Browse by myth-theme
Click a theme to light up every dark-layer connection that belongs to it, across the whole map, in either layer. Click again to clear.
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About this dataset
What this is
A genealogical and comparative-mythology map of the world's major religious traditions: a light layer of documented lineage (who descended from whom, who split from whom), and a dark layer of contested, hidden, and mythological connections between traditions that aren't directly related on the light layer.
Who built it, and how
Compiled by Sergejs Kaminovs (Fractal Consciousness Lab) in conversation with Claude (Anthropic). The dark-layer connections are AI-assisted synthesis of existing comparative-religion and Indo-European-studies scholarship — not original fieldwork, not original translation of primary sources, and not a literature review conducted by a domain specialist.
Status — read before citing
Not peer-reviewed. The sources listed are real, but individual citations have not been independently verified page-by-page against the original works. Treat every connection here as a structured starting point for your own research, not as a settled conclusion — including the ones marked "established." Always check the primary source before relying on a claim elsewhere.
Known limitations
Adherent counts used to size nodes are order-of-magnitude estimates, not census data, and several are genuinely disputed (noted individually where relevant). Confidence tiers are an editorial judgment call made for this project, not a formal academic classification system. "Fringe" connections are included for their cultural-historical interest — as documented ideas people have actually held — not because they're plausible. A single 2D timeline necessarily compresses real geographic and chronological nuance.
Revision
52 traditions, 51 lineage connections, 44 cross-layer connections. Last substantial content revision: June 2026.
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Four layers of confidence
Established — documented historical, textual, or linguistic fact.
Hypothesis — a real, actively debated scholarly position.
Speculative — a minority or unproven academic idea.
Fringe — usually a diffusionist or pseudo-archaeological idea mainstream scholarship rejects, shown for its own cultural-historical interest.
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