#pantheons

Representation of Values, Common Workforces, and Societal Norms

Gods represent the aspects of a society, from major to little ways. They are the embodiments of prevalent parts of the daily life, and change drastically overtime alongside the societies that worship them.

To think of religion as one rigid thing is incredibly wrong in both historical and modern contexts.

Let's take Ancient Greece for example. Every god is a focused look into the every day life of the people of Ancient Greece. From sea travel, to hunting, to fertility, to household roles, to wine, to natural disasters.

Zeus isn't just a god of thunder, his behavior is representative of both men's unchecked sexist behavior of the ancient times, the expectant fears that parents and women would have for their daughters, and a symbol of masculinity.

Hades wasn't just a god of the underworld. He is a representation of how death can abduct and suddenly whisk away your family at any moment. His domain is a the truth about how once someone is dead that's it, there's no crossing back to the world of the living without some sort of profound miracle.

So worldbuilding...

Think about how your society's behaviors reflect into their religion, whether it be the gods, traditions, or even holidays. Some places to pull from...

Where they get their food?

How often do they go to war?

What's their relationship with the ocean?

What animals are important to them?

What are common jobs?

Do any natural disasters repeatedly haunt the area?

What virtues are valued?

Are there any special imports?

Adapting & Religious Trade

Gods themselves change and adapt both regionally and as new insights occur in a society's knowledge. For the Spartan's Aphrodite wasn't just a goddess of love and beauty, but a goddess of war too. Dionysus was a party god of wine, but to his own cult a god of madness and counterculture.

Ever wonder why gods always had farming and hunting tools for weapons? Tridents, bows, nets, scythes. That's what the ancient peoples were most familiar with.

Who is to say a god of death doesn't reap souls like a farmer cuts their crops. The Ancient Egyptians thought of the underworld as a field of reeds. When trading amongst each other these stories of farm-based death spread.

Not every religious group heard foreign stories and completely distanced themselves from it. Often times they would just assume that they followed the same pantheon, but with different names. The Greeks and Romans were most known for this, but even early versions of Abrahamic religions did the same thing.

Convergence

We also see things like evolutionary convergence of similar places in religious beliefs. Everywhere on the coast is going to have a story of a great ancient flood, because they were familiar with floods. Snakes and dragons are so prevalent in thousands of cultures, but snakes are also everywhere and a rumored natural phobia of humans.

OOO,,, NICE!!