WORLD
Explore Myths, Gods and Legends from Around the World
Stories of gods, heroes, monsters and legendary worlds from every culture
Sága
Sága is a little-known female figure in Norse mythology, counted among the ásynjur, the goddesses or women of the divine Æsir. Her name is associated with the Old Norse word-family connected with speech, saying and what …
Medb
Medb is one of the most powerful and controversial figures in Irish mythology. Usually known in English as Maeve, she is the queen of Connacht and a central character in the Ulster Cycle, one of the four major narrative …
Kuu
Kuu is the Finnish word for the Moon and, in discussions of Finnish mythology, may refer either to the celestial body itself or to a personified lunar power. It is sometimes presented in modern summaries as a Finnish moo…
Síbilja
Síbilja is not a securely attested goddess, giantess, valkyrie, or other independent figure in the surviving mythology of medieval Scandinavia. The name appears in some modern lists of “Norse gods and beings”, but those …
Alemonia
Alemonia is a name associated with a minor Roman divine power believed to protect or nourish a developing child in the womb. The figure belongs to the broad category of specialised Roman religious names sometimes connect…
Amalthea
Amalthea is a figure of Greek mythology associated with the infancy of Zeus. In the most familiar version of the story, she is the goat whose milk nourished Zeus while he was hidden from his father, Cronus. Other ancient…
Albunea
Albunea is a prophetic female figure associated with Roman Italy, the waters of the Anio River and the ancient town of Tibur, now Tivoli. She is described in different traditions as a nymph of a sacred spring, a local go…
Alpheus
Alpheus is a river god of Greek mythology, identified with the Alpheus River in the western Peloponnese. In Greek, his name is written Alpheios (Ἀλφειός), while “Alpheus” is the usual Latin and English form. He belongs t…
Oshun
Ọ̀ṣun, commonly written as Oshun in English, is a major òrìṣà of Yoruba religious tradition. She is associated especially with fresh water, rivers, fertility, love, beauty, prosperity, diplomacy and forms of feminine pow…
Oshunmare
Oshunmare is a Yoruba orisha associated above all with the rainbow, the serpent, movement between realms, and the continuous circulation of life’s forces. The name is also written Ọ̀ṣùmàrè, Osumare, or, in Brazilian reli…
Oya
Oya is a major òrìṣà in Yoruba religious tradition, associated especially with wind, sudden change, storms, transformation and the boundary between the living and the dead. Her name is also written Ọ̀ya, while related tr…
Sopona
Sopona is a Yoruba divinity associated chiefly with smallpox and other dangerous epidemic diseases. The name appears in several spellings, including Ṣọ̀pọ̀nná, Soponu, Shopona and Shapona. In Yoruba religious thought, So…
Kamui
Kamui is a Japanese rendering of the Ainu word more commonly written kamuy. It does not usually name a single god or monster. Rather, it refers to the powerful spiritual beings of Ainu religious tradition, including deit…
Kappa
The kappa is a water-dwelling being of Japanese folklore, traditionally associated with rivers, ponds, irrigation channels and other bodies of fresh water. Its name is commonly written 河童, literally “river child,” althou…
Kasha
Kasha (火車, commonly read kasha) is a frightening being associated with Japanese Buddhist folklore and tales of the dead. Its name means “fire cart” or “fiery vehicle.” In traditional stories, a kasha descends during a fu…
Kashiwa-no-kami
Kashiwa-no-kami is best understood as a Japanese tree kami associated with the kashiwa, usually identified with the daimyo oak (Quercus dentata) or, in some contexts, with oak trees more generally. The name can be transl…
Aholi
Aholi is a katsina figure in Hopi religious tradition, associated especially with the ceremonial life of the Hopi villages in northeastern Arizona. Like other katsinam, Aholi is not simply a character in a fixed storyboo…
Angak Chin Mana
Angak Chin Mana is a female katsina figure in Hopi religious tradition, usually identified in English as the Long-Hair Maiden or Long-Haired Woman. The name appears in several spellings, including Angak'china, Angak Chin…
Eototo
Eototo is a prominent katsina in Hopi religious tradition, often described in English-language accounts as a chief or father of the katsinam. The Hopi word katsina refers both to spiritual beings and, in particular conte…
Hototo
Hototo is a name associated with a katsina—often written “kachina” in English—within Hopi religious and ceremonial traditions of northern Arizona. Hototo is not one of the universally standardized figures of Hopi mytholo…
