Guide to the Gods 1.0
Ar... to As...
A'ra
Pre-Islamic northern Arabian tutelary god.
Arachne
Roman goddess of weaving.
Aralez
Old Armenian beneficent dog-like spirits, who licked the wounds of those who fell in battle, thus healing or resurrecting them.
Aralo
Georgian god of agriculture. Likely modelled after the Armenian god Aray (q.v.).
Aramazd
The supreme creator god of the Armenians. Derived from the Old Persian Ahura Mazda.
Aranrhod
See Arianrhod.
Aranyani
Hindu woodland goddess.
Arapacana
Buddhism: a bodhisattva. Portrayed holding a book and a sword.
Arawa
Moon goddess of the Suk and Pokot in Kenya and Uganda.
Arawn
Welsh (Celtic) god of Annwn, the underworld of the dead. A famous tale in the Mabinogion relates how Arawn persuaded Pwyll, prince of Dyfed, to trade places with him for a year and challenge Hafgan, Arawn's rival for dominion of the underworld. Pwyll defeated Hafgan and was rewarded with a gift of pigs.
Aray
(Ara)
Armenian god of war. Probably related to the Greek Ares. Other traditions potray him as a typical dying-and-resurrecting vegetation deity.
Archons
Gnostic controllers of the 7 spheres.
Arcismati
Buddhist goddess: 1 of several deified bhumis.
Ardhanarisvara
Hindu composite deity of Siva's male and female aspects.
Ardra
Hindu goddess of misfortune.
Arduinna
Gaulish (Celtic) goddess of forests and hunting. Known particularly from the Ardennes region of France, to which she gave her name. Her sacred animal was the boar. The Romans equated her with Diana.
Arebati
Sky god of the Bambuti people of the Congo. He created the first man from clay.
Areimanios
See Ahriman.
Arensnuphis
(Egyptian Ari-hes-nefer; Arsnuphis, Harensnuphis)
Benign god of Egyptian Nubia. He had a temple at Philae, where he was referred to as the companion of Isis, the chief local deity. Depicted in human form with a plumed crown or in the form of a lion.
Ares
Greek god of war. Son of Zeus and Hera. Brother of Aphrodite, Arge, Eileithyia, Eris and Hebe. By Aphrodite, he was the father of Anteros, Enyo, Deimos, Harmonia, Pallor and Phobos. Ares was generally less popular and less successful in his endavours than the other Olympian gods. It was Athena who personified the nobler aspects of warfare, glory, honour and victory, while Ares personified the more brutal aspects of warfare. Ares was said to be accompanied in battle by Deimos (terror), Phobos (fear), Eris (strife) and Enyo (horror). Ares was considered to have been native to Thrace, from which he may have emerged historically, and his worship was prominent only in northern Greece. His worship was also important at Sparta, where prisoners of war were sacrificed to him. At Athens, there was a temple dedicated to Ares at the foot of the Areopagus (Ares' Hill). Ares was depicted wearing typical military cloths and armour.
Aretia
Armenian earth goddess.
Arhat
A saint in Buddhism and Jainism.
Ariadne
Greek nymph who originated as a vegetation goddess in Minoan Crete. She survived as the daughter of Pasiphae and King Minos in Greek mythology. Her worship as a goddess survived in Greek civilization on the island of Naxos, where she was considered the wife of Dionysus.
Arianrhod
Welsh (Celtic) earth goddess, daughter and/or wife of Don, wife and/or sister of Gwydion, and mother of Lleu Llaw Gyffes and the sea god Dylan. Her name is interpreted variously as meaning 'silver wheel', 'silver circle' or 'high fruitful mother'.
Ariconte
(Arikute and Tamendonar)
Tupinamba (Brazil) twin gods of flood myth.
Arimanes
(Arimanius, Areimanios)
A variant name for Ahriman.
Arinna
(Ariniddu) [Arinnitti?]
Hittite goddess and war-like protectress, wife of the weather god.
Arinnitti
(Wurusemu)
Hittite sun goddess. [ = Arinna?]
Aristaios
(Latin Aristaeus)
Greek pastoral deity, protector of herdsmen and hunters, originator of the cultivation of bees. Son of Apollo and Cyrene, and born in Libya. Husband of Autonoe. Aristaios fell in love with Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, who spurned his advances. While fleeing the bees he sent in pursuit, she was bitten by a poisonous snake and died, leading to the famous effort by Orpheus to retrieve his wife from Hades. In punishment, the gods killed all of the bees of Aristaios. However, on the advice of Proteus, he sacrificed cattle in Eurydice's memory, and new swarms of bees emerged from the the carcasses. Aristaios eventually disappeared near Mt. Haemus in Thrace.
