The second type of tutelary deity are the guardians of the world around us, such as river deities, mountain gods, forest gods (In Slavic mythology Leshy is tutelary god of the woods), and even minor tutelary spirits such as the nymphs of specific springs or woods in Greek mythology. Building on real world myths will help you create a great fictional mythology. For example, Loki invented nets and gave humans the ability to fish. Welcome to our quiz! Familiarity with 10 of the most widely known Hindu gods—Ganesha, Shiva, Krishna, Rama, Hanuman, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Durga, Kali, Saraswati— offers an insight into the rich tapestry of ancient Hindu belief. Thor was Odin’s most widely-known son. Ancinet-Mythology.com provides a reference to the many stories that have been formed by peoples from all over the Earth, throughout all of time—from the fascinating legends and myths of the Greeks to the warrior gods in Norse mythology. Directly in contrast to rustic deities are craft deities. But ancient people configured their pantheon of gods whether they were all powerful or part human, or stuck to their own realm or visited on earth, meddling directly in the affairs of humans. Godchecker is 100% non-denominational. In his seminal work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he discusses what he calls the “monomyth”, the similarities in theme, characters, purpose, and narrative progression of myths from different cultures, at different times, around the world and throughout history. Personifications are often numerous, more minor deities, who are literally aspects of human existence and emotion given an anthropomorphic form. For obvious reasons, these are more often than not the same concept. The Late Postclassic period Aztec culture of Mesoamerica (1110–1521 CE) worshiped more than 200 different deities spanning three broad classes of Aztec life—the heavens, fertility and agriculture, and war. They may include the three stages of Life – the Mother, Maiden and Crone who stand in for youth, adulthood and seniority. But I’ve sat there scratching my head more than once, questioning what different types of gods are absolutely essential for a pantheon. They are often one and the same with trickster deities. Ancient China worshiped a vast network of local and regional mythological deities, nature spirits, and ancestors, and reverence for those gods persisted well into the modern era. If you think I might’ve missed something, let me know in the comments. Morpheus. It was not uncommon for what was originally the tutelary god of a city to become an important part of the pantheon, such as Athena and Athens, or Marduk and Babylon. Celestial gods may overlap with primordial gods in some way. Ancient Egyptian gods are recorded on tombs and manuscripts beginning in the Old Kingdom of about 2600 BCE and lasting until the Romans conquered Egypt in 33 BCE. He was known to be vengeful when insulted. The heroes are probably the best-known part of Greek mythology, but what makes a hero?. Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and taught how to make it to humans. Our Holy Database aims to cover all Gods of mythology, literature and legend. So they’re overwhelmingly common. Get acquainted with the mythology of many different countries and cultures, including Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian mythologies. They are supernatural beings in Germanic mythology and folklore, elves were first attested in Old English and Old Norse texts and are prominent in British and Scandinavian folklore. The Norse gods are divided into 2 major groups, the Aesir and Vanir, plus the giants, who came first. In Roman mythology, Chaos itself created Gaia, the Earth, and Ouranos, the Heavens. God of dreams and sleep – has the ability to take any human form and appear in dreams. Anansi won all the stories in the world from Nyame, and shared them. But they provide a great baseline to decide on the different types of gods you might want to include in your pantheon. Death gods are found in essentially every pantheon. Freya. I won’t claim every pantheon in the real world has every one of these types of god, or that you have to include them all. The role they played on earth varies greatly, from none at all to direct one-on-one meddling. These stories were passed down in the form of poetry until the 11th – 18th centuries when the Eddas and other texts were written. Mayan deities rule over a tripartite cosmos and were applied to for assistance in war or childbirth; they also ruled over specific periods of time, having feast days and months