What can we say about the Greeks that they haven't already said about themselves? Consummate tall story tellers, they have classy classic Gods for all situations. Greek Mythology is a veritable blockbusting soap opera. What can ZEUS possibly get up to next - and with whom? How will HERA take her next revenge? Where will APHRODITE discard her nightie? Who has been barred from Olympus lately - and why? When is the next big punch-up? And will HERMES be sued for selling counterfeit sheep? Full of twists, turns, plots within plots, wit, humor, satire, belly laughs, blood-curdling thrills, Greek Gods have beginnings, middles, and ends without end. Coming soon to a temple near you! And they are all big stars - brawnier, more beautiful, and larger than any life you have ever known. The Romans couldn't improve upon them. So they just gave them a quick makeover and turned the whole pantheon into a spin-off sequel. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com Made popular with the Book of the Dead and a thousand cheesy Curse of the Mummy films, Ancient Egypt still holds its fascination in the modern world. In this internet age, we suggest the authorities ought to rename the place E-gypt. The language barrier can be a little tricky. As with most hieroglyphic translations, the old Egyptian names have many variant spellings in English. Seth is SET in his ways, and RA is also the eye of Re. There was also a mysterious plague of missing hieroglyphs at the time of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.), when foreign influence made certain letters vanish from the language. Egyptian scribes valiantly tried to reinstate them by adding extra letters to the ends of words, which led to much confusion. And still does. More confusion arises from the Egyptian tendency to join deities together at different periods. With all the permutations, one God can have an enormous number of names. Amon, Amen, Ammon-Ra, Amen-Re, Amun, Amon-Re.. You get the idea. If you want to get ahead or give yourself a headache then Egypt is the place to be. Egyptian Gods go in for cumbersome and elaborate headgear, and tend to stroll around with animal heads. Usually without the matching body. Along the Nile there are only so many animals to go round. So they do have to share, which causes much confusion. Although HORUS had the head of a hawk, he was not alone and hawk-heads hawk their wares all over the place. Other very popular heads are serpent, dog, jackal, bull, frog, hippo, crocodile and lion. There are also the odd wobblies like the SPHINX with a human head and lion body. Horns, globes and plumes are almost obligatory accessories and you can have an animal head enhanced with all these embellishments. Cats were considered to be sacred creatures. They were mummified, and this was done with the utmost respect. No vivisection was involved, which is probably more than you can say for the humans. Having invented mummification, the Egyptians were very much into otherworldly preparations. This is not surprising as the many Gods of Judgment and Death were waiting on the other side and would be most insulted if a soul turned up looking scruffy. The messy business of burial was looked after by a whole subset of undertaker Gods. These were in charge of embalming - and handled many bits not normally on public view. This obsession with death may seem a bit morbid today, but the Egyptians viewed it all with healthy fascination. The Book of the Dead was a bestseller. At least they waited until you were dead from natural causes. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com What the Romans did for us was to encourage Godliness on a grand scale. You were spoilt for choice. Far from destroying the beliefs of conquered countries, they were actively encouraged - and in many cases absorbed. The Romans just couldn't have enough Gods. In fact sometimes they appear to have invented some for special occasions. They gave the Greek pantheon a major makeover and fancy Latin names. The major deities were built up into the Planet Suite: Mars, Venus, Jupiter, etc. A good means of identification. We've attempted to point out the Greek vs. Roman equivalents and hopefully haven't missed out too many. Most of the Latin words still in use today seem to have a God connected to them. Discipline = DISCIPLINA, Fauna = FAUNUS, and Fortune = FORTUNA. Just add an 'a' or an 'us' to the end of a Latin word and see what God you get. With the romantic Romans, the more Gods the merrier. And some of their Gods could be very merry indeed. Meanwhile, in Tuscany, sandwiched between Greek and Roman dynasties, the Etruscans or Etrurians seemed to have lived life to the full if their frescoes and artifacts are anything to go by. Which is pretty much all we can do as Etruscan remains a dead language. So far scholars have been stymied. It looks a bit Greek-ish and a bit Latin - but no... On closer inspection a sort of dithyrambic rambling takes place, and although 300 or so actual words have been translated they don't make much sense when put together. Where they came from or where they went nobody knows. (Or if they do, they haven't told us!) But the Romans must have happened to them at some point - as they appropriated many of their Gods. No doubt some UFO nutter will come up with a spaceship abduction theory, but we feel they were slowly absorbed by Roman romantics. You will have to take it on trust, or etrusc, which is possibly similar to deciphering truncated e-mails. