“At one time, all gods were true”
 

AATXE:  Evil spirit in the shape of a bull, believed by the Basques to leave its cave on stormy nights to assume human form, instructing its devotees in its arts under the name "Etsai" ("the devil").

 

ABATTUR:  A mythical figure of the Mandaens. At the last judgment, they weigh souls and their deeds. The name derives from Persian and means "bearer of the scales."

 

ABELLIO:  A Gallic local deity, known from inscriptions in the Garrone Valley. He has been interpreted as a god of apple trees.

 

ABGAL:  Seven Sumerian spirits deriving from the "Abzu," believed to reflect legendary kings. Some of the Abgal are conceived as fish men.

 

ABHIYOGA:  Generic name of the servile gods in Jainism; they help the supreme gods to create rain and darkness.

 

ABORA:  The supreme being worshipped by the Canary Islanders on the island of Palma. The god sat in heaven and caused the stars to move.

 

ABRAXIS:  Occult theonym used in Gaeco-Oriental gnoticism. In Greek values the letters add up to 365, the number of days in a year. Abraxas stones were used as amulets and show him with the torso and arms of a man, the head of a cock and serpents' legs.

 

ABU:  Sumerian god of vegetation. According to one tradition he was born from the skull of Enki, an image of the emergence of plants from Earth's surface.

 

ACALA:  "The immovable" — a divinity in Indian Buddhism. As "protector of the teaching" his image stands in front of temples to ward off those hostile to Buddhist doctrine.

 

ACHILLES:  Hero of Greek legend. He had been dipped by his mother Thetis into the water of the Styx to make him invulnerable, but the water did not touch the heel by which she held him, hence the phrase "Achilles' Heel." Slain by Paris in the Trojan War, Achilles was venerated as a hero throughout Greece. In the Black Sea he had divine status and was known from the Hadrian era onwards as Pontarchos (ruler of the sea).

 

ACORAN:  The supreme being worshipped by the inhabitants of Grand Canaria in the Canary Islands. Temples to him were erected in remote mountain locations, which afforded asylum because of their difficult access. A daily offering of milk was given to Acoran by maidens in white leather.

 

ADAMAS:  The parallel god-head of the Naassenes, a gnostic movement in Phrygia: conceived as a mother-father syzygy, the "parents of the aeons."

 

ADITI:  Indian goddess; her dominion is over the divine ordering of the world. Her name means 'infinity' and she is able to free those who believe in her from sickness and the stains of sin.

 

ADITYAS:  A Vedic grouping of seven or eight gods, headed by "Varuna," Vedism's supreme god and creator of the three worlds of heaven, earth and air.
 

ADONIS:  Originally a Phoenician-Syrian god (the Semitic word adon, means 'master'); he embodies vegetation scorched by the leaf of the summer sunshine and
was worshipped in mystic cults as a god who dies and is resurrected. According to Greek legend, he was born from a myrrh tree (into which his mother had been
changed). He was the lover of Aphrodite. When he was killed by a boar while hunting, the goddess caused the Adonis rose to spring up from his blood and she was able to secure his release from the underworld for six months of the year. The seeds of the Adonis garden grow readily in a bowl or box, and their blossoming and rapid withering were seen as symbolizing the life and death of the god. Adonis was taken over by the Etruscans under the name 'Atunis.'

 

ADRASTE:  A goddess of war in ancient Britain. to whom Queen Boudicca sacrificed captured Roman women.

 

ADRASTEIA:  Originally, a Trojan-Phrygian mountain divinity who appeared in Greece from 400 B.C. onwards as guardian of righteousness and the goddess who avenges all wrongs. She is connected with Nemesis, but it is not clear whether there is an Indo-German connection with the British-Celtic "Adraste."

 

ADRO:  A god of the Lugbara people of East Africa. He lives with his wives and children on Earth, preferably in rivers, and makes himself known to humans in the shapes of whirlwinds and grass fires.

 

ADRUIANNA: A local goddess in Gaul, named after the Ardennes. She was a god of hunting and her scared animal was the boar.
 

AEGIR:  A North Germanic sea-giant, husband of Ran. At a carousal for Aesir, he had shining gold brought into the hall, which was lit up, as though by fire. It has been suggested that  the gold represents the shimmering of tranquil seas without wind.

 

AETERNITAS:  For the Romans, the personification of eternity, of the Empires and of the deified emperors.

 

AFI:  God of rain and thunderstorms among the Abkhaz people of the Western Caucases. His name cannot be uttered by women, who refer to him as "the one who is above."

 

AGATHOS DAIMON:  A guardian spirit of Greek mythology, perceived as a winged serpent which hovers invisibly around a man, bringing good luck to his home. The symbol of medicine, the winged staff featuring serpents, Caduceus, may be a variation of Agathos Daimon.

 

AGLIBOL:  The moon-god of Palmyra (ancient Syria);   he bears a sickle-moon on his forehead, and in other depictions, on his shoulders.  His cult spread via Greece to Rome.

 

AHONE:  The supreme deity of the Indians who once lived in Virginia. He was so far removed from men, so remote, that they did little to honor him.

 

AHURANI:  Old Iranian water-goddess, to whom people prayed to for insight, growth and progeny.

 

AIAKOS:  A Greek god of the underworld. Because of his love of justice, he was appointed as judge of the dead.
 

AIOLOS:  Son of Poseidon; in Greek mythology, the progenitor of the Acolians, directed by Zeus to rule the winds. It was he who gave Odysseus a bag containing contrary winds to speed the homeward journey.

 

AITOJON:  The creator of light among the Yakuts of Serbia. He is perceived as a giant double-headed eagle that perches on the tip of the "world-tree."

 

AITU:  In Somoa, a word for the lower order of gods who are called Atua in the Marquesas. The Aitu display demonic rather than godly characteristics. In Maori, the word Aitu not only means "deity" but also "sickness" and "misery."

 

AITVARAS:  A Lithuanian household spirit which appears as a black cat. He is a creature of the devil, which persuades the householder to sell his soul for a reward.

 

AKER:  An Egyptian god who is an embodiment of the Earth, represented as a strip of land with a human's or lion's head at the ends. In the version featuring the lion heads, each lion is turned to face the directions of the rising, and the setting of the sun, guarding the entrance and exit of the underworld.
 

AKONGO:  Supreme god of the Ngombe people of the Congo. As creator, he bears the epithet 'he who forms': he who gave the world its shape.

 

AKSOBHYA:  One of the five Dhyani Buddhas, probably a hypostasis of the historical Guatama Buddha, with reference to his withstanding the temptations of the satanic Mara. He is celestially oriented in the east. In Tantric iconography he may have six or eight arms. His main attribute is the Vajra, or thunderbolt and he rides on a pair of
elephants. Some of the entities that emanate from him include Heruka, Jambhala and
Yamari.

 

ALAKO:  God of the Norwegian gypsies. His original name was "Dundra" and he was sent to Earth to reveal the secret law and lore to the gypsies. He returned later to his own realm on the moon. The name is etymologically related to the Finnish word Alaku (waning moon).

 

ALALU:  First of the heavenly kings according to the pantheon of the Hurrians who lived in North Syria in the second millennium BC. For nine years he occupied his divine throne before being overthrown by Anu. He was called Hypsistos by the Greeks.

 

ALARDI:  In the popular belief of the Ossetians in the Central Caucasus, a spirit who on the one hand causes smallpox and on the other hand, protects women. In songs, he is given the epithet "The winged one."

 

ALAUNUS:  A local Celtic name for the god Mercurius. In the Mannheim area, Mercurius was called Alunnus; near Salzburg, inscriptions have been found giving the form, "sacrus...Alounis."

 

ALB:  Original designation of "Elben" of Germanic mythology. Albs were half-dwarf half-god who were eventually regarded as demonic beings causing sickness and nightmares.

 

ALCIS:  A divine pair of brothers in the belief of the East German Naharnavali tribe.
Worshipped in a sacred grove, it was believed that Romans interpreted them as heavenly twins Castor and Pollux.
 

ALLAH:  In the pre-Islamic period the supreme deity, creator of Earth and giver of water; today worshipped by over 1 billion people. Interpreted monotheistically by Mohamed as the one true God to whom it is  incumbent upon men to submit. Allah is totally and essentially different from all he created, hence the prohibition of any attempt to portray him — the 'beautiful names' of God correspond to the epithets which to paraphrase Allah in the Koran. 99 names are known, but the greatest name, the one that completes the hundred, is known to no mortal. In Sufism, Allah is compared to a sun which send forth its rays. Since graphical representation of Allah is forbidden it is only in calligraphy that he can be spiritually 'represented.'

 

ALLAT:  Venerated in Central and Northern Arabia during pre-Islamic times. She was supposed to be one of the three daughters of Allah, and associated with the planet Venus.

 

ALISANOS:  A local god in Gaul mentioned in inscriptions found in the Cote d'Or. Attempts have been made to identify him more closely as a mountain ash god, or god of rowan trees.

 

ALMAQAH:  Moon-god and the South Arabian kingdom of Suba. Members called themselves 'children of Almaqa. He is symbolized by a number of lightning flashes and a weapon which looks like a slightly bent 'S'. In some texts he is called 'Lord of the horned gods.'

 

ALPAN:  An Etruscan goddess portrayed as being winged and unwinged, belonging to female demons known as Lasas. She is naked, except for a cloak which hardly conceals her body. She is bejeweled and wears sandals. Evidence suggests she was a goddess of the art of love and possess traits marking her as a goddess of the underworld.

 

AMAETHON:  Celtic god of agriculture in Wales, revered as the great ploughman.

He belongs to the Welsh family of the Dons.

 

AMALTHEIA:  A nymph (or in some versions, a she-goat) who nourished Zeus with her milk and was rewarded by being promoted to the heavens. A horn that was broken off from her head was said to have been transformed by Zeus into a Cornucopia, the horn of plenty used as a symbol of Thanksgiving.

 

AMAUNET:  One of the group of the Egyptian gods known as the Ogdoad. She was seen as a divine mother, presiding at the beginning of time. In the Ptolemaic era, she was seen as the embodiment of the north wind.

 

AMENTET:  Egyptian god of the west and all lands in that direction. As the sun sets
in the West; Amentet is also god of the necropolis when she receives the dead as the enter the Beyond.

 

AMITABHA:  The most popular of the five Dhyani-Buddhas. His celestial direction is to the west, his element is water and he is associated with evening twilight.

 

AMM:  The moon-god in pre-Islamic South Arabia. In the kingdom of Qataban he had the status of a national god and the people of Qataban called themselves the 'children of Amm. He acts as a weather-god and is symbolized by a cluster of lightning flashes.

 

AMMA:  The divine creator in the religious system of the Dogon of Mali. He created the universe in the form of a world-egg which was divided into two placentas; from these, the bisexual world arose. According to an occult tradition, the god raped the Earth, whose sexual organ was an anthill.

 

AMMAVARU:  Mother goddess of the Telugu, a Dravidian people who live in east-central India. According to myth, she existed before the creation of the world. Brahma and Vishnu were two of the gods that came from the egg she laid in the "Sea of Milk."

 

AMMON:  God of the West Egyptian oasis of Siwa, and of its oracle site Ammonium, which was celebrated in antiquity.

 

AMOR:  Roman god of love, corresponding to the Greek Eros; in modern interpretation, as Cupid, portrayed with bow and arrows, and represented as a winged youth.

 

AMPHITRITE:  Goddess of the sea, possibly pre-Hellenic. In Greek mythology she is the wife of Poseidon, and moves over the water in a vessel made of mussels. In was only in association with Poseidon that she was made an object of worship.

 

ANAHITA:  Originally a Semitic goddess, she was received into the pantheon of the Parses as a goddess of fertility and victory. In Middle Persian tradition, she is known as "Ardvi Sur."

 

ANANKE:  Greek goddess of fate, the personification of ineluctable necessity and inevitability, she is set above the gods. In Orphic teachings, she is incorporeal but universally present. On occasion she fuses with the figures of Adrasteia. In her capacity as 'she who guides the worlds,' she is portrayed holding a spindle. 

 

ANBAY:  A pre-Islamic god in south Arabia. His name may have originally been a regal plural, and may be connected with the name of the Mesopotamian god Nabu. Anbay is "lord of justice." In his capacity as spokesman he acts for the moon-god Amm, who ranks above him in the pantheon.
 

ANEZTI:  God of the ninth nome of lower Egypt. from whom Osiris seems to have borrowed the crook and scourge as symbols of overlordship.

 

ANGRIAS:  "The seers descended from the gods" in the Veda and Hinduism; "Sons of heaven" who through sacrifice, earned the friendship of Indra and achieved immortality.

 

ANI:  An Etruscan god whose name may be etymologically connected with that of Janus.

 

ANKY-KELE:  The god of the sea in the pantheon of the Chuckchi people of northeast Siberia. As lord of sea creatures, and hence the food supply, he has the power of life and death over humanity.

 

ANNA PERENNA:  An ancient Roman goddess who, during the war between the Patricians and Plebeians, saved the latter from famine. Every year, on March 15, there was an open-air festival in her honor.

 

ANU:  Celtic-Irish goddess of the Earth and of fertility. She was said to be the mother of the gods. Two hills near Killarney in Munster are called after her Da Chich Annan — i.e., the two breasts of Ana.

 

ANUKET:  Egyptian goddess of the Cataract area. Particularly venerated un Elephantine, she was known as "mistress of Nubia." Her sacred animal was the gazelle.
 

ANUBIS:  Egyptian god of the dead, in the shape of a dog or jackal; occasionally in human shape with a dog's head. It is not certain what the name means: "little dog" has been suggested. At Assiut, Anubis was known by the epithet'lord of the cave mouth': i.e., the entrance into the city of the dead. As god of the dead he is ' Lord of the divine
hall' and hence in charge of mummification, in which capacity he undertakes the ritual preparation of the corpse and its transfiguration. With the rise of Osiris, Anubis was demoted vis-à-vis the new Lord of the Dead and put in charge of weighing the hearts at the last judgment. The Greeks gave the name Kynopolis to important centers of worship. In the interpretatio graeca, Anubis was identified with Hermes.

 

APARAJITA:  Belongs to the Krodhadevatas of Indian Buddhism. He is white in color and decorated with snakes. He has three faces: white, black and red. In pre-Buddhist beliefs, he seems to have figured as leader of the demons and as such was trampled underfoot by Bhutadamara.

 

APHRODITE:  Greek goddess of beauty and love, identified by the Romans with Venus. Her name is derived from the Greek, "aphros" or foam: "she who is born of the foam." Her cult is pre-Greek and probably Oriental in origin. She was also as Kypris, after the main shrine in Cyprus. According to Homer, she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione, married to Mephaistos, but in love with Ares, from which Eros was born. Her attribute was the dove. Her aegis covered fertility in the plant world, and she was venerated in Athens as the goddess of gardens.

 

APIS:  Holy bull originally worshipped in Memphis. Originally a fertility symbol, he eventually came to be identified with the 'glorious soul' of Ptah. Apis bulls were regarded as holy and were interred in subterranean chambers.

 

APLU:  Etruscan god borrowed from the Greek pantheon Apollo, later specified as a god of thunder and lightning; he is depicted as naked, except for a mantle which covers much of his body; on his head is a wreath of laurel and he is bearing a staff.

 

APO KATAWAN:  A god of Hambal-Aeta, a negrito tribe in the Philippines. Sacrifice is made to him and people pray to him.

 

APOLLON (APOLLO):  A Greek god, probably of Asia Minor origin. He fulfills several functions: as protector of cattle, he keeps wolves away; as promoter of agriculture he gets rid of field mice and as a stone pillar standing in front of a house he protects both it and its inhabitants. He is a god of healing (with a snake as attribute) and a god of expiation, whose arrows bring sickness and death. He is the god of oracles, his most celebrated oracular shrines being Delphi and Delos. His parents were Zeus and Lelo, his twin sister was Artemis and his son was the healing god Asklepios. Apollo was the first Greek god to be introduced in into Italy (Etruscan name: Aplu. Augustus saw him as his personal tutelary god.

 

APOPHIS:  An Egyptian reptilian monster, which lives in darkness and daily threatens the sun-god. A rebel against divine and cosmic order, in the late Egyptian period, Apophis came to be identified with the lord of the desert, Seth.

 

APSARAS:  Vedic water spirits. As heavenly beings, they are coupled with musicians of the world of the gods. The "Atharvaveda says they can cause madness.

 

APSU:  Akkadian personification of the sweet water ocean lying under the earth.

 

ARALEZ:  The ancient Armenians believed in the existence of these dog-like creatures gifted with super-natural powers. Their specific function was to lick the wounds of those killed or wounded in battle, who then recovered or resurrected to new life. They were beneficent dog-like spirits who lived in heaven; at an earlier date they may well have been seen as god-like creatures of a menial order.

 

ARAMAZD:  Supreme deity of the ancient Armenians, Creator of heaven and Earth. He was taken over by the pre-Christian Georgians under the name Armaz. In the ascendancy of the Greek pantheon he was identified with Zeus.

 

ARAY:  Old Armenian god of war, known as "the beautiful." Aray has the characteristics of a dying god who rises again. Another interpretation of Aray may be "Aralo" the Georgian god of agriculture.

 

ARDUINNA:  A goddess of Gaul, named after the Ardannes. A goddess of hunting, her sacred animal was the boar.

 

AREBATI:  Mythical sky-god of the Bambuti Pygmies of the Congo. He created the first man by kneading the body from clay, covering it with a skin and pouring blood into it.
 

ARETIA:  In Armenian belief, the Earth, venerated as holy; spouse of Noah, and mother of all living creatures.

 

ARIADNE:  Originally a Minoan goddess: her Cretan name Aridela means "she who shines in splendor." She used a length of yarn to help Theseus escape from the Labyrinth. After her death she was led out of the underworld by Dionysos and taken to Olympus.

 

ARMANY:  In Hungarian, meaning "cunning"; the gloomy prospect facing the world was personified under this name. in the Romantic Movement in Hungary; first used in 1825 by Vorosmarty.

 

ARSNUPHIS:  Greek form of an Egyptian divine name meaning "beautiful companion." He is a Numbian god in the sense of the Egyptian "Su" and is also identified with the regional Nubian god "Dedun."

 

ASNAN:  Old Mesopotamian goddess of wheat.

 

ASTHORETH:  A goddess worshipped in the Palestine area. She was a goddess of love and fertility, though among the Philistines she was a goddess of war.

 

AURORA:  For the Romans, the morning redand the goddess who raises it in the sky;
in Greece, Eos.

 

AUSEKLIS:  A Baltic stellar god, subordinate to the moon, but often represented as serving the sun.
 

ARES: Greek god of war. Etymologically, his name is not clear but probably means destroyer or avenger. His original homeland was Thrace and few temples were devoted to him in Hellas. He was not a popular god and is not often portrayed in Greek art. His parents were Zeus and Hera and his mistress was Aphrodite. The Amazons were supposed to be his daughters and the Romans identified him with their god Mars.

 

ARGOS:  In Greek mythology, a many-eyed giant entrusted by Hera to keep guard on Io; he was lulled to sleep by Hermes and killed. His name has become proverbial for 'eyes which miss nothing.'

 

ARMA:  Hittite moon god, corresponding to the Hurrian Kusuh. In reliefs, he wears a sickle-moon on his pointed, horned cap. On his back he has a pair of wings.

 

ARMAITI:  Personification of "compliant speech" belonging to the Amesa Spentas. In the "Gathas," she is closely associated with the Earth. She is a goddess of fertility and also of the dead who "have gone into the Earth."

 

ARMAZ:  The supreme deity in pre-Christian Georgia. His cult representation is described as being clothed in golden armor with a gold helmet and jewels, carrying a sword in his hand.

 

ARINNA:  This goddess shares her name with a Hittite town; she is "Queen of Heaven and Earth," protecting the kingdom and assisting in its wars. Her cult symbol is the sun-disc and she is often identified with the Hurrian goddess of heaven, Hebat.

 

ARISTAIOS:  An ancient Greek peasant god, beekeeper and protector of the herds. Although ousted from favor by Apollo, he was still venerated in Kyrene, Libya, as the son of the town's goddess.
 

ARSU:  One of the most popular gods of Palmyra (ancient North Arabia). He is the twin brother of Azizu; together they represent the evening and the morning star, and are pictured in Palmyra as riding on camels or on horses.

 

ARTIO:  A goddess of forests and hunting venerated in northeast Gaul and by he Helvetii in Switzerland. Her attribute is a bear.

 

ARUNA:  In old Indian religions, the early dawn personified in the Paranas as charioteer of the sun.
 

ARYAMAN:  Belongs to the Vedic group of the Adityas. He is the personification of hospitality and in the Rigveda appears as the founder of matrimony.

 

ASALLHUI:  Sumerian god who assists in the ritual of exorcism. The son of Enki, Asallhui reports to him the evil deeds of demons.

 

ASAR:  Old Arabian equestrian god; known from a few inscriptions from Palmyra and some reliefs.

 

ASASEL (AZAZEL):  Hebrew proper name for a demon of the wilderness, to whom a scapegoat is sent on the Day of Atonement. In the book of Enoch, Asasel appears as the leader of the rebellious angels.

 

ASERTU:  A northwestern Semitic goddess; the Hittite form of her name is "Aserdus."

 

ASKLEPIOS:  The Greek god of healing. His oldest known temple was at Trikka in Thessaly. It was only from the 5th Century BC that his cult spread over the whole of Hellas and he began to oust his father Apollon as a divine healer. He is pictured as a
bearded man with a staff around which a sacred snake is entwined. Doctors in antiquity called themselves "Asklepiades" and according to myth, Asklepios learned the art of healing from the wise centaur Cheiron. He was particularly esteemed by the Romans, and in Hellenistic-Roman Egypt, his name was transferred to Imhotep.

 

ASMODIOS:  A demon taken from Old Iranian religion by post-exile Jews. In rabbinical literature he becomes the chief of the evil spirits.

 

ASOPOS:  Boeohan river god (named after the river in central Greece). Son of Poseidon. When Zeus adopted one of his daughters, Asopos himself was struck
by lightning.

 

ASSALHUI:  Sumerian god, assisting in the ritual of exorcism. He is the son of Enki, to whom he reports the evil deeds of the demons.

 

ASSUR:  Originally the tutelary god of the town of Assur; god of Assyria. From the 13th century B.C., he gains ascendancy over Enlil, wrests him from his dominant role and takes over the epithets of 'Great Mountain' and " Father of the Gods'. From the 9th century B.C. he is equated with Ansar. Among his functions were judicial office,  otherwise reserved to the sun-god, and the conduct of war. In Assyrian art, he is shown
standing in a winged disc of the sun.

 

ASTAR:  Often mentioned as a god of heaven or a sky-god in inscriptions dating from the time of the empire of Asum (Ethiopia, 3rd to 5thCenturies A.D.). The name is etymologically related to the South Arabian Attar.

 

ASTLIK:  Armenian goddess of astral nature, equivalent to the Old Mesopotamian
"Istar" and to Aphrodite; she is seen as a goddess of love. With the coming of Christianity Astlik's status was reduced to that of progenitrix of fairies and nymphs.

 

ASURA:  In Indian Buddhism, a group of demons who at one time lived in heaven but were cast into the ocean. In the Vedic religion, they were a primeval group of gods superseded by the Devas.

 

ASURAKUMARA:  Black with red clothing, they are the first group of Bhavanavasin in Jainism. They belong to the uppermost section of the underworld and can generate rain and thunder.

 

ATAECINA:  Old Hispanic goddess, venerated in the region between the Tagus and the Guatalquivir. Interpreted by the Romans as equivalent to Proserpina. She was regarded as a goddess of the underworld; one depiction of her shows her holding a cypress branch.
 

ATE:  Greek goddess of disaster--the embodiment of blind folly, benightedness, which stupefies man. mind and soul, and lands one in disaster. She was supposed to be a
daughter of Zeus.

 

ATEA:  The primeval god of Polynesian tradition; the space which was in the beginning sexless but then divided itself into the god Rangi and the goddess Papa, the parents of all gods.

 

ATIRAT:  A West Semitic goddess described by the Babylonian King Hammurabi as "a daughter-in-law of the king of heaven." The name derives from either "atir" (friend) or an Arabic word meaning "brilliance." In South Arabia, Atirat appears in association with the moon-god Amm.

 

ATLAS:  Son of the Titan Iapetos and Oceanid Klynene, Atlas was sentenced to carry the vault of heaven because he took part in the campaign against the Gods. He is also often portrayed as carrying the planet Earth on his shoulders.

 

ATLAUA:  Old Mexican weather god referred to as "Master of the waters" and is capable of soaring up like the Quetzal bird.

 

ATRI:  One of the deified bards, singers of sacred songs in ancient India. His name ("the devouring one") was an epithet of fire. According to the "Puranas" he is the father of "Soma." In Hinduism, he is regarded as a son of Brahma.

 

ATTIS:  A demi-god associated with the Greek trading city of Pessinos. Tended in infancy by a got, Attis was associated with the evergreen tree, and told in myth as having lived a life as an evergreen.

 

ATUM:  Ancient Egyptian primeval god and world creator, venerated especially in Heliopolis. His name means "He who is not yet completed."

 

ATUNIS:  The Etruscan name for Adonis, taken over from the Greek pantheon in the fourth century BC. Represented on mirrors, usually with Turan, they correspond to the Oriental-Mediterranean pair of the Great Mother and her son.

 

AWONAWILONA:  Creator-god of the Zuni Pueblo Indian tribe. Believed to be a hermaphrodite, this god created the "heaven-father" and "Earth-mother" by
throwing balls of his skin on the primeval waters.

 

AYS:  Among the Armenians this word means "wind" and also the evil spirit which rushes along in the wind; it can penetrate human beings and drive them crazy.

 

AZIZOS AND MONIMOS:  Under these names, the morning star and the evening star were venerated in Syria; they were depicted as two boys with an eagle.

 

BA:  Chinese goddess, a personification of drought. In some literary sources she is referred to as the daughter of the mythical Emperor Huang-di.
 

BAAL:  Storm-god and god of fecundity of the West Semites, represented in human shape and as a bull. The word means owner or lord, and can be a generic term for
gods in general. It is applied to various local deities, such as Baal-Sidon or Baal-Lebanon. (Baal-Hadad occupied a central position in Syria as a whole). Belief in Baal came with the Hyksos to Egypt, where the god is specifically depicted as wearing a conical cap, a long beard and bull's horns. Afterwards, Baal was identified with Seth.

 

BAAL-ADDIR:  Initially the god of the Phoenician town of Byblos, when his cult spread to Punic Africa. Among the African troops of the Roman army he was identified with Jupiter Valens.

 

BAAL-QARNAIN:  A Punic god named after two mountain peaks near the Gulf of
Tunis. and was represented as "Saturnus" Roman god of agriculture.
 

BAAL SAPON:  Canaanite god, named after Mount Sapon in Northern Palestine. As conqueror of the sea god Jamm, he functions as the protector of mariners.

 

BABA:  In Hungarian popular belief, a being similar to a fairy who gradually took on the lineaments of a witch.

 

BABA-YAGA:  A witch in East European folklore, also known as Jezi-Baba. Sometimes, she appears as a forest spirit, sometimes as the leader of a host of spirits, in which capacity she acquires demonic status. One White Russian tradition describes her as traveling through the air in an iron kettle with a fiery broom.

 

BABI:  A demon of darkness mentioned in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. He is probably represented in Greek incantation payri by the name Bapho, used also for "Seth."

 

BACAB:  The gods of the four heavenly directions in the Mayan religion. Their names and associated colors are: Kan (yellow); Chac (red); Zac (white); and Ek (black).

 

BACAX:  A deity revered by the ancient Berbers, he dwelled in a cave at whose entrance sacrificial offerings were to have been made

 

BACCHUS:  The Roman god of fertility and wine. The Latin name is derived from the Greek Bakchos (Dionysus), whose cult was implanted in Rome at a comparatively early date. It was a secret cult and its rites, the Bacchanalia, were marked not only by sexual excesses, but by crimes of every description, so much so that from time to time the cult was prohibited. The most significant portrayal of Dionysiac mysteries is to be found in Pompeii.

 

BADB: The Irish goddess of war. The battlefield is named after her the "land of Badb" and she often was supposed to take the form of a crow.  At the mythical battle of Mag Tured it  was she who decided the day.

 

BAHRAM:  A Persian god, sometimes identified as the regent of the planet Mars, sometimes identical with Verethragna, as god of the wind.

 

BAGA:  Old Persian designation for God, etymologically connected with the Sanskrit bhaga. In Parthian usage, the word 'baga' could also signify a dynastic state.

 

BAGHWAN:  Supreme god of the Bhil people of Central India. He created other gods and made them bearers of light, and is also known as Parmesar (the Highest) and Andate (Giver of corn).

 

BAGVARTI:  A goddess venerated by the Urartians, an ancient people who lived in what is now Armenia. She was the spouse of the Urartian tutelary god Haldi.

 

BAIAME:  The supreme being of the religion of the Wiradyuri and Kamilaroi peoples of Australia. The name means "creator" and women refer to him as "Our Father." He sits in heaven on a throne, is invisible and is audible only as thunder.
 

BALARAMA:  A god of agriculture whose cult reaches back to the very earliest times in India. His attribute is the plough and he was regarded as the elder brother of Krishna.

 

BALI:  An Indian demon. In the second 'world-age', he ruled over all three worlds, but had to yield sovereignty over heaven and Earth to Vishnu. Since then he has ruled over the underworld. According to "The Mahabharata," Bali, enemy of the gods, lives in the shape of an ass in a dilapidated hut.

