At the ancient oracle at Dodona, Dione Ð rather than Hera Ð was the goddess described as accompanying Zeus, as many surviving votive inscriptions show. The birds associated with her at Dodona were doves and her priestesses at Dodona were called peliades or "doves". Although Dione was no...
Gods and goddesses of wisdom are usually sagacious counselors or studious scribes. However, some cultures also envision them as divine tricksters.
There are many different types of Mother Goddesses, including nurturing mothers, fierce warrior mothers, and goddesses associated with fertility. In Norse mythology, Frigg is considered the queen of all goddesses and is known for her ability to see into the future. In Hinduism, Kali Ma is a po...
An interesting ceremony to Tlaloc by his priests was for the priests to throw themselves into frigid lake waters at midnight and imitate the sound and splashing of water birds to the point of exhaustion. This was apparently done just to please Tlaloc. In another ritual a priest would climb a...
SIRENS (Seirenes) Three dangerous sea Daemones with the heads of women and the bodies of birds. They lured sailors to their deaths with their irresistable siren-song. Some say they leapt into the sea in despair when Odysseus sailed past unharmed....
Aphrodite was associated with the dove. Another of her sacred birds was the goose, on which she is seen to ride in a vase painting from antiquity. Hesiod's reference to Aphrodite's having been born from the sea inspired the Renaissance artist Botticelli's famous painting of the goddess on ...
The gods took pity and turned the two into birds (Alcyone became a halcyon, or a kingfisher, and Ceyx became a ceyx, or a gannet). Alcyone made her nest on the beach, and waves were big and scary, but the gods made the sea calm so she could lay her eggs. Therefore, 'halcyon ...
Long-nosed and long-lipped deities:Numerous gods have been called long nosed or long lipped; those with upward-turning snouts are associated with serpents, those with downward curving snouts are birds. Manikin Scepter:God K or GII of the Palenque Triad, a version of Kawil and Tohil, but a...
In iconography she is presented with an entourage consisting of a hare, a toad, a nine-tailed fox, three birds or a three legged bird. Sometimes she is also depicted with men with animal masks or heads, and robed longhaired men with wings. A mythological account from c.300 BC tells us...
. the mummy of Ani on a bier with a funeral shrine: at the head and foot are Nephthys and Isis in the form of hawks." The birds wear the emblems of the two goddesses on their heads. (id.) an illustration from this papyrus is shown by Budge in which are depicted the mummy of ...