WORLD
Explore Myths, Gods and Legends from Around the World
Stories of gods, heroes, monsters and legendary worlds from every culture
Midir
Midir is a supernatural lord of Irish mythology, best known from the medieval tale Tochmarc Étaíne, or The Wooing of Étaín. He belongs to the Tuatha Dé Danann, the divine or Otherworldly people who appear in Irish mythol…
Loviatar
Loviatar is a feared female figure in Finnish mythic poetry, best known as the blind daughter of Tuoni, the ruler of the realm of the dead. In the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, she is associated with death, corrupti…
Sigyn
Sigyn is a goddess or divine woman associated with Loki in Norse mythology. She is best known for remaining beside him after the gods punish him for his role in the death of Baldr. While Loki lies bound beneath a venomou…
Milesius
Milesius is the Latinized name commonly used for Míl Espáine, the legendary ancestor of the Gaels in medieval Irish literature. He is not a god or a fully developed hero with an independent cycle of adventures. Instead, …Aestas
Aestas is the Latin personification of summer in Roman literature and artistic tradition. Her name is the Latin word for “summer,” and it is related to the language of heat and burning warmth. Unlike major Roman deities …
Alecto
Alecto is one of the Erinyes, the terrifying avenging powers of Greek mythology. In Greek, her name is usually written Ἀληκτώ and is commonly understood to mean “unceasing” or “unrelenting,” especially in the sense of an…
Aequitas
Aequitas was the Roman personification of fairness, equity, and balanced dealing. Her name comes from the Latin word aequitas, meaning fairness, impartiality, or a just adjustment between people and circumstances. Unlike…
Adeona
Adeona is a minor Roman goddess associated with a child’s return home. She is traditionally paired with Abeona, the goddess connected with a child’s departure or going out. Unlike major Roman deities such as Jupiter, Jun…Nyokon
Nyokon is a name sometimes presented in English-language lists of African mythological beings, but its identity and cultural origin are uncertain. There is no widely recognised, pan-African tradition centred on a deity, …
Nyonye Ngana
Nyonye Ngana is a little-documented figure associated in some modern accounts with Bantu-speaking traditions of Africa, where she is usually described as a female water spirit or water goddess. The available information …
Obambou
Obambou is a name associated with a frightening spirit or revenant in traditions linked to Gabon and the wider region of Central Africa. Accounts in English-language folklore collections often describe the Obambou as a b…
Obassi Nsi
Obassi Nsi is an earth-associated deity in accounts of the traditional religious world of the Efik people of southeastern Nigeria. The name is commonly presented alongside Obassi Osaw, a sky-associated or heavenly deity.…Kunitsu-kami
Kunitsu-kami (国津神, also written 国つ神 or 国神 in some contexts) is a collective term in Japanese mythology for the “gods of the land” or “earthly deities.” Rather than naming one particular supernatural being, it describes a…
Kusanagi
Kusanagi is a sacred sword in Japanese mythology and one of the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan. Its full traditional name is usually given as Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, meaning “the Grass-Cutting Sword,” although the history …
Momotaro
Momotaro (桃太郎, “Peach Boy”) is one of Japan’s best-known folktale heroes. He is a boy who emerges from a giant peach, grows into a capable young warrior, and travels to Onigashima, the “Island of Oni,” to defeat its inha…
Moshiri Ikkewe Chep
Moshiri Ikkewe Chep is a little-known name associated with Ainu tradition in northern Japan. It is sometimes described in modern accounts as a vast fish connected with the land itself, or with the foundations of the worl…Kokopelli
Kokopelli is the name commonly given to a humpbacked flute player associated with the ancient and modern Indigenous cultures of the American Southwest. He is especially linked in popular accounts with the Hopi, although …
Koyemshi
Koyemshi are sacred clown figures associated with Hopi ceremonial life in northern Arizona. They are best known in English as the Mudheads, a name referring to their distinctive clay- or mud-covered masks. Rather than be…
Kwikwilyaqa
Kwikwilyaqa is a Hopi katsina associated in many English-language descriptions with the butterfly. The name is often translated or explained as “Butterfly Maiden,” although translations of Hopi religious names are not al…
Mana
Mana is a name that appears in some English-language lists and discussions of Hopi katsinam, the spirit beings represented in Hopi ceremonial dances and carved figures. Its identification is not as firmly documented as t…Mixcoatl