 

BAAL-KARMELOS:  A Canaanite god revered on Mount Carmel. This mountain god was known to speak to oracles, and was still venerated in Roman times. In the Book of Kings it is realted how Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to conjure up burnt sacrifices without fire.

 

BAAL-MARQOD:  Old Syrian god who had a shrine devoted him in Beirut, Lebanon. A healing god, he was equated to Jupiter.
 

BALTIS:  An ancient Arabian goddess revered at Carrhae in northwest Mesopotamia. She was identified with the planet Venus.

 

BANARA:  Originally the title for high officials in the Singhalese kingdom, thereafter, the name given to a group of gods superior to the "Yaksas."

 

BANGPUTYS:  Lithuanian god of the sea, whose name means 'he who blows the waves.' In folk song he is simply called 'god of the waves.'
 

BARDHA:  In Albanian belief, whitish nebulous figures who dwell under the earth. They may be compared with elves. To propitiate them, one had to strew cakes or sugar upon the ground.

 

BARSAMIN:  Old Armenian god, possibly a sky-god. It is likely he was taken over from the Syrian pantheon.

 

BASAMUM:  A god worshipped in ancient south Arabia. His name may come from the Arabic basam, or balsam bush. He was a god of healing, a hypothesis strengthened by the fact that an ancient text reveals that he cured two wild goats.

 

BASSAJAUN:  A Basque spirit which dwells high up in the hills or in caves or the woods. In Basque tradition, he is an instructor of agriculture, and is a protector of flocks
and herds.

 

BASTET:  Bastet was a cat goddess worshipped both by the Ptolemaic dynasty and also, as a recent excavation revealed, by the Greek dynasty of Egyptians. She was
viewed as a protector of Lower Egypt, and received the name "Bastet" from the priests of Amun.
 

BATA:  Taurine god, tutelary deity of the seventeenth nome of Upper Egypt. He is known from the New Kingdom legend of the two brothers.

 

BAUBO:  A personification in Asia Minor of female fecundity. According to Greek tradition she is an old woman. who makes the grieving Demeter weep by showing her her pudenda. The obscene gesture is intended to be a protective charm against death. As a demon, Baubo was portrayed as headless or with her head between her legs. The name's interpretations have included belly, hole and womb.

 

BEBELLAHAMON:  A North Arabian god in whom scholars have seen a variant of the Punic god "Baal-Hammon."

 

BEELZEBUB:  The well-known derivation from baal-zebub (Lord of the Flies) is not proven ...it is more probable that the names means 'Baal The Prince', thus  corresponding to the Phoenician concept of the god. He was a tutelary god in the land of the Philistines. Rabbinical texts interpreted the name as 'Lord of the dung hill.' The word zabal, is used in rabbinical literature as a synonym for idolatry. In the New Testament, Beelzebub is chief of the demons.

 

BEFANA:  A female demon of midwinter of northern Italy. She brings presents, but may also be nasty and turn up as a ghost. The name is derived from Epiphany, the feast of the Magi observed on January 6th.

 

BEG-TSE:  God of war in Lamaism, He is clad from head to foot in mail armor, wears a crown in the shape of a human skull and carries a garland of human heads.

 

BEHANZIN:  A fish-god venerated in Dahomey, now known as Benin

 

BEHEDTI:  This god, who took the form of a crouching falcon, was venerated in the Egyptian town of Behdet.

 

BEHER:  Ethiopic sea god, often named in conjunction with "Astar"

 

BELENUS:  A Celtic god revered, especially in the eastern Alpine area, though his cult extended into north Italy and south Gaul. The root name "bel" probably meant shine, which suggests that Belenus was a god of light. In Aqueila, the god was presented as Apollon.

 

BELETSERI:  A Babylonian goddess who figures as a "book keeper" and clerk of the underworld.

 

BELILI:  Old Mesopotamian goddess; probably a denizen of the underworld. She was a sister of Dumuzi, the god of vegetation. Several attempts have been made to derive the Biblical figure of Belial from her.

 

BELLONA:  Roman goddess of war; a personification of war. Her name comes from the Latin bellum (war). She also occasionally figures as the spouse of Mars.

 

BENDIS:  Virgin, arms-bearing goddess of the Thracians, equated by the Greeks with Artemis. Her cult was introduced to Athens in the time of Pericles.

 

BENG:  A gypsy name for the devil. He often engages God in a trial of strength but is always beaten. He dwells in the woods and performs his deeds at night.

 

BENTEN:  In Japan, the Buddhist goddess of eloquence and music, patron saint of geishas and reckoned as one of the seven Shichi-Fukujin (gods of good luck). She is represented wearing a jeweled diaden and holding a stringed instrument. Her name is
sometimes written as Benzaiten.

 

BERCHT:  A midwinter spirit whose origins go back to pre-Christian Germany; with Christianity's coming she became the personification of the night preceding Epiphany. In some Alpine districts it is customary to leave food for her on the roof on the day of the Epiphany.

 

BEREKYNDAI:  In Phrygia, the divine attendant of the Magna Mater Kybele, the mountain goddess.

 

BES:  In Egypt, a half-demonic, half-divine figure which also occurs in the plural, with a grotesque face and dwarfish body. He carried a lion-skin on his back of which only the ears and tail survived into later times. His most important attributes are the Sanoose knives as defensive weapons, and musical instruments, whose sounds scare away evil spirits.
 

BESTLA:  In the "Edda," the daughter of the giant Bolthorn and mother of Odin. Her name is interpreted as "giver of bast [sic]" which would identify her as a goddess of the yew tree; alternatively as "tree bark," a reading which would have made Odin a god born from a tree.

 

BETHEL:  Literally meaning "the house of God," but is found as a divine name in Canaan. There is a reference an identical place-name in the Old Testament (Genesis 31:13), but it has nothing to do with the non-Biblical God. There is however, a reference in Jeremiah 48:13, which is a reference to the god Bethel.

 

BHAGA:  One of the "Adityas" in the Vedic religion, a god of marriage. His name is invoked as a giver of good fortune.

 

BHAVANAVASIN:  One of the four great jewels of Jainism, who dwell in the upper regions of the underworld.

 

BHIMA:  Several aboriginal Indian tribes have taken this name from Hindu mythology to designate a god who seems to be associated with the sky and weather.

 

Bhutadamara:  One of the grim and terrible gods of Buddhism, he has one head and four arms and wears a crown with five skulls; it is his duty to hold demons in check.
 

BHUTAS:  In India, a designation for demons who can assume a most varied assortment of shapes.

 

BIA:  A child of the queen of the Greek underworld Styx and the constant companion of Zeus. His name suggests that he may be no more than a hypostatization of the father of the gods.

 

BILWIS:  In early references to him in texts from Bavaria and Austria, he appears as a nature-spirit who uses a form of missile to cure illnesses. In East Germany he appeared as a man endowed with demonic powers.

 

BODB:  Irish goddess of battle who prophesied the doom of Tuatha de Denann after the battle of Mag Tuireadh.

 

BOCHICA:  Culture hero of the Muisca Indians in Colombia. He gave his people laws and taught them handicrafts. His figure finally coalesced with that of the sun-god.

 

BOLLA:  A demonic snake-like being in Albanian popular belief, called Bullar in South Albania. It is only on St. George's Day that it opens its eyes and it is said that if it sees a human being it will devour him.

 

BONCHOR:  A god once worshipped by the ancient Berbers in what is now north Tunisia. He may have corresponded to the god Jupiter.

 

BOREAS:  In Greek mythology, the personification of the harsh north wind. Boreas achieved a cult status in Athens, and was duly worshipped.

 

BORR:  In Germanic myth, the son of Bur, and the father of gods Odin, Vili and Ve. No cult of any kind was attached to him.

 

BORVO:  A Gallic god. The root of his name is supposed to signify "boil," "bubble" and Borvo himself is associated with curative mineral springs. He was also known as "Berw" and "Borbanus."

 

BRESS:  Irish god of fertility. He is a son of the King of Fomore, but is adopted in The Tuatha De Danann. In the sequel Bress becomes king and oppresses the Tuatha De Danann until the latter wins in a final battle. Bress won freedom from the gods thanks to his services in instructing the people of Ireland in the art of agriculture.

 

BRIGANTIA:  A goddess known from inscriptions found in Britain. Her name is derived from the Celtic brig (hill or height), which is also the root of the name Brigantes, who lived in what is now Wales.
 

BRIGIT:  Daughter of the god Dagda and patroness of smiths, poets and doctors. She was associated with the ritual fires of purification and the feast of Imbolc on February 1st was in her honor. She was taken over by Christian hagiography and was venerated in Kildare as the holy Brigit, who was supposed to tend the holy fire along with 19 nuns.

 

BRITOMARTIS:  A virgin goddess peculiar to Crete, who later merged with the figure of Artemis. The pre-Greek name was interpreted in classical times to mean something like "sweet virgin."

 

BUCHIS:  The holy bull venerated in the ancient Egyptian town of Hermonthis, characterized by a white body on a black head.
 

BUDDHA:  The designation of one who has achieved illumination or enlightenment. the highest aim in Buddhism. The Buddha can be recognized by 32 cardinal and 80 secondary bodily characteristics: e.g., on the sole of each foot is a wheel with a thousand spokes. The most important Buddha is the historical one (Gautama Buddha). Three or six Buddhas were supposed to have lived before him and he will be followed by a fifth Buddha. No less than 54 Buddhas are mentioned in the Lalitavistara, and their number becomes infinite in later tradition. Once a Buddha has entered Nirvana, he ceases to have any sort of relationship with the world and can no longer be reached, even by prayer. In Hinduism, Buddha is reckoned to be the ninth Avatara of Vishnu — he who introduces the present age of decadence. The Chinese name for Buddha is Fo ; the Japanese name is Butsu.

 

BULAING:  Female divinity of creation in the religion of Australia's Karadjari. She is immortal and created all things and creatures.

 

BULCHIS:  The holy bull venerated in the Egyptian town of Hermonthis. He was supposed to be the living image of thr god Month.  He is in many depictions   characterized by a white body and a black head.

 

BULUGA:  Supreme god of the Negritos on the Andaman Islands. He is regarded as immortal, omniscient and invisible; he has created the world and mankind and sees to it that his commandments are obeyed. His female counterpart, Biliku, is the supreme being of female sex, and lives in the northern part of the archipelago. The wind is supposed to be Buluga's breath and his voice is heard in thunder.

 

BULANG:  Female divinity of creation of the Karadjeri of Australia. Residing in heaven, she is responsible for creation of all creatures.

 

BUNJIL:  Supreme being of the Australian Kulin. Called "our father" this being created the first humans by blowing air into their mouths until they stirred.

 

BURI:  A mythical primeval being in the religious system of the Germanic tribes. He was the first man and the progenitor of the gods.

 

BURIJAS:  A god of the Kassites (illustrated) who attacked Babylonia in the sixteenth century BC. He was called 'Lord of lands."

 

CACUS:  A pre-Roman god of fire whose cult at the Palantine was ousted by the Greek hero Euandros. Cacus was seen then as the son of Vulcanus: a fire-spitting fiend who lived in a cave on Aventine Hill and killed passers-by.

 

CAGN:  Chief god of the Bushmen of South Africa. He was the first being, at whose command all things rose. He created the animals to serve Man.

 

CAI-SHEN:  The Chinese god of riches, identified at times with various historical personalities and said to be a hermit endowed with supernatural powers, enabling him to ride a black tiger.

 

CAMAXTLI:  Tribal god of the Chichimec. He became the Aztec god of hunting and fate; and he is the leader of warriors slain in battle or offered as sacrifice, whose souls became stars in the eastern sky.

 

CAMUNDA:  Hindu goddess whose name was derived from the demons Canda and Munda, who it is believed she killed. Usually portrayed as being red or black in color, she prefers to frequent graveyards.

 

CANDAMIUS:  Old Hispanic god, whose name lives on in many place-names in central and northwest Spain. He was probably a mountain god who had celestial connections. He was claimed by the Romans as a variant of Jupiter.

 

CANDRA:  Indian moon-god. He is white in color and wears white garments, and drives a white chariot. In later times,  "Candra" became another name for "Soma," a drink used in Indian rituals.

 

CAO DAI:  A supreme being of Caodaism, which made its appearance In Vietnam in 1919. A creator and redeemer, his symbol is an eye inscribed in a heart.

 

CAO GUO-JIU:  One of the "eight immortals" myth held that to him, riches and honors were no more than dust. He is the patron saint of actors.

 

CARIOCIECUS:  Old Hispanic war god, identified by the Romans with Mars
 

CATH:  Etruscan gun god, also known as Usil. He is represented as bearing the flaming disc of the sun, with a ball of fire in each hand.

 

CERES:  Goddess of earth and a goddess of corn. Her daughter was Persephone.

 

CERES AFRICANA:  A North African goddess of the harvest, mentioned by Tertullian. She is also known as Ceres Punica. The Latin name hides an autochthonous fertility goddess.

 

CERNUNNOS:  A Celtic god who sits in the so-called Buddha attitude. He is thus portrayed on the Gundestrup cauldron. His name has been taken to mean 'the horned one.' He seems to have been mainly concerned with fertility and wealth, though he has been associated with the underworld. Cernunnos may in fact be a pre-Celtic god of game preservation.

 

CGHENE:  Supreme being in the religious beliefs of the Isoko in south Nigeria. Cghene is regarded as creator and father of all Isoko. He is remote and inaccessible and has neither temples nor priests. There is a mediator between him and mankind, a post or stake carved from a tree (Oyise).

 

CHAC:  Rain-god of the Mayans, corresponding to the Aztec "Tlaloc." He is one of the four gods who represent the four heavenly directions. His cult centers on the sacred well at Chichen Itza.

 

CHAMAIRA:  A monster of Greek mythology with a Lion's forequarters and the body of a goat and a snake's tail. Homer claimed it was native to Lycia, and it may have been a demon symbolizing Lycian "earth-fire." It lived at the entrance of the underworld and was slain by Bellerophon.

 

CHANTICO:  She who dwells in the house", an Aztec goddess of fires in the family hearth and of volcanoes. After breaking a fast she was turned into a dog. She wears a crown of cactus spikes and also takes the form of a serpent.

 

CHARON:  In Greek mythology, the ferryman who rows the dead over the border river (Styx) to the underworld and delivers them at the entrance to Hades. He is paid by putting a coin in the mouth of the dead person. Originally, Charon was a demon of death in the shape of a dog. He persists in modern Greek folklore as Charos, only now he rides a black horse which sweeps the dead along with it by means of its wooden saddle.

 

CHARUN:  A male demon in the underworld of the Etruscans. He carries hammer on his shoulder and has the appearance of a vulture. Charun escorts the dead and guards the portals of graves.

 

CHARONTES:  Male and female demons of death in the Etruscan religion, most frequently shown throwing hammers. Their name is derived from "Charun."

 

CHASCA COYLLUR:  In pre-Columbian Peru, the god of flowers and protector of maidens.

 

CHEIRON THE CENTAUR:  Fabulous creatures in Greek mythology, wild and half-animal, they had a human torso and the body of a horse. They dwelled in forests and mountains and seem to have been nature-demons. One of the best known of the centaurs was "Cheiron."

 

CHENSIT:  Goddess of the twentieth nome of Lower Egypt, who took the form of the uraeus snake and was associated with the deity Sopdu. She may be portrayed bearing the crown of Haathor, the feather of Maat, or both.

 

CHENTECHTAI:  An Egyptian crocodile god who later took the form of a falcon, and was mythologically connected with Kemwer, black bull of Athribis. The name is a Grecianized form of its Egyptian name, Chenti-Cheti.

 

CHEPRE:  The name given to the scarab, the dung-beetle worshipped in Heliopolis as a primeval god, who came forth on the Earth without any generative process. Chepre can assume the shape of a snake, and in human form was depicted as bearing a scarab on his head.

 

CHERTI:  A ram-god often mentioned on early Egyptian steles, who was venerated, especially in the own of Letopolis. In the pyramid texts, he has the function of ferryman in the realm of the dead.

 

CHERUFE:  A gigantic creature which eats men in the folklore of the Araucanian Indians of Chile and Argentina. It lives in volcanoes.

 

CHIA:  An appellation of the moon and the name of the moon goddess of the Musica Indians who live in what is today Colombia. She is also their progenitor.

 

CHINNA-MASTA:  A terrifying goddess of Tantrism; in one hand she holds her own head, its mouth open to receive blood gushing from her gaping neck. This goddess is worshipped mainly in Bengal.

 

CHICOMECOATL:  Aztec goddess of foodstuffs; in particular, the giver of maize. Her attributes are the maize cob and ceremonial rattle.

 

CHIMAIRA:  A monster of Greek mythology, with a lion's fore-quarters, a goat's head and a snake as a tail. Originally it was a demon symbolizing Lycrian "earth-fire."

 

CHNUBIS:  In Roman times a god combining Greek and Egyptian characteristics. He is portrayed as a snake with a lion's head, usually surrounded by a halo of rays.

 

CHONS:  An Egyptian moon-good, son of Amun and Mut,  who forms a triad with Thebes. His name means "he who fares through the heavens."

 

CHORS:  A god of the Eastern Slavs, known for being mentioned in the 'Nestor Chronicle' along with other sources. He was probably a sun god. The etymology of his name is not clear, but Chors seems to have been a sort of hybrid with a dog's head and horns.

 

CINETEOTL:  Aztec god of maize; the most important plant in ancient Mexico; Cineteotl represents a specific aspect of Quetzalcoatl.

 

CIRCE:  The daughter of the Greek sun-god Helios; a highly-skilled mathematician who turned the companions of Odysseus into pigs. Circe also has the powers for spiritual purification as she purifies the Argonauts for the murder of Apsyrtus.

 

CITIPATI:  Graveyard demons in Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism. They are represented as two dancing skeletons.

 

COATLICUE:  Aztec goddess whose statue appears in Mexico City. She displays a skirt of snakes, a head with two snakes and a necklace consisting of human hands and hearts. Mythical heaven is represented by 13 hanging cords, decorated with snails, on her back.
 

CONCORDIA:  Roman goddess, personification of concord. When civil disputes were settled, shrines were dedicated to her. She is portrayed on coins as bearing a cornucopia and a sacrificial bowl. Montreal's Concordia University takes its name from her.

 

CONFUCIUS:  Chinese philosopher; in the year 1274 BC, one of the Han Emperors made sacrifices to him for the first time at his grave. Not long afterwards the first Confucian temple was erected. In a decree issued in the closing years of the Chinese Empire in 1906 Confucius was placed on the same footing as the supreme deities of heaven and Earth. Tradition has it that at his birth, two dragons hovered over the home of his parents.

 

CONSUS:  Roman god of the safely-gathered harvest. He had an underground altar in a circus to the south of the Palatine Hill. By virtue of his character, he was also connected with the dead.

 

CULSU:  A female demon of the Etruscans, who stands at the portal of the underworld. Her attributes include a burning torch and a pair of scissors.
 

CUNDA:  In Buddhism, Cunda is an emanation of the Buddha Vajrasattiva, whose image she bears on her crown. She has one face, four arms and she is white, like the
moon in autumn. One of her right hands is in the "mudra" of donation and one of her left hands holds a lotus, on which a book lies. The other pair of hands holds a bowl.

 

CURCHE:  Old Prussian god of fertility; he was also known as the god of food and drink.

 

CYCLOPS:  Man-eating giants with one single eye in their foreheads. They are sons of Gaia, who forge thunderbolts for Zeus, and are believed to dwell in volcanoes.

 

DABOG: A South slavonic sun-god. The root bog can mean both riches and god.
In the epic poetry of the Serbians, Dabog appears as ruler over the Earth. He is mentioned among the gods, statues to whom were  erected in Kiev, and in the Sons of Igor, we are told that the Russians are Dabog's grandchildren. Under Christian influence Dabog was reduced to playing the part of Satan. The Poles have an equivalent in the god Dazbog.

 

DADIMUNDA:  One of the most popular gods of the Sinhalese people. To begin with, he was a god who looked after temples. then became "treasurer" of the god Upulvan. Finally, he emerged as protector of Buddhism in Ceylon. He rides on an elephant, and there are many "Yaksas" (semi-divine beings) in his retinue.

 

DAENA:  The personification of religion in the old Iranian pantheon. The word 'Daena' means, "that which has been revealed."

 

DAITYAS:  In Indian belief, demonic enemies of the gods, sons of the goddess Diti, and banned by Indra to dwell in the ocean for not performing sacrifices.

 

DAPHNE:  Daughter of the river-god Peneios, she was a beautiful nymph who fled from Apollo when he was making advances on her; when Apollo persisted in pursuing her, she was changed at her own wish into a laurel tree.
 

DAGAN:  A west Semitic god of corn. His name was confused by the Israelites with the Hebrew "dag" (fish) — hence, he is illustrated with a fish tail. The Canaanites brought his cult to Mesopotamia where he acquired Salas as his consort. From certain texts we may deduce that he was also equated with the god Enlil. Dagan occupied a special position in the religion of the Amorites in Mari.

 

DAGDA:  An old Irish god whose name means 'the good god'. He occupies a predominant position in the race of gods known as the Tuatha De Danann. The epithet associated with him, Ollahtur, can be translated as "All-father." He is the god of contracts and is equipped with three attributes: an enormous club which slays and can also restore life; a magic harp on which a melody for sleep, a melody for laughter and a melody for woe can be played; and a cooking pot from which no one is turned away hungry.

 

DAIMON:  In the Greek pantheon, the divine instance which allotted us our individual fate. In Homer, the Olympic gods are called "daimones." In Greek philosophy, "daimonion" came to mean the divine spark in Man. In Roman and Oriental influence, daimon — demons — became sinister and evil spirits.
 

DAKSA:  In India, a deity bound up with the concept of creative power. He is regarded as the son of the world creator "Prajapati," from whose right thumb he rose from.

 

DAHO:  A Pyrenean deity in Roman times; what is known of his functions is comparable to that of Mars, the god of war.

 

DAKINI:  Spiritual beings in Buddhism who fly in the air. They are invested with magical powers and can initiate novices into the secret learning of the Tantra. They can be of assistance to a Yogin who wishes to further his spiritual insight. They appear
as young girls hideously disguised or with the head of a lion or bird and with the face of a horse or dog. They are supposed to eat human beings.

 

DAKTYLOI:  In Greek myth, demonic beings who discovered the art of working with metal; they may have originally had phallic significance and were indigenous to Asia
Minor and Crete.

 

DAMBALLA:  A divine being venerated in Haiti whom all Loa regard as their father. His sacred color is white and his symbolical creature is the snake. St. John the Evangelist who is portrayed with a snake (because of the legend of the beaker of poisoned wine) is regarded as a manifestation of the still-worshipped Damballa.

 

DAMONA:  Gallic goddess, often coupled with the god Borvo. Her name means, the "Big Cow."

 

DAMU:  Sumerian god, son of the goddess of prosperity Nin'ninsina. The centre of his cult was at Isin; one of his epithets was "great priest of exorcism."

 

DANA:  In Ireland, the mother of the gods. In mythology, she is hardly distinguished
from "Ana."

 

DANAVAS:  Half-demonic half-divine beings in Indian tradition. They were banished by Indra to live in the ocean.

 

DANU:  A Celtic god of wind, wisdom and fertility

 

DARAMULUM:  Son of the Australian god of creation, Baiame. He is a mediator between his father and humanity, and was raised to the status of a lunar being. His name means "one-legged."

 

DA-SHI-ZHI:  In Chinese Buddhism, a female bodhisattva. She opened a way for all creatures to escape from the cycle of rebirth. Her name is translated as "the strongest."

 

DATIN:  A god invoked in Thamudic (North Arabian) inscriptions. It is been suggested that the name may mean: 'he who seizes' or that its root meaning is 'fertility' or 'abundance.'

 

DEBATA:  Among the Toba-Batak of Sumatra, this word denotes both an individual god, and divine power in general.

 

DEDUN:  Egyptian god, lord and giver of incense. To the monarch, Dedun brings the peoples and riches of southern lands. He was usually portrayed in human guise, but could also assume the form of a lion.

 

DEIVE:  Lithuanian appellation for divinity; certain stones which were the objects of veneration were called "deyves." With the coming of Christianity, the word came to mean 'a heathen deity' or a fairy of some kind.

 

DEMETER:  Greek goddess of the Earth and fertility, daughter of Rheia and Kronos; While searching for her daughter Persephone, she was well received in Attika and
showed her thanks by teaching the king's son how to organize the fields and planting. Her epithet Melissa (bee), indicates her maternal and nourishing function. Her main feast was the Thesmorphia, a fertility rite from which men were excluded. The mysteries enacted in honor of Demeter at Eleusis took place in a shrine which was accessible only to initiates who were bound by solemn vows to secrecy.

 

DENG:  Divine progenitor of the Dinka people. With his club he generates lightning, bringing rain and fertility. It is in Deng that the universalist spirit has revealed himself to humanity.

 

DERCETIUS:  A mountain god venerated in ancient Hispania.

 

DEVAPUTRA:  In Buddhism, a designation for gods, otherwise unnamed, of lower rank. The term is also used for pejoratively for the gods of Hinduism.

 

DEV:  In Armenian belief, a spirit corresponding to the Iranian "Daevas." Believed to be immortal, they lived in ruins and appeared to man in various guises. With the coming of Christianity "dev" came to refer to the old Pagan gods.

 

DEVA:  The general Vedic appellation for what is divine. There are 33 devas in the Indian "Rigveda." In Hinduism, it is used for a certain category of traditional gods
whose significance is not as great as Indian national gods such as "Siva."

 

DEVEL:  This is what gypsies call their highest being. Contact with Christianity led to a distinction between 'baro devel" (great or old god) and "tikno devel" (small or young god), the latter being Christ. The word devel is cognate with the Sanskrit deva, or “god.”

 

DHARMA:  Originally, the appellation for "inner law" which determines conduct; now the personification of this law. A world creator, as Dharmamaraja, blue-faced and armed with a club, he takes the place of "Yama."

 

DHARMAPALA:  In Tibetan Buddhism, divine beings who are supposed to protect the faithful from evil demons. The name translates as "protector of the teaching."

 

DHRUVA:  In Indian mythology, the "Pole Star." belonging to a group of gods known as the Vasus. In Vedic times, the Pole Star was invoked in the marriage ceremony as a symbol of constancy.

 

DIAMON:  In the Greek pantheon, the divine instance that allotted our individual fate; popular belief regarded them as guardian spirits. "Daimones" were referred to by
Homer by this term as the Olympic gods.
 

DIANA:  Ancient Italian goddess of woods and forests; in Rome and Latium she was also held to be protectress of virginity and was worshiped as a moon-goddess. Her name is derived from Diviana (the female shining one). As goddess of the federal cult of the Latins, she had a temple on Aventine Hill. Tales from Greek myth about the
divine huntress Artemis were taken over by the Romans and applied to Diana.

 

DIAN-CECHT:  In ancient Ireland, a god who could heal wounds miraculously. When the god Nuadu lost his hand in battle Dian-Cecht fitted him with a silver one.

 

DIEVA DELI:  "Sons of God"; in Latvian myth, two or three heavenly beings, sons of the sky-God Diev. who mow the "heavenly meadows" and pour water on heated stones in "heavenly bath houses."

 

DIEVINI:  In Latvian belief, a body of minor gods entrusted with looking after houses.

 

DIEVS:  This Latvian representation of a sky-god is sometimes shown mounted on a horse and sometimes riding on a wagon, as a well-to-do farmer. He is often shown with
a cap and bearing a sword. In Latvian mythology, he is regarded as the essence of
all gods.

 

DII MAURI:  The Moorish gods mentioned in Latin inscriptions in North Africa, who are almost never named; they are supposed to be "salutares" (redemptory), "immortales" (immortal) and "augsti" (exalted).

 

DIKE:  In Greek, meaning "manner" or "usage," The personification of righteousness,
belonging to the Horae. Aeschylos shows the prosperous sinner coming to grief on the rock of Dike.

 

DIMME:  Sumerian demon of fever and diseases of infants, often known as the daughter of An. She corresponds to the Akkadian god Lamastu.

 

DISIR:  Collective name for certain goddesses of fertility and destiny in Germanic mythology. The disir sacrifice is performed in the autumn and recalls the vegetarian gods and goddesses. Among West Germans, the disir took over the role of goddesses
of destiny and fate as well as that of goddesses of battle. In the "Edda," Valkyries and Norns are described as disir.

 

DIS PATER:  Roman god of the underworld and giver of riches. In Rome, he was venerated along with Persephone. Dis Pater corresponds to the Greek underworld god Hades.

 

DITI:  Ancient Indian goddess. In order to avenge her sons who were killed or banished by Indra, she was to bear a son who would slay him, but Indra split the embryo into seven pieces which became the Maruts.

 

DIWE:  Gigantic monsters of Iranian folklore; they have  animals' faces and horns, but can assume many other forms.
 

DI-ZANG:  In Chinese mythology, a ruler over hell from which he seeks to rescue men. He is a guide of souls who leads anyone who trusts in him to the shores of wisdom.

 

DJALL:  The Albanian name for the devil, cognate with the Latin "diabolus." Another Albanian name for the Devil was "deqi" from the latin "draco" — dragon or snake.

 

DJEBAUTI:  Egyptian local god in the form of a heron, perched on a pole, later absorbed into the falcon god, "Horus."

