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 |
God name "LENUS" | Celtic / Continental / European | God of healing. A god of healing worshiped by the Celtic tribe of Treveri but later adopted by the Romans. The Trier sanctuary was a place of pilgrimage where large numbers of offerings were deposited, and carvings suggest that child patients were often present. Lenus's sanctuaries were usually åśśociated with springs and some, if not all, had an abaton or room for recuperation.... |
Deities name "Lares" | Roman | Hearth deities. The lares are a peculiarly Roman innovation. Two children, born of a liaison between the god Mercury and a mute naiad, Lara, whose tongue had been cut out by Jupiter, became widely revered by Romans as house guardians. Iconographically they are depicted in the guise of monkeys covered with dog skins with a barking dog at their feet.See also LARUNDA, MERCURIUS.... |
Goddess name "Leucothea" | Greek | Leukothea. [White Goddess]. So Ino was called after she became a sea nymph. Her son Pal?mon, called by the Romans Portunus, or Portumnus, was the protecting genius of harbours. Greek |
God name "Luna" | Greek | The moon. The Sun and the moon were worshipped both by Greeks and Romans, and among the latter the worship of Luna is said to have been introduced by the Sabine T. Tatius, in the time of Romulus. But, however this may be, it is certain, notwithstanding the åśśertion of Varro, that Sol and Luna were reckoned among the great gods, that their worship never occupied any prominent place in the religion of the Romans, for the two divinities had between them only a small chapel in the Via Sacra. Greek |
Goddess name "Maia" | Greco - Roman | Chthonic or earth goddess. Originally, in pre-Homeric times, a mountain spirit who subsequently became a minor consort of ZEUS. The Romans worshiped her as an obscure goddess of the plains who became briefly a consort of JUPITER, and they perceived her as the mother of the messenger god Mercury. Her cult was åśśociated with that of VulcanUS. Possibly the origin of the name of the month of May.See also MERCURIUS.... |
God name "Mars" | Roman | An ancient Roman god, who was at an early period identified by the Romans with the Greek Ares, or the god delighting in bloody war, although there are a variety of indications that the Italian Mars was originally a divinity of a very different nature. Roman |
God name "Men" | Phrygian / Turkey | moon god. Ruler of both upper and lower worlds. Probably also a god of healing, he was subsequently adopted by the Greeks and Romans. The cult was popular during the imperial period, but its inscriptions were written in Greek.... |
God name "Murcury" | Greek | The name Mercury is connected with the root merx (merchandise) and mercari (to deal, trade). The early Romans, being above all countrymen, had no need for a god of commerce. The Roman Mercury appeared only about the fifth century BCE. and was exclusively the god of merchants. For long he was known only in this capacity so that Plautus, in his prologue to Amphitryon, reminds his audience that Mercury presided over messages and commerce. Like certain other minor divinities - Pecunia, Aesculåñuś, Argentinus - he watched over tradesmen's profits. Greek |
Goddess name "Nice" | Roman | The goddess of victory, or, as the Romans called her, Victoria |
Goddess name "Nike" | Greco - Roman | Goddess of victory. Depicted as a winged messenger bringing the laurel wreath to the victor of battle. Though of Greek origin, appearing in the Theogony of Hesiod, she was adopted by the Romans and worshiped extensively throughout Asia Minor, including Sardis. In some depictions the goddess ATHENA carries NIKE as a small winged figure. Also VICTORIA (Roman).... |
God name "Penates" | Romans | The household gods of the Romans, both in regard to a private family and to the state, as the great family of citizens: hence we shall have to distinguish between private and public Penates. |
God name "Rimer" | Roman | Chief god of Damascus; so called from the word rime, a "pomegranate," because he held a pomegranate in his right hand. The people bore a pomegranate in their coat armour. The Romans called this god Jupiter Cåśśius, from Mount Cåśśius, near Damascus. |
Goddess name "Salus" | Greek | The personification of health, prosperity, and the public welfare, among the Romans. In the first of these three senses she answers very closely to the Greek Hygieia, and was accordingly represented in works of art with the same attributes as the Greek goddess. In the second sense she represents prosperity in general and was invoked by the husbandmen at seed-time. In the third sense Salus is the goddess of the public welfare. |
Goddess name "Tabiti" | Scythian | Goddess of fire. Also the guardian deity of all animals. The Romans syncretized her with the hearth goddess VESTA.... |
God name "Taranis" | Roman / Celtic / Gallic | Thunder god. Known only from limited inscriptions, but may emulate the Germanic god DONAR and is possibly the same as Taranucos. The Romans equated him with JUPITER and a Jupiter Tanarus inscription at Chester in England may refer to Taranis. His symbol is a spoked wheel and he is presumed to be the object of savage rites. The modern Breton word for thunder is taran. Also Taranos.... |
God name "Teraphim" | Hebrew | The household, family, or domestic gods of the Jews, similar to the lares and penates of the ancient Romans. Hebrew |
God name "Terra" | Greek | Another form for terra, the name under which the earth was personified among the Romans, as Ge was among the Greeks. She is often mentioned in contrast with Jupiter, the god of heaven, and connected with Dis and the Manes. Greek |