Knowledge deity
Encyclopedia
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
in mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
associated with knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
, wisdom
Wisdom
Wisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions so that universal principles, reason and...
, or intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
.
Australian Aboriginal mythology
- Jar'Edo WensJar'Edo WensIn Australian aboriginal mythology, Jar'Edo Wens is a god of earthly knowledge and physical might, created by Altjira to ensure that people did not get too arrogant or self-conceited. He is associated with victory and intelligence....
, deity associated with earthly knowledge and physical might
Celtic mythology
- OgmaOgmaOgma is a character from Irish mythology and Scottish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gallic god Ogmios....
, a figure from Irish and Scottish mythology, said to have invented the OghamOghamOgham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the Old Irish language, and occasionally the Brythonic language. Ogham is sometimes called the "Celtic Tree Alphabet", based on a High Medieval Bríatharogam tradition ascribing names of trees to the individual letters.There are roughly...
alphabet
Chinese mythology
- Erlang ShenErlang ShenErlang Shen , or Erlang is a Chinese God with a third truth-seeing eye in the middle of his forehead.Er-lang Shen may be a deified version of several semi-mythical folk heroes who help regulate China's torrential floods, dating variously from the Qin, Sui and Jin dynasties...
, god possessing a truth-seeing third eyeThird eyeThe third eye is a mystical and esoteric concept referring in part to the ajna chakra in certain spiritual traditions. It is also spoken of as the gate that leads within to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness...
in the centre of his forehead
Egyptian mythology
- NeithNeithIn Egyptian mythology, Neith was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the patron deity of Sais, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt and attested as early as the First Dynasty...
, early Egyptian goddess sometimes associated with wisdom - ThothThothThoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
, god of wisdom and scribe of the gods, credited with the invention of writingWritingWriting is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
and the alphabet - SaaSaaIn Egyptian mythology, Saa was the deification of perception in the Heliopolitan Ennead cosmogeny and is probably equivalent to the intellectual energies of the heart of Ptah in the Memphite cosmogeny. He also had a connection with writing and was often shown in anthropomorphic form holding a...
, the deification of wisdom - SeshatSeshatIn Egyptian mythology, Seshat was the Ancient Egyptian goddess of wisdom, knowledge, and writing. She was seen as a scribe and record keeper, and her name means she who scrivens , and is credited with inventing writing...
, goddess of wisdom, knowledge and writing
Greek mythology
- AthenaAthenaIn Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
, goddess of wisdom - CoeusCoeusIn Greek mythology, Coeus was one of the Titans, the giant sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia . His equivalent in Latin poetry—though he scarcely makes an appearance in Roman mythology— was Polus, the embodiment of the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve...
, TitanTitan (mythology)In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
god of intellect - EidyiaEidyiaIn Greek mythology, Eidyia was a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and queen to Aeetes, king of Colchis. Mother of Medea, Chalciope and Apsyrtus, she was also the youngest of the Oceanides. Some sources called her the goddess of knowledge....
, an Oceanid sometimes associated with knowledge - MetisMetis (mythology)In Greek mythology, Metis was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that Metis was born of Oceanus and Tethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings...
, goddess of wisdom, wise counsel and cunning - PrometheusPrometheusIn Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...
, god of forethought - ApolloApolloApollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, god of knowledge
Hindu mythology
- SaraswatiSaraswatiIn Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
, goddess of knowledge and all literary arts including music, literature and speech - GaneshaGaneshaGanesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh, also known as Ganapati , Vinayaka , and Pillaiyar , is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations...
, god of intellect and wisdom
Japanese mythology
- FukurokujuFukurokujuIn Japan, Fukurokuju is one of the Seven Lucky Gods in Japanese mythology. It has been theorized that he is a Japanese assimilation of the Chinese Three Star Gods embodied in one deity. Most related in appearance to the Chinese star god Shou, he is the God of wisdom and longevity...
