Another theory by me

[Pip_Sensei]

Ok I have another theory....

Alright I have just started to believe this. I belive every region of Earth has it's own chief Gods just as many Greek and Egyption towns had their own patron deity(Ex Athens and Athena). So lets say that Egypt's patrons are it's Gods of the civilization and Greece with it's Gods etc. This would also mean I belive in Yaweh as the patron God of the Hebrew people...just not the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent version but rather as a sky God. Please tell me what you think :)

[Xentor]

I don't quite understand.

You state that, for instance, my gods can be totally different from yours?

[aefentid]

Ok I have another theory....

Alright I have just started to believe this. I belive every region of Earth has it's own chief Gods just as many Greek and Egyption towns had their own patron deity(Ex Athens and Athena). So lets say that Egypt's patrons are it's Gods of the civilization and Greece with it's Gods etc. This would also mean I belive in Yaweh as the patron God of the Hebrew people...just not the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent version but rather as a sky God. Please tell me what you think :)
Unless I've misunderstood you this sounds like what I believe, which is hard polytheism.

[belarogue]

do you mean to say patron to the citizens or to the towns themselves?
If so then yeah there are some examples that would indicate this..

Atum (Lord of Heliopolis , egyptian)
Baba (Tutelary goddess of Lagash, sumerian)
Enlil (patron of Nippur, again sumerian)
Melgart (patron of Tyre, canaanite)

Also, an interesting observance i've encountered in my research of many different pantheons esp. those within the middle-east, there were a lot of deities who trumped others, most likely due to clashes of societies.. those deities on the losing side often were assimilated into the dominant culture - much like greek culture was assimilated into that of roman society. Which is actually one reason why deities like EL get removed from his position and replaced with Yahweh, and the assimilation of Baal (who was once a cannanite/phoenician deity with counterparts in mesopotamia(and persia/syria).

But if this were so wouldn't it apply to all pantheons? So where are the patrons for cities in Indian? Persian? African? Chinese?(dynasties and ancestors, some but no cities). Australian?

So perhaps for the answer, maybe we ought to look at it from a slightly anthropological standpoint. Looking at the culture to understand the mythology.

There have also been some speculation that the deities of some cultures were actually tribesmen and ancestors of those who passed on the legends to the latter generations.

[Athena-Nadine]

I don't quite understand.

You state that, for instance, my gods can be totally different from yours?Unless you're a Hellenic Reconstructionist, my gods are totally different than yours. :)

I don't see it as different gods for every city but different gods for every culture. The Norse gods are not the Vedic gods are not the Celtic gods are not the Greek gods are not the Egypyian gods, etc.

[Heathen Dawn]

I belive every region of Earth has it's own chief Gods just as many Greek and Egyption towns had their own patron deity(Ex Athens and Athena). So lets say that Egypt's patrons are it's Gods of the civilization and Greece with it's Gods etc. This would also mean I belive in Yaweh as the patron God of the Hebrew people...just not the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent version but rather as a sky God. Please tell me what you think :)

I believe this too. All the thousands of Gods and Goddesses in whom mankind has believed through the ages really exist.

[Xentor]

Unless you're a Hellenic Reconstructionist, my gods are totally different than yours. :)

I don't see it as different gods for every city but different gods for every culture. The Norse gods are not the Vedic gods are not the Celtic gods are not the Greek gods are not the Egypyian gods, etc.

I guess you're sort of agreeing with Pip Sensei's theory. Which makes me wonder. Pip, did you previously believe the gods were basically the same for all cultures?

[Pip_Sensei]

No I think I didn't explain it well enough.

Alright let's take the Nile region. I belive that the Egyption Gods rule over that regieon. Now lets go to Greece and Rome. The Greco-Roman Gods reign that area. Now the Celtic lands where the Celtic Gods reign over. And my Yaweh example. Yaweh would be the patron of the Hebrew people in what I belive as a sky God.

Is that kinda better <<

[Xentor]

Alright let's take the Nile region. I belive that the Egyption Gods rule over that regieon. Now lets go to Greece and Rome. The Greco-Roman Gods reign that area. Now the Celtic lands where the Celtic Gods reign over. And my Yaweh example. Yaweh would be the patron of the Hebrew people in what I belive as a sky God.

You mean like, at the same time? And, more importantly, that we can recognise those gods and probably could worship them, at the same time?

Like, my god is no better than yours, I just worship mine, but yours still exists for you to worship?

Would that mean the difference from a "normal" polytheistic view would be the acknowledgement of gods you don't worship, who aren't from your pantheon?

[aefentid]

No I think I didn't explain it well enough.

Alright let's take the Nile region. I belive that the Egyption Gods rule over that regieon. Now lets go to Greece and Rome. The Greco-Roman Gods reign that area. Now the Celtic lands where the Celtic Gods reign over. And my Yaweh example. Yaweh would be the patron of the Hebrew people in what I belive as a sky God.

Is that kinda better <<
If you mean the Gods are attatched to the land itself then I don't agree.

I do agree, if you meant the Gods are attatched to specific culture, like Hellenic Gods being attatched to Hellenes or the Æsir and Vanir being attatched to Germanic culture. By culture I mean people who share traditions, customs, and language not ethnicity.

[David19]

Ok I have another theory....

Alright I have just started to believe this. I belive every region of Earth has it's own chief Gods just as many Greek and Egyption towns had their own patron deity(Ex Athens and Athena). So lets say that Egypt's patrons are it's Gods of the civilization and Greece with it's Gods etc. This would also mean I belive in Yaweh as the patron God of the Hebrew people...just not the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent version but rather as a sky God. Please tell me what you think :)

I think i understand what you're saying, it's, probably, what i believe, if i'm understanding right.

I believe that there are thousands (if not millions or billions of gods), i don't just believe 'all gods are one god', or 'all gods are 1 god, all goddesses are 1 goddess' or, some people may believe that there's a 'limited' number of deities (like around 20 or something), and that they 'manifest' in different cultures (like there's '1 thunder god with 20 different hammers and noses', '1 love god', '1 war god', '1 sea god', etc.

I don't believe in that view either (as it takes away and, IMO, destroys the gods personalities, individualities, and characters, kind of like me saying there's 'only 1 American' '1 Chinese person', '1 English person', '1 Middle Eastern person', '1 African person', etc, that's obvously a false statement (and would probably be insulting to those countries if i said that, like if i said 'all Americans are the same just 'cause their American', etc, hope that made some sense, BTW).

Some people do say that it 'doesn't make sense' for there to be more than '1 mother god', more than '1 war god', more than '1 love god', etc, but to me, it makes perfect sense, afterall, there's more than one mother on this plane/realm (e.g. my mum is definantly not anyone elses ;)), and also, in my belief, and those of Sumerians and in Aztec beliefs, the physical world is a 'mirror' of the spiritual/supernatural worlds/realms, so why shouldn't there be diversity in the spiritual/supernatural worlds/realms.

Anyway, i may have gone, slightly off topic here, but it's a good thread :).