| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| God name "Hephaestus" | Greek | The god of fire, was, according to the Homeric account, the son of Zeus and Hera The Romans, when speaking of the Greek Hephaestus, call him Vulcan or Vulcåñuś, although Vulcåñuś was an original Italian divinity. Later traditions state that he had no father, and that Hera gave birth to him independent of Zeus, as she was jealous of Zeus having given birth to Athena independent of her. Greek |
| Hero name "Heracles" | Greek | The most celebrated of all the heroes of antiquity. The traditions about him are not only the richest in substance, but also the most widely spread for we find them not only in all the countries round the Mediterranean, but his wondrous deeds were known in the most distant countries of the ancient world. |
| Goddess name "Hermaphroditos" | Greek | God (Goddess) of uncertain status. The offspring of HERMES and APHRODITE and the lover of the water nymph Salmakis. Tradition has it that their påśśion for one another was so great that they merged into a single androgynous being.... |
| Goddess name "Hesperides" | Greek | These goddesses of evenings and the golden light of Sunset were the famous guardians of the golden apples which Ge had given to Hera at her marriage with Zeus. Their names are Aegle, Erytheia, Hestia, and Arethusa, but their descent is not the same in the different traditions; sometimes they are called the daughters of night or Erebus (Theogony of Hesiod 215), sometimes of Phorcys and Ceto, sometimes of Atlas and Hesperis, whence their names Atlantides or Hesperides, and sometimes of Hesperus, or of Zeus and Themis Greek |
| Goddess name "Hi'aika" | Hawaiian | Goddess. The daughter of HAUMEA and younger sister of PELE, the volcano goddess, Hi'aika is the mistress of the dance and especially of the hula. Separate traditions identify her with LAKA, the god of the hula and the son of KANE, the god of light; and with a goddess, Na Wahine, the daughter of the primordial creator principle KEAWE. The hula was designed to give a formalized structure to the enactment of myths and among the favorite topics is the romance between Pele and the hero Lohiau. According to mythology Hi'aika was entrusted with a mission to find Lohiau on Pele's behalf and to bring him back to her, a mission that subsequently enflamed the jealousy of Pele over her sister's developing relationship with Lohiau, and brought about his death in Pele's fiery lava.... |
| Goddess name "Hina" | Polynesian / Tahiti | moon goddess. In local traditions the daughter of the god TANGAROA and creatrix of the moon, which she governs. She lives in one of its dark spots representing groves of trees which she brought from earth in a canoe and planted. She is also represented as the consort of Tangaroa. Hina probably evolved in Tahiti from the Polynesian underworld goddess HINE-NUITE-PO. Also SINA (Samoa); Ina (Hervey Islands).... |
| Goddess name "Hina-Uri" | Polynesian | moon goddess. Also known as HINA, Ina or SINA, she is the sister of MAUI and the consort of Irewaru. Tradition has it that she can manifest herself in two forms according to the lunar phases. Her role is åśśociated with fertility and her cult may have been imported from Asia, since SIN is the name of a western Asiatic moon god also closely åśśociated with fertility rites.... |
| God name "Ho-Po" | Taoist / Chinese | River god. The so-called Count of the River, the deity who controls all rivers but particularly the Yellow River, and who is the subject of an official cult and sacrifice. According to tradition he achieved immortality by weighing himself down with stones and drowning himself. He received an annual sacrifice of a young girl until the end of the Shou Dynasty circa 250 BC. Also Hebo; Ping-Yi.... |
| God name "Hunapu" | Mayan / Yucatec / Quiche, Mesoamerican / Mexico | Creator god. According to the sacred text Popol Vub, the son of HUN HUNAPU and the twin brother of Ix Balan Ku. Tradition has it that, like his father, he was decapitated in a historic struggle with the underworld gods and subsequently became the Sun god, while his sibling is the apotheosis of the moon.... |
