A report on Deity

Kobayashi Eitaku painting showing the god Izanagi (right) and Izanami, a goddess of creation and death in Japanese mythology.
Pantheists believe that the universe itself and everything in it forms a single, all-encompassing deity.
Statuette of a nude, corpulent, seated woman flanked by two felines from Çatalhöyük, dating to c. undefined 6000 BCE, thought by most archaeologists to represent a goddess of some kind.
Yoruba deity from Nigeria
Egyptian tomb painting showing the gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus, who are among the major deities in ancient Egyptian religion.
A 4th century BC drachm (quarter shekel) coin from the Persian province of Yehud Medinata, possibly representing Yahweh seated on a winged and wheeled sun-throne.
The Kirkby Stephen Stone, discovered in Kirkby Stephen, England, depicts a bound figure, who some have theorized may be the Germanic god Loki.
Vellamo, the goddess of water in Finnish mythology, pictured as a mermaid in the coat of arms of Päijänne Tavastia.
4th-century Roman sarcophagus depicting the creation of man by Prometheus, with major Roman deities Jupiter, Neptune, Mercury, Juno, Apollo, Vulcan watching.
The zoomorphic feathered serpent deity (Kukulkan, Quetzalcoatl)
Deities of Polynesia carved from wood (bottom two are demons)
Holy Trinity (1756–1758) by Szymon Czechowicz, showing God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all of whom are revered in Christianity as a single deity.
The tetragrammaton in Phoenician (12th century BCE to 150 BCE), Paleo-Hebrew (10th century BCE to 135 CE), and square Hebrew (3rd century BCE to present) scripts.
Padmavati, a Jain guardian deity
Investiture of Sassanid emperor Shapur II (center) with Mithra (left) and Ahura Mazda (right) at Taq-e Bostan, Iran
The Greek philosopher Democritus argued that belief in deities arose when humans observed natural phenomena such as lightning and attributed such phenomena to supernatural beings.

Hypothetical supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred.

- Deity
Kobayashi Eitaku painting showing the god Izanagi (right) and Izanami, a goddess of creation and death in Japanese mythology.

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In the Vedas, Devas are benevolent supernatural beings whose leader is Indra (above, in a statue from 16th-century Nepal).

Deva (Hinduism)

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In the Vedas, Devas are benevolent supernatural beings whose leader is Indra (above, in a statue from 16th-century Nepal).
Shiva/Rudra has been a major Deva in Hinduism since the Vedic times. Above is a meditating statue of him in the Himalayas with Hindus offering prayers.
The 12 Devas protecting Buddha, by Tani Bunchō. The Hindu Devas were adopted by Japanese Buddhists in the first millennium as Jūni-ten
Vishnu (above) is one of the Vedic Devas. The third Valli of the Katha Upanishad discusses ethical duties of man through the parable of the chariot as a means to realize the state of Vishnu, one with Self-knowledge.
The male Lokapala devas, the guardians of the directions, on the wall of Shiva temple, Prambanan (Java, Indonesia).

Deva (Sanskrit: देव, ) means "shiny", "exalted", "heavenly being", "divine being", "anything of excellence", and is also one of the Sanskrit terms used to indicate a deity in Hinduism.

Gilded statuette of El from Megiddo

El (deity)

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Gilded statuette of El from Megiddo
The Destruction of Leviathan by Gustave Doré (1865)
Gebel al-Arak knife Possibly depiction of El with two lions, B.C. 3450

ʼĒl (also `Il, ʾīlu; ʾīl; הָאֵל or הָﭏ haʾēl; ʾalāh; إيل ʾīl; cognate to ) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning "god" or "deity", or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities.

Hermes Ingenui (Vatican Museums), Roman copy of the second century BC after a Greek original of the 5th century BC. Hermes has a kerykeion (caduceus), kithara, petasos (round hat) and a traveler's cloak.

Hermes

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Hermes Ingenui (Vatican Museums), Roman copy of the second century BC after a Greek original of the 5th century BC. Hermes has a kerykeion (caduceus), kithara, petasos (round hat) and a traveler's cloak.
Archaic bearded Hermes from a herm, early 5th century BC.
Statue of Hermes wearing the petasos, a voyager's cloak, the caduceus and a purse. Roman copy after a Greek original (Vatican Museums).
Charon with punt pole standing in his boat, receiving Hermes psychopompos who leads a deceased woman. Thanatos Painter, ca. 430 BC
Herm of Hermes. Roman copy from the Hermes Propyleia of Alcamenes, 50–100 AD.
Kriophoros Hermes (which takes the lamb), late-Roman copy of Greek original from the 5th century BC. Barracco Museum, Rome
Hermes wearing a petasos. Attic red-figure cup, c. 480 BC–470 BC. From Vulci.
Hermes Fastening his Sandal, early Imperial Roman marble copy of a Lysippan bronze (Louvre Museum)
Hermes on an antique fresco from Pompeii
Hermes wearing a petasos. Coinage of Kapsa, Macedon, c. 400 BC.
Sarpedon's body carried by Hypnos and Thanatos (Sleep and Death), while Hermes watches. Side A of the so-called "Euphronios krater", Attic red-figured calyx-krater signed by Euxitheos (potter) and Euphronios (painter), c. 515 BC.
So-called "Logios Hermes" (Hermes Orator). Marble, Roman copy from the late 1st century BC – early 2nd century AD after a Greek original of the 5th century BC.
Hermes Propylaeus. Roman copy of the Alcamenes statue from the entrance of the Athenian Acropolis, original shortly after the 450 BC.
This circular Pyxis or box depicts two scenes. The one shown presents Hermes awarding the golden apple of the Hesperides to Aphrodite, whom Paris has selected as the most beautiful of the goddesses. The Walters Art Museum.
Hermes with his mother Maia. Detail of the side B of an Attic red-figure belly-amphora, c. 500 BC.
Sardonyx cameo of a Ptolemaic prince as Hermes, Cabinet des médailles, Paris
Hermes pursuing a woman, probably Herse. Attic red-figure amphora, c. 470 BC.
Souls on the Banks of the Acheron, oil painting depicting Hermes in the underworld. Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, 1898.

