A Compendium of the Ancient Gods

Themes

Primordial and creation

97 gods of primordial and creation, across seven rooms, in the order the rooms are walked.

The Cradle of Cities

16 works

Agdistis, plate
Agdistis ag-dis-tis The Hermaphroditic Mother — Origin of Attis from the Almond
Alalu, plate
Alalu a-la-lu First King of Heaven — Deposed in the Kumarbi Cycle
Anshar, plate
Anshar an-shar Lord of the Heaven-Horizon — primordial god of the upper sky
Apsu, plate
Apsu ap-su The Sweet-Water Abyss — primordial freshwater
Aranzah, plate
Aranzah a-ran-zah The Tigris River — Born of Anu's Severed Members
Atrahasis, plate
Atrahasis at-ra-ha-sis The Exceeding Wise — Survivor of the Great Flood
Ba'Al Hammon, plate
Ba'Al Hammon ba-'al ham-mon Lord of the Brazier — chief god of Carthage
Belet-Ili, plate
Belet-Ili be-let--i-li The Lady of the Gods — Mother Who Pinched Mankind from Clay
El, plate
El el The Bull, Father of the Gods — Canaanite high god
Enki, plate
Enki en-kee Lord of the Sweet Waters and Wisdom — Akkadian Ea
Kingu, plate
Kingu kin-gu General of Tiamat — slain to make mankind
Kishar, plate
Kishar kee-shar The Earth-Horizon — primordial earth, sister-spouse of Anshar
Kumarbi, plate
Kumarbi koo-mar-bee Father of the Gods — the Hurrian elder god
Marduk, plate
Marduk mar-dook Lord of Babylon — Bel
The Apkallu, plate
The Apkallu the ap-kal-lu The Seven Sages — Bringers of the Arts of Civilization
Tiamat, plate
Tiamat tee-ah-mat The Salt Sea — primordial chaos-mother, slain by Marduk

The Gift of the Nile

16 works

Amun, plate
Amun ah-moon The Hidden God — Lord of Thebes
Apep, plate
Apep a-pep The Chaos-Serpent — adversary of the sun
Atum, plate
Atum a-tum The Self-Created — first god of the Heliopolitan cosmogony
Heka, plate
Heka he-ka Magic Personified — the divine power that makes spells effective
Hu, plate
Hu hu The authoritative utterance — divine command made manifest
Khepri, plate
Khepri khep-ri The Scarab — the morning sun
Khnum, plate
Khnum khnum The Ram — Lord of the First Cataract
Nefertum, plate
Nefertum ne-fer-tum The Lotus God — son of Ptah and Sekhmet
Neith, plate
Neith neith Lady of Sais — primordial weaver and warrior
Nun, plate
Nun nun The Primordial Waters — formless deep before creation
Ptah, plate
Ptah ptah The Memphite Creator — Lord of Craftsmen
Shu, plate
Shu shu The Air — sustainer of the heavens
Sia, plate
Sia sia The perceiving mind — divine intelligence made manifest
Sobek, plate
Sobek so-bek The Crocodile God of the Fayyum
Tefnut, plate
Tefnut tef-nut The Moisture — sister-consort of Shu
The Hermopolitan Ogdoad, plate
The Hermopolitan Ogdoad the her-mo-po-li-tan og-doad The eight primordial powers of Khemenu — the chaos before creation

