Guide to the Gods 1.0
Pa... to Pm...
Pa
Chinese goddess of drought.
Pabilsang
(Pabilsag)
Sumerian god.
Pa-Cha
Chinese protective deity against locusts.
Pachacamac
"Earth Maker". An earth god of pre-Incan origin, but adopted by the Incas. Consort of Pachamama. His brothers were Viracocha and Mancocoapac.
Pachamama
(Mama Pacha)
Inca goddess of the earth, wife of Pachamac.
Pachet
Egyptian goddess of the desert.
Padmanartesvara
Form of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
Padvaxtag
See Xrostag.
Paean
Greek god of healing and physician to the other gods. This may originally have been merely an epithet of Apollo, however he did emerge as an independent deity in later Greek literature.
Pah
God of the moon of the Pawnee Indians.
Pa-Hsien
Chinese Eight Immortals: Li of the Iron Crutch, Han Chung-Li, Chang-Kuo-Lao, Lan-Ts'ai-Ho, Lu-Tung-Pin, Han-Hsiang-Tzu, T'sao- Kuo-Chiu, Ho-Hsien-Ku.
Paikea
Polynesian god of sea monsters. His parents were Rangi and Papa.
Pajainen
Finnish goddess.
Pajonn
Lapp god of thunder.
Pakrokitat and Kukitat
Creator god and sibling of the Serrano of California.
Palaemon
Minor Greek sea god. The deified form of Melicertes after his death. Melicertes was the son of Athamas and Ino. Both were driven mad, and Ino leapt to her death in the sea carrying Melicertes with her.
Pales
Roman goddess of flocks and herds (originally male). Her festival, the Parilia, was celebrated on April 21. The Parilia was said to be the 'birthday of Rome', commemorating the day Romulus was said to have drawn the first furrow laying the foundations of the Roma Quadrata, the oldest part of the city of Rome.
Palici
Twin Sicilian gods associated with a pair of geysers near Palagonia still known as the Lago dei Palici. Their shrine became a sanctuary for slaves, and as such played a prominent symbolic role in the Sicilian slave revolts of the 2nd century BC. The Palici were later identified as the offspring of either Zeus and Thalia or Hephaestus and Aetna.
Palk
Korean sun-god.
Palulop
Great sea god and canoe captain of Micronesia.
Pamola
Algonkian evil spirit of the night. He was eventually destroyed by Gluskap.
Pan
Greek shepherd god. Depicted in human form with the legs, horns and ears of a goat. Son of Hermes and the nymph Penelope. He was said to have been born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia. He originated as an Arcadian deity and that region remained the most important centre of his cult. Although Hermes took him to Olympus, his haunts were generally the forests and fields of the country, and he was believed to live in caves. Pan was the patron deity of fishermen and hunters as well as of shepherds. On the other hand, he was believed to take delight in frightening unsuspecting travellers.
A god of fertility and unbridled male sexuality, he was known for pursuing nymphs in the form of a goat. One of the nymphs he pursued, Syrinx, changed herself into a reed to escape him. Pan then cut several reeds and devised what are known as the pan-pipes (syrinx). He later used these pipes to defeat Apollo in a music contest. In addition to having goat's horns, legs and ears, he was depicted as being coarse in appearance, bearded, and bearing the syrinx pipes or a shepherd's crook. The Romans equated him with their Faunus.
Panacea
"All-Healing". Minor Greek goddess of health.
Pancaraksa
Group of 5 Buddhist goddesses.
P'an-Chin-Lien
Chinese goddess of prostitutes.
Pandara
Buddhist goddess.
Pandora
Created by Zeus.
Pani
Maori vegetation goddess.
P'an Ku
(Panku, Pangu)
Primordial Chinese giant who evolved from the Yin and Yang, and from whose body the cosmos was eventually formed.
Papa
Mother of the gods in the belief of the inhabitants of the Polynesian island of Mangaia. Her husband was Rangi, and their children were Tangaroa and Rongo.
Papaja
See Isdustaja.
Papas
Phrygian god.
Papsukkal
Babylonian messenger of the gods.
Para
Finnish goblin-like creatures.
Paramasva
Buddhist god.
