Now, being a mythology buff, I knew that Tiamat was a Babylonian goddess, and I know that Tyr was one of the Aesir...but given the penetration of the name "Bahamut" into pop culture (D&D, Final Fantasy games, etc) I was wondering if anyone knew if Bahamut has a real world correlation or if it's origins really were in the D&D game (which wouldn't surprise me in the least).

I vaguely remembering hearing "Bahamut" whilest studying Beowulf in high school and thinking "Hey, like in FF3! OMGLOLOL"

[ 05-13-2003: Message edited by: Bill ]

Tyr is the Norse god of war/honor

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Bahamut, according to Edgerton Sykes' Who's Who of Non-Classical Mythology, is "The enormous fish on which stands Kujara, the giant bull, whose back supports a rock of ruby, on the top of which stands an angel on whose shoulders rests the earth, according to Islamic myth. Our word Behemoth is of the same origin." (Sykes, p. 28)
[Note: Sykes's use of the phrase "Islamic myth" is misleading as this bit of cosmology is not considered Islamic doctrine. Bahamut is pre-Islamic, most likely Arabic. I don't have a second source for Kujara.]

Behemoth then, is usually the male counterpart to Leviathan, and is a great beast that roams on land. He is sometimes equated with a hippopotamus, and is alternately listed in the Old Testament as a creature on the side of God and as one over whom God has or will triumph over.

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[ 05-14-2003: Message edited by: Bill ]

THought I looked and nothing was found. Maybe you'll have better luck

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Bill had this to say about Tron:
Kujara = Kuja

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Exactly what I was thinking.

So Bahamut is (loosely taken) some sort of scaled quadruped...like the heroic counterpart to the Leviathan, which explains the dragon aspect.

And of course Ifrit is an Efreeti, Shiva is a (rather bad) pun on both "Shiver" and the Hindu destroyer-god "Siva".

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Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael had this to say about Cuba:
Exactly what I was thinking.

So Bahamut is (loosely taken) some sort of scaled quadruped...like the heroic counterpart to the Leviathan, which explains the dragon aspect.

And of course Ifrit is an Efreeti, Shiva is a (rather bad) pun on both "Shiver" and the Hindu destroyer-god "Siva".

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Actually, I've been under the impression that Shiva is a correct spelling of the renunciate God. S/He's not necessarily a 'destroyer' as per western view of a what a destroyer is. S/He rather keeps the pace of time to an extent (hence Shiva often holding a set of drums, yey tempo.) His/her association with the other Hindu gods is negative due to his ash covered skin and odd life style (s/he often lives off in the mountains, as a renunciate should.) Shiva is occasionally depicted as female, or male with a single breast. Shiva is rather androgynous and is often considered the most powerful God, next to Kali or The Goddess (Whose name escapes me currently, but has undergone many alterations and I can only think Devi (translating to "Goddess" or somesuch and "Santoshi Ma" or somesuch...)

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LeMiere thought about the meaning of life:

Actually, I've been under the impression that Shiva is a correct spelling of the renunciate God. S/He's not necessarily a 'destroyer' as per western view of a what a destroyer is. S/He rather keeps the pace of time to an extent (hence Shiva often holding a set of drums, yey tempo.) His/her association with the other Hindu gods is negative due to his ash covered skin and odd life style (s/he often lives off in the mountains, as a renunciate should.) Shiva is occasionally depicted as female, or male with a single breast. Shiva is rather androgynous and is often considered the most powerful God, next to Kali or The Goddess (Whose name escapes me currently, but has undergone many alterations and I can only think Devi (translating to "Goddess" or somesuch and "Santoshi Ma" or somesuch...)

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Uhhh...no...Siva is one of the three uber-gods of the Hindu pantheon, forming the Divine Triad with Brahma and Vishnu. Brahma creates, Vishnu protects/maintains, and Siva destroys, all in the great cycle of death/destruction and rebirth/re-creation.

He is married to the destroyer goddess Kali (who has a similar profile, aside from her origins), who was once an aspect of the goddess Parvati (Siva's wife). Parvati was known to incarnate in a number of forms...once she incarnated in her Kali aspect to fend off demons, and to save the world from the taint of the unholy blood, she drank it, but it corrupted her Kali aspect, making it into the "evil side" of Parvati. But like most Hindu deities, Parvati/Kali is a dualistic entity.

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Uhhh...no...Siva is one of the three uber-gods of the Hindu pantheon, forming the Divine Triad with Brahma and Vishnu. Brahma creates, Vishnu protects/maintains, and Siva destroys, all in the great cycle of death/destruction and rebirth/re-creation.

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Actually it's one of those words with different spellings. It can be Shiva or Siva. Deth is pretty much on the money with the rest. Though originally Vishnu and Shiva/Siva were just aspects of one diety; Brahma, the uncreated creator.

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Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael stopped beating up furries long enough to write:
Uhhh...no...Siva is one of the three uber-gods of the Hindu pantheon, forming the Divine Triad with Brahma and Vishnu. Brahma creates, Vishnu protects/maintains, and Siva destroys, all in the great cycle of death/destruction and rebirth/re-creation.

He is married to the destroyer goddess Kali (who has a similar profile, aside from her origins), who was once an aspect of the goddess Parvati (Siva's wife). Parvati was known to incarnate in a number of forms...once she incarnated in her Kali aspect to fend off demons, and to save the world from the taint of the unholy blood, she drank it, but it corrupted her Kali aspect, making it into the "evil side" of Parvati. But like most Hindu deities, Parvati/Kali is a dualistic entity.

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All this of course is dependant upon the region which the mythos is taken. The myths are different, the panthenons form different primary deities depending on the era as well (such as Goddess worship beyond Vishnu.) In some, it is true that Kali is married to Siva, in others, it is false.

Edit: Actually I just remembered the story in which Siva was sort of engaged to Kali. I believe he laid in front of her after her blood lust was too intense for the other gods to handle (they released/combined their powers to create a Goddess (who further broke her powers down to create some number of Goddesses, one being Kali) to stop some group of demons.) He being the only one that could stop her in such a way or something to that extent.

[ 05-14-2003: Message edited by: LeMiere ]