WORLD
Explore Myths, Gods and Legends from Around the World
Stories of gods, heroes, monsters and legendary worlds from every culture
Norns
The Norns are female beings associated with fate, destiny and the ordering of life in Norse mythology. The best-known Norns are Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld, who appear together in medieval Icelandic accounts beneath the wor…
Fir Bolg
The Fir Bolg are a people of medieval Irish mythology, remembered chiefly in the stories of Ireland’s successive invasions. In the traditional sequence preserved in Irish learned literature, they arrive in Ireland before…
Ilmarinen
Ilmarinen is a master smith and one of the principal culture heroes of Finnish mythology. He is best known from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, where he forges the mysterious Sampo, creates remarkable objects fr…
Nott
Nótt is the personified night in Norse mythology. Her name is the Old Norse word for “night,” and surviving mythological texts describe her as a female figure who travels across the sky in a horse-drawn chariot. She belo…
Aristaeus
Aristaeus is a Greek mythological figure associated with beekeeping, agriculture, hunting, animal husbandry and other practical arts of rural life. He is usually described as the son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, and a…
Caca
Caca is an obscure female figure in Roman mythology, best known as the sister of the monstrous Cacus and as a figure connected with the story of Hercules and the cattle of Geryon. Her tradition survives mainly in ancient…
Arethusa
Arethusa is a nymph of Greek mythology associated with a famous spring on the island of Ortygia, the ancient heart of Syracuse in Sicily. Her story connects the waters of Sicily with the river Alpheus in Elis, in the wes…
Bubona
Bubona is a little-known Roman goddess associated with oxen or cattle. Her name appears mainly in ancient catalogues of specialized Roman deities, where she is described as the divine power placed in charge of bovine ani…
Aha-njoku
Aha-njoku is a figure associated with yams, cultivation and agricultural prosperity in some Igbo traditions of southeastern Nigeria. The name is also written Aha Njoku, Ahia Njoku, Njoku Ji or, in related contexts, Ifeji…
Age
Agé is a name associated in some accounts with a Yoruba divinity or spirit of hunting, the forest and wild animals. The figure is not as consistently documented or widely worshipped as major Yoruba òrìṣà such as Ògún, Ọ̀…
Adroanzi
Adroanzi is the name commonly given to a class of spirits in the traditional religious thought of the Lugbara, a people whose communities are found mainly in north-western Uganda and the adjoining north-e eastern Democra…
Adroa
Adroa is a supreme creator deity associated primarily with the religious traditions of the Lugbara people of northwestern Uganda and the adjoining regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lugbara traditions descr…
Bimbogami
Bimbogami—more conventionally romanised as binbōgami—is the Japanese personification of poverty and financial misfortune. The name combines binbō, meaning “poverty” or “being poor,” with kami, meaning “deity” or “spirit.…
Bishamon
Bishamon, more fully known in Japanese as Bishamonten, is a major Buddhist guardian deity in Japan. He protects the northern direction, defends the Buddhist teachings, and is associated with military strength, righteous …
Kojiki
The Kojiki, usually translated as Records of Ancient Matters, is the oldest surviving major work of Japanese literature and one of the principal sources for Japanese mythology. Compiled in the early eighth century, it pr…
Chimata-no-kami
Chimata-no-kami is a Japanese kami associated with crossroads, branching roads and the boundaries between places. The name is usually understood as “the deity of the forked road” or “the deity at the crossroads.” In myth…Tirawa
Tirawa is the name commonly used for the supreme power or creator in Pawnee religious tradition, especially in English-language descriptions of the religion of the Pawnee people of the Great Plains. The name is also writ…
Tolmalok
Tolmalok is a name associated in some modern reference lists with Native American mythology, but its traditional identity is uncertain. It is sometimes presented as a spirit or deity connected with death, the underworld,…
Totem Poles
Totem poles are monumental carved posts associated mainly with Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. They are especially connected with Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Gitxsan, Nisga'a, Haisla, H…
Txamsem
Txamsem is the Raven culture hero of Tsimshian tradition in the Pacific Northwest of North America. He is associated with the Tsimshian peoples of what is now coastal British Columbia and southeastern Alaska, especially …
