The use of the boar as an emblem stretches from antiquity into heraldic practice. During the Roman Empire at least three legions (Legio I Italica, Legio X Fretensis and Legio XX Valeria Victrix) are recorded as using a boar emblem. Pictish stone-carving demonstrates an early boar emblem (the Knocknagael Boar Stone, c. 7th century). Archaeological and textual evidence from Anglo-Saxon, Vendel and Viking-Age Germanic contexts attests boar imagery and boar-helmets; later medieval and early modern heraldic practice formalized the boar and boar's head as standard charges used by families, towns and rulers (for example, Richard III's White Boar livery badge). Scholarly proposals link some of these emblem traditions to older tribal or dynastic identifications (for example, associations with Freyr and the Yngling dynasty) but the primary documented continuity is emblematic and heraldic rather than mythic in the sources.
Heraldic depictions vary. The boar appears either as a whole animal (sometimes rampant) or as a partial representation, most commonly the boar's head. In English heraldry the boar's head is traditionally shown attached to its neck and may be described as couped or erased at the neck; in Scottish and Welsh heraldry the head is conventionally cut off from behind the ears and thus shown couped or erased close. Early modern practice increased use of the boar's head rather than the entire animal. Depictions may include additional heraldic attributes (chains, crowns, tinctures) depending on the arms.
The source treats the boar strictly as a symbolic, rhetorical device rather than a being with supernatural powers. Its 'abilities' are emblematic functions: identification (family coats of arms, crests, livery badges, e.g. Richard III's White Boar), martial association (legions and tribal emblems), canting (visual puns on place and family names — e.g., civic arms such as Eberbach/Ebersbach), and regional or dynastic symbolism (usage by clans such as MacTavish, Campbell; appearance in Basque heraldry alongside wolves and bears). No magical or behavioral powers are ascribed in the source.
57 Mnemosyne
57 Mnemosyne is a large main-belt asteroid (S-type) discovered in 1859 and named after the Greek Titaness Mnemosyne. It is a non-sentient astronomical body studied for its orbital and rotational properties and has been used in dynamical measurements related to Jupiter.
Aamon
Aamon (also Amon) is a named spirit in early modern Western grimoire tradition (Pseudomonarchia Daemonum; the Ars Goetia / Lesser Key of Solomon). He is presented as a high-ranking infernal officer (Marquis/Prince) who governs forty legions and is credited with knowledge of past and future and with affecting human relationships (reconciling or procuring feuds and favor).
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarbarea
Abarbarea is a name attested in classical Greek and Roman sources for freshwater nymphs (naiads). The name appears for at least two individual mythic figures — a naiad wife of Bucolion and a naiad counted among ancestors of the Tyrians — and Hesychius records plural forms that may indicate the name was also used as a class-name (Abarbareai / Abarbalaiai).
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Abellio
Abellio is a theonym attested in Roman‑period inscriptions from the Comminges area of the Pyrenees and reported as worshipped in the Garonne Valley of ancient Gallia Aquitania. Surviving evidence is limited to a small number of inscriptions; scholars have variously hypothesized solar or arboreal associations and compared the name to forms of Apollo or to Celtic Belenus, but the deity's precise role in local cosmology remains uncertain.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
Aborigines (mythology)
A mytho-historical label used in Roman and general reference sources to denote the oldest inhabitants of a region (specifically central Italy in the cited Roman context). The term functions as an identity/category for original human populations rather than as a characterized supernatural being in the provided sources.
Abrahel
Abrahel is a demonological entity attested in early modern sources (notably Nicholas Rémy's Demonolatria as summarized in modern reference) portrayed as a female sexual spirit who seduced a man in 1581, induced him to kill his son, then restored the child to life in exchange for worship; the revival produced a diminished, foul-smelling corpse that later died again.
Abraun
Abraun is an attested name in German-language plant-legend scholarship (Der abraun, ein beitrag zur pflanzensagenkunde, 1916) and a short database entry (Wikidata) labels it as a spirit from German mythology. Surviving accessible documentation is extremely limited: the principal academic treatment is a 1916 contribution to pflanzensagenkunde (plant-saga studies), but the excerpts available here contain only bibliographic metadata and do not record tales, descriptions, or rituals.
Abraxas
Abraxas (Abrasax) is a late‑antique Gnostic and magical name attested as a high-ranking cosmic power in heresiological summaries and as a potent name engraved on amulets (so-called Abraxas stones) in the Greco‑Roman magical milieu. Heresiologists associate Abraxas with rulership of 365 heavens and note the name's numerological value, while archaeological and papyrological contexts show its use as an amuletic formula.
Abundantia
Abundantia is the Roman divine personification of abundance and material plenty, used primarily in imperial propaganda and public iconography to signify secure grain supplies, wealth, and the promise of a 'Golden Age' under the emperor. She also appears in later medieval European folklore as Domina Abundia / Dame Habonde, a household benefactor in accounts condemned by ecclesiastical writers.
Community Record
- [1]Boars in heraldry (Wikipedia). Wikipedia, 'Boars in heraldry', accessed via provided research notes.wiki