A Compendium of the Ancient Gods

Themes

Mountains

30 gods of mountains, across six rooms, in the order the rooms are walked.

The Cradle of Cities

10 works

Agdistis, plate
Agdistis ag-dis-tis The Hermaphroditic Mother — Origin of Attis from the Almond
Anzu, plate
Anzu an-zu The Lion-Headed Bird — Thief of the Tablet of Destinies
Asag, plate
Asag a-sag The Stone Demon of the Mountains — Adversary of Ninurta
Baal, plate
Baal baal The Rider on the Clouds — Hadad of Ugarit
Cybele, plate
Cybele cy-be-le The Mother of the Mountain — Phrygian Magna Mater
Humbaba, plate
Humbaba hum-ba-ba The Guardian of the Cedar Forest — Whose Face was Coiled Entrails
Lugalbanda, plate
Lugalbanda lu-gal-ban-da Father of Gilgamesh — Eighth King of the First Dynasty of Uruk
Ninhursag, plate
Ninhursag nin-hur-sag Lady of the Foothills — Mother of the Gods
Ninurta, plate
Ninurta ni-nur-ta The Warrior — son of Enlil, slayer of the Asag
Sharruma, plate
Sharruma shar-ru-ma Son of Teshub and Hebat — Royal Protector

The Gift of the Nile

1 work

Mertseger, plate
Mertseger mert-se-ger She Who Loves Silence — cobra-goddess of the Theban necropolis

The Olympian Order

9 works

Atlas, plate
Atlas at-las The Sky-Bearer — Titan of the western mountain
Echo, plate
Echo eck-oh The Mountain Nymph who could only repeat
Hephaestus, plate
Hephaestus heh-fes-tus The Lame Smith — divine craftsman
Ourea, plate
Ourea oo-ree-uh The Mountains — children of Earth
Pan, plate
Pan pan God of the Wild — pastoral piper of Arcadia
Rhea, plate
Rhea ree-uh Mother of the Olympians
The Gigantes, plate
The Gigantes the jih-gan-teez The Earthborn — and the Gigantomachy that ended their kind
The Muses, plate
The Muses the mu-ses Daughters of Mnemosyne — patrons of the arts
Typhon, plate
Typhon tye-fon The Great Serpent — last and worst adversary of Zeus

The Levantine Borderlands

2 works

Dushara, plate
Dushara doo-shah-rah Chief God of the Nabataeans — patron of Petra, lord of the mountain
Obodas, plate
Obodas o-bo-das The Deified Nabataean King — royal apotheosis at Avdat

The Edges of Empire

3 works

Dali, plate
Dali da-li The Caucasian Goddess of the Hunt — wild golden mistress of the mountain
Reue, plate
Reue reue The Lusitanian Sky-God — sovereignty and the heavens
Vidasus, plate
Vidasus vi-da-sus Forest-God of the Western Balkans — Roman Silvanus in Illyrian guise

The Northern Inheritance

5 works

Danu, plate
Danu da-nu Mother of the Tuatha Dé — Irish Ancestral Goddess
Awaiting its plate
Hiisi hii-si The Finnish Forest-Demon — and the place that is his haunt
Skadi, plate
Skadi ska-di Giantess of Mountains and Skis — Reluctant Bride
The Cailleach, plate
The Cailleach the cail-leach The Old Veiled One — primordial hag-goddess of the Celtic landscape
Ullr, plate
Ullr ullr God of Skiing, Hunting, and the Bow

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