Centzon Totochtin
Centzon Totochtin is the Nahuatl name commonly translated as the “Four Hundred Rabbits,” a collective group of deities associated with pulque, intoxication and the many forms that drunkenness could take. They belong to t…
Centzonhuitznahua
Centzonhuitznahua is the collective name given in Nahuatl tradition to the “Four Hundred Southerners,” a group of divine or mythic brothers defeated by Huitzilopochtli at the beginning of the Mexica sacred past. They app…
Chalchiuhtlicue
Chalchiuhtlicue is a major water deity in Nahua, especially Mexica (Aztec), religious tradition. Her name is commonly translated as “She of the Jade Skirt” or “She Who Wears a Jade Skirt.” She was associated with lakes, …
Chalchiuhcihuatl
Chalchiuhcihuatl is a Nahuatl name associated with a female water deity in the religious traditions of central Mexico. The name is usually translated as “Jade Woman” or “Precious-Greenstone Woman.” In many modern referen…
Mama Cocha
Mama Cocha, also written Mama Qocha, is a water mother or female personification of the sea and other great waters in Andean religious tradition, especially in accounts associated with the Inca world. Her name comes from…
Mama Allpa
Mama Allpa is a little-known female fertility figure associated with Inca mythology and the wider religious traditions of the Andes. Her name is commonly interpreted from Quechua as “Mother Earth” or “Earth Mother”: mama…
Mama Ocllo
Mama Ocllo is a founding woman of Inca tradition, best known as the companion, sister and wife of Manco Cápac, the legendary first ruler of Cusco. In the most familiar version of the story, she and Manco Cápac were sent …
Manco Capac
Manco Capac is the legendary founder and first ruler of the Inca dynasty, traditionally associated with the establishment of Cusco in the Andean highlands. He belongs to the origin traditions of the Inca, or Inka, whose …
Mimi
Mimi, also written mimih or mimih spirits, is a name used in Aboriginal traditions of western Arnhem Land in northern Australia, particularly among Kunwinjku-speaking Bininj people. Mimi are generally described as spirit…
Minawara
Minawara is a name associated in some modern reference works with Australian Aboriginal mythology, but its identity is not securely established across the published record. Unlike widely documented figures such as Tiddal…
Miralaldu
Miralaldu is a little-known name associated with Australian Aboriginal mythology and is usually described in modern English-language compilations as a water spirit or dangerous aquatic being. The available information is…
Mokoi
Mokoi is a name used in some English-language accounts of Australian Aboriginal supernatural belief for a dangerous spirit associated with death, fear and attacks on sleeping people. The available descriptions are brief …
St. Pelagia Of Antioch
St. Pelagia of Antioch is traditionally remembered as a wealthy and celebrated woman who renounced her former life, received Christian baptism, and lived thereafter as an ascetic in Jerusalem. In the best-known account, …
Cerviel
Cerviel is a little-known angelic name found in later esoteric and occult lists. It is most often associated with strength, courage, or fortitude, but the evidence for this identity is limited and inconsistent. Cerviel d…
St. Pelagia Of Tarsus
St. Pelagia of Tarsus is venerated in Christian tradition as a virgin martyr who suffered during the persecutions associated with the Roman emperor Diocletian in the early fourth century. Her traditional setting is Tarsu…
Cassiel
Cassiel is the name used in later Jewish mystical, Christian occult and esoteric traditions for an angel associated especially with Saturn, time, solitude and restraint. Unlike Michael, Gabriel or Raphael, Cassiel does n…
Ornias
Ornias is a demon who appears in the Testament of Solomon, a late antique pseudepigraphal work about King Solomon’s supposed authority over spirits. In the story, Ornias troubles a young labourer involved in building the…
Orias
Orias is a demon in early modern European demonological literature, best known as the fifty-ninth spirit in the Ars Goetia, the first part of the Lesser Key of Solomon. He is also called Oriax in some versions of the tra…
Onoskelis
Onoskelis is a female demon described in the Testament of Solomon, a late antique work associated with Jewish and Christian traditions about King Solomon’s power over spirits. Her name is commonly understood as meaning “…
Obyzouth
Obyzouth is a female child-threatening demon known chiefly from late antique and Byzantine religious and magical traditions. The name appears in several spellings, including Obizuth, Obizouth, Obyzouth and Abyzou. These …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.