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55-821: Terah , a descendant of Shem son of Noah , was the father of Abram/Abraham, Nahor , and Haran. Their home's location is not certain, but it is usually supposed to have been in Mesopotamia . Besides Lot and Milcah , Haran fathered a daughter Iscah . After Haran died in Ur of the Chaldees 'before his father Terah', his family travelled towards Canaan , the Promised Land . However, Terah stopped at Charan (or Haran [Hebrew חָרָן, Ḥārān]) and settled there, as did Nahor and Milcah, whereas Lot accompanied Abraham and others onwards to Canaan. The name Haran possibly comes from

110-646: A Counter-Reformation renewal of venerable imagery, though banning some of the more fanciful medieval iconographies. Veneration of the Virgin Mary flourished, in practice and in imagery, and new shrines, such as in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore , were built for Medieval miraculous icons as part of this trend. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church : The Christian veneration of images

165-420: A murti is a representation of a divinity, made usually of stone, wood, or metal, which serves as a means through which a divinity may be worshiped. Hindus consider a murti worthy of serving as a focus of divine worship only after the divine is invoked in it for the purpose of offering worship. The depiction of the divinity must reflect the gestures and proportions outlined in religious tradition. In Jainism ,

220-595: A cost-saving one with a wooden body. A xoanon was a primitive and symbolic wooden image, perhaps comparable to the Hindu lingam ; many of these were retained and revered for their antiquity. Many of the Greek statues well-known from Roman marble copies were originally temple cult images, which in some cases, such as the Apollo Barberini , can be credibly identified. A very few actual originals survive, for example

275-562: A diminutive of eidos ("form"). Plato and the Platonists employed the Greek word eidos to signify perfect immutable " forms ". One can, of course, regard such an eidos as having a divine origin. The Book of Isaiah gave classic expression to the paradox inherent in the worship of cult images: Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. Judaism emphatically forbids idolatry, and considers it one of

330-527: A fiery furnace, yet Abram miraculously escaped ( Genesis Rabbah 38:13). The Zohar says that when God saved Abram from the furnace, Terah repented ( Zohar Genesis 1:77b) and Rabbi Abba B. Kahana said that God assured Abram that his father Terah had a portion in the World to Come (Genesis Rabbah 30:4; 30:12). Rabbi Hiyya relates this account in the Genesis Rabbah: Terah left Abram to mind

385-719: A new lineage distinct from his ancestors. In the Samaritan Pentateuch Terah dies aged 145 years and Abram leaves Haran after his death. In the Christian tradition Abram left Haran after Terah died. The Christian views of the time of Terah come from a passage in the New Testament at Acts 7:2–4 where Stephen said some things that contrast with Jewish rabbinical views. He said that God appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, and directed him to leave

440-589: A passage of the Quran, which mentions that the sons of Yaʿqūb (Jacob) referred to his uncle Ismāʿīl (Ishmael), father Is-ḥāq (Isaac) and grandfather Ibrāhīm (Abraham) as his ābāʾ ( Arabic : آبَـاء ): Were you there to see when death came upon Ya'qub? When he said to his sons, "What will you worship after I am gone?" they replied, "We shall worship your God and the God of your abaʾ , Ibrahim, Isma'il, and Is-haq, one single God: we devote ourselves to Him." Therefore,

495-452: A temple may undergo a daily routine of being washed, dressed, and having food left for them. Processions outside the temple on special feast days are often a feature. Religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, subject, or connection. In many contexts "cult image" specifically means the most important image in a temple, kept in an inner space, as opposed to what may be many other images decorating

550-577: A wooden framework. Most cult statues are anthropromorphic and take human shape. The most famous Greek cult images were of this type, including the Statue of Zeus at Olympia , and Phidias 's Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon in Athens, both colossal statues now completely lost. Fragments of two chryselephantine statues from Delphi have been excavated. The acrolith was another composite form, this time

605-441: Is identified as the person who arranged and led the family to embark on a mysterious journey to Canaan. It is shrouded in mystery to Jewish scholars as to why Terah began the journey and as to why the journey ended prematurely. It is suggested that he was a man in search of a greater truth that could possibly be found in the land of Canaan, and that it was Abram who picked up the torch to continue his father's quest, that Terah himself