 

D-MU:  In the Bon religion of ancient Tibet "D-Mu" are spirits that dwell in heaven.

 

DONBITTIR:  The Ossetian god of waters and fish; accordingly, he is invoked by fishermen.

 

DRUDEN:  Drude is a term, widespread in south Germany and Austria for a demon that harries you in your sleep. It means "Ghost" in Middle High German. In folklore the pentagram (or"drudenfusz") is regarded as a protective charm against evil spirits.

 

DRUG:  In the form "druh," a designation of a class of demons who dwell in dark caves, dating back to Vedic times. "Drug" may also mean "demon of falsehood."

 

DRYADS:  Female spirits of nature who live in trees in Greek mythology. The fate of such tree-nymphs is closely associated with the tree she inhabits.

 

DUA:  Egyptian god whose name means "morning one;" He is the god of toiletry, who washes the king's face and shaves him.

 

DUAMUTEF:  One of the four sons of the sky-god Horus, who were entrusted with the
protection of corpses.

 

DUILLAE:  Ancient Hispanic goddesses, occurring in pairs. They were nature goddesses who protected vegetation. They have been compared with the Gallic Matres, whose role seems to be very similar.

 

DULHALASA:  A pre-Islamic god in Southwestern Arabia, demoted to the rank of an idol. His cult symbol was believed to be a white stone.

 

DUR:  A Kassite god corresponding to Nergal, the Babylonian god of the underworld.

 

DURGA:  HIndu goddess of the Great Mother type, Revered by the broad masses in the Bengal, Assam and the Deccan. The spouse of Siva, she is a giver of food. In her friendly aspect, she is called 'Gauri' — in her fearsome aspect she appears as 'Candi' or as 'Kali'. These names indicate that Durga is a composite figure incorporating various goddesses, once independent, who merged with her cult. Her main feast, "Durgapuja," is celebrated in autumn.

 

DVARAPALA:  Buddhist deities; in Mandala they guard the "gates" or keep watch at the entrances of temples and monasteries, and are represented as armored warriors.

 

DYAUS:  Ancient Indian sky-god and father of the gods, usually mentioned in association with the Earth-goddess Prithivi. Together they are thought of as bull and cow. The sun god is regarded as the son of Dyaus.

 

EA:  Babylonian god corresponding to the Sumerian Enki. Ea's realm was the sweet
water ocean under the Earth and his temple was in the house of Apsu. A god of wisdom, he was an artist whose hands formed Man. He was known as A'as to the Hittites and regarded as keeper of the tablets of destiny.

 

EACUS:  Old Hispanic god venerated in present-day Castile. He was equated with Jupiter Solutorius, a Roman god by whom Eacus was eventually absorbed.

 

EATE:  Basque god of fire and storms, whose voice may be heard in advance of a hailstorm or a destructive fire.

 

EBECH:  A Canaanite mountain god who was overcome by Inananna.

 

ECHIDNA:  A demonic monster in Greek mythology, half-woman and half-snake. From her coupling with Typhon there arose Kerberos and the Chimaira.

 

EGERIA:  A nymph associated with springs and wells in Roman mythology, who gradually assumed the functions of a birth-goddess, Legend has it that she was a counselor for King Numba Pompilius, to whom she came during the night to reveal the will of the gods.

 

EGRES:  God of vegetation and fertility venerated by the ancient Finns, especially in Karelia. He was first, and foremost, the protector and donator of turnips. The twin fruit of the turnip was his symbol and he was known as "Holy Akras."

 

EILEITHYIA:  Greek goddess of birth, whose cult was widespread on Crete and in Lakonia. The daughter of Zeus and Hera, her names means "she who has come to help."

 

EIRENE:  Greek goddess of peace. In ancient Athens, she was worshipped from the end of the fifth century BC onwards. At the feast of Synoikia, a bloodless sacrifice was made to her.

 

EKCHUAH:  The Mayan god of traveling merchants. In specialist literature he is known as "god M." He is represented as black in color with a dangling lower lip and a scorpion's tail.

 

EKHI:  A Basque designation for the sun and for its personification, said to be a daughter of Mother Earth.

 

ELAGABAL:  Local god of the Syrian town of Emesa (now known as Homs). His cult centered around a black stone shaped like a beehive, and he was connected with the sun god Helios.

 

ELEL:  Malevolent demonic being in the belief of the Puelche Indians of Argentina. He causes storms, illnesses and death.

 

ELJON:  Old Syrian deity; the name is derived from Alaj ("to go up") in the Old Testament the name is identical to Jahwe, as the latter is called "el eljon" (most high God) in Genesis 14:22.

 

ELKUNIRSA:  This Hittite god's name probably means "creator of the Earth" and may have been taken over from a Canaanite cult.

 

ELLEL:  A Hittite god taken over by the Babylonians and largely equated with the Hurrian father of the gods, Kumarbi.

 

EMELI-HIN:  A name for God, used by the Taureg of West-Central Sudan; the literal meaning of the phrase is "My Lord."

 

EMPUNG LUMINUUT:  Female deity of the Minihasa tribe of North Celebes (Sulawesi); after her birth, she was impregnated by the west wind, and gave birth to the sun-god Toar.
 

EMPUSA:  A female monster in Greek popular belief. She could appear as a beautiful maiden or as a hideous ghost with the feet of an ass.

 

ENBILULU:  Sumerian god of irrigation and agriculture. In Babylon, he was regarded as the son of "Ea" and figured as one of the fifty names of Marduk, the god of exorcism.

 

ENMESSARA:  The name of this Sumerian guard means "the lord of all the me," me denoting all the divine rules and regulations. In one old list of gods, Enmessara took precedent ovet the sky-god An.

 

EPAPHOS:  Son of Zeus in his taurine metamorphosis, and "Io" in the form of a cow. A later Greek tradition makes Epaphos the progenitor of the Egyptians.

 

EPONA:  A goddess worshipped in Gaul, usually shown riding a horse. Her attribute is a cornucopia, sometimes also a dog. It is uncertain whether the horse and the dog are to be interpreted as dead animals, and Epona herself as a goddess of the underworld. The cornucopia also suggests a fertility cult.

 

ERANORANHAN:  Protector-god of men on the island of Hierro in the Canary Islands.

 

ERATO:  One of the nine Muses. She is the muse of lyric poetry, especially love poetry, and is usually portrayed holding a stringed instrument in her hands.

 

ERESKIGAL:  A Sumerian goddess of the underworld. One of her epithets is "great earth."

 

ERGE:  In Basque folklore, and attested in myth; a spirit that takes men's lives.

 

ERINYES:  Avenging goddesses of the underworld in Greek Mythology; they arose from drops of blood soaked up by the Earth spirit Gaia when Kronos mutilated his father.

 

ERIS:  Greek goddess of dissension and strife, sister of the war-god Ares. One of the best-known scenes in Greek mythology shows Eris throwing the "apple of contention" on which is written for the fairest among the wedding guests, thus provoking a quarrel among the goddesses present. Roman writers took Eris over, using the name Discordia ("dissension").

 

ERIU:  Among the Altaic peoples of southern Siberia, an adversary of God, he who led the first men to commit sin. His heaven was destroyed and he was banished to the underworld.

 

EROS:  Greek god of love, son of Aphrodite and Ares. In popular belief and classical art (as Cupid) he is shown with bows and arrows that he fires into the hearts of men. He was worshipped in the form of a stone in Thespiai. His power to arouse led the Orphic cults to recognize him as creator of the world.

 

EROTES:  Boy-like gods of love in late Classical art, known in Latin as "amoretti." They were taken over in the Renaissance and remained popular through the Baroque and Rococo periods.
 

ERRA:  Babylonian god of plagues. Stung by the demonic Sebettu, he brings plague and misfortune to mankind. His advisor, who succeeds in pacifying him, is Issum. It is not certain whether there is any connection between the Akkadian word Erra and the Hittite Jarri.

 

ES:  Sky-god of the Ket people of the Yenisei in Siberia. He is invisible but is portrayed as an old man with a long black beard. He kneaded the first humans from clay: whatever he threw with his right hand toward the left became a man, and whatever he threw with his left hand toward the right became a woman.

 

ESENCHEBIS:  Greek in origin, meaning "Isis in Chembis." Isis was worshipped on the island of Chembis, as well as on Bubastis.

 

ESHU:  A trickster god who directs traffic along the "road of life" who can act as a go-between to carry messages between this world and the spirit world and to any living thing. He can offer advice to those faced with important choices, and symbols associated with him include a red feather and a large staff. 

 

ESMUN:  Phoenician god healing, worshipped in Cyprus, Sardinia and North Africa. He was thought to be connected with the sea-god Melqart.

 

ESUS:  Gallic god, whose name remains unexplained. The writer Lukianos reported the god's desire for human blood. Two altars have been found which show him using an axe against a tree; it is not known exactly why.

 

ETEMMU:  "Dead man's Ghost": The ancient Babylonians believed that the soul of a dead person who remained uninterred, wandered about as a ghost; it could turn nasty and harm people.

 

EUNOMIA:  One of the "Horae," those of Greek mythology entrusted with looking after the gates of heaven and Olympus.

 

EUROS:  Greek god of the southeast wind. His epithet is Argestes; "He who cleans up," like the other wind gods associated with different quarters of the heavens. He is a son of the god Eros.

 

EVAN:  A being belonging to the Las of the Etruscan religion. Usually thought of as female, it is sometimes portrayed as masculine and many believe it may be a personification of personal immortality.

 

FAGUS:  Pyrenean tree-god venerated in Roman times. As the name suggests, the tree in question was the beech, worshipped as divine.

 

FAFNIR:  In Germanic mythology, a demonic being who killed his father, and then, in dragon form, guarded the great golden treasures of the Nibelungs, until being slayed by Siegfried. 

 

FAMA:  Roman personification of rumor. A product of Latin literary allegory, she plays no part in Roman religion. The root of the word "famous."

 

FAUNA:  Old Italic goddess of fields and woods. She promises fertility in the fields and among livestock, blessing the farmers; she was revered as "Bona Dea."

 

FENRIR:  Lupine demon of Nordic mythology, son of Loki and Angrboda. When the Aesir began to fear him, they fettered him with an unbreakable cord; During Ragnarok,
Fenrir breaks free and attacked and kills Odin.

 

FINN:  The hero of a very extensive cycle of tales in Ireland. The saga centers around the red deer. Finn's peogeny are called the Oisin -- deer calves. One of his wives, Saar, is a hind, and he himself can appear as a man, dog or stag, according to how he turns his hood. He can also appear as a manifestation of King Mongan, who is a son of the sea god Monannan.

 

FJORGYN:  A North German goddess. In "The Voluspa," she appears as the mother of Thor. The etymology of her name would suggest that she is a mountain or forest goddess and was probably revered as a goddess of fertility.

 

FJORNJOTR:  A primeval god in German mythology, progenitor of frost-giants.

 

FLORA: Roman goddess of growing corn and blossoming flowers. originally worshipped by the Oceans and the Sabines. In Rome, her feast (Floralia) was celebrated from April 28 to the beginning of May. It was an uninhibited and somewhat immoral revel; Flora herself was known as Meretrix — whore, but the lasciviousness was probably intended to promote fecundity.

 

FORNEUS:  Forneus appears in medieval literature as a demonic being of magic and necromancy, a spirit from hell or a sea monster.

 

FORNJOTR:  A primeval giant in German mythology, progenitor of the frost-giants.

 

FRIJA: Also known as Frigg, a Germanic goddess, incorporating on the one hand gross sensuality (she is accused of adultery) and on the other hand the maternal principle. Her name is translated as she who is loved and spouse. She protects like and partakes in the wisdom of her husband Odin.

 

FUDO MYOO:  Japanese god who wields the sword of knowledge against "hate and greed."

 

FUFLUNS:  Etruscan god corresponding to Dionysos. The name may derive from the Indo-German root meaning "to beget" or "to overflow."

 

FUJIN:  God of the wind in Shintoism. He is usually depicted carrying a sackful of winds on his shoulder.

 

FULLA:  Germanic goddess, attendant in the reunite of Frigg, who was accused of adultery, and from whom we get the word "Friday'. Fulla shares her name with the that of the Islamic Barbie doll.

 

FU SHEN:  Chinese god of luck He is usually portrayed in the blue robes of an official, with his son on his arm. Often he forms a triad along with Shou Lao and Cai Shen.

 

FU-XI:  The first of the three Chinese cultural heroes; he instituted marriage and is credited with teaching others how to fish. He married his sister Nu-gua (both pictured), thereby ensuring due balance in the forces of yin and yang.

 

FYLGIR:  In Germanic belief, protective spirits attached to individuals. When they appear, it is in the form of a woman or an animal. They were not the object of any sort of cult.

 

GABIJA:  A spirit of fire in Lithuanian mythology. A mistress of the "holy fire" homage
was paid to her by throwing salt on the fire and and saying "Holy Gabija, be thou satisfied!"
 

GABJAUJA:  Lithuanian goddess of corn, to whom prayers were said for general prosperity and riches. Demoted with the coming of Christianity to the status of an evil spirit.

 

GABRIEL:  In the Bible, an angel who appears as a messenger from God. In the New Testament it is he who brings Mary the tidings that God has chosen her to be the mother of his son. In the Jewish apocalyptic literature, he figures as an angel of retribution; in Christianity, as an archangel with Michael, Raphael and Uriel, and in Islamic tradition his name is Gab'ril, and is at the apex of the angelic host.

 

GAD:  A designation for various divinities in North Arabia. A personification of good luck, the name was also used by the Nabataeans for a specific gods.

 

GALLA:  Sumerian demon of the underworld. It was by Galla-demons that Dumuzi, the god of vegetation, was taken to the underworld.

 

GANDAREWA:  In the Avesta, a demon living in the water that is constantly trying to swallow the good works of creation; he was slain by the hero Keresaspa

 

GANESH (GANAPATI):  Indian god of the art of writing and wisdom, son of Parvati and Siva, whose retinue he leads. He is portrayed as having the head of an elephant, one tusk and a pot belly. He rides on a rat and in his four hands he holds a thorn, a garland of roses, the broken second tusk and a bowl of rice cake. On South Indian monuments he wears a crown. In Nepal a form of Ganesh called Heramba appears, which has five elephant heads, while in Thailand the god is often depicted with four heads and two arms. Ganapati was also taken over by Buddhism.

 

GANGA: Indian river goddess usually depicted with two or four arms, in which she holds a lotus flower and a water pot

 

GANYMEDES:  Originally a demonic guardian of the well of life. In Greek mythology he appears as a beautiful youth. Zeus falls in love with him and sends his eagle to abduct him. He becomes the gods' cup bearer, giving them their daily life-giving draught. In the late Hellenic and Roman periods Ganymedes was transferred to the heavens in the shape of Aquarius the water bearer.

 

GAO YAO:  Proto-Chinese god of judgment: his familiar animal was the ram, which assisted him the detection of injustice.

 

GAPN:  Old Syrian god who appears as a messenger of "Baal." His name translates as "vine."

 

GARM:  In Old Icelandic, a mythical dog who howls and barks at his cave at the onset of Ragnarok (the destruction of the world) and which fights the god Tyr in the apocalyptic final battle.

 

GARUDA:  The prince of birds in Indian mythology and the enemy of snakes. His anthomorphic body is golden in color and he has the head, wings and claws of an eagle. Garuda has been interpreted as a sun symbol. In Buddhism, Garudas are divine bird creatures; Gautama is said to have been a "Garuda-king" in a former life.

 

GATUMDU:  A Sumerian goddess, daughter of the sky-god An. She was the local mother goddess of Lagas.

 

GAUEKO:  In Basque belief and mythology, the lord of darkness. He may on occasion prove friendly and helpful, But can also appear as a devil. He often manifests himself in
the shape of a cow or a gust of wind.

 

GAURI:  In Indian religion, a good-hearted and sympathetic variant of the Great Mother. She is as her name suggests, 'the white one' in contrast with the 'black' Kali.

 

GAYOMARD:  The first human being in Iranian mythology; His name means "Mortal life" and it was from his body that the cosmos was formed. The seven metals were said to have come from his decomposing body.

 

GEB:  Old Egyptian Earth god. In the Pyramid texts, we are told that the dead enter 'geb' (the earth). Kings of Egypt designated themselves as 'Heirs of Geb.' He is represented wearing the crown of Lower Egypt on his head and may also be shown with a goose on his head (his determinative sign).

 

GEBELEIZIS:  Herodotus mentions this god of thunderstorms venerated by the Thracians who lived in the Balkans. He has been identified with Zalmoxis, the supreme Thracian god. 

 

GEFJON:  Germanic goddess belong to the Aesir. Her name seems to be connected
with the German geben (to give). She is a goddess of good fortune and prosperity.
Among the south Germanic tribes her counterpart may have been "Garmangabis."
'Gefjon' is also the epithet of the fertility goddess Freyja.

 

GENII:  Protective spirits who guide human beings. In Etruscan and Roman art they were represented as winged youths.

 

GENIUS:  Originally a Roman deity, the personification of creative powers in Man. The belief that every place has its tutelary spirit, its "Genius Loci," is a product of the Roman Empire.

 

GEUS TASAN:  In old Iranian religion, the divine creator of cattle, often equated with "Ahura Mazda."

 

GEUS URVAN:  In old Iranian religion the heavenly guardian of cattle. In poetry, he appears as a cow. His name means "soul of a cow."

 

GILBIL:  Sumerian god of fire; in Akaddian (Babylonian) he is called "Girra" and was regarded as a bringer of light. He was invoked in incantations in order to combat spells.

 

GILTINE:  Lithuanian god of death. Her name derives from the verb "gelti" — to sting or harm. Clad in white, she approaches the house in which the sick person lies, then she strangles or suffocates him.

 

GLUSKAP:  Cultural hero among the northeast Algonquin Indians of Canada. Born of a virgin, he fights his evil twin brother, and after a great flood, created a new earth out of a piece of mud.

 

GLYKON:  Gnostic-Mithraic demon with a human head and the body of a snake. It was often thought to be the reincarnation of Asklepios.

 

G'NYAN:  Tibetan spirits who live in trees and can send illnesses and death to Man. As they move about in mountains, they are considered close to God.

 

GNOMES:  In popular belief, fairy-type creatures who inhabit forests. Their name is derived from the Greek "genomoi (Earth dwellers)" and are part of popular culture today, used as figurines and statues and in advertising.

 

GOD 'C':  A Mayan god whose full name is unknown, and who was connected with the first day of creation (Chuen). he may well have been an astral deity.

 

GOIBNIU:  In ancient Ireland the god of the blacksmith's craft; his magical powers enabled him to make weapons that could not fail. In Welsh tradition, Goibniu is known as "Govannon."

 

GONG GONG:  Chinese devil who lets loose the great flood and is the adversary of the ruling god. He is embodied in a black dragon and attended by the nine-headed snake-bodied Xiang Yao, whose excretions generate evil-smelling springs and swamps.

 

GORGONS:  In Greek Mythology, the three daughters of the sea god Phorkys. A representation of the Gorgons was placed on temples to ward off evil spirits. One
of them, Medusa, was said to have the power to turn humans to stone upon gazing upon her face.
 

GOU MANG and RU SHOU:  The messengers of the Chinese sky god. The former promises good luck and long life, while the second augurs punishment and disaster. They share the attribute of double dragons. Gou Mang is associated with the spring and the East, and Ru Shou, with the autumn and the West.

 

GOVANNON:  Celtic god of the Welsh, corresponding to the Irish god Goibniu. Son of the goddess Danu, he manufactured swords and was a brew master whose beer gave the drinker eternal life.

 

GRAII:  The daughters of the sea-god Phorkys, who guard the way to the Gorgons. They have one eye and one tooth between the three of them.

 

GRYPHON (GRIFFIN):  This famous creature of mythology is possessed of an eagle's head and a lion's body. In Christianity it was seen as a symbol of Jesus and was believed to be able to restore sight to the blind. As a heraldic symbol it is featured in many statues, in the Shield of St, George and the coat of arms of Genoa. In modern times, it was adopted by the late TV producer/real estate tycoon Merv Griffin as his company's corporate symbol.
 

GUAN DI:  Chinese god of war, patron of literature and protector of trade and merchants. In the Manchu dynasty he was particularly venerated because of his warlike functions; but in other periods of Chinese history he was regarded as the guardian of righteousness, which protects men from strife and evil. In origin he was an ordinary man called Guan Zhong, done to death by his adversary but later deified on account of his many and signal virtues.

 

GUAN YIN:  A female Bodhisattva venerated in China. She bestows the blessings of children, helps beings attain enlightenment and is believed to be a goddess of compassion. In Japan she is known as Kwonnan.

 

GUHYASAJAMA:  A Buddhist protective deity. In Tantrism, a mystical god of initiation ceremonies, with three heads and six arms. 

 

GURZIL:  A god in the shape of a bull, venerated in ancient Tripolitania. One tradition
relates that he was begotten by Ammon on a cow.

 

GULA:  Old Mesopotamian goddess of healing, wife of Ninurta. In the old Babylonian she was equated with Nin'insina, and the dog was the symbolical animal of both.

 

GUTA:  In Hungarian folklore, a demonic being, a representative of the seamy side of things. He strikes down his victims.

 

GWYDYON:  A god venerated in ancient Wales who was born in a mysterious way: he was concerned with war and with poverty and also shows characteristics of an underworld god. Thus, in later folklore, the Milky Way (seen as the way taken by the dead), was named Caer Gwydyon.

 

HA:  Old Egyptian god of the Western desert; hence, his epithet "lord of the Libyans." As a god of the west, he plays a part in the cult of the dead. He sits at the right hand (the west), of the deceased person on the sarcophagi of the Herakleopolites period.
 

HACHIMAN:  In origin, a Japanese emperor named Ojin who was venerated as a god of war. His sacred creature is the dove.

 

HAH:  Egyptian god of infinity and eternity, He was regarded as a bearer of heaven
and was often depicted with outstretched arms, holding up the sky.

 

HALA:  A Kassite goddess of healing, corresponding to the Babylonian goddess Gula

 

HALDI:  Tutelary god of the kingdom of Urartu, from 97 BC Armenia.

 

HALKI:  Hittite god of corn; his name means "barley." On occasion, he also appears as the tutelary of wine.

 

HAMMON:  The god of the setting sun worshipped by ancient Libyans. He was depicted as having the horns of a ram and may coincide conceptually with the oasis god "Ammon."

 

HAN XIANG-ZI:  One of the "eight immortals" of Chinere popular belief; he can make flowers grow and bloom at will and his attribute is a basket of flowers.

 

HANANIM:  Old Korean god of the sky, and supreme god; he moves the stars, rewards good and punishes evil.

 

HANUMAN:  In India, an ape venerated as a god. Indra hurled a thunderbolt at him and smashed his jaw because he tried to grab the sun. Hanuman was regarded as the patron saint of learning. In the Ramayana he is the loyal companion of Rama in the war against the isle of Lanka. Pictures of him show him trampling the overthrown goddess of Lanka under his left foot.

 

HANWASUIT:  Tutelary goddess of the Hittite throne. It is probable that her origin was the royal city of Zalpa on the Black Sea.

 

HAOMA:  In old Iranian religion, a deified plant from which an intoxicating sap was extracted to be used in sacrificial ceremonies. Haoma is lord of all curative plants and
confers immortality.

 

HAPI:  One of four sons of Horus. The entrails of corpses were placed under their protection; Hapi was in charge of the lungs.

 

HARACHTE:  Egyptian god of the morning sun. He was represented as a falcon, and tended to coalesce with the sun-god Re in the form of Re-Harachte, venerated at Heliopolis.

 

HARIHARA:  A designation for Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) as a twin divinity. In Campuchea, his image has two heads. When both gods are represented in one single figure, the right hand that holds the trident is Shiva and the left hand holding the wheel is Vishnu.

 

HARMACHIS:  The Greek form of an Egyptian name that means "Horus on the horizon." It was applied to the Sphinx of Gizeh (originally image of King Khafre, pictured), which was later taken to represent the matutinal appearance of the sun-god Horus.

 

HARPIES:  Female malevolent demons in Greek mythology. They are named Aello, Aellopus, Podarge, Okypete, and Kelaino, but all the names suggest the stormy wind. They are described as hideous hybrids, part woman and part bird.

 

HARPRE:  Egyptian god, the child of 'Month' and of "Rat-taui," worshipped in Hermonthis. His function was to protect the king from illness and misfortune.

 

HARUN AND HARUNA:  Water spirits revered in Morocco that can take the form of snakes

 

HASAMMELI:  The Hittite god of blacksmiths and the art of wrought-iron. A certain tree was sacred to him, but it is not known which one.

 

HATHOR:  Egyptian sky goddess. Her name means House of Horus, where 'house' may be taken to denote both the cosmic house of heaven, and the womb. She is portrayed in the form of a cow due to the conception of the sky as an enormous cow in the Nile Delta. An ancient tree-cult is connected with Hathor. She is 'queen of the date-palm,' and 'queen of the sycamore.' She dispenses food and drink to the dead.

 

HATMEHIT:  Egyptian goddess, the center of whose cult was at Mendes. She appears in anthropomorphic form, and bears a fish on her head.

 

HAUBUS:  A pre-Islamic god frequently mentioned in South Arabian inscriptions. It has been suggested that he may have been a particular form of an"Attar" a war god.

 

HAUKIM:  Old South Arabian deity. the name comes from the root "HKM" — "to be wise" or "to pronounce judicially"

 

HAURVATAT:  A personification belonging to Amesa Spentas. Haurvavtat is also associated with life after death.

 

HAZZI:  Mountain god of the Hittites and Hurrians, invoked in Hittite state treaties as a god of oaths.

 

HEBAT:  Chief goddess of the Hurrians, "Queen of heaven" and wife of the weather-god Tesuh. She was taken into the Hittite pantheon, and then frequently equated with the sun goddess Arinna. She is portrayed as standing on a lion or a panther, or sometimes sitting on a throne wearing a pointed cap.

 

HEBE:  Daughter of Zeus and Hera, goddess of youth. She is a cup-bearer of the gods and her Roman counterpart was Juventas.

 

HEBO:  In China, divine ruler of all rivers. He is also called the 'River Duke.'

 

HEDAMMU:  Snake demon of the Hurrians. He lives in the sea and is insatiably voracious.

 

HEDETET:  Scorpion goddess of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. As daughter or "Re," she merges into the figure of Isis.

 

HEIMDALL: Norse god of light, security and surveillance

 

HEKET:  Egyptian goddess in the form of a frog (a symbol of life and fertility) She ranked as a primeval goddess and a tutelary goddess of childbirth. In the town of Kus she was revered as the mother of Haroeris.

 

HEL:  In Old Germanic mythology the name of the realm of the dead and its queen. Hel is the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda. As the sister of Fenrir and the Midgard-snake, she has demonic character. Hel is entitled to claim dominion over all those who die in the land except those who fall in battle. Even the gods must tread the way of Hel, like Balder after his early death.

 

HELENE:  Daughter of Zeus and Leda. In origin, she was a goddess of vegetation, and honored in some places as a tree divinity. Her abduction by the Trojan prince Paris is believed to have ignited the Trojan War.

 

HELIOS:  Greek sun god, son of Titan. Helios is he who sees all and hears all and who is invoked as witness to a sworn oath. As god of light he can make blind men see, but can strike sinners blind. He was worshipped on Rhodes and in the Peloponese. In art, Helios was often represented driving a chariot drawn by four winged horses, his head surrounded by a halo of rays. His Roman counterpart was Sol.

 

HELMEN:  A Falcon-god venerated in the Egyptian city of Hesfun. Thought to be identical with Haroeris.

 

HEMSUT:  Egyptian goddess of fate,  female counterparts of Ka; seen as protective spirits;  their head-dress comprises a shield with two arrows. the arrows representing the force transmitted by the Hemsut.

 

HENGE:  Chinese goddess of the moon, a younger sister of the river-god He Bo. After stealing the pill of immortality from her husband the sun god Shen Yi, she fled to the moon, where she lived ever since as a toad. She is represented in art wearing regal garments. In her right hand she carries the disc of the moon. Heng E is a symbolic figure for the cold, dark female principle (yin).

 

HEPHAISTOS:  Greek god of fire, of smiths and craftsmen. Because he was lame when he came into the world, his mother Hera threw him out of Olympus. In his underworld smithy he fashioned weapons, assisted by the Cyclops. He was a god of Asia Minor, and on the island of Lemnos he was revered as the embodiment of fire that broke from Earth, At the end of the Sixth Century B.C. his cult reached Athens; the Romans identified him with Vulcanus.

 

HERA:  Hera, wife of Zeus, was the goddess of marriage and known under the Roman
name Juno. She hated Heracles because he was the son of her husband and a mortal woman, trying to kill him in his crib with snakes. She later aided Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece.

 

HERCULES:  The tales of travels of this demi-god have been transferred to television, plays and film for many years. In mythology he is the patron saint of traders. In Roman times, the Greek legend has been magnified into the epitome of all imperial virtues.

 

HERENSUGUE:  Among the Basques, a devil-spirit who appears in the shape of a snake; in one tradition, he has seven heads and possesses the ability to fly.

 

HERMAPHRODITOS:  Son of Hermes and Aphrodite, he was passionately loved by the spring nymph Salmakis, so much that their bodies merged and united forever, giving rise to an androgynous being. The cult of this twin divinity ( which may have ancient Oriental antecedents ) reached Athens by way of Cyprus.

