The main gods of ancient Egypt. The main gods of ancient egypt Eyes of the god Ra

2017-02-25

The religion of the ancient Egyptians is a unique trend in world history. Its originality lay in the presence of various deities, which were revered by the people. Moreover, in each region of the country, the deities could be different, but there are those whose worship went beyond the boundaries of the area. These are the ones that are currently best studied.

The sources for obtaining information are the "Texts of the Pyramids", as well as the "Books of the Dead". Very often the pharaohs were exalted to a divine pedestal. In this article, let's talk about one of the most famous gods of Ancient Egypt - Ra.

1. Egyptian sun god Ra

Ra is the sun god in ancient Egyptian mythology. In different areas, he was represented in different ways. Information has reached our times that most often he was depicted in the form of a falcon, a man with a falcon's head, or a huge cat. Ra was revered as the king of the gods. Very often he was depicted in the guise of a pharaoh.

According to mythology, Ra was the father of Wajit, a dodgy cobra that protects the pharaoh from powerful scorching rays. It is believed that the god Ra floats during the day along the heavenly Nile in the barque Manjet and illuminates the earth. And in the evening he transfers to the barge Mesektet and travels along the underground Nile. Here he daily overcomes the mighty serpent Apophis and returns to heaven at dawn. Let us dwell on this myth in more detail, according to legends. Exactly at midnight, the battle of the god Ra with a serpent takes place, the length of which is measured in 450 cubits. To prevent further movement of Ra, Apophis absorbs all the water of the underground Nile. However, the god pierces him with spears and swords and he has to return all the water back.

The ancient Egyptians believed that each deity should have its own home. The city of Heliopolis became the home of the sun god. The Jews called this area Bet Shemesh. There was built a large temple of the god Ra and the house of Atum. For a long period these places were attractive for pilgrims and travelers.

1.1. The eyes of the god Ra

Special mystical significance was attached to the eyes of God. Their image could be seen everywhere: on ships, tomb, amulets, boats, clothes. At first glance, it seems that his eyes lead a life isolated from the body.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the right eye of the god Ra, which was most often depicted as the serpent Urey, could defeat any enemy army. The left eye was credited with miraculous properties in the treatment of serious ailments. This can be judged by the texts and myths that have come down to our times. Very often the eyes of Ra were presented as an object - a talisman or a heroic warrior performing feats.

Many myths in Egypt were associated with these images. According to one legend, the god Ra created the universe, which was significantly different from the current one. He populated her with created people and gods. However, it was not eternal, like the life of the gods. Over time, old age came to Ra. Upon learning of this, people began to assemble a conspiracy against God. The enraged Ra decided to take cruel revenge on them. He threw his eye in the image of his daughter, the goddess Sekhmet, who carried out a cruel reprisal against the rebels.

According to other sources, the god Ra presented his right eye to the goddess of fun, Basti. It was she who was supposed to protect him from the powerful serpent Apophis. There is also a legend according to which the divine eye in the form of the unsurpassed goddess Tefnut took offense at Ra. It went into the desert, where it roamed the dunes for a long time. Ra was very upset by this separation.

1.2. Where did the name Ra come from?

The name of the Egyptian god was considered mysterious and had enormous magical potential, thanks to which you can control the entire universe. The translation of Ra was interpreted as "the sun". The Egyptian pharaohs were revered as the sons of the god Ra. Therefore, very often the particle Ra was used in their names.

An interesting legend is associated with the name of Ra. The goddess Isis decided to find out his secret name in order to use it in her spells. For this, she created a snake, which was bitten by Ra when leaving his palace. The sun god felt a burning pain that did not go away. Having gathered the advice of the gods, Ra asked for help in getting rid of the pain from Isis. However, her spells only work with a secret name. Therefore, Ra had to name him. The snake venom has been neutralized. Isis promised to keep it secret and disclose to other gods.

1.3. Cult history

The cult of the god Ra began to form during the period of the unification of the Egyptian state. He quickly supplanted the archaic cult of Atum. During the reign of the pharaohs of the 4th dynasty, the worship of Ra was proclaimed as the state religion. Some representatives of this clan bore a name with the word "Ra": Djedefra, Menkaura, Khafra. During the reign of the 5th dynasty of pharaohs, the cult of Ra only exalted. It was believed that the pharaohs of this dynasty are the sons of the god Ra.

1.4. How did Ra create the world?

In the beginning, there was only an endless ocean. It was the home of the god Nun, who created the sun god. God Ra called himself: "Khepri in the morning, Ra at noon and Atum at sunset." Thus, the solar triad is formed. According to legend, Ra became the father of the gods and their king. It was he who created the wind god Shu and his wife Tefnut - a goddess with a lion's head. This couple shone in the sky in the constellation Gemini. Then he created the god of the earth - Hebe and the heavenly goddess Nut. It was they, according to mythology, who became the parents of the god Osiris and the goddess Isis.

The sun god read the prayers of creation and commanded the wind Shu to lift the heavens and the earth. Thus, the firmament was formed, on which the stars appeared. Ra pronounced aloud the words from which living beings arose on earth and on water. Then humanity was born from his eye. Initially, Ra took on a human form and began to live on earth. Later, he completely moved to heaven.

1.5. Symbols of the Egyptian god Ra

The sun god has a lot of symbols. The main one is the pyramid. Moreover, it can be of different sizes: from very small, worn as an amulet, to large. A common symbol is a pyramidal-topped obelisk with a sun disc. It should be noted that there are a lot of such obelisks in Egypt. In some localities, crypts made of adobe bricks were a divine sign. At first glance, they looked like truncated pyramids. Inside the temples dedicated to the theme of Ra, the ben-ben obelisk was kept. A little later, the ancient Egyptians began to worship the sun disk.

In addition to inanimate symbols, there were also animate ones. Very often Ra was animated with a phoenix bird. According to legend, he burned himself every day in the evening, and in the morning he was reborn from the ashes. This bird was in a special place among the Egyptians. They specially raised them in sacred groves, and after death they embalmed them.

2. Amon - the second sun god

The great Ra was not the only solar god in Ancient Egypt. He was replaced by Amon. His sacred animals symbolized wisdom. These included a ram and a goose. Very often he was depicted as a man with the head of a ram, holding turpentine in his hand. The Egyptian god Amon was originally worshiped only in the localities of the city of Thebes. With his rise above other cities in Egypt, the god's influence spread to other territories.

In the 16th -14th centuries BC, he merged with the god Ra. During this period, a new god appears - Amon Ra. The first mentions of him were recorded in the book of pyramids. This god becomes the head of the entire pantheon. He is worshiped and honored as a deity that brings victory. The Egyptians believed that it was he who helped Pharaoh Ahmose 1 to expel the Hyksos from the country.

The ancient Slavic pantheon is very complex in structure and numerous in composition. Most of the gods were identified with various forces of nature, although there were exceptions, the most striking example of which is Rod, the creator god. Due to the similarity of the functions and properties of some gods, it is difficult to determine for sure which names are just variations of the names of the same god, and which belong to different gods.

The entire pantheon can be divided into two large circles: the older gods, who ruled all three worlds in the primordial stage, and the second circle - the young gods who took the reins in the new stage. At the same time, some older gods are present in the new stage, while others disappear (more precisely, there are no descriptions of their activities or interference in anything, but the memory that they were there remains).

In the Slavic pantheon, there was no clear hierarchy of power, which was replaced by a clan hierarchy, where the sons obeyed their father, but the brothers were equal. The Slavs did not have pronounced evil gods and good gods. Some deities bestowed life, others took it, but all were revered equally, since the Slavs believed that the existence of one without the other is impossible. At the same time, gods, good in their functions, could punish and harm, and evil ones, on the contrary, help and save people. Thus, the gods of the ancient Slavs were very similar to people, not only in appearance, but also in character, since they simultaneously carried both good and evil in themselves.

Outwardly, the gods looked like people, while most of them could turn into animals, in the form of which they usually appeared before people. The gods were distinguished from ordinary creatures by superpowers, which allowed the deities to change the world around them. Each of the gods had power over one of the parts of this world. The impact on other parts beyond the control of the deities was limited and temporary.

The most ancient supreme male deity among the Slavs was Rod. Already in Christian teachings against paganism of the XII-XIII centuries. Rod is written about as a god worshiped by all peoples.
Rod was the god of the sky, thunderstorms, fertility. They said about him that he rides on a cloud, throws rain on the earth, and from this children are born. He was the ruler of the earth and all living things, he was a pagan creator god.
In Slavic languages, the root "genus" means kinship, birth, water (spring), profit (harvest), such concepts as people and homeland, in addition, it means red and lightning, especially ball, called "rhodium". This variety of root words undoubtedly proves the greatness of the pagan god.
Rod is a creator god, together with his sons Belbog and Chernobog he created this world. Alone, Rod created the Rule, Reality and Nav in the sea of ​​chaos, and together with his sons created the earth.

