The Pantheon of Urartu
The ancient Kingdom of Urartu, also known interchangeably as the Kingdom of Ararat, Biainili (as they called themselves) or Van, was a kingdom to the north of Assyria, stretching across the modern borders of Armenia, Turkey, and parts of Iraq and Iran, existing from about 860-585 B.C. “Urartu” was a name given to them by the Assyrians, their arch-rivals throughout their history, and what the kingdom is most known by today. It’s best understood as a proto-Armenian kingdom, directly preceding the Orontid dynasty of Armenian rulers under the authority of the Median Empire. The earliest verifiable mentions of Armenia, from Persian sources in the 500’s B.C , use it interchangeably with Urartu. The language they spoke is of Hurrian-Hittite origin, and basically the only living language distantly related to it is modern Armenian; an Indo-European language, but with a lot of old loan words that can be traced back to Urartian. The Urartians used a cuneiform alphabet, much like Assyria.
The Gods of Urartu were a mixture of imported and local deities, some coming from the Hittites, Hurrians, and Assyrians, among others. When Urartu conquered a new area they would often adopt their Gods into the state pantheon, which grew very large as a result. Near the modern day city of Van is a door-like carving into the face of a cliff, with the cuneiform names of 79 deities and what to offer each. Later Armenian legends call this the Door of Mher, and it is said that when the world ends, the door will open and the old Armenian hero Lion Mher will pass through it on a fiery horse and pass judgment on the enemies of his people. No one deciphered the cuneiform until the 1800s.
When I went to Armenia in 2015, I visited Erebuni, an ancient Urartian fortress located outside Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, several times while I was there. At one time I was going through a library and found an archeology textbook about Urartu. I wish I knew the title and author now, but I sadly neglected to save it. It was one of the only books on Urartu I found in Armenia that was in English. It had a few Urartian words, phrases and names of deities in it. I do still have the notes I took though. As far as I have been able to gather, these are the names of some of the Gods in the Urartian pantheon. With some of them, all that we have is a name. If I have a tidbit of information about Them I will include it.
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Adaruta - God of Birth
Adia/Aia - Goddess of the City of Adia
Ainau
Airaini
Apaltushini
Anapsha
Ardi
Arni
Arrinna - A Hittite Solar Goddess, aka Huba/Hepat
Arshibedini
Arsimela
Aui
Atbini
Araza
Artinis - Son of Arubani and Khaldi, might be an alternate name for Shvini
Artuarasau - God of the Unnia Plain
Arubani - Goddess of Art and Fertility, consort of Khaldi
Baba
Babaninaue/Babania - Goddess of Mountains
Bagmastu - Another name of Arubani, as she was known in eastern Urartu
Bagvarti - Consort of Khaldi, possibly another form of Arubani
Barshi
Diduaini - God of Herding
Dvininaue- Goddess of Water and Seas, an earlier form of Tsovinar
Ea
Eiduru - Mountain God of Sipan
Elia’a
Elipuri - A Hurrian God
Eliwre
Epaninaue - Goddess of Land and Earth
Erina
Gula
Hara
Huba/Hepat - Solar Goddess, Wife of Theispas, related to Arinna
Hutuini - God of Luck, Fate and Victory
Ilu Aluลกe Uruliliue ล iuali - God who Accompanies the Dead
Iphari - A Goddess
Innuani/Innuannau - Mother Goddess; also the Urartian word for ‘Goddess’
Iubsha/Iarsha - (ิปีธึีขีทีก); Had a temple at Erebuni
Irmushini - God of Healing who cures illness, had a temple in what is now modern Cavus Tepe
Khaldi - Supreme God of Warfare, possibly a deification of Hayk. Has three forms:
Iniriashie - Khaldi as Youth
Aluishie - Khaldi as Man
Dirushie - Khaldi the Elder
Kilbani - God of Mountains who ruled from Mt. Varaga overlooking Tushpa
Kuera - God of Earth and Water
Kumanu
Marduk - God of Babylon, imported from Assyria
Nala-ini - Goddess of the Nala Mountains
Nergal - God of War, Disease and Death, imported from Assyria
Nusk
Quera - God of the Underworld
Qumenu - Storm God, Kumme in Assyrian, related to Hurrian Teshub
Sardi/Saris - the Urartian form of Ishtar, later developed into Astghik
Selardi - Moon Goddess, daughter of Khaldi and Arubani
Shebitu - God of the Unnia Plain (like Artuarasau)
Shiniri
Shvini (๐ญ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ฟ๐ in Urartian) - Sun God, pictured with a winged solar disc
Shuba
Silia
Sinuiarda - An unspecified Goddess
Sumaliu
Suqamuna
Talapura
Taraini
Teysheba/Theispas - God of Storms, son of Khaldi and Arubani
Turani - God of Rainbows, son of Teysheba and Huba
Tushpunia - Winged Goddess of the Dawn and of Tushpa
Ua
Uia - Solar Mother Goddess, “She Who Looks Down Upon Us”
Unina
Ura - God of the city of Ur
Ziuqini
Zubabu
Zuzumaru
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The Loose Urartu-Egypt Connections
There was probably very little if any direct contact between Urartu and Egypt. Yet a distant connection can be found. They did both have to deal with the Assyrians invading them, and distance-wise were only about as far apart as Italy and Scotland, or Texas and Wisconsin. Their being in the same general geopolitical neighborhood, and being invaded by a lot of the same empires over the centuries, lead to Urartu and Egypt sharing at least one deity, the Goddess Astarte, known as Sardi or Saris in Urartian, and Ishtar elsewhere. Astarte is one of Set’s consorts. Sardi would later develop into Astghik in the Armenian pantheon, who maybe not coincidentally is the consort to another storm God, Vahagn, who like Set battles chaotic reptiles in the form of dragons in the mythic Chaoskampf trope. Vahagn can be traced back to similar storm deities from the area, such as Theispas in the Urartian pantheon, the Hurrian God Teshub, Tarhunt in the Hittite pantheon, and Ba’al, who would have been known to the Assyrians. So the connection is there; there is a Set-to-Vahagn pipeline if you know where to dig for it.
Another fascinating deity of Urartu is Shivini, a winged solar deity sometimes depicted with the head of an eagle, whose symbol was a winged sun disc. It’s basically the Urartian Ra. I can’t say how directly they might have been inspired by Egyptian symbolism, but ideas have a way of traveling, and the ancient world was more interconnected than modern people often give it credit for. The winged sun disc was a motif in Sumerian art too, although they might have gotten it from Egypt; so it most likely was brought to Urartu via Assyria rather than straight from Egypt.
Khaldini ishmasini - By the will of Khaldi. (A common end to an inscription.)
Khaldini kuruni - Khaldi is strong.
Sutekhi Kuruni - Sutekh is strong.
Works Cited
The book People of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and the Caucasus, by Charles Burney and David Marshall Lang
https://studfile.net/preview/16501883/page:60/
https://www.worldhistory.org/Urartu_Religion/
https://www.urartians.com.tr/alticerik/61/gods.html
(A partial list of what is written on Mher’s door.)
(Yes, Fandom wikis are an even worse academic resource than Wikipedia, but it had the most complete list of the Urartian pantheon I’ve ever seen online, and I can confirm at least some of it is accurate.)
~ Siamanto the Foreigner
๐ท๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ญ๐๐๐บ๐๐๐ ๐๐
ีีซีกีดีกีถีฉึ ีีฟีกึีจ
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