As civilization begins to develop with the introduction of agriculture, religion undergoes a dramatic transformation, and something previously confined to small-scale shamanism becomes the central organizing principle of society. Religion becomes institutionalized, it ossifies and loses its immediate connection to the divine, apart from revelation. There’s an interesting parallel between the stories of Cain and Abel and Romulus and Remus. In each, a fratricide arising in a dispute over divination is followed by the founding of a city. Cain is associated with agriculture and founds the first city; Abel is associated with the older nomadic societies. One possible reading of the story relates to the change in religion (or divination) when agriculture is introduced. Thomas McEvilley’s magisterial Shape of Ancient Thought puts it thus:
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