Aritimi
The Etruscan equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis.
Arjuna
Hindu heroic god.
Arma
(Hurrian Kusuh)
Hittite and Luwian moon god.
Arma
Luwian moon god of Asia Minor.
Armaiti
One of the Amesha Spentas of Zoroastrianism; goddess of the earth and of fertility.
Armaz
Supreme god of pre-Christian Georgia; corresponding to the Armenian Armazd and ultimately related to the Iranian Ahura Mazda.
Arnakua'gsak
Eskimo 'Old Woman of the Sea' who supplies all physical needs.
Arnemetia
British-Celtic water goddess.
Arom
Kafir god of contractual agreements.
Arsan Duolai
Yakut chief spirit of the underworld.
Arsay
West Semitic (Canaanite) underworld goddess.
Arsu
Palmyran god of north Arabia, who, with his twin brother Azizu, represents the evening and morning stars.
Artemis
Greek goddess of wild animals and of the hunt. Although she was noted for her chastity, she was also regarded as a goddess of vegetation (particularly wild vegetation) and childbirth. Daughter of Zeus and Leto. Sister of Apollo, Artemis was associated with the moon, as a complement to Apollo's association with the sun. Her cult was the most popular among ordinary Greeks. She was believed to dwell in wild places, accompanied by a retinue of nymphs. Arcadia was said to be her favourite haunt. Artemis was noted as a terrible adversary when angered, symbolic of the sudden and capricious fury of nature. The most famous example of this is the story of Actaeon, the youth who chanced upon the goddess while bathing on Mt. Cithaeron. Enraged, Artemis changed him into a stag, in which form he was pursued and killed by his own hounds.
It was as a goddess of women's life in general that Artemis acquired her seemingly contradictory role as a goddess of fertility and childbirth. She presided over the initiation rites of young women, and, later in life, brought sudden death to women with her "gentle darts". As goddess of the tree cult, her festivals were characterized by dances of maidens representing tree nymphs, or dryads. In the Peloponnesus she was associated with wells, springs and other waters bearing epithets such as Limnaea or Limnatis (Lady of the Lake). Elsewhere, she was best known as Potnia Theron (Mistress of the Animals). Artemis was depicted as a young woman bearing bow and arrow, often accompanied by a stag or a hunting dog. Her lunar aspect was sometimes signified by a torch carried in the hand.
Artemis of Ephesus
Greek fertility and mother goddess represented in the great temple at Ephesus in Anatolia by a many-breasted statue. Her cult at Ephesus was quite different from that of the chaste Artemis of the Greek mainland. Votive offerings from many ancient cultures have been found at the site of the temple, counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Arthapratisamvit
Buddhist (Vajrayana) goddess of logical analysis.
Artio
(Artio of Muri)
Continental Celtic goddess of the bear cult. Known from inscriptions in the Bern region of Switzerland.
Aruna (1)
) See Kamrusepa.
Aruna (2)
One of the Adityas in Indian religion; personification of the early dawn.
Arundhati
Hindu astral goddess.
Aruru
Creative goddess of Sumeria. See Ninhursag.
Arvernus
Gallic god of the Arverni.
Aryaman
One of the Vedic Adityas, personification of hositality and responsible for introducing the institution of marriage.
Arya-Tara
Buddhist goddess: the Sakti of Amoghasiddhi.
As
(pl. Aesir)
In Norse mythology, one of the race of gods inhabiting Asgard: Odin, Thor, Tyr, Balder, Heimdall, Frigg, Nanna and Sif.
As
Egyptian god. See Ash.
Asag
(Akkadian Asakku)
Sumerian demon of drought and illness.
Asalluhe
(Asalluhi)
Sumerian city god of Ku'ar, later identified with the Babylonian Marduk. Son of Enki, he assisted in the rites of exorcism. Messenger god?
Asar
Pre-Islamic equestrian god.
Asasel
(Azazel)
Hebrew demon of the wilderness.
Asase Ya
(Asase Yaa)
Ashanti earth-goddess.
Asclepius
See Asklepios.
Asera
(Aserat)
Amorite-Canaanite goddess of love and fertility, similar to Astarte.
Asertu
(Hittite Aserdus; Syrian-Ugaritic Atirat)
Canaanite fertility goddess, wife of Elkunirsa, to whom she was unfaithful when she attempted to seduce the weather god.
Aset
See Isis.
Asgaya Gigagei
Cherokee Red Man or Red Woman: a hermaphroditic thunder god.
