Wanted: God Pantheon Experts

[BlckMrktMrchnds]

I started a little project just today that I'm currently really excited about and want to jump into with both feet. It's weird and rather different, and requires a lot of knowledge on gods—like, all of them—which I really do not have.

As well, it's still half-baked. So mulling over how all it works would be nice, too.

But, yeah. Any and all pantheons are welcome, from the ridiculously popular ones to the unreasonably obscure—hell, I'd even like to play with your own personal pantheon if it would help you with your story, too (all respects for Them and yourself included, of course).

I know that's really vague, but I hate long posts, so I try not to make them.

As always, PM if interested.

Thank you!

 

[Handley_Page]

I started a little project just today that I'm currently really excited about and want to jump into with both feet. It's weird and rather different, and requires a lot of knowledge on gods—like, all of them—which I really do not have.

As well, it's still half-baked. So mulling over how all it works would be nice, too.

But, yeah. Any and all pantheons are welcome, from the ridiculously popular ones to the unreasonably obscure—hell, I'd even like to play with your own personal pantheon if it would help you with your story, too (all respects for Them and yourself included, of course).

I know that's really vague, but I hate long posts, so I try not to make them.

As always, PM if interested.

Thank you!

Google's your best starting source, I suspect. Then Wiki.

 

[Weird Harold]

But, yeah. Any and all pantheons are welcome, from the ridiculously popular ones to the unreasonably obscure—hell, I'd even like to play with your own personal pantheon if it would help you with your story, too (all respects for Them and yourself included, of course)

Check out The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. Aside from being a good read, they involve a lot of obscure pantheons that should give you a lead on what pantheons to research.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Lindsay Ellis has done a few videos on gods or godlike entities. they are called 'loose canon' and go through interesting pop culture rendition through the ages.

I know she's done one on Aphrodite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTcWJYUFsxg

Hades

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c51pwfaBrM

And Death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OJDvWJJWR8

Very interesting. She goes over tons of different interpretations and might connect more personally with you trying to make a story w/ gods

 

[oggbashan]

Pantheons? Ye Gods! Where does one start?

There's the Egyptian Pantheon; the Greek Pantheon; the Roman Pantheon; the Norse Pantheon; the Hindu Pantheon; the Celtic Pantheon; the Native American Pantheon; the Australian Pantheon; the Pacific Islanders Pantheon; the Japanese Pantheorn; the Chinese Pantheon; and so on almost for ever...

Just a few names:

Isis - Egyptian
Aphrodite - Greek
Venus - Roman
Freya - Norse
Vishnu - Hindu
Brigit - Celtic...

I have written a story based on the Norse Pantheon and Valhalla:

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-valkyries

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Sorry Og, Native American PantheonS! There are hundreds of cultural traditions native to the New World, and with them, hundreds of pantheons. Even the Maya and the Mexica (Aztec) differed in deities. Linguistically close societies, such as the Dene languages of Northern Canada and those of the American Southwest, had vastly different cosmologies and pantheons. You don't find the Four Corn Mothers in the Mackenzie Delta. And I haven't even touched on South America.

The situation is similar in the Pacific, though with a bit less variation.

So watch out for Xolotl, and Coatlicue may really be upset, but Wisakajak will probably laugh at the whole thing.

 

[oggbashan]

Sorry Og, Native American PantheonS! There are hundreds of cultural traditions native to the New World, and with them, hundreds of pantheons. Even the Maya and the Mexica (Aztec) differed in deities. Linguistically close societies, such as the Dene languages of Northern Canada and those of the American Southwest, had vastly different cosmologies and pantheons. You don't find the Four Corn Mothers in the Mackenzie Delta. And I haven't even touched on South America.

The situation is similar in the Pacific, though with a bit less variation.

So watch out for Xolotl, and Coatlicue may really be upset, but Wisakajak will probably laugh at the whole thing.

I know that there are Native American Pantheons. And God help anyone trying to make a complete list of African Pantheons.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

OP: from the previous posts you should be getting a sense that there are thousands of mythos, each slowly morphing over time. If you're looking for lists, understand that you're dealing in fuzzy sets and there's not a definitive or complete enumeration anywhere. Even if you limit it to things large numbers of people collectively worshiped (eg, rejecting Flying Spaghetti Monsters, Cthulhu, etc).