The sun came out then, out of His face. The moon is bright - from His bosom. Frequent stars are from His eyes. The dawns are clear - from His eyebrows. Dark nights - yes from His thoughts. The violent winds - from the breath ...

"The Book of Kolyada"

The Slavs had no idea about the appearance of the Rod, since he never appeared directly in front of people.

Temples in honor of the deity were built on hills or just large open plots of land. His idol had a phallic shape or was simply executed in the form of a pillar painted red. Sometimes the role of an idol was played by an ordinary tree growing on a hill, especially if it was old enough. In general, the Slavs believed that there is a Rod in everything and therefore you can worship him anywhere. There were no sacrifices in honor of Rod. Instead of them, festivals and feasts are arranged, which are held directly near the idol.

The companions of the Sort were Rozhanitsa, the female deities of fertility in Slavic mythology, the patroness of the clan, family, home.

Son of Rod, god of light, goodness and justice. In Slavic mythology, he is the creator of the world together with Rod and Chernobog. Outwardly, Belbog appeared in the form of a gray-haired old man dressed as a sorcerer.
Belobog in the mythology of our ancestors never played the role of an independent single character. As any object in the world of Java has a shadow, so Belobog has its inherent antipode - Chernobog. A similar analogy can be found in ancient Chinese philosophy (yin and yang), in Icelanders' Inglism (yuj rune) and in many other cultural and religious systems. Thus, Belobog becomes the embodiment of bright human ideals: goodness, honor and justice.

A sanctuary in honor of Belbog was built on the hills, with the idol facing east towards sunrise. However, Belbog was revered not only in the sanctuary of the deity, but also at feasts, always making a toast in his honor.

One of the greatest gods of the ancient world, the son of Rod, brother of Svarog. His main act was that Veles set the world created by Rod and Svarog in motion. Veles - "cattle god" - the owner of wildlife, the owner of Navi, a powerful wizard and werewolf, interpreter of laws, teacher of arts, patron of travelers and togovtsy, god of luck. True, some sources point to him as the god of death ...

At the moment, among various pagan and native-faith trends, the Velesov book is a fairly popular text, which became known to the general public in the 1950s thanks to the researcher and writer Yuri Mirolyubov. Velesov's book actually represents 35 birch plates, speckled with symbols, which linguists (in particular, A. Kur and S. Lesnoy) call Slavic pre-Cyrillic writing. It is curious that the original text does not really resemble either Cyrillic or Verb, but the features of the Slavic runny are presented in it indirectly.

Despite the wide distribution and massive veneration of this god, Veles was always separated from the other gods, his idols were never placed in common temples (sacred places where images of the main gods of this territory were installed).

Two animals are associated with the image of Veles: a bull and a bear; in the temples dedicated to the deity, the Magi often kept a bear, which played a key role in the rituals held.

Dazhdbog

God of the Sun, giver of warmth and light, god of fertility and life-giving power. The solar disk was originally considered the symbol of Dazhdbog. Its color is gold, which speaks of the nobility of this god and his unshakable strength. In general, our ancestors had three main solar deities - Khors, Yarila and Dazhdbog. But Khors was a winter sun, Yarilo was a spring sun, and Dazhdbog was a summer sun. Of course, it was Dazhdbog that deserved special respect, since a lot depended on the summer position of the sun in the firmament for the ancient Slavs, the people of farmers. At the same time, Dazhdbog was never distinguished by a tough disposition, and if a drought suddenly attacked, then our ancestors never blamed this god.

The temples of Dazhdbog were built on the hills. The idol was made of wood and placed facing east or southeast. Feathers of ducks, swans and geese, as well as honey, nuts and apples were brought to the deity.

Devan is the goddess of the hunt, the wife of the forest god Svyatobor and the daughter of Perun. The Slavs represented the goddess in the form of a beautiful girl dressed in an elegant kunya fur coat trimmed with a squirrel. Over the fur coat, the beauty put on a bearskin, and the head of the beast served as a hat for her. With her daughter Perun carried an excellent bow with arrows, a sharp knife and a spear, with which they go to bear.

The beautiful goddess not only hunted forest animals: she herself taught them how to avoid dangers and endure harsh winters.

Devan was primarily revered by hunters and trappers, they prayed to the goddess to grant good luck in the hunt, and in gratitude brought part of their prey to her sanctuary. It was believed that it was she who helped to find the secret paths of animals in the dense forest, to avoid clashes with wolves and bears, but if the meeting did take place, the man emerged victorious from it.

Share and Nedolya

Share is a good goddess, Mokosha's helper, weaves a happy fate.
It appears in the guise of a sweet young man or a red girl with golden curls and a cheerful smile. Can't stand still, walks around the world - there are no obstacles: swamp, river, forest, mountains - The share will overcome in a moment.

He does not like the lazy and careless, drunkards and all kinds of bad people. Although at first he makes friends with everyone - then he will figure it out and leave the bad, evil person.

NEDOLYA (Nuzha, Need) - the goddess, Mokosha's assistant, weaves an unhappy fate.
Dolya and Nedolya are not just personifications of abstract concepts that do not have objective existence, but, on the contrary, are living persons, identical to the virgins of fate.
They act according to their own calculations, regardless of the will and intentions of the person: the happy one does not work at all and lives in contentment, because Share is working for him. On the contrary, Nedoli's activities are constantly directed towards the detriment of man. While she is awake, trouble follows trouble, and only then it becomes easier for the unfortunate one when Nedol falls asleep: "If he sleeps Likho, do not wake him up."

Dogoda (Weather) is the god of beautiful weather and a gentle, pleasant breeze. A young, ruddy, fair-haired, in a cornflower-blue wreath with blue, gilded wings of butterflies at the edges, in silver-shining bluish clothes, holding a spike in his hand and smiling at the flowers.

Kolyada is a baby sun, in Slavic mythology - the embodiment of the New Year's cycle, as well as a character of the holidays, similar to Avsen.

“Once Kolyada was not perceived as a mummer. Kolyada was a deity, and one of the most influential. They called Kolyada, called me. New Year's days were dedicated to Kolyada, games were organized in her honor, which were later perpetrated on Christmastide. The last patriarchal ban on the worship of Kolyada was issued on December 24, 1684. It is believed that Kolyada was recognized by the Slavs as a deity of fun, that is why they called him, and the merry gangs of youth called him on New Year's festivities "(A. Strizhev." The People's Calendar ").

The son of the Most High and the goddess Maya, he was brought as a brother to the very first creator of the world, Rod, although he was much younger than him. He returned the fire to the people, fought on the shores of the Arctic Ocean with Chernobog and defeated him.

Kupalo (Kupaila) is a fruitful deity of summer, a summer hypostasis of the sun god.

"Kupalo, as if I think, byashe god of abundance, as if at Ellin Ceres, I bring him mad thanks for the abundance at that time, when the harvest is better."

His holiday is dedicated to the day of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. The night before this day was also sacred - the Night before Kupalo. Throughout that night, feasting, games and mass bathing in reservoirs continued.

They sacrificed to him before the collection of bread, on June 23, on the day of St. Agrippina, who was popularly nicknamed the Bather. Young people were adorned with wreaths, laid out the fire, danced around it and sang Kupala. The games went on all night. In some places, on June 23, baths were heated, a bathing suit (buttercup) was laid in them, and after that they swam in the river.
At the very Christmas of John the Baptist, weaving wreaths, they hung them on the roofs of houses and on barns in order to remove evil spirits from the dwelling.

LADA (Freya, Praya, Siv or Zif) is the goddess of youth and spring, beauty and fertility, a generous mother, patroness of love and marriage.
In folk songs, "lado" still means a dearly beloved friend, lover, groom, husband.

Freya's outfit shines with a dazzling brilliance of sunlight, her beauty is enchanting, and the drops of morning dew are called her tears; on the other hand, she acts as a warlike heroine, rushes in storms and thunderstorms across heavenly spaces and drives rain clouds. In addition, she is a goddess, in whose retinue the shadows of the departed march into the afterlife. The cloudy fabric is precisely that veil on which the soul, after the death of a person, ascends to the kingdom of the blessed.