Ash
(As)
Egyptian god of the Libyan Desert (Sahara). Known as the 'Lord of Libya'. Depicted in human form, sometimes with the head of a hawk. He was particularly associated with the fertile oases of the desert whose produce was prized in ancient Egypt. In his capacity as a desert god, Ash was sometimes identified with the god Seth.
Asha Vahishta
One of the Zoroastrian Amesha Spentas ('beneficent immortals'): the Wise Lord.
Asherah
West Semitic (Syria and Palestine: Canaanite-Ugaritic) goddess, consort of the supreme god El, sometimes of Baal. Also early Hebrew wife of Yahweh. "She who walks in the Sea".
Asherat of the Sea
Phoenician goddess of the sea.
Ashiakle
Goddess of wealth of the Gan of Ghana.
Ashimbabbar
See Nanna.
Ashtaroth
(Ashtoreth)
Canaanite and Phoenician goddess of fertility and reproduction.
Ashtart
Phoenician goddess of the planet Venus.
Ashur
City god of Ashur, national god of Assyria and a god of war. Ashur later took over the roles Marduk and Enlil. His consort was Ishtar.
Asira
Pre-Islamic north Arabian local god.
Asis
Sun god of Kenya/Uganda Suk and Pokot.
Asklepios
(Asclepius, Roman Aesculapius)
Greek god of healing and patron deity of physicians. Son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis. Husband of Epione. Father of Hygieia (health) and Panacea (all-healing). A deified mortal, Asklepios was not worshipped as a god until post-Homeric times. Homer refers to him only as a skillful physician, and it was Apollo who was regarded as the god of healing until that role was taken over by his son beginning in the fifth century BC.
His cult originated in Thessaly (the location of the oldest known temple honouring him), where he was said to have been raised by the centaur Cheiron, who taught him the art of healing. Zeus, fearing that Asklepios might make men immortal, killed him with a thunderbolt. Asklepios was generally depicted as a bearded man wearing a robe that leaves his breast uncovered. His attribute is a staff with a snake coiled about it. (The staff used today as a symbol of the medical profession is actually the winged caduceus of Hermes.)
Aslesa
(Aslesas)
Hindu goddess of misfortune.
Asmodaios
(Asmodeus)
Old Iranian demon, later the chief of the evil spirits in Jewish theology.
Asnan
(Sumerian Emmer)
Mesopotamian goddess of wheat.
Asokakanta
Form of the Buddhist goddess Marici.
Asokottamasri
Tibetan Buddhist-Lamaist physician god.
Asopos
(Asopus)
River god of Boeotia in central Greece. Son of Okeanos and Tethys, or, alternatively, the son of Poseidon. Father of Aegina, who was abducted by Zeus. When Asopos pursued, Zeus drove him back with his thunderbolts.
Aspalis
West Semitic hunting goddess.
Asparas
Hindu heavenly and lascivious nymphs, companions of the Gandharvas, gods of the air.
Asratum
West Semitic (Canaanite) fertility goddess.
Assur
(Ashur, Asshur)
See Ashur.
Astabhuja-Kurukulla
Form of the Buddhist goddess Kurukulla.
Astabi
Hittite-Hurrian deity.
Astamatara
Hindu (Puranic) group of mother goddesses.
Astaphaios
Gnostic primordial deity.
Astar
Ethiopic sky-god.
Astaroth
West Semitic fertility goddess.
Astarte
(Anat, Athirat, Astarat, Athtart)
West Semitic great goddess, and goddess of love and fertility. She was the sister and consort of Baal in Canaan. Her cult was widespread in Syria and Palestine. Her Assyro-Babylonian equivalent was Ishtar, and she appears in the Bible as Astoreth.
Asteria
See Perses.
Asterion
Greek river god of the Peloponnesus. Son of Oceanus and Tethys.
Asthoreth
Palestinian-Philistine goddess of love and fertility, corresponding to the Syrian Astarte.
Astlik
Armenian astral goddess.
Asto Vidatu
Iranian god of death.
Asuha-No-Kami
Shinto god of courtyards.
Asura
Group of demons in Indian Buddhism. Group of primeval gods in Vedic Hinduism.
Asurakumara
Group of Jain gods ('demon-princes') associated with rain and thunder.
Asuras
Persian good spirits.
Asvayujau
Hindu (Epic and Puranic) goddess of fortune.
Asvin
(pl. Asvins)
Nasatyas = "horsemen". Twin Vedic deities representing the morning and evening stars. They are associated with healing.
Asynja
In Norse mythology, the goddesses of Asgard.
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