Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

12 Alad Udug Lamathe crescent moon. She is flanked by attendantdeities. She enjoys a profusion of local shrineswhich are well supplied with votive offerings. Seriouscrimes including murder are considered to beoffenses against her. An annual yam festival is celebratedin her honor. Also Ale, Ana, ANI.Alad Udug LamaCollective name of guardian deities. Mesopotamian(Sumerian and Babylonian-Akkadian).Vague spirits who accompany major deities anddispense good fortune.AlaisiagaeMinor goddesses. Romano-Celtic (British). Theyare identified at Houseteads (Northumberland) ina shrine to Mars Thincsus.AlaluPrimordial god. Hittite and Hurrian. The archetypaldeity who precedes AN(U) in the formationof the cosmos. He was identified by the Greeks asHYPSISTOS (the highest).AlatanganaCreator god. Kono [eastern Guinea, West Africa].One of two creator deities; the other is SA. ALA-TANGANA created land from swamp and placedvegetation on earth.VAJRAPANI and a large number of minor names.See also AMITABHA,AMOGHASIDDHI,RATNASAM-BHAVA and VAIROCANA.AlaunusLocal god. Romano-Celtic (Continental European).Known from areas around Mannheim andSalzburg. The Romans syncretized him withMERCURIUS.AlcisUnknown status. Germanic and possibly Icelandic(Nordic). The Alcis are twin deities(brothers) known only as sons of the sky gods.From Germanic times we have a La Tene urnwith pictures of paired men on horseback andlinked by a wooden beam. Tacitus describes theworship of twin gods by the Naharvali tribe, theirpriests dressed in effeminate costume (see alsothe Phrygian deity ATTIS). They may have beenworshiped in forest sanctuaries along the northerncoast of Europe.AlemonaGoddess of passage. Roman. Concerned with thehealth of the unborn child.AlisanosLocal chthonic earth god. Romano-Celtic (Gallic).Known only from inscription in the region ofthe Côte d’Or and associated with the land. AlsoAlisonus, Alisanus.Alk’unta’mSun god. Bella Coola Indian [British Columbia,Canada]. Linked closely with SENX, both are ofequal significance. His mother is a cannibalwoman, Nunuso’ mikeeqone’im, who can turninto a mosquito.ALLAHORIGIN Nabataean and Arabic. Derived from thewestern Semitic god Il.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 300 BC untilpresent.SYNONYMS none.CENTER(S) OF CULT Mecca [Saudi Arabia].ART REFERENCES none.LITERARY SOURCES Qur’an.