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Cult is literally the "care" (Latin ''cultus'') owed to God or gods and to temples, shrines, or churches. Cult is embodied in ritual and ceremony. Its present or former presence is made concrete in temples, shrines and churches, and cult images, including cult images and votive deposits at votive sites. In the specific context of Greek hero cult, Carla Antonaccio has written, "The term ''cult'' identifies a pattern of ritual behavior in connection with specific objects, within a framework of spatial and temporal coordinates. ''Rituals'' would include (but not necessarily be limited to) prayer, sacrifice, votive offerings, competitions, processions and construction of monuments. Some degree of recurrence in place and repetition over time of ritual action is necessary for a cult to be enacted, to be practiced".〔Antonaccio, "Contesting the Past: Hero Cult, Tomb Cult, and Epic in Early Greece", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 98.3 (July 1994: 389-410) p. 398.〕 ==Etymology== Cicero defined ''religio'' as ''cultus deorum'', "the cultivation of the gods."〔Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'' 2.8 and 1.117.〕 The "cultivation" necessary to maintain a specific deity was that god's ''cultus,'' "cult," and required "the knowledge of giving the gods their due" ''(scientia colendorum deorum)''.〔Clifford Ando, ''The Matter of the Gods'' (University of California Press, 2009), p. 6.〕 The noun ''cultus'' originates from the past participle of the verb ''colo, colere, colui, cultus'', "to tend, take care of, cultivate," originally meaning "to dwell in, inhabit" and thus "to tend, cultivate land ''(ager)''; to practice agriculture," an activity fundamental to Roman identity even when Rome as a political center had become fully urbanized. ''Cultus'' is often translated as "cult", without the negative connotations the word may have in English, or with the Anglo-Saxon word "worship", but it implies the necessity of active maintenance beyond passive adoration. ''Cultus'' was expected to matter to the gods as a demonstration of respect, honor, and reverence; it was an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion (see ''do ut des'').〔Ando, ''The Matter of the Gods,'' pp. 5–7; Valerie M. Warrior, ''Roman Religion'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 6; James B. Rives, ''Religion in the Roman Empire'' (Blackwell, 2007), pp. 13, 23.〕 St. Augustine echoes Cicero's formulation when he declares that "''religio'' is nothing other than the ''cultus'' of God."〔Augustine, ''De Civitate Dei'' 10.1; Ando, ''The Matter of the Gods,'' p. 6.〕 The term "cult" first appeared in English in 1617, derived from the French ''culte'', meaning "worship" which in turn originated from the Latin word ''cultus'' meaning "care, cultivation, worship". The meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829. Starting about 1920, "cult" acquired an additional six or more positive and negative definitions. In French, for example, sections in newspapers giving the schedule of worship at Catholic churches are headed ''Culte Catholique''; the section giving the schedule of Protestant churches is headed ''culte réformé''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cult (religious practice)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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