Parasu-Rama
(Parashurama)
"Rama with the Axe". The sixth avatar of Vishnu. In this form Vishnu defeated the Kshatriyas, helping to bring the Brahmans to power.
Parca
See Morta.
Parcae
Roman goddesses of fate. Originally they included only the pair of Decima and Nona, both goddesses of birth. Later, under the influence of the Greek Fates, the Moirai, the goddess of death Morta (Parca) was added to form a triad.
Pariacaca
Pre-Inca god of rain, water and thunder.
Pariacaca
Chincha rain-god.
Parjanya
An Aditya, old Indian rain-god, later identified with Indra.
Parnasavari
Aboriginal Indian goddess taken over by the Buddhists.
Parsva
Penultimate Tirthamkara.
Partula
Minor Roman goddess of birth, concerned with parturition.
Parvati
"Daughter of the Mountain". Hindu mother goddess, daughter of Himavat, the god of the Himalaya mountains, and Mena, a sister of Vishnu. She became the wife of Shiva, in which role she personifies the Hindu ideal of the devoted wife. She was the mother of the elephant-headed god Ganesha. She is often depicted carrying Ganesha as a baby, or as being elephant-headed herself.
Pashupati
One of the titles of Rudra.
Pasithea
One of the Greek Muses in some versions. Daughter of Zeus and Eurynome. May simply be another name for Aegle (Aeglaia).
Pasupati
( = Pashupati?)
Deity of Indus valley civilizations.
Patecatl
Aztec god of medicine.
Pateke
Phoenician protective deity of seafarers.
Pattini
Most important female deity of Singhalese.
Pax
Roman goddess of peace. Equated with the Greek Eirene. She was first recognized as a goddess proper under Augustus. An altar of Pax Augusta was erected at the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) in 9 BC, and a temple of Pax was completed under Vespasian in AD 75. She was depicted as a young woman bearing a cornucopia, an olive branch and a garland of corn. Her festival was celebrated on January 3.
Payatamu
Navaho god of summer fields.
Pazuzu
Assyrian demon.
Peitho
"Persuasion". Greek goddess of persuasion. Daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite, although Hesiod makes her the daughter of Okeanos. An attendant of Aphrodite.
Pekar
(Pehar)
Tibetan demon-prince.
Peko
Estonian god of barley.
Pele
Hawaiian goddess of volcanic fire, personification of the female power of destruction.
Pellonpekko
Finnish god of barley.
Pemba
(Bemba)
Creator god of the Bambara in West Africa.
Penates
(Di Penates)
Roman household gods. Originally they were gods of the storeroom (penus), but their role gradually expanded to include the entire household. They were associated with, but not identical with, other household deities such as Vesta and the Lares. They were represented by small statues gathered together in a household shrine, to which offerings of food were made. The Roman state also had its Penates, the Penates Publici, which were the focus of a state cult.
Peneios
(Peneius, Peneus)
Thessalian river god. Possibly the father of Daphne and the nymphs of Thessaly.
Pephredo
One of the Graiae in Greek mythology. Daughter of Phorkys and Ceto. Sister of the other Graiae, Deino and Enyo.
Perchten
(Berchten)
Germanic demons. Named after the goddess/demon Bercht (Perchta).
Perendi
Old Illyrian name for God.
Peri
In Zoroastrianism, the female demons associated with Ahriman.
Perit
Albanian female mountain-spirits.
Perkons
Latvian god of thunder.
Perkunas
Lithuanian god of thunder.
Perkuno
Prussian thunder-god.
Perse
(Perseis)
Greek underworld goddess. Conosrt of the sun god Helios. Mother of Circe and Pasiphae. Perse embodied the underworld aspects of the moon. She was also known as Neaira, "the new one", or the new moon.
Persephone
(Roman Proserpina)
Greek goddess of the underworld. Daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Once, while picking flowers in the Vale of Nysa (reputedly in Sicily), she was abducted by Hades, who forced her to become his wife in the underworld. The gods, concerned that her mother's grief was causing the earth's vegetation to shrivel and die, sent Hermes to negotiate for her return. He succeeded in gaining Hades permission but, because Persephone had eaten a single pomegranate seed while in the underworld, she was only allowed to return to her mother for two thirds of the year.
