Encyclopaedia Of Gods And Goddesses Iva

The history of the divine is the history of human thought. For as long as men and women have pondered the mysteries of their existence, they have answered their own questions with stories of gods and goddesses. Belief in these deities shaped whole civilizations, yet today many of their names and images lie buried. The Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities makes those names available to the general reader as well as the scholar. This reference work lists all the known gods through recorded history. Alphabetically arranged entries provide the name of each deity (with alternate spellings), as well as notes on names that may be linguistically or functionally related. The tribe or culture that worshiped the deity is identified, and the god's origins and functions are explained. An extensive bibliography provides opportunities for further research and an exhaustive index provides access to the entries through virtually all names, forms and kinds of deities.

A beautifully illustrated, wonderfully engaging A-to-Z guide to more than 700 major and minor gods and goddesses, characters, creatures, and places of classical Greek and Roman mythology. Classical Mythology A-to-Z is a comprehensive and engrossing guide to Greek and Roman mythology. Written by Annette Giesecke, PhD, Professor of Classics and Chair of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Delaware, this brilliant reference offers clear explanations of every character and locale, and captures the essence of these timeless tales. From the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus and the heroes of the Trojan War to the nymphs, monsters, and other mythical creatures that populate these ancient stories, Giesecke recounts, with clarity and energy, the details of more than 700 characters and places. Each definition includes cross-references to related characters, locations, and myths, as well their equivalent in Roman mythology and cult. In addition to being an important standalone work, Classical Mythology A-to-Z is also written, designed, and illustrated to serve as an essential companion to the bestselling illustrated 75th-anniversary edition of Mythology by Edith Hamilton, including 10 full-color plates and 2-color illustrations throughout by artist Jim Tierney.

More Than 1,000 Goddesses & Heroines from around the World Groundbreaking scholar Patricia Monaghan spent her life researching, writing about, and documenting goddesses and heroines from all religions and all corners of the globe. Her work demonstrated that from the beginning of recorded history, goddesses reigned alongside their male counterparts as figures of inspiration and awe. Drawing on anthropology, folklore, literature, and psychology, Monaghan’s vibrant and accessible encyclopedia covers female deities from Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, Asia and Oceania, Europe, and the Americas, as well as every major religious tradition.

Presents brief entries describing the gods and goddesses from the mythology and religion of a wide variety of cultures throughout history.

There are many good books on the mythology of particular peoples or races, Ancient and modern, and much material accessible in books of travel and works on ethnology and religion; for classical antiquity excellent dictionaries of mythology exist. There are also books of narrower or wider range on comparative mythology, besides many in which myth and custom have been pressed into the service of theories of society, civilization, and religion, or are adduced for the illustration of art and archaeology. But a comprehensive collection by competent scholars of Gods and Goddesses from all quarters of the earth and all ages has not hitherto been attempted; for several important parts of the field, no satisfactory works exist in English, while in some there is none in any language. That no comparable work exists of this scope and nature is the justification for this massive work. The intrinsic interest of the subject is very great; for better than almost anything else the idea of Gods reveal men's first notions about their world and the powers at work in it, and the relations between men and those powers. They show what things in their surroundings early engaged men's attention; what things seemed to them to need explanation; and how they explained them. A comprehensive collection like the present lends itself also to comparative study of single myths or systems of myth among different and widely remote peoples. It is one of the merits of this collection that it is made for its own sake, with no theory to maintain or illustrate. The names of the contributors are a sufficient guarantee of the thoroughness and trustworthiness of their work. The volumes are amply illustrated, not for the sake of making picture books, but for the legitimate purposes of illustration - a feature which will add much to the usefulness as well as to the attractiveness of the series. Taken all in all, therefore, the INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF GODS AND GODDESSES may safely be pronounced one of the most important enterprises of this age of co-operative scholarship.