WORLD
Explore Myths, Gods and Legends from Around the World
Stories of gods, heroes, monsters and legendary worlds from every culture
Sigurd
Sigurd is one of the greatest heroes of Norse and wider Germanic legend. Known as Sigurðr in Old Norse and as Siegfried in medieval German tradition, he is celebrated for killing the dragon Fáfnir, acquiring a hoard of c…
Manannán Mac Lir
Manannán Mac Lir is one of the most prominent supernatural figures in Irish mythology. His name is commonly translated as “Manannán, son of Lir,” and he is strongly associated with the sea, the Isle of Man, and the other…
Louhi
Louhi is one of the most important supernatural figures in the Kalevala, the nineteenth-century Finnish epic compiled from older oral poetry. She is chiefly portrayed as the powerful mistress of Pohjola, a mysterious nor…
Sif
Sif is a female deity in Norse mythology, best known as the wife of Thor and the owner of remarkable golden hair. She appears only briefly in the surviving medieval sources, but one story gives her an important place in …
Agnostos-theos
Agnostos-theos is the Greek expression for “the unknown god” or “an unknown god.” It is associated chiefly with ancient Athens and with the religious and intellectual world of the Greek-speaking Mediterranean under Roman…
Cassandra
Cassandra is a Trojan princess and prophetess in Greek mythology, best known for foreseeing catastrophe while being unable to persuade anyone to believe her. Daughter of King Priam of Troy, she belongs to the cycle of st…
Africus
Africus was the Roman personification and name of the south-west wind. In Roman geographical and literary usage, Africus could simply mean “African,” but as a wind-name it referred to a current blowing from the south-wes…
Alectrona
Alectrona is a little-known female figure connected with the Greek mythology of Rhodes. She belongs to the family of Helios, the sun god, and is described in ancient tradition as the daughter of Helios and the Rhodian pr…Nyame
Nyame is the supreme creator and sky deity in many Akan religious traditions of West Africa, especially among Akan-speaking peoples in present-day Ghana and parts of Côte d’Ivoire. Akan religion is not based on one unive…
Nyami Nyami
Nyami Nyami is a powerful river spirit associated with the Zambezi River and with the BaTonga people of southern Zambia and northern Zimbabwe. In English-language writing, the figure is often called the “Zambezi River Go…
Nyankopon
Nyankopon is a name for the supreme divine power in Akan religious traditions of West Africa, especially among Akan-speaking peoples in present-day Ghana and parts of Côte d’Ivoire. The name is also written Nyankɔpon or,…
Nyiko
Nyiko is not securely documented as a single, widely recognised god, spirit, hero or monster in African mythology. In many contemporary references, the name is associated with Tsonga or Xitsonga-speaking communities of s…Kojin
Kojin, more accurately romanised as Kōjin, is a Japanese kami associated chiefly with fire, the hearth, cooking, household protection and the productive life of the community. The name is usually written 荒神, meaning some…
Konohanasakuya-hime
Konohanasakuya-hime is a prominent kami in Japanese mythology, best known as the beautiful daughter of the mountain deity Ōyamatsumi and the wife of Ninigi-no-Mikoto, the heavenly descendant sent to rule the Japanese isl…
Kukunochi
Kukunochi, also called Kukunochi-no-kami, is a kami associated with trees and wood in Japanese mythology. The deity appears in early accounts of the creation of the Japanese world, especially the Kojiki and the Nihon Sho…
Kunitokotachi
Kunitokotachi, also written Kuni no Tokotachi no Kami or Kunitokotachi-no-Mikoto, is a primordial kami in Japanese mythology. The figure appears most prominently in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, the two earliest surviv…Kokyangwuti
Kokyangwuti, commonly known in English as Spider Grandmother or Spider Woman, is an important female figure in Hopi sacred narrative. She is associated with creation, emergence, wisdom, protection and the guidance of hum…
Karwan
Karwan is a name associated in some English-language accounts with Hopi mythology, where it is sometimes described as a warlike spirit or a figure connected with warfare. The identification is not secure, however. Karwan…
Koshare
Koshare is a sacred clown figure associated with Hopi ceremonial life in northern Arizona. The name is often applied to a clown character or to ritual performers who appear in certain Hopi dances and public ceremonies. K…
Kloskurbeh
Kloskurbeh is generally identified with Kuloskap, Gluskabe, Glooscap, or related spellings of a major culture hero in Wabanaki Indigenous traditions of northeastern North America. The name is not normally associated with…Mexitl
