Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
God name "Poeninus" | Roman / Celtic / European | mountain god. Known locally from the alpine regions and generally thought to be åśśimilated with JUPITER.... |
"Pope" | Greek | A priest who knocked on the head the ox offered in sacrifice, and cut it up, a very small part being burnt, and all the rest distributed to those concerned in the sacrifice. Wine was poured between the horns, but the priest first sipped it, and all those who åśśisted him. After the beast had been stunned it was stabbed, and the blood was caught in a vessel used for the purpose, for the shedding of blood was indispensable in every sacrifice. It was the duty of the pope to see that the victim to be sacrificed was without spot or blemish, and to ascertain that it had never been yoked to the plough. The head was crowned with a fillet, and the horns gift. Apparently the Roman soldiers of Pontius Pilate made a mockery imitation of these Roman and Greek sacrifices. |
God name "Posis Das" | Greek | sky god. In pre-Hellenic times the consort of the earth mother GAIA. One of the primordial partnership identified in Theogony (Hesiod). He later becomes syncretized with ZEUS.... |
Demon name "Pradyumna" | Hindu | A son of Krishna and Rukmini who, as a baby, was abducted by the demon Sambara and cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish. The fish was caught and opened and the child was found inside. He was given to a woman in Sambara's house to raise. Narada informed her about the true identity of the child. When Pradyumna grew up, he battled the demon Sambara, defeated him. Pradyumna was later killed in a drunken brawl in his father's court at Dwaraka. Hindu |
God name "Prajapati (lord of creatures)" | Hindu / Vedic, Epic / Puranic | Primordial being. In the Vedic legends he is described variously as the creator of the world and the creator of heaven and earth. He is an androgynous being who impregnated himself by fusing elements of mind and speech. In later epics he is the guardian deity of the sexual organ. Prajapati is also a name of the god BRAHMA in later Hinduism.... |
God name "Priapos" | Greco - Roman / Phrygian | Fertility god. The son of DIONYSOS and APHRODITE, he was also a guardian of mariners. Priapos was not regarded as a significant deity in Greece until very late timesduring the Macedonian period, circa fourth to second century BCand was only locally popular during the Roman Empire period. He is particularly known from Phrygia and is depicted as a satyr-like creature with pronounced genitals.... |
God name "Prthu (broad)" | Hindu / Vedic | Creator god. The head of the solar pantheon who introduced Agriculture to the human race and who, in later Hinduism, is identified as an avatara of VIS'NU.... |
King name "Pururavas and Urvasi" | Indian | An Indian myth similar to that of "Apollo and Daphne." Pururavas is a legendary king who fell in love with Urvasi, a heavenly nymph, who consented to become his wife on certain conditions. These conditions being violated, Urvasi disappeared, and Pururavas, inconsolable, wandered everywhere to find her. Ultimately he succeeded, and they were indissolubly united. |
God name "Purusa" | Hindu / Vedic | Primeval creator god. Described as the primordial being from whom the cosmos was formed, possibly the male component of the great mother, MATA. In later Hinduism regarded as an avatara of VIS'NU.... |
Goddess name "Pusan (nourisher)" | Hindu / Vedic / Puranic | Sun god. The original Vedic list of six descendants of the goddess ADITI or ADITYAS, all of whom take the role of Sun gods, was, in later times, enlarged to twelve, including Pusan. He is the charioteer of the Sun and a guardian deity of journeys and pathways. Color: golden. Attributes: four lotuses.... |
"Rhode" | Greek | The oldest of the Oceanides and a daughter of Tethys and Oceåñuś. Later, she was thought of as a daughter of Poseidon and Halia, or Poseidon and Amphitrite. Greek |
God name "Rigisamus" | Roman / Celtic / Gallic | God of war. Assimilated with MARS.... |
God name "Rigisamus or Rigonmetis" | Celtic | God of war åśśimilated with the Mars. Celtic |
God name "S e ab" | Egypt | Minor god of wine and oil presses. Known from circa 3000 BC until the end of Egyptian history, circa AD 400. In later iconography he is depicted as a lion, but more generally is in human form. Sezmu had a definite cult following in the fertile Faiyum region of the Nile valley, but was probably represented in most sanctuaries, particularly where ritual unguents were made and stored. He is recognized in both benign and malevolent roles. In the latter he is reputed to squeeze human heads like grapes, but in beneficent mood he provides aromatic oils and ointments.... |
God name "Sabazios" | Phrygian / northwestern Turkey | God. Eventually Hellenized, identified with ZEUS and DIONYSOS and linked with Dionysiac mysteries, appearing in Athens from circa 400 BC. His device is a right hand cast in bronze and decorated with symbols representing his benevolence. His influence extended into Roman culture where he reached a height of popularity circa AD 200. As late as AD 300 there are frescoes of Sabazios in the tomb of Vibia whose husband was a priest of the god's cult.... |
Nymph name "Sabazius" | Phrygian | A Phrygian divinity, commonly described as a son of Rhea or Cybele ; but in later times he was identified with the mystic Dionysus, who hence is sometimes called Dionysus Sabazius. For the same reason Sabazius is called a son of Zeus by Persephone, and is said to have been reared by a nymph Nyssa. |
God name "Salagrama" | Hindu / late | Aniconic form of the god VIS'NU. A fossil ammonite shell embodying the god and forming a part of daily ritual in many Vaisnava households as well as appearing in monasteries.... |
Goddess name "Sarama (the nimble one)" | Hindu / Vedic, Epic / Puranic | Attendant goddess. She acts as a messenger to the god INDRA and guards his herds. In later Hindu texts Sarama is reputedly the mother of all dogs and is given the epithet the bitch of heaven. The Rg Veda accounts her as having punished the minor deity Panis for stealing cows.... |