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com The Celts: an amazing conglomeration of tribes with remarkable staying power. Refusing to acknowledge Roman rule, the Celts were formidable fighters under any circumstances. Exceedingly good at hit-and-run warfare, they were adept at scattering to isolated areas in small groups - taking their Gods with them. The famed Asterix comic strip gives an amusing indication of what the Gaulish contingent of Celts felt about the Romans. Ireland (never conquered by the Romans) became another stronghold, and so did the bits of Britain nobody else much wanted. Wales, for example. They also infiltrated the Orkneys, Baleiric Islands, bits of Scandinavia and the Caucasus. The Celts were doing all right until Christianity came along. The Church nicked some of their Gods for promotional sainthood purposes and thus began the conversion process. Only by building churches on already sacred sites could Celts be converted. It's only a theory, but we feel the Christians may have cut down the trees that produced the Apples of Immortality. This might have been responsible for reducing the status of Celtic Gods to trolls and fairies. These are not immortal - they grow older and smaller but don't actually die. It's all rather sad when you think of LUGH the Shining One reduced to the status of a leprechaun and having to hide his golden investments at the end of a rainbow. But the power of the Druids is still contained in the yew trees. Just check out all the yew trees growing in churchyards. And thanks to neo-pagan reconstruction, the deities of the Emerald Isle and elsewhere are still a force to be reckoned with. Traditional mead is still brewing up a treat, and the MORRIGAN in particular enjoys widespread worship in far-flung places. It's only a short flight to Celtsville as the crow flies. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com The red-blooded, rip-roaring, gung-ho Gods beloved by the Vikings. We could have listed them as Nordic, but 'Norse' sounds like the snorting of a giant battle stallion so we went for that. Their idea of Heaven was VALHALLA. Warriors only. You had to die in battle first and be escorted by beautiful blonde VALKYRIES. Here you could clash in battle all day long, your cleft limbs and cleavagings miraculously restored at the close of play. Then you spent all night carousing, feasting, getting roaring drunk and discussing the day's fun. "Bjorn, when you took my head off with that double-headed axe - just brilliant. I didn't see it coming at all. My blood hit the ceiling! Just wait till tomorrow though. I've got a great revenge planned." "I'll drink to that! Here, barmaid, five hundred drinking Horns of Kvas please. And a packet of pork scratchings." So welcome to the Norse pantheon, which is not just Norway but the rest of Scandinavia - which includes Denmark and Sweden. The Vikings who were Swedes traveled mostly eastwards, and the Danes and Norwegians traveled mostly westwards. (The Swedes also ventured into Finland, which was not too impressed and mostly preferred its own Gods.) And Iceland came into the equation and did its own Viking things from 800 A.D. Something which helped enormously was that all these people spoke the same Norse language, and would have known their own Kingdoms under the names of Danmark, Vastergotland, Ostergotland and Svealand. Colonies and footholds were established all over the place, from Greenland to England - where their heritage includes Norfolk and Humberside with many Norse-named villages in between. So Norse mythology went everywhere within reach. (Possibly even North America, but only for a holiday and to pick some grapes.) Even today, several days of the week and also the sun are named for Norse Gods. Thanks to the richness of its legends, as told in the Eddas and a host of poetic sagas, Norse Mythology is as popular as ever. JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth saga is stuffed with Norse inspiration and takes the whole thing to a whole new dimension. Which is more than you can say for Wagner. