Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Areimanios 27ArayWar god. Pre-Christian Armenian. Probablyderived locally from the Greek ARES. Sometraditions suggests that he was also a dying-andrisinggod.ARCHON(S) (rulers)ORIGIN Gnostic Christian (eastern Mediterranean].Primordial creator gods.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa AD 100 toAD 400 and probably persisting later.SYNONYMS eksousiai (authorities, Greek).CENTER(S) OF CULT undefined cells within thearea of early Christian influence.ART REFERENCES none.LITERARY SOURCES Nag Hammadi codices.The Archons are the primordial celestial rulers ofthe cosmos. The Gnostic cosmogony argues thatthe God of Israel was not the original or solecreator but was a product of other older tyrannicalforces who were eventually defeated in theconflict of light and dark. The Archons are theoriginal creators of mortal man, though in theform in which they contrived him, he did notpossess a soul. The main literary texts includethe Hypostasis of the Archons, and the treatise onThe Origin of the World, both forming part of theNag Hammadi collection written down duringthe third or fourth century AD and probablyowing much to Greek philosophy. The materialwas banned under the censorship of the earlyChristian fathers.Arcismati (brilliant)Minor goddess. Buddhist (Vajrayana). One ofseveral deified BHUMIS recognized as differentspiritual spheres through which a disciplepasses. Color: green. Attributes: blue lotus andstaff.Ardhanari(svara) (the lord being halfwoman)God. Hindu (Puranic). The god ŠIVA combinedwith his SAKTI as a single being. His attendantanimal is the bull. In iconography the left side ofthe image is female and the right male. A tutelarydeity of eunuchs in India. Attributes: (right side)blue lotus, cup, hatchet, lute, moon disc, pestle,skin, sword and trident; (left side) ax, mirror,noose, pitcher, rosary, sacred rope and trident.May appear as three-headed. Also Ammaiappan(Tamil); Naranari.ArdraMinor goddess of misfortune. Hindu (Puranic). Amalevolent NAKSATRA or astral deity; daughter ofDAKSA and wife of CANDRA (SOMA).ArduinnaGoddess of forests and hunting. Romano-Celtic(Continental European). Known only frominscriptions and figurines in the Ardennesregion. Depicted riding on the back of a wildboar and presumed to be a guardian deityof boars. Identified by the Romans with thegoddess DIANA.ArebatiCreator god. Bambuti [Congo, West Africa].Worshiped by a pigmy tribe living along thebanks of the river Ituri. He is considered to havecreated mankind from clay and blood, coveredwith skin.AreimaniosChthonic underworld god. Greek. Probablyderived from the Persian deity AHRIMAN. Plutarchidentifies him as the embodiment of HADES.