Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

314 Thuremlinwholly as an ibis, or as a seated baboon sometimeswith its torso covered in feathers. Hisattributes include a crown which consists of acrescent moon surmounted by a moon disc.Thoth is generally regarded as a benign deity.He is also scrupulously fair and is responsible notonly for entering in the record the souls who passto the afterlife, but of ajudicating in the Hall of theTwo Truths. The Pyramid Texts reveal a violentside of his nature by which he decapitates theadversaries of truth and wrenches out their hearts.ThuremlinGod of passage. Australasia. Local deity of severaltribes in New South Wales. Said to oversee thetransition from adolescence to manhood. The initiatewas taken away by the god, “killed,” restoredto life and endured a tooth being knocked out tosignify the arrival of adulthood and full incorporationinto the society of the tribe. Also Daramulun.Tia (death by violence)God of death. Haida Indian [Queen CharlotteIsland, Canada]. Those who are about to die aviolent death are said to hear him groaning aboutthe camp and see him as a headless corpse withblood flowing endlessly from his severed neck.He flies through the air.See also TA’XET.TIAMATORIGIN Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian)[Iraq]. Primordial creator goddess.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 2000 BC untilcirca 200 BC.SYNONYMS none.CENTER(S) OF CULT Babylon.ART REFERENCES plaques, votive stelae; glyptics,etc.LITERARY SOURCES cuneiform texts, particularlythe creation epic Enuma Eliš.Tiamat is the power of the ocean waters and isintimately involved with the Babylonian creationstory. She combines with the underground freshwaters of APSU to give birth to eleven monstrousbeings and is said to have been enraged by thedeath of Apsu at the hands of ENKI and at thebehest of a group of gods headed by MARDUK. Inrevenge she forms other deities in the primordialcosmos into a rival group and chooses, as her secondconsort, the minor god Kingu to lead herarmy against Marduk. Marduk ultimately splitsher in two, making the vault of heaven out of onehalf, using her eyes as the sources of the Tigrisand Euphrates, and heaping the mountains overher head.TiberinusRiver god. Roman. The deity of the river Tiber.His consort is one of the Vestal Virgins sacrificedby drowning. His sanctuary was built on an islandin the river and, until some time during theRepublican period, all bridges across the riverwere made wholly of wood so as not to offendhim. The adverse connotations of iron are unclear,but its use was forbidden by official decree.Tien MuGoddess of lightning. Chinese. She is said to flashher mirror at an intended victim of the god LEIKUNG’S thunderbolts to ensure his aim.T’ien Tsun (heavenly and honored)Generic title of gods. Taoist (Chinese). The namegiven to each of the three holy images in a Taoisttemple: the “perfect holy one,” the “highest holyone” and the “greatest holy one.” Also Tian-zhu.