What is mythology? On the essence of the festival, man and god according to Roman understanding: Beyond dogmatic narrowing, Karl Kerényi's "Ancient Religion" is more than a new beginning in the study of Greek and Roman religion - "Ancient Religion" is a new beginning in writing about religion in general. Starting from his central essay "What is Mythology?" (1939), the myth researcher Kerényi explores religion in its historical forms. He illuminates the cults of the gods of the Greeks and Romans as a unique, historically realized form of religion in itself. Thus, "Ancient Religion" draws connections from the sensual tradition of antiquity to the present, to Judaism and Christianity, to the poetry of politics, to spectacle and drama: Ancient religion worshipped the gods of heaven and those of the underworld.