Jacob Lewis
Ye Olde GM
I have tossed it down the elevator shaft many times. But it still keeps finding its way out. (I think Vecna might have a Hand in this.)
implausible scattering of city-states
I have tossed it down the elevator shaft many times. But it still keeps finding its way out. (I think Vecna might have a Hand in this.)
Implausible like northern Italy in the 9th to 15th centuries?
One characteristic of Greyhawk is it was created by someone with no knowledge of real world history or geopolitics.
I don't think that anyone asks this, especially given (1) the Greek etymology of "angel," and (2) the long history of "angels" in the West Asian religions (out-of-which came Christianity) that predate the Hellenistic thought you list. (Also, I'm fairly certain that the Chaldean Oracles and Neoplatonism are date to the time after early Christianity.)You can absolutely see the influence of this era on D&D. If anyone asks you why Gods like Zeus and Hephaestus have what seem like Christian Angels in D&D it goes all the way back to the Chaldean Oracles and later Neoplatonism.
Yeah Olympian Angels predates Christian Angels, so D&D angels serving a Polythiestic Pantheon makes sense.