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660-515: Is mentioned in Genesis 11:26–27, Book of Joshua 24:2, and 1 Chronicles 1:17–27 of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3 :34–36 in the New Testament . Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:26–27, Joshua 24:2, and 1 Chronicles 1:17–27 of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3:34–36 in the New Testament . Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:26–32 as a son of Nahor, the son of Serug , descendants of Shem . He

715-486: Is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype", and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it". The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration", not the adoration due to God alone: Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward

770-572: Is said to have had three sons: Abram (better known by his later name Abraham), Haran , and Nahor II , and one daughter: Sarai (better known by her later name Sarah). The family lived in Ur of the Chaldees . His grandchildren were Lot , Milcah and Iscah , whose father, Haran, had died at Ur. In the Book of Joshua , in his final speech to the Israelite leaders assembled at Shechem , Joshua recounts

825-633: The Historical Buddha , and other buddhas and bodhisattvas became important in many schools of Buddhist art , and have mostly remained so. The attitude of the devotee towards the image is highly complicated and variable in Buddhism, depending on the particular tradition, and the degree of training in Buddhist thought of the individual. The dharma wheel is an image that used for worship in Buddhism. The Dharma represents and symbolizes all of

880-544: The Palatine Chapel, Aachen was probably a decisive moment, leading to the widespread use of monumental reliefs on churches, and later large statues. Many Christians believed that idols were not merely idle statues, but that they are inhabited by demons who could exercise influence through the idol. By destroying idols, converted Christians believed to deprave devils of their earthly and material dwelling. The Libri Carolini , an eighth-century work composed at

935-650: The Phoenician personal name hr-b`l , and also in the Israelite personal name hryhw from Gibeon . Haran is the English name of two other people mentioned in the Bible. Terah Terah or Terach ( Hebrew : תֶּרַח Teraḥ ) is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis . He is listed as the son of Nahor and father of the patriarch Abraham . As such, he is a descendant of Shem 's son Arpachshad . Terah

990-606: The Tirthankaras ("ford-maker") represent the true goal of all human beings. Their qualities are worshipped by the Jains. Images depicting any of the twenty four Tirthankaras are placed in the Jain temples . There is no belief that the image itself is other than a representation of the being it represents. The Tirthankaras cannot respond to such veneration, but that it can function as a meditative aid. Although most veneration takes

1045-525: The conquest of Mecca in the year 630. In the aftermath, Muhammad did three things. Firstly, with his companions he visited the Kaaba and literally threw out the idols and destroyed them, thus removing the signs of Jahiliyyah from the Kaaba. Secondly, he ordered the construction of a mosque around the Kaaba, the first Masjid al-Haram after the birth of Islam . Thirdly, in a magnanimous manner, Muhammad pardoned all those who had taken up arms against him. With

1100-529: The Chaldeans—whereas most rabbinical commentators see Terah as being the one who directed the family to leave Ur Kasdim from Genesis 11:31: "Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram's wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran's child) and left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan." Stephen asserts that Abram left Haran after Terah died. Some Sunni scholars are of

1155-529: The Hebrew word har , = "mountain", with a West Semitic suffix appearing with proper names, anu/i/a . Thus, it has been suggested that Haran may mean "mountaineer". Personal names which resemble Haran include ha-ri and ha-ru , from texts of second millennium BC Mari and Alalakh , and ha-ar-ri , from one of the Amarna letters —but their meanings are uncertain. The initial element of Haran can be found in

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1210-608: The Kaaba, in the process being charged tithes . This helped the Meccan merchants to incur substantial wealth, as well as ensuring a fruitful atmosphere for trade and intertribal relations in relative peace. Muhammad 's preaching incurred the wrath of the pagan merchants, causing them to revolt against him. The opposition to his teachings grew so volatile that Muhammad and his followers were forced to flee Mecca to Medina for protection, leading to armed conflict and triggering many battles that were won and lost, which finally culminated in

