Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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God name "Arrinsnuphis [Greek]" | Egypt / Nubian | Local god of uncertain affinities. Probably significant circa 700 BC to AD 400 as an attendant of ISIS. He appeared in Egyptian sanctuaries during the Greco-Roman period and seems to have been of... |
Goddess name "Asnan" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian | vegetation goddess. Minor deity probably known to the Sumerians from circa 3500BC or earlier. She is concerned with the abundance of grain in the fields, sent as its protectress by the gods ENLIL and ENKI. According to creation accounts, she and the cattle god LAHAR were first intended to serve the needs of the Annunaki, the celestial children of AN, but when the heavenly creatures were found unable to make use of their products, humankind was created to provide an outlet for their services. Attributes: ears of corn sprouting from her shoulders.... |
Goddess name "Aspalis" | Western Semitic | Hunting goddess. There is scant mention of Aspalis from Melite in Phthia and she is probably a local version of ARTEMIS. As in certain Artemis mythology, she hanged herself and her body disappeared.... |
Goddess name "Asratum" | Western Semitic / Canaanite | Fertility goddess. Probably a corruption of the Semitic ATHIRAT or ASERAH. Also mentioned in Babylonian texts from the Hellenistic period. Also Asrat (Akkadian).... |
Goddess name "Atete" | Kafa / Ethiopia, northeastern Africa | Fertility goddess. She was åśśimilated into the Christian cult of the Virgin Mary, but is probably the subject of an ancient fertility rite performed by women who collect various sacred plants and throw them into the river. The festival is known as Astar yo Mariam (Epiphany of Mary).... |
God name "Attar" | Western Semitic | God of the morning star. In Canaanite legend, he attempts to usurp the dead BAAL but proves inadequate to fill the god's throne. In semi-arid regions of western Asia where irrigation is essential, he was sometimes worshiped as a Rain god. His female counterpart is the Phoenician ASTARTE. Also probably identified as Dhu-S amani in more southerly regions.... |
Deities name "Ba Xian" | Taoist / Chinese | Collective name for gods. A group of eight Divine beings, once mortal, who achieved immortality through their exemplary lifestyles. There are many such groups in Chinese religious belief. The Ba Xian are probably the most widely revered. Many people carry amulets and other charms in the form of the symbols of these deities. The eight gods are Cao Guo-jiu; HAN XIANGZI; HE XIAN-GU; LAN CAI-HE; LI TIE-GUAI; LU DONG-BIN; ZHANG GUO-LAO; and ZHONG-LI QUAN.... |
God name "Baa! Ma!age" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Local tutelary god. Probably of Canaanite origin, closely equating with BAAL SAMIN and known only from inscriptions.... |
Deities name "Baa! Samin (lord of heaven)" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Head of the pantheon. Probably originated in Canaanite culture as a god of Rain and vegetation, but became extensively revered in places as far apart as Cyprus and Carthage. Epithets include bearer of thunder. Baal Samin is first mentioned in a fourteenth century BC treaty between the Hittite king Suppiluliuma and Nigmadu II of Ugarit. He had a major sanctuary at Byblos, according to inscription, built by Yehemilk. Josephus confirms that his cult existed at the time of Solomon. At Karatepe his name appears at the head of a list of national deities and on Seleucid coinage he is depicted wearing a half-moon crown and carrying a radiate Sun disc. Other epithets include lord of eternity and he may also have been god of storms at sea, a patron deity of mariners. By Hellenic times he equated with ZEUS in the Greek pantheon and the Romans identified him as Caelus (sky). Also Baal-Samem.... |
Deities name "Baa! Sapon" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Local tutelary god. Probably of Canaanite origin and closely equating with BAAL SAMIN. According to Ugaritic texts he lives on a mountain in the north of Phoenicia known as Saphan, which may have served as a beacon for mariners. Other local variations of mountain deities include Baal Hermon and Baal Brathy.... |
God name "Barsamin" | Pre Christian Armenian | weather or sky god. Probably derived from the Semitic god BAAL S AMIN.... |
God name "Basamum" | Pre Islamic southern Arabian | God of healing. The name probably derives from the remedial plant balsam.... |
Goddess name "Bat" | Egypt / Upper | cow goddess of fertility. She was probably well known in the Old kingdom (circa 2700 BC onward). Associated principally with Upper Egypt, for a while she may have rivaled Hathor in Lower Egypt but by the time of the New kingdom (sixteenth century BC) her influence had waned. She may be represented on the Narmer Palette (Cairo Museum) which com memorates the unification of the two kingdoms. Bat is only rarely found in large sculptures and paintings, but is often the subject of Egyptian period jewelry, including amulets and ritual sistrum rattles. Depicted as a cow or anthropo morphically with bovine ears and horns. Also Bata.... |
Goddess name "Belet-Ili (lady of tbe gods)" | Mesopotamian / BabylonianAkkadian | Mother goddess. Known in Babylon and probably modeled on NINHURSAG A.... |
Goddess name "Bellona" | Greek | The goddess of war among the Romans. It is very probable that originally Bellona was a Sabine divinity whose worship was carried to Rome by the Sabine settlers. Greek |
Goddess name "Bellona" | Roman | Goddess of war and mother goddess Roman the goddess of war among the Romans. It is very probable that originally Bellona was a Sabine divinity whose worship was carried to Rome by the Sabine settlers. She is frequently mentioned by the Roman poets as the companion of Mars, or even as his sister or his wife. Virgil describes her as armed with a bloody scourge. (The Aeneid Book VIII) |
God name "Bethel" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Local tutelary god. Probably of Aramaean or Syrian origin. First mentioned in a fourteenth century treaty between the Hittite king Suppiluliuma and Nigmadu II of Ugarit [Ras Samra]. He appears more regularly on inscriptions from the end of the seventh century BC and enjoyed considerable popularity during the neo-Babylonian period. Bethel is mentioned in the Biblical text of Jeremiah 48.13, implying that some Israelites acknowledged this deity. There is no evidence of links with the historical place names, including that mentioned in Genesis 38.13.... |
Deities name "Bolon Ti Ku" | Mayan / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Chthonic underworld gods. A collective term for a group of nine deities not otherwise clearly defined. They are probably still invoked by modern Mexican Indians.... |