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Lists of deities

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This list of deities aims at giving information about ancient and actual deities in the different religions, cultures and mythologies of the world. It is sorted alphabetically.

See also: deva (demigod), God, Goddess, mythology, religion, scripture.

Abenaki


Anglo-Saxon mythology

Anglo-Saxon gods

  • Woden also known as Grim
  • Frige
  • Tiw
  • Thunor
  • Ingui
  • Seaxneat

Other Characters

Wayland Smith

Flibertigibit (Wayland's apprentice)

Beowulf, a hero

Elves

Giants

dwarves

Deities in the Abrahamic religions

Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in the same God, but Muslims, and to some degree Jews (see below), visualize God in strictly monotheistic terms, whereas most Christians believe that God exists as a Trinity.

Judaism

Yahweh is the Biblical name for God used by ancient Jews. Adonai, Eloheynu and Hashem are some of the names of God used in modern day Judaism. The Hebrew word "elohim" is also used to refer to God in the Torah (and the Christian Old Testament), and this refers to a plural nature of God. However, Jews hold to a slightly more monotheistic view of God than Christians. They reject Jesus Christ as a false messiah, and do not assign any deity to him. However, the English word "God" (spelled "G-d" in deference to the taboo against pronouncing the Tetragrammaton) is commonly accepted among Jews to denote God (or G-d), as well.

Christianity

Historically, Christianity has professed belief in one deity, three divine persons (the Trinity), that make up one deity or Godhead, known as "God". (See Athanasian Creed.) Thus, most Christians are trinitarian monotheists, although there have been dissenters; see the articles Arianism, Unitarianism (History), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses for examples. Most of these unitarian groups believe or believed that only God the Father is a deity; Latter-day Saints believe that the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit are three distinct deities.

Islam

Allah is the most traditional Muslim name for God. Islamic tradition also speaks of 99 Names of God.

Other

Two smaller faiths that don't neatly fit into any of the categories of Abrahamic religions. Rastafarianism worships Jah and the Baha'i Faith also worships the same God as Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Akamba mythology

Akan mythology

Ashanti mythology

Australian Aboriginal mythology

Aztec mythology

Bushongo mythology

Celtic mythology

a more complete list can be found here.

Chinese mythology

Chippewa mythology

Creek mythology

Dacian mythology

Dahomey mythology

Dinka mythology

Efik mythology

Egyptian mythology

Egyptian deities are often portrayed as having animal heads in art; as an example, Anubis is often portrayed in statuary as having the body of a human, but the head of a canine. Many gods were portrayed with different animal heads, depending upon the situation. The Egyptians did NOT actually believe that their gods had animal heads; rather, they portrayed them that way as artistic symbolism. This may have been for the benefit of the illiterate.

  • Anubis, God of Embalming, Friend of the Dead
  • The Aten, the embodiment of the Sun's rays
  • Atum, a creator deity
  • Bast, Goddess of Cats
  • Bes, God-Demon of Protection, Childbirth and Entertainment
  • Geb, God of the Earth
  • Hapi, one of the four sons of Horus
  • Hapy God of the Nile and Fertility
  • Hathor, Goddess of Love and Music
  • Heget Goddess of Childbirth
  • Horus the falcon-headed god
  • Imhotep God of wisdom, medicine and magic
  • Isis, Goddess of Magic, sister of Nephthys
  • Khepry, the scarab beetle, the embodiment of the dawn
  • Khnum, a creator deity
  • Maahes
  • Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance and Order
  • Menhit
  • Mont, god of war
  • Naunet, the primal waters
  • Neith, the great mother goddess
  • Nephthys, mother of Anubis
  • Nut, goddess of heaven and the sky
  • Osiris
  • Ptah, a creator deity
  • Ra, the sun, possible father of Anubis
  • Sekhmnet, goddess of war and battles
  • Sobek, Crocodile God
  • Set, God of Storms, possible father of Anubis
  • Tefnut, goddess of order, justice, time, Heaven and Hell and weather
  • Thoth, god of the moon, drawing, writing, geometry, wisdom, medicine, music, astronomy, and magic

See http://touregypt.net/godsofegypt/ for the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism's extensive information on Egyptian Deities.

Etruscan mythology

Old Finnish deities

There are very few written documents about old Finnish religions; also the names of deities and practices of worship changed from place to place. The following is a summary of the most important and most widely worshipped deities.

  • Ukko, god of heaven and thunder
  • Rauni, Ukko's wife, goddess of fertility
  • Tapio, god of forest and wild animals
  • Mielikki, Tapio's wife
  • Pekko (or Peko), god or goddess (the actual gender is obscure) of fields and agriculture
  • Ahti, (or Ahto) god of streams, lakes and sea
  • Otso, son of a god, king of the forest whose carnal form is the bear
  • Tuoni, goddess of the underworld
  • Perkele, a god of the Lithuanians, drafted to do duty as "the devil"
  • Jumala, a physical idol, later the name of the christian god

Ancient Greek mythology

See also Demigods, the Dryads, the Fates, the Erinyes, the Graces, the Horae, the Muses, the Nymphs, the Pleiades, the Titans

Guarani mythology

Haida mythology

Hinduism

Some of the most important Devas:

Hopi mythology

See also kachina

Huron mythology

Ibo mythology

Incan mythology

Inuit mythology

Iroquois mythology

Isoko mythology

Japanese mythology

see also Kami

Khoikhoi mythology

"Kitchen Gods" (Modern Western mythology)

In addition to the gods listed elsewhere, there are several minor mythological beings spoken of in current Western culture and may be taken more or less seriously. These are commonly called Kitchen Gods.

!Kung mythology

Kwakiutl mythology

Lakota mythology

Lotuko mythology

Latvian mythology

Lugbara mythology

Maya mythology

Mesopotamian mythology

  • Anshar - father of heaven
  • Anu - the god of the highest heaven
  • Apsu - the ruler of gods and underworld oceans
  • Ashur - national god of the Assyrians
  • Damkina - Earth mother goddess
  • Ea - god of wisdom
  • Enlil - god of weather and storms
  • Enurta - god of war
  • Hadad - weather god
  • Ishtar - goddess of love
  • Kingu - husband of Tiamat
  • Kishar - father of earth
  • Marduk - national god of the Babylonians
  • Mummu - god of mists
  • Nabu - god of the scribal arts
  • Nintu - mother of all gods
  • Shamash - god of the sun and of justice
  • Sin - moon god
  • Tiamat - dragon goddess

Norse mythology

Pawnee mythology

Polynesian mythology

see also Menehune

Old Prussian / Baltic deities

Pygmy mythology

Roman mythology

Salish mythology

Sardinian deities

Sardinian deities, mainly referred to in the age of Nuragici people, are partly derived from Phoenician ones.

  • Janas Goddesses of death
  • Maymon God of Hades
  • Panas Goddesses of reproduction (women dead in childbirth)
  • Thanit Goddess of Earth and fertility

Seneca mythology

Slavic mythology

Sumerian mythology

See also Annuna

Thracian mythology

Tumbuka mythology

Ugarit mythology

  • El, the father God and head
  • Baal, the God of rain
  • Asherah, the Mother and Goddess of the Grove
  • Yam, the God of the sea
  • Mot, the God of death

Note: Ugarit had a profound influence on Canaanite religion and some influence on the Abrahamic religions, as well.

Winnebago mythology

Yoruba mythology

Zulu mythology

Zuni mythology

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