Gods

Guide to the Gods 1.0

Ai... to Am...

Ai

(Aoi Mac Ollamain)

Irish poet god, a member of the Tuatha De Danaan.

Aiakos

See Aeacus.

Ai Apaec

(Aiapayec)

Supreme god of Mochica on coast of Peru.

Aibell

(Aoibhell)

Irish 'fairy' goddess.

Aigamuxa

Hottentot man-eating monsters.

Aillen

In Irish mythology, a malevolent Otherworld beast.

Aimend

Irish sun goddess.

Aimon Kondi

The creator in the belief of the Arawak people of Guiana.

Aine

Irish goddess of love and fertility. Daughter of Eogabail, who was in turn the foster-son of Manannan Mac Lir. Later regarded as a fairy queen in County Limerick.

Aiolos

See Aeolos.

Aion

Greek personification of time or of a given age in human history. Later adopted by Mithraism and by the Manichaeans.

Aipaloovik

A sea-living god of the Eskimo.

Airavata

Elephant-steed of Indra.

Airitech

Irish creature of the Otherworld whose three daughters took on the shape of werewolves who were eventually killed by the warrior Cas Corach.

Airyaman

An Old Iranian god of social ties and contracts, corresponding to the Vedic Aryaman. At the end of time he will retrieve the souls of the temporarily damned from hell.

Ai Tojon

The creator of light among the Yakuts of Siberia, conceived as a double-headed eagle perched atop the world tree.

Aitu

Lower order of Samoan gods, including tutelary gods of families and villages. Known as the Atua in the Marquesas Islands.

Aitvaras

Lithuanian evil household spirit.

Aius Locutius

Roman nonce-god reported to have foretold the invasion of the Gauls in 391 BC.

Aizen Myo-o

Japanese Buddhist protective deity. Despite terrible appearance, he is considered beneficent to mankind.

Ajalamo

Yoruba god of unborn children.

Ajaya

Buddhist (Mahayana) goddess.

Aje

Yoruba goddess of wealth.

Aji-Suki-Taka-Hi-Kone

(Aji-Shiki-Taka-Hiko-Ne)

Japanese god of thunder.

Ajysyt

(Ajyset)

Yakut (Siberian) mother goddess. She presides over the birth of children, bringing the child's soul from heaven at the time of birth.

Aka-Kanet

A grain and fruit god of the Araucanian people of South America.

Akasagarbha

(Tibetan Nam-mkhai snying-po; Japanese Kokuzo)

Bodhisattva of Indian Buddhism, having the attributes of a celestial deity.

Akelos

See Achelous.

Aken

Egyptian custodian of the ferryboat of the Underworld.

Akephalos

A type of 'headless' demon of Hellenistic Egypt, believed to be the spirits of beheaded criminals.

Aker

Egyptian earth god who ruled over the meeting point between the eastern and western horizons in the Egyptian underworld. Guardian of the gate through which the pharaoh into the underworld. He provided safe passage for the barque of the sun during its night passage through the underworld. Aker was represented by two pairs of lions or of human heads facing away from each other.

Akerbeltz

Among the Basques, a representative of the god Mari, depicted as a black billy-goat.

Akeru

Egyptian chthonic earth gods associated with the god Aker.

Akka

(Mader-Akka, Rauni)

Finnish goddess of the harvest and female sexuality.

Akna

'The mother', Eskimo goddess of childbirth.

Akonadi

Ghanaian oracular goddess.

Akongo

Supreme creator god of the Ngombe people of the Congo. Once lived with humans, but disappeared into the forest when the people proved too fractious. In another version of this myth, humans originally lived with Akongo in heaven, but were later placed on the earth.

Akovodoun

Cult of the dead in Dahomey.

Aksayajnana-Karmanda

Buddhist deification of literature.

Aksobhya

(Japanese Ashuku; Chinese A-Chu'u)

One of the Dhyani- ("self-born") Buddhas of Mahayana Buddhism, who was manifested on earth as the Buddha Kanakamuni and the bodhisattva Vajrapani.

Akuj

Supreme god of the Turkana peoples of Kenya.

