These were bronze age people and they had a pantheon of gods that they thought controlled their world.

It disrupted a huge Bronze Age population.

The gods bestowed on Max the gift of perpetual old age.

If there are signs that Americans bow to the gods of advertising, there are equally indications that people find the gods ridiculous. It is part of the popular culture that advertisements are silly.

I suppose movie theaters are the churches of the modern age, where we gather reverently to worship the tinsel gods of Hollywood.

The gods," he said. "Imprisoned in a thought. And perhaps they were never more than a dream.