The earth's vegetation was believed to prosper during the two thirds of the year that Persephone was with her mother and waste away during the third spent in the underworld. This paralleled the cycle of the seasons in the Mediterranean, where late summer is a period of drought. This celebration of this story became the central part of the Eleusinian mysteries. She was referred to as Kore ("girl" or "maiden") in her association with Demeter, and some scholars believe she was only an aspect of Demeter and not a deity in her own right. Certainly the story of Persephone was inseparable from that of Demeter, as was her worship. In Orphism, a mystery religion centering around the similar legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, Persephone was the mother of Zagreus by Zeus.
Peruda
One of the three creator gods of the Brazilian Tupi-Guarani people (the others being Guaracy and Jacy). He was the god of human reproduction.
Perun
(Peroun)
"Striker". Slavonic god of thunder in Russia and the Balkans. He was depicted with a club, and his sacred animal was the bull.
Petbe
Egyptian god of retaliation.
Petesuchos
Egyptian crocodile-god.
Pey
Demonic beings of Tamils.
Phanes
"Light". Primordial Greek sun god. In Orphism, he was the first god to emerge from the primeval egg engendered by Kronos. In another tradition, he was the father of Nyx (night).
Pharaoh
Egyptian god-king(s).
Pheme
(Roman Fama)
Greek goddess of popular rumour. She had an altar at Athens.
Phobos
"Panic". Greek god of fear and terror. Son of Ares and Aphrodite. He accompanied Ares into battle.
Phorkys
(Phorcys, Phorkos)
Greek sea god. According to Hesiod, the son of Pontos (Okeanos) and Gaia. Consort of the sea-monster Ceto (Keto). Father of the Gorgons and the Graii.
Phosphoros
(Phosphorus, Heosphoros)
Greek god of the morning star. Son of Eos (dawn) and either Astraios or Cephalus. He was depicted as a naked youth running ahead of his mother, bearing a torch.
Picullus
Prussian god of underworld.
Picus
"Woodpecker". Roman woodland god in the form of a woodpecker. Also an agricultural deity associated with the fertilization of the soil with manure. The woodpecker was sacred to the god Mars, and played an important role in Roman augury. Later Roman writers made Picus an early Italian king, while Virgil made him the son of Saturn and the father of Faunus. In early Roman art, Picus was depicted as a wooden pillar surmounted by a woodpecker. He later came to be represented as a youth with a woodpecker perched on his head.
Picvu'cin
Chukchi god of hunting and wild animals.
Pidrai
Consort of Phoenician Baal.
Pietas
Roman goddess personifying respect and fidelity to gods, country and relatives. A sanctuary in Rome was dedicated to Pietas as early as 191 BC.
Pi-Hsia-Yuan-Chun
Chinese protectress of childbirth and of women and children.
Pihuechenyi
Araucanian (Chile) demon.
Pillan
(Pilan)
God of thunder among the Araucanian people of Chile. He was usually consulted only in moments of great urgency.
Pilumnus
Minor Roman god, given variously as a god of agriculture or a guardian deity of infants at birth.
Pinikir
(Pinenkir)
Elamite mother-goddess.
Pirwa
(Peruwa)
Hittite deity.
Pishashas
Evil woodland spirits of Vedic myth.
Pistis Sophia
Female abstract redeemer of Gnostics.
Pitaras
Venerable dead of India.
Pleiades
Greek daughters of Atlas.
Pluto
Roman god of the Underworld. Derived from the Greek Hades (qv), and largely indistinguishable from him. However, in Roman tradition the entrance to hell was said to be at Avernus in Rome.
Pluton
(Pluto)
An epithet of the Greek god of the underworld, Hades (qv).
Plutos
(Plutus)
"Riches". Greek god of wealth and abundance. Primarily a god of agricultural wealth. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Demeter and the Titan Iasion, and was born in Crete. Plutos was said to have been blinded by Zeus so that he might dispense his riches indiscriminately, although this seems to have been derived from a comedy by Aristophanes. He had a temple at Eleusis, and was worshipped in the Eleusinian Mysteries along with Demeter and Persephone. Depicted as a boy with a cornucopia.
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