RELIEF 



4965 



RELIGION 



they are protected by man from their greatest 

 enemies, the wolves. During the winter, when 

 wolves are particularly ravenous, the Eskimos 

 guard their herds from attack day and night. 

 An illustration of the reindeer appears in these 

 volumes on page 1739, in connection with the 

 article DEER. See, also, CARIBOU ; LAPLAND. 



RELIEF, releej', a form of sculpture in 

 which the figures stand out from a surface 

 or background. It is to be distinguished from 

 sculpture in the round, in which the objects 

 are not attached to a background, but stand 

 alone. The famous frieze from the Parthenon 

 (see ELGIN MARBLES) is an example of relief 

 sculpture. There are three important forms of 

 this type of sculpture low relief, high relief 

 and semi-relief. These terms are explained 

 under the headings ALTO-RILJEVO^ BAS-RELJEF 

 and MEZZO-RILJEVO. Hollow relief is applied 

 to sculpture which has the figures carved below 

 the surface. See SCULPTURE. 



RELIGION, relij'un. Should a person at- 

 tempt to collect all that has been written on 

 the subject of religion he would find himself 

 acquiring a mammoth library. Religion is one 

 of those subjects that admit of innumerable 



definitions and classifications, theories and 

 speculations. The majority of students, how- 

 ever, agree that it has to do with belief in pow- 

 ers or beings that affect or control human life, 

 and with practices connected with such belief. 



A very general classification divides the 

 world's religions into those which recognize one 

 Supreme Being (monotheistic) and those which 

 recognize several gods (polytheistic). A more 

 satisfactory classification is that offered by Jas- 

 trow, who makes the following four divisions: 



(a) The religions of savages ; 



(6) The religions of primitive culture, such as 

 those of the Indians of Mexico and Peru and 

 those of the Polynesians ; 



(c) The religions of advanced culture, which 

 include those of Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, 

 China, Greece and Rome ; 



(d) The religions coextensive with life, such 

 as Judaism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism and 

 Christianity. 



The religions of the first two groups are 

 characterized by the worship of objects in na- 

 ture, such as the sun, moon and mountains, and 

 the worship of spirits, especially those of an- 

 cestors. Various magical rites and ceremonies 

 accompany this worship. In the religions of 

 advanced culture magic is replaced by my- 



KELIGIOUS STATISTIC S OK THE WORLD 



NII m i., -r In the World According; to < r<-.-.l 



llv < ..iMin. -111:11 MiHirilnili.nl 



< hrlMtlnnlly 



rhrUtlnnlty by Continental nutrll.iit I..H 