(Actually Cthulu might have real-world worshippers. Nothing can shock me in a world in which Scientology exists.)

(At this point a reference to Arthur C Clarke's "The nine billion names of God" seems inevitable, even if I don't buy the premise.)

No story is going to have room for even a fraction of what's been set up as a deity over the centuries, so pick a handful of names and go for it.

 

[MarkoAaron]

There are many pantheons, can you be more exact? All the gods? Wow, that would take a day or so to type.

I was actually in a debate not too long ago. Subjects was, would the Devil be considered a god?

 

[Tio_Narratore]

I stood upon a highway,
And, behold, there came
Many strange peddlers.
To me each one made gestures,
Holding forth little images, saying,
"This is my pattern of God.
Now this is the God I prefer."
But I said, "Hence!
Leave me with mine own,
And take you yours away;
I can't buy of your patterns of God,
The little gods you may rightly prefer."

Stephen Crane, from The Black Riders and Other Lines, 1905

 

[Hard_Rom]

Wikipedia for research. It rules!

 

[BlckMrktMrchnds]

I suppose I spaced that there's so many obscure pantheons that I could possibly pick from. I suppose I'm more after the old, really popular pantheons (Egypt, Rome/Greece, Scandinavia) as well as the arguably less appreciated (Aztec, Chinese?, various Native American), but, because I'm still in the forming stages of this idea, I'm more interested in building a mass to just work with for now, to work out mechanics, find kinks in the system, that sort of thing.
So, at this point, it's more about messing around than writing, I think.

 

[Weird Harold]

I suppose I spaced that there's so many obscure pantheons that I could possibly pick from. I suppose I'm more after the old, really popular pantheons (Egypt, Rome/Greece, Scandinavia) as well as the arguably less appreciated (Aztec, Chinese?, various Native American), but, because I'm still in the forming stages of this idea, I'm more interested in building a mass to just work with for now, to work out mechanics, find kinks in the system, that sort of thing.
So, at this point, it's more about messing around than writing, I think.

As noted above, google is your friend -- as are bing, yahoo, and any other search engine you can think of. Pick a divine aspect and start searching. Kevin Hearne seemed to start with searching for "Thunder God" and built up pantheons from those links. You could also start with Fertility Gods and Goddesses or Goddess of Love or Hunter/Huntress god.

 

[MarkoAaron]

I'm not very knowledgeable about multiple pantheons. I myself am Heathen (Norse Paganism) there's so much to learn and I imagine learning of multiple pantheons, would be a daunting task.

I know the Norse pantheon and a little about the Slavic pantheon, also Celtic. If you have any questions or just wanna discuss certain gods, feel free to PM me. I know a few sites with some pretty good info.

 

[Gaius8666]

A good site to check out

As a big fan of mythology, and a writer of Mythologically themed, Female Domination, tease and denial stories ("Aphrodite's Curse")...(how is THAT for a specific genre?) I use the site Godchecker all of the time.

It really is a fantastic resource as it has every conceivable Pantheon you could imagine. It is also searchable by characteristic (such as list all Love Goddesses)

The website is http://www.godchecker.com/

I hope this helps. Good luck with your story!

 

[HandsInTheDark]

The website is http://www.godchecker.com/

I hope this helps. Good luck with your story!

Um... find names there then move to wikipedia. That site isn't a place for anything like real research.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Um... find names there then move to wikipedia. That site isn't a place for anything like real research.

Right - it has names of deities, but little in the way of correct or useful information about them.

 

[Handley_Page]

Wiki has some interesting stuff on Ancient Egypt

 

[LWulf]

Like many, wiki is a good source to validate knowledge. I'm not an expert, but I know a thing or two...

Ambrosia, or the indo term amrta, is a food and/or drink of the gods. It confers immortality to those who eat/drink it. In Greek mythology, those who eat ambrosia have ichor for blood. Ichor isn't black by modern interpretation, but golden.

Some authors (Homer for instance) said Ambrosia was the food, while Nectar was the drink of the gods, though other later era authors described ambrosia as a food that could be derived into a drink. Some authors describe ambrosia as being delivered by white doves (as food), while others describe female human servants bringing ambrosia to serve and thus they are also named Ambrosia.
Nectar has a similar etymology to Ambrosia.

