returning he advanced Tendai in Japan, centered on the Lotus Sutra; this entry dates the journey.
816
Founding of Koyasan, by tradition
Tradition associates the foundation with Kukai; Koyasan becomes a Shingon and pilgrimage centre.
c. 820
Al-Shāfiʿī and legal theory
His Risāla is a landmark of Islamic legal theory; its date is approximate, based on his death in 820 and textual transmission.
843
Restoration of icon veneration
In 843, icon veneration was officially restored in Constantinople. The outcome closed the second iconoclastic phase without retrospectively erasing debates, losses, and continuities of more than a century.
845–846
Tang restrictions on temples and clergy
In 845–846, the Tang state imposes especially severe measures on Buddhist temples and clergy; this state intervention does not reduce diverse Chinese communities to one experience.
845
Wuzong’s edict and religious regulation
Wuzong’s eighth-month edict treated Buddhist institutions as a religious, fiscal and political issue. The source records the emperor’s Daoist devotion, while the suppression reflected imperial policy and institutional competition rather than a shared position of all Daoists.
846
Compilation of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī
Traditionally completed in 846 and especially authoritative in Sunni Islam; Shiʿi traditions have their own hadith corpora.
850–1279
Chola patronage and temple networks
Chola rule supported temple networks and Shaiva/Vaishnava practices in the south without erasing local difference.
c. 860–c. 988
Relations with the Rus and Christianization
Through raids, trade, diplomacy, and missions, Constantinople developed changing relations with the Rus. Vladimir’s adoption of Christianity in 988 expanded religious and political links without erasing local practices or turning the region into an extension of the empire.
868
Printed copy of the Diamond Sutra
A printed copy of Kumarajiva’s translation of the Diamond Sutra is dated to 868; the object preserves a documented milestone in Buddhist reproduction and does not by itself mark the origin of all printing.
c. 901–c. 1100
Second Tibetan dissemination
New translations, teachers, and monastic networks reconfigure Tibetan traditions after political fragmentation; the new networks do not form a single school.
trad. 901–trad. 1000
Mazu memory
Community tradition places Mazu at Meizhou in the tenth century and recounts her death while rescuing shipwrecked people. The record concerns devotional memory rather than a verified biography.
c. 901–c. 1200
“Three teachings” complementarity
By the twelfth century, Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism were often understood as complementary, while still competing for patronage and authority. This interval reflects the synthesis described by the cited essay, not the origin of the idea of three teachings.
909–1171
Fatimid caliphate
An Ismaʿili Shiʿi caliphate whose history shows Islamic authority was not monolithic.
945–1055
Buyid control of Baghdad
An Iranian dynasty supportive of Shiʿism controlled the weakened Abbasid caliphate while the caliph retained Sunni moral and spiritual authority.
c. 950–c. 1250
Cairo Geniza documents
The Fustat archive makes it possible to reconstruct medieval Judeo-Arabic commercial, family, liturgical, and legal networks.
960–1279
Song Confucian revival and Neo-Confucianisms
Song thinkers developed several approaches to learning, self-cultivation and social order. These Confucian renewals changed over time and remained engaged with Buddhism and Daoism.