Fertility deity
A fertility deity 's belief systems with many gods ( polytheism ) is a deity who is responsible for the fertility of the fields and the animals.
In some belief systems, it is not a single fertility deity, but a so-called sacred marriage between a god and a goddess that guarantees the fertility of the fields. An old example of such a couple is the Sumerian Dumuzi and Inanna .
Egypt
Osiris is the god of fertility in ancient Egypt , he is considered the god of the Nile flood .
Sokar (Gr. Sokaris) is one of the oldest gods of the dead of ancient Egypt. In earlier times he was considered the god of fertility, but then changed his shape over time.
Syria
A Syrian goddess of fertility was Astarte (or Aschera).
Ugarit
Ba'al is the god of fertility in the faith of Ugarit . This follows from his function as a weather god , in a rather arid Mediterranean environment, where the fertility of the land depended on its religious responsibility for heavy rain . Therefore, male fertility gods are mostly responsible for the fertility of the fields and (because of the growth of herbs and grasses as fodder made possible by rain) for the cattle, usually not for the fertility of humans. The fertility goddesses are primarily responsible for human fertility, especially women.
The God responsible for water, bread, wine, oil, herbs (food for the cattle) and their prosperity is of particular importance in a peasant culture. The motifs of the quoted hymn can also be found in Psalm 65 of the Bible for YHWH .
Aschera is a Syrian / Ugaritic fertility goddess. Your name ( ugaritic ˀaṯrt , vocalization probably ˀAṯiratu , from which old Hebrew ˀAšera ) is probably derived from the Semitic aṯr, meaning holy place . Her nickname is "the saint". She was revered as a cult stake , which represents a stylized tree . Aschera is the wife of the creator god El . She gave birth to 70 gods and goddesses .
Mesopotamia
In Mesopotamia, the weather god Hadad as a rainbringer, as well as Nergal and Tammuz, were associated with the fertility of the fields. Aššur , too, was perhaps originally a fertility god.
Thracian
The Thracians worshiped the goddess of hunting and fertility and mother of nature Cybele .
Greece
The fertility goddess of the Greek gods was Demeter .
Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, oldest form Περσόφαττα meaning “the one who [when threshing] the sheaves”) is a death, underworld and fertility goddess in Greek mythology. In Roman mythology she becomes Proserpine . She is the daughter of Zeus and his sister Demeter and often bears the name Kore (Κόρη, "girl").
Rome
The Roman goddess of agriculture is Ceres .
The goddess of wealth is Ubertas .
Celts
Cernunnos
Cernunnos is a Celtic deity. His name is interpreted as "the horned one" and he is mostly interpreted as the god of nature and fertility . In ancient times he was equated with Jupiter by the Romans . It is partly assumed that he was the tribal god of the Gallic Carnutes , in whose area the Gallic central sanctuary of the Druids was located. There are no ancient literary mentions of a god Cernunnos, but either inscriptions of the name or pictorial representations of the type of the deer god have been found by him in Gaul , but also in parts of Spain and northern Italy . All in all, his traces can be traced from Britain to Gaul, Spain and Italy to Romania .
Epona
Epona , more rarely also called Epana , is a Celtic fertility goddess and mother of gods as well as the Roman goddess of horses .
The worship of Eponas was widespread in the entire European-Celtic area during the times of the Celts and Gallo-Romans , that is, from antiquity to late antiquity . In these older cults, Epona took the place of a fertility goddess and mother of gods, possibly also that of a heavenly deity , because she was equated with the Roman Ops .
The Roman troops took over Epona as the goddess of horses and cavalry and thus as a quasi- war goddess . Epona and the original Roman goddess of war Bellona were sometimes depicted in the same way.
Germanic peoples
The Germanic goddess of fertility is Freya , she is responsible for love as well as fertility.
Finland
In Finland , the Finnish god of earth and fertility, Sampsä (" sedge "), was responsible for the seeds, especially rye, but also sown pines, spruces and junipers. He was a god who died and rose again and again. If he went into hibernation, rye and oats could not grow, he was woken up again by the "sun boy", he married his stepmother in the field. Then he was the sower.
Aztecs
Xipe Totec was the Aztecs' god of war and fertility . The sacrifice for Xipe Totec should have a positive impact on the corn harvest .
Inca
Mama Allpa was an Inca goddess of fertility who had a multitude of breasts.
North America
Kokopelli is a fertility god worshiped by the indigenous people of the American Southwest (now the United States). He watches over birth and reproduction as well as agriculture . Kokopelli's flute playing drives off winter and ushers in spring. Many tribes, such as the Zuñi , also associate Kokopelli with rain.
voodoo
Ghede ( Guede ) are loa , so in the voodoo mythology in Haiti spirit beings who are responsible for birth, fertility and death.
See also
literature
- André Caquot: At the roots of the Bible. In: World and Environment of the Bible , Heft 1, 2002, pp. 37–42.
- Dirk Kinet: "Baal let his holy voice ring out ..." The theological output of the religious texts from Ugarit. In: World and Environment of the Bible , Heft 1, 2002, pp. 43–48.
- Thomas Staubli: The Baal Myth (The Myth of Baal and Anat). In: World and Environment of the Bible , Heft 1, 2002, p. 49.