Ala

Earth and fertility goddess of the Ibo people of Nigeria. Also a goddess of the underworld. Daughter of the great god Chuku.

Alad Udug Lama

Sumerian/Babylonian-Akkadian guardian deities.

Alaisiagae

Nordic war goddesses (see Valkyries).

Alako

God of the Norwegian gypsies who was sent by their supreme god to reveal their secret law and lore.

Alalu

Heavenly king of the Hurrians of northern Syria. After ruling over heaven for nine years, he was overthrown by Anu, the first of the gods, and banished to the underworld.

Alardi

A spirit in the belief of the Ossetians of the central Caucasus.

Alastor

Greek spirit of revenge. Especially associated with blood feuds between families which lasted long after the death of those originally involved. Also used to denote a man's evil genius that leads him to commit crimes and to sin.

Alatangana

Kono creator god; Guinea, West Africa.

Alaunus

(Alannus, Alounis)

A Celtic version of Mercury in the areas of Mannheim and Salzburg.

Albiorix

'King of the world': an epithet of the Celtic god Teutates on an inscription at Avignon.

Alcis

A pair of divine brothers in the belief of the East Germanic Naharnavali tribe of coastal northen Europe.

Alecto

One of the Greek Erinyes, goddesses of vengeance. Daughter of Gaea. Her name is said to mean "she who does not rest".

Alemona

Roman goddess of passage.

Alethia

(Roman Veritas)

The Greek goddess of truth. She was the daughter of Zeus and the nurse of the infant Apollo.

Aleyin

Phoenician god of springs and vegetation.

Alfadir

"All-father". One of the epithets of Odin.

Alfar

The elves of north Germanic myth.

Alfrodull

Norse name of sun.

Alilat

Pre-Islamic Arabian mother goddess.

Alisanos

(Alisaunus)

Local god of Celtic Gaul, in the region of the Cite d'Or.

Alk'unta'm

Bella Coola sun god.

Allah

Arabic word ('the god') for God used in Islam. Worshipped in pre- Islamic times as the supreme creator-god of the Arabs.

Allat

(Allatu)

"The goddess". Pre-Islamic goddess of central and northern Arabia. One of the three daughters of Allah; associated with the planet Venus.

Allatum

(Ellat)

Underworld goddess of the early Indo-Iranian pantheon. Believed to be of Mesopotamian origin.

Allekto

See Erinyes.

Almaqah

Sabaean (south Arabia) moon god and tutelary god. His cult animal was a bull.

Aloades

Greek giant brothers, Otos and Ephialtes, sons of either Aloeus or Poseidon. When they attempted to overthrow the gods of Olympus, Artemis tricked them into killing each other by turning herself into a hind.

Alp

(Alb, Old Norse alfr)

Germanic beings who were half god and half dwarf. Later became demonic beings in Germanic folklore.

Alpan

(Alpanu, Alpnu)

Etruscan goddess, one of the demons called Lasas. The evidence suggests she may have originally have been a goddess of love and of the underworld.

Alpheus

Greek river god who fell in love with the nymph Arethusa. She fled to the island of Ortygia, but Alpheus flowed under the sea to join her on the island. Son of Okeanos and Tethys.

Alphito

Greek: originally a barley goddess of Argos.

Alruna-wife

Ancient German household spirits.

Altjira

Sky and creator god of the Aranda (Arunta) peopla of central Australia. Believed to have grown bored to the world he had created, leading him to withdraw from the affairs of this world.

Aluberi

Chief god of Arawak of South America.

Aluluei

Micronesian god of knowledge and navigation.

Al-Uzza

"Strong"; Nabataean god.

Am

God of Portangoro of South America.

Ama-arhus

Babylonian-Akkadian fertility goddess.

Amaethon

Welsh god of agriculture. Son of Don and brother of Gwydion. In one account he stole a dog, lapwing and roebuck from Arawn, the Welsh god of the dead, resulting in a war between Amaethon and his kin (the Children of Don) and the underworld deities led by Arawn. In the Battle of Cath Godeau, or the Battle of the Trees, Amaethon's brother Gwydion transformed trees into warriors with whose help the forces of the underworld were defeated.

