Animals of the Mythologies A-I

A B C D E F G H I

A

Albatross

A legendary weather prophet, forecasting heavy winds and bad weather. Supposedly it broods its eggs on a floating raft, and sleeps while floating on wind currents. Killing one brings down a curse on your ship. It is a sacred bird among the Ainu of Japan, where it is considered a servant of the Chief God of the Sea (seeing one foretells good fortune).

Antelope

The antelope is widely associated with the moon and fecundity. According to the Bambara of Mali, the creator god Faro sent a divine antelope to teach agriculture to humans.
The San (Bushmen) of Kalahari say that the first thing made by their creator god Mantis was the antelope.

B

Bandicoot

Any of several large Indian rats of the genera Bandicota, one of which was the mount of Ganesha (India).

Bat

• Bat's heads were a charm in ancient Egypt and were hung on dovecotes to prevent the doves from leaving.
• American Indians used them in initiation ceremonies, representing rebirth as emerging from the dark cave of Mother Earth's womb.
• A sacred bat is used as a totem in Australian Aborigial myth, but is considered an evil omen in New Zealand.
• In parts of Africa, bats are sacred as embodying the souls of the dead.
• Western legend associates the bat with vampires, witches, and the devil.
• In Central America, the bat appears as a mythical devourer of the sun. Bats were thought to flock around Mictlantecuhtli (Aztec/Nahua god of the Underworld) carrying human heads in their claws.
• The bat was a symbol of vigilance in Greece.
• In China the word fu means bat and also means good luck; so bats conveyed the Chinese recipe for happiness - health, wealth, longevity, and an easy death.

Bear

The cult of the bear has existed from the earliest times of man's history. Remains of bear skulls and bones, and bear shrines, exist from Neanderthal times. The bear seems to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of sacrifical animals (of hunters).
• All the Siberian cultures, as well as the Ainu culture, regard the bear as a mythological ancestor.
• Arcadians claimed they were descendants of bears.
• They were sacred animals to Artemis and Diana.
• The goddess Artio was a she-bear.
• Callisto's son by Zeus was called Arcas (bear). After Callisto was changed into a bear by the jealous Hera, Zeus set them both (mother and son) in the sky as Ursa Major (Great Bear) and Ursa Minor (Little Bear).
• The bear is sacred to Thor.
• In Scandinavian myth Atla, a she-bear, is the feminine principle, with Atli, a male bear, as the masculine.
• In Celtic myth the bear is the emblem of the goddess Berne.
• Considered an ancestor of the Mongols. The Labrador Inuit consider the polar bear as a form of Tuurngasuk, the Great Spirit.
• Alaskan myth has Kokogiak, a ten-legged bear, luring hunters by waving its front legs in the air, howling "ko-ko-ko" to entice them.
• Norse "beserkers" entered battle dressed only in bear-skins.

Bee

• Bees were the tears of Ra, the Egyptian sun god.
• In India, Krishna, as an avatar of Vishnu, has a blue bee in the middle of his forehead. Soma, the moon, is called a bee. Siva is represented as a triangle surmounted by a bee. Kama, god of love, has a bow-string of bees.
• The Greek Great Mother was known as the Queen Bee, and her priestesses were called Melissae, the Bees. Bees were the emblem of Eros/Cupid, Demeter,Cybele, Diana, Rhea, and sometimes, Artemis.
• In Celtic myth bees possess a secret wisdom garnered from the otherworld.
• In Australia and Africa bees are found as tribal totems.

