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A deity from the Native American pantheon, Coyote was known to some tribes as Old Man. The animal took the form of a talking human and was known for his exploits as a creator, lover, magician, glutton, and trickster.
Sources: (Patheos) (Britannica) (Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum)
See also: Fascinating facts about indigenous cultures around the world
Babi was the deification of the hamadryas baboon, one of the animals present in ancient Egypt. A bloodthirsty being who lived off the entrails of the dead, Babi was worshipped for his strength and virility.
Hanuman, a deity in Hinduism, is revered as a divine vanara, a monkey or an ape with human features. According to worshippers, Hanuman epitomizes the fusion of "strength, heroic initiative, and assertive excellence."
Dagon, or Dagan, was a god worshipped across Mesopotamia. He was commonly represented as half-man, half-fish and worshipped as a source of prosperity, especially as a provider of grain.
In the Roman pantheon, Faunus was the horned, rustic god of the forest, plains, and fields. A cousin of his Greek counterpart Pan, Faunus was also responsible for the procreation of livestock.
Kamadhenu is a divine bovine-goddess described in Hinduism as the mother of all cows. She is, in fact, the reason why all cows are sacred in India.
The Sumerian god Gugalanna takes the form of a bull. He was the first husband of Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld. After his passing, the "bull of heaven" reappeared in the constellation Taurus. Gugalanna is thus revered as a symbol of death and resurrection.
Kutkh is a raven spirit from Slavic mythology worshipped by various indigenous peoples of the Russian Far East. Kutkh is supposed to have created the Earth by dropping a flower into the ocean. But he is also known for possessing a mischievous and sometimes selfish character.
In the Hindu religion, Nandi is the bull vahana (mount) of the Hindu god Shiva. As a symbol of Shiva, Nandi represents power, virility, joy, and delight. But he also possesses a controlled potential for destructiveness.
Sobek is among the oldest deities named in the Pyramid Texts—the texts inscribed on the walls of tombs. As lord of the crocodiles, he was depicted with a crocodile head. Sobek is seen here in this 300 BCE sculpture standing next to a nobleman.
A Mesoamerican deity, Quetzalcoatl was an Aztec and Mayan creator god. He was the patron saint of rain, wind, science, agriculture, and much more, and was was depicted in art as a combination of the green quetzal bird and a serpent.
Bastet was an ancient Egyptian goddess worshiped initially in the form of a lioness and later as a cat. As the goddess of protection, pleasure, fertility, birth, and the bringer of good health, she had the head of a cat and a slender female body.
Thoth, the ancient Egyptian god of the moon, sacred texts, mathematics, the sciences, and magic, was usually depicted as a man with the head of an ibis. But he's also seen crowned with the head of a baboon. Both animals were sacred to him.
In ancient Egypt, Wepwawet was either a jackal-headed or a wolf-headed god who guided the deceased through the frequently dangerous paths to the afterlife. In sculpture, Wepwawet was more usually represented in canine form.
It's not certain whether the prehistoric hill figure known as the Uffington White Horse had a ritual or religious purpose. Scholars have speculated that it could perhaps be a tribal totem marking a land boundary for members of the cult of the horse-goddess Epona, worshipped in ancient times by the Celts.
In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules. She was depicted either as riding, standing, or seated before a horse, or standing or seated between two horses.
Ganesha is one of the most important gods in Hinduism, and is easily recognized with his elephant head and human body, representing the soul (atman) and the physical (maya).
Cernunnos was a god depicted with antlers, seated cross-legged, and associated with stags, horned serpents, dogs, and bulls. A mythological figure in Celtic mythology, he's famously portrayed on the Gundestrup cauldron (pictured), a richly decorated silver vessel unearthed in Denmark and thought to date from between 200 BCE and 300 CE.
Raijū is a legendary Japanese creature associated with thunder, often represented by a wolf or a dog. Raijū is the companion of Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning.
The ancient Egyptian warrior goddess known as Sekhmet was a lion-headed deity also revered as a goddess of medicine.
The tiger remains hugely significant in Chinese myth and culture. For example, Huye is a god in folk religion who is generally worshiped in the temples of other Chinese deities. The traditional religion of the Yi people held that a tiger was responsible for the creation of the world. And in Chinese folklore, a deity almost always rides an exotic animal instead of a horse. Here, the mount for Zhao Gongming, God of Wealth, is a tiger.
The Babylonian goddess Tiamat was believed to be a divine creatrix and primordial goddess of the sea. In Mesopotamian mythology, she is described as a woman and a monstrous sea serpent or dragon.
To the ancient Egyptians, Horus was one of the most important deities. He was commonly depicted as a falcon-headed god with a double crown. In this fresco decorating the burial chamber in the tomb of Rameses I, Horus is seen on the left, while Anubis, the god of funerary rites and protector of graves, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head, is standing on the right. Rameses himself takes center stage.
The protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility known as Taweret had the face and body of a hippo, but the legs of a lion.
The Raven is the chief deity of the Tlingit people of Alaska and is often addressed as Grandfather Raven. As a totem, he's depicted in humanoid form as a man's head sprouting wings.
The ceiling of the Ana Kai Tangata cave on Chile's Easter Island is adorned with unique paintings related to a birdman cult (Tangata manu), where depictions of half-men, half-frigatebirds decorate the interior.
A bird that was considered sacred in ancient Egypt was the Egyptian vulture. So much so, in fact, that a collar found placed around the neck of Tutankhamun's mummy depicted the vulture goddess Nekhbet, who was one of the pharaoh's protective deities.
Khepri was known as a scarab-faced god in ancient Egyptian religion. He represented the rising or morning sun. The scarab beetle itself was a symbol of birth, life, death, and resurrection.
Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec sun and war god, was one of the two principal deities of Aztec religion, often represented in art as either a hummingbird or an eagle. Huitzilopochtli is represented here on the Codex Borbonicus, a late 15th-century liturgical calendar crafted from amatl paper, a type of bark.
Throughout history, gods and goddesses have been personified as animals by various cultures. In fact, the attributing of animal forms or characteristics to deities, or zoomorphism, dates back to antiquity. Idealized for their specific traits, such as strength, beauty, or intelligence, these creatures literally became the embodiment of a divine being, a figure to be admired and worshipped. But just which members of the animal kingdom inspired humans enough to become symbols of adulation and devotion?
Click through and behold the most celebrated deities personified as animals.
Beloved deities personified in animal form
Beasts that inspired humans enough to become symbols of adulation and devotion
LIFESTYLE Religion
Throughout history, gods and goddesses have been personified as animals by various cultures. In fact, the attributing of animal forms or characteristics to deities, or zoomorphism, dates back to antiquity. Idealized for their specific traits, such as strength, beauty, or intelligence, these creatures literally became the embodiment of a divine being, a figure to be admired and worshipped. But just which members of the animal kingdom inspired humans enough to become symbols of adulation and devotion?
Click through and behold the most celebrated deities personified as animals.