WORLD
Explore Myths, Gods and Legends from Around the World
Stories of gods, heroes, monsters and legendary worlds from every culture
Mac Cécht
Mac Cécht is a name associated with more than one figure in medieval Irish literature. Most often, it identifies a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the supernatural people who appear in Ireland’s mythological history, and…
Kivutar
Kivutar is a female figure associated with pain, illness and suffering in Finnish mythic and incantation traditions. She belongs especially to the supernatural world described in Finnish healing charms, where diseases an…
Róta
Róta is a little-known female figure in Norse tradition, usually classified as a valkyrie. Her name appears in medieval lists of valkyries preserved in Old Norse literature, especially material associated with the Prose …
Macha
Macha is a name associated with several important female figures in Irish mythology and medieval Irish tradition. The name belongs to more than one character, and the surviving stories do not always present them as a sin…
Amphitrite
Amphitrite is a goddess of the sea in Greek mythology, best known as the wife and queen of Poseidon. In early Greek tradition she belongs to the Nereids, the fifty sea nymphs born to the ancient sea god Nereus and the Oc…
Angerona
Angerona was a little-known Roman goddess associated with silence, secrecy, and the relief of distress. Her name appears in the forms Angerona and Angeronia, and she was honoured at a Roman festival called the Angeronali…
Amphion
Amphion is a legendary musician, prince and culture hero of Greek mythology, best known from the Theban cycle. He is traditionally the twin brother of Zethus and the son of Zeus and Antiope. His music was said to possess…
Amicitia
Amicitia is the Roman personification of friendship, goodwill and the bonds that unite individuals or communities. Unlike major Roman gods such as Jupiter, Juno or Mars, Amicitia does not possess a large, clearly defined…
Onile
Onile is a name associated with the earth in Yoruba religious thought and folklore. It is usually understood from the Yoruba expression onílẹ̀, meaning “owner of the earth” or “owner of the land.” In some accounts, Onile…
Orishas
Orishas (Yoruba: òrìṣà; also written orisa, òrìṣá or orisha) are sacred powers and divine beings in the religious traditions of the Yoruba-speaking peoples of West Africa. Yoruba communities are concentrated especially i…
Orunmila
Orunmila is a central orisha in Yoruba religious tradition, especially associated with Ifá, the divination system through which knowledge, guidance and insight are sought. He is linked with wisdom, human destiny, moral c…
Osanyin
Osanyin is a Yoruba orisha associated with leaves, herbal knowledge, healing, and the powerful life of the forest. His name is also written as Òsányìn, Osain, or Osaín, depending on the language, orthography, and religio…
Jo
Jo is not a securely identifiable god, spirit, monster or hero in the surviving corpus of Japanese mythology under that spelling alone. The name appears to be an abbreviated or incomplete romanization, a transliteration …
Jurojin
Jurojin is a Japanese god of longevity and one of the Shichifukujin, the Seven Lucky Gods. Usually portrayed as an elderly man with a long white beard, a staff, and a scroll, he represents a long life guided by wisdom, h…
Sanbo-kojin
Sanbō Kōjin (also written Sanbo Kojin or Sambō Kōjin) is a Japanese deity associated with fire, the hearth, the kitchen and the protection of the household. The name is usually translated as “the Rough Deity of the Three…
Kami
Kami is the Japanese term commonly translated as “god,” “deity,” or “divine spirit.” In Shinto, kami may be associated with natural phenomena, particular places, ancestral figures, legendary heroes, imperial ancestors, o…
Pukkeenegak
Pukkeenegak is a figure associated in some English-language accounts with Inuit traditions of childbirth, fertility, pregnancy and the care of children. Her name and role are not documented through a single pan-Inuit myt…
Sedna
Sedna is one of the best-known figures in Inuit religious traditions: a powerful woman associated with the sea, marine animals and the continuing relationship between human communities and the natural world. In many trad…
Tekkeitsertok
Tekkeitsertok is a figure associated primarily with Greenlandic Inuit traditions and with the caribou on which many northern communities depended. He is commonly described in English as a master or guardian of caribou, a…
Torngarsak
Torngarsak is a powerful spirit known from several Inuit religious traditions, especially those recorded in Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic. Older English-language sources also use forms such as Torngarsoak, To…
Huehueteotl
Huehueteotl is the Nahuatl “Old God,” a venerable fire deity associated with the religious traditions of central Mexico, especially those of the Mexica, often called the Aztecs. He is usually represented as an elderly, w…
Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli was a major deity of the Mexica, the Nahua-speaking people who founded and ruled the city-state of Tenochtitlan in central Mexico. He was associated with warfare, the sun, rulership, sacrifice and the Mex…
Huixtocihuatl
Huixtocihuatl—also written Uixtocihuatl, Uixtociuatl and in other spelling variants—was a goddess associated with salt in Mexica, often called Aztec, religious tradition. Her name is commonly translated as “Salt Woman,” …
Ilamatecuhtli
Ilamatecuhtli is an aged female deity in the religious traditions of central Mexico, especially those associated with the Mexica, often called the Aztecs. Her name is usually translated as “Old Woman” or “Old Lady,” alth…Aunyaina
Aunyaina is a name sometimes presented in English-language mythology directories as that of a South American, and more specifically Guarani, goddess of fire. The identification is uncertain, however. Unlike major figures…
