Pantheon Names

I was thinking a bit today about how to identify the various real-world pantheons while avoiding real-world ethnic names (i.e. Celt, Greek). For example, for the Greek pantheon, they can be referred to as the Olympians and the Titans. Ideally this would be the name these gods use to refer to themselves. So let’s run down what I know of for sure:

Greek = Olympians, Titans
Celt = Tuatha de Danaan
Egyptian = Pesedjet (added 04/13) or Netjeret (8/26)
Finnish = ?
Norse = Aesir, Vanir
Chinese = Celestial Bureaucracy
Indian = ? (Vedic is used, but it isn’t a proper noun; you can’t say “he’s a member of the Vedic”)
Japanese = ?
Native American = ?
Central American = (Aztec, Mayan, etc.)
Sumerian/Babylonian = (See below)

Now, there are some conspicuously missing pantheons that I would eventually like to work on, and those are:
Mesopotamian (aka Sumerian/Akkadian [Assyrian and Babylonian]) = Anunnaki/Igigi
Hittite = ?
Hurrian/Urartian = ?
Aegian (Minoan/Etruscan/Cypriot) = ?
Roman = ?

Clearly I need to do some more research on these mythologies. I’m open to suggestions.

5 Responses to Pantheon Names

  1. ripvw says:

    3rd edition calls the Egyptian pantheon the “Pharoahnic” pantheon. Kemet.org refers to the Egyptian pantheon as “The Names of Netjer.”

    Roman: Imperial Pantheon.
    Indian: “He’s a member of the Vedic pantheon” is fine. Otherwise, you could call them the Devas. Collectively they might also be known as the Paramātman, or Universal Soul.
    Japanese: Kami
    “Jumala” is the Finnish word for god.
    Native American: Manitous

  2. ripvw says:

    “Gods of the Kalevala” could work for the Finns, too,

  3. AuldDragon says:

    >>ripvw:

    What I’m looking for is a proper noun to refer to the deities, rather than “blahblahblah pantheon”. That’s why Vedic and Pharaonic don’t work; you can’t say “He is a Pharaonic” or “He is a member of the Pharaonic.” The Vedas are a series of literary works, so it’s akin to saying the saints are members of the “Bible Pantheon.” I have discovered the Egyptian word “Pesedjet,” which is a collective term (the Great Ennead is one), so I think I’ll use that.

    I also want to avoid using foreign words for “god/spirits/etc.” as the collective term, because that could be confusing to anyone trying to make a themed setting and wants to use authentic words.

    Imperial for Rome also doesn’t work because that could apply to any empire, plus there’s nothing actually imperial about the Roman gods.

    Kalevala is a literary title, but Wikipedia says it means “land of Kaleva”, so Kalevan COULD work. I’m going to research that word and see if I can determine whether it would be appropriate.

  4. Cromstar says:

    A few names you might be interested in:

    Amatsukami – literally “Kami from ‘heaven'”, a term for the Japanese deities that are from ‘heaven’, aka Takamagahara. It distinguishes them from the ‘kami from earthly realm’, which depending on how you translate or version of myths you draw from may be either minor tutelary deities or spirits, etc. All the named Japanese deities in 1st and 2nd Edition sources that I know of are among the Amatsukami.

    Visvedevas – literally “all-gods”. Used to refer to all the Vedic gods as a whole. This is actually apparently the term used in the Rigveda to refer to all the deities together.

    Dii Consentes – literally “council of the divine”. Latin term used to refer to the 12 major deities of Roman religion depicted in the Roman Forum (and analogous to the 12 major Olympians). Nothing in the name precludes it from including more than those 12.

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