Mixcoatl is a deity of Nahua, especially central Mexican, religious tradition whose name is commonly translated as “Cloud Serpent.” In Aztec mythology he is associated with hunting, warfare, ancestral peoples, the night …
Montezuma
Montezuma is the name commonly used in English for Moctezuma II, the Mexica ruler who governed the Aztec Empire when Hernán Cortés and the Spanish entered central Mexico in 1519. He was a historical sovereign rather than…
Nanautzin
Nanautzin—more commonly written Nanahuatzin in modern renderings of Nahuatl—is a deity of central Mexican tradition best known for becoming the Sun in the creation story of the Fifth Sun. He appears as a poor, humble, an…
Tlaloc
Tlaloc is a major rain and storm deity of central Mexican, especially Nahua and Mexica (Aztec), religious tradition. He was associated with rain, fertility, springs, mountain water, lightning and the forces that could ei…
Guecubu
Guecubu is a name found in older European accounts of Mapuche religious tradition for a malevolent supernatural power or spirit. The term is associated with misfortune, illness, death and other forms of harm. It is often…
Guinechen
Guinechen is a name used in some Spanish-language accounts for Ngünechen, a major divine figure in Mapuche religious tradition. The Mapuche, also known as the Mapuche people, are Indigenous inhabitants of south-central C…
Nguruvilu
Nguruvilu is a water being associated with Mapuche tradition and with the folklore of southern Chile, especially the island of Chiloé. Its name is commonly explained through Mapudungun elements meaning “fox” and “snake,”…
Huallallo
Huallallo, more fully known as Huallallo Carhuincho or, in some spellings, Wallallo Carhuincho, is a powerful sacred being in the mythology of the central Andes of Peru. He is best known from the Huarochirí Manuscript, a…Turi-a-faumea
Turi-a-faumea is a name generally associated with a Polynesian deity or spiritual figure connected with childbirth. Modern reference works often classify Turi-a-faumea as a Samoan goddess of childbirth, although the surv…
Fe’e
Fe’e is a Polynesian name associated primarily with the octopus, especially in Samoan tradition and in related languages of the central Pacific. Depending on the source, Fe’e may refer simply to an octopus, to a remarkab…
Hikule’o
Hikuleʻo is a major figure in traditional Tongan mythology, especially in stories concerning Pulotu, the realm of the dead and the dwelling place of powerful supernatural beings. His name is also written Hikule’o, Hikule…
Hina
Hina is a name used for several important female figures in Polynesian traditions, especially in eastern Polynesia. Depending on the island, language and tradition, Hina may be associated with the moon, women’s work, wea…Asteraoth
Asteraoth is an uncertain spelling associated with Astaroth, a figure in later Christian demonology. The name is sometimes placed in lists of angels or supernatural spirits, but Asteraoth is not a clearly established ang…
St. Quadratus Of Athens
St. Quadratus of Athens was a second-century Christian leader, bishop and apologist associated with the church of Athens. He is chiefly remembered for an apology, or reasoned defence of Christianity, that he reportedly p…
Astanphaeus
Astanphaeus is a name associated with the archontic beings of certain Gnostic creation myths, especially traditions related to the Apocryphon of John and other texts from the Nag Hammadi library. The name appears in seve…
St. Radegund
St. Radegund was a sixth-century Christian queen, ascetic, patron of learning and founder of a women’s religious community at Poitiers in Gaul, in what is now western France. Born into the royal family of Thuringia aroun…Balam
Balam is a demon in early modern European ceremonial demonology, best known from the Ars Goetia, the first section of the Lesser Key of Solomon. In that tradition, Balam is presented as a powerful king who appears as a c…
Astaroth
Astaroth is a demon of European Christian demonology, best known from early modern manuals of magic and the tradition commonly called the Ars Goetia. The name is connected historically with the ancient Near Eastern godde…
Asmodeus
Asmodeus is one of the best-known demonic figures in Jewish, Christian and later Western demonological traditions. His identity is not completely uniform across those traditions. In the Book of Tobit, he is a destructive…
Andromalius
Andromalius is a demon listed as the seventy-second and final spirit in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the seventeenth-century grimoire known as the Lesser Key of Solomon. In that text, he is described as a great e…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.