Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Astaphaios 33modern usage is his daughter, the goddessHYGIEIA (health). Asklepios is symbolized by arod with twin snakes coiled around it. He is alsorepresented in his sanctuaries by a captive snake.According to legend he met his death at thehand of ZEUS for presuming to bring a mortalbeing back from death. Physicians on Kosformed into a guild, the Asklepiadai (sons ofAsklepios). The Epidauros sanctuary became aninfluential place of pilgrimage by the sick andinfirm in classical times.Aslesa(s) (adherence)Minor goddess of misfortune. Hindu (Epicand Puranic). A malevolent NAKSATRA or astraldeity; daughter of DAKSA and wife of CANDRA(SOMA).AšnanVegetation goddess. Mesopotamian (Sumerianand Babylonian-Akkadian). Minor deity probablyknown to the Sumerians from circa 3500BC or earlier. She is concerned with the abundanceof grain in the fields, sent as its protectressby the gods ENLIL and ENKI. According tocreation accounts, she and the cattle god LAHARwere first intended to serve the needs of theAnnunaki, the celestial children of AN, butwhen the heavenly creatures were found unableto make use of their products, humankind wascreated to provide an outlet for their services.Attributes: ears of corn sprouting from hershoulders.Asokottamasri (the great beauty of Asoka)Physician god. Buddhist-Lamaist [Tibet].Accounted among one of a series of medicinebuddhas or SMAN-BLA in Lamaism. Typicallydepicted with stretched earlobes. Color: red.AsoposLocal river god. Greek (Beotian). Known onlyfrom regions of central Greece as one of the sonsof POSEIDON.AšpalisHunting goddess. Western Semitic. There isscant mention of Ašpalis from Melite in Phthiaand she is probably a local version of ARTEMIS. Asin certain Artemis mythology, she hanged herselfand her body disappeared.AšratumFertility goddess. Western Semitic (Canaanite).Probably a corruption of the Semitic ATHIRAT orAŠERAH. Also mentioned in Babylonian texts fromthe Hellenistic period. Also Ašrat (Akkadian).AssurTutelary god. Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian).The national deity of Assyria. In the Assyriancopies of the creation epic Enuma Eliš, hereplaces MARDUK as the hero.AstabiDeity. Hittite and Hurrian. Known only frominscriptions.AstamataraGeneric term for a group of mother goddesses.Hindu (Puranic). Eight deities who are varietiesof the goddess CAMUNDA, often malevolent.AstaphaiosPrimordial deity. Gnostic Christian. One of theandrogynous principles born to YALDABAOTH, the