Pantheons
Many traditions set beside one another — from Aboriginal Australian Dreamings and the reconstructed sky-fathers of the Proto-Indo-European steppe through to living religions. Click a pantheon to open its family tree. Abrahamic entries list angels, prophets, and opposing figures for cross-cultural comparison only. Coverage is uneven by design.
Or follow a threadstorm godsunderworld rulerstrickstersgreat motherssun deitieswisdom figuresdying-and-rising godsserpent dragons
Family Trees
Genealogy as a way of reading a tradition — parents above, siblings and consorts beside, children below, the same archetypal role across other cultures at the bottom. Some traditions kept extensive divine families; others passed mythic relation through ritual rather than lineage, and read thinner here by design. Click any connected figure to follow the line.
Timeline
Each bar is a tradition's active span; the darker inner band marks its peak. Traditions still practiced today reach the right edge; those that lapsed end where they did. The BCE/CE boundary is in gold. Click a row to open its family tree.
Archetypes
Many roles — sky-father, storm-serpent-slayer, dying-and-rising god, trickster — recur with striking consistency across unrelated cultures. Some reflect shared Indo-European inheritance; others are independent convergences on universal human experiences. Click any example to open it.
Deified Humans
Historical persons elevated to divine status — by state decree, posthumous cult, or folk veneration. Rome institutionalized it with the imperial cult; East Asia enshrined sage-kings, generals, and scholars; Egypt deified Imhotep two millennia after his death. The line between great ancestor and god is porous.
Notable Mentions
Figures kept outside the main thousand — secondary heroes, regional deities, names that appear inside other figures' stories, and alternate names of catalogued gods. One line of context each; no family trees.
Browse All
The full catalogue — every figure across every tradition. Search by name, domain, or descriptive phrase; filter by pantheon or category to narrow the field.