Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
God name "ATEN" | Egypt | Creator Sun god. Aten, the Sun as a disc, was revered as a numen in his own right, distinct from Atum or Re, from circa 2000 BC and possibly earlier. His influence had been growing under several pharaohs including Amenhotep II, Tuthmosis IV and Amenhotep III, who initiated a cult of Aten at Heliopolis.... |
Goddess name "Ama-arhus" | Mesopotamian / BabylonianAkkadian | Fertility goddess. Mentioned in texts as being among the pantheon at Uruk in Hellenistic times but also found as an earlier manifestation of the god GULA. Also Arad-Ama-arhus, Amat-Ama-arhus.... |
Goddess name "Anat in Mesopotamia" | Akkadian | In Akkadian the form one would expect Anat to take would be Antu earlier Antum. This would also be the normal femanine form that would be taken by Anu, the Akkadian form of An 'Sky', the Sumerian god of heaven. Antu appears in Akkadian texts mostly as a rather colorless consort of Anu, the mother of Ishtar in the Gilgamesh story, but is also identified with the northwest Semitic goddess Anat of essentially the same name. It is unknown whether this is an equation of two originally separate goddesses whose names happened to fall together or whether Anat's cult spread to Mesopotamia where she came to be worshippped as Anu's spouse because the Mesopotamia form of her name suggested she was a counterpart to Anu. |
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.... |
"Bodhisattva (one whose essence is perfect knowledge)" | Buddhist / northern India, Tibet, China / Japan | Generic title for a buddha-designate. Any one of the earlier stages of a future buddha. Depicted wearing regal dress and trappings, including a crown. The most significant include AVALOKITESVARA, MAITREYA and MANJUSRI.... |
Goddess name "Cihuacoatl-Quilaztli" | Aztec / Mesomerican / Mexico | Creator goddess. Using a magical vessel, she grinds bone fragments obtained from previous generations of mankind in earlier world ages into a powder. The gods then commit self-sacrifice, allowing their blood to drip into the vessel. From the resulting mix, the human race of the fifth Sun is formed.... |
"Dardåñuś" | Greek | A son of Zeus and Electra, the daughter of Atlas. He was the brother of Jasus, Jasius, Jason, or Jasion, Aetion and Harmonia, and his native place in the various traditions is Arcadia, Crete, Troas, or Italy. Dardåñuś is the mythical ancestor of the Trojans, and through them of the Romans. It is necessary to distinguish between the earlier Greek legends and the later ones which we meet with in the poetry of Italy. Greek |
God name "Fornjot" | Norse | The most ancient giant. He was father of ?ger, or Hler, the god of the ocean; of Loge, flame or fire, and of Kaare, wind. His wife was Ran. These divinities are generally regarded as belonging to an earlier mythology, probably to that of the Fins or Celts. Norse |
God name "Hogfather" | Europian | The Discworld's version of Father Christmas or Santa Claus. He wears a red, fur-lined cloak, and rides a sleigh pulled by four wild boars, Gouger, Rooter, Tusker and Snouter. In earlier times he gave households pork products, and naughty children a bag of bloody bones. Earlier than that, he was a Winter god of the death-and-renewal kind. The modern version is a jolly toymaker, with vestiges of the earlier myths (such as his Castle of Bones, a vast palace of ice which has nothing notably bony about it, except for the suggestion of a protruding femur or scapula here and there) still clinging to him. |
Goddess name "Jyrstha" | Hindu / Puranic / earlier | Goddess of misfortune. The elder sister of the goddess LAKSMI, Jyestha personifies poverty and is depicted with a large belly and long nose. In earlier Hinduism she was worshiped particularly in southern India. Also a NAKSATRA of evil influence; daughter of DAKSA and wife of CANDRA (SOMA). Her animal is an åśś. Attributes: arrow, banner with crow, cup, blue lotus, hair-ornament and staff.... |
Goddess name "Khandsba" | Hindu / late | Form of the god SI IVA. Khandoba is believed to have emerged as a deity with a distinct cultic following no earlier than the thirteenth or fourteenth century, mainly in western India and centered on Jejuri, near Poona. The god is generally regarded as one of several martial forms which SI iva took to combat demons. His consort is the goddess MHALSA, considered to be a form of PARVATI. He is depicted bearing four arms and is usually mounted on a horse, but may also be accompanied by a dog. Attributes: bowl, drum, sword and trident. Also Makhari; Mallari; Martland.... |
Goddess name "Maat" | Egypt | Minor goddess of cosmic order. Epitomizing the harmonious laws of the cosmic order. She is recognized from the middle of the third millennium, and probably earlier, closely åśśociated with the creator deities and particularly the Sun god. In later times she was described as the daughter of Re. Her only known sanctuary is in the complex of Karnak at Thebes. Maat is depicted either in human form wearing an ostrich plume on her head or by an ostrich feather alone. The rulers of Egypt believed that they governed under her aegis and frequently had themselves described as beloved of Maat. Maat was also integral to the success of a soul påśśing through the Hall of the Two Truths, where the heart was weighed, to reach Paradise.... |
God name "Montu" | Egypt | Local god of war. Worshiped in and around the district of Thebes in Upper Egypt. He is known from circa 2000 BC and possibly earlier, but came to special prominence overseeing the aggressive posture of Theban kings from the XI to XVIII Dynasty (2133-1320 BC). Montu is depicted in human form but with a falcon's head surmounted by twin plumes, a Sun disc and the uraeus (cobra). At some stage, probably as Month (Greek), he became identified with a sacred bull, Buchis.... |
God name "Pasupati (lord of animals)" | Hindu / India | God of animals. His consort is Svaha and his son is SANMUKHA. He is thought to have been derived from an earlier pre-Indo Aryan deity worshiped by the Indus Valley civilization as a horned god with three faces, sitting surrounded by animals. In Hindu culture regarded as an aspect of S IVA and depicted standing upon a corpse.... |
God name "Perkele" | Finland | The devil. Originally Perkele was not the devil but a god of thunder and can be seen as an earlier form of Ukko. Related to Baltic Perkunas and Norse Thor. |
Goddess name "Ses'at" | Egypt | Goddess of libraries and the art of writing. Known from 2500 BC, or earlier, until the end of Egyptian history circa AD 400. She is depicted anthropomorphically bearing a seven-pointed star or rosette on her head, sometimes atop a wand and below a bow-shaped object. Early in her career she was åśśociated with the ritual of stretching the cord during which boundary poles were rammed into the ground by the king before measuring out the foundations of a sanctuary. As a scribe she recorded the lists of foreign captives and their tributes. At Karnak in Upper Egypt and at Dendara she recorded the royal jubilees on a notched palm stem.See also SEFKHET-ABWY.... |
Goddess name "Siddhi (accomplishment, success)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Minor goddess of good fortune. A deity who grants favors. Sometimes åśśociated with the elephant god GANESA or MAHA-GANAPATI, on whose knee she may sit. In earlier times she was described as a consort of BHAGA.... |