What early civilizations was polytheistic?

Answer 1

A:Ancient civilizations where polytheism was followed include: Egypt, Rome, Greece, Israel, pre-Exilic Judah.

Modern civilizations where polytheism is widely followed include: India, Thailand, China, Japan.

Answer 2

A:During the Bronze Ages and the early Iron Age, all religions were polytheistic except animist religions, which did not really have gods at all, and Zoroastrianism, which probably emerged out of a polytheistic milieu around 1700-2000 BCE.

Egyptian religion was officially monotheistic, or perhaps henotheistic (devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods) during the reign of pharaoh Akhenaten around 1340 BCE. The official religion might not have been widely practised outside the Egyptian capital, with polytheism quietly continuing elsewhere.

By the seventh century BCE, Judaism was emerging as a monolatrous religion, which means it was no longer polytheistic but not yet monotheistic. Monolatrists believe that many gods exist, but these gods can exert their power only on those who worship them. By the sixth-century-BCE Babylonian Exile, Judaism had also become monotheistic.

Answer 3

Most of them. The first monotheistic civilization (as far as we know) was the Israelites. Followed by Catholic Rome (and Byzantium)* and Islam. All other civilizations worshiped various gods and/or demigods.


*see discussion.