Asky deity is adeity associated with thesky, and are a common feature ofpolytheistic religions. The sky often has great religious significance.
The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones.Stith Thompson'sMotif-Index of Folk-Literature reflects this by separating the category of "Sky-god" (A210) from that of "Star-god" (A250). In mythology, nighttime gods are usually known as night deities and gods of stars simply as star gods. Both of these categories are included here since they relate to the sky. Luminary deities are included as well since the sun and moon are located in the sky. Some religions may also have a deity or personification of the day, distinct from the god of the day lit sky, to complement the deity or personification of the night.
Daytime gods and nighttime gods are frequently deities of an "upper world" or "celestial world" opposed to the earth and a "netherworld" (gods of the underworld are sometimes called "chthonic" deities).[1] Within Greek mythology,Uranus was the primordial sky god, who was ultimately succeeded byZeus, who ruled the celestial realm atopMount Olympus. In contrast to the celestialOlympians was the chthonic deityHades, who ruled the underworld, andPoseidon, who ruled the sea.[2]
Any masculine sky god is often alsoking of the gods, taking the position ofpatriarch within apantheon. Such king gods are collectively categorized as "sky father" deities, with a polarity between sky and earth often being expressed by pairing a "sky father" god with an "earth mother" goddess (pairings of a skymother with an earthfather are less frequent). A main sky goddess is often the queen of the gods and may be an air/sky goddess in her own right, though she usually has other functions as well with "sky" not being her main. In antiquity, several sky goddesses in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East were calledQueen of Heaven.
Gods may rule the sky as a pair (for example,ancient Semitic supreme godEl and the fertility goddessAsherah whom he was most likely paired with).[3] The following is a list of sky deities in various polytheistic traditions arranged mostly by language family, which is typically a better indicator of relatedness than geography.
Asherah, sky goddess and consort of El; after the rise of Yahweh, she may have become Yahweh's consort before she was demonized and the Israelite religion became monotheistic
^Kearns, Emily (2011-12-15), "Chthonic Deities",The Homer Encyclopedia, Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd,doi:10.1002/9781444350302.wbhe0296,ISBN978-1-4051-7768-9,But the word "chthonic" is usually taken to refer principally to what is under the earth.
^El was identified with the obscure deityYahweh in early Hebrew religion, ultimately giving rise toHebrew monotheism by the 7th century BCE; according to theHebrew Bible it was 7th-century Judean kingJosiah who removed the statue of Asherah from the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. See alsoThe Hebrew Goddess.
^Vanoverbergh, M. (1941). The Isneg Farmer. Catholic Anthropologist Conference. Vol. III, No. 4.
^The Kalevala: Epic of the Finnish People. Compiled by Elias Lönnrot. Translated by Eino Friberg (4th ed.). Otava Publishing Company. 1998.ISBN951-1-10137-4.
^Salo, Unto (1990).Agricola's Ukko in the light of archeology. A chronological and interpretative study of ancient Finnish religion: Old Norse and Finnish religions and cultic place-names. Turku.ISBN951-649-695-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