The Olympian Order

44 works

Aether, plate
Aether ee-ther The Upper Bright Air — element of the gods
Aion, plate
Aion eye-on Eternity — the unbounded age
Ananke, plate
Ananke uh-nang-kee Necessity — the inescapable bond
Apate, plate
Apate uh-pay-tee Deceit — daughter of Night
Chaos, plate
Chaos kay-oss The First — primordial gap or void
Chronos, plate
Chronos kroh-noss Time — Orphic primordial, not to be confused with Cronus
Cronus, plate
Cronus kroh-nus King of the Titans — father of Zeus
Dolos, plate
Dolos doh-loss Trickery — daimon of fraud
Epimetheus, plate
Epimetheus ep-ih-mee-thee-us The Afterthinking — brother of Prometheus
Erebus, plate
Erebus air-uh-bus The Underworld Dark — consort of Night
Eris, plate
Eris air-is Strife — kindler of the Trojan War
Eros (Primordial), plate
Eros (Primordial) air-oss (primordial) The Original Love — primordial unifying power
Eurybia, plate
Eurybia yoo-rib-ee-uh Wide-Strength — daughter of Pontus
Gaia, plate
Gaia gay-uh The Earth — mother of all
Geras, plate
Geras gee-ras Old Age — the daimon of decline
Hemera, plate
Hemera hem-er-uh The Day — daughter of Night and the Dark
Hydros, plate
Hydros hy-dross Primordial Water — Orphic alternative
Hypnos, plate
Hypnos hip-nos Sleep — twin brother of Death
Iapetus, plate
Iapetus eye-ap-eh-tus Father of Prometheus and Atlas
Metis, plate
Metis mee-tis Wisdom — first wife of Zeus
Momus, plate
Momus moh-mus Blame — the carping critic
Moros, plate
Moros moh-ross Doom — irrevocable fate of death
Nemesis, plate
Nemesis nem-uh-sis Indignation — divine retribution against pride
Nereus, plate
Nereus neer-ee-us Old Man of the Sea — prophetic shape-shifter
Nesoi, plate
Nesoi ness-oy The Islands — uncertain primordial group
Nyx, plate
Nyx niks Night — mother of the dark powers
Oceanus, plate
Oceanus oh-see-uh-nus The River-Stream — eldest of the Titans
Oizys, plate
Oizys oy-zis Misery — daughter of Night
Ourea, plate
Ourea oo-ree-uh The Mountains — children of Earth
Perses, plate
Perses per-seez Titan of destruction — father of Hecate
Phanes, plate
Phanes fay-neez The Light-Bringer — Orphic first-born
Philotes, plate
Philotes fih-loh-teez Friendship and Sexual Love — daughter of Night
Pontus, plate
Pontus pon-tus The Sea — son of Earth, father of the sea-gods
Prometheus, plate
Prometheus proh-mee-thee-us The Forethinking — friend of mankind
Tartarus, plate
Tartarus tar-tuh-rus The Pit — deepest place of the underworld
Tethys, plate
Tethys tee-this Mother of Rivers — wife of Oceanus
Thalassa, plate
Thalassa thuh-lass-uh The Salt Sea — feminine personification
Thanatos, plate
Thanatos than-uh-tos Death — implacable son of Night
The Cyclopes, plate
The Cyclopes the sigh-kloh-peez The One-Eyed Smiths of Heaven — Brontes, Steropes, and Arges
The Gigantes, plate
The Gigantes the jih-gan-teez The Earthborn — and the Gigantomachy that ended their kind
The Hecatoncheires, plate
The Hecatoncheires the heh-kuh-ton-ky-reez The Hundred-Handed — Briareus, Cottus, and Gyges
The Moirai, plate
The Moirai the moy-rye The Fates — Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos
Typhon, plate
Typhon tye-fon The Great Serpent — last and worst adversary of Zeus
Uranus, plate
Uranus yoor-uh-nus The Sky — first king of heaven

The Persian World

7 works

Ahura Mazda, plate
Ahura Mazda ah-hoor-ah maz-dah The Wise Lord — supreme creator of all that is good
Angra Mainyu, plate
Angra Mainyu ang-rah myn-yoo The Hostile Spirit — Ahriman in the later tradition; cosmic adversary of Ahura Mazda
Spenta Mainyu, plate
Spenta Mainyu spen-ta mai-nyu The Holy Spirit — the creative aspect of Ahura Mazda
The Amesha Spentas, plate
The Amesha Spentas the a-me-sha spen-tas The Holy Immortals — seven principles of the good creation
The Fravashis, plate
The Fravashis the fra-va-shis Ancestral Souls — pre-existent and post-mortem guardian spirits
Yima, plate
Yima yi-ma The First King — Jamshid in the later tradition; ruler of the golden age
Zurvan, plate
Zurvan zur-van Infinite Time — the principle from whom (in the heretical Zurvanism) both Mazda and Ahriman emerged

The Levantine Borderlands

1 work

Bel, plate
Bel bel Chief God of Palmyra — equivalent to the Babylonian Marduk and the Greek Zeus

The Edges of Empire

1 work

Ghmerti, plate
Ghmerti ghmer-ti The Supreme Creator-God of Pre-Christian Georgia

The Northern Inheritance

12 works

Audhumla, plate
Audhumla aud-hum-la The Primal Cow — who licked the first god from the ice
Borr and Bestla, plate
Borr and Bestla borr and best-la The Parents of Odin — son of the first man, daughter of the giants
Danu, plate
Danu da-nu Mother of the Tuatha Dé — Irish Ancestral Goddess
Awaiting its plate
Ilmatar il-ma-tar Air-Spirit — Mother of Väinämöinen — Finnic
Awaiting its plate
Isten is-ten The Magyar Sky-God — His Name Now the Word for God — Hungarian
Awaiting its plate
Kalev / Kalevipoeg ka-lev / ka-le-vi-poeg The Estonian Giant-Hero — son of the giant Kalev
Rod, plate
Rod rod The Slavic Creator God — eldest power, fount of generation
The Cailleach, plate
The Cailleach the cail-leach The Old Veiled One — primordial hag-goddess of the Celtic landscape
Tuisto and Mannus, plate
Tuisto and Mannus tuis-to and man-nus The Germanic Earth-Born and his Son — primordial ancestors of the German peoples
Vili and Vé, plate
Vili and Vé vi-li and vé Odin's Brothers — co-creators of the human race
Yggdrasil, plate
Yggdrasil ig-drah-sil The World-Tree — frame of the cosmos
Ymir, plate
Ymir y-mir The Primordial Giant — from whose body the world was made

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