Itzamna
The supreme creator god of the Maya, lord of the heavens and inventor of writing, calendars, and agriculture. Depicted as a wise, aged figure, Itzamna represents cosmic order and benevolent rulership.
Divine domains
Gods of Agriculture
21 deities from 12 traditions whose entries in this atlas list agriculture among their domains, grouped by tradition.
Mesoamerican
Chaac
The Maya god of rain, lightning, and thunder. Chaac wields his lightning axe to split the clouds and bring life-giving rain to the maize fields. One of the most widely worshipped Maya deities.
Xipe Totec
The Aztec god of spring, renewal, and new vegetation. Xipe Totec represents the cycle of death and rebirth in nature. Priests wore the flayed skins of sacrificial victims, symbolizing the earth's new covering of vegetation.
Centeotl
The Aztec god of maize and sustenance. Centeotl represents the sacred maize plant that sustained Mesoamerican civilization.
Yum Kaax
The youthful Maya god of maize, agriculture, and wild nature. Yum Kaax represents the life-sustaining bounty of cultivated fields and untamed forests.
Inca and Andean
Manco Cápac
The first Inca, founder of Cusco, presented by Garcilaso as a son of the Sun sent to Lake Titicaca with his sister-wife Mama Ocllo, and by Betanzos and Sarmiento as the leader of four brothers and four sisters who emerged from a cave at Pacaritambo.
Pachamama
The Earth Mother of the Andes, recorded by colonial writers as receiving offerings of maize beer and coca in the fields, and still honored by Quechua and Aymara communities today.
Japanese
Amaterasu
Supreme goddess of the sun and universe. Ruler of the High Celestial Plain. Divine ancestor of the Japanese Imperial family. Most important deity in Shinto.
Okuninushi
The Great Land Master who built and ruled the earthly realm before ceding it to Amaterasu's descendants. God of nation-building, medicine, magic, and matchmaking. Principal deity of Izumo Grand Shrine.
Korean
Hwanung
The son of the Lord of Heaven who descends to Mount Taebaek with three thousand followers and the ministers of wind, rain, and clouds, founds the 'City of God' beneath the sacred altar tree, and fathers Dangun with the bear-woman Ungnyeo.
Yuhwa
The daughter of Habaek, the River Earl, who is seduced and abandoned by Haemosu, banished by her parents, sheltered by King Geumwa of East Buyeo, and there lays the egg from which Jumong hatches; later worshipped by Goguryeo as a mother goddess.
Polynesian
Tu
The fierce god of war and human endeavor. Tu represents the aggressive, active principle necessary for survival, from warfare to hunting to the cultivation of crops.
Rongo
The god of cultivated plants, peace, and agriculture. Rongo represents the peaceful arts of cultivation that sustain life, standing in contrast to his brother Tu's warlike nature.
Roman
Mars
God of war and guardian of Rome. More prominent in Roman religion than his Greek counterpart Ares, Mars was also a god of agriculture and fertility. Father of Romulus and Remus, legendary founders of Rome.
Ceres
Goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherhood. Her cult was central to Roman plebeian identity. Mother of Proserpina (Persephone). Roman equivalent of Demeter.
Celtic
The Dagda
The father figure and king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. A giant, bearded powerhouse with a magic club that can kill with one end and heal with the other, and a cauldron that never runs empty.
Egyptian
Osiris
God of the afterlife, resurrection, and fertility. First pharaoh and lawgiver who taught agriculture to humanity. Murdered by his brother Set and resurrected by Isis.
Greek
Demeter
Goddess of agriculture, harvest, and fertility. Mother of Persephone, whose abduction by Hades explains the seasons.
Haudenosaunee
The Three Sisters
The inseparable spirits of corn, beans, and squash, the crops Haudenosaunee farmers plant together, remembered as sisters and thanked as the sustainers of the people.
Hittite
Telipinu
A Hattian god of farming and growth, son of the Storm-god, whose angry departure makes the whole land barren until a bee finds him asleep and a ritual soothes his rage.
Mesopotamian
Enlil
Lord of wind, storms, and the breath of life. Enlil is the executive authority of the gods, wielding the Tablet of Destinies and determining the fates of gods and mortals.
Parallels across traditions
Editorial comparisons recorded on these entries; a shared role does not establish a shared origin.
Demeter (Greek) and Ceres (Roman)
Ceres is the direct Roman equivalent, goddess of grain, harvest, and agriculture
Compare Demeter and CeresOsiris (Egyptian) and Xipe Totec (Mesoamerican)
Xipe Totec already lists Osiris; both are gods of death and agricultural renewal/rebirth
Compare Osiris and Xipe TotecCeres (Roman) and Yum Kaax (Mesoamerican)
Both are patrons of maize/grain cultivation and the fertility of cultivated land
Compare Ceres and Yum KaaxRongo (Polynesian) and Demeter (Greek)
Both are deities of cultivated crops and agricultural fertility
Compare Rongo and DemeterCenteotl (Mesoamerican) and Demeter (Greek)
Both are grain deities whose blessing ensures agricultural abundance
Compare Centeotl and DemeterTelipinu (Hittite) and Demeter (Greek)
Both are agricultural deities whose withdrawal in grief or anger makes the earth barren until the gods intervene; the resemblance is typological.
Compare Telipinu and Demeter
Quick answers
- Who is the Mesoamerican god of agriculture?
- In the Mythos Atlas catalog, the Mesoamerican deities whose domains include agriculture are Itzamna, Chaac, Xipe Totec, Centeotl and Yum Kaax.
- Who is the Inca and Andean god of agriculture?
- In the Mythos Atlas catalog, the Inca and Andean deities whose domains include agriculture are Manco Cápac and Pachamama.
- Who is the Japanese god of agriculture?
- In the Mythos Atlas catalog, the Japanese deities whose domains include agriculture are Amaterasu and Okuninushi.
- Who is the Korean god of agriculture?
- In the Mythos Atlas catalog, the Korean deities whose domains include agriculture are Hwanung and Yuhwa.
- Who is the Polynesian god of agriculture?
- In the Mythos Atlas catalog, the Polynesian deities whose domains include agriculture are Tu and Rongo.
- Who is the Roman god of agriculture?
- In the Mythos Atlas catalog, the Roman deities whose domains include agriculture are Mars and Ceres.
Related domains
Built from each deity's catalog entry. See every domain side by side on Divine Domains, or browse every cross-pantheon parallel.