Hermes is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology.

Fragment of a Hellenistic relief (1st century BC1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right: Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and spear), Demeter (scepter and wheat sheaf), Hephaestus (staff), Hera (scepter), Poseidon (trident), Athena (owl and helmet), Zeus (thunderbolt and staff), Artemis (bow and quiver), Apollo (lyre), from the Walters Art Museum.

Twelve Olympians

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Fragment of a Hellenistic relief (1st century BC1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right: Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and spear), Demeter (scepter and wheat sheaf), Hephaestus (staff), Hera (scepter), Poseidon (trident), Athena (owl and helmet), Zeus (thunderbolt and staff), Artemis (bow and quiver), Apollo (lyre), from the Walters Art Museum.

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus.

Relief of libation to a vegetation goddess (ca. 2500 BCE) found in ancient Girsu, at the Louvre.

Libation

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Relief of libation to a vegetation goddess (ca. 2500 BCE) found in ancient Girsu, at the Louvre.
Roman bronze statuette of a priest, his head ritually covered, extending a patera in a gesture of libation, 2nd-3rd century CE.
Buryat shaman performing a libation.
Apollo pouring a libation from a phiale onto the omphalos, with his sister Artemis attending; a bucranium hangs above
Scene of sacrifice, with a libation poured from a jug (Pothos Painter, Attic red-figure krater, 430–420 BCE)
The emperor Trajan pouring a libation in a military setting (relief from Trajan's Column)
Pouring of a libation at a ceremony in Bouaké, Ivory Coast
Burmese Buddhist water libation ceremony in 1900
The Tarpan (offering holy water) is being done at the Jagannath Ghat, Kolkata, at the end of the Pitru Paksha.
Pouring one out

A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead.

Asherah statue, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv

Asherah

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Mother goddess who appears in a number of ancient sources.

Mother goddess who appears in a number of ancient sources.

Asherah statue, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv
A digital collage showing an image of Qetesh together with hieroglyphs taken from a separate Egyptian relief (the ‘Triple Goddess stone’)

Another primary epithet of Athirat was qnyt ʾilm, which may be translated as "the creatrix of the deities".

Famadihana reburial ceremony

Veneration of the dead

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Based on love and respect for the deceased.

Based on love and respect for the deceased.

Famadihana reburial ceremony
Burning of incense during a veneration at Mengjia Longshan Temple, which is dedicated to Guan Yu, Mazu, and others
Burning offerings
Shraadha taking place at Jagannath Ghat in Calcutta, at end of Pitru Paksha.
Mae Dam Mae Phi celebrations in Assam, India.
Four Paliyas, one dedicated to man and three to women at Chhatardi, Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat, India
A Korean jesa altar for ancestors
Various Igorot bulul depicting anito or ancestor spirits (c. 1900)
A Vietnamese altar for ancestors. Note smaller Buddhist altar set higher in the upper corner
An old man in traditional dress on the occasion of New Year offering
A scenic cemetery in rural Spain.
Ofrenda in Tequisquiapan, Mexico
Detail from an early second-century Roman sarcophagus depicting the death of Meleager
some Christian tombstone

Ancestor reverence is not the same as the worship of a deity or deities.

Hindu god Vishnu (centre) surrounded by his ten major avatars, namely Matsya; Kurma; Varaha; Narasimha; Vamana; Parashurama; Rama; Krishna; Buddha, and Kalki

Avatar

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Concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent".

Concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent".

Hindu god Vishnu (centre) surrounded by his ten major avatars, namely Matsya; Kurma; Varaha; Narasimha; Vamana; Parashurama; Rama; Krishna; Buddha, and Kalki
Mohini, the female avatar of Vishnu (statue at Belur temple, Karnataka.)
Sharabha (right) with Narasimha (18th-century painting, Pahari/Kangra School)
Jhulelal, incarnation of Varuna

It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a deity on Earth.

The Baptism of Christ by Guido Reni (c. 1623)

Conceptions of God

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The first recordings that survive of monotheistic conceptions of God, borne out of henotheism and (mostly in Eastern religions) monism, are from the Hellenistic period.

The first recordings that survive of monotheistic conceptions of God, borne out of henotheism and (mostly in Eastern religions) monism, are from the Hellenistic period.

The Baptism of Christ by Guido Reni (c. 1623)
5th century Arian Baptistry Chapel

may be roughly translated into English as deity, demigod or angel, and can describe any celestial being or thing that is of high excellence and thus is venerable.

A Greek Dryad depicted in a painting

List of nature deities

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A Greek Dryad depicted in a painting

In nature worship, a nature deity is a deity in charge of forces of nature, such as a water deity, vegetation deity, sky deity, solar deity, fire deity, or any other naturally occurring phenomena such as mountains, trees, or volcanoes.