| Goddess name "Hung Sheng (boly one)" | Chinese | Guardian god. A deity who protects fishing boats and their crews against danger at sea in the Southern Ocean. His role is similar to that of the goddess KUAN YIN. Little is known of the origin of Hung Sheng, but he was allegedly a mortal who died on the thirteenth day of the second moon, which falls two days before the spring equinox when the sea dragon king, Lung Wang, is believed to leave the ocean and ascend into the heavens. The god is propitiated with cakes made from the first grain of the year, on the fifth day of the fifth month and in some traditions he is seen as an aspect of the sea dragon king.... |
| King name "Hylas" | Greek | A son of Theiodamas, king of the Dryopes, by the nymph Menodice or a son of Heracles, Euphemus, or Ceyx. He was the favourite of Heracles, who, after having killed his father, Theiodamas, took him with him when he joined the expedition of the Argonauts. When the Argonauts landed on the coast of Mysia, Hylas went out to fetch water for Heracles but when he came to a well, his beauty excited the love of the Naiads, who drew him down into the water, and he was never seen again. Greek |
| God name "Ifa" | Yoruba / western Nigeria, West Africa | God of wisdom. An oracular deity who, according to tradition, lives in a sanctuary in the holy city of Ile Ife but who is called on by the tutelary god, OLDUMARE, for advice. He is the father of eight children, all of whom became paramount chiefs.... |
| God name "Iksvaku" | Hindu / Vedic | Creator god. One of the ancestral dynasty of Sun gods or ADITI.... |
| Goddess name "Inana, Istar,Ishtar" | Akkadian / Sumerian | The most important of all Mesopotamian goddesses, and a multi-faceted personality, occurring in cuneiform texts of all periods. The Sumerian name probably means "Lady of heaven";, and the Akkadian name Ishtar is related to the Syrian Astarte and the biblical Ashtaroth is usually considered as a daughter of Anzu, with her cult located in Uruk, but there are other traditions as to her ancestry, and it is probable that these reflect originally different goddesses that were identified with her. Ishtar is the subiect of a cycle of texts describing her love affair and ultimately fatal relationship with Tammuz. |
| Goddess name "Inar (rice-grower)" | Shinto / Japan | God (Goddess) of foodstuffs. The popular name of a god(dess) worshiped under the generic title Miketsu-No-Kami in the Shi-Den sanctuary of the imperial palace, but rarely elsewhere. The deity displays gender changes, develops many personalities and is revered extensively in Japan. Inari is often depicted as a bearded man riding a white fox but, in pictures sold at temple offices, (s)he is generally shown as a woman with long flowing hair, carrying sheafs of rice and sometimes, again, riding the white fox. Inari sanctuaries are painted bright red, unlike most other Shinto temples. They are further characterized by rows of wooden portals which form tunnels leading to the sanctuary. Sculptures of foxes are prolific (an animal endowed, in Japanese tradition, with supernatural powers) and the shrines are decorated with a special device, the Hoju-No-Tama, in the shape of a pear surrounded by small flames. Often identified with the food goddess TOYO-UKE-BIME.... |
| God name "Inmar" | Votyak / Finno - Ugric | sky god(dess). The name became incorporated into Christian tradition and interpreted as the mother of God.... |
| Goddess name "Iord" | Nordic / Icelandic | earth goddess. In Viking tradition lord embodies the abstract sacredness of the earth. Said to be the mother of THOR and in some legends, the wife of OTHIN.See also FJORGYN.... |
| Goddess name "Iphigeneia" | Greek | According to the most common tradition, a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra but, according to others, a daughter of Theseus and Helena, and brought up by Clytaemnestra only as a foster-child. Agamemnon had once killed a stag in the grove of Artemis, or had boasted that the goddess herself could not hit better, or, according to another story, in the year in which Iphigeneia was born, he had vowed to sacrifice the most beautiful thing which that year might produce, but had afterwards neglected to fulfil his vow.Greek |
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