divine portfolios

[marycatelli]

One thing that many world-builders who use polytheistic religions get wrong is their portfolios.

You have the sea god, the sun god, the love goddess, the war god(dess). . . .

Note that Poseidon was the god of horses as well as of the sea -- also noted for his role in earthquakes.  Hermes covered thieves, rhetoricians, travelers, commerce, games.  Artemis was both the goddess of virgins and of childbirth.  Many have portfolios that can be encompassed imaginatively but not logically.  (And some can't, either way.)

And it does help define a culture if you observe that their war god(dess) is also the god(dess) of

• agriculture


• handicrafts


• love


• blacksmithing


• fate


• death


• the sky

There are actual religions with war gods also associated with every one of those.

Though if you do insist on bringing the gods on stage, things will get weirder from there.

Comments

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

Don't forget dance!

[marycatelli]

Hey if I went on listing all the alternative portfolios of all war gods, I would never reach "post".

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

I was thinking specifically of Kali, but yeah, you're right.

--By the bye, it is my position that the ancient Greeks got it wrong: Athena was the god of peace. (I realized this when it was pointed out that what is misleadingly translated as "craft" is both technology and strategic excellence.)

[marycatelli]

They were firm believers in armed deterrence. Which is why she appears in armor.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

Well, god of wisdom, too.

[marycatelli]

Practical wisdom, which brings it back to craft.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ARGUE IF YOU KEEP AGREEING?

[marycatelli]

0:)

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

In the Greek system, the way to think of the big three: Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, is to consider their spheres of influence. To wit: the heavens, the earth's surface, and the underworld.

It's why the strict "God of the sea" doesn't work with Poseidon's portfolio. It never hurts to get to know at least one ancient pagan belief system really well before making up one's own.

[marycatelli]

Well, the thing is that syncretistic forms like Greco-Roman paganism (the "first class" that I talk about here) is that they don't tend to systemize heavily. You have to work carefully to feel them out.