Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

AŠERAH 31Roman god Mercury as Mercury Artaios. AlsoArtemis Brauronia.Depicted anthropomorphically, occasionallyhawk-headed.Arundhati (faithfulness)Astral goddess. Hindu (Puranic). Personificationof the morning star and the wife of all risis orinspired sons of BRAHMA though particularly associatedwith Vasistha. Attributes: begging bowls.AruruMother goddess. Mesopotamian (Sumerian andBabylonian-Akkadian)See also NINHURSAG˜ A.ArvernusLocal tribal deity. Celtic (Gallic). God of theArverni.Aryaman (companion)Minor sun god. Hindu (Vedic and Puranic). InVedic times, the god of formal hospitality. One ofsix ADITYA sons of the goddess ADITI. Attributes:club, two lotuses and prayer wheel.Arya-Tara (the honorable Tara)Goddess. Buddhist. The SAKTI of AMOGHASID-DHI. Her name is often abbreviated to TARA andshe originates from the TAM bija or seed. Color:green. Attributes: green lotus and staff. AlsoVASYA-TARA.AšLocal fertility god. Egyptian (western Sahara).Known from the Early Dynastic Period. By inferencea benign god of oases and other fertile areasof the desert. Epithets include “lord of Libya.”AsalluhaMinor god. Mesopotamian (Sumerian and Babylonian-Akkadian).A son of ENKI who apparentlyacts as a messenger and reporter to his father.Linked with rituals of exorcism. Cult centerKu’ara. In Babylonian times he became largelysyncretized with MARDUK.AsarEquestrian god. Pre-Islamic northern Arabian.Known only from inscriptions at Palmyra.Asase YaaChthonic fertility goddess. Ashanti [Ghana, WestAfrica]. A major deity revered over a wide area ofAkan- and Fante-speaking Ghana. She has notemples or priests but days (Thursdays) are setaside in her honor and no ploughing is permitted.By tradition a farmer sacrifices a cockerel to hereach year to ensure a good harvest, sprinkling theblood on the ground. As the womb of the earth,she represents the goddess of the dead and she isalso goddess of truth. Also Asase Efua (Fante).AŠERAHORIGIN Amorite, then Canaanite and possiblyPhoenician [Lebanon from Tyre northwards,Syria]. Mother goddess.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP from prehistorictimes circa third millennium BC until Christianization(circa AD 400).SYNONYMS ATHIRAT.CENTER(S) OF CULT Ugarit [Ras Šamra] and hillshrines throughout the corn-growing coastalregion of the eastern Mediterranean.