Amahraspands

Bounteous Immortals of Zoroastrianism.

Amaimon

A devil, ruler of the eastern portion of Hell in medieval mythology.

Amalthaea

(Amaltheia, Amalthea)

Greek nymph who was the nurse of the infant Zeus. Sometimes represented as a goat, one of whose horns was broken off and transformed by Zeus into the cornucopia, or horn of plenty.

Amana

See Amon.

Ama-No-Minakanushi--No-Kumi

Japanese 'Divine Lord of the Middle Heavens', the Pole Star.

Ama-No-Uzume

Japanese fertility goddess. It was she who performed the obscene dance which set the gods to laughing, thus drawing the sun goddess Amaterasu out of the cave where she was hiding.

Amasagnul

Babylonian-Akkadian fertility goddess.

Amaterasu

Japanese Shinto sun goddess whose name means 'shining heaven'. The Japanese Imperial family claims descent from Amaterasu. A well- known story relates how the rude behaviour of her brother, the storm god Susanowo, caused her to hide in a cave, thus depriving the world of light. Amaterasu was eventually drawn out of the cave by the goddess Ame-no-uzume, whose dancing set the other gods to laughing.

Ama-Tsu-Kami

Japanese gods of heaven (as opposed to those of the earth).

Ama-Tsu-Mara

Shinto god of smiths.

Amatsu Mikaboshi

Japanese god of evil.

Amaunet

"Hidden One". Egyptian mother or fertility goddess. Amaunet merged with the god Neith at the beginning of time. She was a member of the group of Egyptian gods known as the Ogdoad. Amun was her consort among the Ogdoad. She was regarded as a tutelary deity of the Egyptian pharaohs, and had a prominent part in the pharaoh's accession ceremonies.

Ambat

Melanesian god-hero, taught men pottery and ritual.

Ambika

One of the names of the Hindu goddess Sakti. Regarded as the sister and later as the wife of Rudra.

Ambisagrus

Continental Celtic god, equated by the Romans with Jupiter.

Amenhotep

(Amenhotep-Son-of-Hapu)

Egyptian architect raised to status of god of building. See Imhotep.

Ame-No-Hohi

Japanese god sent down to earth, disappeared.

Ame-No-Kagase-Wo

Shinto astral deity.

Ame-No-Mi-Kumari-No-Kami

Shinto water goddess.

Amenominakanushi

(Ame-No-Minaka-Nushi-No-Kami)

Supreme deity of Japanese Shintoism. He plays no part in myth and there is no indication that he was ever worshipped.

Ame-No-Oshido-Mimi

Japanese son of goddess Amaterasu, refused to become ruler of the earth.

Am-No-Tanabata-Hime-No-Mikoto

Shinto astral goddess of weavers.

Ame-No-Toko-Tachi-No-Kami

Shinto primordial being.

Ame-no-uzume

Japanese Shinto celestial goddess whose dancing helped entice the sun goddess Amaterasu out of the cave in which she had hidden herself. She is the patron goddess of dancers.

Ame-No-Wakahiko

Japanese god sent to rule earth, killed by Take-Mi-Musubi.

Amentet

(Amenthes)

Egyptian goddess of the West and of the underworld of the dead.

Ameretat

Iranian goddess rrepresenting immortality, one of the Amesha Spentas ('beneficent immortals') of Zoroastrianism.

Amesha Spentas

Avestan: 'Beneficent Immortals'. In Zoroastrianism, six divine beings or archangels created by Ahura Mazda to assist in his struggle against the forces of evil and darkness led by Ahriman (Angra Mainyu). The Amesha Spentas include: .

Am-heh

Egyptian chthonic underworld god.

Amida

The Japanese name for the Buddha Amitabha, the saviour deity of Pure Land (Japanese: Jodo) Buddhism.

Amimitl

Aztec god of lakes and fish hunters.

Amitabha

In Buddhism, the Buddha of "infinite light". The fourth Dhyani- Buddha ("self-born" Buddha). His cult is the most popular of the five Dhyani-Buddhas, particularly in Japanese Mahayana Buddhism, which refers to him as Amida. The cult of Amitabha emphasizes the importance of faith on the part of the worshipper. Amitabha reigns over the western paradise of Sukhavati, or "Pure Land".