According to the testimony of folk verses, angels, appearing for a righteous soul, take it into a veil and carry it to heaven. The cult of Freya-Siwa explains the superstitious respect nourished by Russian commoners for Friday, as a day dedicated to this goddess. Whoever starts a business on Friday, according to the proverb, it will move back.
Among the ancient Slavs, birch, personifying the goddess Lada, was considered a sacred tree.

Ice - the Slavs prayed to this deity for success in battles, he was revered as the ruler of military actions and bloodshed. This fierce deity was portrayed as a terrible warrior, armed with Slavic armor, or full armor. At the hip, sword, spear and shield in hand.

He had his own temples. Gathering on a campaign against the enemies, the Slavs prayed to him, asking for help and promising, in case of success in military actions, abundant sacrifices.

Lel - in the mythology of the ancient Slavs, the god of love passion, the son of the goddess of beauty and love Lada. Lele - this cheerful, frivolous god of passion - is still reminiscent of the word "cherish", that is, undead, to love. He is the son of the goddess of beauty and love Lada, and beauty naturally gives rise to passion. This feeling flared up especially brightly in the spring and on the Kupala night.

Lel was portrayed in the form of a golden-haired, like a mother, a winged baby: after all, love is free and elusive. Lel threw a spark from the hands of a spark: after all, passion is fiery, hot love! In Slavic mythology, Lel is the same god as the Greek Eros or Roman Cupid. Only the ancient gods hit the hearts of people with arrows, and Lel kindled them with his fierce flame.

The stork (heron) was considered his sacred bird. Another name for this bird in some Slavic languages ​​is leleka. In connection with Lel, both cranes and larks - symbols of spring - were revered.

One of the main goddesses of the Eastern Slavs, the wife of the Thunderer Perun.
Her name is composed of two parts: "ma" - mother and "kosh" - purse, basket, koshara. Makosh is the mother of filled cats, the mother of a good harvest.
This is not the goddess of fertility, but the goddess of the results of the economic year, the goddess of the harvest, the giver of benefits. The harvest each year is determined by lot, fate, so she was still revered as the goddess of fate. An obligatory attribute when depicting it is a cornucopia.

This goddess associated the abstract concept of fate with the specific concept of abundance, patronized the household, sheared sheep, spun, punished the negligent. The specific concept of "spinner" was associated with the metaphorical one: "spinning of fate."

Makosh patronized marriage and family happiness. She imagined herself as a woman with a big head and long arms, spinning at night in a hut: beliefs forbid leaving a tow, “otherwise Mokosh will be fit.”

Morena (Marana, Morana, Mara, Maruja, Marmara) is the goddess of death, winter and night.

Mara is the goddess of death, daughter of Lada. Outwardly, Mara looks like a tall, beautiful girl with black hair in red robes. Maru is neither evil nor good goddess. On the one hand, it grants death, but at the same time, it also grants life.

One of Mara's favorite activities is needlework: she loves to spin and weave. At the same time, like the Greek Moiraes, he uses the threads of the fate of living beings for needlework, leading them to turning points in life, and, in the end, cutting off the thread of existence.

Mara sends her messengers all over the world, who appear to people in the guise of a woman with long black hair or in the guise of doubles of people who are intended to be warned, and portend imminent death.

Permanent places of worship were not erected in the part of Mary; honors could be given to her anywhere. For this, an image of the goddess, carved from wood or made of straw, was installed on the ground, and stones were laid around the place. Directly in front of the idol, a larger stone or wooden plank was installed, which served as an altar. After the ceremony, all this was sorted out, and the image of Mary was burned, or thrown into the river.

They worshiped Mara on February 15, and they brought flowers, straw and various fruits as a gift to the goddess of death. Sometimes, during the years of severe epidemics, animals were sacrificed, bleeding them directly at the altar.

Meeting the spring with a solemn holiday, the Slavs performed the rite of expulsion of Death or Winter and plunged the effigy of Morana into the water. As a representative of winter, Morana is defeated by the spring Perun, who strikes her with his blacksmith's hammer and throws her into an underground dungeon for the whole summer.

According to the identification of Death with thunder spirits, the ancient belief forced these latter to fulfill her sad duty. But since the thunderbolt and his companions were also the organizers of the heavenly kingdom, the concept of Death was bifurcated, and fantasy depicted it as an evil creature, enthralling souls to the underworld, or as a messenger of the supreme deity, accompanying the souls of the deceased heroes to his heavenly palace.
Diseases were considered by our ancestors as a companion and assistant of Death.

God the Thunderer, a victorious, punishing deity, whose appearance arouses fear and awe. Perun, in Slavic mythology, the most famous of the Svarozhich brothers. He is the god of thunderclouds, thunder and lightning.

He is portrayed as stately, tall, with black hair and a long golden beard. Sitting on a fiery chariot, he rides across the sky, armed with bow and arrows, and strikes the wicked.

According to Nestor, the wooden idol of Perun, set up in Kiev, had a golden mustache on a silver head. Over time, Perun became the patron saint of the prince and his retinue.

Temples in honor of Perun were always set up on the heights, and the highest place in the district was chosen. Idols were made mainly of oak - this mighty tree was the symbol of Perun. Sometimes there were places of worship for Perun, arranged around an oak tree growing on a hill, it was believed that this is how Perun himself designates the best place. In such places, no additional idols were placed, and an oak located on a hill was revered as an idol.

Radegast

Radegast (Redigost, Radigast) is a lightning god, a killer and eater of clouds, and at the same time a radiant guest who appears with the return of spring. Earthly fire, was recognized as the son of Heaven, brought down to the valley, as a gift to mortals, by a fast-flying lightning, and therefore the idea of ​​an honorary divine guest, an alien from heaven to earth, was also united with it.

The Russian villagers honored him with the name of the guest. Along with this, he acquired the character of a saving god of any foreigner (guest) who appeared in a strange house and surrendered himself under the protection of local penates (i.e. hearth), a patron god of merchants who came from distant countries and trade in general.
Slavic Radigost was depicted with the head of a buffalo on his chest.

Svarog is the god-creator of earth and heaven. Svarog is the source of fire and its master. He creates not with words, not with magic, unlike Veles, but with his hands, he creates the material world. He gave people the Sun-Ra and fire. Svarog threw a plow and a yoke from heaven to the ground to cultivate the land; a battle ax to defend this land from enemies, and a bowl for preparing a sacred drink in it.

Like Rod, Svarog is a creator god, he continued to form this world, changing its original state, improving and expanding. However, blacksmithing is Svarog's favorite pastime.

Temples in honor of Svarog were built on the hills overgrown with trees or bushes. The center of the hill was cleared to the ground and a fire was made at this place; additional idols were not installed in the temple.

Svyatobor

Svyatobor is the god of the forest. Outwardly, he looks like an aged hero, representing an old man of strong constitution with a thick beard and dressed in animal skins.

Svyatobor fiercely guards the forests and mercilessly punishes those who harm them, in some cases the punishment may even be death or eternal imprisonment in the forest in the guise of an animal or a tree.

Svyatobor is married to the goddess of the hunt Devan.

Temples in honor of Svyatobor were not set up, their role was played by groves, pine forests and forests, which were recognized as sacred and in which neither deforestation nor hunting was carried out.

One of the Svarozhichs was the fire god - Semargl, who is sometimes mistakenly considered only a heavenly dog, the guardian of seeds for sowing. This (storage of seeds) was constantly engaged in by a much smaller deity - Pereplut.

The ancient books of the Slavs tell how Semargl was born. Svarog hit the Alatyr stone with a magic hammer, cut out divine sparks from it, which ignited, and the fiery god Semargl became visible in their flame. He sat on a golden-maned silver horse. Thick smoke became his banner. Where Semargl passed, there was a scorched trail. That was how he was in power, but more often he looked calm and peaceful.

Semargl, God of fire and the Moon, fire sacrifices, home and hearth, keeps seeds and crops. Can turn into a sacred winged dog.
The name of the God of Fire is not known for certain; most likely, his name is so sacred. Indeed, this God dwells not somewhere in the seventh heaven, but directly among people! They try to pronounce his name out loud less often, replacing them with allegories. The Slavs associate the emergence of people with Fire. According to some legends, the Gods created a Man and a Woman from two sticks, between which Fire flared up - the very first flame of love. Semargl does not let evil into the world. At night he stands guard with a fiery sword and only one day a year Semargl leaves his post, responding to the call of the Bather, who calls him to love games on the day of the Autumn Equinox. And on the day of the Summer Solstice, after 9 months, children are born to Semargl and Kupalnitsa - Kostroma and Kupalo.

