Paganism is actually a very ancient religion; however, since so few historical texts have been found intact and few can be translated, modern Pagans have been forced to essentially reconstruct the ancient religions to the best of their ability.
Some of the oldest examples of Paganism are the statues of motherly figures, with ample figures, that demonstrate the Mother aspect that would have been primarily important to the early people. These statues, from a very early time period (35,000-10, 000, b.c) have been found all over Europe. The Venus of Willendorf, or Willendorf Goddess, is a commonly used example.
Palaeolithic cave art seems to suggest that the early peoples painted the animals in a way connected with hunting--perhaps to draw the animals' spirits to the hunters, to ensure a good hunt. This is likely a form of sympathetic magic.
About 80,000 years ago, still in the Palaeolithic period, burials appeared--burials, the mark of the human species. While burials do not neccessarily mean a religion, thy do indicate a belief in the afterlife. One sixth of known burials of the Palaeolithic times were sprinkled with red ochre, and ornaments have been found in conjunction with the burials.
Moving on to the Neolithic time period, we find the henges: archaelological sites that seem to have more of a spiritual purpose than functional. Henges seem to be a phenomonon confined to Britain, and does not appear to have reached the main land. One of the most famous of the henges is Stonehenge, which stand in the middle of Salisbury Plain, in the chalk upland of Wiltshire. Stonehenge was actually built over a long time period, not just the period in which it originated (the Middle Neolithic). Henges are not necessarily the same as stone circles. Henges, as is said above, are those sites which appear to be more spiritual than functional.
Celtic trads are probably some of the most common today; it is nearly impossible not to come into contact with at least one person or group with Celtic associations when you are a pagan. However, the Celts are one of those peoples who left few actual records behind them, and much of the current traditions have had to build onto the somewhat scanty knowledge concerning the Celts.
The Celts had many gods/goddesses; there are records of over 400 deities, at least 300 of whom are only mentioned once. Thus, it is hard to tell if the Celts regarded the deities as seperate, or as aspects of one whole. Many of the deities are very much localized, distinct to one region or another. They had a strong belief in the afterlife, at least; archaeological information supports that fact.
One of the divisions of the Celts was the Druids, who lived in communities that seem to have been mostly male and intellectual. There is little available information on the Druids, regrettably; and some of what is available is from unreliable sources, the Druids' enemies.
In the category of classical religions fall the Romans and the Greeks. These peoples believed that one must pay homage to all the gods, not merely the ones whose attributes you most wanted, because if you neglected a god or goddess, you would miss out on that aspect of life they represented.
As the Romans did not have an insular religion when they conquered the Greeks, they essentially took over the Greek pantheon. The only Roman god who does not have a Greek counterpart is Janus, a creation god. The Romans did have several myths and legends that were their own, but unlike the Greeks (who mainly used myths to provide an example for the ideal of human behavior) the Romans preffered myths that glorified heroism, bravery, and duty. Both pantheons were very polytheistic (believing in more than one deity) in nature.
The Egyptians were extremely polytheistic; they had hundreds or thousands of gods and goddesses. The main Egyptian deities were Isis and Osiris, along with Horus. Isis was the creation goddess; she was the wife of Osiris, who was tricked and killed by his evil brother Set/Seth. Isis brought Osiris back to life long enough to conceive their son, Horus, falcon-headed god of the sun. After Osisris died, he became the God of the Dead and is commonly pictured as a mummy.
Another important set of goddesses were the four sisters: Isis (who was probably the most important Egyptian deity), Nephthys, Selket (goddess of scorpians), and Neith (goddess of night). These are the four sisters who are depicted in Tutankamen's tomb, guarding the four corners of his sarcauphagus (outer coffin).
In the Middle Ages, Christianity reigned and Paganism went into hiding. However, it was revived in the 1800s and 1900s, becoming what is Paganism today. Gerald Gardner is often regarded as the father of modern Paganism; however, there is an argument that Aliester Crowley was the father of modern Paganism. While there is little doubt that Crowley did have a major impact on modern Paganism, I tend to suscribe to the theory that Gardner was in fact the founder of Wicca.
When the last of the anti-Witchcraft laws were repealed around the 1940s, Gardner published books that were openely about Paganism, thus beginning the revival of Paganism in England. It spread to the states, notably aided by Buckland and his wife, Rosemary, who had been initiated by Gardner. Since then, Paganism has continued to be one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States, and many other places--Australia, for example--have a high Pagan content.
