275. Religion existed from the most ancient times, and the inhabitants of all parts of the world knew about God, and something about life after death. This knowledge did not come from them themselves or their own intelligence, but from the ancient Word (described above, 264-266), and later on from the Israelite Word. Religious beliefs based upon these two Words spread to the Indies and the adjacent islands, and by way of Egypt and Ethiopia to the kingdoms of Africa; and from the coasts of Asia to Greece and so to Italy. But because the Word had to be written by means of representatives, which are the sort of things in the world which correspond to heavenly things and so stand for them, the religious beliefs of the heathen turned to idolatry, and in Greece to fables. The attributes and qualities of God became so many gods, and they set over them the highest whom they called Jove, perhaps after Jehovah. It is well known that they knew about paradise, the flood, the sacred fire, and the four ages beginning with the golden and ending with the iron age (as in Daniel 2:31-35).