 

HERMES:  One of the most popular of the Greek gods, son of Zeus and the mountain nymph Mala. In front of Greek houses' pillars used to stand in which Hermes was said to reside in order to protect the dwelling from harm. Hermes is the messenger of the gods, equipped with a herald's staff, a hat and winged shoes. He is protector of travelers, tradesmen and also of thieves. As god of the herds and flocks, he has the epithet Nomios. He has a happy relationship with music (he is credited with inventing the lyre) and as such, was chosen as the symbol of Mercury Records ("Hermes" Roman counterpart).

 

HERMOD:  Deified hero in the Germanic myth of Balder. After Balder's murder, Hermodur tried to ascertain whether Balder would return from the underworld. It is believed that Heremod is the same character as Heremod, the Danish king in the legend of Beowulf.

 

HERON: A god who appears on Egyptian monuments of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods; probably the god Heros, who was worshiped in Thrace and Asia Minor.

 

HESAT:  "Divine White cow" — she was supposed to the first of the cows and was associated with the Greek god Isis.

 

HESPERIDES:  Greek nymphs who guard the tree with golden apples in the Garden of the Gods along with the dragon, Ladon. They were supposed to be the daughters of the night, Nyx, or of the giant Atlas.

 

HESTIA:  Greek goddess of the hearth and its fire; daughter of Kronos and Rheia. The hearth was the sacred focus of the household, and there a small sacrifice was made to the goddess before meals. The corresponding figure in the Roman pantheon was Vesta.

 

HETEPET:  An Egyptian cult centre in the north of Heliopolis. Its queen was identified with the divine hand of Iuesae.
 

HE XIAN-GU:  The only female in the group of the "eight immortals." She is usually shown holding a lotus blossom, often also with a peach (the symbol of immortality) or a ladle — this last in token of her function as a patron goddess of housewives.

 

HIISI: East Finnish forest god, later demoted to the status of troll

 

HILAL:  The name means "new moon" and denotes the moon-god in ancient Arabia.

 

HIMAVAT:  The personification of the Himalaya mountains. This mountain god is the father of Parvati and of the Ganga.

 

HINA:  In Polynesia, a woman of semi-divine status who appears in the moon; sometimes elevated to the status of moon-goddess. She appears as the wife or mother of the culture hero Maui.

 

HINKON: God of hunting and lord of the animals among the Tungus tribes who live on the Yenisei River in Siberia.

 

HINOKAGUTSUCHI:  Japanese fire god, born of the goddess Iznami, who went up in flames at his birth, symbolizing the transition from the old year to the new year.

 

HINTUBUHET:  Supreme being venerated on the island of New Ireland in Melanesia. In spite of the feminine aspect of her name she is an androgynous being, as both parties in a marriage invoke her name as a progenitor in terms of her own sex.

 

HIRANYAGARBHA:  In the Rigveda, the unnamed god of creation, who appears as "Prajapati." In Sanskrit the name is used to denote Brahman.

 

HLODYN:  Old Icelandic goddess of the Earth and fertility. One tradition makes her the mother of Thor. There is probably an etymological and semantic connection with the name of the West German goddess Hludana; the latter has been seen as the matrix for the figure of Holle.

 

HODUR:  North Germanic god, son of Odin. Although his name means struggle, he is not warlike in character. In myth, he is blind, and judges people by inner worth and not outward appearances.

 

HOLY GHOST:  In Catholicism, one-third of the Divine Trinity (the others being God the Father, and God the Son). Usually the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is symbolized as a dove, sometimes bearing an olive branch of peace.
 

HONIR:  North Germanic German god who had a hand in the origin of humanity, along with Odin and Loki. Odin gave the first men life, Loki gave them language, sight and hearing and Honir gave them understanding and feelings. Honir was reputed to be the fastest runner and the best of the hunters.

 

HOTEI:  One of the Japanese gods of good fortune. He is seen as a friend of the weak and of children. Typically, his fat paunch is bare — it is a symbol of friendly good cheer.

 

HU AND SIA:  The constant companions of the Egyptian sun god Re. Hu is the personification of the word which the creator spoke to bring all things to life. Sia is the personification of knowledge and understanding that makes creation possible.

 

HUANG-DI:  Mythological hero and Chinese Emperor. Credited in myth with the invention of the wheel. he was assisted in his battle against the rebel Chi-yu by a winged dragon.

 

HUBAL:  A Pre-Islamic god venerated in central Arabia. His image still stands in the Ka'aba in Mecca, and it is possible that the Ka'aba's black stone is in some way connected with him.

 

HUIRACOCHA (VIRACOCHA):  The supreme god of the Inca Empire. Traditionally he was connected with Tiahuanaco, whose importance as a cult-site extends back into pre-Inca times. According to the myth he was born of a virgin and often displayed solar characteristics. His epithet, Pachamac, designates him as "creator of the world." Those who fail to do fitting homage to the god are destroyed by fire or by flood.

 

HUMBAN /ENLIL:  A god venerated in Elam. He can be equated with the Mesopotamian god Enlil.

 

HUNAG-DI:  Mythical Chinese Emperor and cultural hero, credited with inventing the wheel and defeating the rebel Chi-yu. assisted by a dragon.

 

HURUCAN:  High god and creator of the Quiche Indians who live in Central America. He is the "heart of heaven." He created the first land by calling out the word "Earth!" and formed the human race from maize dough. He dwells at one and the same time in
heaven, on earth and in the underworld.

 

HUWAWA:  Demonic guardian of the 'land of the cedar mountain" (Lebanon), appointed to the role by Enlil, but destroyed by Gilgamesh.

 

HVAR:  Iranian word denoting the sun, but also the sun god, One of his epithets is "he who possesses swift horses." Through his worship, one can withstand the powers of darkness.

 

HYGIEIA:  Greek goddess of good health, god of the god of healing, Asklepios. She is pictured giving water in a bowl to a snake.

 

HYMEN:  Greek god of weddings, solemnly invoked as part of every marriage celebration. He was represented as a winged youth carrying a torch and a garland.

 

HYMIR:  A Nordic giant living at the edge of heaven; he possesses a large beer vat. His female companion is the mother of the god Tyr. Tyr and Thor visit him to borrow the vat.

 

HYPERION:  Old Greek god of light and husband of Theia; their children were the sun-god Helios and the moon-god Selene.

 

HYPNOS:  Greek god of sleep, the son of night and brother of death. In art, he is usually depicted as a winged youth with a poppy-stalk and a small horn in his hands. The Romans called him Somnus.

 

IAKCHAOS:  A youthful demon, perhaps a god in the Eleusinian mysteries. He is the personification of the shout of "Iakche!" — a triumphant cry in honor of the Eleusinian goddess, uttered by the faithful during the ceremonial procession. In Greek myth, Iakchaos is the son of Demeter or of Persephone, and is seen as the reborn Zagreus.

 

IAPETOS:  In Greek myth, a Titan opposed to the gods; the father of Atlas and Prometheus.

 

IFA:  A demigod of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, connected to the art of sooth-saying.  He set up a shrine in the holy city of Ife, and taught mankind the art of healing.

 

IGALUK:  An Inuit lunar god, also known as Aningan; according to folklore, he had attacked his sister Malina, and afterwards they ran off together to form the moon and the sun after she had removed her breasts and offered them to Igaluk.

 

IGIGI:  Akkadian designation for the great gods of heaven, in contrast to the Anunna of the underworld.

 

IHI:  Young son of the Egyptian goddess Hathor; he is the lord of the sistrum, the musical instrument which drives away evil powers. Accordingly, the sistrum is his attribute.
 

IKENGA:  The function of this god, worshipped by the Igbo in Nigeria, was to guide men's hands or arms correctly, hence his name, meaning 'upper right arm." The image of Ikenga set up in households are supposed to ensure prosperity and good fortune, and their advice is often sought by the inmates.

 

ILAZKI:  The moon is regarded as female by the Basques, and this is one of the names given to it. It is also known as "grandmother" and "Holy grandmother." In some Basque regions they tell children that the moon is the face of God.

 

ILLAPA:  The god of lightning, thunder and rainstorms in the pre-Colombian Inca Empire.

 

ILMARINEN:  In Finnish myth, the ruler over wind and weather; also the protective deity of travelers.

 

IMSET:  One of the four sons of Horus. Represented in anthropomorphic form,  he is specifically charged with care of the liver. His allotted heavenly quarter is the south.

 

INAR:  A goddess worshipped in Asia Minor; she was supposed to be the daughter of the weather god Taru. In Illujanka myth, she helps  the weather god overcome a snake demon.
 

INARI:  The god of foodstuffs in Shintoism, usually represented as a bearded man carrying two bundles of rice. His messenger is the fox; this is why there are foxes in front of Inari shrines. In popular belief, the god and fox merge to form one being. In Japanese belief, there was a goddess of rice called Inara.

 

ING:  Divine progenitor of the Germanic Ingwaeons who lived on the Baltic coast. The meaning of the word is not clear: "lance," "yew" and "man" have all been suggested. According to an Anglo-Saxon runic poem, the god Ing seems to be connected to the eastern Danes and corresponds to the Yngoi of the Scandinavian tradition. It is possible that the Vandals brought the cult of Ing from Sweden.

 

INGMUR:  A Basque spirit, like an elf. He was believed to have crept into people's houses in order to throttle them.

 

INNUS:  Old Latin god, invoked to protect herds; later, he was equated to "Faunus" the Italic god of shepherds and peasants

 

INTI:  The Inca sun-god, the object of particular veneration along with the creator-god
Huiracocha. Inti was seen by the Inca rulers as their progenitor, and was represented by a gold disc with a human face.

 

IO:  Chief god of the Maoris of New Zealand of whom only Maori priests and high nobility knew anything of; his Name means "Kernel" or "Marrow" on the Polynesian
island of Mangaia.

 

IPET:  Egyptian hippopotamus god who merged with a goddess from Luxor to form a goddess of the Great Mother type. As the consort of Amun, she figures as Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt.

 

IRIS:  A sister of the Harpies, a virgin goddess who hastens down from the commandments of Zeus and Hera. She is usually shown as winged and bearing
a herald's staff.

 

IRMIN:  Old Germanic god, whom we can probably equate with the war god Tiwaz. Originally the name seems to have meant 'divine' or 'holy', but came to mean 'strong' or 'mighty'. The Irmin Pillar in Saxony probably refers to this god. The Irmingot (great
god) in the Hildebrandslied is perhaps a late echo of Irmin, though the poem itself shows Christian influence.

 

ISDES:  This god made his appearance in Egypt from the Middle Ages onwards. He was regarded as 'Lord of the west' and judge of the dead. Later, he merged into the figure of Anubis (pictured).

 

ISINU:  Janus-headed god of ancient Mesopotamia; His Akkadian name was Usmu or Usumu. He was regarded as a messenger of the Sumerian god Enki.

 

ISIS:  Isis was perhaps the personification of the throne, conceived as a female deity and she bears the determinant of the seat of authority on her head. Myth tells how she sought out her dead brother and husband Osiris, from whom she received the child Horus. She buried him and mourned him together with her sister Nephtys. Later, every dead person came to life to be identified with Osiris, and she became a protector of the dead, From the Middle Kingdom onward, her solar aspect is displayed in her epithet 'Eye of Re'. She was Queen of Sirius, and Greek authors interpreted her as a moon-goddess. In the Hellenic period Isis became the patron of seafarers and was given a rudder as a tribute. She was mostly portrayed in human form: the cow's horns and the sun-disc she bears on her head, she owes to her coalescence with the figure of Hathor.

 

 ISKUR:  Hittite weather god. His sacred number is 10 and his attributes are a club and flashes of lightning. Iskur manifests himself in thunderstorms and rain and helps the earthly king in times of war.

 

ISRAFIL:  In Islam, the angel who sounds the trumpet of doom at the “Last Judgment”

 

ISTANU (ESTAN):  Hittite sun-god: the Hattic form is Estan ("sun" and "god").
For the written form of his name the Sumerian cuneiform determinant for "Utu" was used. In iconography, one of his main attributes is a winged sun as part of his head-dress. In his right hand he bears the lituus, a staff whose lower tip is crooked. As the sun god is able to see all things, he is judge over men and animals.

 

ISTEN:  Egyptian god, attested from the middle kingdom onwards and related to the god Thot

 

ISUM:  Akkadian god, brother of the sun-god Samas and hearld [sic] of all gods.

 

ITZAMNA:  Son of the Mayan god Hunab Ku. As the bringer of culture to his people, he became the national god to the Maya, He is also called Yaxkokahmut, "lord of
knowledge."

 

IWALDI:  In Germanic mythology, a dwarf skilled in forging and casting; father of the goddess Idum. He and his sons built Freyr's ship Skidbladnir, and Odin's spear Gungnir.

 

IXCHEL:  Moon goddess of the Mayans, who was also regarded as the protective patron of women in childbirth and of weavers.

 

IXTAB:  A Mayan goddess, she is the guardian of suicides who enter her paradise.

 

IYA:  Among Sioux Indians, a demonic monster who swallows men and animals and who sometimes manifests himself in the shape of a hurricane.

 

IZANAMI:  Primeval goddess in Shintoism, the embodiment in the earthly and the gloomy. She is the Earth Mother. When giving birth to her son, the god of fire, she died, then went to rule the underworld. Her husband was the sky-god Izanagi.

 

JABRU:  An Elamite god, who was equated with An, the Mesopotamian god of the sky.

 

JAGAU:  Lithuanian fire god, ousted in popularity eventually by "Gabija."

 

JAHWE (YAWEH):  The name of the god of Israel. The Third Commandment states, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." This was taken to heart so seriously that while the four consonants of the name could be written as  JHWH — the name itself was pronounced with the vowels of "Adoni" (Lord), believed to be "He who exists"; "He who summons to existence". For Israelites, he was "jahwe" or "zebaoth" (lord of hosts). The Old Testament says that The Ark of the Covenant was the visible token of the divine presence. God himself could not be represented in any form; in Christian art, the tetragrammalon (the four Hebrew letters), symbolizes almighty God.

 

JAMBHALA:  Buddhist god of riches, in origin, a "Yaksa." He has a pot-belly; in his right hand he holds a lemon and in his left hand, a mongoose which is sporting jewels.
It is said that several Buddhist teachers received gold or food from Jambhala.

 

JAMM:  Phoenician-Canaanite god of water, especially of the sea; one of his epithets makes him "river ruler." He presumed to claim a ruling position vis-a-vis the other gods, but was overcome by Baal; his consolation prize was the goddess Attart, who became his bride.

 

JANUS: Roman god of gateways. of entrances and exits. Metaphorically, the double-faced god also stands for beginning and end, the threshold point at which the old year ends and the new year begins (accordingly, January is named after him). Among his attributes are keys and a janitor's staff. His temple had a double door which was kept locked in peacetime and opened in times of war. Important matters of any kind were commended to his care, for example, sowing and harvest. In Roman mythology it is Janus mankind has to thank for agriculture and law.

 

JARRI:  Hittite god of plague and pestilence, who had to be placated after an outbreak. He had the epithet 'lord of the bow' and could figure as a god who helped the monarch in battle.

 

JAWI:  Not much is known about this ancient Syrian god, except that he may be identical with the Latin harvest god Ao, mentioned by the Latin writer Macrobius.

 

JESUS CHRIST:  Symbol of hope to millions of Christians around the world and central figure of the Christian faith. . Born of Mary and Joseph, the Biblical story of his short life, (he died at 33), is one of history's most famous. To Christians. he is a source of guidance, love, miracles, peace and sacrifice in atonement. On this day, we honor His birth and the messages of His teachings and His life.

 

JETAITA:  An earth spirit feared by the Yamana, a tribe living in Tierra del Fuego. He is supposed to be present at initiation ceremonies in the cult-house, where she is represented by a man painted black and white.

 

JIAN LAO:  A Buddhist goddess of the Earth and permanence, revered in China. She is represented with her hands clasped together or with an ear of grain (a fertility symbol).

 

JINN:  This appellation for a class of demonic beings goes back to pre-Islamic times.
The jinn were originally native spirits who were also believed to cause madness.
A specific class of jinn were the ghouls, female spirits who appeared in animal form.

 

JIZO:  In Japan, the Buddha of great compassion; the protector of pregnant women, children and travelers, he is invoked as a god of healing.

 

JOH:  Egyptian word for the moon and for the moon-god. Originally much-venerated, especially in Thebes, he was gradually absorbed by Thot.

 

JORD:  North Germanic goddess of the Earth. In the Edda, she is described as at once
the daughter of Odin. Like Fjorgyn, she is supposed to be the mother of Thor.

 

JULUNGUGGUL:  Creator god venerated by Aborigines in Arnhem land as the bringer of culture

 

JUMIS:  Latvian god of fertility, symbolized by two fruits joined in growth — ears of rye, nuts or flax stalks. In order to feed the strength of Jumi back into the ground, ripened ears are bent over to the Earth and held there by stones.

 

JUNIT:  An Egyptian goddess with local significance in Tuphium (El Tod). It seems likely that in origin, she was connected to a sacred pillar.

 

JUPITER:  The name comes from "diu-pater" (something like "Father of light"). The Ides, days when there was a full moon, were sacred to him. The supreme tutelary god of Rome formed a trinity with Juno and Minerva. As Fulgar, he tossed lightning and as Tonans, he made thunder boom. As the Roman Empire expanded his warlike functions were more extolled. The Roman god merged to a large extent with provincial gods in far-flung parts of the Roman Empire, for example, with the Syrian Solichenus. In myth, Zeus and Jupiter are equated.

 

JURAS MATE:  A goddess of water in Latvian folklore. She plays a part in curative charms and spells.

 

JUROJIN:  Japanese god of longevity. He rides on a deer and is accompanied by cranes and tortoises as symbols of a long life and a happy old age.

 

JUTURNA:  Roman goddess of springs and wells who was often invoked in time of need, especially during shortages of water.

 

JUVENTAS:  Roman goddess of youth. Sacrifice was made to her when boys first donned the toga worn by men.

 

JYOTISKA:  Stellar gods in Jainism. Five classes are distinguished: suns. moons, stations of the moon, planets and fixed stars.

 

KA:  The ancient Egyptian destination for the generating and sustaining vital forces,
primarily for men and extended to denote  the spiritual life-force in general.

 

KABIROI:  In origin, Oriental vegetation deities in Asia Minor, whose cult reached Greece via the Agean, and on the islands of Samothrace and Lemnos, were
transformed into Orphic ideals.

 

KADES:  Canaanite goddess of love and sexuality; In depictions, she is shown standing on a lion with snakes in her hands.

 

KAHIL:  A god often invoked in pre-Islamic inscriptions in Arabic

 

KALEVANPOJAT:  In Finnish folk tradition, gigantic demonic beings who turn fertile land into heaps of stones and wasteland, and forests into marshy meadows.

 

KALI:  An Indian goddess of the Great Mother type. She is the menacing and fearful aspect of Durga, and is usually shown standing on her husband Shiva or placing her left foot on him. She has black hair, her tongue hangs out and she wears a string of human skulls around her neck. As Kalatri ("black night") she is the mythic embodiment
of a natural force which veils everything at the time of the creation of or the destruction of the world. She is worshipped by Hindus throughout the world.

 

KALLIOPE:  "She of the beautiful voice" is one of the Muses, the daughters of Zeus and thought to be sources of creative inspiration. Kalliope is the muse who was specifically concerned with epics and clergy.

 

KALUNGA:  The supreme being of the Ndonga in Angola, Kalunga is believed to have given himself this name and he looks like a man, though it is true that he never allows himself to be seen as a whole. He is characterized by wisdom and compassion. He sees and hears all and is a just and righteous judge. His son's name is Musisi.

 

KALYPSO:  A Greek nymph who rescues the castaway Odysseus and keeps him for seven years. Her name comes from the Greek verb kalypto — to cover or conceal, and this has prompted the suggestion that she is really a goddess of death.

 

KAMA:  Indian god of love; his consort is Rati (voluptuousness). He was the demonic spirit which animated Prajapati. When Brahma began to be seen as the creator-god, Kama was represented as an ageless and unaging youth, riding on a parrot. The bows
and arrows he bears as attributes are tipped and strung with flowers.

 

KAMASTA: A four-armed benign goddess worshiped in south India

 

KAMI:  Divinities in Shintoism. The word means "above;" the gods are those who are above, and can be applied to trees and mountains. A later designation "arami-kami"
referred to the Emperor.

 

KAMENAE:  Italic goddesses of springs and wells; at their shrine in Rome, the vestal virgins drew water every day and were later equated with Greek Muses.
 

KAMOS:  Chief god of Moab (now Jordan), equated in a list of gods wirh the old Mesopotamian god Nergal. Kamos had his devotees, even among the Israelites, and Solomon built a "high place" for him (Book of Kings I). When the Greeks took Kamos over, they stressed his warlike functions and equated him with Ares.

 

KAMRUSEPA:  Hittite goddess of healing, mother of the sea-god Aruna. In the myth of Telepinu, she is unable to placate the angry god of vegetation.

 

KAPPA:  Japanese water-spirits who feed on cucumbers and blood and are mischievous, but are all-knowing and can be helpful to people.

 

KAREI:  The supreme being of the Semang people of Malaya. The name is synonymous with the word for "thunder" that Karei is speaking through thunder. Drops of blood are offered to him in sacrifice to placate him.

 

KARTA:  Goddess of fate of fate and destiny of Latvian folksongs.

 

KASYAPA:  In India, Kasyapa belongs to the "divine minstrels" and is venerated as a creative force.

 

KATAVI:  A demonic being in the popular folklore of the Nyamwezi of Tanzania.

He is said to be chief of the water spirits, but also haunts lands and deserts.

 

KA TYELEO:  Supreme god of the Senufo of Africa's Ivory Coast. On the fifth day of creation, he created the animals and on the seventh day, fruit-bearing trees.

 

KEBECHET:  An Egyptian goddess, the personification of the purifying libation of water, which is significant in the cult of the dead as a means of revitalization.

 

KEKRI:  An ancient Finnish feast of fertility connected with the sacrifice of a sheep. This was misunderstood by writers, and as a result, Kekri was regarded as a god concerned with the raising of cattle.

 

KE'LETS:  A demon of death in the popular belief of the Chukchi people of northwest Siberia. Accompanied by dogs, he hunts men down.

 

KEMWER:  The black bull venerated in Athribis, Egypt. Identified with Osiris, it was also interpreted as referring to the left eye of the moon.

 

KEYEME:  Lord of animals among the Taulipang of South America. He is able to transform himself into a water-snake by donning a multi-colored skin.

 

KHOLOMODUMO:  A mythical monster which, say the Sotho of southeast Africa. lived at the beginning of time and ate up the whole of humanity, save for one old woman. She bore twins, who set forth as forest hunters along with a mangy dog. They tracked down the demonic being and killed it, and all the people it had swallowed came out of its' insides.

 

KINGU:  A demon mentioned in the Akkadian epic "enuma Elis"; the son of Tiamat (who wanted to promote him to be chief of the gods). Marduk overcame the forces of the underworld and "Ea" created men from the blood of Kingu

 

KINICH KAKMO:  Sun-god of the Mayans, the fire-bird corresponding to the aspect of the Aztec Quetzalcoatl.

 

KINYRAS:  A god revered in Cyprus, though he originally hails from Syria. He was supposed to be a master in the art of iron-smelting and an originator of magic and music. His name is probably Canaanite, derived from "kinnor" —  lyre or harp.

 

KIS:  An Egyptian god venerated in the town of Kusae. He is represented as a man gripping two creatures (giraffes or snakes) by their necks and quelling them; hence, probably, his name, which means "the tamer."

 

KISKILL-LILA:  A Sumerian female night demon who dwells in the Haluppu tree of Inanna, which was later felled by Gilgamesh.
 

KITANITOWIT:  Supreme god of the Algonquin Indians in Eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. Since he is invisible and embraces the whole world,
he is represented by a circle or an oval. In the middle is a point marking the cosmic center, and around its periphery are the four points indicating the heavenly quarters.

 

KLIO:  Greek muse associated with the study of history; her attribute is a parchment roll.

 

KOBOLD:  A domestic spirit in European popular belief; he teases and enjoys his victim's discomfort, but can also bring prosperity.

 

KOLANTHES:  A youth god venerated during the Greco-Roman period in the Egyptian city of Panoplis and called "the son of Isis and Osiris."

 

KORE-ARETHUSA:  A Greek goddess portrayed on coins from Syracuse to Carthage. Her symbol is a woman's head adorned with ears of corn, a reference to "Kore," also known as Persephone.

 

KORRAWI:  Tamil god of battle and victory. Her temples were scattered about in the forests and were guarded by corpse-demons and spirits. As "Katukilal" she is a goddess of the woods, the "Lady of the Jungle." Her son is Murukan.

 

KOTAR:  Old Syrian god of the blacksmith's craft and lord of spells and incantations.

 

KOTYS:  A Thracian goddess, whose cult spread over Greece and Italy.

 

KRODHATEVETAS:  Terror-inspiring gods of Buddhism. They are red or black in color, possess a third eye, and are adorned with skulls and eight snakes.

 

KRONOS: the youngest of the first generation of Titans, descendant of Gaia, the spirit of Earth and Uranus. He was worshiped as a harvest deity and was sometimes depicted with a sickle. Derived from the Greek, his name has become synonymous with time.

 

KSITIGHARBA:  One of the eight Bodhisattvas; in Central and East Asia he developed into a god of the dead and a judge in the underworld.

 

KUBERA:  Indian god of riches. In Vedic times, leader of the the spirits of the dark abyss. His dwarfish torso had three legs. His earliest attributes were a sack and a drinking bowl; later he acquired a cudgel and a purse. He lives in the Himalayas and is a guardian of the northern quarter of heaven.

 

KUCUMATZ:  Supreme god of the Quiche Indians as recorded in their sacred scriptures. He was imagined as androgynous — father and mother, beggetter and matrix, and corresponds to the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.

 

KUD:  In Old Korean religion, the embodiment of the dark and evil principle in the world, the baneful adversary of Palk.
 

KUMARBI: The name for the 'father of the gods', among the ancient Hurrians of Asia Minor. He had to abdicate in the face of pressure from younger gods. One myth tells how Kumarbi begets a son by means of a rock, and later, counting on his help in battle to retrieve his heavenly kingdom.

 

KURETES:  Cretan demons closely connected with vegetation, whose antecedents go back to pre-Greek times. They were often equated with the Korybantes. They perform warlike dances to protect the infant Zeus from Kronos.

 

KURMA:  In Vedism, the tortoise was associated with Prajapah as an embodiment of cosmic power. In the Ramayana and the Puranas, it was identified with Vishnu, who came down to Earth in the form of a tortoise, thus providing a fundament for the churning of the milk-ocean.

 

KURUKULLA:  One of the most popular Buddhist goddesses; she can cast spells on men and women to compel them to serve her.

 

KUSUH:  Moon-god of the Hurrians in ancient Asia Minor. His sacred number is 30, corresponding to the lunar month of 30 days. In one myth, he is pursued by a weather-god, but is saved by Kamrusepa, the goddess of healing.

 

KVASIR:  In Nordic mythology, a being possessed of divine wisdom, the personification of a fermented drink. Kvasir is said to have originated in the form of the spittle of the Aesir and the Vanir, when they stopped fighting each other. After he was murdered, his blood was mixed with honey and became the mead of the "sklads." Whoever drank it became a poet.

 

KWOTH:  In Nuer, a Nilothic language, the word for "god" really means "spirit." God is then a spirit of heaven and is like the wind, creator and mover of all things. He can be approached through prayer and sacrifice. A poetic epithet for him is Tutgar, an ox with wide-spread horns, in token of his strength and majesty.

 

LABBU:  A monster mentioned in ancient Mesopotamian myth, possibly in the form of snake and associated with the Milky Way.

 

LACTANS:  Roman gods of agriculture, who caused crops to 'yield milk' (i.e., do well) Believed to be the origin of the verb "lactate."

 

LADON:  In Greek mythology, a demonic reptilian dragon which guards over the tree with golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides.

 

LAHAR:  A Sumerian goddess representing the mother sheep; she taught Mankind how to breed and rear cattle.

 

LAKA:  Goddess of song and dance in Hawaii.

 

LAMA:  A Hittite-Luvian protective god, also known as Innara.

 

LAMARIA:  Goddess of the hearth and tutelary goddess of women and cows among the Svan people of the Western Caucasus . Her name shows a Christian influence (Maria)

 

LAMIA:  This vampire-like spirit which abducts children and sucks peoples' blood figured in popular belief in ancient Greece and continues to do so. He is similar to the Roman Lemures.

 

LAN CAI-HE:  One of the "eight immortals." He is depicted sometimes as a boy, sometimes as a girl and sometimes as a hermaphrodite. His attributes are a flute and a basket of flowers.

 

LAO-ZI:  The founding father of Taoism who rose to one of the highest positions in the Chinese pantheon. His mother was supposed to have borne him from her armpit under a plum tree. He was born with white hair and could already speak. According to the legend he rides to the West on a water buffalo and is reborn as Buddha. In popular Taoism he is regarded as the tutelary patron of occult science and alchemy. In deified form, he bears the name Lao Jun.

 

LARAN:  Etruscan war-god, usually portrayed as a naked youth with a cape, a lance and a helmet. The basic meaning of the name may be something like 'strong' or 'manly.'

 

LARES:  Roman tutelary gods which protected the house and family. The image of the lar familiaris was set up in a small shrine in the Roman hearth; In the Empire period, they were imagined as pairs of dancing youths, each holding up a wreath or a horn.