Bird

With their powers of flight, birds universlly represented the spirit, the soul, the rising to heaven, and communications between gods and men. Birds were considered both as heavenly and as demonic, those that helped or worked for the good of man, and those that intended only evil. There are many birds in mythology. Some are: BIRD USAGE
• Thunderbird North Amerindian myths
• Roc Arabian legends
• Phoenix Symbol of rebirth (Originally Arabian?)
• Peacock The bird of Juno
• Owl Minerva's bird
• Dove Associated with Venus
• Falcon Sacred to Egyptians as form assumed by Ra and Horus
• Ibis Thoth used this guise to escape Typhon
• Stormy Petrel Protected by sailors as representing the souls of dead mariners
• Robin From tradional Christian tales
• Stork Sacred in Sweden
• Swan Fionnuala (daughter of Lir) was changed into a swan (Irish myth)
• Bird of Paradise From Far East myths
• Hummingbird The "quetzal" was highly prized by the Aztec/Nahua/Toltec, a lá the god Quetzalcoatl.

Boar

The boar is the animal of the hunt, and an important sacrificial animal.
• The Golden Boar is one of the great solar animals.
• The White Boar is a lunar animal, and is associated with water.
• The Boar of the Sky was Ruda (from the Veda).
• A boar was the emblem of Vajravrahi, the Vedic goddess of dawn.
• In Sumerian myth Thammuz was killed by a boar.
• The Greek god Adonis met a similar fate.
• In Irish folklore, Diarmaid was also slain by a boar. The story goes: Grainne was unwillingly betrothed to the Irish hero Finn. In defiance she eloped with Diarmaid. They were confronted by his foster brother, the magic boar of Bean Ghulban, who mortally wounded Diarmaid. The only way he could be saved was to drink a potion cupped in Finn's hands. Finn let the potion seep through his fingers and Diarmaid died.
• In China, the boar represents the wealth of the forest.
• In Japan, the boar depicts courage.
• A Hindu legend tells of Buddha's death from eating dried boar's meat.
• Greek myth tells of the Calydonian boar, which was sent by Artemis to ravage the land. See Meleager (and Atalanta).
• Norse myth has Freyr (god of peace and plenty) riding the boar Gullinbursti.
• Vishnu had an avatar in the form of a boar. Varaha rescued the earth on his tusk from the sea of milk.
• In Norse myth the monster boar, Saerhrimnir, was continually reborn to be hunted and eaten by the heroes of Valhalla.

Buffalo (Bison)

In central and northern Asia, black buffalo are sacrificed to the god of the hunt. The Vedic god of the dead rode a buffalo. A Hindu myth has the warrior goddess Durga killing the demon buffalo Mahisha. It was a manifestation of the Supreme Being for the Oglala Sioux. In Taoist belief Lao-tzu rides a buffalo. The Bantu of Africa revere the buffalo and sacrifice it at sacred ceremonies.

Bull

The primary sacrificial animal of pastoral and agricultural peoples. It was a symbol of strength and virility, and often was seen as a divine incarnation.
• Egypt: It was the most venerated animal. Early kings called themselves "bulls". The later Pharaohs were called "the bull of his mother".
• Phoenicia: The roar of the bull represents Bel (Baal), the thunder god.
• Sumerian: The bull was considered as a sacred fertilizing power. The Celestial Bull ploughed the furrow of the sky. Sky gods rode on the Bulls of Light. The roar of the bull represents Dumuzi, the thunder god.
• Zoroastrian: The first created animal, and from it's soul came all later creation.
• Hindu: The god Agni is the Mighty Bull. Indra sometimes takes the form of a bull. Siva rides the bull Nandin. The bull is the vital breath of Aditi. Rudra (in the Vedas) is called a bull.
• Celtic: The Druids considered a white bull as the foremost sacrificial animal.
• Scandinavian: The bull was an attribute of Thor, the thunder god. It was sacred to Freyja, the goddess of fertility.
• Roman: The bull was associated with both Jupiter and Dionysus.
• Cretan: King Minos' bull sent from the sea by Poseidon.

Butterfly

• The Aztec/Nahua associated it with women who had died in childbirth.
• The Aztec/Nahua butterfly goddess, Itzpapalotl, demanded regular human sacrifice.
• Australian Aboriginals regarded them as the returning spirits of the dead.
• The Maori of New Zealand consider them as representing longevity and immortality.
• In China it is connected with the pleasures of good living, signifying high spirits.
• In Japan it symbolizes a false lover.
• In certain parts of Latin America the word for butterfly, mariposa, can also be used to refer to a prostitute.
• Psyche, of Greek myth, can mean butterfly in translation.

