https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/cults/RSS feed for CultsenThu, 27 Feb 2025 19:54:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-stunning-frescoes-of-a-mysterious-dionysian-cult-discovered-in-ancient-pompeii-180986133/Created more than a century before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E., the wall paintings provide rare insights into secret rituals conducted in the Roman cityThu, 27 Feb 2025 19:54:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-stunning-frescoes-of-a-mysterious-dionysian-cult-discovered-in-ancient-pompeii-180986133/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-neolithic-cattle-cult-build-these-sprawling-structures-180977629/The roughly 7,000-year-old mustatils, or rectangular monuments, predate both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramidsFri, 30 Apr 2021 18:29:40 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-neolithic-cattle-cult-build-these-sprawling-structures-180977629/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/how-the-rajneesh-cult-overran-this-oregon-town/In the early 1980s, an Indian guru named Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh arrived in the town of Antelope, Oregon and set up a commune for his followersWed, 16 May 2018 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/how-the-rajneesh-cult-overran-this-oregon-town/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-waco-still-one-contention-180968002/A new mini-series hopes to humanize those in and outside the doomed compoundWed, 31 Jan 2018 17:28:05 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-waco-still-one-contention-180968002/