Bachue
Bachué is a founding mother in the traditional religious world of the Muisca, an Indigenous society that lived mainly in the high plateaus and valleys of what is now central Colombia. Her story is closely associated with…
Bochica
Bochica is a culture hero and sacred teacher of the Muisca, an Indigenous people who lived mainly on the high plateaus of the central Colombian Andes before and during the period of Spanish conquest. In Muisca traditions…
Boraro
Boraro is a frightening forest being associated chiefly with Indigenous traditions of the north-western Amazon, especially the cultural region around the Vaupés River in present-day Colombia and Brazil. It is commonly de…Yalungur
Yalungur is a name associated in some modern reference works with an Australian Aboriginal water or serpent being. The available information is limited, and the name is not supported by a single, widely documented tradit…
Yara-ma-yha-who
Yara-ma-yha-who is a dangerous blood-drinking being associated with Aboriginal tradition in Australia. In commonly repeated accounts, it is a small red figure that waits in a fig tree and attacks people who come within r…
Yhi
Yhi is a name commonly used in modern accounts of Australian Aboriginal mythology for a female being associated with the sun, light, warmth and the awakening of life. Stories connected with Yhi describe light entering a …
Yingarna
Yingarna is an ancestral creator being in the traditions of the Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land in northern Australia. She is commonly described as a powerful female Rainbow Serpent and as an ancestral mother ass…Barakiel
Barakiel is an angelic name found in later Jewish, Christian and esoteric traditions, although its spelling, status and assigned duties vary considerably. The figure is especially associated with Eastern Christian angelo…
St. Philip Neri
St. Philip Neri (1515–1595) was an Italian priest, mystic and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory. Remembered as the “Apostle of Rome,” he played an important role in the Catholic renewal of the sixteenth century,…
Baradiel
Baradiel is an obscure angelic name associated, in some later angelological traditions, with hail and other forms of severe weather. Unlike Michael, Gabriel, Raphael or Uriel, Baradiel does not belong to the small group …
St. Pius V
St. Pius V was a sixteenth-century pope and Dominican friar whose pontificate helped shape the Catholic Church after the Protestant Reformation. Born Michele Ghislieri in 1504, he became Pope Pius V in 1566 and served un…Decarabia
Decarabia is a demon listed in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the seventeenth-century grimoire known as the Lesser Key of Solomon. In that tradition, Decarabia is the sixty-ninth spirit and holds the rank of a marq…
Dantalion
Dantalion is a demon listed in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the early modern grimoire known as the Lesser Key of Solomon. He is described as a powerful duke who appears with many human faces and carries a book. W…
Caim
Caim—also spelled Camio or Caym—is a demon of early modern European ceremonial demonology. He is best known as the fifty-third spirit in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lesser Key of Solomon, where he is describ…
Bune
Bune is a demon or spirit listed in early modern European ceremonial-magic literature, especially the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lesser Key of Solomon. He is described as a powerful duke who appears as a dragon…Mythology and the Stories of Ancient Civilizations
Mythology is the collection of stories, beliefs and traditions that ancient cultures used to explain the world around them. Long before modern science, myths offered answers to fundamental questions about the creation of the universe, natural phenomena, human existence, death and the forces believed to govern destiny.
Every civilization developed its own mythological tradition. Greek mythology tells of powerful Olympian gods, heroic warriors and terrifying monsters. Norse mythology describes a universe of interconnected worlds inhabited by gods, giants, elves and legendary creatures. Egyptian mythology revolves around divine kingship, the journey into the afterlife and the eternal struggle between order and chaos.
Beyond the most familiar traditions, thousands of myths emerged across Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania and the ancient Middle East. Hindu mythology contains vast cycles of gods, avatars and cosmic events. Japanese folklore is filled with kami, spirits and mysterious beings, while Celtic traditions preserve stories of warriors, magical lands and supernatural powers.
Although these traditions developed independently, many share recurring themes. Creation myths, great floods, journeys to the underworld, divine battles and heroic quests appear in cultures separated by enormous distances.
Gods and goddesses often represented the forces that shaped everyday life. Some ruled over storms, oceans, war or agriculture, while others protected families, cities or the dead.
Mythical creatures also played an essential role in these stories. Dragons, giants, spirits, shapeshifters, demons and hybrid beasts could act as enemies, guardians, warnings or symbols of forces beyond human control.
Myths were not simply invented as entertainment. They were connected to religious rituals, social customs, political power and cultural identity.
Many mythological stories survive today through literature, art, cinema, television and video games. However, modern adaptations often differ considerably from the original traditions.
At WorldMythos, you will find articles organised by mythology, culture and subject. Our aim is to present legendary stories in a clear and engaging way while distinguishing between ancient sources, folklore, historical interpretation and modern popular culture.