C

Cat

• The Greek legend of Galenthias has her being turned into a cat and becoming a priestess of Hecate, the goddess of the darkness and its terrors.
• Ancient Rome considered the cat as a symbol of liberty, and any representation of the goddess of Liberty usually had a cat reposing at her feet. (No animal is so opposed to restraint as a cat, hence "liberty".)
• Ancient Egypt held the cat as sacred. The goddess Bast (Bastet) was depicted as having the head of a cat. Killing a cat at that time (even by accident) was punishable by death.
• In Celtic tales the hero fought Monster Cats (They took the place of dragons!).
• In Scandinavian myth cats pulled the chariot of Freyja.
• The WildCat was a hunter god in some Amerindian myths, and was considered the younger brother of Coyote.
• The WildCat is the totem of one Australian Aboriginal tribe.
• The Hindu goddess of birth, Shosti, rides astride a cat.
• In China and Japan the cat is looked upon as a shape-shifter, and is associated with witchery.
• The cat (along with a snake) is under a curse in Buddhism, as they were the only two creatures who did not weep at the death of Buddha.

Cock (Rooster)

The cock was one of the chief sacrificial creatures and was regarded as a guardian; it was often buried under foundations of buildings to ward off evil.
• (Norse) The golden cock Vithafmir guards against evil powers; the underworld cock Fralar lives in Valhalla to waken the heroes for Ragnarok.
• (Celtic) Here it is associated with underworld deities and the Mother Goddess Bride.
• (Goths) It was a war symbol, and was used in Gothic churches as ornamentation.
• (Gauls) Gallus is the Latin word for rooster as well as for Gaul.
• (Apollo) It is associated with him because it gives notice of the rising sun.
• (Mercury) It is associated with him because it summons men to business by its crowing.
• (Aesculapis) The association here is in relation to "early to bed and early to rise etc."
• (Minerva) With Minerva it is a sacred symbol.
• (Far East) It is considered a guardian in many countries.
• (China) Wards off evil spirits, represents courage and fidelity, but also represents aggression.
• (Japan) As a Shinto symbol, standing on a drum, it calls people to prayer.
• (Muslim) Legend has it that the Prophet found in the first heaven, a cock of such enormous size that its crest touched the second heaven. When this cock ceases to crow, the Day of Judgement will be at hand.
• (Buddhism) Here it stands for pride and passion.
• (Christianity) Here it is associated with Christ's passion and the resurrection.
• (St Peter) Here it depicts human weakness and repentance.

Cow

• In Egypt it often was the symbol for Hathor, and of Nut, with the horns representing the crescent moon.
• In Syria, Astarte was depicted as a cow, with lunar horns.
• In Babylonia, Ishtar was depicted as a cow, with lunar horns.
• In India, the cow is a sacred animal not to be killed.
• The Libyans and Phoenicians supposedly sacrificed, and ate, oxen rather than the sacred cow.
• In Celtic myth the cow appears as a provider of perpetual nourishment.
• In Scandinavia, it was the cow that licked the ice from which it came to produce the first man.
• The Amerindian White Buffalo Cow brought the Sacred Pipe to the people.
• In Zulu myth mankind was "belched up by a cow".

Coyote

In the mythology and folklore of the North American Indians of the Central Plains, the Southwest, and California he was considered creator, culture hero, lover, magician, and trickster.

Crane

In mythology they are often messengers for the gods, and are thought to have great intelligence and vigilance.
• (China) It is the Patriarch of the Feathered Tribe as well as a messenger of the gods. White cranes are particularly sacred.
• (Japan) It is called "Honorable Lord Crane", and in fable is thought to live 1000 years or more.
• (Celtic) It is associated with the solar gods, and also with Pwyll, King of the Underworld.

