"From even before the time of Alexander the Great, the Greek gods spread throughout the Mediterranean, carried by settlers and largely adopted by the indigenous populations. By the third century BC, gods bearing Greek names were worshipped everywhere from Spain to Afghanistan, w…
"This book investigates the issue of the singularity versus the multiplicity of ancient Near Eastern deities who are known by a common first name but differentiated by their last names, or geographic epithets. It focuses primarily on the Ishtar divine names in Mesopotamia, Baal …
"This book investigates the issue of the singularity versus the multiplicity of ancient Near Eastern deities who are known by a common first name but differentiated by their last names, or geographic epithets. It focuses primarily on the Ishtar divine names in Mesopotamia, Baal …
A different god?: Dionysos and ancient polytheism
"Many people worship not just one but many gods. Yet a relentless prejudice against polytheiosm denies legitimacy to some of the world's oldest and richest religious traditions. In her examination of polytheistic cultures both ancient and contemporary - those of Greece and Rome,…
As A Million and One Gods shows, polytheism is considered a scandalous presence in societies oriented to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim beliefs. Yet it persists, even in the West, perhaps because polytheism corresponds to unconscious needs and deeply held values of tolerance, div…
"For thousands of years, our world has been shaped by biblical monotheism. But its hallmark--a distinction between one true God and many false gods--was once a new and radical idea. Of God and Gods explores the revolutionary newness of biblical theology against a background of t…
