Some societies acknowledge only one god, some live comfortably with many, and for others even the idea of gods in the plural is offensive. For most Europeans the notion of multiple gods suggests the mythologies of Greece and Rome, where each god or goddess has a clearly defined role. Many communities, however, both ancient and modern, do not think in such terms at all: they share the world around them with local spirits, shape-shifting supernatural beings that inhabit particular places and which are certainly not gods in that classical Mediterranean sense. Whether the society is monotheistic or polytheistic, the political consequences are far-reaching – especially when, as in ancient Rome or modern India, the key question is how to live not only with your own gods, but with the gods of others.