 

LARUNDA:  An old Italic goddess, often imagined as the mother of the Lares; more likely, she is a form of the Earth-goddess. Her name is explained as a verbal form meaning, "May she cause the Earth to turn green."

 

LAUKA MATE:  Latvian goddess of fields and fertility. known as the "mother of the plough-land." The peasants prayed to her and made sacrifices so that the fields might bear plentifully.

 

LAVERNA:  Old Italic goddess, who may have been queen of the underworld, as libations to her were poured out with the left hand, as was customary in cults of the underworld.

 

LEDA:  In Greek myth, the mother of Kastor and Polydeukes. It is possible that Leda developed from an ancient Earth and mother goddess in Asia Minor. There was the Lycian word Lada (woman) which may have derived from Leda.

 

LEGBA:  A celestial trickster in West Africa to whom Mankind owes the gift of prognostication and the interpretation of oracles. His sacred animal is the dog, which is used as his messenger.

 

LEI-ZI:  Chinese goddess of thunder and originator of silkworm breeding.
 

LELWANI:  Hittite deity of the underworld, originally thought of as male and designated as a king. Subsequently, under the influence of the Mesopotamian Ereskigal, Lelwani became a female deity. Those faced with death had surrogate images sacrificed to the goddess. Her shrines were connected with charnel-houses and mausoleums.

 

LEMURES:  In Roman belief, evil spirits of the dead who wander about as nocturnal bogeymen. Their feast, the Lemuria, was held on November 9 and May 13; on these occasions householders went out at midnight and threw black beans to them as a peace offering, making sure to keep the face turned away.

 

LETO:  In Greek mythology the daughters of the Titans Kois and Phoibe.The name Leto is connected to 'Lada', meaning 'woman' in Lycian.

 

LEVIATHAN:  A monster in Phoenician mythology; in the Old Testament Book of Psalms, it is the dragon of chaos overcome by Jahwe.  Equated with the crocodile and the whale, Leviathan is one of the forms in which the devil manifests himself.

 

LEZA:  Chief god of the southeast African Bantu tribes in northern Zimbabwe. He is conceived as being bodyless and sexless. He is creator of all things; All Leza does
is good; above all, he sends rain.

 

LHA:  In the ancient Bon religion of Tibet, the designation for gods, translated in Sanskrit as "deva."

 

LI:  In Chinese belief the Chinese lord of fire; as "Zhu Rong" he is the regent of the southern quarter of heaven; in myth, Li is responsible for the separation of Earth and Heaven.

 

LIBER:  Old Italic God of animal and vegetable fertility. After equation with Dionysos, he figured on his own, as nothing more than a god of wine. On the day of his feast, March 17, youths donned the "toga virilius" for the first time in token of their reaching man's estates.

 

LIBERA:  Old Italic goddess, daughter of Ceres and sister of the fertility god Liber. Libera was equated to the Greek goddess Persephone.

 

LIBERTAS:  Roman goddess, the personification of freedom. She had a temple of her own on the Aventine Hill. Her attributes were the "freedom hat", the pilleus (the felt hat which slaves put on when they were freed), and a scepter or lance.

 

LIBITINA:  Roman goddess of interment; her temple and sacred grove formed the center of funerary arrangements in Rome. In poetic language Libitina is a metaphor for
death.
 

LILITH:  The female demon in Jewish popular belief and mentioned in the Old Testament. She has her origins in the Lilitu of Babylon demonology, but popular etymology has taken her name to mean "she of the night." Lilith was imagined as a nocturnal ghost. In Talmudic lore she was regarded as a devilish being, and as Adam's first wife. The owl was sacred to her. From Palestine, her cult spread to Greece where she merged with Hekate.

 

LILITU:  Ancient Syrian mountain goddess, forming a pair with the weather-god Manuzi. Bulls were sacrificed to both.

 

LILURI:  Ancient Syrian mountain-goddess, forming a pair with the weather-god Manuzi. Bulls were sacrificed to both.

 

LIR:  The name is connected with the Irish word for 'sea.' Sea-god in the Irish tradition bravest man of the Tuatha De Danann. In Wales, the god was known as Llyr.

 

LOA:  Divine beings revered in Haitian voodoo. The antecedents of the Loa go back to their roots in Africa, and acquired many traits of Catholic saints.

 

LOCANA:  A Buddhist goddess, assigned as partner to Variocana or Aksobhya. She expresses the spirit of peace and her attribute is the wheel.

 

LODUR:  A god mentioned in the German creation myth. With Odin and Honur, he played a part in the creation of Man, and his name means "The Blazing One."

 

LOKI: The artful dodger in the Germanic pantheon and also the site of several agencies hostile to the gods. In one of his manifestations as a male, Loki gives birth to the stallion Sleipnir. He can in fact take on any shape he wishes. Popular etymology connects his name with the German word log or lohe — fierce flames. When Loki appears with Odin he acts as the factorum of the gods; otherwise, he is their adversary, causing the death of Balder and brings about the destruction of the world, Ragnarok. He is a favorite figure among skinheads.

 

LUCINA:  Old Italic goddess of birth, whose grove was on Cispius. She was absorbed by Juno in her capacity as goddess of women.

 

LU DONG-BIN: [One] of the "Eight Immortals." Many tales are told of his wondrous deeds. He is the tutelary god of barbers. His attribute is a sword with which he slays demons.

 

LUG:  A Celtic god after whom the ancient capital of Galliens Lugdunum (Now Lyon) was named. Although a god of war and the magic arts, poets benefited from Lug as
well as warriors and magicians.

 

LUGALBANDA:  Deified king of the Sumerian city of Uruk.

 

LUNA:  Roman goddess of the moon, whose chief temple was on Aventine Hill. She was equated with the Greek Selene, and like her, took on the traits of Hekate.

 

LUPERCUS:  Roman god with whom the ancient feast of Lupercalia, February 15th, was associated. Translations of his name mean "wolf-being" or wolf-repeller." Lupercalia was also believed to be an origin of the celebration of Valentine's Day.

 

LUR:  A Basque word meaning "Earth;" Also, the name of an Earth-goddess. In Roman times there was Pyrenean goddess named Lurgorr ("Red Earth" in Basque).

 

LYKURGOS:  Greek name of a God revered in northern Arabia, probably Syrian in origin.

 

MAAHES:  A god in the form of a lion who was worshipped as a sun-god in ancient Egypt, especially in the Nile delta. He represents the consuming powers of the scorching heat of midsummer and has the epithet "Lord of Slaughter." In Greek writings he appears under the name Miysis or Mios

 

MAAT:  Ancient Egyptian personification of world order, incorporating the concepts of truth, justice and legality. Her shrines were used as venues for trials, and judges were regarded as her priests.

 

MACHAS:  In Old Irish religion, a group of three goddesses who discharge the functions of motherliness, agriculture and war.

 

MAFDET:  Ancient Egyptian goddess in the form of a feline predator; she is in charge of castigation, and is often shown together with an apparatus for execution.
 

MAH:  In Persian, the word means moon and moon-god. He is the source of the cow, the most important animal in Iranian religion and mythology. On Kushan coins we see the moon-god in cloak, doublet and trousers with tips of the sickle-moon sticking out of his shoulders. On other coins, Mah is symbolized as part of the crown of Khusrau II.

 

MAHAPRABHU:  The chief god of the Bondo people of Orissa.

 

MAHREM:  Chief god of the Axumite (Old Ethiopic) Empire, whose kings called themselves the 'sons of Mahrem' before the coming of Christianity.

 

MAIA:  Old Roman goddess of growth, whose cult is associated with that of Vulcanus.

 

MAITREYA:  Name of the future Buddha (the fifth,) alleged to show the way to Nirvana. Iconographically, he is represented by a white blossom and a "stupa" in his head-dress.

 

MAJAS GARS:  A domestic spirit in Latvia. Until the 19th century, many prayed and offered small sacrifices to Majas Gars to gain his sympathy and ensure the prosperity of the household.

 

MAJU:  Also known as Sugaar, a divine spirit of the Basques, and husband of Mari; when the two meet, there is a thunderstorm; Maju is sometimes depicted in the form of a serpent.

 

MAL:  An old Dravidian pastoral god. His name means "the dark one." Blue in appearance, the banyan tree is sacred to him, and the weapons he used included
the discus, club, bow and sword.

 

MAMA:  A Mesopotamian goddess who played a definitive part in the creation of Man from clay and blood. In Akkadian, she had the epithet "midwife."

 

MAMITU:  Originally a Mesopotamian goddess of oaths; later, a female judge of the underworld. In one underworld vision, she is described as being goat-headed.

 

MAMMON:  In the New Testament, riches seen as unjust profit: "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon (Book of Luke). The personification of riches, the idol of gold. In medieval scholasticism he is classified among the devils.

 

MAMU:  An Australian aboriginal spirit personified as the dingo. It was believed that Mamu's spirit ate and absorbed the spirits of children who strayed at night.
 

MANABOZO:  A kind of redeemer in the mythology of the Menomeni Indians of North America and related tribes. In these myths, which take many forms, he appears as a trickster. His name means "Big rabbit." He is said to have invented the ball game and he fought against the evil Anamaqkius. Manabozo is the grandson, sometimes the son, of the Earth Mother, and he came into the world under a bowl.

 

MANASA:  An Indian snake goddess; her cult is that of a fertility goddess. She is venerated in Bengal, where she is invoked as protection against snakebites.

 

MANAT:  Old Arabian goddess, one of the 'Daughters of Allah.' Her chief image was set in the area between Mecca and Medina. The name means "fate," and in areas where Hellenic culture was in contact with Arabian, she was understood as "Tyche" (Nemesis).

 

MANDA/SANI:  In India, the divine regent of the planet Saturn; he is also known as Sani. He is old and lame and travels in a cart drawn by eight horses or rides on a blackbird, vulture or raven.

 

MANDA Di-HIIA:  A god of the Mandaeans. As his name's translation (Knowledge of life) suggests, he personifies Mandaean teaching; as the teaching is centered on redemption, he is considered to be a savior or redeemer.

 

MANDAH:  Designation of a pre-Islamic category of gods, who were primarily concerned with irrigation, but who also show the characteristics of protective deities. The collective designation mandah can be associated with the name of an individual god such as "Attar."

 

MANDULIS:  A Nubian god, an offshoot of whose cult was to be found in Philae in Egypt. He was venerated as a sun god and a sky god by the Romans.

 

MANGALA:  An Indian stellar deity, ruler and representative of the planet Mars.

 

MANITU (MANITOU):  Manitu is the name given by Algonquin Indians to an impersonal force that informs all things in certain tribes such as the Lenape. It is the designation of the Supreme Being, the Great Sprit and the chief of all gods who are his representatives (or manitowik).

 

MANJUSRI:  One of the most popular of the "Bodhisattvas" patron of wisdom, who bestows knowledge and eloquence on his disciples.

 

MARA:  In Buddhism, the adversary of Guatama Buddha, who appears as and is described as a king.

 

MARAMA:  Moon goddess of Maori people of New Zealand. Periodically, her body wastes away, but it is restored to new splendor when she bathes in the water of life.

 

MARCHOSIAS:  In medieval demonology, a prince of the hellish realm with the wings of a gryphon and the tail of a snake. Before the fall of Satan, he belonged to the hierarchy of the angels.

 

MARI:  Mother-goddess of the Dravidian peoples of southern India; she is one of the most popular village deities.

 

MARICI:  A Buddhist goddess with solar traits, who travels in a vehicle drawn by seven boars. and is described in Buddhist texts as being surrounded by a garland of rays.
 

MARS:  Roman god of war and protector of the fields and what grows in them. The third month March is named for him. The Romans called themselves "sons of Mars" as they regarded him as the father of Romulus and Remus. The holy shield of Mars, which was supposed to have fallen from heaven, was kept in the office of the Pontifex Maximus on the Forum and regarded as the guarantee for the continued existence of the Roman Empire. Every 5 years the state performed a solemn sacrifice in his honor. Because of the dance they performed during the rites, the priests of Mars were called salii — "jumpers." Augustus consecrated a temple to Mars Ultor (the avenger), and from 3 B.C. onwards, Mars was equated with the Greek Ares.

 

MARTU:  Old Mesopotamian god of the steppe, supposed to be the son of the sky-god An; on occasion Martu appears as a storm-god who destroys settlements.

 

MARUNOGERE:  Mythical cultural hero of the Kiwai-Papua in New Guinea. He taught the people how to build communal long houses, and created women's sexual parts.

 

MATARAS:  In India. a group of seven to nine goddesses shown in the company of Shiva. Their functions are not clearly defined.

 

MATE:  Latvian word for "mother" — part of the names of several deities such as "Juras Mate" (sea mother), "Uguns Mate" (berry-mother) and "Joda Mate" (devil's mother).

 

MATSYA:  In Indian mythology, the piscine "avatara," in which Visnu rescued Manu from the waters of the deluge.

 

MAWU:  Sky-god of the Ewe people of Togo. He created the spirits to create a link between himself and human beings. Among the Fong people of Dahomey, Mawu is female and identified with the moon.

 

MAYA:  In Vedic times, a designation for the power of the gods, created by Vishnu, from which the world is generated.

 

MAYIN:  Supreme god of the Tungus along the Yenisei River in Siberia; the name means 'giver of life.' He sends souls into the bodies of new born children and receives into heaven the souls of those who have lived a a good life.

 

MA-ZU:  A goddess worshipped on the southeast coast of China. She is helpful to fishermen in distress on the seas snd her epithet is "tian-hou" or "Queen of Heaven."

 

MAZZIKIN:  Evil spirits mentioned in the Talmud along with the Sedim; both do what they can to make life difficult for other human beings.
 

MBOTUMBO:  God of the Baule negritos in the Ivory Coast. He has the head of an ape and is particularly interested in the welfare of his own priests, though he is also regarded as a protective god by the ordinary people.

 

MEDEINE:  A Lithuanian goddess of the woods, known for references ro her in medieval chronicles.

 

MEDITRINA:  Ancient Roman goddess of the healing art, which was ousted by the cult of Aesculapius.

 

MEDR:  An old Ethiopic Earth spirit. It is not known whether it is male or female.

 

MEFITIS:  A Roman goddess venerated in connection with sulfur springs; the intoxicating fumes were also known as mefitis.

 

MEHIT:  Ancient Egyptian lion-goddess worshipped in the neighborhood of Thinis.
 

MEN:  A Moon-god, particularly venerated in Phrygia in Asia Minor and believed to rule not only over the heavens but over the underworld as well. When plants and animals floundered and prospered, this was ascribed to his heavenly influence. His epithet was "tyrannos"— master, a word which Greeks took from the Lydian language.

 

MENRVA:  An Etruscan goddess, corresponding to the Greek Athena, her attributes being a helmet, spear and shield. Menrva was believed to have sprung from the head of Tinia.

 

MEN SHEN:  Two Chinese gods whose task is to look after gateways and doors. Paper images of them are posted on doors at Chinese New Year to protect inhabitants from demons.
 

MENULIS:  The moon god in the belief of the ancient Lithuanians. Mythologically, the husband of the sun but living apart from her, as he is in love with the morning star.
The moon was also called Dangaus Karalgi: "Heavenly prince."

 

MERCURIUS:  Roman god of trade and industry, whose shrine in Rome was on the Circus Maximus. It was not until he was equated to the Greek god Hermes that he became the god of trade and merchants. "Mercury," used in modern times, has been used as a name and logo for a car company, a record label and a floral service, among others.

 

MERESGER:  Snake goddess and protective deity of the Theban necropolis in ancient Egypt.
 

MERET:  Ancient Egyptian goddess of song and rejoicing. As Queen of the treasury, she is often depicted standing on the hieroglyph for 'gold.' She appears in double form as Meret of Upper and Lower Egypt.

 

MESLAM TAEA:  A Sumerian god representing the war-like aspect of Nergal, god of the underworld.

 

METATRON:  A benevolent demon mentioned in the Kabbala, angel of the countenance and custodian of strength. He receives prayers from human beings and plaits them into crowns to be set on the head of God.

 

METIS:  Greek goddess of wisdom, daughter of  Tethys and Okeanos; she was the first wife of Zeus.

 

MEZA MATE:  Among the Latvians, an inferior nature deity; the name means "Mother of the forest" and she is said to be a patron of hunters.
 

MICTLANTECUTLI:  Aztec god of the underworld (Mictlan) where icy cold reigns and where poisonous snakes are the only food. The god of death is usually depicted with protruding teeth, as in a skull.

 

MIDGARD-SNAKE:  In Germanic mythology, an enormous demonic being, the progeny of Loki. It lies in the world ocean which surrounds the disc-shaped earth. Its' archenemy is Thor, who tried in vain to fish it out of the water. At Ragnarok, the destruction of the world, Thor and Midgard killed each other.

 

MIDIR:  An Irish god, lord of the land of Mag Mor, tutor of the god Oengus. Having lost an eye from a blow fom a stake of a hazel tree, he was healed by the god of healing, Dain-Cecht.

 

 MIHR:  Armenian sun-god, related to the Persian Mithra. Accompanied by a raven, he lives in a cave and while on Earth manifested himself in the form of fire.

 

MIKAL:  A Phoenician god revered in Cyprus. In function, a god of plague and pestilence.

 

MIMIR:  In Norse mythology, the gigantic demon of a well whose waters confer ultimate wisdom on those who drink from them.

 

MINERVA:  Greek goddess of wisdom, learning, arts, crafts and industry. Her symbol
was the owl, and it is believed her name came from the Etruscans. The Romans celebrated a festival in her honor every March, and a statue in honor of her can be seen in New York City at Columbia University.

 

MINOS:  In Greek myth, the son of Zeus and the Phoenician princess Europa. Because of his exemplary rule as king over Crete he was translated after death to the underworld, there to judge the dead. Minos displays traits of a bull revered as a god.

 

MINOTAURUS:  In Greek mythology a fabulous being with a human body and a bull's head. It was kept captive by the Cretan king Minos and finally slain by the Athenian hero Theseus.

 

MIRSA:  The celestial lord of light and fire in the popular belief of the Georgians and the Mingrelians in the Caucases. It is possible that the name is a corruption of the Persian "Mithra." People turn to him for protection from diseases of the eye.

 

MITHRAS: The Greco-Latin name of the Iranian Mithra, whose cult and mysteries were spread by troops and seafarers  all over the Roman Empire in the first and second centuries. As the god of loyalty, truth and the fight against evil,  Mithras became the favorite god of soldiers. The cult excluded women — its rituals were held by night in underground rooms. The central act was the slaughter of a bull, an act which engendered the world and its vegetation. Mithras' original identity as a god of light was intensified until he appeared as Sol Invictus, the invincible sun. In late antiquity the universal appeal of this god show itself in a number of symbioses with gods such as Zeus, Mercurius, and Serapis.

 

MITRA:  The Vedic god of friendship and contracts. While Varuna ruled the night and made dark sacrifices, Mitra ruled the day and made white sacrifices.

 

MNEMOSYNE:  The Greek goddess of memory
 

MNEVIS:  The sacred bull of Heliopolis which was, like Apis, a symbol of fertility. He was also described as the herald of the sun-god.

 

MOG RUITH:  An Irish god, who rides in a chariot of bright bronze, or flies through the air, like a bird. The "ruith" component of its name may be connected with "roth" (wheel), thus indicating a solar trait in the god.

 

MOKOS:  East Slavic goddess of fertility. She was a protector of women in the process of delivery; her functions were transferred at the coming of Christianity to the Virgin Mary.

 

MOLOCH: A Greek transcription of the Hebrew Molek, the name of a Canaanite god, to whom human sacrifice was originally made. Many Israelites consecrated their children to Moloch by throwing them into the flames. The name Moloch has been compared with the Punic root MLK —"offering" or "sacrifice"; if a connection can be established this would suggest that Moloch was not a god but rather a particular form of sacrifice.

 

MOMOS: In Greek religion, the personification of blame, censure. Hesiod describes Momos as one of the sons of night.

 

MON:  In the region of the Kafirs of Eastern Afghanistan, the first divine creation of Imra. First and foremost, Mon is the slayer of demons. Among the Prasun he is known as Mandu.

 

MONTU:  An Egyptian deity, a falcon-god of war, representing virility, strength and victory.   It was said that he also manifested himself as a white bull with a black face; Egypt's greatest general-kings referred to themselves as the Mighty Bulls, the sons of Monthu.

 

MORMO:  A ghost and bogeyman in Greek popular belief.

 

MORPHEUS:  Known as the Greek "god of dreams," the son of Hypnos, god of sleep. He sleeps in a cave, surrounded by poppies. He sends images of humans in dreams or visions and is attributed with shaping dreams. "Morphine" derives its name from Morpheus, and there are references to him in such works as The Metamorphoses of Ovid and Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen.

 

MORRIGAN:  Irish goddess of war, whose name is interpreted as meaning 'Queen of the Ghosts." She rages about as a sort of fury in battle, usually in the form of a bird and also switches to the role of a goddess of the underworld.

 

MUGASA:  Mythical sky god of the African Bambuti tribe. He lived in a hut and did not wish to be seen by men. When they disobeyed his command he took himself away.

 

MU GONG:  In Chinese Taoist literature, the god of the immortals, lord of the east end, embodiment of the Yang principle. He is the husband of Xi-Wang-mu, who lives in the west.

 

MULA DJADI:  The creator of the Toba-Batak in Sumeria. He lives in the loftiest of the seven heavens, and two swallows serve him as messengers.

 

MUMMU:  Adviser of the old Mesopotamian primeval god Apsu. Both were overcome by Ea, who stripped Mummu of his "radiance" appropriating his being for himself.

 

MURUKAN:  Ancient Dravidian deity, whose name mean "the youthful one." He is also known as Ceyon (the red one). He is the divine hunter and warrior, therefore
identified with the Hindu Skanda. He rides on an elephant or a peacock. His banner is adorned with a cock and as an attribute he carries a spear along with a garland of flowers of the Katampu tree. Murukan's own epithet was Katampan, or god of the Katampu tree.

 

MUSISI:  A god of the Ndonga people in Angola; Musisi acts as an interceder for mankind.

 

MUTU:  In modern Assyrian verse, the god of the underworld and the personification of death. He can be recognized by his reptilian dragon's head.

 

MUTUNUS TUTUNUS:  A Roman god, represented as an ithyphallic or as a phallus. Women brought offerings to him in the hope that they would thereby be blessed with children.

 

NABU:  Babylonian god of wisdom, the son of Marduk and Sarpantu. His attribute is the writing stylus. As scribe of the tablets of destiny he occupied a high rank in the Babylonian pantheon. The city of Borsippa was the centre of his cult, as of that of his wife Tasmetu.

 

NAHI:  An ancient north Arabian god, whose function was in general, helpful and protective.

 

NAIADS:  Nymphs who dwell in springs, pools and rivers.

 

NAMMU:  A Sumerian goddess the primeval mother who gives birth to heaven and earth; she also appears as creator of mankind.

 

NANAJA:  Ancient Mesopotamian goddess of sex who also had a warlike function. In the Hellenistic period, her cult had spread to Syria and Iran.

 

NANDIN:  A white bull in the retinue of the Hindu god, whose virility it incorporates. In the Puranas Nandin is invoke as a divinity.

 

NANG LHA:  A Tibetan house-god, to whom beverages are ceremonially offered. Nang-Lha is usually pictured in human form, but with the head of a pig.

 

NANNA:  Sumerian moon god whose cult had its center at Ur. He was regarded as a 'lord of destiny" and he corresponds to the Akkadian "Sin."

 

NANSE:  The local god of Lagas in Sumeria. She is the god of soothsaying and interpreter of dreams.
 

NANTOSUELTA:  A Celtic goddess, linked with Sucellus, seeming to suggest a goddess of the dead, while her attribute, a cornucopia, points in the direction of life. In the country of Mediomatrici, she is portrayed with a small house in her hand; perhaps she was a kind of protective deity.

 

NAPIR:  The moon god of Elam, Babylon's Iranian neighbor state
 

NARAYANA:  In India, this name is associated with the concept of a supreme being, understood as a manifestation of Brahma or of Vishnu. According to one tradition,
he drifted on a banana leaf and sucked his toe (a symbol of eternity) until he had shaped the universe out of his own creative energy. An iconographic shows Vishnu-Narayana during the universal night, mounted on the snake Ananta, with a lotus bearing the god Brahman. There are 700 million Hindus in India.

 

NARI:  Demonic beings who seem to have been in origin the souls of dead children. The Bulgarians imagine them in the shape of birds. In the Ukraine they are reckoned as belonging to domestic goblins.

 

NARKISSOS (NARCISSUS):  Son of the Greek river god Kephissos and the
Naiad Leirope. In unrequited love for his own image reflected in the water, he wasted away until he was transformed into the flower Narcissus.

 

NATHA:  One of the four chief gods of Sri Lanka, also identified as the future Buddah, Maitreya. The Buddhist goddess Tara is supposed to be his spouse.

 

NAUNET:  In the ancient Egyptian cosmology of Hermopolis, she is the female counterpart of Nun, the personification of the primeval deep. She serves as an underworld kind of counter-heaven through which the sun traverses during the night.

 

NDJAMBI:  Sky-god of the Herero people of southwest Africa, the source of all good deeds. Whoever dies a natural death is borne aloft by him. It is not permissible to utter his name, except on very special occasions.

 

NEBRIDA:  Egyptian god venerated in the form of a headless skin hung on a pole. Set up as a protective emblem at the royal throne, he is associated with the god Anubis.

 

NECHBET:  Upper Egyptian goddess of the monarch, represented as a woman with a vulture's skin on her head. Her tributes are a rod of authority and the eternity symbol. Her sacred creature, the vulture, becomes symbolic of the whole of Upper Egypt, with the snake representing Lower Egypt. In popular belief in the days of the New Kingdom, Nechbet was revered as a goddess of birth.

 

NEFERHOR:  Ancient Egyptian god, forming a triad with Nechmetawaj and Thot. The name means "he who is fair of face."

 

NEFERTEM:  Ancient Egyptian god of sweet savior; it actually refers to the lotus flower he wears on his head; he is sometimes shown with a lion's head as his mother Sachmet was a lion-goddess.

 

NEMESIS:  A Greek goddess who saw to it that injustice and luck were evenly distributed in human life and who meted out due punishment for misdeeds and arrogance. The cult of Nemesis is centered around Rhamnus in Attica and in Smyrna. Nemesis was regarded as the goddess of the "agone" (sporting competition) and
under the Roman Empire, she was honored in amphitheatres and at race courses.

 

NEMETONA:  A Celtic goddess who was often coupled with the god Mars. Her name is derived from the word nemton or "shrine," or "sanctum," and means something like,
"she who is revered in the shrine."

 

NENUN:  Ancient Egyptian local god of Kus: a falcon-god, later equated with Haroeris.

 

NEPER:  This old Egyptian word means "corn" and is the name of the god personifying grains.

 

NEPIT:  The female counterpart of the Egyptian corn god Neper. She is usually shown in human form carrying a sheaf of corn on her head; sometimes she takes the form of a snake.

NEPTUNE: Old Italic god of flowing water. The people celebrated his feast (Neptunalia) on July 23, the aim being probably to ward off the high summer drought. Neptune was equated with the Greek sea-god Poseidon, and he was, in addition, the god of race courses.

 

NEREIDS:  The fifty war-gods of the Greek god Nereus. They live on the Greek mind today as gentle fairies.

 

NEREUS:  Greek god of water, son of Pontos and the Earth goddess Gaia. Father of the Nereids. Like other sea-gods he has the gift of prophecy and is able to change his appearance at will.

 

NERGAL:  An ancient Mesopotamian god of the underworld, the husband of Ereskigal. He was particularly venerated in the city of Kuthu, whose name served as a synonym for the realm of the dead. In origin, Nergal was an earth god incorporating the heat of summer and who brought fever and pestilence to human beings.

 

NERTHUS:  The Roman historian Taritus records the existence of this German goddess, He called her Mater Terra (Mother Earth). Archeological evidence suggests her cult was mainly centered in Denmark. In Norway and Sweden, Nerthus is transformed into the figure of the male Njord. It is likely that Nerthus and Njord are later versions of an originally androgynous deity.

 

NETHUNS:  Etruscan god of water, especially wells and springs, later, of the sea. The name corresponds to the Latin Neptune. Like Neptune, Nethus is shown naked and bearded with a wreath of leaves in his hair.

 

NETON:  An ancient Hispanic war god with astral character. The name is probably derived from the Celtic word "Neto" (warrior).

 

NGAI:  The supreme god of the Masai people, in East Africa. The name means 'rain' and indicates that Ngai was originally seen as a weather god. When a male Masai
dies, Ngai is invoked as follows: "Oh god. I pray, give health, give possessions, give children." Ngai is also revered as a supreme god by the Bantu Kikuyu people; he lives in heaven and lightning is visible evidence of his presence. (Ngai is currently worshipped by the Kenyan cult known as the Mungiki, or 'multitude.' They are a revival of the Mau Mau, who led a bloody rebellion from 1952-1960).

 

NIAMYE:  The supreme god of the Baule people of the Ivory Coast. Born of the mother of the gods, he hurls thunderbolts at people of Earth who misbehave.

 

NIDHOGGR:  A corpse-eating demon of Nordic mythology and a demon of the underworld.

 

NIKE:  Greek goddess mentioned first in Hesiod. She is the personification of victory given by Zeus or Athena. She is mostly portrayed as a winged messenger of the gods, with laurel wreath, girdle and palm leaf. Her Roman counterpart is Victoria.