built into the calendar. Tutelary gods also include the patrons gods of cities, which just as commonly grew into larger figures when cities prospered. The creation myths of ancient Egypt were complex, with several versions, but they all start with the god Atum who creates order from chaos. Freya was one of the most sensual and passionate goddesses in Norse mythology. Or the Worldbuilding Magazine’s issue on Mythology. Tolkein's fantasy novels which included elves became popular, elves have become more popular and tend to lean more towards the latter type. Without further ado, lets jump into the 11 different types of gods you probably have in your pantheon. I'm an incurably Australian writer, worldbuilder and nerd. (Now do you see why I said the titans were really big?) This is a list of Roman gods and goddesses that are in Roman mythology. The Celtic culture refers to an Iron Age European people (1200–15 BCE) who interacted with the Romans, and it is that interaction that provided much of what we know of their religion. They include Ymir from Norse mythology, Pangu in Chinese mythology, or Chaos in the Greek creation myth. All ancient civilizations have creation myths, explaining how the world was created from chaos. In Norse mythology, the giants came first, and then the Old Gods (the Vanir) who were later supplanted by the New Gods (the Aesir). There were 12 major gods in Greek mythology, more than 300 in Nordic mythology, and over 2,000 worshiped in Ancient Egypt. Hephaestus is the obvious Greek example. They are most often elder deities, who predate human civilization, and represent animalistic desires and instincts. The Maya predate the Aztec, and like the Aztec, based some of their theology on the existing pan-Mesoamerican religions. Famous and infamous characters within those traditions are also explored. We’ve narrowed that list down to the six craziest and most terrifying deities of all time. The Romans sustained a religion that adopted most of the Greek gods for their own with different names and slightly different myths. Polytheism is much more fun than monotonous monotheism. Over the millennia, China has embraced and developed three major religions, all established first in the 5th or 6th century BCE: Confucianism (led by Confucius 551-479 BC), Buddhism (led by Siddhartha Gautama), and Taoism (led by Lao Tzu, d. 533 BCE). In the end, the Aesir, the newcomers, overcame and assimilated the Vanir. The Aztec cosmos was tripartite: a visible world of humans and nature lay suspended between supernatural levels above (illustrated by Tlaloc, god of thunderstorms and rain) and below (Tlaltechutli, the monstrous earth goddess). Triple goddesses and death gods are often cyclical in nature. But ultimately, they are responsible for cutting that tie in some manner. All Gods are welcome, whether Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or of No Fixed Abode. These include the sun (such as Apollo), the moon (Selene), stars (Asteria), the planets, the heavens or underworld. The Greek major gods are Zeus, the leader of Olympian gods and the god of thunder, Poseidon, the god of horses and the sea, and Hades, the ruler of the Underworld. Norse mythology brings us the Norns, Greek mythology has the Moirai (Fates in Latin), and Irish mythology the Morrigan. Liminal and cyclical deities often overlap with other types of god. Hero mythsare, perhaps, the most entertaining of all forms of mythology. They also incorporated without too much discrimination the gods of particular interest to a newly conquered group, the better to foster assimilation in their imperialistic ventures. Or should have, anyway. Versions of gods; Greek Version Roman Version Etruscan Version Norse Version Adonis Atunis Aphrodite: Venus: Turan: Freyja: Apollo: Apollo: Aplu: Baldur: Ares: Mars: Laran: Tyr: Artemis: Diana: Artume: Skadi: Athena: Minerva: Menrva: Frigg, Freya Chloris: Flora Demeter: Ceres Sif Dionysus: Bacchus: Fufluns Eos: Aurora: Thesan Hades: Pluto: Aita: Hel: Harmonia Hebe: Juventas: Idunn … The creative process began with the forcible separation of Gaea from her doting consort Heaven ( Uranus) in order to allow her progeny to be born. image: greek-mythology-pantheon.com Poseidon God of the Sea (Po-Sigh'-dun) Poseidon was god of the sea, earthquakes, storms, and horses and is considered one of the most bad-tempered, moody and greedy Olympian gods. She has been featured by NPR and National Geographic for her ancient history expertise. The Norns, Greek mythology was created from Chaos, Maiden and Crone who stand for. 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