Mexitl is a name associated in colonial-era Nahuatl traditions with Huitzilopochtli, the patron deity of the Mexica and one of the most important gods of the Aztec Empire. The name also appears in accounts of the Mexica …
Mictecacihuatl
Mictecacihuatl is a female deity associated with the dead in Mexica, commonly called Aztec, religious tradition. Her name is usually translated as “Lady of the Dead” or “Lady of the Place of the Dead.” She is closely con…
Mictlan
Mictlan is the realm of the dead in the religious traditions of the Mexica, often called the Aztecs, and in related Nahua traditions of central Mexico. It was generally understood as a distant underworld ruled by Mictlan…
Mictlantecuhtli
Mictlantecuhtli is the principal lord of Mictlan, the realm of the dead in Nahua and especially Mexica (Aztec) religious tradition. His name is commonly translated as “Lord of Mictlan,” although English renderings and sp…Cuchavira
Cuchavira is a figure associated with the rainbow in the religious traditions of the Muisca, also called the Muysca, an Indigenous people of the Andean highlands of present-day Colombia. She is commonly described as a fe…
El Dorado
El Dorado is one of the most famous legends associated with South America, but it was not originally the name of a golden city. The earliest form of the story concerned a “gilded man” or ruler connected with the Muisca p…
El-lal
El-lal, also written Elal or with other spelling variations, is a major mythic figure in the traditions of the Tehuelche peoples of Patagonia. He is especially associated with the Aónikenk, the southern Tehuelche-speakin…
Epunamun
Epunamun is a figure associated with Mapuche religious tradition in south-central South America, especially the cultural region known as Wallmapu, extending across parts of present-day Chile and Argentina. He is commonly…
Eitumatupua
Eitumatupua is a name associated with the mythology of Mangaia, an island in the southern Cook Islands. In the limited English-language material in which the name appears, Eitumatupua is generally described as a deity or…
Fa’ahotu
Fa’ahotu is a female figure associated chiefly with the traditional mythology of Tahiti and the Society Islands in eastern Polynesia. She is generally described as the consort of Atea, a primordial being connected with t…
Fati
Fati is a name sometimes listed in modern reference works as a Polynesian lunar deity or moon-associated figure. The identification is uncertain, however. Unlike better-documented Polynesian gods such as Tangaroa, Tāne, …
Faumea
Faumea is a name associated with Polynesian mythology, although it does not identify one universally defined goddess throughout Polynesia. In modern English-language summaries, Faumea is commonly presented as a female su…
Ayil
Ayil is an uncertain angelic name found mainly in later esoteric and angelological lists rather than in a clearly defined ancient religious tradition. Unlike Michael, Gabriel, Raphael or Uriel, Ayil has no widely recogni…
St. Porphyrius
St. Porphyrius, usually identified as Porphyrius of Gaza, was a Christian bishop and ascetic who played an important part in the Christianisation of Gaza in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. He is remembered esp…
Atrugiel
Atrugiel is an obscure angelic name whose identity and traditional setting are uncertain. It does not belong to the best-known groups of angels described in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Qur’an, or widely tran…
St. Prætextatus
St. Prætextatus, also written Praetextatus, Pretextatus, or Prétextat, was a sixth-century bishop of Rouen in northern Gaul. He is remembered in Christian tradition as a bishop, political victim, and martyr whose death w…
Beelzebub
Beelzebub is a name associated with both an ancient deity of the Philistine city of Ekron and, in later Jewish and Christian tradition, a powerful demon. The figure’s identity changed substantially over time. In the Hebr…
Bathin
Bathin is a demon of early modern European grimoire tradition, best known from the Ars Goetia, the first part of the Lesser Key of Solomon. He is usually listed as the eighteenth spirit and classified as a Duke. His stan…
Barbatos
Barbatos is a demon of European ceremonial demonology, best known as the eighth spirit in the Ars Goetia, the first section of the seventeenth-century grimoire commonly called The Lesser Key of Solomon. In that tradition…
Balberith
Balberith is a name associated with demonological literature, but its background reaches back to the ancient Levantine deity called Baal-berith or Ba‘al Berith. The ancient name appears in the Hebrew Bible in connection …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.