List of earth deities

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Painting in Yuan dynasty of Goddess Dimǔ Niángniáng with attendant, in Taoism and Chinese folk religion at Yongle Palace Temple (永樂宮) of Ruicheng, Shanxi Province, China
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Statue of syncretic Goddess Persephone - Isis with a sistrum, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Heraklion, Crete

This is a list of earth deities. An Earth god or Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth associated with a figure with chthonic or terrestrial attributes. There are many different Earth goddesses and gods in many different cultures mythology. However, Earth is usually portrayed as a goddess. Earth goddesses are often associated with the chthonic deities of the underworld. [1]

Contents

In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an "Earth Mother" complementary to the "Sky Father" in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology have the sky goddesses, Nut and Hathor, with the earth gods, Osiris and Geb. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses.

African mythology

Akan mythology

Aksumite

Bakongo religion

Egyptian mythology

Igbo mythology

Malagasy mythology

Yoruba mythology

Akoy tahimik lang sa umpisa

American mythology

Aztec mythology

Haudenosaunee mythology

Inca mythology

Inuit mythology

Lakota mythology

Lucumi

Mapuche

Southwestern

Asian mythology

Ainu mythology

Anatolian mythology

Chinese mythology

Gondi mythology

Hittite mythology

Hindu mythology

Buddhist mythology

Meitei mythology

In Meitei mythology and religion:

Sumerian mythology

Thai mythology

Turkic and Mongolian mythology

Vedic religion

In Historical Vedic religion:

Vietnamese

European mythology

Albanian mythology

Baltic mythology

Celtic mythology

Etruscan mythology

Finnish mythology

Georgian mythology

Germanic mythology

Greek mythology

Latvian mythology

Lithuanian mythology

Roman mythology

Romanian

Slavic mythology

Oceanian mythology

Hawaiian mythology

Maori mythology

Western Asian mythology

Levantine mythology

See also

Related Research Articles

Earth is one of the classical elements, in some systems being one of the four along with air, fire, and water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enlil</span> Ancient Mesopotamian god

Enlil, later known as Elil, is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hurrians. Enlil's primary center of worship was the Ekur temple in the city of Nippur, which was believed to have been built by Enlil himself and was regarded as the "mooring-rope" of heaven and earth. He is also sometimes referred to in Sumerian texts as Nunamnir. According to one Sumerian hymn, Enlil himself was so holy that not even the other gods could look upon him. Enlil rose to prominence during the twenty-fourth century BC with the rise of Nippur. His cult fell into decline after Nippur was sacked by the Elamites in 1230 BC and he was eventually supplanted as the chief god of the Mesopotamian pantheon by the Babylonian national god Marduk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goddess</span> Feminine or female deity

A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of spinning, weaving, beauty, love, sexuality, motherhood, domesticity, creativity, and fertility. Many major goddesses are also associated with magic, war, strategy, hunting, farming, wisdom, fate, earth, sky, power, laws, justice, and more. Some themes, such as discord or disease, which are considered negative within their cultural contexts also are found associated with some goddesses. There are as many differently described and understood goddesses as there are male, shapeshifting, or neuter gods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aztec mythology</span> Collection of myths of the Aztec civilization

Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlan, the last of seven nahuatlacas to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomoztoc, "the place of the seven caves", or at Tamoanchan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ninhursag</span> Sumerian goddess

Ninḫursaĝ sometimes transcribed Ninursag, Ninḫarsag, or Ninḫursaĝa, also known as Damgalnuna or Ninmah, was the ancient Sumerian mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She is known earliest as a nurturing or fertility goddess. Temple hymn sources identify her as the "true and great lady of heaven" and kings of Lagash were "nourished by Ninhursag's milk". She is the tutelary deity to several Sumerian leaders.

