The Nihongi, or Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan), is one of the earliest and most important sources of Japanese mythology. Along with the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), it provides most of the myths and legends from the early periods of Japanese history up to the death of Empress Jitô in A.D.
Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, may originally have been considered an aspect of the goddess Athena* rather than a deity in her own right. According to the Greek writer Hesiod*, Nike was the daughter of the river Styx and the Titan Pallas.
According to Jewish legend, Nimrod was a powerful king of a land called Shinar, who built a great tower to challenge God's authority. The only direct mention of Nimrod in the Bible calls him "a mighty hunter before the Lord." He supposedly acquired immense strength by wearing animal skins that Adam and Eve had received from the Hebrew god Yahweh.
In the book of Genesis in the Bible, Noah was the hero chosen by God to survive a great flood on earth. The biblical story was probably based on similar accounts of a flood in myths from Mesopotamia*.
Norse mythology comes from the northernmost part of Europe, Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. The mythology of this region is grim, shadowed by long, sunless winters.
Divine twins called the Nummo figure prominently in the creation stories of the Dogon people of Mali in West Africa. The Nummo were the offspring of the union of Amma, the supreme god who represents the male spirit, and the earth, a female spirit.
In Egyptian mythology, Nut was the sky goddess and the mother goddess of ancient Egypt. Egyptian artists often portrayed her as a woman arched over the earth god Geb, her twin brother and husband, with her fingers and toes touching the ground.
In Chinese mythology, Nu Wa is the goddess of order who created humans and saved the world from destruction. According to legend, Nu Wa came to earth before there were any people.
Nyame is the supreme being and creator deity worshiped by the Ashanti and Akan people in the West African country of Ghana. In mythology, Nyame appears in both male and female forms.
In Greek mythology, nymphs were minor female deities associated with nature. Typically pictured as beautiful girls or young women, they could live for a very long time but were not immortal.
Odin was the ruler of the Aesir, a group of deities in Norse* mythology. Sometimes called Allfather, Odin played a central role in myths about the creation and destruction of the world.
In Greek mythology, Odysseus was a celebrated hero, best known for his role in the Trojan Warf and for his ten-year journey home after the war. Odysseus (also known as Ulysses) appears as the central character in the Odyssey, an epic by the ancient Greek poet Homer, and he also plays a role in the Iliad, Homer's other major epic.
Oedipus was a tragic hero of Greek mythology, a king doomed to a dire fate because he unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. His story is the tale of someone who, because he did not know his true identity, followed the wrong path in life.
Ogun, or Ogun Onire, is the god of war and iron of the Yoruba people of West Africa. In Yoruba lore, Ogun and the other gods climbed down to earth on a spiderweb.
In Celtic* mythology, Oisin (or Ossian) was a great warrior poet and the son of Finn, leader of a warrior band known as the Fianna. Legend says that an enchanter had changed Finn's lover, the goddess Sadb, into a deer.
Old Man, also known as Napi, is a creator god and trickster figure in the mythology of the Blackfoot Indians of North America. He is said to have created the world and all the creatures in it.
In the mythology of the Yoruba people of West Africa, Olorun is the most powerful and wisest deity. The all-knowing god takes an active role in the affairs of both heaven and earth.
In Greek mythology, Orestes was the prince who avenged the murder of his father, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, by killing his own mother, Clytemnestra. Orestes' sisters Iphigenia and Electra play important roles in his story.
Orion was a giant hunter in Greek mythology. Some stories say he was the son of Zeus*, Poseidon*, or Hermes*.
In Polynesian mythology Oro is the war god of the Pacific island of Tahiti. Oro enjoys fighting and demands human sacrifices during wartime.
In Greek mythology, Orpheus was a musician who sang and played so beautifully that even animals, rocks, and trees danced to his tunes. He was the son of Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry, and of the god Apollo*.
One of the most important deities of ancient Egypt, Osiris was god of the underworld and judge of the dead. He also represented the idea of renewal and rebirth in the afterlife.
Born in 43 B.C. to a respectable Roman family, Ovid was a poet best known for his collection of myths and legends titled the Metamorphoses.
In medieval European legend, the paladins were 12 brave knights who were loyal followers of Charlemagne, the king of the Franks and founder of the Holy Roman Empire. The name paladin—from a word meaning a person attached to the court—implies that the knights may have resided at the royal palace.