Home›Hybrids›TraditionBrowse ByTraditionThis page groups mythical creatures by the wider artistic and religious tradition that pictures them. Wikipedia notes that "in medieval art, animals, both real and mythical, played important roles." Browsing by tradition lets a visitor read every creature from one cultural tradition together.FactsLearn MoreTraditionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedBeings whose body combines parts of two or more kinds - animal with animal, or animal with human - grouped by that composite form, which the comparative indexes treat as a class of its own. 2Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedChinese: the qilin is an auspicious omen-beast whose appearance marks a sage's birth or a just reign - a sign of good government, not a monster. 3Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedEgyptian: the sphinx is a royal image - a lion's body with a king's head - and the Greek Sphinx who questions Oedipus is a separate, later and female figure. 4Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedGreek: centaur, chimaira, gorgon, sphinx and minotaur are distinct figures of Greek myth with separate stories, and are not variants of one composite type. 5Peoples and Traditions CoveredWell-attestedPersian and Indian: the manticore reaches Europe as a traveller's report of India, from Ctesias and repeated by Pliny, and is a literary marvel rather than a figure of any cult. 6DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedMythical Creatures 1Learn MoreThe Hybrid Creatures This group gathers hybrid creatures, beings that combine the parts of two or more animals, or of animal and human, a form found throughout world mythology from the sphinx and griffin to countless composite guardians and monsters. The hybrid often expresses a mixing of powers or realms. The browser will find the composite creatures the atlas gathers here. The entries describe each being's combined form and its mythological role.TraditionFilter Results6 entriesCreature kindAllLion-Bodied Composite Creatures (2)Region of OriginAllChina (1)Greece (1)Indian Subcontinent (1)Attested In RegionAllAnatolia and Asia Minor (1)China (2)Egypt (2)Greece (2)Indian Subcontinent (1)Mesopotamia (1)Southeast Asia (2)Associated WithAllApollo (1)Athena (1)Hera (1)Ma'at (1)Nemesis (1)Varuna (1)Zeus (1)HistoricityAllLegendary: known from narrative tradition, not the historical record (6)Adherents Today MaximumAll1,200,000,000 (1)Adherents Today MinimumAll1,200,000,000 (1)Basis of the Membership FigureAllIndependent Survey (3)Scholarly or Demographic Estimate (1)Era of Decline End YearAll529 (1)550 (1)1976 (2)Era of Decline Start YearAll380 (2)1966 (2)Establishment StatusAllEstablished (1)Varies by Province (1)How the Expectation Is EnforcedAllCustomary Norm (2)Membership Figure As OfAll2010-01-01 (1)2012-12-18 (1)2015-01-01 (1)2016-01-01 (1)2018-01-01 (2)2020-01-01 (1)Origin Period End YearAll3000 BCE (1)1046 BCE (1)700 BCE (1)500 BCE (1)479 BCE (1)Origin Period Start YearAll3300 BCE (1)1600 BCE (1)1500 BCE (1)1400 BCE (1)551 BCE (1)Practice StatusAllDiscontinued as a state religion (2)Living, and practised in varied local forms (2)Partly restricted: some elements are closed to outsiders (1)Status TodayAllHistorical; not practised continuously (2)Living tradition, practised today (4)TheologyAllAncestor-centred (3)Animist: persons and powers in land, water and living things (2)Henotheistic: a supreme being above served lesser divinities (1)Monistic: one ultimate reality behind all appearance (1)Non-theistic: no creator god is central (1)Panentheistic: the divine both within the world and beyond it (1)Polytheistic: many gods (4)Show ResultsBrowseCompareAncient Egyptian ReligionTradition3 entriesAncient Greek ReligionTradition11 entriesChinese Folk ReligionTradition2 entriesConfucianismTradition1 entryHinduismTradition2 entriesPhilippine Indigenous Religion (Anitism)Tradition1 entrySources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 1Category: Mythical Creatures2. Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books and Local Legendstier 1Stith Thompson, Indiana University Press, 1958B0-B99, Mythical Animals3. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005the entry on Chinese religion: omen animals and the qilinView the Source4. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypttier 1Donald B. Redford (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2001the article on the sphinxView the Source5. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th editiontier 1Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2012the entries on centaurs, the Chimaera, the Gorgons and the MinotaurView the Source6. Naturalis Historia (Natural History)tier 1Pliny the ElderBook 8, the manticoreView the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.