Curated category
Fertility goddesses
- AphroditeThe name Aphrodite appears in the Cypriot syllabary as a-po-ro-ta-o-i, read right to left, during the eleventh century BC.
- ArtemisScholars have debated the linguistic origin of the name Artemis for centuries. R.S.P. Beekes suggested that the interchange between e and i in her name…
- DemeterDemeter once let everything on earth die. Not through carelessness or neglect, but through a grief so total that crops withered, harvests failed, and mortals…
- FreyjaThe Old Norse word Freyja translates directly to mean lady or mistress. This transparent meaning appears in the dictionary entry for the feminine noun.
- Venus (mythology)The Latin word Venus stems from a Proto-Italic form reconstructed as wenos, meaning desire. This root traces back to the Proto-Indo-European term wes-, which…
- InannaScholars have debated the true origin of Inanna's name since the first cuneiform tablets were unearthed in the late 19th century.
- Rhea (mythology)The earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus gave birth to Rhea as one of their twelve or thirteen Titan children. She grew up alongside her siblings…
- PersephoneA clay tablet from Pylos, dated between 1400 and 1200 BC, bears the reconstructed name *Preswa. John Chadwick identified this as a goddess who could be…
- IsisAn inscription from the reign of Nyuserre Ini during Egypt's Fifth Dynasty marks the first known mention of Isis by name.
- GefjonThe name Gefjon appears in Old Norse texts as a theonym with disputed origins. Modern scholarship generally links the element Gef- to the name Gefn, one of…
- EponaThe name Epona means Great Mare in the Gaulish language. It derives from the Proto-Celtic word ek'os for horse. This root also gives rise to modern Welsh…