Itzpapalotl
Itzpapalotl is a powerful female deity in the religious traditions of Nahua-speaking peoples, especially the Mexica, often known in English as the Aztecs. Her Nahuatl name is commonly translated as “Obsidian Butterfly.” …
Itztlacoliuhqui
Itztlacoliuhqui is a complex figure in Aztec and wider Nahua religious thought, associated with frost, cold, rigidity, punishment and the dangerous power of the obsidian blade. His name is also connected with a covered o…
Ixtlilton
Ixtlilton was a deity of the Nahua peoples of central Mexico, especially associated with health, healing, childhood, music, dancing and joyful recreation. He is commonly described as an Aztec god because he appears in so…
Malinalxochi
Malinalxochi, also written Malinalxochitl or Malinalxoch, is a female figure associated with Mexica, commonly called Aztec, migration traditions. She is usually presented as the sister of Huitzilopochtli, the Mexica patr…
Cherruves
Cherruves is a name used for a fiery supernatural being associated primarily with Mapuche tradition in south-central Chile and adjoining parts of Argentina. The singular form is more commonly written cherufe, cherufé, or…
Chia
Chía is a lunar figure associated with the Muisca, or Muysca, peoples of the highlands of what is now central Colombia. In most modern descriptions, she is identified as a goddess or personification of the Moon, often pl…
Chibchacum
Chibchacum is a deity of the Muisca, an Indigenous people of the Andean highlands of present-day Colombia. In accounts recorded during the Spanish colonial period, he appears as a powerful protector associated with the p…
Chiminigagua
Chiminigagua is a creator figure in the traditional religious worldview of the Muisca, an Indigenous people of the northern Andes whose historical homeland lay mainly on the high plateau of present-day central Colombia. …
Ai-tupuai
Ai-tupuai is an obscure name associated with Polynesian supernatural tradition, but its identity is not securely established. English-language summaries sometimes present Ai-tupuai as a frightening spirit, monster or man…
Aiaru
Aiaru is a name associated in some modern reference works with Polynesian mythology, usually as a minor sea-related deity or supernatural figure. The identification is uncertain, however. Unlike major Polynesian gods suc…
Aku-aku
Aku-aku is a term from the traditional religious and folkloric vocabulary of Rapa Nui, the Polynesian people of Easter Island. It is commonly used for spirits of the dead, ancestral beings, or other supernatural presence…
Aroonoona
Aroonoona is a little-known name associated with Polynesian mythology, but its identity is uncertain. Unlike major figures such as Tangaroa, Māui, Tāne, or Hina, Aroonoona is not securely documented across a broad, recog…
Azriel
Azriel is a name associated with angels, Jewish religious tradition, and later accounts of the angel of death, but its identity is not consistent across sources. In some modern writings, Azriel is treated as a variant sp…
St. Polycarp
St. Polycarp was a second-century Christian bishop of Smyrna, an important city on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, in what is now İzmir, Turkey. He is remembered as one of the earliest Christian martyrs whose life and de…
Azrael
Azrael is the name commonly given to the angel of death in Islamic tradition. In Arabic, the name is usually written ʿAzrāʾīl or ʿIzrāʾīl, while “Azrael” is a familiar English form. His principal role is to receive or ta…
St. Pontian
St. Pontian, more precisely Pope Pontian or Pontianus, was a bishop of Rome who served during a period of internal conflict in the Christian Church and severe imperial persecution. He became bishop of Rome around 230 and…
Bifrons
Bifrons 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 great earl who teaches astrology, geometry and other branches of knowle…
Berith
Berith is a demonological figure best known from early modern European grimoires, especially the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and the Ars Goetia. In those texts he is described as a powerful duke of Hell who appears as a sol…
Belphegor
Belphegor is a demon of Christian demonology whose name ultimately derives from Baal-Peor, a deity or cult title mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The figure known in later European demonology is not simply identical with t…
Belial
Belial is a name associated with wickedness, lawlessness and opposition to divine order in Jewish and Christian religious traditions. In the oldest Hebrew texts, however, Belial is usually not the name of an independent …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.