In East Slavic mythology, the god of the wind. He can summon and tame a storm and can turn into his assistant, the mythical bird Stratim. In general, the wind was usually represented in the form of a gray-haired old man living at the end of the world, in a deep forest or on an island in the middle of an okey sea.
The temples of Stribog were arranged on the banks of rivers or seas, they are especially often found at the mouths of rivers. The temples in his honor were not fenced off from the surrounding territory in any way and were designated only by an idol made of wood, which was installed facing north. A large stone was also erected in front of the idol, which served as an altar.

In ancient Slavic mythology, this is the unity of three main essences-hypostases of the gods: Svarog (creation), Perun (the law of rule) and Svyatovit (light).

According to different mythological traditions, different gods were included in Triglav. In Novgorod in the 9th century, the Great Triglav consisted of Svarog, Perun and Sventovit, and earlier (before the Western Slavs moved to Novgorod lands) - from Svarog, Perun and Veles. In Kiev, apparently - from Perun, Dazhbog and Stribog.

The Lesser Triglavs were made up of the gods below on the hierarchical ladder.

Khors (Korsha, Kore, Korsh) is an ancient Russian deity of the sun and solar disk. He is best known among the southeastern Slavs, where the sun simply reigns over the rest of the world. Khors, in Slavic mythology, the sun god, the keeper of the luminary, the son of Rod, the brother of Veles. Not all the gods of the Slavs and the Rus were common. For example, before the Russians came to the banks of the Dnieper, they did not know Khors here. Only Prince Vladimir installed his image next to Perun. But he was known among other Aryan peoples: among the Iranians, Persians, Zoroastrians, where they worshiped the god of the rising sun - Horset. This word also had a broader meaning - "radiance", "brilliance", as well as "glory", "greatness", sometimes "royal dignity" and even "khvarna" - a special distinction by the gods, chosenness.

Temples in honor of Khors were built on small hills in the middle of meadows or small groves. The idol was made of wood and placed on the eastern slope of the hill. And as an offering, a special pie "khoroshul" or "kurnik" was used, which crumbled around the idol. But to a greater extent, dances (round dances) and songs were used to pay homage to Khors.

Chernobog

God of cold, destruction, death, evil; the god of madness and the embodiment of all bad and black. It is believed that Chernobog is the prototype of Kashchei the immortal from fairy tales. Kashchei is a cult character of Slavic mythology, whose folklore image is extremely far from the original. Kashchei Chernobogvich was the youngest son of Chernobog, the great Serpent of Darkness. His older brothers - Goryn and Viy - feared and respected Kashchei for his great wisdom and equally great hatred for his father's enemies - the Irian gods. Kashchei owned the deepest and darkest kingdom of Navi - the kingdom of Koschey.

Chernobog is the ruler of Navi, the god of time, the son of Rod. In Slavic mythology, he is the creator of the world along with Rod and Belbog. Outwardly, he appeared in two guises: in the first he looked like a hunched over thin old man with a long beard, a silver mustache and a crooked stick in his hands; in the second, he was portrayed as a middle-aged man of thin build, dressed in black clothes, but, again, with a silver mustache.

Armed Chernobog with a sword, which he wields masterfully. Although he is able to instantly find himself at any point in Navi, he prefers to move on horseback on a fiery stallion.

After the creation of the world, Chernobog got under the protection of Nav - the world of the dead, in which he is both a ruler and a prisoner, since, despite all his strength, he is not able to leave its borders. The deity does not release the souls of people who have fallen there for sins from Navi, but the sphere of his influence is not limited to Navi alone. Chernobog managed to bypass the restrictions imposed on him and created Koshchei, who is the embodiment of the ruler of Navi in ​​Yavi, while the power of God in the other world is much less real, but still allowed him to extend his influence to Yav, and only in Rule Chernobog never appears.

Temples in honor of Chernobog were made of dark stone, the wooden idol was completely upholstered with iron, except for the head, on which only a mustache was trimmed with metal.

Yarilo is the god of spring and sunlight. Outwardly, Yarilo looks like a young boy with red hair, dressed in white clothes with a floral wreath on his head. This god moves around the world astride a white horse.

Temples in honor of Yarila were built on top of hills overgrown with trees. The tops of the hills were cleared of vegetation and an idol was erected in this place, in front of which a large white stone was installed, which could sometimes be located at the foot of the hill. Unlike most other gods, there were no sacrifices in honor of the god of spring. Usually the deity was revered by songs and dances on the temple. At the same time, one of the participants in the action was certainly dressed up with Yarila, after which he became the center of the entire celebration. Sometimes they made special figurines in the form of people, they were brought to the temple, and then smashed against a white stone installed there, it is believed that this brings Yarila's blessing, from which both the harvest will be greater and the sexual energy is higher.

A little about the world order of the Slavs

The center of the world for the ancient Slavs was the World Tree (World Tree, World Tree). It is the central axis of the entire universe, including the Earth, and connects the World of people with the World of Gods and the Underworld. Accordingly, the crown of the tree reaches the World of Gods in heaven - Iriy or Svarg, the roots of the tree go underground and connect the World of Gods and the World of people with the underworld or the world of the Dead, which is ruled by Chernobog, Marena and other "dark" Gods. Somewhere above, behind the clouds (heavenly abysses; above the seventh heaven), the crown of a spreading tree forms an island, here is Iriy (Slavic paradise), where not only the Gods and ancestors of people live, but also the progenitors of all birds and animals. Thus, the World Tree was fundamental in the world outlook of the Slavs, its main component. At the same time, it is also a staircase, a road along which you can get to any of the worlds. In Slavic folklore, the World Tree is called differently. It can be oak, sycamore, willow, linden, viburnum, cherry, apple or pine.

In the views of the ancient Slavs, the World Tree is located on Buyan Island on Alatyr-Kamen, which is also the center of the universe (the center of the Earth). According to some legends, light Gods live on its branches, and dark Gods live in the roots. The image of this tree has come down to us, both in the image of various fairy tales, legends, epics, conspiracies, songs, riddles, and in the form of ritual embroidery on clothes, patterns, pottery decorations, painting dishes, chests, etc. Here is an example of how the World Tree is described in one of the Slavic folk tales that existed in Russia and tells about the extraction of a horse by a hero-hero: red sun on the forehead ... ". This horse is a mythological symbol of the entire universe.

Even if the great space would distinguish them ... "

Homer "Odyssey"
Topic: "Gods in Ancient Greece".
The reason, which served to write the work, was the desire to acquaint others with the ancient Greek gods - the main personifications of nature.
Relevance this topic has disappeared in our days, only a few of us are interested in the gods of this ancient culture.
The purpose the abstract is to show the essence of famous gods and prove that these mythical creatures can be interesting.
Object of study- ancient Greek gods. These creatures can be called the embodiment of the forces of nature and the guardians of the ancient arts and sciences. They are the defenders of harmony and legality in nature, punishing people for their misdeeds and sins.
Tasks:

To uncover features of gods and goddesses.
Trace powerful forces present in the images of the supernatural beings in question.
Define the role of gods in the life of man and the whole world.

Myth

What is a myth? In the "school sense" - these are primarily antique, biblical and other ancient "tales" about the creation of the world and man, as well as stories about the deeds of the ancients, mainly Greek and Roman gods and heroes - poetic, naive, often bizarre. The word "myth" itself is Greek and means tradition, legend. Up to the 19th century. in Europe, only ancient myths were most widespread - the stories of the ancient Greeks and Romans about their gods, heroes and other fantastic creatures. The names of ancient gods and heroes and stories about them became especially widely known from the Renaissance (15-16 centuries), when interest in antiquity revived in European countries. At about the same time, the first information about the myths of the Arabs and American Indians penetrated into Europe. In the educated environment of society, it became fashionable to use the names of ancient gods in an allegorical sense: when they said Mars they meant war, Venus meant love, Minerva meant wisdom, and muses meant various sciences and arts. This use of words has survived to this day, in particular in the poetic language, which has absorbed many mythological societies.
The variety of myths is very great. All of them are interesting in their own way, but the most famous are the ancient Greek myths. Consider the gods present in the mythology of Ancient Greece. The gods, as powerful supernatural beings, are the main characters in most myths in the so-called advanced mythologies.
The myths of the ancient Greeks say: in the beginning there was nothing but eternal Chaos.
Chaos in Greek means "mouth", "gaping", "expanded space", "abyss". Gaia has already arisen from it - Earth, Tartarus, Eros, Night and Erebus - the fundamental principles of life. Orphic poets brought Chaos closer to the world egg, the source of life. Late antiquity identifies CHAOS with Hades. Ovid represents Chaos as rough and formless matter, where land and air, heat and cold, hard and soft are mixed. Chaos is both a life-giving and a destructive force. It is infinite in time and space. Peace and immortal gods also originated from Chaos.

