...logy|Aztec]] and [[Toltec mythology|Toltec]] mythology, '''Xolotl''' ("The Animal", Lord of the Evening Star, Lord of the [[Underworld]]) was the god of ligh
...otl" can also mean "dog" in [[Nahuatl]], the Aztec language - or a monster animal with reversed feet. He was also the patron of the Ulama game. He is identi
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...rm of a variety of animals and as beings with a grotesque mix of human and animal characteristics. They could act like human beings, dancing for example, or
...en. This "Boney-Thing" might have been one of the important skeletal death gods of the Classic Period depicted dancing on Maya ceramics. The way of the pow
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...are usually portrayed as monstrous, with missing or excessive body parts, animal features and the usual fangs, bulging eyes and potbellies.
The buta-kala are everywhere but their absence is felt mainly when the gods are distant or when human neglect or wrongdoing has alienated the Divinity.
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Some Gandharvas are part animal, usually a bird or horse, other appears as beautiful dancers with handsome
...erb musical skills. They guarded the Soma and made beautiful music for the gods in their palaces.
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Fenrir is bound by the gods, but is ultimately destined to grow too large for his bonds and devours '''
...Only the god '''Tyr''' was daring enough to feed the growing monster. The gods urged by the wolf's increasing strength and by prophecies that he would be
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The '''Hodag''' is a fictional animal that is part of the folklore of the American state of Wisconsin. Its histor
Sheperd rounded up a group of local people to capture the animal. The group reported that they needed to use dynamite to kill the beast. A p
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...tutor. This puts him in a company of phallic or half-animal tutors of the gods, a group that includes Priapus, Cedalion and Chiron, but also includes Pall
*Karl Kerenyi, 1951. ''The Gods of the Greeks''.
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...er than those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal. Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving. Grant
...as]]) and brought all the worlds under his control. He began to harass the gods and torture the saints and other devotees of Vishnu.
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...Egyptian god represented solely as an animal, and never as a human with an animal's head.
...s had stronger influence. Nethertheless, the Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a Greek statue was chosen as the idol, and proclaime
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In the Ming dynasty of China the Qilin is represented as an oxen-hooved animal with a [[dragon]]-like head surmounted by a pair of horns and flame-like he
...ina's subsequent Manchurian dominated Qing dynasty is a much more fanciful animal. Manchurian depictions of the qilin depict a creature with the head of a [[
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'''Mo-o''' are a type of dragons that were worshipped as ghost-gods by the ancient Hawaiians.
The New Zealanders used the same names for some of their large reptile gods. They, however, spelled the word with a "k," calling it mo-ko, and it was a
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...that continuously strive to undermine the divine order established by the gods as related by numerous accounts from Hindu mythology. Hence, his name refle
...ribed as being a female demon in the guise of a buffalo. Regardless of the animal’s true nature, Rhamba took the she buffalo as a consort. However, shortl
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...th and her duty includes nourishing of all life on earth, human, plant and animal.
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...amongst [[Wiccan]]-influenced Neopagans, which unites numerous male nature gods out of such widely-dispersed and historically unconnected [[mythology|mytho
...bulls and goats, sacred stags and ibexes serve as examples. Not all horned gods and their priests were male; [[Astarte]] and [[Isis]] (borrowing an attribu
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...erred to as devas or demi-gods. Some Asuras were corrupted while some were gods in heaven. Both are children of Kashyapa. Asuras should not be confused wit
...sub-tribes would compete in making the most perfect ritual offering to the gods, seeking to outdo their peers in beauty of hymns sung, richness of offering
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...rock reliefs at Maltai, however, the creature accompanies three different gods, Assur, Ellil (Enlil) and another god, most likely Nabu.
...ching any known creature, some argue the sirrush could have been a genuine animal.