Crocodile

• A symbol of godhood in ancient Egypt. Sebek is crocodile-headed. It is an attribute of Set in his evil aspect. It is an emblem of Apep, and of Serapis. Ptah is often portrayed with a crocodile at his feet.
• Among the Maya it was identified with the creator deity Itzamna.
• In Oceania, it was worshipped as a dangerous god.

Crow

• It was sacred to Apollo. (He took the form of a crow when fleeing from Typhon).
• It was sacred to Athene, although she would not allow them to land on the roof of any of her temples, as a crow on a roof was an omen of death.
• A white crow appears in Celtic myth as Branwen, sister of Bran.
• In Amerindian myth the crow is a totem animal; it is a keeper of sacred law; it is a messenger to the spirit world; and an omen of change.

Cuckoo

In folklore and myth it is considered a herald of spring.
• The regal bird of the Phoenicians.
• In Greek myth Zeus took its form to win Hera.
• In Hindu myth it represents the sun hidden by clouds and thereby fertilizing the rains.

D

Deer

• (Greek) The deer was sacred to the goddesses Artemis, Aphrodite, Athene, and Diana, and to the god Apollo.
• (Hindu) The Vedic god of the wind rides a deer.
• (Celtic) In some tales, the deer takes the souls of the dead to the otherworld. The goddess, Flidass, has her chariot drawn by deer.
• (Amerindian) A totem animal of several tribes.
• (Aztec/Nahua) Mixcoatl, the god of hunting, is accompanied by a two-headed deer.
• (Celtic) Cernunnos, the stag-god, is pictured with deer horns.
• (Greek) Actaeon was changed into a stag by Diana when he saw her bathing. He was torn apart by his own hunting dogs.
• (Buddhism) Buddha's first sermon was delivered in the deer park at Sarnath. This is symbolised in pictures by showing deer on either side of the Wheel of Law.

Demonsteed (Hellhorse)

These creatures, while having the basic form of a horse, are really more reptilian by nature. They have a sleek black/purple scaly hide, cloven hooves, a barbed tail like a dragon's, and a beaked snout, the forked tongue of a serpent, and tresses of fire for their mane, fetlocks and tail, and the ability to spit fire from their mouth. Hellhorses have the ability to fly, but not all require the addition of leathery winged appendages, like those of a bat, to do so. They pulled the chariot of Hades/Pluto.

Dog

There is enough evidence to conclude that dogs were domesticated in Egypt as long ago as 7500 BC.
• The dog was sacred to Anubis in Egypt myth, who was sometimes depicted as dog-headed.
• The dog was revered in Babylonia.
• It is an emblem of the Phoenician physician Gala.
• It is associated with Artemis of Greek myth.
• It is associated with Diana of Roman myth.
• It is an attribute of Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of love.
• Some African tribes consider the dog a culture hero.
• Australian Aboriginals consider the dog an essential companion.
• For Amerindians the dog is a guardian and protector.
• In Celtic myth the dog often appears with hunter gods.
• In Norse myth Odin has two dogs as messengers.
• In the Veda, Yama, the god of the dead, is attended by two ferocious dogs, who also act as his messengers.
• The hero of the Mahhabharata refuses to enter heaven without his dog.
• Geryon's dogs (Gargittios and the two-headed Orthos) were both slain by Hercules in Greek myth.
• White dogs were sacrificed by the Iroquois as intermediaries to the gods.
• Xotl, the Aztec dog-headed god of death, guided the sun safely through its underworld passage each night.
• In China, the Buddhist Lion Dog (dog of Fo) is the guardian of the law.
• The Greek Diogenes and his followers were called "Cynics", from the Greek word for dog, because they were moral watchdogs.

