What is unique about the Jews in the ancient world is that they were one of the only monotheistic religions of the time. (belief in one god)There were no other significant monotheistic religions. The Egyptians experimented with monotheism for a brief time, but it was a failure.
At the time of Abraham the Hebrew, the area where he lived was full of pagan cults; they were polytheistic, worshiping multiple deities. Abraham was the first to advance the idea of ethical monotheism: the worship of One God, and the appropriate ethical code of conduct.
The Israelites differed from other ancient peoples in the following ways:
1) It was the only religion in which God spoke to the entire assembled nation (Exodus ch.19) of over two million people.
2) It made a complete break from the surrounding idolatry. Their monotheism (belief in One God) set the Jews apart because other ancient nations did not share it. We've heard (for example) of Greek mythology and Roman mythology. What not everyone is aware of is that idolatry tended to go hand in hand with cruel, licentious and excessive behavior, since the caprices which were narrated concerning the pagan gods were adopted as an excuse to imitate those types of behavior.
Compare that to God, who reveals His attributes in the Torah as wise, kind, holy, and pure. God is One, so the command to imitate His attributes (Deuteronomy 8:6) was (and is) a straightforward matter once one is even minimally familiar with the Torah.
(See: What do Jews believe God is like?)
Accordingly, Judaism was:
3) The only ancient religion in which a large percentage of its adherents were literate and scholars.
4) It was the only religion in which the people were ruled by God, with no need for a king, for several centuries (see Judges 8:23 and 1 Samuel 8:4-7).
5) The concept of morality was also the work of the Hebrews' religion, including the dignity and value of a person. It is the responsibility of the community to support the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger passing through.
6) Under the law of Judaism, everyone had recourse to the courts. A child, widow, wife, poor person, etc., could initiate legal action against any citizen to redress perpetrated harm. Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had rights.
7) Government is accountable to a higher authority. In other ancient societies, the monarch was all-powerful. Among the Israelites, however, the king was under the constant scrutiny of the Divinely-informed prophets, who didn't hesitate to castigate him publicly for any misstep in the sight of God.
And, other than for the crime of rebellion, the king couldn't punish any citizen by his own decision. He was obligated by the Torah-procedures like everyone else (Talmud, Sanhedrin 19a).
8) A robber repays double to his victim, or works it off. Unlike in many other ancient societies, in Judaism debtors are not imprisoned or harmed. They are made to sell property and/or work to repay what they owe. Compare this to the Roman practice by which anyone could accuse a man of owing them money and the debtor could be killed (Roman Twelve Tables of Law, 3:10).
It is important to note that every one of the above existed in Judaism thousands of years earlier than in other nations. Here's just one example: Infanticide was practiced in classical European nations until Judaism and its daughter-religions put a stop to it.
See also:
Of the monotheistic religions (religions that believe in one God), Judaism is the oldest. Of the surviving polytheistic (religions that believe in many gods), Hinduism is the oldest.
If by belief you mean religion, the Romans had their own religion. Like most ancient religions, it was polytheistic, it had many goods. As for the empire, the conquered peoples had their own religions. The Romans respected their religions and allowed their worship. Apart for Judaism, they also were polytheistic.
The religions in Egypt at the moment is Islam and Christianity. These religions are not connected to the religions of ancient egypt.
The Ancient Greeks were referred as polytheistic because they believed in more than one God and Goddess. For the list of Greek Gods and Goddesses go here: http://www.answers.com/Q/Who_were_the_Greek_Gods
judaism.
The religion of the Romans/Latins was polytheistic, which means that it had many gods. The Romans worshiped a very large number of gods. This was because that is how it was. Ancient religions were polytheistic.
Animism is the belief that all plants and animals, or even all physical objects, have spirits. Some animists believe that collectively we are all part of the spirit of the cosmos creating itself.
They are all very ancient religions.
There are various religions that worship and praise. Some examples include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, and many more. Each of these religions has its own unique practices, rituals, and beliefs that guide their worship and praise to a higher power or deity.
There are still to this day plenty of polytheistic (multiple god) religions, though not nearly as wide spread as monotheistic religions in many areas, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Muslim. Examples of religions practicing currently would be Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shintoism in the East, and also contemporary tribal religions in Africa and the Americas. These religions are widely practiced throughout the world and remain very popular in their ancestral areas. Many ancient religions also polytheistic (EG greece, rome, etc.)
The religion of ancient Mesopotamia was polytheistic. Polytheistic religions believe in multiple deities. In Mesopotamian society, the deities were tightly woven together with the elements of nature and the weather.
Rome did not borrow any ideas for its polytheistic religion. It was polytheistic right from the start. All ancient religions, apart from Judaism, were polytheistic. Rome adopted five Greek divinities and later linked its deities to the Greek ones. She also adopted some Etruscan and Italic deities. However, this was not a borrowing of ideas for their religion. It was the incorporation of foreign divinities and cults in the pantheon of Roman deities and the array of cults.