Polytheism as used in this paper, is the belief in many different gods who are not under the control of, or definitively inferior to, a supreme deity. The Vikings had such a system, with gods in control of the various elements, but no god strong enough to take complete control. Although the ancient Greeks had something very close to a supreme deity in Zeus, their concept allowed them to conveniently move him off to the side, and then the other gods could do as they pleased. The Greek city states, even so, were moving very slightly away from a pure polytheism in having a supreme God over a city. However, the system was probably as good an example of any sort of sophisticated polytheism as may be found.
Monotheism is the opposite extreme to polytheism.
It is here that the difficulties begin. The third major religion usually placed in this category, Christianity, has the problem of trinitarianism. In order to keep out of that problem, this paper will not assume trinitarianism as a solution to any conceptual problems in the Old Testament. 3 Henotheism fills in the gap between the two above concepts. In its purest form, it is the idea that though other gods may exist, there is one God who is supreme.