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com A host of interesting Gods with completely unpronounceable names. The Aztecs must have possessed the most dextrous tongues in the known world. By using Scrabble letters and adding the odd X you could probably make up your very own pantheon of Aztec deities. The mighty Aztec Empire was happily established in Mexico before it was Mexico. Lots of colour, festivals, feathers and enough fighting and sacrifices to keep HUITZILOPOCHTLI happy and the sun shining. There was just one slight problem. Since that nice God QUETZALCOATL had zoomed off promising to come back one rainy day, HUITZILOPOCHTLI had risen to ascendancy and he did like his heartburgers. In fact the Aztecs believed that the Gods needed constant supplies of fresh blood otherwise they'd wither and die. Which is why the entire culture was built around human sacrifice. It was practically a charity gore-a-thon on the Gods' behalf. People queued up to donate their life and even played charity football matches for the honor. There came a day when it was time for the 52 year Calendar Calculations. No miserable 52 week wimpishness for the Aztecs. Now, where were all those tatty charts and ancient priests? Oh dear - what is this? It is the Day of Nine-Wind in the year of One-Reed, and it looked like QUETZALCOATL could return to overthrow HUITZILOPOCHTLI. And return he did, or so it seemed. Accompanied by strange pale men and many weapons. MOCTEZUMA the current Ruler chewed his nails and had another golden cup of hot chocolate. It was 1519 European Time and Cortez and the Spaniards had arrived... *Introduction by www.godchecker.com Once a mighty empire stretched over the central highlands of the Andes, way down South past Mexico. Ranging from Chile to Peru where the capital city of Cuzco prevailed. After 400 years and much personal sacrifice to keep the sun shining and the Gods contented there was not a lot they could not do. Mighty buildings without the aid of cement mixers, casting metals, weaving, pottery, paved roads, suspension bridges, amazing art and sculpture, some quite abstract, and a thriving music scene. Agriculture thrived although there were no horses. With all these skills they didn't bother with things like wheels, and reading and writing - all their records were done with knotted string. To a large extent a good time was had by all but naturally it couldn't last. The Spaniards came and under Pizzaro used all the cunning, treachery, greed and cruelty to seize power after the Incan ruler Huayna Capac had just died and there was a state of indecision as to who should be the next divine ruler. It wasn't long before all the Inc ran out. But just when you thought it was all over, the Incas had one secret city, Machu Picchu, hidden high in the mountains which the Spaniards never found. Or anyone else until 1911 when Hiram Bingham of Yale University stumbled across it, by which time it was deserted but still magnificent in its desolation. Adventurers have been searching for other secret cities and El Dorado ever since. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com South of the border down Mexico way, reaching down as far as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. This amazing civilization started with the Zapotecs and included the Olmecs and Mixtecs before ending with the Toltecs. Their city, Teotihuacan, preceded Mayan culture and is full of mysteries from an earlier civilization. It seems to have suffered fire at some point, but parts of it were in use up to Aztec times. With its pyramid of the sun built over a chambered cave, this may even have been PACARI, 'The Place Of Emergence', where the Incan Gods hid during a terrible disaster. Teotihuacan was the size of Rome, and the Maya could have achieved Roman Empire status if it hadn't been for their aversion to getting their feathered costumes ruined by salt water. Plus all that messing about with sails and rigging just to end up somewhere with lousy cold weather. From 250 to 900 A.D. life was all plain sailing without putting out to sea. They didn't have horses so they didn't need carts. Instead they had a river and canal system for shifting heavy goods. And shift they did, especially when it came to moving blocks for their stepped buildings of clean-cut grandeur. Some of their cities have never been bettered, and after so many years of neglect much is still standing in Copan, Chichen-Itza, Kabah, Palenque, Uxmal, Tikal and Mayapan. Mayan culture was amazing and their skills manifold. Especially in the artistic department. They invented a very colorful style of picture writing with glyphs, and made codex books the size of screens. Unfortunately their books were unspeakably fragile and only four precious volumes have survived the ravages of time for us to consult. (No wonder the Maya are so enigmatic - imagine if mankind was wiped out and all a visiting alien had to go on was a couple of Harry Potter books, half a telephone directory and a Superman comic.) Together with their statues and carvings, it is impossible not to marvel at the talent of the Maya. Okay, so they liked a bit of blood sacrifice on an organized scale. But is that worse than organized crime or terrorists? Their holy book was called the POPOL-VUH. This is nothing to do with the views of the Pope, as when the inquisitorial Spaniards arrived in 1511 to inflict treachery, unremitting torture and suffering, they were 611 years too late. The Mayan Empire had already dissipated and it was the poor old Aztecs who got the full brunt of the aggravation. Thankfully we can report that the Maya are not utterly extinct, as descendents of the classical Mayan civilization are still to be found in isolated pockets, practicing modernized versions of the old beliefs. