@FBM,
Quote:As Stephen Roberts once famously said, “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do.”
Mr Roberts' contention has grounding in history. In antiquity, Christians and Jews were indeed considered atheists by Greek and Roman polytheists, because they denied the existence of so many gods.
But that proved their main advantage in the end, I think. The big problem with polytheism was the inflation in the number of gods that were believed to exist as time passed and local societies and cultures came to be in contact with one another. This proliferation of gods made the management of gods (aka religion) too complex and costly for any sizable empire. Hence the success of Christian monotheism in the Roman empire and elsewhere. It helped simplify things a lot.
Now we're moving towards 0 gods and that's even better.
Eg anytime an oath was required, polytheism could make things rather tedious... Here are the conclusive statements of the so-called Treaty of Kadesh concluded in or around 1259 BC between the Hittite and the Egyptian empires:
Quote:As for these words of the regulation which the Great Prince of Hatti made with Ramses Meri-Amon, the great ruler of Egypt, in writing upon this tablet of silver-as for these words, a thousand of the male gods and of the female gods of the land of Hatti, together with a thousand of the male gods and of the female gods of the land of Egypt, are with me as witnesses hearing these words:
The Re, the lord of the sky; the Re of the town of Arinna; Seth, the lord of the sky; Seth of Hatti; Seth of the town of Arinna; Seth of the town of Zippalanda; Seth of the town of Pe(tt)iyarik; Seth of the town of Hissas(ha)pa; Seth of the town of Sarissa; Seth of the town of Aleppo; Seth of the town of Lihzina; Seth of the town . . .; . . .; Seth of the town of Sahpin; Antaret16 of the land of Hatti; the god of Zithari(as); the god of Karzis; the god of Hapantaliyas; the goddess of the town of Karahna; the goddess of . . . . . . . . .; the Queen of the Sky; the gods, the lords of oaths; this goddess, the Lady of the Ground; the Lady of the Oath, Ishara; the Lady (of the) mountains and the rivers of the land of Hatti; the gods of the land of Kizuwadna; Amon; the Re; Seth; the male gods; the female gods; the mountains; and the rivers of the land of Egypt; the sky; the earth; the great sea; the winds; and the clouds.
As for these words which are on this tablet of silver [...]--as for him who shall not keep them, a thousand gods of the land of Hatti, together with a thousand gods of the land of Egypt, shall destroy his house, his land, and his servants. But, as for him who shall keep these words which are this tablet of silver, whether they are Hatti or whether they are Egyptians, and they are not neglectful of them, a thousand gods of the land of Hatti, together with a thousand gods of the land of Egypt, shall cause that he be well, shall cause that he live, together with his houses and his (land) and his servants.
http://www.languageandlaw.org/TEXTS/CONST/KADESH.HTM