Gods and goddesses

Of course, there were many gods and goddesses in Ancient Greece, and it is not possible to count and consider all of them, but you can get acquainted with some of them. The first of the gods to reign was Uranus-sky.

Uranus

Uranus was the consort of Gaia, the goddess of the earth. Uranus gave birth to Gaia, and then, having entered into marriage with him, gave birth to the Cyclops, Hecatoncheires and Titans. Uranus at first sight hated his monster children, imprisoned them in the bowels of the earth "and enjoyed his wickedness." Gaia was burdened by her time, and she persuaded the children to punish their father; for this she gave them a weapon - a sickle. The youngest of the children emasculated his father with a sickle and imprisoned him in tartare. From the blood of Uranus that poured onto the earth, giants, Erinnias and shoals were born. Uranus and Gaia are the first, most ancient generation of gods. It was they who laid the foundation for the family of monsters, with which later, classical gods and many generations of heroes had to fight.
Power from Uranus was taken away by his son Cronus, the one who castrated and imprisoned his father in tartarus. According to legend, the time of his reign was the Golden Age, when people did not know labor and death.

Crown

Kron or Kronos married his sister Rhea and, fearing the predicted fate of being overthrown by his son, he swallowed all his children. When the youngest son, Zeus, was born, Rhea deceived her husband and gave him a stone wrapped in a diaper to swallow, and Zeus hid on the island of Crete. Having matured, Zeus forced Crohn to return all the children he had swallowed, giving him a magic drink, and overthrew him and threw him into tartare.
The name Kronos is brought closer to the Greek "chronos" - "time". He is portrayed with an ominous scythe in crayfish - perhaps a sickle with which he committed a "wicked deed" over his father turned into it.
After the death of Cronus, there was a great struggle for power between the titans and the Olympian gods. When the Olympians defeated the titans, it meant the victory of the power of reason, order and harmony. Zeus, Hades and Poseidon are three brothers who shared the supreme power over the world. Zeus got Olympus and began to be called Olympic, or Thessaoli, personifying only light, life-giving power. Hades settled in his underground possessions, and Poseidon received the sea as his inheritance, after which he settled in the underwater golden palace in Aegis, leaving Olympus.

Zeus and his wife

Zeus is a primordial Greek deity, his name means "bright sky"; associate his name with the Greek words "life", "irrigation", "that through which everything exists."
At first, Zeus was thought to be the lord of both the living and the dead, he judged the dead and united in himself the beginning of life and death. This archaic deity was called Chthonius - underground and was worshiped in Carinth.
Zeus fears the fate of the overthrown Uranus and Crohn, and when Gaia foretells the birth of a stronger son than he is, he swallows his first wife Metis (a wise goddess, her name means "thought") so that this does not happen. Metis, absorbed by Zeus, gives him advice and helps him to distinguish between evil and good.
After Metis, Zeus took the goddess of justice Themis as his wife. Themis is an ancient powerful deity, sometimes she is thought of as mother Gaia, the keeper of ancient wisdom and a prophetic gift. In classical mythology, Themis is no longer identified with the earth. She has always remained Zeus's advisor, sits at the foot of the Olympic throne and conducts conversations with him.
The third - and last - the legal wife of Zeus, Hera. The name Hera means "mistress", "guardian". Before the battle with the titans, the mother hid Hera at the end of the earth, near the Ocean and Tefis. There Zeus found her and, passionately in love, made her his legal wife. Hera is an older deity than Zeus. In her character there are traces of an archaic, elemental, unreasonable force. She tries to defend her independence in front of her husband, they often argue among themselves, Hera has her own sympathies and interests. Hera is the patroness of marriage and family. She is jealous of the polygamist Zeus and pursues his lovers. This goddess is touchy and vengeful. She gave birth to Zeus Geba, the goddess of youth, Ilithia, the patroness of women in labor, and the god of war, Ares.
Zeus' marriages bring harmony and intelligent beauty to the world. The goddess Themis gave birth to mountains from Zeus - the goddess of the change of seasons, regularity and order, and moira - the goddess of fate. The goddess Mnemosyne, one of Zeus's beloved, gave birth to ten muses - patrons of the arts and sciences. Oceanida Eurynoma gave birth to a shining harit, personifying joy, beauty and fun, the meek Summer - the formidable and beautiful Apollo and the hunter-goddess Artemis. From Zeus was born the wise Athena, and according to some versions - Aphrodite. Mortal women gave birth to Zeus, the heroes-victors of ancient monsters, sages and founders of cities.
Unlike the insidious, violent and unbridled gods of previous generations, Zeus is the guardian of law and order. He himself obeys the judgments of the moir. The dictates of fate are hidden from him; to recognize them, he weighs lots on the golden scales, and if the lot of death fell even to his son, he does not dare to prevent it. Therefore, he severely punishes all violations of the law - whether their violators are gods or mortals.
Zeus fights evil, punishing individual "rogues" like Tantalus or Sisyphus, and carries out the execution of generic curses on entire generations of people.
Possessing the power and authority of an ancient primitive deity, Zeus protects morality and law - the foundations of ancient statehood. He is the patron saint of orphans, praying, travelers.
Zeus is also revered as the guardian of the family and clan. He was called "father", "all-parent", "father", "clan"; wars prayed to him for victory, referring to Zeus: "warrior", "bearer of victory", and the sculptor Phidias sculpted Zeus holding a figurine of the goddess Nike in his hand. In a word, Zeus is generally the defender of the Hellenes.
In more ancient myths, the elemental power of Zeus is brought to the fore.
The attributes of the supreme god are aegis, a scepter, sometimes a hammer. The sanctuaries of Zeus were at Dodona and Olympia. In Olympia, in honor of this deity, the famous Olympic Games were held every four years, during which all wars in Greece ended.
The cult statues of Zeus have survived, where he is depicted sitting on a throne with his attributes of power. The antique sculpture "Zeus Otricoli", numerous reliefs of the Parthenon and the Pergamon altar depicting Zeus among the Olympians, the battle of Zeus with the giants and the birth of Athena from his head have come down to us.

Hades
Hades is the god of the underworld. The ancient Greeks imagined the afterlife as gloomy, terrible, and life in it seemed to them full of suffering and misfortune. Ethereal shadows swept across the gloomy fields of the underworld, emitting quiet, plaintive groans. The river Leta carried its waters to the kingdom of Hades, giving oblivion to everything that comes to earth. The harsh Charon transported the souls of the dead to the other side of the Styx River, from where there was no return.
The golden throne of Hades was surrounded by terrible, gloomy creatures.
Aida is not sacrificed, he has no children, and he even got a wife illegally and by cunning. Having given her a pomegranate seed to swallow, he forced her to return to him for at least a third of the year. According to Pausanias, Hades was revered only in Elis, where once a year his temple was opened and the priests of Hades entered there. The name Hades means "invisible", "formless", "terrible".
Perhaps the only kind creature who lived in the kingdom of the underground god was the god of sleep, Hypnos.
Hypnos is the son of Night and the brother of Death - Thanat, as well as moir and Nemesis. Hypnos, unlike Thanat, is a calm and supportive deity. He darted silently everywhere on his transparent wings and poured sleeping pills from his horn. As soon as this god gently touched human eyes with his magic wand, people immediately plunged into a deep sweet sleep. Even the great Zeus was unable to resist Hypnos.

Poseidon

Poseidon is one of the main Olympic gods, the lord of the sea. His wife, the Nereid Amphitrite, bore him a son, Triton, the god of the depths of the sea. Poseidon rides across the sea in a chariot drawn by long-maned horses and plucks the waves with his trident.
In the most ancient ideas of the Greeks, Poseidon is associated with the earth - after all, it is the water that makes the earth fertile. This is also indicated by his epithets "tiller", "earth vibrator", and the legends in which he carved a source of water from the earth with his trident, and his incarnation in terrestrial animals - a bull and a horse.
As befits an ancient deity, Poseidon is vengeful, vindictive, violent. He considers himself equal to his brother Zeus and sometimes openly feuding with him.
Poseidon's children were also distinguished by their savagery and elemental, monstrous strength.
These are the violent and daring giants Sarpedon, Orion and the brothers of Aload; the king of the Bebriks, the son of the earth, the strongman Antey, the wild and gloomy cannibal Polyphemus, the king Busiris, killing strangers, the robbers Kerkion and Skiron. From the Gorgon Medusa, Poseidon had the warrior Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, from Demeter the horse Areyon, the monstrous minotaur born of Pasiphae, also the son of Poseidon.
The mythical Scheria is the only country where the descendants of Poseidon lived happily and serenely, reigning over the people of skillful sailors, beloved by the gods. Atlantis, where the descendants of Poseidon also reigned, Zeus punished for wickedness.
Poseidon was revered as a deity of the sea and springs. Black animals were usually sacrificed to the "black-haired", "blue-haired", which indicates his connection with underground, chthonic forces. Sacrifices to Poseidon were brought in case of disasters sent by God and were supposed to soften his anger.

