This book explores how memory intersects with and shapes religious traditions and cultural identities of ancient civilizations in respect of their religious beliefs and cultural identities. . it discusses how the memory layers that make up ancient history (social, religious, cultural) are represented and refracted in different contexts of the written and material remains of antiquity. Part i Part I looks at religious pasts and the religious present in description and philiosophy of religion contexts, as well as the visual expression of specific identities, formed and forged over long periods of time. Part ii Part II is about defining religious identity and focuses on the apparently homogenous cultures that engage in a dialogue with their own past. case studies show how selective commemoration and inventing the past shape particular religious identities., and ancient religious lives of ancsent peoples. PART III Part III is about the forgotten ancient religions