Polytheism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Religion and mythology== {{Main|Religion and mythology}} In [[Classical Antiquity|the Classical era]], 4th century CE Neoplatonist [[Sallustius (Neoplatonist)|Sallustius]] categorized [[mythology]] into five types:<ref>Sallustius, ''On the Gods and the World'', [[s:Sallust On the Gods and the World/Sallust on the Gods and the World#Chap. IV.|4]]</ref> # Theological: myths that contemplate the essence of the gods, such as [[Cronus]] swallowing his children, which Sallustius regarded as expressing in allegory the essence of divinity # Physical: expressing the activities of gods in the world # Psychological: myths as allegories of the activities of the soul itself or the soul's acts of thought # Material: regarding material objects as gods, for example: to call the earth [[Gaia]], the ocean Okeanos, or heat [[Typhon]] # Mixed The beliefs of many historical polytheistic religions are commonly referred to as "mythology",<ref>Eugenie C. Scott, ''Evolution Vs. Creationism: An Introduction'' (2009), p. 58.</ref>{{reliable source|date=July 2022}} though the stories cultures tell about their gods should be distinguished{{according to whom|date=July 2022}} from their worship or religious practice. For instance, deities portrayed in conflict in mythology were often nonetheless worshipped side by side, illustrating the distinction within the religion between belief and practice.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Scholars such as [[Jaan Puhvel]], [[J. P. Mallory]], and [[Douglas Q. Adams]] have reconstructed aspects of the ancient [[Proto-Indo-European religion]] from which the religions of the various [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European peoples]] are thought to derive, which is believed to have been an essentially naturalist [[Numenism|numenistic]] religion.{{Citation needed|reason=develop, how are they "essentialy naturalist numenistic religions"?|date=April 2021}} An example of a religious notion from this shared past is the concept of ''[[Dyeus|*dyΔus]]'', which is attested in several religious systems of Indo-European-speaking peoples. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page