Tau Symbol in Adyg (Circassian) Archaic Religion and Its Globalism in the Context of Ancient Religious Cultures

Introduction. The genesis of the traditional religion of the Adygs is inextricably linked with the phenomenon of the sacredness of symbolism and attributes. The main attribute of the traditional religion of the Adygs was the Tau symbol. He was a sacred symbol, an object for the worship of the one Great God (adyg., Thye/Theshue). The origin of the cult of the Tau symbol connects the traditional religious worldview of the Adygs with ancient religious cultures. Methods. The author used research methods of comparative historical analysis and analogy. The author compares the meaning and significance of the Tau symbol cult among the Adygs and ancient religious cultures in the Middle East and Europe. The comparison of archaeological and genetic data with narrative sources supports the thesis about the unity of the origin of the population and elements of culture in the ancient Near East and Europe. Analysis. A study and comparison of sources about the cult of the Tau symbol, an attempt to explain its genesis among the peoples of Asia, Africa and Europe, is being carried out. The emergence of the Tau symbol is associated with the emergence of the oldest proto-monotheistic religion in the area of the “Fertile Crescent” and its spread with the diffusion of the first agricultural tribes. Results. European authors of the 17th – 19th centuries attest to the massive spread of the cult of the Tau symbol among the Adygs, which was an archaic sacred attribute of the worship of the Great God. There is a significant spread of the Tau symbol in the ancient religious cultures of the Middle East, with the population of which the Adygs have a paleogenetic relationship. Based on the analysis of a wide range of historical data, the conclusion is made about a single source of global archaic religious culture, the center of which was in the Middle East.