Gods/Godesses
In Alphabetical Order:
First Page, (A-J) - - - - Second Page, (K-Z)
Abeona
She is the goddess guardian of children leaving home to go on their own.
Abundantia (Abundita)
Goddess of agriculture and abundance.
Acaviser
An Etruscan goddess, one of the Lasas (Fates).
Acca
Goddess associated with Hercules.
Acca Larentia
An earth goddess. The foster-mother, as a she-wolf, that nursed Romulus and Remus. She is also said to be an early Etruscan goddess who passed into Roman myth as a semi-devine prostitute.
Acidusa
Called "Mother of Maidens". Wife of Scamander.
Adeona
Goddess of schoolchildren; similar to Abeona above.
Adeos
Goddess of modesty.
Admeta
A priestess of Juno.
Aegeria
A goddess of prophecy. She is invoked by pregnant women. One of the Camenae.
Aeneas
One of the heroes of the Iliad, and the subject of Virgil's Aeneid. Son of Venus.
Aestas
Goddess of summer; usually portrayed nude and adorned with garlands of corn.
Aetna
Aetna is the Roman mountain goddess after whom the Italian volcano Mount Etna is named. In some legends she is the wife of the smith god Vulcan.
Albina
Etruscan dawn goddess; protector of ill-fated lovers. A white sow goddess similar to the celtic Cerridwen.
Albunea
A prophetic priestess.
Alemona
Goddess of fetuses.
Alpan
(Etruscan) An attendant to Turan, goddess of love.
Altria
(Etruscan) An ancient earth goddess.
Amor
God of love.
Anagtia
A goddess of healing.
Anceta
Goddess of healing along with Angita and Anagtia.
Angerona
The goddess of the winter solstice, and goddess of fear and anguish (producing or relieving).
Angina
Another goddess of health, specifically of sore throats.
Angitia
Early Roman goddess of healing and witchcraft.
Anieros
A very early earth goddess, who with her daughter Axiocersa, personified the earth in spring (Axiocersa) and in autumn (Anieros).
Anima Mundi
Personification of immortality; means "Soul of the World".
Anna Perenna
An Etruscan goddess who ruled human and vegetative reproduction.
Anteros
Etruscan god of passion.
Antevorta
Goddess of prophecy and childbirth.
Appiades, The
Two groups:
1. The nymphs of the Appian Spring in Rome.
2. The five goddesses: Concordia, Minerva, Pax, Venus, and Vesta.
Appias
A fountain nymph.
Aricia
A goddess of prophetic visions.
Arria
A heroic Roman whose husband was ordered by the emperor to commit suicide. The husband could not force himself to do so until Arria grabbed his dagger, stabbed herself, then handed the dagger to her husband saying, "It does not hurt."
Ascanius
The son of Aeneas. He is the founder of the city of Alba Longa in Italy.
Astraea
Goddess of justice.
Attis
A vegetation god.
Aurita
Goddess that heals earaches.
Aurora
The personification of the dawn. Her Greek counterpart was Eos.
Averna
The queen of the dead
Avernales
Nymphs of the rivers of the underworld.
Averruncus
Goddess of childbirth; specifically of the delivery.
Aversa
(Etruscan) A goddess pictured carrying an ax. Function unknown.
Bacchus
In Greek and Roman mythology, the god of wine and ecstasy, identified with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, and Liber, the Roman god of wine. His followers were mostly women who celebrated in a rite that gave us the modern term Bacchanalia. His feasts were drunken euphoria-filled revelries that sometimes led to bloodshed. The name Bacchus came into use in ancient Greece during the 5th century bc. It refers to the loud cries with which he was worshiped at the Bacchanalia, frenetic celebrations in his honor. These events, which supposedly originated in spring nature festivals, became occasions for licentiousness and intoxication, at which the celebrants danced, drank, and generally debauched themselves. The Bacchanalia became more and more extreme and were prohibited by the Roman Senate in 186 bc.
Befana
(Italy) She is represented as an old woman who, although ugly, is also very kind. On January 5th of each year she distributes candy to the good children and lumps of coal to the bad.
Begoe
Goddess of lightning and thunder.
Bellona
The goddess of war, popular among the Roman soldiers. She accompanied Mars in battle. She was either the wife, daughter, or sister of Mars, and was sometimes portrayed as his charioteer or muse. This serpent-haired goddess is often described as the feminine side of the god Mars. She is identified with the Greek war goddess Enyo. In front of Bellona's temple, the fetialis (priestly officials) performed the declaration of war ceremony, the casting of a spear against the distant enemy. Bellona's attribute is a sword and she is depicted wearing a helmet. She could be of Etruscan origin. Human sacrifices were made to her.
Bona
Goddess of female characteristics.
Bona Dea
Latin for "Good Goddess". The deity of fruitfulness, both in earth and in women. She was worshipped by the Vestals as the goddess of chastity and fertility.
Bormonia
A goddess of healing.
Bubona
Goddess protector of animals.
Byblis
A water nymph who suffered from unrequited love.
Caca
Goddess of fire or vice.
