Deities in World Mythology Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Eguzki is also known as Eki, which is said to be a shortened version of the name in some sources. She is the daughter of the goddess of the Earth, Lur, and the moon goddess in Basque myth is also female, known as Ilazki. The sun god for the Incans was Inti, depicted with his face surrounded by a gold disc to represent the sun. A silver disc with a human face represented his sister and wife, the goddess of the moon, known as Mama-Kilya. The Mesopotamians worshipped Shamash as their sun god, known to the Sumerians as Utu. He was also seen as the god of justice as he could see everything that happened in the world.

Cliodhna (there are other spellings) is the Queen of the Sea in Irish myth, being the daughter of Manannan, the sea god. She is also associated with County Cork, although Finbar is the patron saint. Cliodhna is also the goddess of love, beauty and passion and owns birds whose song can heal those who are ill. Yue Lao has a name which means 'old man under the moon' and is the god of love and marriage in Chinese myth. He is depicted as wearing yellow clothing and has a white beard, which has grown long. He carries red silk with which he ties couples together. Prende is only one spelling of the Albanian goddess - Premte is also common - but she is identified with Venus and Aphrodite. As well as love, Prende is the goddess of dawn, health and beauty and protects women.

Not quite so loving are the gods of war. Hachiman is the Japanese deity of warriors and, by extension, of war and combines both Shinto and Buddhist myths. He is credited with protecting Japan from the invasion of Kublai Kahn in the thirteenth century by sending the divine winds, or kamikaze. The war god Maru is specific to the Maori of New Zealand's South Island - in the north the war god is Tu. Maru is said to be the son of the god of rocks and stone, known as Rangi-hore. Mangala is the son of Lord Shiva in Hindu myth and represents the planet Mars where he also resides. Some sources describe Vishnu as being his father, but in Hinduism Vishnu is one of the forms taken by Shiva.

Loki may well be the best known of all the trickster gods, thanks to Marvel Comics and the subsequent films. In Norse myth, he was a shapeshifter who liked to create chaos. He is sometimes depicted as helping the gods while at other times he causes nothing but trouble for them. While the character Coyote is based on the animal of that name, in myth he is depicted as sometimes resembling the animal but also appearing as a female in human form. To the Navajo, he was a mixture of cunning and trickery. Other Native American tribes had the raven fulfilling this role. In West Africa, including Ghana, Anansi (or Ananse) normally takes the form of a spider. This trickster teaches morals through confusing people. The name comes from the Akan language and means spider. The mythology spread to other regions, such as the Caribbean when Africans were forcibly displaced.