List of lunar deities

The monthly cycle of the Moon, in contrast to the annual cycle of the Sun's path, has been implicitly linked to women's menstrual cycles by many cultures, as evident in the links between the words for menstruation and for Moon in many resultant languages,[1] though this identification was not universal as demonstrated by the fact that not all moon deities are female. Many well-known mythologies feature female lunar deities, such as the Greek goddess Selene, the Roman goddess Luna, and the Chinese goddess Chang'e.

Male lunar gods are also frequent, such as Sin of the Mesopotamians, Mani of the Germanic tribes, Tsukuyomi of the Japanese, and Igaluk/Alignak of the Inuit. The ancient Egyptians had several male moon gods, for example, Ibis and Khonsu of Thebes. Thoth was also a lunar deity, but his character is considerably more complex than Ibis and Khonsu.[2] Set represented the Moon in the Egyptian Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637.[3] These cultures usually feature female sun goddesses. An exception is Hinduism; featuring both male and female aspects of the solar divine.

The original Proto-Indo-European lunar deity appears to have been male.[4] Several goddesses, like Artemis or Hecate, did not originally have lunar aspects, and only acquired them late in antiquity, due to syncretism with Selene/Luna, the de facto Greco-Roman lunar deity. In traditions with male gods, there is little evidence of such syncretism, though the Greek Hermes has been equated with the male Egyptian lunar god Thoth. In Greece proper, remnants of male moon gods are also seen with Menelaus. Nyx is the goddess of night.

Also of significance is that many religions and societies are oriented chronologically by the Moon, as opposed to the Sun. One common example is Hinduism in which the word Chandra means "Moon" and has religious significance during many Hindu festivals (e.g. Karwa Chauth, Sankasht Chaturthi, and during eclipses). The ancient Germanic tribes were also known to have a lunar calendar.

The Moon features prominently in art and literature and also has a purported influence in human affairs, a belief that consistently remains a feature of astrology, though beliefs such as this are classified as pseudoscience.

• Allah as a lunar deity
• List of solar deities
• Man in the Moon
• Moon idol
• Moon rabbit
• Nature worship
• Solar deity