1265-483: The Sun might be worshipped directly as it traveled across the sky. Cult images were a common presence in ancient Egypt, and still are in modern-day Kemetism . The term is often confined to the relatively small images, typically in gold, that lived in the naos in the inner sanctuary of Egyptian temples dedicated to that god (except when taken on ceremonial outings, say to visit their spouse). These images usually showed

1320-615: The better one.." Likewise, in Ziyarat Arbaeen , a recitation with which Shiite Muslims pay respect to Imam Husayn , it is recited "I bear witness that you were a light in the sublime loins and purified wombs..", through which it is believed that none of his ancestors up to Adam were impure, which includes Muhammad, Imam Ali and Lady Fatimah and hence including Abraham's biological father. The Twelver Shi'ite website Al-Islam.org treats Azar as being Abraham's uncle, not his biological father. To justify this view, it references

1375-583: The bronze Piraeus Athena (2.35 metres high, including a helmet). In Greek and Roman mythology , a " palladium " was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend, especially the wooden one that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to Rome by Aeneas . (The Roman story was related in Virgil 's Aeneid and other works.) Some members of Abrahamic religions identify cult images as idols and their worship or veneration as idolatry ;

1430-457: The chamber, but Hindu temple architecture typically allows the image to be seen by worshippers in the mandapa connected to it (entry to this, and the whole temple, may also be restricted in various ways). Hinduism allows for many forms of worship and therefore it neither prescribes nor proscribes worship of images ( murti ). In Hinduism, murti usually means an image that expresses a Divine Spirit ( murta ). Meaning literally "embodiment",

1485-835: The command of Charlemagne in response to the Second Council of Nicaea , set out what remains the Catholic position on the veneration of images, giving them a similar but slightly less significant place than in Eastern Orthodoxy. The 16th-century Reformation engendered spates of destruction of images, especially in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries (the Beeldenstorm ), and France. Destruction of three-dimensional images

1540-430: The current royal family. Ancient Greek temples and Roman temples normally contained a cult image in the cella . The cella in Greek temples was in the center, while it was located in the back of Roman temples. Access to the cella varied, but apart from the priests, at the least some of the general worshippers could access the cella some of the time, though sacrifices to the deity were normally made on altars outside in

1595-462: The destruction of the idols and the construction of the Masjid al-Haram, a new era was ushered in, facilitating the rise of Islam . The garbhagriha or inner shrine of a Hindu temple contains an image of the deity. This may take the form of an elaborate statue, but a symbolic lingam is also very common, and sometimes a yoni or other symbolic form. Normally only the priests are allowed to enter

1650-458: The form of prayers, hymns and recitations, the idol is sometimes ritually bathed, and often has offerings made to it; there are eight kinds of offering representing the eight types of karmas as per Jainism. This form of reverence is not a central tenet of the faith. Very early Buddhism avoided representations of the Buddha, who was represented by symbols or an empty space . Later large images of

1705-403: The god in their sacred barque or boat; none of them survive. Only the priests were allowed access to the inner sanctuary. There was also a huge range of smaller images, many kept in the homes of ordinary people. The very large stone images around the exteriors of temples were usually representations of the pharaoh as himself or "as" a deity, and many other images gave deities the features of

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1760-584: The gravest sins . Judaism is aniconic , meaning any physical depiction of God whatsoever is disallowed; this likewise applies to cult images. The prohibition of idols within Judaism is so severe that numerous stipulations exist which are beyond simply concerning their use: Jews cannot eat anything offered to an idol as a libation , cannot move openly in places where idols are present, and cannot interact with idol worshippers within certain timeframes of idolatrous festivals or gatherings. As time progressed and

1815-477: The history of God's formation of the Israelite nation, beginning with "Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, who lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods." Terah is also mentioned in a biblical genealogy given in 1 Chronicles . In the Genesis narrative, Terah took his family and left Ur to move to the land of Canaan . Terah set out for Canaan but stopped in the city of Haran along

1870-623: The idol depends on the school of Buddhism that you belong to. Buddhist idols that originate from Theravada Buddhism are commonly slim, and majestic. Buddhist idols that originate from Mahayana Buddhism are usually thicker, with a more dignified and nonchalant face. Buddhist idols that originate from Vajrayana Buddhism usually have a more exaggerated posture, and usually show the Buddha / Bodhisattva performing hand Mudras . In Shinto , cult images are called shintai . The earliest historical examples of these were natural objects such as stones, waterfalls, trees or mountains, like Mount Fuji , while

