In ancient times, people attributed human and divine properties to elements and things. Of course, such basic and important things for life as water and fire have been honored with their gods in almost all world cultures.
The names of the fiery gods
In India, the god Agni was "in charge" of fire and everything that had any relation to it. He was in charge of lightning, sparks, and sacrificial fire. For a long time, Agni was the most important figure in Indian mythology, around which the pantheon was built.
The Iranian flame god Atar embodied exclusively the element of fire. The flame was considered sacred and pure for the Iranian people, so it was not used for burial. From the point of view of the Iranians, it was sacrilegious to betray soulless bodies to the sacred fire.
The fire worshipers were essentially the Yezidis and Zoroastrians. For them, fire itself was the main and only element and deity. The cult of the flames of the Caucasus and Central Asia actually ousted all other gods from the mythical consciousness of people.
In ancient culture, there were various gods of fire, personifying completely different functions of fire. For example, in Greece, Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, was especially revered (in Rome, her functionality was carried by the goddess Vesta, whose priestesses possessed power, since they could turn to their goddess). Moreover, in Greek and Roman mythology, there are many gods of the destructive flame. Greek Ares (god of war) or Roman Vulcan were considered gods of death, war, destruction and flame. Their masculinity and aggression were, as it were, opposed to the femininity of Hestia or Vesta.
There was a cult of fire in the mythology of the Slavs. Our ancestors believed that the flame of fire is embodied in various gods. The Slavs revered the thunderer Perun, the fiery god Simargl, the sun god Svarog and others.
The Greeks had a huge number of deities associated with water and the ocean. Each deity was assigned a rather narrow "sphere of responsibility".
The Bible often mentions Moloch, demanding an increasing number of sacrifices. It was believed that in his honor babies were burned on sacred fires.
In Aztec mythology, the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue or "She who sits in turquoise robes" was not only the goddess of fresh waters and lakes, but in one of the "great eras" performed the functions of the sun goddess.
Names of water gods
Water, as a constructive and creative element, most often acquired quite "friendly" gods and goddesses. According to most of the archaic versions of the creation of the world, it is from the primary, chaotic waters that the earth appears. Water is thus considered the basis of everything.
In the myths of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Babylon, there are gods of the primordial water chaos, the depths of the waters, the embodiment of water chaos. In Egypt it is Nun, in Mesopotamia - the god Apsu, in Babylon - Tiamat.
At the same time, it is important to understand that negative properties were also attributed to water. Most likely, this is due to the fact that floods and hurricanes brought a lot of grief to our ancestors.
In the Bible, Leviathan is a kind of deity, the embodiment of water, among the Scandinavians the dangerous "side" of the water element was embodied by the world serpent Jormungand. And the chambers of the ruler of the kingdom of the dead are called Wet Drizzle.
