POLYTHEISM

the belief in many gods. Polytheism characterizes virtually all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common tradition of monotheism, the belief in one God. Sometimes above the many gods a polytheistic religion will have a supreme creator and focus of devotion, as in certain phases of Hinduism (there is also the tendency to identify the many gods as so many aspects of the Supreme Being); sometimes the gods are considered as less important than some higher goal, state, or saviour, as in Buddhism; sometimes one god will prove more dominant than the others without attaining overall supremacy, as Zeus in Greek religion. Typically, polytheistic cultures include belief in many demonic and ghostly forces in addition to the gods, and some supernatural beings will be malevolent; even in monotheistic religions there can be belief in many demons, as in New Testament Christianity. Polytheism can bear various relationships to other beliefs. It can be incompatible with some forms of theism, as in the Semitic religions; it can coexist with theism, as in Vaisnavism; it can exist at a lower level of understanding, ultimately to be transcended, as in Mahayana Buddhism; it can exist as a tolerated adjunct to belief in transcendental liberation, as in Theravada Buddhism. the belief in many gods, which, as opposed to the monotheism of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, has characterized nearly all other religions throughout history. The many gods may be subordinate to a supreme god and object of devotion (as in some stages of Hinduism), or subordinate to some higher state, end, or saviour (as in Buddhism), or subordinate to one god that is dominant though not supreme (as in Greek religion). In addition to belief in many gods, polytheistic cultures generally also include belief in many other malevolent or benevolent spiritual forces or powers, which are unlike the gods in that they are usually unnamed and conceptually indefinite. The gods and powers of polytheism appear in many different forms. Religions often identify the forces and objects of nature as deities. The common threefold breakdown of these nature-deities as celestial, atmospheric, and earthly is exemplified by the Indo-Aryan triad of Surya (sun), Indra (rain and battle), and Agni (fire). In hunting and agrarian cultures, religious fertility rites usually acknowledge the vitality of the sun in the rhythm of growth and decay. Furthermore, the sun is frequently viewed as all-knowing, just as the sky is associated with creation; thus sky gods tend to be very powerful and knowledgeable, and mythic thought often associates creation with light. The divine mother who gives birth to plant life is a primary earthly god. Particular features of a religious group's environment also often take on divine significance; thus, the sacred mountains, such as Mt. Olympus in Greece, and the sacred rivers, such as the Ganges in India. Plants and animals figure prominently in most polytheistic schemes, either explicitly deified or in association with deities in other forms. Trees have commonly been regarded as having a symbolic relation to earth and heaven. Most important plant gods are associated with cultivated plants, such as corn (maize) in Central America and the vine of the Mediterranean world; in the Dionysian cult of the classical period, for instance, ecstasy and agriculture were symbolically united in the vine. Animals may be represented in the divine scheme on the basis of their importance to the livelihood of the culture or, more commonly, attributes associated with their appearance or behaviour. In addition to the forces and objects of nature, various social and other functions, such as healing, seafaring, war, learning, or love, may be divinized. Of special importance are the gods concerned with death and judgment after death, such as Osiris in ancient Egypt, Yama in India, Hades in Greece, and Hel in Norse religion. Anthropomorphism, or the modelling of the gods in the form of human beings, is a widespread phenomenon in polytheism. This is evident especially in the religious tradition of the Greeks, in which the gods are fully human in their thoughts and emotions. In some cases, human beings may take on the attributes of divinity, either through their manifestation of power or through their identification with deities; divine kingship was a characteristic feature of the ancient Middle East, the Roman world, Japan, and China. Cultural heroes have frequently been elevated to a semidivine status, and sages in the Buddhist and Jain traditions have become objects of cults. Additional reading S.G.F. Brandon (ed.), A Dictionary of Comparative Religion (1970), contains articles on the various gods and also on theories of polytheism, and these have bibliographic sections. A useful compendium is the Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (1959). One example of the numerous anthropological literature is G.E. Swanson, The Birth of the Gods: The Origin of Primitive Beliefs (1960).