Cacus
Fire deity, brother of Caca. Cacus, three-headed and vomiting flames, was a son of Vulcan. He was noted as a robber, and was strangled to death by Hercules when he stole some of Hercules' cattle.
Calybe
A water nymph.
Camenae, The
These water spirits dwell in freshwater springs and rivers. Their name means "foretellers". Their festival, the Fontinalia, was celebrated on October 13 by tossing good luck wreaths into wells. Among them are Aegiria, Antevorta, Carmentis (the leader), Porrima, Prorsa, Proversa, Postvorta, Tiburtis, and Timandra.
Camilla
A virgin queen. She was so swift, it is said, that she could run over the sea without getting her feet wet. She was a warrior dedicated to the service of the virgin goddess Diana. In one myth Camilla led an army against Aeneas and his invading Trojans. On foot, and with breasts bare, she fought at the head of the army, but was killed by Aeneas. In another she is killed in battle by the Etruscan Arruns.
Camise
A water nymph; mother of Tibernius by Janus.
Candelifera
Goddess who assists at birth, in charge of providing enough light during delivery.
Canente
Ocean nymph who grieved so much over the loss of her husband she dissolved in tears.
Cardea
Goddess who possessed power over doorways. Cardea was a minor goddess who personified the hinges of the front door, and therefore the comings and goings of family life. She was particularly invoked to protect sleeping children against night-spirits who might harm or kill them. She is similar to the Greek goddess Artemis also.
Carmenta (Carmentis)
A goddess of prophecy and midwifery; she also brought the art of writing to her land. She was said to assist a woman in labor and to tell the future of the newborn.
Carmina
(Etruscan) Goddess of spells.
Cath
(Etruscan) Sun god. Pictured as having on his head the flaming disc of the sun, and holding in each hand a ball of fire.
Carna
A pesonification of the physical processes of survival. "Carnal" is a derivative.
Ceres
Daughter of Saturn and Ops. Goddess of the growth of food plants. She and her daughter Proserpine were the counterparts of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Her worship involved fertility rites and rites for the dead, and her chief festival was the Cerealia. (Our word cereal is derived from Ceres.)
Charontes
(Etruscan) Male and female demons. Usually pictured carrying hammers.
Charun
(Etruscan) Escorter of the dead to the underworld. A male demon; he has a vulture's nose, pointed animal ears, and snakes instead of hair on his head. He carries a hammer, the attribute of the Carontes who are named after him.
Cloacina
Goddess who watched over the construction and preservation of sewers (think Cloaca Maxima, that famous sewer in ancient Rome). She was also the protector of sexual intercourse in marriage.
Cloelia
Heroine whose bravery was responsible for the peace talks between her countrymen, the Romans, and her Etruscan captors.
Coinquenda
Goddess of trees.
Collatina
Goddess of hills.
Comitia
A goddess of childbirth.
Comus
Son of Bacchus and Circe(?). The god of sensual pleasure.
Conciliatrix
Goddess of marital harmony.
Concordia
Concordia is the goddess of peace and is pictured as a heavyset matron holding a cornucopia in one hand and an olive branch in the other.
Consentes Dii
The 12 chief gods (a la the 12 Greek Olympian gods): Jupiter, Apollo, Neptune, Mars, Mercury, Vulcan, Juno, Diana, Minerva, Venus, Ceres, and Vesta.
Consus
A god of agriculture and counseling.
Copia
Goddess of plenty a la "cornucopia" and "copious".
Corvus
The messenger of the gods.
Cuba
Goddess of infants. She brings sleep to them; her cohorts are Edulica who blesses their food and Portina who blesses their drinking. She is sister to Cunina and Rumina.
Culsa
A female demon of the underworld. She carries a torch and a pair of scissors for cutting the thread of life.
Cunina
Goddess who protected infants asleep in their cradles.
Cupid
Means desire (Lat. cupido). The son of Venus, goddess of love. His Greek mythology counterpart was Eros, god of love. The most famous myth about Cupid is the one that documents his romance with Psyche:
Psyche was a beautiful princess. Venus, jealous of Psyche's beauty, ordered her son Cupid, god of love, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man in the world. Instead, he fell in love with her, and spirited her away to a secluded palace where he visited her only at night, unseen and unrecognized by her. He forbade her to ever look upon his face, but one night while he was asleep she lit a lamp and looked at him. Cupid then abandoned her and she was left to wander the world, in misery, searching for him. Finally Cupid repented and had Jupiter make her immortal so they could be together forever.
Cupra
Personification of the day (or light).
Cura
Goddess who first fashioned humans from clay.
Cyane
Sicilian nymph, companion of Proserpina. She was so devastated over the loss of Proserpina that she cried until she became a well.
Cybele
Her Greek mythology counterpart was Rhea, mother of the Olympian gods. Cybele was the goddess of nature and fertility. Because Cybele presided over mountains and fortresses, her crown was in the form of a city wall. The cult of Cybele was directed by eunuch priests called Corybantes, who led the faithful in orgiastic rites accompanied by wild cries and the frenzied music of flutes, drums, and cymbals. Her annual spring festival celebrated the death and resurrection of her beloved Attis, a vegetation god.