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Ask who rules the planet called Mercury, or Jupiter, or Venus, and the atlas has an answer from five separate traditions for each. No god without a planet attached draws anything close to that many identifications.

The Roman Names Are the Familiar Layer

Interpretatio romana gave the Roman planetary gods to the Greeks first: Hermes became Mercury, Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite became Venus. Interpretatio germanica did the same for the Germanic peoples, and it survives in the calendar every one of these days still uses. Wednesday still carries Woden's name, Thursday still carries Thor's, and Friday still carries Frigg's or Freya's, standing in for Mercury, Jupiter and Venus in turn.

The Same Sky, Read Further East

The atlas also records a Hindu face for each of these planets, Budha and Brihaspati, and Chinese and Japanese ones besides. The Germanic pairings rest on settled etymology, plain in the calendar itself. The East Asian entries reflect a real and ongoing astrological identification, though how far back that identification runs is less settled than the Roman and Germanic layers. Read together, they still describe five traditions independently building a face for the same planet, however differently each one arrived there.

Where To Read More

• MercuryRoman DeitiesWears five faces, from Hermes to a Hindu, Chinese and Japanese god of the same planet
• JupiterRoman DeitiesFive names for the largest planet, from Zeus to Brihaspati
• VenusRoman DeitiesThe morning and evening star, named five separate ways
• OdinNorse DeitiesThe Germanic face of Mercury, still carried in the word Wednesday