Hello
I'm not sure this forum is still going, but I will add my two cents anyway.
In order to understand the ancient Greeks and Roman one need only go to places that have not experience the monotheistic repression. A good example is Japan. Japan's original religion, Shinto, is very similar to the polytheistic religions of the Ancient World. Shinto believe in the existence of a multitude of divinities called Kami. Some Kami are elemental, for example trees (similar to the fauns, satyrs and other divinities of the forests), other are more complex (rivers, mountains, etc.), some have independant existence and assume a variety of shapes (O-Inari-San: the faxes, etc.) and lastly some assume a national importance (Japan, the Emperor). Some of these deities just exist, and can give you something if you simply offer them something they want (sacrifices), other require that you follow a moral code.
What's bewildering to the organized religious mind of someone who grew up in a monotheistic society is that there's no order in this, no authority as to which mythological story is right or wrong, no better or worse, just to each his or her own. Of course, one would not be wise to insult the local or national deity in its locality, so don't go and denigrate Japan in a Shinto shrine anymore than curse Jupiter at the Forum Romanum, but that's not by intolerance, simply by respect of the gods.
The result is a remarkable acceptance of all things spiritual, whether they make sense or not, and a complete lack of religious intolerance. In this matter, a Japanese might celebrate Christman, then offer a prayer to his local Kami at the Shinto shrine and then bury his or her relative in a Buddhist ceremony. Very infuriating to the monotheists, of course. Try to get Bin Laden, or the Pope, to pray at the altar of Jupiter, Ammon Ra or offering sacrifices to the spirits of the forest...