, god of wisdom and longevityLongevityThe word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected .... - KuebikoKuebikois the Shinto kami of knowledge and agriculture, represented in Japanese mythology as a scarecrow who cannot walk but has comprehensive awareness.-Names:...
, scarecrow god of wisdom and agriculture - OmoikaneOmoikane (Shinto)Omoikane is a Shinto god of wisdom and intelligence. His name means "serving one's thoughts."A heavenly deity, identified as a child of Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami, who is always called upon to "ponder" and give good counsel in the deliberations of the heavenly deities. Appears to have descended from...
, ShintoShintoor Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
goddess of wisdom and intelligence
Mesopotamian mythology
- Al-KutbayAl-KutbayAl-Kutbay was a Nabataean god of knowledge, commerce, writing, and prophecy. The name means, roughly, "the scribe"; it comes from the Arabic root ktb which means 'to write.' A carving at the foot of Jebal Rumm, discovered in 1959 by J. Strugell, is dedicated to al-Kutbay...
, Nabataean, god of knowledge, commerce, writing, and prophecy - EnkiEnkiEnki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...
, god of intelligence, as well as crafts, mischief, water and creation - NabuNabuNabu is the Assyrian and Babylonian god of wisdom and writing, worshipped by Babylonians as the son of Marduk and his consort, Sarpanitum, and as the grandson of Ea. Nabu's consort was Tashmetum....
, Babylonian god of wisdom and writing - NidabaNidabaNanibgal , also Nisaba or Nidaba was the Sumerian goddess of writing, learning, and the harvest. Her sanctuaries were E-zagin at Eresh and at Umma. On a depiction found in Lagash, she appears with flowing hair, crowned with horned tiara bearing supporting ears of corn and a crescent moon...
, SumerSumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian goddess of writing, learning, and the harvest
Norse mythology
- OdinOdinOdin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, the ruler of AsgardAsgardIn Norse religion, Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds and is the country or capital city of the Norse Gods surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hrimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari, according to Gylfaginning. Valhalla is located within Asgard...
who sacrificed his eye and hung for nine days from the world tree YggdrasilYggdrasilIn Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
in order to gain the wisdom of the ages - MímirMímirMímir or Mim is a figure in Norse mythology renowned for his knowledge and wisdom who is beheaded during the Æsir-Vanir War...
, a god renowned for his knowledge and wisdom; Odin is advised by his decapitated head - SnotraSnotraIn Norse mythology, Snotra is a goddess associated with wisdom. Snotra is solely attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the goddess....
, goddess associated with wisdom - VörVörIn Norse mythology, Vör is a goddess associated with wisdom. Vör is attested in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and twice in kennings employed in skaldic poetry...
, goddess associated with wisdom
Persian mythology
- AnahitaAnahitaAnahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ' ; the Avestan language name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of 'the Waters' and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom...
, goddess of 'the Waters' (AbanAbanApas is the Avestan language term for "the waters", which—in its innumerable aggregate states—is represented by the Apas, the hypostases of the waters....
) - fertility, healing and wisdom
Roman mythology
- EgeriaEgeria (mythology)Egeria was a nymph attributed a legendary role in the early history of Rome as a divine consort and counselor of the Sabine second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, to whom she imparted laws and rituals pertaining to ancient Roman religion...
, water nymph who gives wisdom and prophecy in return for libations of water or milk at her sacred groveSacred groveA sacred grove is a grove of trees of special religious importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves were most prominent in the Ancient Near East and prehistoric Europe, but feature in various cultures throughout the world... - FabulinusFabulinusIn the popular religion of ancient Rome, though not appearing in literary Roman mythology, the god Fabulinus taught children to speak. He received an offering when the child spoke its first words...
, the god who taught children speech - MinervaMinervaMinerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
, goddess of wisdom and the Roman equivalent of Athena - ProvidentiaProvidentiaIn ancient Roman religion, Providentia is a divine personification of the ability to foresee and make provision. She was among the embodiments of virtues that were part of the Imperial cult of ancient Rome. Providentia thus figures in art, cult, and literature, but has little or no mythology as...
, goddess of forethought