Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

H6HaGuardian god. Egyptian. Early deity of the westernSahara referred to as warding off enemies(possibly Libyan) from the west. Depicted inanthropomorphic form crowned by the symbol ofdesert dunes.Hachacyum (our very lord)Creator god. Mayan (Lacandon, classicalMesoamerican) [Mexico]. The creator of theworld assisted by three other deities, his consortand two brothers, one of whom is Sucunyum, hiscounterpart (or alter ego) in the underworld. AlsoNohochacyum (our great lord).HachimanGod of war and peace. Shinto [Japan]. A deitywhose origins are confused. The name does notappear in either of the sacred texts of Shintoism,but such a deity was probably worshiped in thedistant past with the alternative title of Hime-Gami or Hime-O-Kami. The cult center was onthe southern island of Kyushu at Usa. In modernShintoism, Hachiman originates as a member ofthe imperial dynasty. Named Ojin-Tenno and bornin AD 200 to the empress Jingu-Kogo, he greatlyimproved the living standards and culture of Japanduring his remarkable reign. The place of his birthwas marked by a sanctuary and several centuriesafter his death, a vision of a child KAMI appearedthere to a priest. The kami identified himself by theChinese ideogram representing the name Hachiman,and thus the link developed. The site is,today, the location of a magnificent shrine, theUmi-Hachiman-Gu, where Hachiman has beenperceived as a god of war. Soldiers departing forbattle once took with them relics from the shrine.Hachiman is also a deity of peace and aguardian of human life and, when pacifism dominatedJapan during the post-war era, he becamemore strongly identified in the latter context.HadadWeather god. Western Semitic (Syrian andPhoenician). Derived from the Akkadian deityADAD. In texts found at the site of the ancientCanaanite capital of Ugarit [Ras Šamra] , thename of Hadad apparently becomes a substitutefor that of BAAL. His voice is described as roaringfrom the clouds and his weapon is the thunderbolt.His mother is the goddess AŠERAH.During Hellenic times he was predominantlyworshiped at Ptolemais and Hierapolis. His Syrianconsort is ATARGATIS, who overshadowed himin local popularity at Hierapolis. Statues of the109