Triple deities
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Triple deities, legendary persons and mythological creatures (sometimes referred to as tripled, triplicate, tripartite, triune or triadic), are common throughout world mythology, typically fitting into one of the following general categories:
- triadic ("forming a group of three"): three beings inter-related in some way (life, death, rebirth, for example, or triplet children of a deity) and always or usually associated with one another or appearing together;
- triune ("three-in-one"): a being (or 'meta-being') with three aspects or modes of existence (e.g. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in dominant Christian theology);
- tripartite ("of triple parts"): a being with three body parts where there would normally be one (three heads, three pairs of arms, and so on); or
- triplicate-associated ("relating to three corresponding instances"): a being in association with a trio of things of the same nature which are symbolic or through which power is wielded (three magic birds, etc.)
The list below does not include fictional triple characters (e.g. Shakespeare's three witches in Macbeth, or Tolkien's trio of trolls in The Hobbit), however obviously inspired they may be by the triple deities and legendary beings that are represented in the list.
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[edit] List of triple deities
- Ayya Vaikundar
- Brahma
- Brigid
- Erawan
- The Fates or Furies
- The Hooded Spirits or Genii Cucullati
- Hecate Triune[citation needed]
- Lugus
- The Matres (Deae Matres/Dea Matrona)
- Meretseger
- Morrigan
- The Norns or Weird Sisters
- Shiva
- Tarvos Trigaranos (Gaulish cognate of Taurus (astronomy)) associated with a triad of magical cranes
- The Three Pure Ones in Taoism
- Triglav
- Trimurti
- The Trinity in Christianity
- The Triple Goddess of modern Neo-Paganism
- Trisiras
- Vishnu
- The Hindu trio of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (Trimurti)
- The trio of Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat in the time of Mohammed (surah 53:19-22)
- The philosophy of Plotinus, the proponent of neoplatonism. He believed in a trio of the One, the Thought (or Intellect) and the Soul.
- The Greek trio of Zeus (father), Leto (mother), and Apollo (son)
- The Egyptian trio of Osiris (man), Isis (wife), and Horus (son)
- The Roman Capitoline Triad of Jupiter (father), Juno (wife), and Minerva (daughter).
- The Roman triad of Ceres, Liber Pater and Libera (or its Greek counterpart with Demeter, Dionysos and Kore)
- The Julian triads of the early Roman Principate:
- The original matriarchal triad of Venus Genetrix, Divus Iulius and Clementia Caesaris
- The later Augustan patriarchal triad of Divus Iulius, Divi filius and Genius Augusti
- Eastern variants of the Julian triad, e.g. in Asia Minor: Dea Roma, Divus Iulius and Genius Augusti (or Divi filius)
- Inofficial or early Christian trinities of God, Mary and Jesus or Mary, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
[edit] List of triple legendary people
- The Zoroastrian Magi (the "Three Wise Men" in Christianity)
[edit] List of triple mythological or legendary creatures/monsters
- Aži Dahāka (Azhi Dahaka, Dahāg)
- Balam
- Balaur
- Bune (Bime)
- Cerberus
- ettins
- Geryon
- The Gorgons
- Zmey Gorynych
[edit] Quotes
Triads of gods appear very early, at the primitive level. The archaic triads in the religions of antiquity and of the East are too numerous to be mentioned here. Arrangement in triads is an archetype in the history of religion, which in all probability formed the basis of the Christian Trinity.
– C G Jung, A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity
[edit] See also
- Deity
- List of deities
- Mythology, by region
- Legends
- Legendary creatures
- Supernumerary body part
- Polycephaly
[edit] References
- Tricyclopedic Book of Threes.
- Jung, C. G. A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity, as quoted by Brabazon.
- Brabazon, Michael. Jung and the Trinitarian Self, Quodlibet Journal: Volume 4 Number 2-3, Summer 2002. File retrieved Dec. 6, 2006.
