Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

PREFACE TO THESECOND EDITION6It is explained in the introduction to this volumethat no database of deities worldwide can everhope to be comprehensive. There are just toomany regional variations amongst the larger religionblocks and, equally, a vast number of verylocalized cults, each with its own idiosyncraticpantheons of gods and goddesses. The intentionof the first edition was to cover all the major theatersof belief as extensively as was feasible at thetime, with the primary object of including most ofthe names of deities that the student was likely tocome across while traveling to religious andarchaeological sites around the world, or researchingin museums and libraries. This meant thatmuch attention was paid to the living polytheisticreligions, including Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, andShinto. It was also thought constructive to includeas many names as possible from Ancient NearEastern, Egyptian, Classical Roman and Greek,Norse, Celtic, and Germanic pantheons since,in recent decades, there has been a resurgenceof interest in many of these among “alternativereligion” movements.As a result of these decisions, certain geographicalareas were under-represented in the first edition.Most notably they included the Pacific islandsof Hawaii, Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia,along with Australia and New Zealand with thevenerated traditions of the Australian Aboriginesand the Maori. All of these cultures are richlyendowed with deities. In recent years some specializedreference works, focusing on the “Pacifictraditions,” have been published and the additionalentries in the book draw on valuable resources ofinformation that were not all widely available whenthe first edition was compiled.Away from the southern hemisphere cultures,two specific new entries deserve mention. Helenof Troy was omitted from the first edition becauseshe is widely regarded as having been a mortalqueen made famous through Homeric legend.According to the great Greek historian Hesiod,however, Helen was a goddess and as such worthyof inclusion here. And, in response to widespreadinterest in the history of the Knights Templar, Ihave included an entry on Baphomet, the medievaldeity allegedly worshiped by that order of knights.The chronology section has been re-workedand the bibliography substantially expanded toincorporate a large number of titles that havebeen published since the first edition of theEncyclopedia of Gods, while retaining the detailsof older references. Many of the newer titles arecurrently in print and widely available in bookstoresand from online sources.Numerous cross-references and a comprehensiveindex have been added to this edition to alloweasy access to the information.v