Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
God name "Apedemak" | Sudanese / Meroe | war god. An Egyptianized deity, his main sanctuary was contained in a vast religious complex and center of pilgrimage at Musawwarat-es-Sufra, north of the sixth Nile cataract. Sacred animals include cattle and the African elephant. Depicted with the head of a lion and a human body, holding a scepter embellished with a seated lion at the tip.... |
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 "Bacax" | Roman - North African | Local god. A rare example of a named deity from this region, thought to have been worshiped as a cave god. Known from inscription at Cirta [Constantine].... |
God name "Bariga" | Ngbandi / northern Democratic Republic of Congo / Central African Republic | God of clear waters. One of seven gods invoked at daybreak, the creator deity of white-skinned people.... |
Goddess name "Caelestis" | Carthaginian / North Africa | moon goddess. The Romanized form of the Punic goddess TANIT. Elsewhere she became syncretized into the cult of APHRODITE-VENUS. Annual games were held in her honor. She was brought to Rome in the form of an abstract block of stone (like that of KYBELE from Pessinus) and became popular there during the early part of the third century AD; in this guise she was known as the mighty protectress of the Tarpeian hill.... |
Deities name "Dii Mauri" | Africa | The God of Moors. Immortal, they act as redeemers, and benevolent indigenous deities. North Africa |
Goddess name "Dzivaguru" | Korekore / Shona / northern Zimbabwe, southern Africa | Chthonic mother goddess. Originally said to have ruled both heaven and earth and lived in a palace by a sacred lake near Dande. She is depicted wearing goatskins and bearing a cornucopia holding magical substances. Her sacred creatures are mythical golden Sunbirds, probably modeled on swallows, a pair of which were actually discovered in Zimbabwe.... |
God name "Ifru" | Roman - North African | God. A rare example in this region of a named deity. Known from an inscription at Cirta [Constantine, Algeria].... |
"Inkanyamba" | Africa | A legendary serpent living in a waterfall lake area in the northern Forests near Cape Town, South Africa |
God name "Kalrnga" | Ndonga / northern Namibia, southern Africa | Creator god. Said to take the form of a giant man who is always partially hidden by clouds and generally seen only by women intermediaries known as nelagos who go to converse with him in sacred places. He is the father of MUSISI. The god is invoked at times of warfare and illness, but also as a fertility deity and before making a journey.... |
God name "Khadir" | Pre - Islamic north African | vegetation god. He wanders the earth returning to the same spot once in every 500 years and is said to have gained his immortality by drinking from the well of life. Similar in some respects to the Syrian god ADONIS and revered by Alexander the Great. Normally referred to as Al-Khidr (the green one).... |
God name "Moloch" | Africa | Molek, either the name of a god or the name of a particular kind of sacrifice åśśociated historically with Phoenician and related cultures in north Africa and the Levant. |
Goddess name "Mujaji" | Lovedu / South Africa | Rain goddess. She is said to reside in the northern Drakensberg mountains and sends both destructive tempests and gentle generative Rain. In past times she was propitiated with sacrifices of cattle and occasionally young girls. She is represented by a lineage of mortal queens on whose fabulous reputation the author Rider Haggard based the novel She. Also Modjadji.... |
God name "Raluvimbha" | Baventa / northern Transvaal, South Africa | Creator god. The tribal chief converses with the god, who is responsible for all natural phenomena from thunderstorms to floods and plagues.... |
Supreme god name "Tanik" | Phoenician / Pontic / Carthaginian | moon goddess. Known largely from inscriptions at various sites along the North African coast and linked with the goddess ASTARTE. Her symbol is a triangular device with horizontal bars supporting a moon disc. Both deities are described as ladies of the sanctuary. Tanit was the supreme goddess at Carthage, known as the face of BAAL, until usurped by the Roman goddess JUNO; she survived under the name CAELESTIS. The goddess CERES was also worshiped in the TANIT temple at Carthage. Also Tenit.... |
God name "Were" | Africa | Supreme Creator God. North West Africa |