1925-640: The image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is. Towards the end of the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian city of Mecca , an era otherwise known by the Muslims as جاهلية, or al-Jahiliyah , the pagan or pre-Islamic merchants of Mecca controlled the sacred Kaaba , thereby regulating control over it and, in turn, over the city itself. The local tribes of the Arabian peninsula came to this centre of commerce to place their idols in

1980-424: The minister of Namrud. There is a consensus among Shia Muslim scholars and exegetes that Azar was not the biological father of Abraham but rather his paternal uncle while Terah is believed to be his father. Shaykh Tusi maintained that Azar was not Abraham's father and cited a hadith from Muhammad according to which none of the prophet's ancestors up to Adam were polytheists. By this he argued that since Azar

2035-447: The opinion that Azar (mentioned in the Qur'an ) is not the father of Ibrahim . For some, the actual name of the father of Ibrahim is Tarakh, thus cannot be Azar. Ibn Hajar 's position is that in fact Azar is the paternal uncle of Ibrahim and that Arabs use the term " ab " to refer to the paternal uncle also and that Allah used this expression in the Qur'an 2:133 where Isma'il ,

2090-600: The paternal uncle of Ya'qub , is referred to as an " ab ". Some commentators said: Terah's, had two names: Azar and Terah, as Al-Tabari narrated in Jami’ al-Bayan (11/466) with his chain of transmission on the authority of Saeed bin Abdul Aziz. He said: He is Azar, and he is Terah, such as “Israel” and “ Jacob ”. It is also maintained by some that Azar's real name was Nakhoor, and that though Azar earlier worshipped Allah , he abandoned his forefathers' religion when he became

2145-823: The religious traditions which the Jews were exposed to diversified, what was considered "idolatry" was subject to some debate. In the Mishnah and Talmud , idolatry is defined as worshipping a graven image through the actions of both typical idol worshippers, and through actions customarily reserved for worship of the Jewish God in the Temple in Jerusalem , such as prostrating , sacrificing animals , offering incense , or sprinkling animal blood on altars. Kissing, embracing, or "honoring" an idol, while not considered idolatry per se ,

2200-491: The singular word ab does not always mean progenitor, and can be used for an adopter, uncle, step-father, or caretaker, unlike the word wālid ( Arabic : وَالِـد , progenitor). Thus, Al-Islam.org denies that Abraham's biological father was 'Azar', and instead agreed with Ibn Kathir that he was the biblical figure 'Terah', who nevertheless treated him as a polytheist. In contrast to Al-Islam.org , Shi'ite scholar and jurist Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi believed Terah to be

2255-503: The store while he departed. A woman came with a plateful of flour and asked Abram to offer it to the idols. Abram then took a stick, broke the idols, and put the stick in the largest idol’s hand. When Terah returned, he demanded that Abram explain what he'd done. Abram told his father that the idols fought among themselves and the largest broke the others with the stick. "Why do you make sport of me?" Terah cried, "Do they have any knowledge?" Abram replied, "Listen to what you are saying!" Terah

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2310-399: The teachings of the Buddha. The Dharma is a wheel or circle, that maintains different qualities that are meant to be essential to the Buddhist religion. Typically, the wheel shows the eight step path that Buddhists follow to reach Nirvana. The symbol is a wheel in order to show the flow of life: Buddhists believe in reincarnation, so life moves in a circle and does not end in death. The build of

2365-470: The temple precinct ( temenos in Greek). Some cult images were easy to see, and were major tourist attractions. The image normally took the form of a statue of the deity, typically roughly life-size, but in some cases many times life-size, in marble or bronze, or in the specially prestigious form of a Chryselephantine statue using ivory plaques for the visible parts of the body and gold for the clothes, around

2420-512: The temple. The term idol is an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship, while idolatry is the worship of an "idol" as though it were God . The use of images in the Ancient Near East seems typically to have been similar to that of the ancient Egyptian religion , about which we are the best-informed. Temples housed a cult image, and there were large numbers of other images. The ancient Hebrew religion

