Religious beliefs and practices were predictably transmitted throughout the Mediterranean along with trade.

The idea of cross culture in ancient Mediterranean is supported by common practices in all the civilizations. As in Golden Ass, a beautiful woman rises out of water and introduces her multiple personality, indicated how one goddess was known across civilizations by different name. Religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam have common beliefs and practices, so did Mediterranean religions. Trade, travelers, and wars were the main source of flow of information along the coast. Usually when people will travel to foreign lands, they will bring back some for the cultural and religious practices with them and incorporate it in their religion like king Solomon, who had many wives from different religions and he practiced their religions along with his own. By the comparison of different cultures like Egyptian, Roman, Greek it is conclusive that these culture and their religions are influence by each other. Like goddess of Phyrygina emerged in Roman and Greek Cultures. Most ancient Mediterranean religions were polytheistic. The belief in many gods led to different rituals. Each city or state had their rituals to please their gods, but these rituals were not unique. If a traveler were to pass by the temple, he would be able to recognize the rituals even though the names of the god might be strange for him. Beside the trade and sea route, Persians used the royal road which was stretched from western coast of Turkey to Mesopotamia. People who traveled from state to state adapted different religious practices and incorporated it into their own. Within a religion, there were different rituals and sacrifice to please gods. Some were celebrated in forms of festivals other were performed as individuals alone in temple. Evolution of monotheism to polytheism was gradual. Monotheism is self-description and polytheism is construction of others. Polytheism had unity; it had structure and coherence of divine world which is not just and accumulation of deities but a structure as whole, a pantheon. Polytheism was considered as organized where one powerful god controls all other gods and also known as creator. Theory of polytheism three dimensions of divine presence: cosmic dimension of divine manifestation, cultic dimension, and dimension of history of divine which tells stories about gods, their names and their role. Gods had a balance on earth like peace and war, life and death. Every town and city had its own gods. There were different rituals actions performed to help gods. In come cultures, gods also participated in the form of terrestrial governance. Each culture had its own gods and goddess who have their own deities and they cannot be referred to other deities. Myth of god is one dimension of divine presence. There are stories associated with each god, and there are similarities between stories across cultures. Gods simulate humans, they set model of human life, as gods also live, die, suffer, win, and defecated. From polytheism emerged henotheism which is belief in many god but worship only one. The idea of monotheism came from henotheism. Monotheism denied any other god but one. It does not support the idea of henotheism. Revolutionary monotheism rejected all older religions and brought the idea of only one God YHWH or Allah. It describes other religions as paganism. Revolutionary monotheism became psychologized and turned into new concept of sin, whereas polytheism did not reject any religion. In polytheism, it was important to just believe in god, any god or gods. Biblical monotheism also introduced the concept of justice rather than sacrifice. It had the idea of God as legislator. It had first written law codes; an effort to prevent any human to suspend it and create their own legislation.