"Earth Maker". The supreme god and creator of the Yuncas of Peru, later adopted by the Incas. Also god of the earth. His consort is Mama Pacha and his brothers are Viracocha and Manco Capac.

When he had created the first man and woman, he forgot to provide them with food. When the man died, the woman accused Pachacamac of neglect, whereupon he made her fertile, and she bore a son. The god killed the son, cut the corpse in pieces from which grew the various fruits and vegetables. The second son escaped him, however, and so the god slew the mother. This son, called Wichama, avenged his mother's death by driving Pachacamac into the sea.

"Feathered Snake". One of the major deities of the Aztec, Toltecs, and other Middle American peoples. He is the creator sky-god and wise legislator. He organized the original cosmos and participated in the creation and destruction of various world periods. Quetzalcoatl ruled the fifth world cycle and created the humans of that cycle. The story goes that he descended to Mictlan, the underworld, and gathered the bones of the human beings of the previous epochs. Upon his return, he sprinkled his own blood upon these bones and fashioned thus the humans of the new era. He is also a god of the wind (the wind-god Ehecatl is one of his forms), as well as a water-god and fertility-god.

He is regarded as a son of the virgin goddess Coatlicue and as the twin brother of Xolotl. As the bringer of culture he introduced agriculture (maize) and the calendar and is the patron of the arts and the crafts.

In one myth the god allowed himself to be seduced by Tezcatlipoca, but threw himself on a funeral pyre out of remorse. After his death his heart became the morning-star, and is as such identified with the god Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. In dualistic Toltec religion, the opposing deity, Tezcatlipoca ("Smoking Mirror"), a god of the night, had reputedly driven Quetzalcoatl into exile. According to yet another tradition he left on a raft of snakes over the sea. In any case, Quetzalcoatl, described as light-skinned and bearded, would return in a certain year. Thus, when the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec king, Montezuma II, was easily convinced that Cortés was in fact the returning god.

One of the most popular goddesses in Egypt. Isis belongs to the Ennead of Heliopolis, and according to the Heliopolitan genealogy is a daughter of Seb and Nut, sister and wife of Osiris. Possibly she was originally the personification of the throne (her name is written with the hieroglyph for throne), and as such she was an important source of the pharaoh's power. In the Hellenistic time Isis was the protrectress of sailors.

In the Osiris myths she searched for her husband's body, who was killed by her brother Seth. She retrieved and reassembled the body, and in this connection she took on the role of a goddess of the dead and of the funeral rights. Isis impregnated herself from the Osiris' body and gave birth to Horus in the swamps of Khemnis in the Nile Delta. Here she raised her son in secret and kept him far away from Seth. Horus later defeated Seth and became the first ruler of a united Egypt. Isis, as mother of Horus, was by extension regarded as the mother and protectress of the pharaoh's. She was worshipped as the divine mother-goddess, faithful consort of Osiris, and dedicated mother of Horus.

Isis was depicted as a woman with the solar disk between the cow horns on her head (an analogy with the goddess Hathor) or crowned with a thrown, but also with the child Horus sitting on her lap. A vulture was sometimes seen incorporated in her crown. Also she was sometimes depicted as a kite above the mummified body of Osiris. Isis' popularity lasted far into the Roman era. She had her own priests and many temples were erected in her honor. On the island of Philae in the Nile delta her largest temple was situated (it was transferred to the island Agilkia in 1975-1980).

The name Isis was understood by Plutarch as meaning 'Knowledge'.

The Mayan god of fertility and agriculture, the one who sends thunder and rain. Later he appears as one of the Bacabs, a group of four protective deities, where Chac is the personification of the east. The center of his cult was in Chichen Itzan (Yucatan). He is the Tlaloc of the Aztec and the rain god Cocijo of the Zapotec. Chac is portrayed with two curling fangs, a long turned-up nose and tears streaming from his wide eyes. His hair was made up of a tangle of knots.

Chac was beneficent and a friend of man. He taught them how to grow vegetables and was the protector of their cornfields. The Maya appealed to him for rain by means of particular ceremonies by which the men would settle outside the village and adhere to strict observance of fasting and sexual abstinence. The animal associated with Chac is the frog, because it signals the coming of rain by its croaking.

He is also known as Ah Hoya ("he who urinates"), Ah Tzenul ("he who gives food to others"), and Hopop Caan ("he who lights up the sky").

Sky Goddess of Sex, Love and Fertility. She's a fiesty no-nonsense Goddess - and also the Evening Star with eight points. All of them good.

Being a Love Goddess, ISHTAR is beautiful, sexy and very popular. Her fame in ancient Asia was second to none and she's still going strong. Her lovers are legion - or, to put it another way, she can't keep her hands to herself. She even attempted to have a fling with GILGAMESH but he went all heroic on her.

Her official husband - at least in Akkadia - is TAMMUZ, the God of Agriculture and Rebirth. It's possible the strain is too much for him as he spends six months per year recovering in the Underworld.

ISHTAR seems also to have become the Goddess of Deja Vu as she shared almost the same life as INANNA. But considering that INANNA stole ME, the Tablets of Destiny, she may well have used them to both backdate and update herself - until she was everywhere and everyone from ASTARTE to ISIS. She may even have been born again as APHRODITE.

ISHTAR's sister ERESHKIGAL is in charge of the Underworld, and when ISHTAR pays her a visit, the results are usually very similar although there are a few script changes and updates.

She is also Goddess of the Evening Star and seems determined to stay in the ascendancy as long as a sex Goddess is needed. Her symbol is an 8-pointed star, and she doesn't care if you think it's rude to point or look at her with naked eyes.