 

NINMAH:  The Sumerian name means "most great queen" and refers to a Mesopotamian mother-goddess. She is also called "Dingirmah" or "most great divinity."

 

NINAZU:  Sumerian god of the underworld. As his name (Master Physician) suggests, he is a god of healing.

 

NINGAL:  The wife of ancient Mesopotamian moon god Nanna, and mother of the sun god. She appears in Syria under the name "Nikkal"
 

NINGYO:  A mermaid in Japanese popular belief. She has a human torso and a fish's tail. She wards off misfortune and preserves peace in the land.

 

NINLIL:  Ancient Mesopotamia goddess wife of Enlil and mother of Nanna. A compassionate goddess with maternal traits, she was taken by the Assyrians to be the wife of the tutelary god of the empire, Assur.

 

NIN'INSINA:  The Sumerian local goddess of Isin; in the Babylonian period she acted as a goddess of healing. At times, she is identified as Inanna.

 

NINSUSINAK:  The national god of Elam; the name is actually Sumerian in origin and means "lord of Susa."

 

NINURTA:  Ancient Mesopotamian god, son of the god of healing, "Enlil." Ninurta is worshipped for the nourishing of herds and the fertility of fields.

 

NIRAH:  Old Mesopotamian god who incorporates a snake in its aspect: He is represented as a snake on Babylonian border markers.

 

NIRRTI: East Indian goddess of destruction, who threatens both living and dead. In sacrificial ritual, she is allotted the color black, and her messenger is the dove. Her husband Nirrita, is lord of the south-west precinct.

 

NISABA:  Sumerian goddess of the art of writing and knowledge, daughter of the sky-god An. Giving men understanding; her emblem is the writing stylus. Originally, Nisaba was a goddess of corn.
 

NIXE:  From the old High German "nihhus" (cocodile); the male Nix was originally a water-monster of an animal nature; in Sweden, it is called "Niick." The female Nixe is a water-sprite with a human torso and a fish's tail.

 

NJORD:  A Germanic god, descended from the Vanir, but resident with the Aesir until the end of the world. He rules over wind, sea and fire.

 

NOMMO:  In the cosmogony of the Dogon people of West Africa, a designation for primeval beings who existed along with the Creator-god Amma. They are life-giving figures belonging to the day and the sky, and are associated with rain and fertility.

 

NONA:  A Roman goddess of birth, so named because of the nine-month term of pregnancy.

 

NORNS:  In Germanic mythology, "spae-wives" who determine a person's fate on Earth the moment they are born. In "The Voluspa" they are named as Urd, Verdandi and Skuld (past, present and future). The thread of fate which the Norns spin is only occasionally mentioned. In essence, the Norns are closely related to the Valkyries.

 

NOTOS:  Greek god representing the south wind. He is a son of the morning and his Roman equivalent is Auster.

 

NOTT:  In Nordic mythology, the daughter of a giant: she drives her chariot across
the sky, with the leading stallion be-dewing the Earth. Her son is "Dag" or "the day."

 

NUADU:  An Irish god-king who lost his hand in the Battle of Mag-Tured, but had it restored to him by Dian-Checht. He is the god of regal authority and is progenitor to the Irish royal lines.

 

NU-GUA:  Ancient Chinese creator- divinity, regarded as both male or female, who first formed humans from yellow clay and is credited with inventing the flute.

 

NUM:  Sky god and supreme deity of the Samojedic people. The god is the creator of the sun, moon and Earth, but delegates the running of the world thus ordered to inferior deities. Reindeer are sacrificed to him and hung up on trees or poles.

 

NUSKU:  Mesopotamian god of light and fire, He is the enemy of witches and demons. A lamp, used as his symbol, was placed on Babylonian border markers.
 

NUT:  She-goddess of the ancient Egyptians. In the evening, she swallows the sun in the west, only to eject it next morning in renewed vigor to the east. She is the "one who eats all her piglets." She is connected with the concept of resurrection and the coffin is regarded as a symbol of heaven from where the dead awaken. In art, she is often shown being raised by the god of the air, Su, above the Earth-god, Geb. In other interpretations she is depicted as a cow.

 

NYAMA:  Designation for a class of wild animal rich in supernatural power, derived from the Bantu its meaning to be fish, animal or game. The word can be used to denote spiritual powers, and among the Mandingo, is used as a name for certain deities.

 

NYAME:  Supreme being of the Akan tribe of Ghana. He sends the soul into the human embryo to determine human destiny. His sacred number is five and being androgynous, Nyame can also appear as a goddess.

 

NYMPHS:  Female nature deities of a lower order than gods, sometimes regarded as demons, especially when accompanied by satyrs. In Greek myth they were referred to as 'daughters of Zeus" and were regarded as conferring fertility.

 

NYRCKES:  Part of an old Finnish list of gods as the one who gives "squirrels from the forest." In magic formulae used by hunters he appears as lord of forest animals.

 

NYX:  In Greek Cosmogony, the personification of night. She was regarded as a primeval goddess in whose presence Zeus was apprehensive. Derived from Chaos, she gave birth to the heavens and day and her sons were Hypnos (sleep) and Thanat (death). 
 

NZAMBI:  The supreme god of the Bakongo people in the Congo area of Central Africa. He is invisible and has created all men and all things and punishes those who transgress his commands. One tradition tells how Nzambi was born as a three-headed androgynous being. Among the Equatorial African Pangwe, the god figures under the name Kzame. He is invoked only when people want rain.

 

OANNES:  The Greek form of the name of an old Mesopotamian god who was half-man and half-fish, who instructed mankind in handicrafts and applied science.

 

ODIN: A Germanic god, described in the Edda as chief of the Aesir and the husband of Frigg. He is the god of war, patron of heroes and father of the dead, served by the Valkyries. Sacred to this god are the wolf and the raven. Two ravens, Munin and Hugin whisper into his ear what they have seen on their flights. The name Odin or Wotan is connected with the German word Wut (rage or fury). In saga and belief he appears as a one-eyed warrior with a spear or as a wanderer with a blue mantle. In myth Odin was swallowed by Fenrir at Ragnarok and in Scandinavia and England the third day of the week Wednesday is named after him.

 

ODQAN:  Mongolian fire spirit; the name, borrowed from the Turkish, means fire king. The female version, "Yal-un-kee" is older and means "mother of fire."

 

ODUDUA:  The earth-goddess of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. As a fertility bringer, she is also a goddess of love.

 

OGMA:  Chief god of the Irish pantheon. In the battle against the demonic Fomore he was able to take the King's sword away from him. One of his epithets is "he whose visage is like the sun." One of his greatest achievements was to invent the Orgham script, used in older texts of the Irish language.

 

OGMIOS:  A Gallic god corresponding to the Irish Ogma. It may be Ogmios who appears on old coins in the shape of a head. His name has been interpreted as "he who leads the dead."

 

OKEANOS:  The designation of the representation of the waters which girdle the Earth and from which all springs, rivers and lakes derive. The etymology of the name is unknown. Okeanos was supposed to be the son of the sky-god Uranos and the Earth goddess Gaia and husband of Tethys. He is portrayed as bearded and carrying a water-pot or urn. 

 

OKEUS:  For Indians living in the Virginia area, this was the evil counterpart to the
great god Ahone. the European colonists declared him to be a devil.

 

OLIFAT:  In the belief of the Caroline Islanders, a superhuman figure, part hero, part rogue. His father was a sky-god, his mother a mortal. He gave mankind fire, but also gave teeth to the shark so that it could eat men.

 

OLMAI:  Among Lapps, this word denotes divine properties in reference to gods.
 

OLOKUN:  In Yoruba cosmogony, the god of wealth and the sea. He is often seen on
Benin bronzes. He has legs like fish fins and in both hands he holds a lizard. Human sacrifice was made to him in order to appease his anger. Among the Iba Iko, he was worshipped in the form of a water jug.

 

OLORUN:  The supreme god of the Yoruba, It was he who charged the sky-god Orisa Nla to create a fundament, then sent the rain vitally necessary for the growth of plants, He has neither temples nor priests, and he can only be invoked as a last resort in the direst of circumstances.

 

ONURIS:  "He who brings the faraway" — The Greek form of the god Anhuret, and worshipped in the Upper Egyptian city of Thinis. He is the deification of the royal hunter and warrior.

 

OPS:  Wife of Saturn, Ops was the Roman goddess of seed growth and the harvest. She was worshiped by the North African Berbers.

 

ORA:  In Albanian popular belief, a female protective spirit.  Each of us is equipped  with an "Ora" at birth, which may have a white or black visage, according to whether it has a brave, industrious person  to look after, or a lazy, cowardly one.

 

ORAHAN:  The sole god worshipped by Canary Islanders on the island of Gomera. He is enthroned in heaven and his enemy is the woolly-haired and demonic Hirguan.

ORANOS:  First god of the sky, before Cronos. Gaea, first living creature on Earth, had a son without a husband, named Oranos. She married him and Mother Earth and Father Sky joined.

 

ORCUS:  Roman god of the underworld, lord of the realm of the dead and equivalent to the Greek lord Hades. He appears as a fierce fighter who strikes the valiant to the ground and who runs down the cowardly fugitive. In popular belief, he appears as a demon with black wings.

 

OREADES:  In Greek Mythology, nymphs who lived on mountains or in caves.

 

ORION:  Son of the Greek sea-god Poseidon. He was a mighty hunter who was abducted by Eos to be her lover. But the Olympians begrudged Eos possession of the youth and he was killed by an arrow from Artemis. According to another version, he was slain because he made sexual advances of the goddess herself or one of her nymphs. Orion was elevated to the stars, where his constellation is still to be seen.

 

ORISA NLA:  Sky-god of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He is delegated by the supreme god Olorun to create the Earth, the other gods, and the first men.

 

ORO:  War god of Tahiti who ousted the ancient war god Tu from this office.
 

ORPHEUS:  Son of the Thracian river-god Oiagros and the Muse Kalliope. Apollon is often said to be his father. Orpheus can charm plants and animals with his singing and lute-playing. When his wife Eurydice died, he moved the gods of the underworld so deeply with his singing that they restored her to him. She went back to him. She went back to the underworld again because Orpheus disobeyed the command of the gods and looked around after. Later, she was torn to pieces by Thracian Maends and interred by the Muses.

 

ORUNMILA:  Among the Yoruba people of Nigeria, a god of compassion who comes down to Earth to help people.

 

OSTARA:  Germanic goddess who gave her name to the Easter festival, the personification of the rising sun associated with the dawning of spring.

 

OUIOT:  Primeval father and moon-god of the Luiseno Indians of southern California. Ouiot said that he would return three days after his death, which was alleged to have occurred according to Luiseno belief.

 

OYA:  Mother goddess of the Yoruba people in Nigeria. She is the "good mother" but as goddess of storms she has her terrifying aspect as well. She can even bend the spirits of the dead to do her bidding. She is the goddess of dancing and is accordingly represented on the rods carried by Yoruba women in folk dances.

 

PABILSANG:  A Sumerian god, son of the god-king Enlil and husband of Nininsina, a god of healing.

 

PATECATL:  Aztec god of medicine and "lord of the pulque root." His wife was the pulque goddess, Mayahuel.

 

PACHAMAMA:  A fertility goddess in the Incan Empire, still revered in some of the Andean valleys. The name means 'earth mother'. Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, participated recently in a large government-promoted Pachamama celebration.

 

PACHET:  "She who scratches" — an ancient Egyptian goddess of the desert, in the form of a lion. She was thought of as being connected with the crown goddess Urthekau.

 

PAJONN:  Lappish god of thunder. The name comes from "pad'd't" (meaning: above).
The god is known as "He who dwells above in heaven."

 

PALES:  A Roman goddess who appears as the guardian of flocks or herds. Her birthday, April 21, was celebrated as the birthday of Rome, in token of its founding by herdsmen.
 

PALK:  The sun god in the religion of ancient Korea; the founder of the realm of light
and the adversary of Kud. His cult was practiced on mountain tops. There, sacrifice was made to him, with stringent attention paid to the correct eastern orientation.

 

PALLAS:  One of the Greek Titans, husband of Styx and father of Nike. One legend says that Athena skinned him as the result of an attack on her; Athena, in some legends, is nicknamed Pallas-Athena.
 

PAN: A god of fields and the woods, son of the gods of herds and a nymph, represented with the horns and legs of a billy goat. He has a habit of appearing out of the blue, especially in the hush of the noonday, which caused panic among men and animals. The name Pan has been connected with the Greek word Pan meaning "all."

 

PANDARA:  A Buddhist goddess, the partner of Amitabha. Her element is fire and the passion of love, and she appears in various forms.

 

PANKU:  A primeval giant in Chinese mythology. He was born from the five basic elements and used a hammer and chisel to form the Earth. According to one version of his myth, he rose from a world-egg in which the not-yet divided Yin and Yang lay; from
these elements he formed the Earth. After the death of the giant, the sun rose from his left eye, the moon from his right eye, the rain from his sweat; his flesh decomposed and fell apart to form arable land, and plants grew from his hairs.

 

PAPAS:  A Phrygian god, equated by the Greeks with Zeus. He is said to have impregnated a stone which then gave birth to the hermaphrodite known as Agdistis.

 

PAPSUKKAL:  An ancient Mesopotamian god; a messenger of the gods who also acts as a gate-keeper.

 

PARA:  Goblin-like beings of Finnish folklore; they are domestic spirits who take the form of snakes, cats or frogs and who can increase one's supply of corn, butter, milk and money.

 

PARASURAMA:  "Rama with the ax" — this is the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, who took this form to break the tyranny of the warrior caste to help the Brahmans to take power. According to belief, he used an ax to kill his mother at the request of his father. Afterwards, he pleaded unsuccessfully for her re-awakening.

 

PARCAE:  Originally a pair of Roman goddesses of birth, Decuma and Nona; later, under the influence of the Greek Moirai, a triad was formed by the addition of the goddess Morta, the death-goddess. They were seen as the decisive influences on one's personal fate.

 

PARIACACA:  The god of rain, water and thunder of the pre-Inca Indians of the central Andes. In myth, he is the adversary of the fire-god Caruincho.

 

PARJANYA:  Old East Indian rain god and generator of vegetation; the Earth is thought of as his wife.
 

PARVATI:  Wife of the Hindu god Siva, daughter of Himavat, king of the mountains. Her son was the war-god Kattikeya. Parvah merges into the better-known goddess Durga.

 

PASIPHAE:  In Greek mythology, the wife of the Cretan king Monos. She was supposed to be the daughter of the sun-god Helios and was also interpreted as a moon-goddess due to her name: "she who shines on all." The fruit of her union with a bull sent by Poseidon was Minotauros.

 

PATTINI:  The most important female deity of the Sinhalese. She watches over marriage and keeps epidemics at bay, and she is said to have brought the cultivation of rice into Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). "Fire-walking" is a practice bound up with her cult.

 

PAX:  Roman goddess of peace, equated with the Greek Eirere. It was during the rule of Caesar Augustus that she first acquired an altar on the Field of Mars. On coins, she
appears as a youthful woman with a garland of corn, a cornucopia and an olive branch.

 

PAZUZU:  An old Mesopotamian demon with four wings and a scowling visage. He was the representative of the stormy winds from the southeast and was feared as a
bringer of illnesses. His power to harm could be countered by various spells and incantations. 

 

PEITHO:  Greek goddess of peace. In ancient Athens, she was worshipped from the end of the fifth century BC onwards. At the feast of Synoikia, a bloodless sacrifice was made to her.
 

PEKAR:  A Tibetan demon-prince who probably played a part in the pre-Lamaist Bon religion and who may also appear as a divine figure. He rides on a white lion and is regent of the northerly quarter.

 

PELE:  Volcanic goddess of Hawaii, unpredictable and liable to sudden outbursts of anger. She comes originally from Kahiki (Tahiti), expelled by her divine brothers who could no longer put up with her insubordination. Pele is also called "Hina-ai-malama," or "Hina who eats the moon." It is possible that she is the Hawaiian form of the Polynesian moon-goddess Hina; both goddesses are also in control of lightning.

 

PEMBA:  Brother of Faro, the creator-god who became pregnant by rocking the universe. Worshipped by the Bambaras of Mali. 

 

PENATES:  In ancient Rome, the protectors of the store rooms and the supplies therein; later widened to signify house and family spirits in general. They were venerated, with the Lares at the household hearth. These spirits had no proper names. The domestic penates were paralleled by the Penates Roman Populi, the protectors of the Roman people.

 

PENEIOS:  A Thessalian river god who was the son of Okeanos and Tethys. His daughter was Daphne

 

PERCHTEN:  Demonic creatures in myth and folktale, especially in Alpine areas. It is claimed in folk tales that they mix with the eerie throng in hope of grabbing a victim incognito. The old beliefs linger on in the Perchten processions with their demonic disguises.

 

PERENDI:  Old Illyrian name for God, related to the Lithuanian "Perkunas" (god of thunder), a storm god whose name, with the coming of Christianity was retained in Albanian as the ordinary designation for God.

 

PERIT:  In Albanian belief, female mountain spirits clad in white. They punished anyone who was wasteful with bread by turning them into a hunchback.

 

PERKUNAS:  Lithuanian god of thunder, bringer of rain and fertility. He protects law and justice and pursues demons.

 

PERSE:  The wife of Greek god Helios; she embodies the underworld aspects of the moon-goddess.
 

PERSEPHONE:  In Greek myth, daughter of Zeus and wife of Hades, who abducted her as a child. Afterwards she spent one third of each year in the underworld (during which time the plants withered) and two-thirds of the year with her mother Demeter, the Earth Goddess. Both were regarded as goddesses of vegetation. Plants consecrated to Persephone are the ear of the corn and the pomegranate.

 

PERSES:  A Titan-like god of light, son of Perseus and father of the star goddess Hekate

 

PERSEUS:  Son of Zeus, who united with Danae in the form of golden rain. He was charged by Polydektes, King of Seriphos, to bring him the head of Medusa. He slew her by cutting off her head with a scythe-shaped sword given to him by the Nymphs, and on his return to Seriphos, he rescued Andromeda from a sea-monster.

 

PERUN:  A Slavonic god of thunder, especially venerated in old Russia. His name is taken to mean "striker." ThePolish word piorun means 'thunder'. Among the images of gods erected at Kiev, Perun was shown with a club as an attribute. It is doubtful whether Perun can be connected with the thunder-god of the Baltic peoples. Whether
Perun can be etymologically connected with the Lithuanian word Perkunas, is not certain.

 

PETACATL:  Aztec god of medicine and "lord of the pulque root." His wife was the goddess Mayahuel.

 

PETBE:  Old Egyptian god of retaliation, whose cult was known in the Ptolemaic-Roman period. His name was used as an epithet denoting a specific aspect of death.

 

PETESUCHOS:  Old Egyptian crocodile- god venerated in Fayum in the Greco-Roman period.

 

PHAETON:  Son of the Greek sun god Helios, who caused a fire when he was permitted to drive the sun-chariot, according to myth.

 

PHORKYS:  A Greek sea-god, whose epithet was "krataros" (the strong one). He was the husband of Keto, and their children were the hideous Grali, and the terrifying Gorgons. Hesiod says that Phorkys was a son of the Earth-goddess Gaia and the sea-god Pontos.

PHOSPHOROS:  Greek god of the morning star. He was represented as a winged youth hurrying ahead of his mother, the Sun Goddess Helios, with a torch in his hand. His name means "he who brings light."

 

PICUS:  In origin, a forest demon, later the patron of husbands. The woodpecker was sacred to Mars and sometimes, equated with the god.

 

PICULLUS:  Old Prussian god of the underworld who came to be identified with the prince of hell.

 

PICVU'CIN:  God of hunting and of wild creatures among the Chukchi in East Siberia. He is so small that he can ride on a tiny grass sledge drawn by mice, but has the strength of a giant. He derives his nourishment from odors, probably from those of the sacrifice.

 

PIDRAI:  The consort of the Phoenician god Baal. She probably represents some form of meteorological phenomenon.

 

PINIKIR:  A mother goddess revered in Elam, comparable to the Babylonian Isar. It is not known if Pinikir corresponds to the Kirissa, often mentioned in invocations to the gods.

 

PIRWA:  A Hittite deity whose name is derived from 'peruna' or 'cliff'. An associated epithet is "queen." but the deity is considered to be male. His attribute is the horse.

 

PITARAS:  "The Fathers;" In India, the venerable dead, immortal and divine beings, and the first to follow the path to Heaven found by Yama.

 

PLEIADES:  In Greek myth, the seven daughters of Atlas who were pursued by Orion the Hunter and placed in heaven by Zeus as a constellation.

 

PLUTUS (PLUTO):  Son of the harvest-god Demeter and the demi-god Iasion. The personification of wealth, Plutus was also thought to be the child of Hades and Persephone.

 

POLYHYMNIA:  The muse of grave and solemn song accompanied by instruments. Her name means 'she who is rich in songs.' She is represented without any attribute, in earnest meditation.

 

POLYPHEM:  The one-eyed son of the sea god Poseidon and the nymph Thoosa. He was one of the Cyclops in whose cave Odysseus and his companions found themselves.

 

POMONA:  A Roman goddess of ripening fruit, the wife of the vegetarian god Vertomnus. She is often presented as the beloved of Picus. Her name comes from the Latin "Pomum" (fruit of a tree).

 

PON:  Sky-god of the Yukagir of East Siberia. He causes the order of day and night and gives the blessing of rain.
 

PONTOS:  The classical Greek word for "sea," and the name of a sea-god. His union with his mother Gaia produced the sea-gods Nereus and Phorkys.

 

PORENUTIUS:  A Slavonic god worshipped on the isle of Rugen; he was depicted as having four heads.

 

PORTUNUS:  Roman god of the house-entrance. On August 17, the feast called Portunalia, people threw their house keys into fire to make them immune to misfortune.

 

POSEIDON:  Greek god of the sea, son of Kronos and Rhea. He sends storms and earthquakes, but also was known to favor sea travelers with a peaceful voyage. His trident is a symbol of fishing, but was regarded as one of the most powerful of gods. He was believed to be close to the Earth goddess Demeter and Orion was among his many
children.

 

POTHOS:  Personification of a divine primeval force in late Phoenician cosmology, who according to myth, moved as a dark wind over the face of Chaos and impregnated himself.

 

PRAJAPATI:  In the "Rigveda" the name of the divine creator of the world. In the "Arthavaveda" he is listed as the creator of heaven and Earth and in Hinduism, "Prajapati" is an alternate name for Brahma.

 

PREAS EYSSAUR:  A god of the Khmer people; he is perceived as a destructive god, but from death, engenders new life. In this, he corresponds to the Indian god Shiva.

 

PREAS PROHM:  A mythical primeval god of the Khmer, himself uncreated but containing within himself all power. Preas Prohm is represented as having four faces,
and corresponds to the Indian "Brahma."

 

PREAUS EYN:  God of the Khmer people of Kampuchea; he rides a three-headed elephant, hurls bolts of lightning and corresponds to the Indian god Indra.

 

PRENDE:  Old Illyrian goddess of love, partner of the thunder-god Perendi. Today, she is a Catholic saint and an Albanian "Queen of Beauty" according to folklore; Friday is sacred to her.

 

PRETA:  Spirits of the dead in Buddhist and Hindu belief. In certain Buddhist iconography, certain deities are shown standing on a Preta, symbolizing the power of the teaching.

 

PRIAPOS:  Greek god of fertility, unknown until the Macedonian hegemony. His parents were said to be Dionysos and Aphrodite. His cult was said to be most admired in Asia Minor and in Lampsakos, he was supposed to be the most important figure in their pantheon. He was the patron of fishermen and sailors.

 

PRITHIVI:  In India. the Earth. felt as a mother and symbolized as a cow. In Vedism, she is revered with the god of heaven, Dyasus. Among her children are the dawn (Usas) and fire (Agni).
 

PROMETHEUS:  Son of Titan, who stole fire from the gods and gave in to Man. As a punishment he was chained to a rock in the Caucasus. An eagle fed daily on his liver, which was self-restoring. Prometheus was a cultural hero who brought Man fire and
also handicrafts and art, and was revered in Athens as a patron of craftsmen. One tradition makes him out to be the actual creator of the human race as he formed men and women from clay and water.

 

PROTEUS:  A 'divine old man of the sea' in Greek mythology. He was able to assume various shapes and had oracular powers which anyone smart enough to catch him could benefit from.

 

PUCK:  In North Germany and Scandinavia, a type of goblin; existing in English and popular belief, as an evil spirit. The word "Puck" was taken over by the Baltic peoples as "Pukis." Also, the inspiration for the character Puck in the Shakespeare play,

A Midsummer Night's Dream.

 

PUDICITIA:  A Roman goddess, the personification of chastity and demureness, represented as a matronly figure.
 

PUGU:  The sun-god of the Yukaghir in eastern Siberia. He is a champion of righteousness and punishes all deeds of violence.

 

PUKIS:  A kind of dragon in Latvian folk-belief. The name may be of German origin. As a rule Pukis is not malevolent. Indeed, he may even help you amass riches. In Lithuania, "Pukys" appears as a goblin-like domestic spirit; then again, as a dragon, bringing treasure.

 

PURA:  The supreme god of the Indians of Guyana, also connected with the moon-god. The word is also used to denote a power of a divine or supernatural nature.

 

PWYLL:  A god of the underworld worshipped in ancient Wales. It is told of this son Pyderi that he brought pigs from the underworld to Wales.

 

PYTHON:  A dragon that guarded the oracle of its mother Gaia in Delphi; it was finally slain by Apollo.

 

QUANDISA:  A female demon who lives in springs and rivers of northern Morocco who seduces and robs men of their reason.

 

QUAT:  The creator-god of the Banks Islanders in Melanesia. Out of boredom, he created pigs, people, trees and rocks.

 

QAYNAN:  A god in pre-Islamic South Arabia. The Arabic word "qain" means blacksmith, so Qaynan may well have been a god of smiths and their craft.

 

QUETZALCOATL:  Originally, an ancient Mexican god, possibly based on a historical priest-king; the cultural hero of the Toltecs. The Aztecs furnished him with various offices: god of the wind, god of the zodiac and lord of knowledge. He is said to have been seduced by Tezcatlipoca, whereupon he burned himself to death and was transformed into the morning star. He was also seen as a moon-god who burns himself
in the sun in order to reappear in renewed youth. He is the counterpart to the divine warrior Tezcatipoca, and the creator of the first humans who he kneaded together out of the meal of the rubbed-down "jewel-bone," mixed with his own blood.

 

QUILLAH:  The moon-goddess who was especially deeply venerated in the Inca Empire. She was closely associated with the Inca calendar, as feast days were nominated according to the phases of the moon.

 

QUIRINIS:  This god was revered along with Jupiter and Mars as the third member of an ancient divine triad. His sacred plant was the myrtle, a symbol of bloodless victory.

 

QUIRITIS:  The protective deity of motherhood in the Sabine pantheon, corresponding to some extent to the Roman god Juno.

 

QORMUSTA:  Among the Mongolians, the highest of the gods called "Heavenly Ones." As king of the the gods he rests in the center of the world and is associated with the genesis of fire.
 

QUZAH:  An ancient Arabian god of storms and thunder who was worshipped in the
neighborhood of Mecca. His weapon is a bow which he uses to shoot arrows of hail.

 

RADHA:  In Indian tradition, a cow-girl who was the beloved or the wife of Krishna. Their love symbolized the relationship between the deity and the individual soul; Radha is worshipped by a number of Vishnuite sects.

 

RAHAB:  A monster of chaos in the Old Testament, the exemplar of powers inimical to God. Visualized as a sea serpent.

 

RAHU:  The Indian demon of eclipses. He drives in a car drawn by eight black horses and pursues and sun and the moon with his jaws open; when he succeeds in swallowing one or the other, there is an eclipse. He is also portrayed on the chariot
of the Buddhist goddess Marici.

 

RAKSAS:  In Vedism, nocturnal demons who go about in the shape of dogs or birds, harming people. Their king is Ravana, who abducts Sita, the bride of Rama.

RAMA:  Also called the Ramacandra (Rama the Moon). he corresponds to the seventh incarnation of the Indian god Vishnu. In the Ramayana, the heroic saga of India, it is told how Rama conquers the king of the demonic Raksas and frees his wife Sita. In
iconography, his attributes are a bow and arrows. A cult of Rama is attested from the eleventh century onwards and in Vishnuite north India, his name is a designation for the supreme god. More than one million north Indian royal dynasty saw Rama as
the divine progenitor and Rama is still worshipped today.

 

RAN:  A Sea-woman in Nordic mythology, the daughter of Aesir. She possesses a net with which she fishes up all those who have been drowned. Later, she acquired the status of a goddess of the dead, ruling over her own necropolis.

 

RAN-DENG:  In Chinese legend, a beggar-woman who saved up her money until she could afford to light a lamp to Buddha's altar, whereupon it was prophesized that she would be a future Buddha.

 

RANGI:  A Polynesian sky-god. To the Maori in New Zealand, he and the earth goddess Papa form the divine primeval pair, from whose warm embrace, all living beings arose, led by the gods such as Tangaroa and Tan.

 

RAPITHWIN:  Old Iranian god of mid-day, lord of summer and the southerly quarter.

 

RASNU:  In old Iranian religion, the personification of righteousness. He makes an appearance at the last judgment. where he weighs good and bad deeds with golden scales. As 'Rajna' he was also known in north India.

 

RATNAPANI:  A "Dhyani-Bothisattva" of minor importance. He is green in color, and his season is the spring. His car is usually drawn by a pair of lions or a horse.

