(πολύς, many, ἥδης, God), the doctrine of a plurality of gods. This word, although not used by Greek writers, differs from idolatry with respect to the forms of the object worshipped. Polytheism refers to a plurality of gods, without including, of necessity, the notion of forms; whereas idolatry refers either to one God only, under some visible form, or to any number of gods under as many visible forms. No one taking the Bible for his guide will believe that men were polytheists before the flood; but it is plain that men had embraced this doctrine in the time of Moses (1500 B.C.). The ancient Persians, so far as we are aware, became first Sabians, or worshippers of the host of heaven, and afterwards Magians, or worshippers of fire. According to the latter view, they held that Ormuzd was the principle of light and the cause of all good, and that Ahriman was the principle of darkness and the cause of all evil. The Egyptians in Moses' time were polytheists, and not a few of the provisions of the law were designed to guard the Israelites against the polytheism and idolatry of Egypt. The Greeks and Romans acknowledged one being, Zeus or Jupiter, as superior to the other deities, but nevertheless they bound him hard by the absolute control of Fate. Yet the lesser deities were worshipped as gods, and the system was essentially polytheistic. Cudworth has laboured very ingeniously to show that the ancient philosophers in general worshipped mentally but one Supreme Being under different names. But granting the truthfulness of this doctrine, it only establishes with greater solidity that the people were polytheists; and as Philo-Judaeus has it, "Polytheism in the mind of the ignorant is atheism." Wherever the Christian religion has been established, polytheism has disappeared; but there still remains vast portions of territory where polytheism still prevails. (See Mythology.)