ABSTRACT
Most religions of the ancient Near East were polytheistic, which means that many different gods were worshipped. This belief in many gods was associated with the people’s worldview. They believed that each force of nature represented a divine power. The cosmos had originated when primeval gods had risen from a divine primeval sea. The annual death and rebirth of the vegetation were also explained in myths. Myths explaining natural phenomena and the origin of the world are distinctive features of the religions of the ancient Near East. Polytheistic religions are flexible and readily accept foreign gods into their pantheons, either as new gods or through identification with existing gods. In Egypt the gods were also portrayed as animals or as hybrid creatures, part beast and part man, which greatly astonished other peoples, in particular the Greeks and Romans, who regarded them with contempt.
