Helen of Troy was omitted from the first edition because she is widely regarded as having been a mortal queen made famous through Homeric legend. Away from the southern hemisphere cultures, two specific new entries deserve mention.
In recent years some specialized reference works, focusing on the “Pacific traditions,” have been published and the additional entries in the book draw on valuable resources of information that were not all widely available when the first edition was compiled. All of these cultures are richly endowed with deities. Most notably they included the Pacific islands of Hawaii, Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, along with Australia and New Zealand with the venerated traditions of the Australian AboriginesĪnd the Maori. As a result of these decisions, certain geographical areas were under-represented in the first edition. It was also thought constructive to include as many names as possible from Ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Classical Roman and Greek, Norse, Celtic, and Germanic pantheons since, in recent decades, there has been a resurgence of interest in many of these among “alternative religion” movements. This meant that much attention was paid to the living polytheistic religions, including Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Shinto. The intention of the first edition was to cover all the major theaters of belief as extensively as was feasible at the time, with the primary object of including most of the names of deities that the student was likely to come across while traveling to religious and archaeological sites around the world, or researching in museums and libraries. There are just too many regional variations amongst the larger religion blocks and, equally, a vast number of very localized cults, each with its own idiosyncratic pantheons of gods and goddesses. It is explained in the introduction to this volume that no database of deities worldwide can ever hope to be comprehensive. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION v INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION vii CHRONOLOGY OF THE PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS AND CULTURES COVERED IN THIS BOOK xiii DICTIONARY OF GODS AND GODDESSES 1 BIBLIOGRAPHY 361 INDEX 367 You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at Text design by David Strelecky Cover design by Cathy Rincon Printed in the United States of America VB FOF 10 Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. BL473.J67 2004 202'.11'03–dc22 2004013028 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Jordan, Michael, 1941– Encyclopedia of gods. Includes bibliographical references and index. 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jordan, Michael, 1941– Dictionary of gods and godesses / Michael Jordan.– 2nd ed. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc.
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Second Edition Copyright © 2004, 1993 by Michael Jordan All rights reserved.
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