Apollo

Apollo was born on the island of Desol. Intending to be released from the burden, Leto wandered for a long time, pursued by the wrath of the jealous Hera and the serpent Python sent by her. Only the floating island of Asteria, deserted and rocky, finally gave her shelter. There, under a palm tree, Summer gave birth to twins - Artemis and Apollo, and from that moment the island firmly rooted to the seabed and began to be called Delos, which means "I show." The island, which showed the world a bright god, became sacred, the palm tree became the sacred tree of Apollo, and the swan became the sacred bird, for the swans sang seven times in honor of the birth of Apollo; therefore there are seven strings on his cithara.
Born, Apollo demanded a bow, a lyre and wished to divine the will of Zeus's father. "The shining god", Apollo approaches the sun - both destructive and healing. He can save the people from the plague, he is an intercessor and doctor and has power over all healing herbs. Healing panakea flows from his hair, protecting from illness. His son Asclepius is a healer so skillful that he brings the dead back to life.
According to legend, for this Zeus struck Asclepius with lightning, Apollo killed the Cyclops who fettered this lightning, and as punishment he had to serve on earth for a year, with King Admet. It was then that grazing Admet's flock, he received the nickname "shepherd's god", "guardian of the flocks." Admet remembered that his shepherd was an immortal god, worshiped and worshiped him, and the king's flocks flourished. As a token of friendship, Apollo promised Admet to postpone his death if someone close to him agreed to go to Hades instead of him.
In general, Apollo's love and friendship rarely turned out to be beneficent over mortals. His favorite, the youth Cypress, died; mourning the death of a beloved deer: the gods turned it into a tree of sorrow. Young Hyakinthus was accidentally killed by Apollo himself during a discus throw. From the blood of a young man, he raised a beautiful flower.
Apollo received the gift of divination as soon as he was born, but according to other legend, the situation was different. After defeating Python, Apollo had to cleanse himself of the filth of the spilled blood and for this he descended to Hades. There, having redeemed his guilt before the Earth, which gave birth to Python, he acquired prophetic strength. In Delphi, at the foot of Parnassus, where he killed a monstrous serpent, the god founded his temple. He himself brought the first priests of the Cretan seafarers there and taught them to sing the Peangimn in honor of Apollo. The Delphic temple, where Pythia sat on a tripod and announced the future, is the main sanctuary of Apollo. The Delphic oracle, along with the sacred oak at Dodona, where the sanctuary of Zeus was, are the most authoritative soothsayers of Greece. With her mysterious predictions, the Pythia seriously influenced the politics of Greek ideas. From Apollo came a family of soothsayers.
As a child, Apollo amused himself by building cities from the horns of fallow deer killed by Artemis. Since then, he fell in love with city building. This god taught people to mark the ground, build altars and erect walls.
For all the variety of his roles, Apollo is best known as the patron of the arts. He is a musician, kifared (plays the cithara) and musaged (leads round dances of muses). A family of singers and musicians came to earth from neg. His sons are Orpheus and Lyin. He is the organizer of world harmony, world harmony. Under the auspices of Apollo, the mythical land of the Hyperboreans, a blessed people, flourishes, spending their days in fun, dancing and singing to music, in feasts and prayers.

Ares
Ares is the god of war. According to legend, he was born in Thrace, inhabited by the Greeks as wild, warlike barbarians. Ares is bloodthirsty, violent, loves murder and destruction. At first, Ares was simply identified with war and deadly weapons. He is hated by both people and gods. On Olympus, only one Aphrodite burns with passion for him, and Zeus curses Ares and threatens that he would have thrown him into tartare if he had not been his son.
Ares - a formidable warrior, his epithets - "strong", "huge", "treacherous", "fast", "raging", "destroyer of cities." The same savagery and violent belligerence is visible in the children of Ares. These are the Thracian king Diomedes, who fed travelers to his horses, the heroes Meleager, Askalaf, the cruel king Enomai, the wicked Phlegius, the Amazon tribe. In an alliance with one of the Erinnia Ares, the Theban dragon was born, from whose teeth the warlike Spartas grew - Jason had to fight with them in Colchis, where he arrived for the golden fleece. For Cadmus, who killed this dragon, many generations of his descendants, the Theban kings, later paid with troubles.
Companions of Ares - the goddess of discord Eris and the furious Enio - confusion; the horses in his chariot are Glitter, Flame, Noise, Horror.
Ares had to endure grievances not only from the gods, but also from mortals. The aloads chained him and kept him for thirteen months in a copper jug ​​- without the help of Hermes, he would not have escaped from there. The mortal Diomedes wounded Ares with a spear. Hercules, during the war with Pylos, put Ares to flight. But for all adversity, Ares rewards the love of the most beautiful of the goddesses, Aphrodite. From their union Phobos, Deimos, Eros and Anteros were born, as well as their daughter Harmony.

Helios
Helios is the sun god, giving life to all living things and punishing criminals with blindness and death. Son of the titans Hyperion and Theia, brother of Selena and Eos.
In a halo of blinding rays, with terrible burning eyes in a golden helmet and on a golden chariot, the sun god passes his daily path through the firmament. From above, he sees all the deeds of people and gods, even those that are hidden from the eyes of the rest of the celestials.
Helios lives in a golden palace with silver forged gates. His throne of precious stones is surrounded by four seasons, and on the sides are crowded with Hours, Days, Months, Years and Ages. Phaethon came to this palace with an unreasonable request - to ride in his golden crown and on his fiery horses. But he could not keep the divine horses and fell into the sea. After the death of Phaeton, a day passed without the sun - Helios mourned his son.
On the island of Trinacria, the herds of Helios graze - seven herds of bulls and seven herds of rams, each with fifty heads, and their number is always unchanged. These herds symbolize the fifty seven-day weeks, of which the year of the ancient Greeks consists, and the bulls and rams are the days and nights. The satellites of Odysseus encroached on the sacred bulls, for which Zeus, at the request of Helios, threw lightning at them and sank them along with the ship.
The descendants of the sun god were distinguished by insolence and malice, as well as a penchant for sorcery, like Kyoka and Medea.
Helios was often identified with his father, the titan Hyperion, and in late antiquity with the Olympian Apollo.

Dionysus

Dionysus is the god of vegetation, viticulture and winemaking. According to the main myth, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and the Theban princess Semele.
Due to the intrigues of the jealous Hera, Zeus had to appear to Semele in all his Olympic grandeur and Semele died in the flame of lightning. Zeus sewed a baby born before term into his thigh and three months later gave birth again. Therefore, Dionysus is called "twice born", and sometimes referring to Zagreus (the predecessor of Dionysus) - "three times born". Zeus gave his son to be raised by the Nisean nymphs.
When Dionysus grew up and found a vine, Hera instilled madness in him. In a frenzy, he wandered through Egypt and Syria, until he came to Phrygia, where Rhea-Cybele healed him and introduced him to her mysteries. From there, Dionysus went to India, planting the cult of the vine along the way. The procession of Bacchus was accompanied by violence and destruction. Naturally, many did not like these bacchanal orgies and Dionysus often met with resistance. He was declared an impostor, it was then that Dionysus appeared in the form of a god.
The names of Dionysus are Bromy ("noisy"), Lei ("liberator"), Lenya ("sower of bunches"), Evius ("ivy"), Sabaziy, Liber, Bassarei. His attributes are thyrsus (a wand entwined with ivy) and a goblet. The myths about Dionysus are reflected in the antique visual arts.

