Greek mythology played a vital role in the structural development of ancient Greece, not only as a society, but as individuals. Surprisingly, their religion wasn't exactly original. In fact, their religion was loosely based on the religions of previous cultures. It bears many striking similarities to some of the oldest religions recorded in history. The religion of ancient Greece is a type of polytheism called “monarchical polytheism.” That is, they believe in different gods and deities, but there is one supreme ruler above all of them. To fully understand how similar the mythological systems of religions have been over the years, it is necessary to look back to the earliest recorded civilizations. Polytheism dates back to the Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian religions, around the 4th millennium BC and perhaps even earlier. The Mesopotamian people were "polytheistic but they were also henotheistic". They had a structural hierarchy of deities, with some gods superior to others. The early Mesopotamian gods, much like the ancient Greek gods, "bore many similarities to humans and were anthropomorphic." Not only did they look like humans, they often behaved like humans too. They ate, slept, and even consumed alcohol, which actually led to them feeling the effects of drunkenness. Another thing that both religions have in common is the fact that most of the gods and goddesses of the Mesopotamian religion were related to each other. It was a sort of "family" of divinities. Their gods were labeled in much the same way as the Greek gods. They had the 4 creator gods: the god of the sky, who was also the God of Gods and ruler of their sky, then the god of storms, the god of the earth and the god of... middle of paper...... to the Christian and Muslim eras up to around 800 AD. The patron of this particular city was the god Enlil. “Enlil legitimized the rule of kings and presided over covenants.” Many of the ancient kings of Mesopotamia sent offerings and prayed at this sanctuary. The two most popular and famous patron cities of ancient Greece were Athens and Sparta. Works Cited Gordon, Ciro. The ancient Near East. 3rd edition, revised. WW Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1965. Bottero, Jean. (2001). Religion in ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Bottero, Jean.(2001)37. Religion in ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Nagle, D. Brendan. The ancient world: readings on social and cultural history. Prentice Hall 2001Mark, Joshua J. February 22, 2011. Mesopotamian Religion.http://www.ancient.eu.com/Mesopotamian_Religion/