A Compendium of the Ancient Gods

Themes

Love and desire

57 gods of love and desire, across eight rooms, in the order the rooms are walked.

The Cradle of Cities

12 works

Adonis, plate
Adonis a-do-nis The Lord — Phoenician Lover of Astarte, Mourned in Annual Rite
Agdistis, plate
Agdistis ag-dis-tis The Hermaphroditic Mother — Origin of Attis from the Almond
Anat, plate
Anat a-nat The Maiden of Slaughter — sister-lover of Baal
Astarte, plate
Astarte as-tar-te The Phoenician Queen of Heaven
Attis, plate
Attis at-tis Beloved of the Mother — Phrygian shepherd-god
Baalat Gebal, plate
Baalat Gebal baa-lat ge-bal The Lady of Byblos — Mistress of the Cedar Coast
Dumuzi, plate
Dumuzi du-mu-zi The Faithful Son — shepherd-king, beloved of Inanna
Eshmun, plate
Eshmun esh-mun The Healer — Phoenician god of Sidon
Inanna, plate
Inanna ee-nan-nah Queen of Heaven — Akkadian Ishtar; goddess of love, war, and the morning and evening star
Ishtar of Nineveh, plate
Ishtar of Nineveh ish-tar of ni-ne-veh The Lady of Nineveh — Assyrian Ishtar
Nanaya, plate
Nanaya na-naya The Sweet One — Goddess of Sensual Love and Music
Shaushka, plate
Shaushka shaush-ka The Hurrian Ishtar — goddess of love and war

The Gift of the Nile

2 works

Hathor, plate
Hathor ha-thor Lady of Dendera — goddess of love, music, and the western mountain
Min, plate
Min min The Fertility God of Coptos

The Olympian Order

22 works

Adonis, plate
Adonis a-do-nis The Beloved of Aphrodite, slain by the boar — the Greek mystery of the dying youth
Aphrodite, plate
Aphrodite af-roh-dye-tee Foam-Born — goddess of love
Ariadne, plate
Ariadne air-ee-ad-nee Cretan princess, who gave Theseus the thread — and was abandoned at Naxos
Atalanta, plate
Atalanta at-uh-lan-tuh The Huntress — the only woman among the Argonauts
Echo, plate
Echo eck-oh The Mountain Nymph who could only repeat
Empusa, plate
Empusa em-pyoo-suh Shape-Shifting Hag of Hecate
Eos, plate
Eos ee-oss The Dawn — rosy-fingered goddess of the morning
Erato, plate
Erato air-uh-toh Muse of Love Poetry
Eros (Later), plate
Eros (Later) air-oss (later) Son of Aphrodite — winged boy of love
Eros (Primordial), plate
Eros (Primordial) air-oss (primordial) The Original Love — primordial unifying power
Glaucus, plate
Glaucus glaw-kus The Sea-Green — fisherman become sea-god
Helen, plate
Helen hel-en Daughter of Zeus and Leda — wife of Menelaus, cause of the Trojan War
Hyacinthus, plate
Hyacinthus high-uh-sin-thus The Spartan youth beloved of Apollo, slain by the discus
Lamia, plate
Lamia lay-mee-uh The Child-Devouring Queen
Leto, plate
Leto lee-toh Mother of Apollo and Artemis
Medea, plate
Medea meh-dee-uh Princess of Colchis and sorceress, who slew her own children
Narcissus, plate
Narcissus nar-siss-us The Boeotian youth who loved his own reflection
Paris, plate
Paris pair-is The shepherd-prince of Troy — judge of the goddesses, abductor of Helen
Phanes, plate
Phanes fay-neez The Light-Bringer — Orphic first-born
Philotes, plate
Philotes fih-loh-teez Friendship and Sexual Love — daughter of Night
Selene, plate
Selene seh-lee-nee The Moon — mistress of the night sky
The Charites, plate
The Charites the kar-ih-teez The Graces — Aglaea, Euphrosyne, Thalia

The Levantine Borderlands

2 works

Al-Lat, plate
Al-Lat al--lat The Nabataean Mother-Goddess — al-Lat, the goddess
Al-Uzza, plate
Al-Uzza al--uz-za The Mighty Maiden — warrior-goddess of the planet Venus

The Edges of Empire

2 works

Dali, plate
Dali da-li The Caucasian Goddess of the Hunt — wild golden mistress of the mountain
Kotys, plate
Kotys ko-tys The Thracian Goddess of Orgiastic Rites — patroness of mystery initiation

The Etruscan World

2 works

The Lasa, plate
The Lasa the la-sa Female Spirits — companions of Turan
Turan, plate
Turan tu-ran The Etruscan Goddess of Love — equivalent to Aphrodite, mistress of vital force

The Roman Inheritance

2 works

Flora, plate
Flora flo-ra Goddess of Flowering Plants
Pomona, plate
Pomona po-mo-na Goddess of Orchard Fruit

The Northern Inheritance

13 works

Auseklis, plate
Auseklis au-sek-lis The Latvian Morning Star — son of Saulė the Sun
Aušrinė, plate
Aušrinė auš-rinė The Dawn-Star — Morning Goddess
Boann, plate
Boann boann Goddess of the River Boyne — wife of the Dagda
Brynhildr, plate
Brynhildr bryn-hildr The Valkyrie — pledged to Sigurd, betrayed, who summoned his murder
Awaiting its plate
E Bukura E Dheut e bu-ku-ra e dheut The Beauty of the Earth — Ambiguous Chthonic Figure — Albanian
Freyja, plate
Freyja fray-yah Lady of the Vanir — Goddess of Love, Magic, and the Slain
Freyr, plate
Freyr frayr Lord of the Vanir — God of Plenty and Peace
Lada, plate
Lada la-da Goddess of Spring, Love, and Marriage
Awaiting its plate
Lemminkäinen lem-min-käi-nen The Reckless Hero — Slain and Resurrected — Finnic
Medb, plate
Medb medb Queen of Connacht — instigator of the Cattle Raid of Cooley
Midir and Étaín, plate
Midir and Étaín mi-dir and é-taín The Lovers of the Fairy Mound — recovered through three lives
Rusalka, plate
Rusalka ru-sal-ka Water Spirit — Drowned Maiden of the River
Sigurd, plate
Sigurd si-gurd The Dragonslayer — Sigurd Fáfnisbani, Siegfried of the Nibelungenlied

Floor plan

The rooms follow one another in the order their peoples first appear in the written record.

  1. The Cradle of Citiesc. 3400 BCE to 395 CE. 115 works
  2. The Gift of the Nilec. 4000 BCE to 395 CE. 73 works
  3. The Olympian Orderc. 1600 BCE to 750 CE. 152 works
  4. The Persian Worldc. 2000 BCE to 1010 CE. 30 works
  5. The Levantine Borderlandsc. 1200 BCE to 500 CE. 20 works
  6. The Edges of Empirec. 2000 BCE to 1500 CE. 33 works
  7. The Etruscan Worldc. 900 BCE to 750 CE. 22 works
  8. The Roman Inheritancec. 1200 BCE to 500 CE. 58 works
  9. The Northern Inheritancec. 2000 BCE to 1600 CE. 131 works