Hermes

Hermes is the messenger of the gods, the patron saint of travelers, the guide of the souls of the dead. Hermes - the Olympic god, the son of Zeus and Mine, the daughter of Atlanta, was born in Arcadia, in the Killena cave. Its antiquity is indicated by its name, possibly derived from the word "herma" - a pile of stones. Burial places were marked with such herms, they were road signs, designated borders. The destruction of the germs in Greece was punished as sacrilege.
At birth, the baby Hermes immediately stole the herd of cows belonging to Apollo. Despite all his cunning precautions, the prophetic Apollo guessed who the kidnapper was, but in response to his demands, the "innocent baby" only wrapped himself up in swaddling clothes. When Apollo dragged Hermes to court to Zeus, he continued to deny, swearing that he had not seen any cows and did not even know what it was. Zeus burst out laughing and ordered to return the herd to Apollo. Hermes gave the cows to the owner, but began to play so beautifully on the lyre, which he made from the shell of the turtle he had caught that morning, that Apollo began to beg him to exchange the lyre for a herd. Hermes received the cows back, and instead of the lyre made himself a pipe, which he also gave to Apollo in exchange for his golden rod. In addition, Apollo promised to teach him fortune-telling. So, barely born, Hermes appeared in the world in all the diversity of his roles.
Clever rogues, eloquent liars and thieves pray to Hermes.
Hermes is the patron saint of travelers, wanderers, he is a guide, he opens any doors. Hermes leads the goddesses on trial to Paris, he delivers Priam to the tent of Achilles, invisibly leading him through the entire Achaean camp. The swift-footed Hermes serves as a messenger for the Olympians, communicating divine will to mortals.
Hermes is a guide not only on earth and Olympus, but also in the kingdom of Hades. He accompanies the souls of the dead to Erebus.
A side function of Hermes, which he shared with Hecate, is the protection of the shepherds and the multiplication of the offspring of the flock. His son Pan is the god of the flocks. Hermes was venerated at the anfesteria - the holiday of the awakening of spring and the memory of the dead.
His attributes are golden winged sandals and a rod.

Hephaestus
Hephaestus is the god of fire and blacksmithing, the son of Hera. After the birth of Athena, Hera wished, like Zeus, to give birth to a child on his own without the participation of her husband, and Gefes allowed it. The baby turned out to be frail and ugly, and Hera threw him off Olympus, which is why he then began to limp on one leg. Hephaestus was picked up in the sea by Thetis and Eurynomus and raised in a cave by the ocean. He forever retained gratitude to his adoptive mothers, and Hera took revenge by forging her a trap chair from which she could not get up until the Olympians persuaded Hephaestus to forgive his mother. Later, Hephaestus even defended Hera from the wrath of Zeus - and paid for it: now Zeus threw him from Olympus. Since then, Hephaestus has been limping in both legs.
Hephaestus was famous on Olympus as a skilled blacksmith and artist: he built palaces of copper and gold for the gods, forged immortal weapons and the famous shield of Achilles, the crown of Pandora and Hera's bedchamber.
On Olympus, the good-natured and clumsy Hephaestus entertains the gods with jokes, treats them with nectars and generally plays a kind of service role.
Hephaestus is the personification of fire, close to the elemental forces of nature.

Asclepius

Asclepius is the god of healing. When Apollo struck Koronis with an arrow for treason, he soon regretted what he had done and, unable to resurrect his beloved, already at the funeral pyre tore out of her womb the baby she was carrying. Apollo gave his son to be raised by the clever centaur Chiron, who taught the young man the art of healing in such a way that they began to worship him like a god. But when Asclepius began to resurrect the dead with his art and thereby violated the laws of fate, Zeus incinerated him with his lightning. According to some versions, later Asclepius was resurrected by Zeus and placed among the stars.
Asclepius was revered throughout Greece, especially in Epidaurus, where the sick flocked from everywhere for healing. An obligatory attribute of Asclepius was the snake - with it he dwells among the constellations. The most famous sanctuary of Asclepius is located on the island of Kos. The doctors of this island were famous for their art and were considered the descendants of Asclepius - the Asclepids.

Prometheus

Prometheus - the son of the titan Iapetus (Iapetus), a cousin of Zeus; known as a theomachist who betrayed the gods and helped people. The mother of Prometheus is the oceanid Klymene (or Asia). In Aeschylus, however, Prometheus calls his mother the goddess of justice Themis, identifying her with Gaia - Earth. The name Prometheus means "seer", "foreseeing". Endowed with the gift of clairvoyance from Mother Earth, Prometheus foresaw the victory of wisdom, not strength, in the battle between the titans and the Olympians. His rude and narrow-minded relatives, the titans, did not listen to his advice, and Prometheus went over to the side of Zeus. With the help of Prometheus, Zeus dealt with the Titans.
According to one of the legends, He Himself created people from clay - and also created them, in contrast to animals looking up into the sky. Prometheus taught people crafts, customs, agriculture, building houses and ships, reading, writing and fortune telling - all the arts in people from Prometheus. Thus, he led people along the path of technical progress, which Zeus did not like very much - after all, people, having learned to ease the hardships of life for themselves, became proud and deteriorated. But Zeus did not correct people, and to complete the evil created Pandora.
etc.................

According to scientists, there were more than five thousand gods in ancient Egypt. The large number of deities is explained by the fact that in each city of this country they worshiped "their" gods. Different gods from neighboring cities could duplicate functions. In addition to the gods, there were monsters, spirits, and magical creatures. It should be noted that many gods of Ancient Egypt have not been fully studied to this day.

Let's talk about the "main", the most famous, gods who were worshiped by the inhabitants of this country.

Ra. Sun God. The supreme god, as, indeed, in other pagan cults, where the deity, personifying the sun, is the main one. Depicted as a man with a falcon's head, on which a sun disk is planted. The son of the primal chaos of Nun. Ra was the ruler of the whole world, and the pharaohs were his earthly embodiment. During the day, the Sun-Ra rode across the sky on the Manjet barge, illuminating the earth, and at night, having transferred to the Mesektet barge, illuminated the underworld of the dead. In Thebes he was compared with Amun (Amon-Ra), in Elephantine - with Khnum (Khnuma-Ra). The most common was the comparison with Horus - Ra-Horakhti.

King of the dead and judge of souls. The son of the earth god Hebe and the sky goddess Nut. As the ruler of Egypt, he taught people agriculture, gardening and winemaking. He was killed by his envious brother Set, who was flattered by his wife Queen Isis (also their own sister) and the royal throne. According to mythology, he became the first mummy. The most beloved god among the common people of Ancient Egypt. He was depicted as a swaddled one with free hands, in which he holds the symbols of royal power: heket and nehehu (scepter and flail).

God of the sky and the sun. Son and Isis. Was miraculously, with the help of magic, conceived by Isis from the already dead Osiris. The winner of the killer of his father and part-time his own uncle, Seth. After a long struggle with the hated Seth, he inherited the earthly kingdom from his father, who began to rule the kingdom of the dead. The patron saint of the pharaohs. The mountain was worshiped by all of Egypt - his cult was very popular among all walks of life. At the same time, each region had its "own" Horus - the names and holidays attributed to it differed significantly. He was portrayed as a man with the head of a falcon.

Osiris's wife and at the same time his own sister. Mother Horus. It was she who found, after a long search, the body of Osiris, killed by Set. Gathering together the body dismembered by the villain, Isis made the first mummy and even, with the help of spells, managed to become pregnant from her. She patronized children, the oppressed, sinners, artisans and the dead. The cult of Isis was very popular throughout Ancient Egypt. She was depicted with a headdress in the form of a royal throne.

Initially, he was the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, but with the strengthening of the cult of Osiris (father of Anubis), he transferred this position to him, becoming a guide in the kingdom of the dead. In addition, he was a judge in the kingdom of the dead, weighing the heart of the deceased on the Scales of Truth, on the second bowl of which he put the feather of the goddess Maat, symbolizing truth. It is he who is credited with inventing the custom of embalming the dead - he took part in the creation of the first Egypt - the mummy of his father Osiris. Patronized cemeteries and necropolises. Depicted with a jackal's head. He was also depicted in the form of a jackal, or a wild dog Sab.

Goddess of justice, truth, justice and harmony. Being the daughter of the creator of the world, the god Ra, she created harmony out of chaos when creating the world. Controlled the stars, sunsets and sunrises, seasons. Symbolized law and divine order. She was one of the judges of the afterlife. She was depicted with an ostrich feather on her head. The pen is not ordinary - it is the pen of truth. During the trial in the afterlife, the feather of Maat was placed on one side of the scales, and on the other the heart of the deceased (the only internal organ that was left in the mummy). If the heart outweighed, then the deceased led a sinful life, and he was devoured by the monster of the afterlife Amat.

God of war, death, rage and chaos. Brother of Osiris, who killed him, coveting the throne and wife of Pharaoh. Initially, he was a very positive and popular god and even protected and helped the god Ra, but closer to the 7th century BC. (during the XXVI dynasty) turned into the embodiment of universal evil, close in its habits to the devil. He began to embody savagery, anger, ferocity, envy. Most often he was depicted with the head of a donkey, although there are images of him with the head of a crocodile and other animals. Associated with male sexual power.