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...out every sort of horrible sound, for sometimes it was speech such as the gods could understand, but at other times, the sound of a bellowing bull, proud-
...against the Titans; Typhon was so fearsome and dangerous, that the younger gods feared to face the monsters. Zeus tried to fight Typhon, until the monster
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...ten depicted as old, ugly and unmerciful, they are most honoured among the gods because they distribute justly and have a share in every home.
...re of evil and good, and equally punish the transgressions of both men and Gods.
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The '''Peryton''' or '''Perytion''' is a fabulous animal that came from the lost continent of Atlantis and was aaid to have played a
...ad perished far from the shores of home, away from the protection of their gods. Other explanations for their origin claim that they are the reincarnated s
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...e powerful. Blood is viewed by pagan religions as the sustenance of their gods, maintaining their power and immortality through the sacrifice of humans an
“''And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people''.”
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...of the gods. Ragnarok in Norse mythology was the final battle between the gods of Asgard and the many monsters of the world.
...oples considered the birth of "freaks" representations of the wrath of the gods, a demonstration, as it were. The first so-named monstra were the showpiece
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Recently works '''satyrs''' have become more human, with fewer animal characteristics, until only the tail remains to show that they are satyrs.
...re was a species of drama known as the satyric; it parodied the legends of gods and heroes, and the chorus was composed of satyrs and sileni. In the Atheni
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...ure is really a leopard god or goddess masquerading as a human. When these gods mate with humans, offspring can be produced, and these children sometimes g
...e ''balams'' (magicians) of Yucatán were said to guard the maize fields in animal form. Variants of this belief assert that the shapeshifter does not recogni
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...fire-sacrifice, called yagna, but personified are also seen as devas. All gods taken together are worshipped as the Vishvedevas. Varuna, identified by som
...uous tasks under their diligence that they are sometimes called themselves gods under the Supreme One God. The Hindu trinity is composed of Brahma, Vishnu
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...him back to health using his magical powers, which entailed tying the dead animal's antlers on Herne's head. In return, however, Herne had to give up his hun
...est was settled by pagan Anglo-Saxons who worshipped their own pantheon of gods, including [[Woden]] who rode across the night's sky with his own [[Wild Hu
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...me for the Feathered-Serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerica, one of the main gods of many Mexican and northern Central American civilizations and also the na
===Quetzalcoatl and other Gods===
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The tomte is connected to farm animals in general, but his most treasured animal was the horse. Belief had it that you could see which horse was the tomte's
...ecree Saint Birgitta warns against the worship of ''tompta gudhi'', "tomte gods". Folklore added other negative beliefs about the tomte, such as that havin
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Often Zeus would send the Centaurs to punish gods and humans who had offended him. The hostility between man and Centaurs is
...on horses. The theory goes that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal. (Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported that the Aztecs had this misapprehensi
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...strange foot symbolizes she may be a higher being who could shapeshift to animal form. He noticed Bertha with a strange foot exist in many languages (German
...hta, and this has become the name of her entourage, as well as the name of animal masks worn in parades and festivals in the mountainous regions of Austria.
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...igin. Yet, the sound’s amplitude was too large to be produced by any known animal species, and its source remains a mystery. According to NOAA, the readings
...'', a Bran Mak Morn tale by Robert E. Howard mention is made of the "black gods of R'lyeh". Lovecraft was a friend and correspondent of Howard and their wo
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...oncept. The word is derived from Greek ''therion'' (Θηριον), meaning "wild animal" or "beast", and ''anthrōpos'' (ανθρωπος), meaning "man".
...olf]]), the term is often used to refer to shape changing to any non-human animal form.
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...e's belief set, its superstitions may relate to [[cemetery|cemeteries]], [[animal]]s, [[demon]]s, a [[devil]], deceased [[ancestor]]s, the [[weather]], [[gam
...e gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. "Such fear of the gods (''[[deisidaimonia]]'') was what the Romans meant by 'superstition' (Veyne
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...ewty's profession; but rather than acting as a messenger and scribe to the gods themselves, Anubis serves the dead as a recorder of their deeds and as a fi
However, as lesser of the two gods of the underworld, he gradually became considered the son of Osiris, but Os
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...conjure protective circles against demons, and freeze humans, demons, and gods alike.
