Both 

polytheism and henotheism seem to have been the predominant conceptions of

divinity throughout most of the ancient world. Although their expressions varied
considerably from culture to culture, some common characteristics of these conceptions
can be identified. The gods of polytheistic and henotheistic belief systems have
independent and individual personalities with specific skills, needs and desires. Although
often lacking material form, they could (on occasion) assume physical bodies. They are
seen to possess a high level of relevance to human life, as they can intervene in human
affairs. They can do so by their own volition, or worshipers can encourage them by way
of rituals and sacrifices.

The gods are generally conceived to be immortal. They are often portrayed as similar to
humans in their personality traits, failings and vices, but with additional supernatural
powers and abilities. Some have jurisdiction or governance over a large area, as the
"patron god(s)" of a geographical region, town, mountain or clan. In many civilizations,
the pantheons grew over time as the patron gods of various cities and places were
collected together as empires extended over larger territories. In others cases, the
various gods may have arisen due to a perceived "division of labor," with each having
dominion or authority over specified elements in the human and natural worlds.

Many of the earliest conceptualizations of divinity were actually goddesses. Both carved
figures and paintings of pregnant women were the dominant foci of worship during
the Paleolithic times (35,000-10,000 B.C.E.). These depictions typically emphasized the
reproductive parts of the female anatomy, such as large breasts, the pregnant womb,
and the vulva, which presumably represented women's creative, maternal, nourishing,
and embracing traits. The female was symbolically linked to the earth, maintaining the
life cycle, representing fertility and the creation of new life. Excavations from Catal
Huyuk in what is now Turkey suggest that settlements existing between 6500 and
5500 B.C.E. also held the goddess in highest esteem, and artifacts recovered form
the Indus Valley Civilization suggest that goddess worship was also the earliest form of
religious practice in India.
The Athena Giustiniani, a Roman copy of a Greek statue of Pallas Athena (Vatican Museums)

The ancient Greek gods provide the best example of henotheism that is most familiar to
Western scholarship. Their extensive mythological tales (preserved in plays, visual art,
and epic poems) show that the ancient Greeks believed in independent, highly
personified deities who were not aspects of a greater divinity. Rather, they were seen to
stand on their own, representing certain aspects of the cosmos or human experience.
The first gods were largely tied to natural or primordial processes, such as Uranus, the
father god of the sky; Gaia, the mother goddess of Earth; and Chronos, the godly
personification of time. Later gods, such as the Olympians, became identified with more
specific aspects of experience. For instance, Apollo was the god of light, dance,
reason, music, archery and medicine, while also exemplifying the difficulties of human
relationships through the stories of his many failed loves. Athena was heralded as the
goddess of wisdom, artistry, education and inner beauty, as well as
war. Zeus represented the god of weather. While each of these gods and goddesses
evidently had dominion over a certain portion of reality, they also were members of a
celestial pantheon and were, at various junctures, ruled over by Chronos, Uranus, and
finally Zeus.[2] Their belief in a father/ruler God meant that the Greek polytheism was
perhaps best described as a henotheism.