This comprehensive guide to deities contains entries for more than 20,000 gods and goddesses from a range of cultures and eras. This volume includes folklore and religion from Asia, Africa and the Near East, as well as Europe and the Americas. The approach is anthropological, grouping together deities from different countries and societies on the basis of their function and characteristics. Included are entries on: war, life and death gods; terrestrial and celestial gods; evil and good luck gods; gods of hunting, wisdom, agriculture and wine; creation deities; and love and sex gods.