Gods

If a god is no longer worshiped, has his power declined, even to the point of nonexistence, or did he just not exist in the first place?  Polytheists did not make this distinction. They simply intuited the first answer. Modern fantasy authors imaginatively preserve that polytheist worldview.

Approaching Ys, Gratillonius and his men find two boundary markers, one inscribed in an unknown alphabet, the other, inscribed in Latin, invoking Venus, Jupiter and Neptunus:

"'The old Roman Gods?...Do They still have power...in this place?'"

-Poul and Karen Anderson, The King Of Ys: Roma Mater (London, 1989), VI, 2, p. 100.

Gratillonius explains that the Romans wrongly identified other "Gods" with theirs and that the first inscription would tell about the Gods of Ys. Budic, Christian, denounces the Gods as demons whereas Gratillonius invokes"... Mithras, Lord of Light...," (p. 101) but wonders whether he has wandered too far for the God of his fathers to hear him. Eppilus says of the Ysans:

"'Maybe their Gods are dying too...'" (p. 102)

Polytheism is alive and well in the Andersons' text.

See Wodan-Mercury-Hermes here. The Egyptian god, Thoth, can also be identified with Hermes. I used to think not that the Roman and Greek pantheons had been identified but just that they were a single pantheon with two sets of names.

Aiode: There are few of the old powers willing or able to meddle in mortal affairs in these days, Calliope.

Mneme: Many gods have died, my daughter, while aspects of other gods have been lost forever.

 

Melete: Hehh. Only the Endless will never die - - and even they are having a difficult time of late.

-Neil Gaiman, "Calliope" IN Gaiman, The Sandman: Dream Country (New York, 1995), pp. 10-34 AT p. 19, panel 6.

Beyond the many is the One: monotheism or monism.