Pantheon
A pantheon designates the set of divinities worshipped in a given polytheistic religion, as well as the temple dedicated to all the divinities. The term applies today to any group of divine figures sharing a common symbolic system.
Origin and etymology
The word comes from the Greek pantheion, formed from pan (all) and theos (god). The term originally designated a sanctuary consecrated to several divinities. The Pantheon in Rome, a Roman monument preserved to this day, was built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 27 BCE and rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian around 125 CE. It is consecrated to all the Roman gods. In a figurative sense, the word has designated since Antiquity the full set of divinities of a religion. The main pantheons studied in comparative mythology are the Egyptian (Ra, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Thoth), Greek Olympian (the twelve gods led by Zeus), Roman, Norse, Hindu, Japanese, Mesoamerican, and Yoruba pantheons.
Evolution and tradition
Pantheons are not fixed: they evolve through syncretism, importation, and substitution. The Roman pantheon largely assimilated the Greek divinities (Jupiter / Zeus, Venus / Aphrodite, Mars / Ares). The Egyptian pantheon integrated local and foreign deities through the dynasties. Christianity and Islam, by historically prevailing, replaced certain pantheons with their own figures (Christian saints, prophets), while preserving some ancient divinatory functions in new forms. Mircea Eliade in his Treatise on the History of Religions (1949) and Georges Dumezil in Myth and Epic (1968-1973) produced fundamental comparative analyses of the major Indo-European pantheons.
Practical use
In contemporary esoteric practice, references to pantheons serve as a symbolic repertoire. The correspondences between planets and Greco-Roman divinities structure traditional astrology: Mercury / Hermes, Venus / Aphrodite, Mars / Ares, and so on. The major arcana of the tarot have often been read as mirrors of the Olympian pantheon: the Emperor as Zeus, the Empress as Demeter or Juno, the Lover as Eros, Justice as Themis. On Tarotoui, these correspondences appear in the arcanum entries. Contemporary Neopaganism sometimes reconstructs devotional relationships with a specific pantheon (Hellenic, Norse, Kemetic).
Going further
Mixing divinities from different pantheons (New Age syncretism) is a widespread practice in Neopagan circles, but it can obscure the specificity of each tradition. Confusing Athena and Sarasvati on the grounds that they are both goddesses of wisdom erases important cultural differences. Note also that the word pantheon has acquired a secondary civic meaning in French (the Pantheon in Paris), designating a memorial site for great men and women.