Apollo Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: Ἀπόλλων, Apollōn (GEN Ἀπόλλωνος); Doric: Ἀπέλλων, Apellōn; Arcadocypriot: Ἀπείλων, Apeilōn; Aeolic: Ἄπλουν, Aploun; Latin: Apollō) is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros (a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Etymology Tetradrachm from the Illyro-Paeonian region, representing Apollo The etymology of Apollo is uncertain. Several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo "The One of Entrapment", perhaps in the sense of "Hunter".[11] Greco-Roman epithets Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at Bassae in southern Greece
Völva A vǫlva or völva (Old Norse and Icelandic respectively (the same word, except that the second letter evolved from ǫ to ö); plural vǫlvur (O.N.), völvur (Icel.), sometimes anglicized vala; also spákona or spækona) is a shamanic seeress in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology. The seeress speaks her prophecy in this illustration to a 19th-century Swedish translation of the Poetic Edda. Names and etymology[edit] The völur were referred to by many names. The Old Norse word vǫlva means "wand carrier" or "carrier of a magic staff",[1] and it continues Proto-Germanic *walwōn, which is derived from a word for "wand" (Old Norse vǫlr).[2] Vala, on the other hand, is a literary form based on Völva.[2] A practitioner of seiðr is a seiðkona (female) or a seiðmaðr (male). Overview[edit] Early accounts[edit] The migrations of the Teutons and the Cimbri. Cimbri and Teutons defeats. Cimbri and Teutons victories. Jordanes relates in his Getica (XXIV:121) of Gothic Völvas called Aliorumnas.
Belenus In Celtic mythology, Bel, Belenos (also Belenus) was a deity worshipped in Gaul, Cisalpine Gaul, and Celtic areas of Austria, Britain and Spain. He is particularly associated with Cornwall, West Cornwall being anciently called Belerion, the place of Bel. He was the Celtic sun god and had shrines from Aquileia on the Adriatic to Kirkby Lonsdale in England.[1][2] The etymology of the name is unclear. Suggestions include "shining one,"[3] "the bright one"[4] and "henbane god".[5] In the Roman period he was identified with Apollo.[1] There are currently 51 known inscriptions dedicated to Belenus, mainly concentrated in Aquileia and Cisalpine Gaul, but also extend into Gallia Narbonensis, Noricum, and far beyond.[4] Images of Belenus sometimes show him to be accompanied by a female, thought to be the Gaulish deity Belisama.[4] In Asturias, Belenus persists as place name. Epithets[edit] An epithet of Belenus may have been Vindonnus. Name variants[edit] References[edit]
Valhalla In Norse mythology, Valhalla (from Old Norse Valhöll "hall of the slain"[1]) is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those who die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr. In Valhalla, the dead join the masses of those who have died in combat known as Einherjar, as well as various legendary Germanic heroes and kings, as they prepare to aid Odin during the events of Ragnarök. Valhalla is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla, also written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in stanzas of an anonymous 10th century poem commemorating the death of Eric Bloodaxe known as Eiríksmál as compiled in Fagrskinna. Attestations[edit] Poetic Edda[edit] Grímnismál[edit] Helgakviða Hundingsbana II[edit] Prose Edda[edit]
Eos Etymology[edit] Greek literature [edit] From The Iliad: Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hastening from the streams of Oceanus, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the ships with the armor that the god had given her. Quintus Smyrnaeus pictured her exulting in her heart over the radiant horses (Lampus and Phaëton) that drew her chariot, amidst the bright-haired Horae, the feminine Hours, climbing the arc of heaven and scattering sparks of fire.[5] She is most often associated with her Homeric epithet "rosy-fingered" (rhododactylos), but Homer also calls her Eos Erigeneia: That brightest of stars appeared, Eosphoros, that most often heralds the light of early-rising Dawn (Eos Erigeneia). Hesiod wrote: And after these Erigeneia ["Early-born"] bore the star Eosphoros ("Dawn-bringer"), and the gleaming stars with which heaven is crowned. Genealogy[edit] Lovers and children[edit] Etruscan interpretations[edit] Among the Etruscans, the generative dawn-goddess was Thesan.
Ragnarök The north portal of the 11th century Urnes stave church has been interpreted as containing depictions of snakes and dragons that represent Ragnarök In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Afterward, the world will resurface anew and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. Ragnarök is an important event in the Norse canon, and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory. The event is attested primarily in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Mythology[edit] The Old Norse word "ragnarok" is a compound of two words.
Sekhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet /ˈsɛkˌmɛt/[1] or Sachmis (/ˈsækmɨs/; also spelled Sakhmet, Sekhet, or Sakhet, among other spellings) was originally the warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing for Upper Egypt, when the kingdom of Egypt was divided. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians. It was said that her breath formed the desert. Sekhmet also is a Solar deity, sometimes called the daughter of the sun god Ra and often associated with the goddesses Hathor and Bast. Etymology[edit] Sekhmet's name comes from the Ancient Egyptian word "sekhem" which means "power or might". History[edit] Bust of the Goddess Sakhmet, ca. 1390-1352 B.C.E. The warrior goddess Sekhmet, shown with her sun disk and cobra crown from a relief at the Temple of Kom Ombo. In order to placate Sekhmet's wrath, her priestesses performed a ritual before a different statue of the goddess on each day of the year. Festivals and evolution[edit] In popular culture[edit] See also[edit]
Jörmungandr Sources[edit] The major sources for myths about Jörmungandr are the Prose Edda, the skaldic poem Húsdrápa, and the Eddic poems Hymiskviða and Völuspá. Less important sources include kennings in other skaldic poems. For example in Þórsdrápa, faðir lögseims, "father of the sea-thread", is used as a kenning for Loki. Stories[edit] There are three preserved myths detailing Thor's encounters with Jörmungandr: Lifting the cat[edit] Thor goes fishing for the Midgard Serpent in this picture from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript. In one, Thor encounters the serpent in the form of a colossal cat, disguised by the magic of the giant king Útgarða-Loki, who challenges the god to lift the cat as a test of strength. Thor's fishing trip[edit] Another encounter comes when Thor goes fishing with the giant Hymir. Thor then prepares a strong line and a large hook and baits it with the ox head, which Jörmungandr bites. The final battle[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit] References[edit]
Freyr Freyr (sometimes anglicized Frey, from *frawjaz "lord"[1]) is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was associated with sacral kingship, virility and prosperity, with sunshine and fair weather, and was pictured as a phallic fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals". Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden and seen as an ancestor of the Swedish royal house. In the Icelandic books the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Freyr is presented as one of the Vanir, the son of the sea god Njörðr, brother of the goddess Freyja. The gods gave him Álfheimr, the realm of the Elves, as a teething present. He rides the shining dwarf-made boar Gullinbursti and possesses the ship Skíðblaðnir which always has a favorable breeze and can be folded together and carried in a pouch when it is not being used. Adam of Bremen[edit] Prose Edda[edit] Gylfaginning[edit] The woman is Gerðr, a beautiful giantess. Skaldic poetry[edit]
Æsir–Vanir War Óðinn throws his spear at the Vanir host, illustration by Lorenz Frølich (1895) In Norse mythology, the Æsir–Vanir War was a conflict between the Æsir and the Vanir, two groups of gods, that ultimately resulted in the unification of the two groups into a single group of gods. The war is an important event in Norse mythology, and the implications of the war and the potential historicity surrounding the accounts of the war are a matter of scholarly debate and discourse. Fragmented information about the war appears in surviving sources, including Völuspá, a poem collected in the Poetic Edda in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; in the book Skáldskaparmál in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in euhemerized form in the Ynglinga saga from Heimskringla, also written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. Attestations[edit] The following attestations provide information about the war: Poetic Edda[edit] Prose Edda[edit] Heimskringla[edit] Other[edit]
Helios Names[edit] Greek mythology[edit] Helios in his chariot, early 4th century BC, Athena's temple, Ilion The best known story involving Helios is that of his son Phaëton, who attempted to drive his father's chariot but lost control and set the earth on fire. Helios was sometimes characterized with the epithet Helios Panoptes ("the all-seeing"). In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his surviving crew land on Thrinacia, an island sacred to the sun god, whom Circe names Hyperion rather than Helios. Though Odysseus warns his men, when supplies run short they impiously kill and eat some of the cattle of the Sun. In one Greek vase painting, Helios appears riding across the sea in the cup of the Delphic tripod which appears to be a solar reference. Helios and Apollo[edit] Helios is sometimes identified with Apollo: "Different names may refer to the same being," Walter Burkert observes, "or else they may be consciously equated, as in the case of Apollo and Helios Cult of Helios[edit] Helios Megistos[edit]
Asura Accounts[edit] In early Vedic texts, both suras and asuras were deities who constantly competed with each other, some bearing both designations at the same time. In late-Vedic and post-Vedic literature the Vedic asuras became lesser beings while in the Avesta, the Persian counterpart of the Vedas, the devas began to be considered lesser beings. Later, in the Puranas, Kashyapa is portrayed as the father of both, devas and asuras. Symbolism[edit] Alain Daniélou says: It is significant that it was not for their sins that the anti-gods had to be destroyed but because of their power, their virtue, their knowledge, which threatened that of the gods—that is, the gods of the Aryas. Alain Daniélou explains the nature of social division between the devas and asuras; and the subsequent assimilation thus: Characteristics[edit] In general, in the earliest text, the Rigveda, the asuras preside over moral and social phenomena. History and etymology[edit] P.L. Meaning and change[edit] Asuri[edit]
Heracles Origin and character Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, no tomb was identified as his. Heracles was both hero and god, as Pindar says heroes theos; at the same festival sacrifice was made to him, first as a hero, with a chthonic libation, and then as a god, upon an altar: thus he embodies the closest Greek approach to a "demi-god".[8] The core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld.[9] Hero or god Heracles' role as a culture hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling (see below), was accepted into the Olympian Pantheon during Classical times. And next I caught a glimpse of powerful Heracles— His ghost I mean: the man himself delights in the grand feasts of the deathless gods on high... Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds scattering left and right in horror as on he came like night
Deva (Hinduism) Deva (देव in Devanagari script) is the Sanskrit word for deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural being. The devas in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers.[1] Devas are also the maintainers of the realms as ordained by the Trimurti. They are often warring with their equally powerful counterparts, the Asuras. The Sanskrit deva- derives from Indo-Iranian *dev- which in turn descends from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word, *deiwos, originally an adjective meaning "celestial" or "shining", which is a PIE (not synchronic Sanskrit) vrddhi derivative from the root *diw meaning "to shine", especially as the day-lit sky. Related but distinct is the PIE proper name *Dyeus which while from the same root, may originally have referred to the "heavenly shining father", and hence to "Father Sky", the chief God of the Indo-European pantheon, continued in Sanskrit Dyaus.