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization, was a hot spot of human activity five thousand years ago. Nurtured by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the lands of Sumer and Akkad bloomed with fertile thought. It was Sumertime and the living was easy - with plenty of spare time to doodle with amazing inventions such as commerce, writing and politics. Of course, this new-fangled writing did have its downside. For the first time in human history, intelligent people could earn a living by making little squiggles on pieces of paper instead of chasing animals across the landscape. Which soon led to the rise of Accountants, Lawyers... and Bureaucracy. (The world's first rule book was written by King Hammurabi, who explained in detail exactly what part of you would be cut off if you misbehaved.) But writing also gave us literature; the world's first novel was written in Mesopotamia. It's called The Epic Of Gilgamesh and, no, it's not a murder mystery. In fact it's a roller-coaster adventure with the Gods, containing fantasy, love, bloodshed and allegorical insights into the human condition. It was first produced in clay tablet form - we had to wait several thousand years for the paperback edition. Many Mesopotamian Gods have Sumerian and Akkadian variations. They're virtually identical, but with cunning changes of name. For example, TAMMUZ is the Akkadian equivalent of DUMUZI. (This can become confusing; is that one God or two? For the purposes of Godchecker we've tended to treat them separately.) Things became a little easier when the two regions joined together to form Babylonia. At least until the Tower of Babel came along and confused it all again. *Introduction by www.godchecker.com African mythology covers a large area. There are so many countries, regions, languages, tribes, cultures and imperialist crossovers that the sheer diversity of prevailing Gods would seem overwhelming if there weren't a few handy shortcuts. Traditional African belief is overwhelmingly monotheistic. There may be spirits and ancestors floating around, but there's only one God. Early missionaries made a complete pig's ear of their research in this respect and seem to have delighted in cataloging as many 'heathen' Gods as they could possibly get away with. African Creator Gods seem to follow a distinctive pattern - they are all extremely dissatisfied with their creations. There is much shaking of heads, turning away in sorrow and avoidance of contact. The humans are left to fend for themselves. Attempts to regain contact with their God by building a heavenly ladder are the subject of many an unhappy legend. On the whole, African Gods don't like to be pestered, and humans have to learn to be content with their lot. But while God sits in Heaven wringing his hands in despair, the ancestral spirits are very willing to take an active part in Earthly life. These are mostly into hunting and other practical subjects - with food, sex and booze as popular as always. There is a remarkable innocence about the Gods of Africa. They seem naive and unworldly, believing the best of everyone and optimistically giving the benefit of the doubt to all and sundry. No wonder they are rudely disappointed when it turns out their badly chosen favorites are up to no good. Even communicating with their creation is full of problems. Vital messages of life and death are entrusted to whichever farmyard animal happens to be passing, and the resulting garble is likely to have profoundly unforeseen - and usually disastrous - consequences... *Introduction by www.godchecker.com Information regarding the Pantheons section of this website collaborated from the following websites and books: www.ezinearticles.com www.cuban-traditions.com www.pantheon.org www.windows.ucar.edu www.blueroebuck.com www.weber.ucd.edu www.godchecker.com www.deliriumsrealm.com www.wikipedia.com www.library.thinkquest.org Encyclopedia of Gods - by Michael Jordan Dictionary of Ancient Deities - by Patricia Turner and Charles Russell Coulter The Routledge Dictionary of Gods, Goddesses, Devils and Demons - (Routledge Dictionaries) by Manfred Lurker Goddesses and Angels - by Doreen Virtue