Or, O.G.O.D.

As in, O, God! What was I thinking? So begins a gigantic project of mine, inspired in part from when my web hosting server folk inexplicably octupled my disk storage space and bandwidth allotment (for the same monthly fee, no less), which, even with all the graphics on this site, I was nowhere near to using up anyway. Also, I was sick of looking up information on the more obscure or less well known Goddesses and finding a single sentence from Wikipedia cut-and-pasted all over the interweb, so:

Here is a continuing, ongoing, neverending, this is the last project I'll do in my life, series of articles concerning Goddesses about whom information is hard to come by or sketchy, gathered here for your reading pleasure. Here you will find detailed articles on interesting and compelling folk such as Anuket, Egyptian Goddess of the First Cataract, Angitia, an Oscan snake Goddess whose worship can still be discerned in a modern snake-festival dedicated to St. Domenico; Albunea, the White Sybil of the sulphur springs at Tivoli; Caia, patroness of the Roman people and Flame Goddess; and Anna Perenna, the Goddess of the Circling Year. As you may have guessed, I've started with the Romans, which has close to 300 articles planned; from there some Etruscan and Phoenician Ladies have been added in what I am sure will be a very organic process. And since writing about Goddesses always inspires me to draw—though I cannot draw nearly as quickly as I can write—keep your eye out for new Goddess art. Also keep in mind that I am not a scholar, and though I do have a degree, it's in illustration (!) and I remain an interested amateur.

As befits an ongoing and ginormous project, links and updates will be fluid and continually updated for the foreseeable future (and probably beyond that). Please be patient with the inevitable lost links and 404 errors. Also, please respect my copyright on these articles and do not reproduce them. Of course, use in research or as reference is fine, and if you'd like to print them out for your own personal or religious use, go ahead; but please do not simply cut and paste onto your own website or other publication. Thanks, and enjoy!

Newly added: Fulgora, Goddess of Lightning, Juno Februtis, Goddess of Purification and Fertility, Laetitia, Roman Goddess of Joy and Celebration. More Romans, including Ægeria, Goddess of Springs and Prophecy; and Goddesses concerned with healthy infants and children: Educa, Potina, Rumina, Cuba, and Cunina. And some Egyptians (because I have the attention span of a gnat and because there's freakin' 300 of the Romans! Oy, I can't wait to get to the Goddesses of India; something tells me I'll be there for years): Anuket and Amaunet. Back to the Romans: the Fortuna index page is up, and is complete with twenty-nine articles on Her various aspects, including Fortuna Primigenia, Primordial Fate; Fortuna Augusta, the Luck of the Emperor, and Fortuna of the Bath-House; Happy Fortune, Dubious Fortune, and (!) Sticky Fortune. Finishing up the Phoenicians: Elishat, Queen of Carthage; Rahmaya, the Merciful; Malidthu, Goddess of Beauty and the Myrrh-tree; Sumul, Mother of Vultures, Nikkal, the Fertility and Fruit-Goddess, the Kothirat, the seven sister Goddesses of Childbirth; Ashtart, the Phoenician Great Goddess, also known as Astarte (not that She's obscure, per se); Aretsaya, an Earth and Underworld Goddess; Pidraya, Light-Goddess; and the Great Lady Athirat of the Sea. Finishing off the Etruscans: Thufltha, Goddess of Vengeance; Uni, the great Mother Goddess; Tukhulkha, Underworld Demoness; Vanth, Goddess of Death; Losna, the Moon-Goddess; Nortia, Goddess of Fate; Menrfa, the Goddess of the Arts; and Culsu, Underworld Goddess. New Roman Goddesses: Candelifera, Roman Birth-Goddess; Maia, Roman Goddess of the month of May; and Flora, Goddess of Flowers. Also the Juno index page is up, and (among others) Juno Regina, Caprotina, Lucina and Jugalis have articles.

Note: the link labelled "Greek" below currently goes to an index page on Athena. I do not intend, yet, to really get into the Greek Goddesses, not, at least, until I've finished the Roman ones! It's just that I'm on an Athena kick right now and can't help myself.

What's up so far:

Egyptian (2 articles)

Etruscan (30 articles)

Greek (3 articles)

Phoenician (24 articles)

Roman (97 articles)