Ambrosia is said to be floral in scent and sweet. Sometimes it is used as perfume. The scent was enough to revive and give vitality.

Oddly enough, while mortals could eat/drink ambrosia, ichor is lethally toxic to mortals. Hercules was given ambrosia, he being a demigod, but he was not given immortality. So, it would seem that any immortality effects of ambrosia were temporary.

My own interpretation is that ambrosia was used to describe a golden or amber color, as Homer used it to refer to "ambrosial footwear," "ambrosial hair," and "ambrosial clothes." Either that or whatever ambrosia was derived from had a skin that could be made into a fabric. Through reading, I've always interpreted ambrosia as being a thick liquid similar to some fruit juices. If I remember correctly, in one reading, ichor was said to be the lifeblood of the earth which, likewise, was lethally toxic to mortals. I've always connotated ambrosia to peaches, as it is a food that can be made into a drink.

In more modern pathology, ichor was, now an archaic term, for a watery discharge from wounds that had a fetid scent.

 

[lovecraft68]

Religious pantheons resemble modern US families

Two self absorbed parent figures and their entitled, ungrateful, spoiled rotten offspring who do whatever they want.

 

[oggbashan]

Religious pantheons resemble modern US families

Two self absorbed parent figures and their entitled, ungrateful, spoiled rotten offspring who do whatever they want.

And some of the pantheons are internally inconsistent, like familial roles.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

And some of the pantheons are internally inconsistent, like familial roles.

In elementary school, I was taught the "God created man in his own image and likeness." My fifty years of anthropological study of religion has led me to the opposite: "Man creates gods in his own image and likeness."

 

[Hypoxia]

Just to add to the confusion: pantheons evolve and cross-fertilize, and belief systems fragment. Demons in one space-time locus are deities in another. Ancestors and emperors are declared divine. We humans are pretty good at cooking-up needless complexity. I think people get the gods they deserve.

 

[BlckMrktMrchnds]

I like the idea of Ambrosia. It seems like it could be a really good element to tie everything together under the surface, and give the gods a good reason to interact across pantheons if I want...
Hmm...
Since this could work better if I was being less ambiguous, my idea revolves around the gods feeding off of dragons, in a similar way to how, say, grass feeds off of the sun (without the part where the grass, in turn, is also eaten).

I've seen God Checker, though I've still yet to really investigate Wikipedia.
The reason I wanted to ask humans rather than Google is because I've had a hard time gathering the gods' personalities from the web, and I have the idea that the gods and dragons share infectious bits of their personalities, so I wanted to get an accurate view on the gods, and not so much their powers and domains.
I know that I can spend all day Googling Amun, Ra, Re, Amun-Ra, and find a bunh of stuff.
But with gods especially reserved like the Egyptian pantheon, or with gods exceptionally hungry like the Aztec pantheon, it's not so easy for me to figure out those personal things about them, and I have the worst time inferring their individual personalities from the resources I come across.

 

[Weird Harold]

But with gods especially reserved like the Egyptian pantheon, or with gods exceptionally hungry like the Aztec pantheon, it's not so easy for me to figure out those personal things about them, and I have the worst time inferring their individual personalities from the resources I come across.

A good place to start with the Egyptian gods is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_influence_in_popular_culture

From the wide variety of interpretations in popular culture, you can assert any personality quirks you want as long as you maintain the primary attributes -- Forex, Anubis judges and guards the dead and taught mummification to the Egytptians. There are links to ten or twelve pages on individual gods on that page.

You could spend years researching various gods and building a personality for each god.

OR...

You can spend a few hours or days compiling a list of names and attributes and make up personalities for them without worrying about how others have portrayed them.

A personal preference is to make a god dissatisfied with a primary attribute:

Anubis could be really tired of meeting only dead people and/or be overworked because of the population explosion of the Industrial Age.

A Thunder God from some obscure pantheon could be afraid of thunder but fascinated by lightning's light show.

Give your imagination free reign and shape the gods in your image.

Another thought: There might be only one god of each "Godly Aspect" who appears as a worshiper thinks he should look; Thor to a Norseman, Zeus to a Greek, Jupiter to a Roman, Yahweh to a Jew or Jesus to a Christian.

Or there might be a pool of junior gods who appear in the Aspect expected by a worshiper while the actual Godly Aspects are off at a convention on Mt Olympus or in Valhalla.