 

RATRI:  In Indian mythology, the night; sister of the dawn. As a benevolent goddess, she is invoked for protection against robbers and wolves.

 

RAUDNA:  A Lappish goddess, wife of the thunder-god Horagalles. Her name means 'mountain ash' and can be translated to the Finnish "Rauni."

 

RAVANA:  The ten-armed, twenty-armed prince of the demonic Raksas in Indian mythology. It was in order to break his power that Visnu was born as the prince Rama.

 

REAHU:  The name given by the Khmer people to the dark demon who pursues the sun and moon through the heavens in order to swallow them.

 

REMANTA:  In Buddhism, king of the horse-gods and lord of the easterly quarter of heaven; he rides a red horse and carries a red banner.

 

RERET:  Ancient Egyptian hippopotamus goddess, whose name really means "sow."

 

RHADAMANTHYS:  The brother of Grecian king Minos, who rules over the Islands of the blessed, where the souls of the gods' heroes are sent.

 

RIBHUS:  A triad of Indian gods of somewhat inferior rank: Ribhu, Vaja and Vibhvan. They were sons of Indra and Saranyu, and they were of human descent and their promotion to divine status was a reward for their skilful work. They provided Indra and the Asvins with their vehicles.

 

RIGENMUCHA:  Supreme being of the Papua tribe in New Guinea, he is conceived as a lone disembodied being of the heavens who created the world and controls life and death.
 

RINDL:  A north Germanic goddess. Her name has not been satisfactorily explained, but it may be connected with the word "rind" (ivy), which would associate the goddess with generative growth. She has also been interpreted as an Earth goddess. A liason between her and Odin produced the god Vali.

 

RISABHA:  The first herald of salvation in Jainism. He is golden in color and symbolized by the bull.

 

RISIS:  In Vedism, the singer of holy songs before the dawn of time; holy ones raised to supernatural status who form the seven stars of the Great Bear.
 

ROMULUS:  Son of vetsal priestess Rhea Silvia and the god Mars. He was exposed in the Tiber with his brother Remus, both were suckled by a wolf and reared by a herdsman. When Rome was founded, Romulus slew Remus and became Rome's first king. At the end of his life he was supposed to have journeyed up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Later he was revered as the god Quirinus.

 

RONGO:  Polynesian god of peace and agriculture. It is he who causes food plants to grow. He abominates blood sacrifice. On Mangareva, he is the rain-god who manifests
himself in the rainbow. The name means "sound" or "noise"; he is therefore,
'the sounding one', represented by the islanders on Mangala as a large Triton's horn.

 

ROSMERTA:  A goddess of fertility and riches venerated in northeastern Gaul. Iconically, she is shown with a cornucopia and the Caduceus, the winged sepented staff of medicine and healing.
 

RUDA:  A pre-Islamic deity revered in northern Arabia. Ruda can be both male and female, and is usually associated with the evening star.

 

RUDIANOS:  A Gallic local god of warlike character, a manifestation of Gallic "Mars."

 

RUDRA:  Indian god of storms. In the "Rigveda" he appears as a vengeful archer
who fires his arrows of sickness at gods, men and animals. His name is interpreted to mean "the howler" or "the red one."

 

RUGIEVIT:  A god who was once worshipped on the island of Rugen by Slavs who originally lived there. His function was probably war-like. According to the ancient Dutch historian Saxo Grammaticus, he was portrayed as having seven hands, one bearing a sword.

 

RUNDAS:  Hittite god of hunting and good fortune. His emblem is a double-eagle with a hare in each of its talons.
 

RUSALKA:  Demonic female beings among the east Serbs. They are water nymphs who dance in forest clearings and meadows on the night of the new moon. Their shrill laughter can be fatal to men.
 

RUTI:  A pair of lions revered in the Egyptian city of Letopolis. They were early identified with Su and Tefnu, and among their functions was the nourishment of the dead.

 

RUWA:  God of the Africa Djaga tribe.  He created a Garden of Eden where the yam was the "forbidden food."

 

SADDAI:  In the Old Testament, a very obscure epithet of "Jahwe" (Yahweh); in the combination "el saddai," it is usually translated as "God the Almighty" or "God most high."

 

SADRAPA:  Ancient Syrian god of healing. In Palmyra as a youth, he was represented with a snake or a scorpion. He was worshipped in Carthage and in the Roman city of Leptis Magna

 

SAFA:  God of weapons among the Ossetians of the Caucasus; tutelary spirit of the
chain involved with home and hearth.

 

SAHRIM:  The Sahrim are mentioned in the Old Testament as demons in the shape of goats The name is derived from the word sa'ir or "hairy." In Leviticus 17:7, the children of Israel are forbidden to make sacrifice to the goat-spirits.

 

SAI:  In ancient Egypt, the personification of Destiny and its shaping. Like the Greek Agathos Daimon, he can be represented as a snake.

 

SAJIGOR:  A god in the pantheon of the Kalas people in the Hindu-Kush, possibly with a military function. His symbol is a knife.

 

SAKTI:  Female creative energy, personified in Hinduism as a goddess. in popular belief, "Kamaksi" is venerated as the supreme Sakti.

 

SALA:  Old Mesopotamian goddess, the wife of the Akaddian weather god Adad, or of Dagan, who was taken over from the West Semites.

 

SALMAN:  Pre-Islamic god revered in north Arabia; his name means "peace" or "blessing."

 

SALUES MEITAS:  In ancient Latvian mythology, goddesses known as the 'daughters of the sun'
 

SALUS:  Roman goddess, personifying the general welfare of the state, later identified with the Greek Hygieia and revered as a protector of health with a snake.

SAMAS: Semitic word for the Babylonian sun-god. During the day he sees all things and is the god of justice and an oracle. He is symbolized by a sun-disc and a four-pointed star with rays. He is a "judge of the heavens and the earth."

 

SAMPSA:  A Finnish vegetarian god whose name means "sedge." When Sampsa lies idle in bed, neither rye nor oats can prosper, so the god must be roused. Before sowing, he celebrates marriage with his step-mother. Sampsa  is a sower who sows pines, firs and juniper.

 

SANDA:  An ancient Luvian (related to Hittites) god in Asia Minor, who occasionally  appears as "Mundak" originally from Babylon.

 

SANGARIOS:  An ancient Anatolian river god. His daughter Nana (an epiphany of the Magna Mater) is impregnated by the fruit of an almond tree and gave birth to Attis.
 

SANGO:  God of thunder among the Yoruba of Nigeria. On his head he bears a large axe with six eyes. The thunder is represented by the bellowing of the ram, the animal sacred to the god.

 

SAPS:  The goddess of the sun in the myth of the Ugaritics. She is called the "light of the gods."

 

SARA:  Ancient Mesopotamian god of the town of Umma. He was said to be the son of  Inanna, a goddess of love and war.

 

SARASVATI:  An ancient Indian river goddess. In the Brahmanas, she is identified with with speech. The Hindus venerate her as Vagdevi, goddess of language. She is regarded as the creation and wife of Brahma and mother of the Vedas. She rides on a swan or sits on a lotus flower.

 

SARKANY:  A weather demon of the ancient Hungarians: He had multiple heads, lived in the underworld and was armed with a saber and the morning star. Seated
on his charger, he rides along with the thunder clouds, often accompanied by a magician. Sarkany can turn people into stones. In Hungarian  folklore his name is
applied to a dragon.

 

SARPANITU:  Wife of chief Babylonian god Marduk. As "Eura" she figured as a god of pregnancy.

 

SATARAN:  Ancient Mesopotamian god who appears as both judge and doctor. As regards to the latter aspect, it is fitting that the snake-like Nirah should be its messenger.

 

SATI:  In Indian mythology, the daughter of Daksa and wife of Siva. Grief-stricken by reason of her husband's dispute with her father, she seeks release in death. Her corpse was dismembered by Vishnu, but the goddess was reborn as Parvati.

 

SATURNUS, Roman god of agriculture, presumably taken from the Etruscans. As early aa the 5th century BC his temple stood on the Forum, At his feast, the Saturnialia held on 17-19 December it was custom for masters to serve their slaves and people gave each other candles as presents, whose lights was supposed to be a magical contribution to the powers of the winter sun. Saturday is named for him.

 

SATURNUS AFRICANUS:  This god was revered in Roman North Africa. In some respects he is reminiscent of the Punic god Baal. He appears as a bearded old man and is regarded as lord of heaven, time and agriculture. His attributes comprise sickle, honey-comb of fir cone and a lion. He is the 'god of fruits.'

 

SATYR:  Licentious and lecherous, and accompanying the Greek god Dionysos, they were thought to be hybrid creatures, half-man and half-horse, with animal ears, a pelt, horns and a tail. They were related to the Silenes as demons of fertility, often hardly to be distinguished from them.

 

SAULE:  The Latvian sun goddess in mythology and folktale; she is hailed sometimes as a sun-virgin and then again as the "mother sun." She is wooed by the sky-god Dievs and the moon-god Meness. Saule herself was thought of as dwelling on her farm estate on top of the mountain of heaven and she was invoked in prayer to foster the fruits of the Earth. Among Lithuanians, Saule (the sun) figures less prominently as a deity, having been set in heaven by the divine smith, but here too we find the tradition that the sun and moon form a conjugal couple.

 

SAVITAR:  The Vedic god who sees the whole span of heaven, and who drives man and animals to activity. (Savitar means stimulator). He drives in a golden chariot, and has golden arms which reach to the frontiers of heaven — in other words, a solar god.

 

SAXNOT:  Originally the tribal god of the Saxons, mentioned in a Low German manuscript along with Odin. Considered to be a form of the god Tyr.

 

SAOSYANT:  In Iran, the original title of the eschatological hero and coming savior.
According to the "Avesta" he renews the world and resurrects the dead.

 

SECHAT-HOR:  Ancient Egyptian cow goddess, queen of the herds and foster mother of the infant Horus. She was particularly venerated in the third nome of Lower Egypt.

 

SECURITAS:  The personification of security, revered by the Romans as the goddess in whose hands the permanence of Empire rested.

 

SEDIM:  In the Old Testament, devils or demons to whom the Israelites made sacrifice; in some translations of the Bible they appear as goblins.

 

SEDNA:  Sea goddess of the Inuit on Baffin Island . In east Greenland she is known as "mother of the sea" while the polar Inuit refer to her as Nerrivik ('eating place"), an apt description of the sea as a source of nourishment. Sedna is queen of the sea creatures.

 

SEDU:  In the days of the Babylonian Empire, a kindly and helpful demon. In the late Assyrian period, Sedu and the female Lamassu were winged bull-beings who protected the palace entrances.

 

SELARDI:  Moon god of the Utarian contemporaries of Assyrians, who lived in what is now Armenia.

 

SELKET:  An Egyptian goddess of the dead who uses magic spells to help the sun-god against his enemies. Her symbolic animal, worn on her head, is the scorpion.

 

SELVANS:  An Etruscan god; the similarity in name had led scholars to compare him with the Roman god of fields and forests, Silvanus.

 

SEMNOCOSUS:  A war god worshipped in northern Hispania, whose cult became popular among Roman troops. Prisoners, horses and goats were sacrificed to him.

 

SENTAIT: Ancient Egyptian goddess in the form of a cow

 

SEPA:  An old Egyptian word meaning "centipede." It is the name of a god who was invoked in charms and spells against dangerous animals and enemies of the gods. He was identified with Osiris, the god of the dead.

 

SEQUANA:  A Gallic goddess of the River Seine and the tribe of the Sequanae. The duck is sacred to her.

 

SERI and HURRI:  Divine bulls and companions of the old Anatolian weather god Iskur. Their names mean "day" and "night" and are invoked whenever taking an oath.

 

SERKET-HETU:  An old Egyptian goddess whose name means "Let throats breathe." She is the tutelary goddess of the dead and uses magic to help the sun-god against his enemies. Her symbolic animal, which is worn on her head, is the scorpion.

 

SESA:  An Indian snake-demon, who bears the Earth or enfolds it. He is the king of the Nagas. Under the name of Ananta, he is the symbol of eternity and ranged under Vishnu.

 

SESAT:  Ancient Egyptian goddess of writing. Her most important function was the recording of the Pharaonic years of rule and jubilees and she is regarded as the sister or daughter of the moon-god "Thot."
 

SETH:  The shady god in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. As lord of the desert he is the adversary of Osiris, god of vegetation, and the fight between the two brothers
reflects the permanent struggle between these two aspects of nature. As Seth murders his brother, he came later to be regarded as the embodiment of evil and the Greeks equated him with Typhon. The horse, antelope, pig, hippopotamus and crocodile were regarded as sacred to Seth, who had a positive aspect, appearing as the Upper
Egyptian partner of the Lower Egyptian tutelary god Horus.

 

SETHLANS:  Etruscan god of fire and blacksmiths; in iconography, equated with the Greek "Hephaestus"

 

SHAKTI DEVI:  Shakti meaning force, power or energy is the Hindu concept or personification of God's female aspect, sometimes referred to as 'The Divine Mother.' Shakti represents the active, dynamic principles of feminine power. In Shaktism, Shakti is worshiped as the Supreme Being. However, in other Hindu traditions, Shakti embodies the active energy and power of male deities (Purushas), such as Vishnu in Vaishnavism or Shiva in Shaivism. Vishnu's shakti counterpart is called Lakshmi, with Parvati being the female shakti of Shiva.

 

SHEN-NONG:  A Chinese cultural hero, also called the "divine husband-man"; bearing the head of an ox, he was venerated for bringing agriculture, and the knowledge of healing and curative herbs to Man.

 

SHEN YI: Chinese sun-god, known as the Divine Archer. It is said that once there were ten suns in heaven whose heat threatened all life on Earth. Shen Yi shot down nine of them and became lord of the remaining one; In terms of "yin-yang" symbolism Shen Yi incorporates the male yang while his wife Heng E represents the female yin.

 

SHESMU:  Ancient Egyptian god of oil and wine pressing. To the dead he offers wine, and as for sinners, he tears off their heads and presses them into his wine-press.

 

SHI-TENNO:  The name applied to one of the four Shintoist gods who guard the heavenly quarters. Their Indian counterparts are known as "Lokapalas."

 

SHOSSHU:  God of blacksmiths and metal workers among the Abkhaz people who live in the Caucasus. Oaths were sworn and pledges made over the anvil which represented the god.

 

SHURDI:  A god of thunderstorms who antecedents go back to the ancient Illyrians who once lived in present-day Albania. The name is interpreted as meaning, "the deaf one" and may be connected with the name of the Thracian god Zibelthiurdos.

 

SI:  A moon-god heading the pantheon worshipped in the ancient Chimu Empire of Peru. On vases, he is shown with his wings in a sickle-moon shape.

 

SIGYN:  Wife of the Germanic god Loki. For his part in the murder of Balder, Loki was punished by having a poisonous snake suspended over his head, but Sigyn collected the venom in a bowl as it dripped down.

 

SILENE:  Two-legged, half-human horse-like beings in Greek mythology. One, Silenos, led the Satyrs, and appeared as the tutor of Dionysius.

 

SILEWE NAZARATA:  A goddess revered on the isle of Nias (Indonesia). She represents life in all its forms and is regarded as helpful to mankind. Nevertheless she bears the epithet "she who is feared." The moon is often said to be her dwelling-place. Otherwise, she sits with her husband Lowalangi in the loftiest sphere of heaven.

 

SILVANUS:  Roman god of fields and woods. He was portrayed as a peasant, either naked or clad in a tunic. He wears a wreath of pine twigs and has a goat skin over his shoulders. It is possible that he can be traced to the Etruscan Selvans, whose name means "He who lives in the woods."

 

SIMIGI:  A sun-god of the Hurrians in ancient Anatolia. In significance and appearance he coincides with the Hittite Istanu

 

SIN:  A god of the moon and riches revered in pre-Islamic south Arabia.

 

SINGBONGA:  The chief of the Mundas who speak an Austro-Asiatic language and live in Eastern India. The word sing may mean 'sun' and 'bonga' originally meant 'spirit' or"higher being.' In the Ho tribe the god is called Sirma Thakur (Lord of Heaven). White goats and white cocks are sacrificed to Singbonga.

 

SIPE GYALMO:  In the Bon religion of Tibet, a goddess who is "Queen of the world." In art, she is depicted as having three eyes and six arms.
 

SIRAO:  An ancient tradition among the islanders on Nias, Indonesia tells that Sirao was the first of the gods who created the Earth, and then the first existent being, named Sihai. The world tree sprouted from Sihai's heart, according to another version of the myth from his son; from his right eye came the sun and from his left eye came the
moon. Among other names, that of Lowalongi is mentioned as Sirao's son.

 

SIRENS:  Divine hybrid creatures, half-maiden, half-bird, gifted with the power of bewitching song. They dwell in Hades or in heavenly fields. They beguile passing mariners with their song and then suck their blood. In this, they are close to the Harpies, and were often represented on monuments as figures of mourning.

 

SIRONA:  A Celtic goddess revered in the Mosel Valley, and often connected with the Gallic-Roman Apollon. There are conflicting theories as to her function: she may have been a goddess of springs and wells or possibly a stellar goddess.

 

SITA:  Incarnation of the Indian god Laksmi, born from a field, hence the name, which means "furrow."

 

SITALA:  Bengali goddess of smallpox, often seen riding an ass. In Southern India, she is revered under the name Mariammaons.

 

SIUS:  A sky god and sun-god of the Hittites who invaded Asia Minor. Subsequently he had to relinquish his solar aspect to other deities.

 

SIWINI:  Urartian sun-god; also known as "Simigi" among the Hurrarians.

 

SKADI:  Norse goddess of winter and the hunt. She is also the goddess of justice, vengeance and righteous anger, and condemned Loki to be bound underground with a serpent dripping poison on his face. Skadi is featured in Hans Christian Anderson's
stories The Snow Queen and The Ice Princess.

 

SKAN:  Sky god of the Sioux Indians. He was revered as the source of all power and strength and as creator of the world, which he ordered. Skan is judge over the gods and over the souls of men.

 

SKANDA:  Indian god of war; son of Shiva, as a young man he was known as "Kumara" (youth). He rides on a peacock in some interpretations, has six heads, twelve arms and carries a spear, arrows and a bow. In south India, he is worshipped as Subrahmanya - "favorable to Brahmins."
 

SKYLLA:  In The Odyssey, a monster lurking by certain straits which devoured passing seamen. It was imagined as having twelve and six heads which were canine or lupine. Later Skylla and Charybdus were identified as the whirlpool, dangerous to shipping, lying in the Spirits of Messina.

 

SMERTRIOS:  Warlike deity of the Gauls, especially the Treveres. On a relief discovered in Paris, Smertrios is portrayed as an athlete, killing a snake with a club.

 

SO:  The name given to the god of thunder by the Ewe people of Togo and Ghana; because of this, Ewe people are forbidden to drink rain water, as it is the water of So.

 

SOKAR:  A Falcon-god of the dead, revered in the area of Memphis in ancient Egypt. As lord of the necropolis he became patron of the craftsmen working there and was equated with Ptah, and later, with the god of the dead, Osiris.

 

SOMTUS:  A god revered in the ancient Egyptian city of Dendera; creator and child of the sun.  Late temple pictures show him as a snake or a lotus blossom.

 

SOPDU:  Ancient Egyptian of the frontier of the east, revered in lower Egypt

 

SOTHIS:  Greek name of the ancient Egyptian goddess Sopdet, incorporating the dog-star Sirius. As the heliacal rising of Sirius once coincided with the onset of the Nile River flood, the goddess was to be thanked for the life-giving waters and the fertility they engendered.

 

SPANDARAMET:  Armenian goddess of "those who are asleep," the dead. With the coming Christianity, her name, which took its origin from an Iranian phrase, took on the meaning of hell.
 

SPES:  Roman goddess, the personification of hope, not excluding the plant world. This made her a goddess of gardens, who had her temple in the vegetable market
and who was represented as a girl bearing flowers or grain.

SPHINX:  The male Sphinx of Gizeh was worshipped as "Haramachas"; later, the form of the Sphinx was attributed to the king of the gods, the sun-god Amun-Re. In Greece, the female sphinx (originally "Phix," which became Sphinx, or 'strangler' by popular etymology, is to be interpreted as a kind of demon of death. She is the daughter of Typhon and Echidna. To every passer-by, she gives a riddle and swallows those who cannot solve it.

 

SRAOSA:  In old Iranian religion, a personification of the "ear" of Ahura Mazda, through which the faithful have access to Sraosa.

 

SRI:  Demonic beings in the old Bon religion of Tibet. They dwell below the ground,
chase children and behave as vampires in places where corpses are laid.

 

SRIDEVI:  One of the terrifying goddesses of Lamaism, whose Tibetan name is "dfal-ladin Lhamo". She exercises a special tutelary function for the Dalai Lama, but she also plays a part in the judgment of the dead and keeps a record of our sins. She is portrayed as mounted on a mule, has an eye in her forehead and in her left hand. She carries a bowl made from a skull.

 

STIHI:  A female demon in south Albanian popular belief. As a fearsome dragon breathing fire it guards a treasure.
 

STRIBOG:  East Slavonic god mentioned in The Nestor Chronicle and elsewhere. The phrase "Stribog's Grandchildren" refers to the winds, and the god has accordingly been seen as ruler of the winds.

 

SUAIXTIX:  A designation of the sun and the name of the sun-god of the ancient Prussians. A connection has been suggested with the warped swastikas ( "he who shines around" ). 

 

SUCCUBUS:  A female demon who besets a man sexually during sleep. The succubus is a kind of Alp; Women on trial as witches were often accused of being
the devil's succubus, or paramour.

 

SUCELLOS:  A Gallic god with markedly syncretic traits. His chief attribute is a hammer, and Celtic philologists refer to him as a "hammer-god"; he has also been interpreted as a god of the dead.

 

SULPAE:  Old Mesopotamian god whose Sumerian name means "youth who appears in radiance." He was regarded as a representative of the planet Jupiter.

 

SUMBHARAJA:  Buddhist guardian of the mandalas; he has three eyes and six arms and his crown has the image of "Aksobhya."

 

SUMMAMUS:  An Etruscan god who hurls down lightning by night. He received his own temple in Rome where the "Fratres Arvales" sacrificed black wethers to him.

 

SURT:  In German mythology, an opponent of the gods at the time of Earth's destruction. He possesses a glowing hot sword with which he will set fire to the world at the end of time.

 

SUSANOWO:  Japanese god of winds and lord of the ocean. In his capacity as a god of thunder, he is associated with snakes and dragons.

 

SVANTEVIT:  A war-god worshipped by the Slavonic inhabitants of the island of Rugen. A harvest festival was dedicated to him and his main attributes were a white horse and a cornucopia.
 

SVAROG:  Slavonic fire and sun god, equated by Greek-Christian writers with Hephaistos. The divine smith was also regarded as the founder of the institution of marriage. Originally, Svarog was at the summit of the Slavonic pantheon; he ended
up as a sort of fire spirit. In Russia, his place was taken by Perun.

 

TABITI:  Goddess of fire and queen of animals of the Scythians who once lived in southern Russia. She was the "great goddess'' often pictured as being surrounded by animals.

 

TAGES:  In Estruscan tradition, a youth who had the wisdom of the ages. It is said that he suddenly emerged from a furrow one day when a field was being ploughed, and proceeded to expound the practice of "haruspicina" (prognostication) by the inspection of entrails. Tages, the child of earth had begotten a Genius, which is represented on bronze mirrors with two snakes forming his lower limbs.

 

TAILTIU:  An Irish goddess embodying natural forces. As a request, a festival was instituted in her honor after her death.

 

TA'LAB:  Ancient south Arabian god. The god is seen both as a moon-god and as an oracle.

 

TANE:  Polynesian god of forests and patron saint of craftsmen. He is a god of light and in Tahiti, is revered as the god of all that is beautiful.

 

TANG:  In Chinese mythology, the heavenly swallow in its functions as Messiah and redeemer. In order to  help mankind, it sacrificed its own body in the mulberry tree copse. Tang's most signal achievement is his victory over the Prince of Hell.

 

TA PEDN:  The god of the Semanf negritos in Malaysia. The god loves his 'grandchildren' (humanity) and is enthroned on a multi-colored mat in the heavens.

 

TAPIO:  East Finnish forest spirit or god, often invoked in hunters' prayers. With the coming of Christianity he turned into a patron saint of hunting. He is believed to have a daughter, Anniki (Saint Anna).

 

TARANIS:  Gallic thunder-god and lord of heaven, equated by the Romans with Jupiter. It is possible that he is the god shown in Gallic art as bearing a wheel, taken as a symbol of thunder or the sun. The Gallic hammer-god has been connected with Taranis, but he usually has a lightning flash in his hand.

 

TARU:  Ancient Anatolian weather god; His son is believed to be the vegetation god Telipinu.

 

TASMETU:  Ancient Mesopotamian goddess, who in her function, "she who hears prayer," personifies divine accessibility; she is the spouse of Babylonian god Nabu.

 

TASMISU:  Ancient Anatolian god, who figures repeatedly in myth as the brother and helper of the weather god Tesub.

 

TATE:  Wind god of the Sioux Indians. He orders the seasons and allows only those souls to take the path of the spirits whom Skan (the Sioux sky-god) regards as worthy.
 

TATENEN:  The name of this ancient Egyptian god means Raised Land, a reference to the primeval hill, the Earth as it rose in the beginning. Tatenen is primeval god and god of the Earth. He is represented in human form with the horns of a ram and a crown of tail feathers.  

 

TECCIZTECATL:  "He who comes from the land of the sea-slug shell."  Aztec moon god, so named because of the similarity between the moon and the slug.

 

TEHARONHIAWAGON:  The good god revered by the Mohawks and the Onondaga Indians. The name means "he who holds the heavens in his two hands". Another name for him is Oterongtongnia, which means "little tree." He has created all good things and
gives health and prosperity. Morning and day are his province, while evening and night form that of his adversary Tawiskaron.

 

TELCHINES:  Demon workers in metal, gifted with the "evil eye" and skilled in magic, in the mythology of Greek islanders.

 

TELIPINU:  Ancient Anatolian god of vegetation, son of the weather-god Taru.

 

TELJAVELIK:  The heavenly smith of Lithuanian mythology. It is he who created the sun and placed it in the heavens.

 

TELLUS:  Roman goddess of the Earth and the cornfields. As a fertility goddess, she
is related to Cerus. She is also known by another Latin name, Terra (Earth).

 

TENENIT:  A goddess of beer mentioned in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and in some texts, dating from the Ptolemac period. 

 

TENGRI:  Among the Turkish tribes and the Mongols, a designation for certain heavenly beings. The Buriats call their sky-god Esege Malan Tengri — "Father Bald-head Tengri." The supreme sky-god of the Mongols is called Qormusta Tengri. His Yakut counterpart is called Tangara, whose epithet is 'Urun ajy tojon' (wise lord creator).

 

TENGU:  Mountain and forest goblins in Japanese folklore. They have long noses or beaks, dwell in hollow trees and are said to be the live progeny of the god Susanamo.

 

TERMINUS:  Roman god of border markers. His feast was held on the Terminalia, on February 23rd.

 

TERPSICHORE:  ("She who delights in dancing"). Greek muse of solemn and ceremonial dance. She is usually shown with a lyre in her left hand, plucking its
strings. with the plectrum held in her right hand.

 

TESUB:  The Hurrian weather-god. His attributes are a double-headed axe and lightning flashes and his car is drawn by a pair of bulls.

 

TETHYS:  Daughter of the sky god Uranos and the Earth goddess Gaia; one of the titans, she is the sister and wife of Okeanos.

 

TEUTATES:  Epithet, perhaps also a specific form of the war god Teutates, revered in Gaul. Aside from being a war-god, he also appeared as a god of fertility and plenty.

 

THAB-LHA:  A hearth-god in the old Tibetan Bon religion. Punishment awaited those who defiled his domestic fires. He is depicted as a red man who holds a snake in the form of a noose.

 

THALIA:  From the Greek thaleia (she who blossoms); a Muse of comedy. Among her attributes are a comic mask, a wreath of ivy and a crooked staff.
 

THALNA:  An Estruscan goddess of birth. Depicted as a sumptuously-clad young woman, she is often shown in the company of the sky god Tin.

 

THANATOS:  In Greek mythology, the son of Nyx and twin brother of Hypnos, sometimes portrayed as a winged youth with a lowered torch.

 

THEANDRIOS:  A pre-Islamic god revered in North Arabia, known from Greek and Latin inscriptions.
 

THEIA:  In Greek mythology, one of the Titans, and wife of Hyperion. Theia means
"the divine one" — another of her names, Euryphoessa, means "she whose rays shine afar," and underlines her character as a goddess of light.

 

THEMIS:  Greek Titan god of justice and order, She was the mother of the Fates and the seasons.

 

THESAN:  Etruscan goddess of dawning, who ushers in the day, and also, according to Greek sources, was regarded as a goddess to invoke in childbirth.

 

THESEUS:  Athenian cult figure and national hero. His father is variously given as the sea-god Poseidon and as the sea-god King Aegus, from who the Aegean Sea gets its name. One of his most outstanding feats was to conquer the monster known as the Minotaur.

 

THETIS:  Daughter of Greek sea god Nereus and wife of the mortal Peleus; their son was Achilleus.

 

THIASSI:  Father of Skadi, he was a giant of Norse mythology. Slain by Thor, his eyes were thrown into the skies where they became stars.