...ribe gives him the title of "Handsome Monkey-King". After angering several gods and coming to the attention of the Jade Emperor, he is given a minor positi
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...as well as binding, magnification, and making contracts, weather control, animal control, and provacation]. Demons use variants and combinations of these p
.... This idea can also been associated with the depiction of certain ancient gods like [[Baal]], [[Moloch]], the [[shedu]], etc, which were portrayed as bull
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...nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privil
The she-dog is the animal most commonly associated with Hecate. She was sometimes called the 'Black s
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Chiron is the noblest specimen of a combination of the human and animal forms in the ancient works of art; for while the centaurs generally express
...ent healing arts, e.g. cheiromancy, or the art of divining the will of the gods through the interpretation of the patterns of the hands.
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...heir kings so that they would be recognizable to both the people and their gods eternally. Therefore, the process of mummification was developed over a pe
...t at night in search of its own food, in the form of human blood, decaying animal flesh, brackish water, or even faeces. Nobody was safe from this walking c
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...w converts, early Christian missionaries would often adopt and adapt local gods, sometimes turning them into obscure saints.)
...naissance onwards, elaborate variations on the Green Man theme, often with animal heads rather than human faces, appear in many media other than carvings (in
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...hat my death not be brought about by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal. Grant me that I not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving. Grant
...er one of these, as he is a form of Vishnu incarnate as a part-human, part-animal. He comes upon Hiranyakashipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night
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...persons having powerful animal-like qualities or conversely, an impressive animal with human qualities.
...were rationing out the elixir of immortality, the nāgas grabbed a cup. The gods were able to retrieve the cup, but in doing so, spilled a few drops on the
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...ppa are also said to favor) into the local river in order to appease water gods and hungry ghosts.
...o, the footprints did not look human, nor did they appear to belong to any animal he could imagine.
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...iamat]] and other similar monsters who represented the sea as a foe to the gods in [[mythology|myth]]s of nearby cultures.
==Leviathan as an animal==
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...tween the legends of heroes and mythology proper, between the myths of the gods and those of the heroes, which are often entwined with them or at least bor
...xceed these boundaries of "realism" are called "[[fable]]s". The [[talking animal]] formula of [[Aesop]] identifies his brief parables as fables, not legends
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...隠) meaning to hide or conceal, as oni were originally invisible spirits or gods which caused disasters, disease, and other unpleasant things. These nebulou
...from the town where Momotarou's adoptive parents lived. Momotarou and his animal friends (a pheasant, a monkey, and a dog, whom he had encouraged to become
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...art/Moloch was also Milcom the god of the Ammonites and identical to other gods whose names contain mlk.
...efeated Carthage, the Carthaginian nobles believed they had displeased the gods by substituting low-born children for their own children. They attempted to
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...no circle of worshippers or so limited a circle as to be below the rank of gods, and with malevolent beings of all kinds. Demonology, though often referred
Excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another world. But just as gods are not necessarily spiritual, demons may also be regarded as corporeal; va
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...[[Maenad]]s, the human women made mad by the wine god. Sometimes the part-animal companions of Dionysus are called [[satyr]]s, whether meaning the same thin
..., daughter of Cadmus, a mortal woman, and his father Zeus, the king of the gods.
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* An Animal Imagined by Kafka - A kangaroo-like animal with a flat, human-like face and a very long tail.
* [[Singing Beast]] Imagined by C. S. Lewis - An animal that sits upon its haunches like a dog, but appears more like a horse. Its
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But the gods were not unkind and it so happened that one of them felt motivated to check
...of the Nian, it wasn't long before the mountains soon became devoid of all animal life, and the beast soon found itself denied prey within the boundaries of
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