Main deity

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The main god (also supreme god ) is the most important god in the polytheistic religions , which were especially widespread in ancient times. The main god has power over the gods that are hierarchically subordinate to him, who are assigned to him as assistants and are usually related to him. This resulted in various categories of competencies with a sometimes widely branched family tree of the gods, among which, however, a group (in European pantheons often of six gods) stands out, and which have upper responsibilities that can go so far that they have the omnipotence of the highest Limit God. This structure reflects the social and cultural conditions in the respective human society and thus projects human-like conditions onto the gods, who were thought of either living in heaven or underground (Hades) and living as parents with their children and siblings. This divine order was carried over to those ruling houses in which the king (e.g. the pharaoh in ancient Egypt ) was regarded as god or representative of God on earth.

Egyptian mythology

Re also Ra (chronologically later Aton ) was worshiped as a sun god in Egyptian mythology . Just like Inti with the Incas , the sun was seen as the center of all life-giving creativity .

Greek mythology

In Greek mythology , Zeus as the Olympian father of gods was the main god, before him Kronos , before that Uranus . The Roman equivalent was Jupiter (before him Saturnus ), in Germanic mythology it was Thor , before him Odin , before him probably Tyr (possibly also Bur), in the Van Line it was Niörd.

Celtic mythology

An evaluation of the Celtic gods is mainly possible through the Interpretatio Romana . However, the classification is controversial, as it is not clear to what extent the Romans understood the worldview of the Celts . It is unclear whether a deity can be called the supreme deity. The general consensus among experts, however, is to name gods as main gods, who are associated with heaven. The dissemination of dedicatory inscriptions can provide further clues . So it is assumed that widespread gods could rather be seen as the main god. They become Taranis , Dagda , Teutates and Cernunnos as main gods, Rigani , Danu and Dôn can be interpreted as main goddesses. However, the boundaries are blurred and the list is exemplary.

See also: Celtic deities

See also