 

THOR: Germanic god of thunderstorms and fertility. belonging to the race of the Aesir, the son of Odin and the divine personification of the Earth. He drives a chariot drawn by two goats and possesses the throwing hammer Mjolnir. In the Edda he is the strongest of all the gods whom He protects. At Ragnarok, he slays the snake Midgayd but is killed in the moment of victory. The Romans equated him to Hercules or Jupiter and Thursday derives its name from him.

 

THOT:  Ancient Egyptian god of the moon, the calendar and chronology. His attribute is a palm leaf or writing materials. In mythology, Toth searched for and found the eye of the moon, which he healed. He is regarded as a guide or helper of the dead.

 

THU'BAN:  A fire-spitting dragon like demon in Islamic literature, known to Arabs as "Tinnin." It is likely that pre-Islamic snake-deity underlies the figure.

 

THUNUPA:  Ancient Peruvian culture hero who can transform himself into the figure of the Huiracocha and who also shows signs of Christian influence. It is said he came from the north and carried a cross and expelled the old gods.

 

THURSIR:  In Germanic mythology, demonic beings with big ears and covered in rough hair. They can cause illness and in myth, they were believed to be present at the beginning of the world."

 

TIAN-ZHU:  Designation given to God in the Chinese Catholic Catechism.

 

TIBERINUS:  The most important river-god of the Romans whose temple stood from the very earliest on an island in the Tiber. In order not to anger him, bridges across streams had to be made of wood, with no iron parts, a rule that lasted right up to the Republican period. His bride was Rhea Silvia, the vestal virgin thrown into the Tiber.

 

TIKI:  The Polynesian designation for either the god who first created Man or alternately, for the first man himself. Tiki denotes anthropomorphic images of gods fashioned out of stone or wood.

 

TILLA:  A bull-god of the Hurrian people of Asia Minor. With the bull Seri, he sometimes pulls the chariot of the weather-god.

 

TIN:  Etruscan sky-god, depicted sometimes as bearded, but always with lightning flashes. His attributes may include a spear or scepter.  The Romans equated Tin with Jupiter.

 

TINIRAU:  East Polynesian god of the sea and of fish, sometimes depicted in human form, sometimes in fish form. He has a terrifying appearance, as indicated by his epithet, "the swallower." There are several versions of the myth relating to his love
affair with the lady of the moon, Hina.

 

TIR:  Armenian god of writing, wisdom and oracles. His epithet "clerk of Ormzid" suggests Iranian influence. In Mithraic mysteries, Tir corresponds to Hermes

 

TIRAWA:  God of the Pawnee Indians of Kansas. He is the creator of all things and giver of life. The wind is his breath and lightning is his glance, but no one knows what he really looks like. Tirawa is the power that ordered all things and gave Man everything he needs.

 

TISPAK:  The Baylonian tutelary god of Esnumma. It is possible that he was taken over by the Hurrians.

 

TISTRYA:  Iranian stellar god who engages the forces of evil in combat
 

TITYOS:  A son of Hera in Greek mythology. According to myth, the Earth goddess Gaia had to deliver the newborn Tityos due to his large size.  He attempted to rape Leto and was killed by Apollo and sent to Hades where he was tortured by vultures.

 

TIWAZ:  In the Luvian language (related to Hittite), the name of the sun-god. In the Palaic language, it appears as "Tijaz."
 

TNONG:  The sun-god of the Menik-Semang people of the Malacca Peninsula. He is supposed to take the shape of a dragonfly.

 

TOERIS:  Old Egyptian hippopotamus goddess who is portrayed as upright, with human arms and breasts. She was depicted on beds, head-rests and in vignettes in the Books of the Dead. As an attribute she holds the Sa-loop, an emblem of protection. Often, she also holds a torch to ward off demons. She is especially beneficial to women in childbirth.

 

TOMAM:  A bird-goddess of the Ket people of Siberia. She is queen of the migratory birds.

 

TORE:  In the belief of the Bambuti pygmies, a god of the forest and lord of the animals. He manifests himself as wind and storms, and may appear as a leopard.

 

TORK:  A mountain god in Old Armenian literature. His antecedents go back to the farthest Anatolian past, and subsequently he acquired domestic traits. He was hideous appearance, but nevertheless a being endowed with superhuman powers.

 

TORTO:  A fearsome spirit in Basque folklore. He has one eye in the middle of his forehead, like the Cyclops and is known to dismember and devour young people.

 

TRIGLAV:  A god of the Slav peoples who lived in the Baltic area — presumably he had a warlike function. The name means three-headed, and according to medieval
chronicles, he was represented as three-headed at various sites in Stettin and Brandenburg. In Stettin he was regarded as the supreme god. Some sort of horse-oracle was connected with his cult. A south Slavonic god, Triglav has also been
postulated on many occasions, but there is no convincing evidence for this, in spite of the mountain with the same name in Slovenia.

 

TRIPHIS:  Greek name given to the Egyptian "Repit" (She who is exalted). It is also the name given to a lion-goddess worshipped in Upper Egypt, where "Athribis" was the cult-center.
 

TRITON:  Greek sea god, half-man, half fish. His parents are Poseidon and Amphitrite. Later pluralized, so we now speak of Tritons, meaning male companions of the female Nemids, who are shown blowing on their conch shells.

 

TROLL:  In Scandinavian folk belief, trolls are demons who may be male or female, giants or dwarfs. They are endowed with magical powers during the hours of darkness, and this is why they fear daylight.

 

TROWO:  The Ewe people in Togo believe in these as God-created beings who represent various cosmic objects or phenomena. Oldest among them is Anyigba, the Earth, whose constituent parts form their own series of "trowoi" who give children, cause yams to flourish and induce and/or cure illness.

 

TSUKIYOMI:  A Japanese moon-god who arose when "Izanagi" washed her right eye in the sea; when she washed her left eye, Amatersu, the sun-goddess, was born.

 

TU:  A Polynesian war-god, his name means 'he who stands.' He was also the great master-craftsman engaged in the creation of the world. On Mangarewa, Tu is invoked to make bread-fruit trees flourish. In ancient times, human sacrifice was made to the Hawaiian god "Ku, with the maggoty mouth."

 

TUATHA DE DANANN:  A clan of Celtic gods in Ireland, to whom belong Dagda, Lug and Ogma. In myth and in cult, these heroic deities appear as the partners of human beings.

 

TUCHULCHA:  Etruscan demon of the underworld. Its head looks like Charun, while its arms are entwined with snakes.

 

TUPA:  Among the Guarana of South America, this is the favorite son of the supreme
god. The name was taken over by Christian missionaries in Brazil and Paraguay to translate as "God."

 

TURMS:  An Etruscan god whose task is to guide souls to the underworld. As such he takes on the iconographic characteristics of Hermes, shown with a backwards-streaming cloak, winged shoes and a herald's staff.
 

TURSAS:  In Finnish folk poetry, a deep-sea monster who raises its head from the sea. Its name derives from the German "Thurs" meaning "Monster."

 

TVASTAR:  Indian craftsman-god who gave all things their form. In earliest Indian traditions, he appears a creator who gave heaven and Earth their shape and who gave life to mankind.
 

TYCHE:  Greek goddess of fate and fortune. In Hesiod's theogony, she appears as one of the daughters of Okeanus. Pindar calls her a daughter of Zeus. As a representative of the unpredictable way of the world, Tyche became particularly popular at the time of the Sophists when belief in other gods was at a low ebb. Several Hellenistic towns such as Antiocha chose Tyche as their tutelary goddess. In art, she is shown with a helmsman's rudder (as a director of fate) and cornucopia (as a bringer of good fortune). The wheel and the globe point to inconstancy and transitoriness. Her Roman counterpart was Fortuna.

 

TYPHON:  The progeny of the underworld (Tartaros)
and the Earth (Gaia). A monster with a hundred dragon's-heads and snake's feet. The name Typhon (or Typhos) means 'whirlwind' and later the giant was taken to be a demon was causing storms and earthquakes.

 

TYR:  In Old High German, "Ziu"...A sky-god of the early Germanic peoples, until he was ousted by Odin. The Romans identified him as a god of war, and the weekday dedicated to Mars became Ziu's day (Tuesday.) He was also a god of justice and his spear was an emblem of judicial authority.

 

TZITIMITI:  Aztec females deities associated with stars. They are often depicted as skeletons wearing skirts. Related to fertility, it is believed that during solar eclipses, the Tzitimiti devoured human beings, but also were seen in the dual role of protectors and progenitors of mankind.

 

UACILLA:  Among the Ossetians of the Caucases, the spirit ruling over lightning, thunder and rain. The "illa" of the name is derived from Elias, the Old Testament prophet regarded in Eastern Europe as the god of thunder and storms
 

UDUG:  As an ancient Mesopotamian demon, regarded for the most part as malevolent. The terrifying Utukkucan turn into the evil Sebettu.

 

UFANIAE:  Celtic deities known from votive inscriptions found in the Rhineland and in Spain; They appear to be matron-like figures.

 

UGAR:  Old Syrian god; the name is probably derived from the Akkadian "Ugar" (field) and indicates the agricultural nature of the god. It is not clear whether or not the name of the town Ugarit is connected with him.

 

UJI-GAMI:  A Japanese designation for progenitor or ancestral deities. Its name means "clan chief" in English.

 

UKEMOCHI:  A kind of fertility goddess in Shintoism; after being slain by the moon-god Tsukiyomi, rice, oats, beans, a cow, a horse and silkworms were found beside her corpse.

 

UKKO: Finnish god of thunder, also known as "Isainen" ("granddad)

 

ULGAN:  Sky god of the Altai Tartars. He sends the savior Maidere to Earth to teach men to respect and fear the true god but Maidere is slain by the evil Erlik. From Maidere's blood, there arose a fire which soared to heaven, where the sky-god causes Erlik and his followers to be destroyed.

 

ULGAN:  Sky god of the Altai Tartars. He sends the savior Maidere to Earth to teach men to respect and fear the true god but Maidere is slain by the evil Erlik. From Maidere's blood, there arose a fire which soared to heaven, where the sky-god causes Erlik and his followers to be destroyed.

 

ULLI KUMMI:  Ancient Anatolian demon, created by the dethroned king of the gods Kumarbi, by making a stone pregnant in order to get back his kingdom in heaven.

 

UMVELINGANGI:  Creator god of the people of South Africa. He caused trees
to grow and created all animals. His cane was where the god Unkulunkulu emerged.

 

UNEG:  A plant-god mentioned in the Pyramid texts, companion of the sun-god "Re" and bearer of the heavens.
 

UNGUD:  Aboriginals in northwest Australia believe in this divine creative power, which takes the form of a snake and which can be thought of as male, female or androgynous. They may believe that their erect penis is identical with Ungud.

 

UNI:  Etruscan goddess, corresponding to terms in Greek myth to Hera and to the sky-god Tin. She was the tutelary goddess of Perugia. It is probable that the name Uni is not Etruscan, but connected with the Italic-Latin name "Juno"

 

UNKULUNKULU:  The supreme god of the Zulus of South Africa, said to have emerged from a 'primeval cave.' He and his wife of the same name (together forming an androgynous unity) then generated the first human beings.

 

UNUMBOTTE:  A mythical god of the Bassan people who live in Togo. He first created human beings and then, the animals.

 

UNUT:  A goddess in the form of a hare, worshipped in the fifteenth nome of upper Egypt. Later, she took on the appearance of a lioness. She was finally ousted as a figure of significance by Thot and was reduced to playing the part of a protective goddess armed with knives.

 

UPELLURI:  In Hurrian (ancient Anatolia) belief, a world-giant whose torso sticks up over the ocean and bears heaven and earth.

 

UPUAUT:  Ancient Egyptian god of Siut, in the form of a jackal or a wolf. His name means, "He that opens up paths" and may refer to a successful military campaign. He precedes the god Osiris in processions and as a war god, his attributes include the club and the bow.
 

URANIA:  One of the nine muses, who comforts mortals by pointing to the harmony of heaven. Representing astronomy, her attribute is the heavenly sphere.

 

URAS:  Old Mesopotamian Earth-goddess, espoused to the sky-god An. Their child was the healing god Nin'insinna.

 

URSANABI:  In the epic "Gilgemesh" the ferryman of the underworld stream.

 

URTZI:  A Basque word meaning "firmament," and by extension, the sky god, who also acted the part of the "thunderer."

 

USAS:  Indian goddess of the early dawn. In the "Vedas" she is described as a delicate bride in rose-red garments with a golden veil.

 

UTO:  Name of the Egyptian snake goddess of Buto, in Egypt. her name means, 'she who is papyrus-colored.' The goddess is bound up with regenerative forces of vegetation. As tutelary goddess of lower Egypt she is the counterpart of the vulture goddess Nechbet.

 

UTU:  Sumerian sun-god. His main role is that of a guardian of justice. In other respects, he falls short of the Akkadian sun-god Samas in importance and this is evidenced by the fact that he is classified as being under the moon god Nanna, who was his father.

 

UZUME:  Japanese god of jollity, whose obscene dancing entices the goddess Amaterasu from her cave, thus ensuring the return of the spring sunshine, bringing life
and fertility.

 

VAC:  In India the deified personification of speech, believed to be invested with magical powers.

 

VADATAJS:  An evil being in Latvian folklore. It may appear either as an animal or in human form and it tries to lead travelers astray at crossroads.

 

VAHAGN:  Armenian god of bravery and victory. In Armenian myth, he arises from fire and in some depictions, has flames for hair.

 

VAHGURU:  The name of the one true god of the Sikh religion which has been influenced by both Islam and Hinduism. He is also known by the Hindu names Hari and Govinda.

 

VALI:  A Germanic god, son of Odin and Rind. He was one night old when he avenged the death of Balder by slaying Hodur; the specification of 'one night old' likely refers to
a moment of initiation, rather than a date of birth.

 

VALKYRIES:  "She who selects the dead" in Old Norse: Supernatural female beings
commissioned by Odin to intervene in battles and bring heroes doomed to die to Valhalla. Their original function were as demonic forces and it is not until the heroic epic in Middle High German that the anthromorphic images of the warrior maidens appear.

 

VAIMANIKA:  In Jainism, a group of gods who dwell in mobile places around the world

 

VANIR:  A group of northern Germanic gods, including Freyr, Freya and Njord, all of them fertility deities. The Vanir countenanced marriage between siblings and were known to be master magicians.
 

VANTH:  A female demon of the Etruscan underworld. She is winged, with a snake, a torch and a key as attributes. She is a messenger of death.

 

VARATHA:  The dead incarnation of the Indian god Vishnu. In his form of a boar or an elephant, he slaps the demon Hiranyaksa, and frees the earth, which the demon had sunk in the ocean.

 

VARUNA:  The supreme god of Vedism, creator of the three worlds of heaven, Earth and air, and was later designated as a water god.

 

VASISTHA:  In Indian mythology, a poet who had access to the gods, and who may have been of divine origin. According to the "Puranas," he is one of the "Prajapati" gods.

 

VASUS:  A group of Indian gods. In the Rigveda, their leader was said to be Indira, whose role was later taken by "Agni."
 

VATA:  Old Iranian god of the wind, called "Asvara" (the truthful one). He is often mentioned along with Mithra and Rasnu. The god of victory Verethranga first appeared to Zarathustra in the form of Vata.

 

VAYU:  East Indian god of wind. The Iranian Vayu was the tutelary god of warriors, and a deity controlling fate. Mythical speculation told that Vayu was created from the breath of God.

 

VEIVE:  A beardless Etruscan god with arrows and a goat as attributes. Veive was either ousted by the thunder-god Aplu as a cult figure or fused with him.

 

VEJUMATE:  Latvian queen of the dead, she is clad in a white woolen wrap and she receives the dead at the entrance to the burial place. Her epithet is indicative; Karu mate, 'Graveyard mother"

 

VELES (VOLOS):  Slav god of the underworld. In modern Czech, Veles means something like "devil." In Old Russian, texts, Volos has the epithet 'cattle-god' and non-Varangian Russians had to swear by him.

 

VELNIUS:  Lithuanian name for the devil; it is derived from "vele" — the dead one.

 

VENUS:  Old Italic goddess of spring and gardens, native to Latium. It was not until the beginning of the third century BC that her cult reached Rome. Her feast, the Veneralia, was celebrated on April 1st. Under the influence of Greek literature, she was equated with Aphrodite. Caesar, who regarded himself as being descended from Aeneas and hence, from Aphrodite/Venus, introduced the cult of Venus Genetrix, in which the life-giving function of the goddess was stressed.

 

VERBTI:  Old Albanian god of fire and of the north wind that fans fires. He hated uncleanliness and after Christianization had transformed him into a demon, it was rumored that anyone who invoked him would go blind.
 

VERITAS:  Goddess of truth; daughter of Saturn and mother of Virtue. It was believed that she hid in the bottom of a well because she was so elusive. A well-known Latin phrase  In Vino Veritas means "in wine, there is truth."

 

VERTUMNUS:  Etruscan God taken over by the Romans in the third century BC; revered as the god of the changing year.

 

VESTA:  Old Italic goddess of the domestic hearth and its fire, related to the Greek Hestia. The temple dedicated to her, at the foot of Palatine Hill contained no image of her, but there was the public hearth with the sacred fire burning. The ass was regarded as sacred to the goddess, as one was supposed to defend her from the advances of Priapos. On her feast-day, asses were adorned with wreaths.

 

VESTIUS ALONIEUS: A god once revered in northwest Hispania; he was associated with the bull and had a military function.

VICTORIA:  The Roman goddess Victory corresponds to the Greek 'Nike.' She had her own temple on the Palatine Hill in Rome. She was regarded as the maiden protector of the Roman Empire and was often portrayed on coins.

 

VIDAR:  North German god, son of Odin and the giantess Gridr. He is the god of vengeance, who slays the wolf Fenrir in retaliation for the death of Odin at Ragnarok. After Ragnarok, Vidar and his half-brother Vali are to rule over the rejuvenated world.

 

VILI AND VE:  Sons of Odin who after slaying the giant Ymir, used his blood to make the seas of the Earth.

 

VILKACIS:  A werewolf in Latvian folklore, known in Lithuania as Vilkatas. Although threatening, he occasionally bestows treasures.

 

VILY:  Spirits of wind and storms in Slavonic folklore. In Slovakia, they were regarded
as the souls of dead girls who led young men to their deaths. Rural people used to leave food in front of caves where the believed the Vily dwelled.

 

VIRAJ:  In Indian mythology, a primeval being generated by Brahman; often perceived as a primeval cow. Another tradition makes Viraj a creative female principle which has arisen from Purusa.

 

VIRTUS:  A Roman goddess, often coupled with Honos as the personification of virile manhood. Virtus is represented as a maiden in a short tunic, with a helmet on her head and a sword in her hand.

 

VISVAKARMAN:  In India, a figure bound up with the concept of a supreme god. In the Brahmanas he is, he identified with the creator god Prajapati.

 

VIVASVAT:  In Indian mythology, father of the Asvins, of Yasmin, the god of death, and Manu, progenitor of mankind; Vivasvat is an aspect of the sunrise. Also known as a seven-headed horse in the Hinduism
 

VODNIK:  In Slavonic folklore, a water demon said to arise from an unbaptized child. The vodnik entices people to water, and then drowns them. To placate Vodnik, sacrifice was made to him: In Poland, chickens were sacrificed to Vodnik.

 

VOLUMNA:  Roman goddess of the nursery, who was supposed to look after the health and welfare of her charges.

 

VOR:  A Germanic goddess. In the late period — e.g., in the work of Icelandic writer Snorri — she appears as a goddess of contracts, and her name is taken to mean "she who is cautious." Oaths and pledges are scared to her and she is also the guardian of marriage.

 

VOTAN:  Originally, a religious reformer among the Mayans in Central America who was subsequently deified. His wife was Ix-chel and was given the epithet "heart of towns."

 

WADD:  Moon god and tutelary god of the ancient South Arabian states of Ausam and Main (Fifth to second Centuries B.C.). The snaker was sacred to Wadd, whose name means 'love' and 'friendship.'

 

WAKAN:  Name used by the Dakota Indians to designate their gods. All things in the world have a "wakan" (spirit) which neither is born nor dies, in their mythology.

 

WAKONDA:  The creator of all things, in the belief of the Omaha Indians in North America. The word is now used to designate an invisible life-force which is omnipresent and which is invoked by human beings in need of help.

 

WARALDEN OLMAI:  One of the most esteemed gods of the Lapps. The name

comes from an old Norse phrase meaning "world god."

 

WASET:  An ancient Egyptian goddess, worshipped in Thebes during the Middle Kingdom period as protector of the youthful Horus.
 

WATAUINEWA:  The supreme being in the belief of the Yamana who live in Tiera del Fuego. He is the primeval progenitor and lord of life and death. The god is involved in prayers as "Our father" but plays no part in myth. He is lord and giver of animals.

 

WELE:  The supreme deity of the Bantu Kavirondo (Vugusu). He appears in two aspects: when he has the epithet 'omuwango' he is the benign white god; when he is with the epithet 'gumali' he is the black god of disaster.

 

WEN-CHANG:  The Taoist god of arts and literature, honored in many Chinese households by having his name-tablet on the wall.

 

WER:  Along with Adad, another name for the weather-god among the Semitic population of Mesopotamia. In Mari, he was called "Lur-mer."

 

WE-TO:  A divine general in Chinese Buddhism. He is portrayed as a protector of the teaching and a guide of souls from Earth to the lowest heaven.

 

WHIRO:  Among the Maori in New Zealand, the god of darkness of evil and death. He is the adversary of the god of light and fertility, Tare. Whiro is aided and abetted by the spirits of illness.

 

WHOPE:  Among the Sioux Indians, the daughter of the sun-god Wi and wife of the south wind. She came to Earth one day and visited the Sioux people, to whom she gave the pipe as a peace symbol. The pipe is also supposed to be an intermediary between humans and Wakan Tanka.

 

WI:  Sun-god of the Sioux Indians, defender of all who were brave and loyal. Closely associated with the bison, it was often regarded as a manifestation of Wi himself.

 

WURUNSEMU:  The proto-Hattic name of the old Anatolian sun goddess. As an Earth-goddess, she is the consort of the weather- god Taru.

 

XEWIOSO:  God of thunder and fertility, venerated in Dahomey. He is represented in the form of a ram, with the thunder-axe as his attribute.

 

XHINDI:  Invisible, elf-like spirits in Albanian folk-belief. They can be helpful or oppressive and their arrival is marked by creaking doors and flickering lights.

 

XOCHIPILLI:  Old Mexican god of flowers and games and one of the 13 "Watchmen" of the hours of the day. In some interpretations, he holds a staff whose point is sunk into a symbol of life -- the human heart.

 

XOCOTL:  A god of fire and the stars, originally worshipped by the Otomi and subsequently taken over by the Nanua peoples, including the Aztecs. "Xocotl Vetzi," the Great Feast of the Dead, was celebrated in August. Dead warriors were thought of as stars who stood in a special relationship to the stellar gods.

 

XOLOTL:  A dog-headed follower of the sun. He helps those who have died to enter the underworld. His name means 'twin' in reference to the rising and setting of the sun, and in the Aztec myth, he is the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl.

 

XUCAU:  This is the name given by the Ossetians in the Caucasus to their supreme god, who rules over other heavenly spirits.

 

YAKSAS:  Semi-divine beings of India who live in the Himalayas and watch over hidden treasures.

 

YAMA:  A mythical king in Indo-Aryan times who rules over the dead. He is accompanied in illustrations by two four-eyed spotted dogs, and is judge of the dead and prince of hell. He is clothed in red garments and has a noose, for which he draws the soul from the body. In Tibet, Yama is one of the Dharmapalas and is represented by a bull's head, flaming hair and a club. In Japan, he is known as Emma-ten.

 

YAN-LO:  Mythical primeval emperor of the Chinese; together with the heavenly archer Shen Yi, he vanquished the "unruly winds." In Confucianism, he is presented as the exemplar of the good ruler.

 

YAO:  Mythical primeval emperor of the Chinese; together with the archer Shen-Yi he vanquished the unruly winds; in Confuscianism he is represented as the exemplar of the good ruler.

 

YAO-SHI-FAO:  In Chinese, the name means 'physician Buddha'. He took a vow to devote himself to the salvation of mankind and to cure them of mental and physical illnesses.
 

YARHIBOL:  Ancient Arabian sun-god, revered in Palmyra and Dura Europos along with the sky god Bel; he was also the god of the holy spring at Efka.

 

YAZATA:  In old Iranian religion, a designation for "god," along with "Baga." The Yazatas are partly protective personifications of abstract concepts like Rasin (righteousness) and Daena (religion).

 

YEHL:  Creator-god in the form of a raven among the Tlingit Indians of northwest Canada. He flew over the primeval mists and used his wings to clear them away until
the day disappeared. He changed himself to a blade of grass which was swallowed by a chief's daughter, who then gave birth to him.

 

YELOJE:  Sun god of the Yukagir people of Siberia. Yeloje looks after the oppressed and keeps an eye on behaviour and morals.

 

YIAN-ZHU:  The designation chosen for "God" in the Chinese Catholic catechism.

 

YIMA:  Primeval man and king who reigned in the Golden Age in Iranian mythology. As a king he represents three social functions; he is as pious as a priest, strong like a warrior and rich in herds like a husbandman. He was born in a pillar of fire as a bolt of lightning.

 

YMIR:  A primeval giant in German mythology born from a mixture of ice and melt water. He drew nourishment from the primeval cow Audhumla and was slain by Odin and his body used as raw material to create the world.
 

YO:  A sort of impersonal world-spirit in the religious system of the Bambara people of West Africa. Yo created the two male elements, air and fire, and the two female elements, earth and water. The world-spirit let something heavy fall onto the Earth — this was the creator-god Pemba.

 

YU-DI:  The supreme lord of heaven in Chinese cosmology. He has nine daughters who dwell in nine different heavens. In certain traditions, he is said to have formed the first men out of clay.

 

YUM KAAZ:  The Mayan god of maize, known in specialist literature as "God E." He corresponds in some ways to the Aztec Cinteoltl.

 

YU-QIANG:  In Chinese mythology, a god of the seas and ocen winds; he has the body of a bird and a human face.

 

ZABABA:  Ancient Mesopotamian town-god of Kis. In the early Babylonian period he was equated with "Ninurta." He is a war-god and in an ancient text, is referred to as the "Marduk of the battle."

 

ZAGREBUS:  A pre-Hellenic god of animals and hunting. He is said to be a son of Zeus, and in legend was said to be torn apart by the Titans, only to have his heart consumed by Zeus and then, reborn as Dionysos.

 

ZALTU:  Babylonian goddess of strife, Zaltu was created by the king of the gods Ea, to personify the destructive side of the goddess Ishtar. A mountain on Venus, Zaltu Mons, is named for her.

 

ZALTYS:  Snake-god worshipped by ancient Lithuanians; revered as playing a special part in prophecy. In Lithuanian folk-songs it is called an "envoy of the gods."   It is known in Latvian as "Zalktis."

 

ZAM:  The Persian word for "Earth," which was deified and invoked along with the
heavens as an object of veneration.

 

ZANA:  A pre-Roman goddess in the Balkans, equated by the Romans to Diana. She lives in the Albanian mountains as a fairy, revered for her courage and beauty.

 

ZAO JUN:  Taoist kitchen god, whose picture hung in many Chinese kitchens until the 20th century. The image was placed over a hearth and a sacrifice of sweets and honey cakes was made to him on a given day.

 

ZEMEPATIS:  A Lithuanian deity, protector of cattle and the farm. he was alleged to be the brother of the Earth goddess Zemyna.
 

ZEMYNA:  A Lithuanian goddess, the mother of plants. In prayers, she is given the poetic epithet Ziedkele, "She who raises flowers." Sacrifice was made to her as the nourisher of man and animals, especially at seed-time and harvest time. (Lithuanians were among the last people to accept Christianity, 1300 years after Christ).

 

ZENENET:  A goddess venerated in the ancient Egyptian town of Hermonthis. She was regarded as the consort of the war-god Month and merged with the sun-god Rat-taui.

 

ZEPHYROS:  God of the west wind; In Greek myth, son of Astreios, and is also regarded as a herald of spring,

 

ZERVAN:  Iranian god of time, creator of all the paths which lead to the Cinvat bridge — the crossing point into the Beyond. In Zervanism, he figured as the supreme god, lord of light and darkness. Zervan is the "four-fold god" who comprises in his own being divinity, light, power and wisdom. As a god of fate, he is related to the Greek god Chronos. In Manichaeanism, Zervan is also the supreme god, 'father of greatness,' and tetraprospos — the god with four faces as lord of the four elements.

 

ZEUS:  Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus, and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull and the oak. The classical Zeus, who is of Indo-European origin, derives certain iconographic traits from cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.

 

ZHANG GUO-LAO:  One of the "eight immortals." He is supposed to have been really a bat which turn into a man. He rides on a white ass and his attribute is a bamboo drum with two sticks.

 

ZHONG LI-QUAN:  One of China's "Eight Immortals," he is recognized by the fan which he uses to revive the dead.

 

ZOCHO:  One of the "heavenly kings of Shintoism" who protect the world from evil demons. Zocho is the Guardian of the South.

 

ZOTZ:  Bat-god of the Maya, and still worshipped today as the tutelary god of the Zotzil Indians who live in Chiapas, as well as of certain Guatemalan tribes.

 

ZU:  A demonic storm-bird in Babylonian mythology. He stole the tablets of fate in order to place himself at the head of the gods, but was vanquished by Ningirsu. 

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