Meditations 8.54).6 This pantheistic mode of thought was shared by many ancient Hindu sages, who taught that the universe was an emanation (that is, an outgrowth or outflow) of divine being, and itself divine (Rigveda 10.90; Bhagavad Gita 9). Within the ancient pagan world, the philosopher who came closest to the conception of a transcendent creator God was Plato (c. 429–347 BCE). Plato, to be sure, was a polytheist, believing in multiple divinities. However, Plato envisioned among the many gods