KUU: Moon Deity and/or personification of the moon.

The Finns are at it again. They can't just have a simple Moon God like everyone else. No, KUU was formed from the whites of duck eggs laid in the crook of the knee of ILMATAR (Goddess of Air), who had been floating in a ocean for 700 years. Then a lot of glittering and shining went on and KUU became silver.

An impeccable source tells us that KUU is not actually a God, but simply the Finnish word for 'moon'. It certainly seems to be the word for 'month', although our Finnish leaves a lot to be desired.

Look, Finland is a weird place — all reindeer and Lapland Dancing. They also know more about Father Christmas than they let on too (see MARJATTA).

The Egyptian personification of Fortune. Her name and that of Shai (Fate) are usually found coupled. They are said to be in the hands of Thoth, the divine intelligence of of the gods. Rameses II boasted that he himself is "lord of Shai and creator of Renenet." According to the Pyramid Texts, she was the goddess of plenty, good fortune, and the like; subsequently there was no distinction made between these deities and the abstract ideas the represented.

Renenet is accompanied by Meskhenet, who acted as midwife and presided over the birth-chamber.

LOKI: God of Hokey Pokey and one of the world's major Trickster Gods.

In his early days LOKI was a rascal; crafty, sneaky, silly and malicious - a Loki The Lad. The son of two Giants, he was so outrageously mischievous that he even sneaked his way into becoming a God. He was the first Anti-Hero, quick-witting his way out of the tight corners and confrontations caused by his misdeeds. But as time wore on he became increasingly nasty.

His first escapade was a very rampant romp. When the Gods were struggling to build ASGARD, they found they'd run out of funds. Which is not surprising as money and banks hadn't been invented yet. All the basic construction had been completed but they needed a large protective wall to keep the riff-raff out.

LOKI came up with the plan of contracting a Giant to do the job. As payment, the Giant asked for the Sun and Moon and also the Goddess FREYA if the work was completed to schedule. The Gods were not too sure. "Don't worry," advised LOKI. "He'll never manage it on his own, even if he works night and day - and the deal will be off. We'll let him keep the wheelbarrow or something."

Alas, the Giant was not on his own. He had a huge stallion called Svadilfari, which could haul boulders like there was no tomorrow. With three days to go, FREYA was in distress and the Gods aghast.

Now LOKI, like fire and smoke, was a shape-changer from the word go. A talent he'd developed to make him the shiftiest transmogrifier of all time - from flea to fish to fast flying feathers in 0.3 seconds. So he changed himself into a mare and seduced the Giant's stallion. By whinnying and prancing off into the woods, Svadilfari was led far away from the stone pile.

With his horse missing, the Giant didn't quite make the schedule. Seething with rage, he tried to take FREYA by force - until THOR cracked his skull with his hammer.

Meanwhile LOKI was having a fine old time frolicking in the fields. In fact he became pregnant, and decided to sample the joys of motherhood. He gave birth to a fine baby boy stallion with eight legs. He gave this as a gift to ODIN and it was called SLEIPNIR.

LOKI was now well in with top God ODIN and his son THOR, with whom he shared numerous adventures. THOR, the perfect fall guy, was persuaded to appear in drag as the prospective bride of a giant and other embarrassments. THOR could always be relied on to supply the muscle when corners became too tight for trickery.

LOKI had many run-ins with the dwarves, which he cheated at any opportunity until they stitched him up. Literally. They stitched his mouth shut, which kept him quiet for quite some time.

LOKI never missed an opportunity to take advantage of any Goddess, despite already having had three wives. The first not many folk know about, and it is only by assiduous research we have discovered GLUT, who bore two daughters EINMYRIA and EISA.

Next was ANGRBODA, a giantess who spawned FENRIR the Giant Wolf, JORMUNGAND the Earth-encircling Serpent, and HEL the Underworld Goddess. Finally there was his wife SIGYN, who produced their ill-fated sons NARVI and VALI(2).

For further LOKI adventures, click your way to ANDVARI, FAFNIR, GEIRROD, THIASSI and BALDUR. And check out our Loki Trickster Wearables! We are still investigating the mysterious theft of FREYA's precious necklace Brisingamen when a flea was seen to flee the scene. As a well-known God of bed-hopping, fingers of suspicion are already pointing at you-know-who.

As the most scandalous God of all time, LOKI was seldom out of the Nordic News or the Sunday Runes. But his tricks came to an end after causing the death of BALDUR. Now he's trapped in eternal punishment until RAGNAROK rolls around.

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The great hero of Sumerian and Babylonian epic poetry. He is the precursor of Heracles and other folk heroes. Gilgamesh is the son of Ninsun, a comparatively obscure goddess who had a palace-temple in Uruk. His father in the King-List is mysteriously described as 'lillû', which may mean 'fool' or a demon of the vampire kind, as well as being a high-priest of Kullab (part of Uruk). On other occasions, he refers to Lugulbanda as his semi-divine 'father'. Gilgamesh is fifth on the King-List and reigned in Uruk around 2700 BCE (or some hundred years or so later) for 126 years (his son reigned a mere 30 years). He was famous as a great builder and as a judge of the dead.

The Epic of Gilgamesh was preserved on clay tablets which were deciphered in the last century. It contains the adventures of the great King of Uruk (southern Babylonia) in his fruitless search for immortality and of his friendship with Enkidu, the wild man from the hills.

Most of the poems of this epic were already written down in the first centuries of the second millenium BCE, but probably existed in much the same form many centuries earlier. The final recension, and most complete edition, comes from the seventh century library of Assurbanipal, antiquary and last great king of the Assyrian empire.