Ancient Eclecticism: Migration of deities

[ninurta2008]

Okay, I see here and there the migration of deities inside other topics so I thought I would make one here. This is going to be where the deities that are found in foreign pantheons will be posted.

Try to keep it how I layed it out, the culture that has the deity the deity under it, and the land of origin next to the deity.

*Note: Some aren't major deities

Greek
Apollo - Anatolian
Artemis - Anatolian
Cybele - Anatolian
Aphrodite - Cypriot
Isis - Egyptian
Osiris - Egyptian
Horus - Egyptian
Adonis - Phoenician
Astarte - Phoenician

Roman
Mithras - Persian/East Anatolian
(excuse my lack of Roman knowledge)

Egyptian
Ba'al - Canaanite Hadad
Reshep - Canaanite
Astarte - Canaanite
Anat - Canaanite
(I know there are Nubian deities, but I have to look them up

Assyro-babylonian
Anu - Sumerian
Ellil - Sumerian
Anat - Sumerian
Ishara - Hurrian/hittite (may be the other way around)

Canaanite/Phoenician
Anat - Assyro-babylonian
Hadad - Assyro-babylonian
Athtart/Ashtart - assyro-babylonian (?)

East Anatolian/Hittite/Hurrian
Istar/Ishtar - Assyro-babylonian
Anu - Assyro-babylonian
Ea - Assyro-babylonian

Persian/Zoroastrian
Anahita - East Anatolian/Armenian/that area (not certain where)

Indian/Hindu
Mitra - Persian

*Note: (?) means uncertain

Feel free to add to this as you please.

[Toby Stimpson]

This is a great list, well done! I think the important piece about ancient cultures though is that I wouldn't call it eclecticism, and more a generalized worldview. That and the fact that deities from other regions often were connected to the peoples who later adopted them... and that the deities themselves were assimilated. Eclecticism as we see it today often involves atleast partially worshipping Gods in their original forms... the ancients often took and reformed those deities. Isis in Roman times for example, being regarbed in Roman dress and attributes.

I think also another compoinent that needs to be added to this is that deities in other regions were often the culturalized and evolved forms of deities that belonged to one group before it split and migrated. With the god Mitra/Mithras/Mithra... the persian and Indian versions came from an earlier form that was shared by the Indo-Aryan peoples before they settled and became distinct in persia and south asia. One did not come from the other. Mithras the roman version, however, came originally from the Greek kingdoms in Bactria and other central asian kingdoms that were set up by Alexander the Great.

Similarly, peoples living in close proximity to each other, such as the Mesopotamian peoples were, way back in time, one group. It's almost like how now we have Canadian English, American English and original British English peoples. The christianity we see in these three countries are somewhat different, but we wouldnt say that the Christian God is different.

It is tremednously interesting how far some Gods travelled.

[ninurta2008]

You are right though I do have to correct you on the mesopotamian part, it's just a little bit of a pet peeve. But Mesopotamian religion was originally many seperate religions that in time began to fuse.

Sumerian and Akkadian languages even are part of whole different language families. Though it can be said that Canaanite and akkadians split from the same earlier culture. They are all semitic except the sumerians and the Indo-europeans and the other ethnic groups.