Assmann sees a progression in ancient Near Eastern religions towards the concept of hypsistos language and refers to it as ‘evolutionary monotheism.’ It is a description of henotheism, which allows the system of polytheism to remain intact while advocating the elevation of one supreme deity. Assmann is careful to distinguish this from ‘revolutionary monotheism’. He writes: Whereas evolutionary monotheism may be seen as the final stage of polytheism, there is no evolutionary line leading from polytheism