2475-428: The uncle of Abraham, not his father. Terah is portrayed by Vittorio Gassman in the film Abraham (1993). Cult image In the practice of religion , a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity , spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt , Greece and Rome, and Hinduism, cult images in

2530-633: The way, where he died. Genesis 11:26 states that Terah lived 70 years, "and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran". The Talmud says that Abraham was 52 years old at year 2000 AM ( Anno Mundi ), which means that he was born in the year 1948 AM. According to rabbinic literature Terah was a wicked ( Numbers Rabbah 19:1; 19:33), idolatrous priest ( Midrash HaGadol on Genesis 11:28) who manufactured idols ( Eliyahu Rabbah 6, and Eliyahu Zuta 25). Abram, in opposition to his father's idol shop, smashed his father's idols and chased customers away. Terah then brought his unruly son before Nimrod , who threw him into

2585-500: The worship of hollow forms, though others do not. The matter has long been controversial, depending largely on the degree of veneration or worship which is thought by opponents to be given to them. The word idol entered Middle English in the 13th century from Old French idole adapted in Ecclesiastical Latin from the Greek eidolon ("appearance", extended in later usage to "mental image, apparition, phantom")

2640-455: Was a reflection of his character, a man who was unable to go "all the way". Although on a journey in the right direction, Terah fell short at arriving to the divine destination—in contrast to Abram, who did follow through and achieved the divine goal, and was not bound by his father's idolatrous past. Abram's following God's command to leave his father, thus absolved him from the mitzvah of honoring parents, and as Abraham, he would go on to create

2695-537: Was an idolater and Abraham was one of the prophet's ancestors, it is not possible for Azar to be Abraham's father. According to Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi in Tafsir Nemooneh , all Shiite exegetes and scholars believe that Azar was not Abraham's father. Allamah Tabatabai in his Tafsir al-Mizan appealed to the Quranic verses in which Abraham prayed for his parents, that they show that his father

2750-594: Was highly controversial for centuries, and in Eastern Orthodoxy the controversy lingered until it re-erupted in the Byzantine Iconoclasm of the 8th and 9th centuries. Religious monumental sculpture remained foreign to Orthodoxy. In the West, resistance to idolatry delayed the introduction of sculpted images for centuries until the time of Charlemagne , whose placing of a life-size crucifix in

2805-674: Was normally near-total, especially images of the Virgin Mary and saints, and the iconoclasts ("image-breakers") also smashed representations of holy figures in stained glass windows and other imagery. Further destruction of icons, anathema to Puritans , occurred during the English Civil War . Less extreme transitions occurred throughout northern Europe in which formerly Catholic churches became Protestant. Catholic regions of Europe, especially artistic centres like Rome and Antwerp , responded to Reformation iconoclasm with

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2860-591: Was or became an exception, rejecting cult images despite developing monotheism ; the connection between this and the Atenism that Akhenaten tried to impose on Egypt has been much discussed. In the art of Amarna , Aten is represented only as the sun-disk, with rays emanating from it, sometimes ending in hands, and temples to Aten (e.g. the Great Temple of the Aten in Amarna ) were open courts with no roof, that

2915-422: Was someone other than Azar. In Dua Umm Dawood, a supplication recited by Shi'ite Muslims cited to be from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq , the supplicant sends blessings on a person by the name of 'Turakh'. In Nahj al-Balagha , Imam Ali is reported to have said in a sermon, "I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and the chief of His creation; whenever Allah divided the line of descent, He put him in

2970-470: Was still forbidden. Christian images that are venerated are called icons . Christians who venerate icons make an emphatic distinction between " veneration " and " worship ". Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians make an exception for the veneration of images of saints – they distinguish such veneration from adoration or latria . The introduction of venerable images in Christianity

3025-550: Was unable to achieve. In Jewish tradition, when Terah died at age 205, Abraham (70 years younger) was already 135 years old. Abram thus left Haran at age 75, well before Terah died. The Torah, however, relates Terah's death in Haran before Abram continues the journey to Canaan as an expression that he was not remiss in the Mitzvah of honoring a parent by leaving his aging father behind. The significance of Terah not reaching Canaan

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