Water deity

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This article is about Water Deities. For the novel by Wilbur Smith, see River God.
See also: Water and religion
Michael Faraday giving his card to Father Thames. A 1855 caricature about the deplorable state of the River.

A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Another important focus of worship of water deities were springs or holy wells.

Contents

[edit] List of water deities

[edit] Aztec mythology

  • Atlacamani, goddess of oceanic storms
  • Amimitl, god of lakes and fishermen
  • Atlaua, a water deity, patron of fishers and archers
  • Chalchiuhtlatonal, god of water
  • Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of lakes, rivers, seas, streams, horizontal waters, storms, and baptism
  • Huixtocihuatl, fertility goddess who presided over salt and salt water
  • Tlaloc, god of rain, fertility, and water

[edit] Ainu mythology

[edit] Canaanite mythology

[edit] Celtic mythology

[edit] Chinese mythology

  • Gong Gong, water god who is responsible for the great floods, together with his associate, Xiang Yao
  • Mazu

[edit] Egyptian mythology

  • Anti, god of ferrymen
  • Hapy, god of the annual flooding of the river Nile
  • Khnum, god of creation and the waters
  • Nu, deification of the primordial watery abyss
  • Sobek, crocodile god of the Nile river, warfare and fertility
  • Wadj-wer, fertility god and personification of the Mediterranean Sea

[edit] Fijian mythology

[edit] Finnish mythology

  • Ahti, god of the depths and fish
  • Dakuwaqa, a shark god
  • Iku-Turso, a malevolent sea monster
  • Vedenemo, a goddess of water
  • Vellamo, the wife of Ahti, goddess of the sea, lakes and storms.

[edit] Greek mythology

Poseidon, Greek god of seas and waters
Main article: Greek sea gods
  • Aegaeon, god of violent sea storms and ally of the Titans
  • Akheilos, shark-shaped sea spirt
  • Amphitrite, sea goddess and consort of Poseidon
  • Anapos, water god of eastern Sicily
  • Brizo, goddess of sailors
  • Carcinus, a giant crab who allied itself with the Hydra against Heracles. When it died, Hera placed it in the sky as the constellation Cancer.
  • Ceto, goddess of the dangers of the ocean and of sea monsters
  • Charybdis, a sea monster and spirit of whirlpools and the tide
  • Cymopoleia, a daughter of Poseidon and goddess of giant storm waves
  • Delphin, the leader of the dolphins, Poseidon placed him in the sky as the constellation Delphin
  • Doris, goddess of the sea's bounty
  • Eidothea, prophetic sea nymph and daughter of Proteus
  • Eurybia, goddess of the mastery of the seas
  • Galene (Γαλενε), goddess of calm seas
  • Glaucus, the fisherman's sea god
  • Gorgons, three monstrous sea spirits
  • The Graeae, three ancient sea spirits who personified the white foam of the sea; they shared one eye and one tooth between them
  • The Harpies, winged spirits of sudden, sharp gusts of wind
  • Hippocampi, the horses of the sea
  • The Ichthyocentauri, a pair of centaurine sea-gods with the upper bodies of men, the lower fore-parts of horses, ending in the serpentine tails of fish
    • Bythos
    • Aphros
  • Ladon, a hundred-headed sea serpent who guarded the western reaches of the sea, and the island and golden apples of the Hesperides
  • Leucothea, a sea goddess who aided sailors in distress
  • Nerites, a sea spirit who was transformed into a shell-fish by Aphrodite
  • Nereus, the old man of the sea, and the god of the sea's rich bounty of fish
  • Nymphs
  • Oceanus, Titan god of the Earth-encircling river Okeanos, the font of all the earth's fresh-water
  • Palaemon, a young sea god who aided sailors in distress
  • Phorcys, god of the hidden dangers of the deep
  • Pontus, primeval god of the sea, father of the fish and other sea creatures
  • Poseidon, king of the sea and lord of the sea gods; also god of rivers, flood and drought, earthquakes, and horses. His Roman equivalent is Neptune.
  • Proteus, a shape-shifting, prophetic old sea god, and the herdsman of Poseidon's seals
  • Psamathe, goddess of sand beaches
  • Scylla, monstrous sea goddess
  • The Sirens, three sea nymphs who lured sailors to their death with their song
  • The Telchines, sea spirits native to the island of Rhodes; the gods killed them when they turned to evil magic
  • Tethys, wife of Okeanos, and the mother of the rivers, springs, streams, fountains and clouds
  • Thalassa, primeval spirit of the sea and consort of Pontos
  • Thaumas, god of the wonders of the sea
  • Thetis, leader of the Nereids who presided over the spawning of marine life in the sea
  • Triteia, daughter of Triton and companion of Ares
  • Triton, fish-tailed son and herald of Poseidon
  • Tritones, fish-tailed spirits in Poseidon's retinue

[edit] Haitian Vodou

  • Agwé, a loa who rules over the sea, fish, and aquatic plants, as well as the patron loa of fishermen and sailors
  • Clermeil, the loa who made rivers flood their banks
  • Pie, a soldier-loa who lives at the bottoms of lakes and rivers and causes floods

[edit] Hawaiian mythology

  • Kamohoalii, shark god
  • Nāmaka, sea goddess
  • Ukupanipo, shark god who controls the amount of fish close enough for the fisherman to catch

[edit] Hindu/Vedic mythology

[edit] Inuit mythology

[edit] Japanese mythology

[edit] Lithuanian mythology

[edit] Lusitanian mythology

  • Borvo, a healing deity associated with bubbling spring water
  • Nabia, goddess of rivers and lakes

[edit] Māori mythology

  • Ikatere, a fish god, the father of all the sea creatures including mermaids
  • Tangaroa, god of the sea

[edit] Mesopotamian mythology

  • Enbilulu, god of rivers and canals
  • Enki, god of water and of the River Tigris
  • Marduk, god associated with water, vegetation, judgment, and magic
  • Sirsir, god of mariners and boatmen

[edit] Norse/Germanic mythology

  • Aegir, personification of the sea
  • Rán, sea goddess of love who collects the drowned in a net
  • Njord, god of the sea, particularly of seafaring
  • Nerthus, goddess of lakes, springs, holy waters
  • Nix, water spirits who usually appear in human form

[edit] Pirate lore

[edit] Roman mythology

[edit] Slavic mythology

  • Bagiennik, water demons who lived in lakes and rivers
  • Rusalki, female ghosts, water nymphs, succubi or mermaid-like demons that dwell in waterways.
  • Veles, god of earth, waters, and the underworld

[edit] Tonga (Zambezi Valley Zimbabwe)

[edit] Yoruba relgion/Afro-American religion

  • Yemaja, goddess of the ocean, the essence of motherhood, and a protector of children
  • Mami Wata, a pantheon of water deities

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_deity"