Nintinugga was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with medicine and cleansing. She belonged to the local pantheon of Nippur. While she has been compared to other similar goddesses, such as Ninisina and Gula, and in a number of ancient texts they appear to be syncretised with each other or are treated as interchangeable, she was nonetheless a distinct deity in her own right. She was associated with Enlil and Ninlil, and was worshiped in their temples, though houses of worship dedicated only to her are also attested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ereshkigal</span> Ancient Mesopotamian goddess of death and the underworld

In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian mythology. In later myths, she was said to rule Irkalla alongside her husband Nergal. Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla, similar to the way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler, and sometimes it is given as Ninkigal, lit. "Lady of the Great Earth".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anunnaki</span> Group of ancient Mesopotamian deities

The Anunnaki are a group of deities of the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians. In the earliest Sumerian writings about them, which come from the Post-Akkadian period, the Anunnaki are deities in the pantheon, descendants of An and Ki, the god of the heavens and the goddess of earth, and their primary function was to decree the fates of humanity. They should not be confused with the Apkallu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisaba</span> Mesopotamian goddess of writing

Nisaba was the Mesopotamian goddess of writing and grain. She is one of the oldest Sumerian deities attested in writing, and remained prominent through many periods of Mesopotamian history. She was commonly worshiped by scribes, and numerous Sumerian texts end with the doxology "praise to Nisaba" as a result. She declined after the Old Babylonian period due to the rise of the new scribe god, Nabu, though she did not fully vanish from Mesopotamian religion and attestations from as late as the neo-Babylonian period are known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hittite mythology and religion</span> Religious beliefs and practices of the Hittites

Hittite mythology and Hittite religion were the religious beliefs and practices of the Hittites, who created an empire centered in what is now Turkey from c. 1600–1180 BC.

Ki was the earth goddess in Sumerian religion, chief consort of the sky god An. In some legends Ki and An were brother and sister, being the offspring of Anshar and Kishar, earlier personifications of the heavens and earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asase Ya/Afua</span> Akan goddess

Asase Ya/Afua is the Akan goddess of fertility, love, procreation, peace, truth and the dry and lush earth in Ghana and Ivory Coast. She is also Mother of the Dead known as Mother Earth or Aberewaa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumerian religion</span> First religion of the Mesopotamia region which is tangible by writing

Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization found in recorded history and based in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akan religion</span> Traditional religious beliefs and practices of the Akan people

Akan religion comprises the traditional beliefs and religious practices of the Akan people of Ghana and eastern Ivory Coast. Akan religion is referred to as Akom. Although most Akan people have identified as Christians since the early 20th century, Akan religion remains practiced by some and is often syncretized with Christianity. The Akan have many subgroups, so the religion varies greatly by region and subgroup. Similar to other traditional religions of West and Central Africa such as West African Vodun, Yoruba religion, or Odinani, Akan cosmology consists of a senior god who generally does not interact with humans and many gods who assist humans.

References

  1. "Definition of EARTH GODDESS". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
  2. "รู้จักกับ "พระภูมิทั้ง 9" คู่บ้าน คู่เมืองชาวสยาม! เทวดาผู้ดูแลเรือกสวนไร่นาป่าเขา บูชาตามประเพณี คุ้มครองป้องภัย พลิกร้ายกลายดี". 29 August 2017.
  3. Šmits, Pēteris (1918). Latviešu Mitoloģija (PDF) (in Latvian). Latviesu rakstnieku un makslinieku biedriba. pp. 14–15. OCLC   12301101 via dom.lndb.lv. Other editions: OCLC   12301047 , 776694498 , 276876979; Reprinted: ISBN   9789955591085
  4. Paliepa, Jānis (2011). The origin of the Baltic and Vedic languages: Baltic mythology ; Interdisciplinary treatise. Bloomington, IN, US: Author House. pp. 46, 52. ISBN   9781456729028. OCLC   1124421252, 890769223.
  5. Jānis, Tupešu (Fall 1987). "The Ancient Latvian Religion — Dievturība". LITUANUS: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences. 33 (3). Chicago, IL, US: LITUANUS Foundation. ISSN   0024-5089. OCLC   561497100.
  6. Te Papa. "Ruaumoko - God of Earthquakes". Wellington, New Zealand: Earthquake Commission. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  7. McSaveney, Eileen (2 March 2009). "Historic earthquakes - Earthquakes in Māori tradition". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Wellington, New Zealand: Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  8. Beaulieu, Paul-Alain. "The God Amurru as Emblem of Ethnic and Cultural Identity". In: Ethnicity in Ancient Mesopotamia (W. van Soldt, R. Kalvelagen, and D. Katz, eds.) Papers Read at the 48th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Leiden, July 1–4, 2002. PIHANS 102. Nederlands: Instituut voor her Nabije Oosten, 2005. pp. 31-46.