Dolphin

Sometimes called King of Fishes or Arrow of the Sea because of its swiftness.
• Telemachus and Arion were saved by dolphins.
• Because dolphins were considered "music lovers" they were associated with Apollo.
• As King of the Fishes the dolphin was an emblem of Poseidon/Neptune. Poseidon is said to have placed the dolphin in the heavens as a constellation (Delphinus) because one saved the bard Arion from death at the hands of pirates.
• As a sea power it was an emblem of Aphrodite/Venus.
• The Nereids ride on dolphins and Thetis is often depicted as riding nude on one.
• In Sumerian myth the dolphin represents Ea-Oannes as god of the waters, and is connected with Astarte and Ishtar.
• In Egypt it is an attribute of Isis.
• Celtic lore connects the dolphin with well-worship and the power of the waters.
• Amerindian fable has the dolphin as a messenger between this world and the next.
• Among some South American tribes the river dolphin is a shape-shifter and takes human form at night.
• It is a totem for some Australian Aboriginal tribes.
• It is associated with the Titan Oceanus.

Dove

Mythologically the dove is associated with, and sacred to, the Great Mother goddesses; they were sacrificial birds.
• Phoenicians honored the dove as an attribute of Astarte.
• The Syrian Atargatis had a dove atop her sceptre.
• It was an attribute of the Greek Zeus, who was fed by doves.
• In Japan it is sometimes considered sacred to the war god Hachiman.
• In China it represents longevity and filial piety.
• The dove as associated with the Flood myths appears among the Babylonians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Chaldeans.
• Islam reveres the bird which flies about the mosques.
• It is one of the emblems of Athena.

E

Eagle

The eagle appears to be an attribute of most sky gods as it represents spiritual power, majesty, victory, and ascension.
• The eagle was the royal bird of the Thebans and a symbol of the Nile.
• The Amerindian eagle is considered the greatest of birds, and, in various guises, represents the Thunder Bird, the Great Spirit. Its feathers carry the prayers of the people to the Father Sun. The shaman believes it embodies the power of the Great Spirit.
• In China it is associated with authority and fearlessness.
• A two-headed eagle was an emblem of twin gods depicting power and omniscience. It appeared on Hittite monuments, and was an attribute of Nergal.
• It appears in the branches of the Scandinavian Yggdrasil as wisdom and light.
• The Roman eagle (aquila) was a symbol of imperial might, and its wings sheltered the Pax Romana.
• The Aztec/Nahua called it the "imperial bird". It had its own warrior society.
• Birds of prey (eagle, falcon, hawk) have been connected with kingly gods throughout the world: Zeus (Greece), Indra (India), Mithra (Persia), Odin (Norse).

Eel

The ancient Greeks and Phoenicians had sacred eels; they were also sacred in parts of Polynesia, and are associated with the Flood myths. They have phallic significance in many myths.

Elephant

• Ganesha (who is pictured as elephant-headed) had his head replaced with the head of Airavata, the white elephant who was the mount of Indra.
• The elephant can personify both India and Africa.
• The white elephant is sacred to Buddha as one announced his birth to his mother, Queen Maya.
• The Chinese P'u Hsien (Vedic god Pushan) rides a white elephant.

F

Falcon

In Egypt the falcon represented the flight of the soul after death. It was associated with the sky god Horus, whose right eye was the sun and left eye the moon.

Fox

The fox appears extensively in myth and fable; it is one of the great tricksters.
• It was associated with the Sumerian god Enki.
• Dionysus/Bacchus considered the fox to be a protector of the "vines".
• In Japan it is a "Spirit of Rain" and an attribute of the rice deity Indari.
• Amerindian myth has the fox as trickster and shape-shifter.

Frog

• The ancient Egyptian frog goddess Hekt (Hequat) was the power of waters and protector of the new-born.
• Various traditions from India/Asia invoke frogs as deities, and the Great Frog supports the universe.
• Greco-Roman myth has the frog as an attribute of Aphrodite/Venus, as fertility.
• Celtic tradition calls the frog the Lord of the Earth, and associates it with healing waters.
• Amerindians have the Great Frog as the power of the waters, it is a rain-bringer, and, to the shaman, it is a cleansing power. It is also a totem creature.
• The Aztec/Nahua cosmology has a frog-like monster, Tlaltecuhtli, serving as a symbol of the Earth floating in the primeval sea.

