Curated playlist
Cattle deities
- HeraThe Greek goddess Hera renewed her virginity every year in a spring near Nauplia. The rites were not to be spoken of.
- Mars (mythology)Mars, the Roman god of war, also guarded crops and cattle. Farmers asked him to drive off "rust" from the harvest.
- DionysusZeus sewed the unborn Dionysus into his thigh after the child's mother died. That is why Dionysus is called twice-born.
- Neptune (mythology)Neptune's Roman festival fell in the worst summer heat, not at sea. Romans drank spring water and wine in shelters.
- IsisThe goddess Isis made a snake to bite the sun god Ra. She offered a cure only if he told her his secret name.
- Nut (goddess)In Egyptian myth, the sky is a goddess and the earth is her husband. Nut arches over her brother Geb.
- HeliosHeracles once aimed his bow at Helios, the Greek sun god, for scorching him. Helios then lent him a golden cup.
- PasiphaëMinos broke a vow to Poseidon, but Queen Pasiphaë paid the price. Her curse led to the birth of the Minotaur.
- Vulcan (mythology)Each August 23, Romans threw live fish into bonfires for Vulcan, god of fire. The festival was the Vulcanalia.
- HathorRed-dyed beer ended the goddess Hathor's rampage against humans. She drank it, mistaking it for blood.
- GebAncient Egyptians said the earth god Geb laughed earthquakes into existence.