Pagan Gods of the Ancient World: Forgotten Deities of the Mountains
Mountains have long inspired awe and reverence. Towering above human settlements, their peaks often shrouded in mist and mystery, mountains were viewed by ancient civilizations as the abodes of gods—remote, powerful, and sacred. These natural altars became central to religious belief systems across cultures, each with its own unique pantheon of mountain deities. While some, like the Olympian gods of Greece or the Himalayan lords of Hindu and Buddhist traditions, remain widely recognized, many mountain deities have faded from common memory. This article explores lesser-known gods and goddesses once worshipped in the high places of the ancient world—divinities of storm and fire, love and fertility, guardianship and wrath—whose domains stretched from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to the Caucasus and the Andes. Why Mountains Were Deemed Sacred In nearly every early cosmology, height symbolized closeness to the divine. Mountains were revered not just for their physical prominence but for the...