G

Goat

The goat is probably the second animal domesticated by man, after the dog.
• It was sacred to the Sumerian god Marduk, who is often pictured accompanied by a goat.
• It was sacred to the Babylonian god Ningirsu.
• It was sacred to the goddess Artemis.
• In Greece the goat was an attribute of Silvanus and of Dionysus, who took the form of a goat when fleeing from Typhon.
• Goats were sacrificed to Faunus.
• Pan appears as a half-goat half-man creature.
• The goat was sacred to Zeus (as Dictynnos) who was suckled by the goat Amalthea, whose skin became the Aegis, and whose horn became the Cornucopia.
• Thor's chariot was drawn by goats. His goat Heidrum supplied the mead for the gods.
• The Vedic Agni, god of fire and creative heat, rides a goat.
• The Chinese Goat Spirit, Yang Ching (the Transcendant Goat), is the god of the star Fan-Yin. He is also a Mongolian god.

Goose

• In Egyptian mythology the Nile Goose was the creator of the world. It laid the Cosmic Egg from which Ra, the sun god, was hatched. Here the goose is also an attribute of Isis, Osiris, Horus, and Seb.
• In Sumeria it was sacred to Bau, goddess of the farmyard.
• The goose was an attribute of Hera/Juno, and was associated with Apollo, with Ares/Mars, with Hermes/Mercury, with Peitho (goddess of eloquence), and Priapus (a fertility god).
• In China and Japan the goose is the Bird of Heaven, bringing good tidings.
• Celtic, Teutonic, and Gallic myth associate the goose with war gods. Note: Tame geese were kept in the temples by Greeks and Romans as guardians and were said to have saved Rome by their warning cries when the Gauls attacked. Supposedly geese were sacred to Britons and Norse, and therefore were not eaten by either.

H

Hare (Rabbit)

The hare is always an attribute of lunar deities, but is also associated with fertility, fruitfulness, and love and as such is often depicted as a companion to Cupid and as an attribute of Aphrodite/Venus.
• In Teutonic myth the lunar goddess Oestra (Eostre) was hare-headed, representing new life in spring or resurrection. (It was she who gave her name to the Easter festival. Her hare laid the Easter Egg of new life. Not the Easter Bunny!)
• The Teutonic Holda (Herke, Harfer) was followed by a train of hares carrying torches.
• The Norse Freyja had hare attendants.
• The Hindu god Chandras carries a hare.
• In Chinese myth the hare represents the yin, lunar power; it also represents longevity and reproductive power. The "white hare in the moon" pounds the mixture of immortality.
• The Great Hare Manabazho is an Amerindian culture hero, who dwells in the moon.
• The Maya also saw a rabbit in the moon. It is considered the inventor of writing in Maya myth.
• In Buddhism, the Great Hare was an incarnation of Buddha, and was placed in the moon as a reward for sacrificing its life to satisfy Buddha's hunger.
• Boudicca (early Briton) is said to have released a hare as a good omen before each battle with the Romans.

Hawk

The hawk is a solar bird and an attribute of all sun gods.
• The hawk (or falcon) was the Egyptian royal bird. Hawk-headed gods, or those accompanied by hawks, were Khensu, Ra, Ptah, Horus, Mentu, Rehu, Sokar, and Kebhsenuf. The hawk is also an attribute of the Great Mother Amenti.
• In Greek myth the hawk is Apollo's messenger. It was an attribute of Circe.
• The Hindu Gayatri (hawk) brought soma from the heavens. It was also the vehicle of the Vedic Indra.
• In Iranian myth it was an attribute of Ormuzd and of Mithra as a sun god.
• In Amerindian lore it was one of the creatures which helped create the world after the Flood.
• Polynesia has the hawk as a prophetic bird with healing powers.

Horse