Possibly Britain’s greatest national icon. Stonehenge is composed of a circle of sarsen stones, surrounded by a bank and ditch, and enclosing a circle of smaller bluestones. Within the inner circle are five trilithons, designed to align with the midsummer sunrise.

The Great Temple of Ramesses II. Built for himself by Ramesses the Great, and dedicated to the god Re-Harakhte, the Horus of the Horizon, the facade of the temple is dominated by four enormous seated figures of the pharaoh himself, one of which was damaged in antiquity.

Mesopotamia’s people lived in a world thronged with gods. They recognized thousands of different divinities, each associated with a different aspect of the universe, from the sky and the sea to humble implements such as the plow and the hoe-there was even a god of brick-molds.

Although elements of a creation story can be found in early Sumerian myth, the first surviving attempt at a comprehensive account dates from Old Babylonian times (ca.1900-1600BCE). It takes the form of a lengthy liturgical poem, known from its words as the Enuma Elish.

Wiraqocha, revered as the creator of the cosmos, seems to have played little part in the everyday running of the Inca universe. This task was shared out among a pantheon of gods and goddesses, with Wiraqocha’s son Inca the most prominent of them.

Inane, or Ishtar, was worshiped from early times in Uruk, where her symbol was a reed column of a type still to be seen in houses in the Iraqi marshes. Her cult remained strong to Mesopotamia’s last days. Over the centuries so many lesser goddesses became assimilated to her that by the first millennium BCE her name had become virtually synonymous with “goddess.”

A new year means new things.

The Aztecs believed that the gods had constructed the world, and that they were just as likely to destroy their creation if they were not sufficiently rewarded for their labors. To propitiate their gods the Aztecs conducted all manner of sacrificial rites-from the offering of small animals to bloodletting ceremonies and human sacrifice.

In a people as proud as the Incas, and in a region of the world so comparatively isolated, a certain solipsism might be expected. Sure enough, in their dramatic conception of the creation of the universe, the Incas placed themselves at center stage.

The Celts worshiped bloodthirsty gods in dark woodland sanctuaries. While evidence suggests that this may be a grimly exaggerated description of the truth, the Celts undoubtedly regarded forests and woodlands as sacred place of power and danger.