Guide to the Gods 1.0
Di... to Dz...
Diana
Roman moon goddess and goddess of woodlands. She was also regarded as a goddess of fertility and childbirth. Daughter of Jupiter and Latona. Equivalent to the Greek Artemis. She had a sanctuary on the Aventine Hill in Rome.
Dian Cecht
Celtic god of healing.
Dictynna
See Britomartis.
Dieva deli
Latvian twin deities.
Dievini
Latvian minor gods.
Dievs
Latvian sky god.
Dii Mauri
'Moorish gods' mentioned in Latin inscriptions in North Africa.
Dii Penates
See Penates.
Dike
One of the Greek Horae (Seasons). Also a goddess of justice (Greek dike). Daughter of Zeus and Themis. Her sisters were the other Horae: Eirene and Eunomia.
Dimme
Sumerian female demon.
Dingurmakh
Mesopotamian goddess.
Diomedes
Probable origin as ancient war-god in Argos.
Dione
Cult partner of Zeus of Dodoma, ancient earth-goddess. Given variously as the daughter of Okeanos and Tethys, or of Ouranos and Gaea.
Dionysos
(Dionysus, Dionysius, Roman Bacchus)
Greek god of wine and intoxication. Son of Zeus and Semele (although Demeter is sometimes given as his mother). His consort was Ariadne. His cult is believed to have originated in either Thrace, Phrygia or perhaps Lydia.
Hera, out of jealousy, is said to have tricked Semele into asking Zeus to reveal his divinity to her. When Zeus complied, his divine majesty was too great for Semele, who was destroyed by his thunderbolts. Zeus retrieved Dionysus from his lover's dead body and sewed him up in his thigh until he reached full term. As a result, Dionysus was known as Dithyrambos (twice born). Zeus then sent the infant to be raised by Semele's sister Ino and her husband Athamas at Orchomenus. Hera discovered the child's hiding place, and drove Ino and Athamas mad. However, Hermes spirited the infant away to be raised by the nymphs on the legendary mountain of Nysa. Dionysos was educated in the art of agriculture by Aristaeus. He was credited with having the introduction of the vine and the art of making wine. In some legends he was said to have descended to the underworld to bring back his mother Semele, and this presumably led to his role in Orphism, which equated him with Zagreus.
His worship was characterized by orgiastic and often violent rites. His female worshippers, known as Bacchants or Maenads, ran and danced through the woods in a drunken frenzy bearing torches and thyrsus staves (made of vine leaves and ivy). The frenzy was believed to give them occult powers as well as superhuman strength, with which they were said to tear sacrificial animals to pieces. Dionysos' epithets included Bromios (thunderer), Lyaios (deliverer [from cares]), as well as Taurokeros (bull-horned) and Tauroprosopos (bull-faced) in reference to his incarnation as a bull at his feasts. Among his festivals were the Greater and Lesser Dionysia, the Anthesteria, the Agrionia and the Katagogia at Athens. Phallic symbolism was particularly prominent at the Dionysia, indicating that Dionysos was there being worshipped as a fertility god.
Dirona
See Sirona.
Dis
Caesar's name for the supreme god of the Celts he encountered in Gaul. It is uncertain which Celtic deity this refers to.
Discordia
Roman goddess of discord and strife. Equivalent to the Greek goddess Eris.
Disir
Germanic (Norse) goddesses of fertility and destiny.
Dis Pater
(Dis)
Roman god of the infernal regions. Also known as Pluto. Roman equivalent of the Greek Hades. Husband of Proserpina.
Diti
Ancient Indian goddess. In the Vedas, she is the daughter of Daksha, wife of Kasyapa, and mother of the Daityas and Maruts.
Dius Fidius
Sabine sky god of ancient Italy. Worshipped by the Romans as a god of oaths.
Diwe
Iranian monsters.
Di-ya and Tian-long
Chinese gods.
Di-zang
Chinese bodhisattva of hell.
Djall
Albanian name for the devil.
Djanggawul
Australian founder deities.
Djata
Goddess of Ngadju-Dayak in Borneo.
Djebauti
(Zebauti)
Egyptian local god.
Djinns
Ancient Arabian spirits.
Dohitt
Quechua creator (Bolivia).
Dolichenus
Syrian god of weather and war.
Domnu
Irish goddess of the Fomors.
Domovoi
(domovoy)
Slavic household spirit.
Don
Welsh goddess, counterpart of the Irish Danu. Wife of Beli.
Donar
Teutonic god of thunder. Known to the Anglo-Saxons as Thunar or Thunor. He is also equated with the Norse god Thor.
Donbittir
Ossetian god of waters and fish.
Dongo
Celestial spirit of the Songhay of the upper Niger River in Africa.
Dong-yo Da-di
Chinese helper of sky god.
Doris
Greek sea-goddess. Daughter of Okeanos and Tethys (see also Okeaninai). Mother of the Nereids by her consort Nereus.
drag-gshed
8 terrible gods of Tibet. See dharmapala.
Dreams
See Oneiroi.
Druden
Germanic female demon.
Drug
Vedic class of demons.
Dryads
(Dryades, Hamadryads)
Greek woodland nymphs. Each dryad was associated with a particular tree and died when that tree died.
Dua
Egyptian god of toiletry.
Duamutef
(Tuamutef)
Egyptian funerary god, son of Horus.
bDud
Tibetan heavenly spirits.
Duellona
Roman goddess, see Bellona.
Dugbo
Chief god of the earth in Sierra Leone.
Duillae
Ancient Hispanic goddesses.
Dumuzi
(Tammuz)
Mesopotamian god of fertility, Sumerian god of vegetation and of the Underworld.
Dumuziabzu
(Dumuzi-Abzu)
Sumerian city goddess of Kinirsha.
Dumuzi-Amaushumgalana
Sumerian fertility god of S orchard regions.
Dur
Kassite god of underworld.
Durga
The name given to the wife of Shiva in the Vedas.
Dusares
Chief god of Nabataeans.
Dvarapala
Buddhist deities.
Dvergar
Norse dwarfs.
Dvorovoi
Slavonic god of the courtyard.
Dxui
Creator god of the Bushmen of south Central Africa.
Dyai
Tucuna (Amazon) creator god.
Dyaus
Ancient Vedic sky god; minor figure.
Dyavo
Serbian demons.
Dylan
Welsh sea god; brother of Lleu. He was eventually slain by Govannon.
Dzelarhons
Mountain spirit of North American Pacific coast.
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