God of wisdom and knowledge and, accordingly, the patron saint of scientists, libraries and all sciences, including magic. In addition, he patronized officials, being the guarantor of state order. One of the earliest gods of Ancient Egypt. Thoth is credited with the invention of writing, the invention of the year, consisting of 365 days, the division of time into months and years ("lord of time" is one of the many titles of Thoth). He was depicted with the head of an ibis, holding a staff and ankh (Coptic cross).

Goddess of the sky, who ruled the change of day and night. The granddaughter of the god Ra. Mother of Osiris, Isis and Set. Patroness of the dead. It was mainly depicted as an elongated woman, curved in the form of a firmament, leaning her arms and legs on the ground. Moreover, her body is adorned with either stars (personifies night) or suns (personifies day). There are images of Nut in the form of a woman with a jug on her head or a Heavenly Cow.

Goddess of war and incinerating sun. Daughter of the god Ra. Served as a formidable eye of Ra on earth. She could both let illnesses and heal any of them. As a healer, she patronized doctors. She had a very harsh and quick-tempered character. She guarded the pharaohs. Depicted with the head of a lioness.

In Ancient Egypt, there were a very large number of gods. Each city had its own pantheon or ennead- 9 main deities that people worshiped. However, for the first time such an ennead appeared in the city of Heliopolis (Heliopolis). It has been known since the early kingdom, that is, from the origins of the Egyptian civilization.

The priests who lived in this city were considered the most influential and powerful. It was they who named the very first nine deities. Therefore, it is believed that the main gods of Ancient Egypt originated in Heliopolis, and the pantheon itself began to be called Heliopolis or great ennead... Below is a list of the supreme deities and a brief description of them.

God Ra

This is the supreme ancient Egyptian deity. It personified the sun. After the creation of the world, Ra began to reign over him, and this was the most fertile time for people. The power of God lay in his mysterious name. Other celestials wanted to know this name in order to gain the same power, but the sun god did not tell anyone.

A very long time passed, and Ra grew old. He lost his guard and gave his mysterious name to his great-granddaughter Isis. After that, a period of chaos began, and people stopped obeying the supreme deity. Then the sun god made a decision to leave the earth and go to heaven.

But he did not forget people and continued to take care of them. Every morning he boarded a boat called Atet, with a disk of sun shining over his head. In this boat, Ra sailed across the sky and illuminated the earth from dawn to noon. Then, between noon and dusk, he transferred to another boat called Sektet and went in it to the underworld to illuminate the ordeals of the afterlife.

In this mournful place, the sun god met every night with the huge serpent Apop, who personified evil and darkness. A battle began between Ra and the serpent, and the sun god was always the winner. But evil and darkness were revived by the next night, and the battle was repeated again.

The ancient Egyptians depicted the god Ra with the body of a man and the head of a falcon, which was crowned with a solar disk. On it lay the goddess Wajit in the form of a cobra. She was considered the patroness of Lower Egypt and its pharaohs. This god had different names in certain religious centers. In Thebes he was called Amon-Ra, in Elephantine Khnum-Ra. But this did not change the main essence of the solar deity, who had the status of the main god of Ancient Egypt.

God shu

This deity personified the airspace illuminated by the sun. Shu was the son of Ra, and when he ascended to heaven, he began to reign in his place. He ruled the sky, earth, mountains, winds, seas. After thousands of years, Shu also ascended to heaven. According to its status, it was considered the second after Ra.

In some images, he was shown as a man with a lion's head. He sat on a throne carried by lions. But there are many more images of the god of air in the form of an ordinary person with a feather in his head. It symbolized the goddess of truth Maat.

Goddess Tefnut

This deity also belonged to the main gods of Ancient Egypt. Tefnut is the goddess of heat and moisture. She was the daughter of the god Ra and was the wife of her brother Shu. The husband and wife were twins. But even before the marriage, the god Ra removed his daughter to Nubia, having quarreled with her, and a drought set in in Egypt. Then the sun god returned his daughter, and she was married to Shu.

The return of Tefnut and her marriage became a symbol of the flourishing of nature. Most often, the goddess was depicted as a man with the head of a lioness and a disc of fire over his head. The disc indicated her connection with the father of Ra, since the daughter was considered his fiery eye. When the sun god appeared on the horizon early in the morning, a fiery eye shone in his forehead and burned all enemies and ill-wishers.

God Geb

Geb is the god of the earth, the son of Shu and Tefnut. He married his own sister Nut - the goddess of the sky - and this couple had children: Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys. It is noteworthy that Geb constantly quarreled with Nut, who ate her children - heavenly bodies before dawn, but gave birth to them again on the eve of dusk.

These quarrels tired Shu's father, and he separated the spouses. He raised nut high into the sky, and left Geba on the ground. He reigned after his father, and then transferred his power to his son Osiris. He was most often depicted as a green man sitting on a throne with a royal crown on his head.

Goddess Nut

Nut is the goddess of the sky, the daughter of Shu and Tefnut, the sister and wife of Geb. She was the mother of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. In the morning, the sky goddess swallowed the stars, and in the late evening gave birth to them, thereby symbolizing the change of day and night. She had an inextricable connection with the world of the dead.

She lifted the dead into the sky and guarded the tombs of the dead. Depicted as a woman with a curved body. It stretched out across the horizon and touched the ground with the tips of its fingers and toes. Often, under the curved body of Nut, Heb was depicted lying on the ground.

I must say that the main gods of Ancient Egypt would have lost a lot without Osiris. He was the great-great-grandson of the god Ra and ruled the earth after his father Geb. During his reign, he taught people many useful things. He married his own sister Isis, and Set and Nephthys were his brother and sister. But Set, who lived in the south of Egypt in the desert, began to envy his successful brother, killed him and assumed the king's power.

Seth not only killed, but dismembered the body of Osiris into 14 pieces and scattered them across the lands of Egypt. But the faithful wife Isis found all the pieces, put them together and called a guide to the underworld of Anubis. He made a mummy from the body of Osiris, which became the first in Egypt. After that, Isis turned into a female kite, sprawled over the body of her husband and brother, and became pregnant from him. Thus was born Horus, who became the last of the gods to rule on earth. After him, power passed to the pharaohs.

Horus defeated Seth, sent him back south into the desert, and revived his father with the help of his left eye. After that, he remained to rule on earth, and Osiris began to reign in the afterlife. They portrayed God in the form of a man in white robes and with a green face. In his hands he held a flail and a scepter, and his head was crowned with a crown.

Isis (Isis) was extremely popular in Ancient Egypt, was considered the goddess of fertility, symbolized motherhood and femininity. She was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus. The Egyptians believed that the Nile overflows when Isis weeps, mourning Osiris, who left her and left to rule the kingdom of the dead.

The significance of this goddess increased significantly during the period of the Middle Kingdom, when not only the pharaohs and members of their families, but also all other inhabitants of Egypt began to use funerary texts. They portrayed Isis as a man with a throne on his head, who personified the power of the pharaohs.

Seth (Seth) is the youngest son of Geb and Nut, brother of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys. He married the latter. Born on the third New Year's Eve, jumping out of his mother's side. The ancient Egyptians considered this day unlucky, therefore, until the day ended, they did not do anything. Seth was considered the god of war, chaos and sandstorms. He personified evil, which is similar to Satan. After killing Osiris, he reigned on earth for a short time until he was overthrown by Horus. After that, he ended up in the desert in the south of Egypt, from where he sent sandstorms to the fertile lands.

Seth was portrayed as a man with the head of an aardvark or a donkey. He had long ears and a red mane in many of the images. Sometimes this god was given red eyes. This color symbolized the sand of the desert and death. The pig was considered the sacred animal of the god of sandstorms. Therefore, pigs were ranked among the category of unclean animals.

The youngest of the children of Hebe and Nut, named Nephthys, also belonged to the main gods of Ancient Egypt. She was born on the last day of the year. The ancient Egyptians viewed this goddess as a complement to Isis. She was considered the goddess of creation, which pervades the whole world. Nephthys ruled over all the ephemeral, which could not be seen, touched or sniffed. She had a connection with the world of the dead, and at night she accompanied Ra on his voyage through the underworld.

She was considered the wife of Set, but did not have pronounced negative traits inherent in her husband. They portrayed this goddess in a human female form. Her head was crowned with a hieroglyph denoting the name of the goddess. On the sarcophagi, she was depicted as a woman with wings, symbolizing the protector of the dead.