A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean was more important.

 

 

Water Deities

 

• Aztec

Atl  god of water in Aztec mythology (Central Mexico)

Atlaua  god of fishermen in Aztec mythology

Chalchiuhtlatonal  god of water in Aztec mythology

 

• Balkan

Rodon  god of the sea in Illyrian mythology (Balkans)

 

• Britain

Dylan Eil Ton  sea god in Welsh mythology (pre-Christian Britons)

Arnemetia  water goddess in British mythology

Manannán mac Lir (Irish)

Manawydan (Welsh)

Llyr (Welsh)

 

• German folklore/Scandinavian folklore

Nix

 

• Greek

Anapos (water god of eastern Sicily in Greek mythology)

Asopus  river god in Greek mythology, and father to river nymph Aegina

Crinaeae (fountains)

Doris  goddess of the Mediterranean Sea, wife of Nereus and mother of the Nereids in Greek mythology

Eleionomae (marshes)

Helead (fen)

Hydros  god of freshwater in Greek mythology

Limnades/Limnatides (lakes)

Naiads (usually fresh water)

Neptune/ Poseidon  god of the sea in Roman and Greek mythology

Nereids (daughters of Nereus, the Mediterranean Sea)

Nereus  god of the Mediterranean Sea, shape-shifter, fortune-teller, and son of Gaia and Pontus in Greek mythology

Oceanus and Tethys

Oceanids (daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, any water but usually salt water)

Pegaeae (springs)

Phorcys (Phorkys), son of Pontus and Gaia

Poseidon (Greek) and Neptune (Roman)

Proteus  early sea god in Greek mythology, he may be either a son of Poseidon, or of Oceanus and a Naiad

Pontus  pre-Olympian sea god in Greek mythology, and son of Gaia (earth) and Aether (air)

Potameides (rivers)

Trition  god of the sea and messenger of the deep in Greek mythology, son of Poseidon and Amphrite, and though to be a merman

 

• Hindu

Saraswati  goddess of knowledge in Hinduism, originally a river goddess (the Saraswati River was named after her)

 

• Irish

Manannán mac Lir  sea and weather god in Irish mythology

Boann  goddess of the River Boyne in Irish mythology

 

• Inuit

Aipaloovik

Alignak  god of tides in Inuit mythology (Siberia, Greenland and Alaska)

Arnapkapfaaluk

Idliragijenget

Sedna

Tootega  goddess that walked on water in Inuit mythology

 

• Italy

Nethuns  god of wells in Etruscan mythology (Italy)

 

• Lithuanian mythology

Bangputys

 

• Maori mythology

Tangaroa

 

• Native America

Untunktahe  water god with great magical powers in Native America (Lakota) mythology

 

• Norse

Rán, goddess who collects the drowned in a net

Njórd, seagod who lives at Nóatun

 

• Portugal

Duberdicus  god of water in Lusitanian mythology (Portugal)

 

• Shinto

Susanoo

 

• Sumeria

Enki  god of the freshwater ocean of groundwater under the earth in Sumerian mythology (also referred to as Ea)

Abzu - water lord in Sumerian mythology that threatens to take back the creation of men by a universal flood, but is imprisoned beneath the earth by Enki (Mesopotamia)

Ninhursag - goddess of the waters and consort of Enki in Sumerian mythology

 

• Tonga (Zambizi Valley Zimbabwe)

Nyami Nyami

 

• Vedic religion

Varuna (celestial ocean)

Various rivers associated with goddesses in the Rigveda, such as Sarasvati (Sarasvati River) and Yamuna

 

• Yoruba religion/Afro-American religions

Yemaja

Mami Wata

 

River Gods

 

Achelous

Acheron

Aeas

Aegaeus

Aesepus

Almo

Alpheus

Amphrysos

Apidanus

Ardescus

Asopus

Asterion

Axius

Caicus

Cayster

Cebren

Cephissus

Chremetes

Cladeus or Kladeos

Clitunno (Roman mythology)

Cocytus

Cratais

Crinisus

Cydnos

Enipeus

Erasinus

Eridanus

Euphrates

Evenus

Granicus

Haliacmon

Heptaporus

Hermus

Inachus

Istrus or Ister

Ladon

Meander

Mincius

Nessus

Nilus

Numicius

Nymphaeus

Pactolus

Parthenius

Phasis

Peneus

Rhesus

Rhine

Rhodius

Sangarius

Scamander

Simoeis

Sperchius

Strymon

Termessus

Tiberinus (Roman mythology)

 

Chiron

in Greek mythology, one of the Centaurs, the son of the Titan Cronus and Philyra, an Oceanid or sea nymph. Chiron lived at the foot of Mount Pelion in Thessaly.

 

Hyades

in Greek mythology, daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Aethra, the five (or more) sisters of the Pleiades who nursed the infant wine god, Dionysus,...

Nymph

in Greek mythology, any of a large class of inferior female divinities. The nymphs were usually associated with fertile, growing things, such as trees, or with water.

 

Pleiades

in Greek mythology, the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione: Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Alcyone, Sterope, and Merope.

 

Nereus

In Greek religion, sea god called by Homer “Old Man of the Sea,” noted for his wisdom, gift of prophecy, and ability to change his shape.

 

Atlas

in Greek mythology, son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene (or Asia) and brother of Prometheus (creator of mankind). In Homer's Odyssey, Book I, Atlas seems to have been a marine creature.

Io

in Greek mythology, daughter of Inachus (the river god of Argos) and the Oceanid Melia. Under the name of Callithyia, Io was regarded as the first priestess of Hera, the wife of Zeus.

They were not immortal but were extremely long-lived and were on the whole kindly disposed toward men. They were distinguished according to the sphere of nature with which they were connected. The Oceanids, for example, were sea nymphs; the Nereids inhabited both saltwater and freshwater; the Naiads presided over springs, rivers, and lakes.