Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

20 AnbayAnbayLocal tutelary god. Pre-Islamic southern Arabian.Regarded as a god of justice and an oracularsource attending the moon god AMM.AncamnaWater goddess. Romano-Celtic (ContinentalEuropean). Known only from inscriptions atTrier.AndartaFertility goddess (probable). Celtic (Gallic).Patron goddess of the Vocontii tribe. Her nameseems to have derived either from artos (bear) orar (ploughed land).See also ANDRASTA.AndjetyChthonic underworld god. Egyptian (Lower).Minor deity in anthropomorphic form knownfrom the Pyramid Texts. Identified with theninth nome (district). Responsible for rebirth inthe afterlife and regarded as a consort of severalfertility goddesses. He was revered at Busiriswhere he clearly heralded the cult of Osiris.Attributes: high conical crown (similar to theatef crown of Osiris) decorated with two tallplumes, crook and flail. In early Pyramid Texts,the feathers are replaced by a bicornuate uterus.See also Osiris.AndrastaGoddess of war. Romano-Celtic (British). Thepatron goddess of the Iceni tribe. The warriorqueen Boudicca is reported to have prayed to herbefore battle and she was the recipient of humansacrifice. Andrasta does not appear in Celtic Gaul,though a deity called Andraste is mentioned by theRoman writer Dio Cassius. The name may also belinked to the goddess Andarta. Also Adrastea.AnextiomarusLocal tribal deity. Romano-Celtic (British). Godof uncertain affinities but linked with APOLLO.Angru Mainyu (evil spirit)Chthonic underworld god of darkness. Persian[Iran]. The original Zoroastrian name of the chiefantagonist of AHURA MAZDA.See also AHRIMAN.AnhouriMinor god. Egyptian. A deity whose mummy wasallegedly kept at Tanis.AniSky god. Etruscan. Identified as residing in thehighest heaven and sometimes depicted with twofaces, equating possibly with the Roman godJANUS.Anila (wind)Attendant god. Hindu (Puranic). One of a groupof eight VASU deities answering to the god INDRA.AnjeaAnimistic fertility spirit. Australasia. Known totribesmen on the Pennefather River, Queensland,Australia and believed to place mud babies in thewombs of pregnant women. The grandmother ofa newly born infant buried the afterbirth, whichwas collected by Anjea and kept in a hollow treeor some such sanctuary until the time came toinstill it into another child in the womb.