this life. The difference between the pagan gods and human beings was often more a matter of degree than of kind, and passing from one world to the other was by no means impossible. Kings and heroes were regularly deified after their deaths, and men could easily find themselves doing battle with gods who had come down to earth. In sharp contrast to this, though, the ancient Greeks also had a concept of a Supreme Being that was above and beyond anything personal. The Supreme Being was a universal