Note 648 — Chapter VIII · COMMENCEMENT OF MONOTHEISM AND THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE MYTHS.

Polit. I. 1. 7: καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς δὲ διὰ τοῦτο πάντες φασὶ βασιλεύεσθαι, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοι, οἱ μὲν ἔτι καὶ νῦν, οἱ δὲ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐβασιλεύοντο· ὥσπερ δὲ καὶ τὰ εἴδη ἑαυτοῖς ἀφομοιοῦσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, οὕτω καὶ τοὺς βίους τῶν θεῶν. Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturvölker, I. 466, says: ‘Considering the multitude of superhuman beings, it is certainly very natural to follow the analogy of human relations, which is often carried out with great consistency, and to assume gradations of power among them, one being regarded as the first and highest of all. But this idea may easily be rendered unfruitful through the very analogy which suggested it, because in human society the power and repute of individuals are frequently changing.’ But even this fact is not unfruitful with regard to religion; for on this analogy a world of gods with a head liable to change may be imagined.