Egyptian gods tended to take the form of animals.
Egyptian gods
Greek
Greek ! 300!
In Greek myth, Zeus takes the form of a swan and bull.
Yes. In Greek mythology, Zeus took on the form of a swan to seduce one of his lovers.
They can take on any form they wish.
Yes, all Greek gods and goddesses seemed to be shape shifting.
Apperitions that take animal forms are common.
Most gods that take animal form can come from Egypt and India. In Egypt, God of the underworld, Anubis, has a dog head. Almost all of the Gods in Egypt will take an animal form. Many gods in India will be and elephant or cow. The cow is a sacred animal to the Indians.
Unfortunately, if they are not picked up by someone, they usually will die. If they are picked up, the animal shelter will examine their health, and if they are deemed alright, that animal will be tended to and put up for adoption.
Kinolau is a concept in Hawaiian spirituality that refers to the multiple physical forms that ancestral deities can take, often representing different aspects of nature. These forms are manifestations of various gods and are believed to contain their spiritual essence. Kinolau are seen as embodiments of the deity's power and presence in the physical world.
No the Greek gods were not "grumpy". In fact, most of them were quite cheerful. However, they tended to take sides in mortal wars. It is believed that in WW2 the Greek gods took sides. They don't fight in the mortals' wars, but they start their own wars with each other because they disagree about who should/will be victorious in the mortal wars. In general though, the gods were not grumpy. They merely had minor discrepancies that caused anger and irritation occasionally leading to wars.
Zeus, at least, was rather fond of this trick. He usually did it to get his groove on with some mortal chick: Leda and the swan, Europa and the bull.