About This Quiz
No matter whether or not you are a believer yourself, and even irrespective of which faith you follow, you cannot deny that religion has been immensely important in shaping human history. Some religions are enormously powerful, enjoying hundreds of millions or even more than a billion followers. These can be as old as several millennia, and have typically split into factions that often take serious issue with one another and may be considered (by adherents, if not by scholars or the wider public) to be effectively different religions at this point. Others are now defunct, as the civilizations that gave rise to them have since fallen. Generally speaking, monotheistic religion has been having a very good time of it in the Middle East, South America and Africa, while fading but still hugely significant in North America and Europe and Central Asia. Meanwhile, faiths of polytheistic origin dominate in Asia.
How well do you know the deities of religions both current and past? Does your mind boggle when you hear names like Thor, Bast or Vishnu, or can you rattle off the correct theological framework for them as easily as you would that of Jesus, Allah or Yahweh? Let's find out!
Baal is a Phoenician deity. It is believed that his followers possibly tattooed and scarred their faces with decorations, which may be why the Bible prohibits the use of a razor on the face, as it was a sign of Baal worship.
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Sekhmet is a fierce hunting goddess. She is depicted as a lion, which is among the most fierce animals the Egyptians encountered.
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Dionysus is the god of wine, and is known as Bacchus in Rome. He is usually depicted as very drunk and having a party that has lasted centuries.
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Kali is a goddess of destruction. However she's not arbitrary about it and only comes for those who deserve it! For her followers, sometimes destruction is a good thing as it balances the world out.
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Thor is the Norse God of thunder. He is also a Marvel Avenger, where liberties were taken with the legend. With his trusty hammer (now sword in the movies), he is quite a force to be reckoned with.
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Jesus is a Christian deity or part of a deity, depending on how you frame it. He is the son of God but also part of the holy Trinity, which is a single God with three parts.
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Gaia is the earth mother. She is often a feature in theologies that are not Greek, but instead more pagan in nature, where she represents a mother of us all.
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Buddha is divine but not a deity. He is the founder of Buddhism, which is about achieving Enlightenment through good works and meditation. There are no deities involved, though.
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Uzume's full name is Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto. She is the Shinto goddess of dawn, mirth and revelry. Shinto is the imperial religion in Japan.
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This is the Etruscan name for Adonis. Most Etruscan deities have direct Greek and Roman counterparts. Adonis was a mortal but he was the lover of Aphrodite.
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This is Poseidon's counterpart in Norse mythology. Aegir is the god of the sea and is not to be trifled with. A good sacrifice ahead of sailing is a wise choice.
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This is one of many Mesopotamian gods, as Sumeria was an ancient civilization in that area. Ashur is the head god and thus, a predecessor of Zeus.
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Brahma is the head Hindu god, and all the other gods are contained within him. He is also known as The Grandfather.
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Shiva is the third great deity of the Hindu Triumvirate. His job is to destroy, but in a good, balanced and healthy way.
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Ganesha is the elephant-headed god who is most recognizable to foreigners not familiar with Hindu culture. He is the remover of obstacles and patron of the arts and learning.
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The Norse goddess Freyja is a practitioner of sorcery. She rides into battle and chooses which of the slain will join her.
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Sleipnir is not actually a deity but he works for one: He is the eight-legged steed of Odin. He is mentioned in the Poetic Edda, a very important Norse text.
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Heimdallr holds the horn Gjallarhorn, and is on the side of the good guys at Ragnarok. Sadly, he and Loki are foretold to kill one another.
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The wife of Odin, Frigg is the goddess of love and of destiny. She is one of the most powerful Nordic theological figures.
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Igaluk is a rather horrible deity actually, as he did some really awful things to his own sister, Malina. In Inuit tradition, he is a lunar deity and she is the sun.
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Wi is a solar deity associated with the bison, which is not surprising considering the Lakota are a Sioux tribe from the Great Plains! His wife Hanwi is a lunar deity.
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The Incan God of the sun, Inti was married to the goddess of the moon, Mama Quilla. The Incan Empire is one of the most extensive and powerful the world has ever seen.
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Creator of all things, Viracocha is a major figure as he created the sky, the earth, and the other gods.
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Hera is the wife of Zeus. She is powerful, intelligent and very jealous, often killing or cursing Zeus' lovers and their children.
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Apollo is the son of Zeus and brother of Artemis. He is always depicted as a beardless youth in fine shape. His portfolio includes prophecy and the sun.
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Hades is the Greek god of the underworld and a brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He lost a bet, which is how he got stuck with the underworld while they got the earth, sky and the sea.
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Mars is the Roman god of war and also agriculture. He is distinct from his Greek counterpart, Ares, though the two are often conflated.
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Allah is the Muslim deity and like his Christian and Jewish counterparts, is the sole deity in a monotheistic religion. As Muslims are fellow descendants of Abraham, Islam is one of the three Abrahamic faiths.
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Yahweh is not really a name, it's more of an idea: "I am, that I am." These are the words God speaks to Moses through the burning bush, in explaining what He is. The name is a pronunciation of the Hebrew letters that stand for the words.
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This ancient goddess of the sea is an early Babylonian deity. She hails from a tradition in which she will fight the forces of chaos. Babylon was an empire in the Fertile Crescent that fell a couple millennia ago, defeated by Persia.
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This Nigerian deity is the goddess of fertility. The Ibo people are one of the major tribes of Nigeria. These days it is a mostly Muslim and Christian country though.
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This West African deity is the god of war and iron. The Yoruba are an ethnic group divided across many countries. Many African-Americans are of Yoruba descent.
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Mujaji is a goddess of rain, which sadly they have not had much of recently in her homeland of South Africa. She is a deity of the Lovedu ethnic group.
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Ra is the Egyptian deity of the sun. The sky goddess Nut swallowed him every night and he was reborn every morning to shine on again over Egypt.
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Osiris is the Greek god of life, death, and the Nile's annual floods (which bring life and death). He is the husband of Isis and father of Horus.
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