Amitayus

(Tibetan Tse-dpag-med, Mongolian Ayusi or Caglasi ugei nasutu, Chinese Ch'ang sheng-fo)

A name given to the Buddha Amitabha in Mahayana Buddhism, in his capacity as bestower of longevity.

Amm

Moon god of pre-Islamic southern Arabia. Also a weather god and the tutelary god of the people of Qataban.

Amma

Dravidian local tutelary god.

Amma

Creator god of the Dogon people of Mali.

Ammavaru

Primordial mother goddess of the Telugu, a Dravidian people of east-central India.

Ammit

See Ammut.

Ammon

(Hammon, Amun, Amon)

Greek name for the Egyptian god Amun. Ammon was worshipped in this form at the west Egyptian oasis of Siwa, represented as a ram.

Ammut

(Ammit)

"Devouress of the Dead". Egyptian demonic goddess who attended the Judging of the Dead. She was depicted as having the head of a crocodile, the torso of a lioness and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus. She waited in the Judgement Hall of the Two Truths during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony, and devoured those deemed to be sinners.

Amoghapasa

A form of Avalokitesvara in Mahayana Buddhism.

Amoghasiddhi

In Buddhism, one of the five Dhyani-Buddhas ("self-born" Buddha). He is depicted either mounted on a mythological Garuda bird or in a chariot drawn by two Garudas. His attribute is a double thunderbolt (visvavajra).

Amon

See Amun.

Amor

Roman god of love, equivalent to the Greek Eros. He was the son of Venus and either Mars or Mercury.

Amotken

Creator god of the Salish of Pacific coast of North America.

Amphitrite

Greek goddess of the sea, wife of Poseidon. Daughter of Nereus and Doris or Okeanos and Tethys. Poseidon chose her from among her sister Nereids. Amphitrite fled, but she was retrieved by a dolphin and returned to Poseidon. Mother of Albion, Benthesicyme, Charybdis, Rhode and Triton.

Amun

(Amon, Amana, Ammon, Hammon, Amen)

"The Hidden One". Egyptian sky god who came to be regarded as a sun god and the head of the Egyptian pantheon. Originally a local god of Khmun, then also of Thebes. Amun's cult rose in prominence as Thebes rose to a preeminent political position within Egypt. In the New Kingdom he became syncretized with the Heliopolitan sun god Re as Amun-Re, in which form he was the "king of the gods" and the tutelary deity of the pharaohs. The pharaohs, who had been considered "sons of Re", thus came to be regarded as incarnations of Amun-Re. Amun took on the role of a primeval deity and creator in the cosmology of the New Kingdom, creating earth and sky out of his thought. He was a member of the Ogdoad, paired with the goddess Amaunet and representing hidden power. Also a member of the Theban triad, which made him the husband of Mut and adoptive father of Khons.

Amun was depicted in human form, with blue skin and either the head of a bearded man or a ram's head with curved horns. He wore a crown composed of a modius surmounted by two tall feather plumes. He was sometimes depicted in ithyphallic form with an oversized erect penis. His true appearance was considered beyond human understanding. He was said to be "hidden of aspect, mysterious of form", invisible yet omnipresent throughout the cosmos. Amun's sacred animals were the ram and the goose. His primary sanctuaries were at Karnak and Luxor near Thebes. Amun and his influential Theban priests suffered a temporary eclipse during the reign of Akhenaton, who tried to impose a monotheistic worship of Aton. The cult of Amun revived soon after Akhenaton's death. It was not until the sack of Thebes by the Assyrians in 663 BC that Amun was reduced to mere local importance. As Ammon, however, he had an oracle at the Siwa Oasis in the western desert that remained prominent at least until the time of Alexander the Great, who visited the oracle.

Amun-Re

(Amon-Ra)

A combination of Amon and Ra worshipped in later Egyptian history. Under this name, the Theban god Amun (qv) became the national god of Egypt.

Amurru

(Martu)

West Semitic mountain god.

Amurru

Another name for the Phoenician god Aleyin.

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