A chaos deity is a deity or more often a figure or spirit in mythology associated with or being a

personification Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person, often as an embodiment or incarnation. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, National personification, countries, an ...

primordial chaos Chaos () is the cosmological void state preceding the creation of the universe (the cosmos) in early Greek cosmology. It can also refer to an early state of the cosmos constituted of nothing but undifferentiated and indistinguishable matter. ...

. The following is a list of chaos deities in various mythologies.

Africa and the Middle East

Afroasiatic Middle East

Arabian

* Falak * Hinn and Binn

Canaanite

* Yam, god of the sea and primordial chaos *

Tannin (monster) Tannin ( ''tannīn''; ''tannīnā'' plural: ''tannīnē''; ', ultimately from Akkadian language, Akkadian 𒆗𒉌𒈾 ''dannina'') or Tunnanu (Ugaritic: 𐎚𐎐𐎐 ''tnn'', likely vocalized ''tunnanu'') was a sea monster in Ancient Canaanite ...

Egyptian

Apep Apophis (; ), also known as Apep () or Aphoph (, ) Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Re ...

the ultimate evil of Egyptian mythology in snake form * Isfet chaos, disorder, and injustice - opposed to Maat *

Nu (mythology) Nu ("Watery One") or Nun ("The Inert One") (Ancient Egyptian: ; Coptic: ), in ancient Egyptian religion, is the personification of the primordial watery abyss which existed at the time of creation and from which the creator sun god Ra a ...

primordial waters *

Set (deity) Set (; Egyptian language#Egyptological pronunciation, Egyptological: ''Sutekh - swtẖ ~ stẖ'' or: Seth ) is a deity, god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion. In Ancient Greek, the god's name is ...

was not originally evil, but developed into a hated figure thanks to the invading Hyksos who identified him with their chief god, fights Apep.

Hebrew

Leviathan Leviathan ( ; ; ) is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. Leviathan is of ...

(is referred to as a reptilian aquatic animal in the Bible, but has also been used as an image of Satan).

Mesopotamian

Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( or , ) is the primordial sea, mating with Abzû (Apsu), the groundwater, to produce the gods in the Babylonian epic '' Enûma Elish'', which translates as "when on high". She is referred to as a woman, an ...

Western Eurasia

Celtic

Fomorians The Fomorians or Fomori (, Modern ) are a supernatural race in Irish mythology, who are often portrayed as hostile and monstrous beings. Originally they were said to come from under the sea or the earth. Later, they were portrayed as sea raider ...

– monstrous Irish sea-demons deposed by the

Tuatha dé Danann The Tuatha Dé Danann (, meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic ...

Balor In Irish mythology, Balor or Balar was a leader of the Fomorians, a group of malevolent supernatural beings, and considered the most formidable. He is often described as a giant with a large eye that wreaks destruction when opened. Balor takes ...

Norse-Germanic

Midgard Serpent In Germanic cosmology, Midgard (an anglicised form of Old Norse ; Old English , Old Saxon , Old High German , and Gothic ''Midjun-gards''; "middle yard", "middle enclosure") is the name for Earth (equivalent in meaning to the Greek term : oikou ...

* Nidhogg *

Surtr In Norse mythology, Surtr (Old Norse "black"Orchard (1997:154). or more narrowly "swart",Simek (2007:303–304) Surtur in modern Icelandic language, Icelandic), also sometimes written Surt in English, is a jötunn; he is the greatest of the fire ...

Ymir In Norse mythology, Ymir (), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writte ...

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

Graeco-Roman

Chaos (mythology) Chaos () is the cosmological void state preceding the creation of the universe (the cosmos) in early Greek cosmology. It can also refer to an early state of the cosmos constituted of nothing but undifferentiated and indistinguishable matter. ...

, the "first thing that came into being" according to Hesiod *

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

, in some cases thought to be a god of chaos * Eris *

Hydra (mythology) The Lernaean Hydra or Hydra of Lerna (), more often known simply as the Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek mythology and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which was also the site of the myth of the Dana� ...

Typhon Typhon (; , ), also Typhoeus (; ), Typhaon () or Typhos (), was a monstrous serpentine giant and one of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology. According to Hesiod, Typhon was the son of Gaia and Tartarus. However, one source has Typhon as t ...

Western Asia

Anatolian - Hittite

Illuyanka In Hittite mythology, Illuyanka was a serpentine dragon slain by Tarḫunz (), the Hittite incarnation of the Hurrian god of sky and storm. It is known from Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Çorum-Boğazköy, the former Hittite capital Hat ...

Hindu-Vedic

Vritra Vritra (, , ) is a danava in Hinduism. He serves as the personification of drought, and is an adversary of the king of the devas, Indra. As a danava, he belongs to the race of the asuras. Vritra is also known in the Vedas as Ahi ( ). He appe ...

Persian Zoroastrian

Angra Mainyu Angra Mainyu (; ) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, th ...

, Zoroastrian god of evil and opposed to Ahura Mazda, god of good Manichaeism * Prince of Darkness

Asia-Pacific / Oceania

* Amatsumikaboshi, Japanese

Native Americas

Cipactli Cipactli ( "crocodile" or "caiman") was the first day of the Aztec divinatory count of 13 X 20 days (the '' tonalpohualli'') and ''Cipactonal'' "Sign of Cipactli" was considered to have been the first diviner. In Aztec cosmology, the crocodile sy ...

Juracán Guabancex is the zemi or deity of chaos and disorder in Taíno mythology and religion, which was practiced by the Taíno people in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Cuba, as well as by Arawak natives elsewhere in the Caribbean. She was desc ...

Tau (mythology) Tau is the name of an evil spirit in South American Guaraní mythology. Although Tau is not quite synonymous with the Devil in Christian beliefs, for example, he was sometimes referred to as The Evil Spirit and as such may have been a personificati ...

Unhcegila In Lakota mythology, Unk Cekula (uŋȟčéǧila or uŋkčéǧila) is a serpentoid creature which was responsible for many unexplained disappearances and deaths. Her male counterpart is known as ''Unk Tehi''. Description She was described at firs ...

References

External links

* {{List of mythological figures by region Lists of deities