mythology isn't pre-religion. it's religion. my definition of mythology: someone else's religion. monotheism isn't the definition of religion. polytheistic religions were still religions. catholicism is actually polytheistic; it just doesn't admit it.

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Egyptian civilization / gods were exsisted way b4 the Greek gods and Greek mythology .

The Greeks covered all their basic needs and shortcomings and flaws and wishes and fears pretty much in 12 god critters . From weather phenomena , to sex and orgies , to drinking and party , to hunting and farming , to death and motherhood , to ego dad , to jealous wife / mom , to music , arts , and of course wisdom . It's like an iPhone . U got a problem ? There is an app for it . There is an unexplained issue or a common behavior ? There is a god for it
The Greek gods had so many flaws and weakness , perfectly made to give humans excuses to be assholes too . Greeks were very clever w their gods
I am half Greek , and lived in Greece for 5 yrs as an adolescent . I think the Greek gods are HILARIOUS
No idea how they lost power and credit , I will think , medicine and control of elements came along , or they just got tired of worshiping 12 stars and their entourage . Hello sokrates too .

I suspect that it's easier to control a population when they all go to the same church and have the same priests. Just a thought.

I believe it was the Jewish people who started that. Saves money.

Conversion of the Roman Emperor Constanine who then held The First Council of Nicaea where they created what we now know as the bile-ble.

They removed many previously revered writings including all written by women, except one; the one glorifying sacrifice and humbleness.

And it set up the subsequent enforcement of Christianity by law. This was combined with torture and indoctrination. This was the Christian way for hundreds of years.

Still is. Some would say.

There are plenty of people who believe in multiple gods today. Such as Hindus. You need to read and learn about other cultures in the world. This will help you with your understanding.

Blame the Jews. Although monotheism was not unknown eg Zoroastrianism , polytheism was more common. The Jewish tribe gradually converted to monotheism, probably suited their aggressive, warlike behaviour better.
The rest as they say is history.

"The greatest tragedy in mankinds history , may be the hijacking of Morality by Religion.".....Arthur C.Clarke...

Every culture develops their own religion, aka mythology. Monotheism is an egocentric development that a particular tribal god is the only god. Why? Bragging rights!

First, pre-religion is an ethnocentric observation. The beliefs of the people you reference; Greeks, Romans, Egyptians believed in their pantheon with every bit of commitment as any Christian. Their beliefs were religions.

Second. to dismiss them as only a "mythology" is once again ethno-Christian centric. You may claim agnosticism or atheism, but you are bringing Christian biases and prejudices to your post.

Third, there are people today, Native Americans, Hindu, etc., that believe in pluralistic pantheon. Their belief is as real to them as the Abrahamic God is to Christian's.

Fourth, Constantine, the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, converted to Christianity as means to an end. The Empire was crumbling from it's own internal deterioration. There were multiple sects of peoples wandering around the Empire that had moved to a monotheistic belief system. At the time these small sects appeared more stable and economically secure than many other groups existing in the Empire. He reached out these sects, brought them together in the city of Niceain 325 CE (Council of Nicea) and collected various works that were floating around the Middle East in one document (original Old Testament Bible is born). With Constantine's support Christianity gain political and economic advantage and lo, Christianity was born and monotheism drove pantheism out of the Middle East and southern Europe.

Pre-religion is not mythology. What we call mythology was once the religion of its time for selected areas.

The answer to that is a comparative religions degree.

It was manipulated by the leaders, purposely . . . . how can you enforce tribalism on a vast scale with people believing in many gods? In fact, I have said that if we want to dispense with dictatorships of every type, we must destroy monotheism . . . . You can find some videos on youtube about how christianity was invented by the Flavians.

I believe at some point someone realized they could control large amounts of people by manipulating them to believe in one god for power and money.

All religions are mythologies to people that do not believe in the, from the earliest of mankind (most have been lost except for a few monuments) to the latest incarnations of christanity. Fewer gods mean fewer divided loyalties (read money).

At times, Egyptians were forced to. Akhenaten decreed there was only one sun god.

In ancient Rome, christians were fed to the lions and crucified as a punishment for being a cult and not recognizing Roman gods. Many were offered their lives if they renounced their faith., so the story goes... They didn't and were killed. But many Romans saw that courage and thought the christian god must be stronger if someone would give their life for it.

When Nero burned Rome and then blamed it on the christians, he really stepped this up in the arena. That crazy asshole is partially responsible for christianity now.

Sooooo.... what is the interesting part?

You can get your answer by searching the web: religious history and polytheism.

Monotheism tends to emerge firstly as a unifying force, polytheist societies tend to be pretty tolerant of one another the Romans for instance believed that the Greek gods were the same gods as their own but with local names, the Egyptians would use several names for the same god depending on what city they happened to be in.
However, if you can convince you population that there is only ONE God (capital G) and that he will be pissed at you if you don't kill or convert the followers of the False gods, you have a ready made army of fanatics willing to die for said god and be rewarded in heaven.
Secondly monotheism tens to emerge in civilizations that are moving in to more advance states of being, especially capitalist economies.
People start thinking that praying and paying to a dozen tributes to lots of gods for different things is stupid, time consuming and will settle for one weekly tithe to one almighty catch all deity.
The first major society to go monotheistic was Egypt under Pharaoh Akhenaten in the so called "Amarna
heresy"
Of course it failed and the priest of the old polytheist religions not only killed him but tried to erase his dangerous ideas from history, because it cost them too much lost revenue and made the King far to rich and powerful, as all tributes were going directly to him.
However many historian believe this was what inspired both the Zoroastrians (a new religion) and the Jews (previously polytheistic Israelites) to move toward and popularize Monotheistic dualism.

"Father, son, and holly ghost", sounds like three to me. However, the believers will be quick to claim that it is all "one God in three persons", what ever the hell that means.

I read part of a book some time ago, but I don't recall the title nor the author except his first name Robert. The book was about how religions evolve over time. This book said that with pa theons of Gods, it was not unusual for new Gods to be adopted from other religions. In one case where one country had conquored another, the Gods of the conquored people began showing up in the pantheon of the victor's. The theory was that God of neighboring cultures weren't necessarily considered heretical or non-existent, but rather lesser Gods less deserving of worship - until enough familarity with the new Gods earned them a place with the older established ones.

The reduction of Gods in a pantheon was also discussed in this book. Eliminating Gods from a pantheon often corresponded with consolidating political power. The Gods accepted and worshipped by royalty often took the most promenant roles and positions in the pantheon. When a religion transitioned to monotheism, the last remaining deity was typically either the king of the Gods (a Zeus like God) or a God of war (like Aries). This last God would be the one worshipped by the king who may have required his chosen God be worshipped and paid hommage to.

check out Yuval Harari's "Sapiens"

Check out Akhenaten in Egypt, Brahman in Vedic philosophy and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.

One "God" is better for the conduct of government and business. A whole pantheon of the critters gets in the way--too many religious festivals, and 'holy' days!

People still believe in Harry Potter god mythology worship. Not saying they believe Harry Potter exists with supernatural whiz bang, but people sure do worship with their money buy books, movies and other fandom.

For those who post that Egyptian mythology came before both greek/roman, please note, I am not citing them in chronological order. My use of the word 'followed' in this list is used as a replacement for the word and. Further, my main point is when did people change from being polytheistic to monotheistic.