Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Atea 35They have a youthful appearance and are associatedwith rain and thunder.AsurasSky gods. Hindu (Vedic). Identified in the openingof the Rg Veda, they become demonic in laterHinduism, the antagonists of the DEVA gods.AsvinsPhysician gods. Hindu (Vedic). Twin gods owninghorses, the sons of VIVASVAN and SARANYU.Depicted in a chariot drawn by horses or birds.Attributes: book, vessel with herbs and water jar.Asvayujau (harnessing horses)Minor goddess of fortune. Hindu (Epic andPuranic). A benevolent NAKSATRA, or astral deity;daughter of DAKSA and wife of CANDRA (SOMA).Also Asvini and Asvinyau.Ataa Naa NyongmoCreator god. Gan [district around Accra, Ghana,West Africa]. He engendered the earth and alsocontrols the sun and the rain. He causes disasterssuch as epidemics and earthquakes if his laws andrites are disobeyed.AtaecinaLocal chthonic underworld goddess. Romano-Iberian. Known from inscriptions in the Tagusregion, where the Romans identified her with thegoddess PROSERPINA.AtargatisMother goddess. Northern Syrian. She enjoyedmajor cults at Khirbet Tannur, where she isdepicted as the vegetation goddess in nine separatevariations, and at Khirbet Brak, where she isassociated with dolphins. She often carries a cornucopialinking her with the goddess TYCHE (fortune)and may commonly be flanked by lions. Shesometimes carries a rudder or wears the muralcrown of a city guardian. There are hints of skyaffinities in some depictions, with a sign of thezodiac or a nimbus-like veil.Her earliest consort is DUŠARA, but in later timesshe is linked with the Syrian storm god HADAD. AtDura and Hierapolis (Hera-Atargatis), she tendedto overshadow Hadad. Atargatis is also a fish goddessdepicted like a mermaid and in most of hercult centers she enjoyed a sacred lake stocked withfish. Statues of Hadad and Hera-Atargatis werecarried in twice-yearly processions to the sea fromHierapolis, and by the third century BC her culthad reached Egypt. Greek writers of the Hellenicperiod describe her as a “radiate” goddess, whichsuggests some links with sun symbolism.Also Allat.Ataršamain (morning star of heaven)Astral deity of uncertain gender. Pre-Islamicnorthern and central Arabian. Worshiped particularlyby the Išamme tribe, but revered widelyamong other Arabs. Known from circa 800 BCand identified in letters of the Assyrian kingsEšarhaddon and Assurbanipal. May be synonymouswith the Arab goddess ALLAT whose cultwas centered on Palmyra.AteMinor goddess of misfortune. Greek. A daughterof ZEUS, she personifies blind folly leading todisaster.AteaSupreme god. Polynesian. The father of the godsdepicted as a hybrid, his body divided vertically,