Pantheons Important Terms Pantheon Polytheism Monotheism Anthropomorphism Theriomorphism

Pantheons

Important Terms • • Pantheon Polytheism / Monotheism Anthropomorphism / Theriomorphism Cosmogony / Theogony

Pantheons of the World • • • Greco-Roman Mesopotamian (Akkadian/Sumerian/Bablyonian/Hittite) Egyptian Norse (Icelandic/Scandinavian/Germanic) Indian (Hindu) North American Israelite (Bible) Sub-Saharan Africa (Mali, Uganda) Others: Aztec, Mayan, Japanese, Chinese Pantheons of Mythology (www. godchecker. com) Map/Geography Quiz on Pantheons (Feb 23. ) we will discuss this quiz next Tuesday

The Greek Pantheon For information on the Greco-Roman deities, see http: //department. monm. edu/classics/Courses/CLAS 230/Myth. Documents/ Pantheon/Pantheon. htm

Hittites Telepinu Seated Hittite Deity 13 th Cent. B. C MET NYC

Mesopotamian Pantheon (Akkadian / Sumerian / Babylonian / Hittite) An (Anu) Apsu Ea Humbaba Inanna Ishtar Marduk Tiamat Useful chart: http: //faculty. gvsu. edu/websterm/Mesochart. html Another good site: : http: //ancienthistory. about. com/library/weekly/aa 102197. htm

Mesopotamian gods slay a fiery seven-headed dragon. The image is from a cylinder seal (cf. fig. 16. Alexander Heidel. The Babylonian Genesis, The Story of Creation. 1942, 1951. University of Chicago Press. Reprint 1993)

Inanna (Sumerian) The Sumerian goddess of love, fertility, and war. One of the most important goddesses of the Sumerian pantheon.

= Ishtar (Babylonian) Ishtar in the middle of Gods holding the lionsceptre and a scimitar.

Huwawa [Humbaba], the Mesopotamian Forest God, who originated in a time when there were still forests to be protected. He was later betrayed and slain by his one-time friend Enkidu and Enkidu's new ally, the warriorking Gilgamesh (Terracotta relief, c. 2000 BCE) [From Time/Life's series, MYTH AND MANKIND: Epics of Early Civilization: Middle Eastern Myth, 1998: 80]

Ea/Enki Ea (Akkadian), Sumerian Enki, Mesopotamian god of water and a member of the triad of deities completed by Anu (Sumerian An) and Bel (Enlil). From a local deity worshiped in the city of Eridu, Ea the "patron god of music" evolved into a major god, Lord of Apsu (also spelled Abzu), the fresh waters beneath the earth (although Enki means literally "lord of the earth"). In the Sumerian myth, "Enki and the World Order, " Enki is said to have fixed national boundaries and assigned gods their roles. According to another Sumerian myth Enki is the creator, having devised men as slaves to the gods. In his original form, as Enki, he was associated with semen and amniotic fluid, and therefore with fertility. He was commonly represented as a half-goat, half-fish creature, from which the modern astrological figure for Capricorn is derived. He is also identified with Oannes. He sometimes the head of a ram and the body of a fish. The story of Inanna, like Ishtar the mother/bride of Tammuz worshiped by the women in the Jerusalem temple, has her getting Ea drunk.

Ea/Enki Clylinder seal impression showing the Mesopotamian "god of Wisdom, " called Ea (Aya, Ayya or Enki) with two streams of water pouring forth from his shoulders. Ea warned the Mesopotamian Noah, Utnapishtim of Shuruppak of the coming Flood advising him to build himself an ark for his family and animals. On the 7 th day of the Flood, the SEBITTU DAY, Ea rested with ALL the other gods, the Flood having destroyed mankind who's noise and clamor had earlier prevented the gods from resting by day or sleeping by night.

Marduk and Tiamat The Babylonian diety Marduk eventually supplants all the other gods. In one myth he slays Tiamat, the god of primeval chaos.

Egyptian Ennead

Egyptian Pantheon Anubis Hathor Re Osiris Isis Horus Atum Amun For more information, see http: //www. touregypt. net/godsofegypt/index. htm http: //www. nemo. nu/ibisportal/0 egyptintro/1 egypt/index. htm

The Norse Pantheon (also Viking / Scandinavian / Germanic) Balder (Balker) Freya Freyr Frig Loki Njord Odin (Woden) Thor Tyr 1 - Woden- Death, poetry, victory 2 - Thor- Thunder and war 3 - Tyr- War 4 - Loki- Evil and fire 5 - Balker- Light and beauty 6 - Frey- Sun of fertility 7 - Idum- Eternal youth

http: //ancienthistory. about. com/od/norsego dspictures/tp/Norse. Gods. htm

Balder 18 th century Icelandic manuscript SÁM 66 in the care of the Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland.

The Hindu Pantheon Agni Ganesh Indra Krishna Brahma Rama Vishnu Shiva

East Asia • China Yin Yan Pangu http: //www. mythome. org/creatasa. html • Japan Izanagi Izanami Amaterasu http: //brian. hoffert. faculty. noctrl. edu/H ST 330/21. Shinto. Honji. Suijaku. html

North America • Raven (Pacific Northwest) • Sedna (Innuit) http: //www. hvgb. net/~sedna/story. html http: //www. spiralgoddess. com/Sedna. html http: //www. gps. caltech. edu/~mbrown/sedna/

Central and South America • Wanadi (Venezuela) • Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo Huaco (Inca) • Quetzalcoatl (Toltec/ Aztec) http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Aztec_re ligion#The_Pantheon

Israelite (Bible) Yahweh Elohim

Subsaharan Africa • Yoruba (Nigeria) Olorun Orunmila Obatala Olokun Eshu • Benin Sagbata Sogbo For more African deities, see: