The Pantheon of Urartu

 The Pantheon of Urartu

Pictured: My Khaldi figurine I got when I was in Armenia 

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. 

𓋹֍֎𓋹

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 Aluše Uruliliue Šiuali - God who Accompanies the Dead 

Iphari - A Goddess 

Innuani/Innuannau - Mother Goddess; also the Urartian word for ‘Goddess’

Iubsha/Iarsha - (Իուբշա); 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 (𒀭𒅆𒄿𒌑𒄿𒉌 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 

𓋹֍֎𓋹

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.)

https://sunofchedorlaomer.fandom.com/wiki/Urartu?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR05rPNDqVk9yuuMiOacEj6jp_h-Th_PhZJOBzE4zYC80rNSRuQ2_kUUI9I_aem_jy6kU_HlJwVMHgXXKJEG-g

(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

 𓋷𓅁𓈖𓏏𓍯𓀭𓈖𓐎𓏺𓈉𓏏𓅂𓌙𓀀

Սիամանթօ Օտարը

An Overview of Armenian Paganism

This was a presentation I put together for a Wiccan coven I have been hanging out with lately at the local Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. We like to do little presentations about different pantheons sometimes. Some of it was taken from this very blog, but it’s put together in a different way. It was also around the time of the Trndez holiday (February 13) so I decided to go over that holiday as well. It’s written so that hopefully non-Armenians will be able to understand it.

Armenian Paganism 

The Anahit Statue

In September of this year, a statue of the Armenian Goddess Anahit will return to Armenia from the British Museum for the first time since its discovery in the late 1800s, albeit temporarily. It is the only such artifact of its kind, because so many pagan statues were destroyed when the country was converted to Christianity.The significance of this event might be lost on outsiders, or even some Armenian Christians, but it is a historic return more than 1,700 years in the making. 

Anahit was the Mother Goddess of Armenia, a country which at one time was about the size of Texas, but today has been reduced to the size of Maryland, after millennia of being colonized by empire after empire, from Persia to Rome to the Arabs to Ottoman Turkey to the Soviet Union. She shares similarities with the Zoroastrian Goddess Anahita, introduced under Persian conquest, but took on a local flavor when she was combined with the indigenous Goddess Arubani. Roman historian Pliny the Elder tells the story of a Roman soldier being struck blind and going insane after the Romans pillaged Her temple and destroyed Her golden statue. 

Many Armenians today will pridefully boast that Armenia became the first country to convert to Christianity, in 301 AD. Rather than everyone in the country just deciding to peacefully agree to convert, as Armenians are taught in Sunday school, there is ample evidence provided to us by actual early Christian historians such as Agathangelos that it was a bloody rampage of religious persecution and cultural genocide headed by King Tirdat III, who wanted to consolidate power to the throne and take it away from the preisthood and associated noble families which ruled regions within the kingdom. All but one pagan temple were completely destroyed. This would decades later be repeated in Rome, and everywhere else that Europeans colonized, around the planet. But it happened in Armenia first. It was sometime during the 300s AD that the Anahit statue was buried, perhaps to save it from overzealous Christians. 

After converting, the power structure of the Kingdom of Armenian was forever shaken, and never resulted in the unity that the king had been hoping for. Armenia gradually lost its power, and for centuries would seldom be independent, subject to whoever was building an empire at the time. Today it sits in a perilous region, between Turkey and Azerbaijan, two countries who hungrily await the day they can erase it off the map. The place where Anahit was buried would eventually become part of the territory occupied by Turkey. A farmer discovered the head of the statue on their land, and took it to Istanbul to be sold to an Italian collector, who in turn sold it to the British Museum. Because of its Greek style it was often mislabeled as a statue of Artemis or Athena, but those Goddesses had never been widely venerated in Armenia. It was made during a time that Armenian art took a lot of influence from Greece. 

After Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union, there was a call to have the Anahit statue returned to Armenia. But because it was not technically stolen, nor found on current Armenian territory, Armenia had even less of a claim to the statue than Greece and Egypt have on their various artifacts in the British Museum. The Goddess returns to her homeland in September because of a deal the Armenian Museum of History was able to make, loaning the British Museum some of their artifacts in exchange. She returns to a country in turmoil, but perhaps at a time when Armenia needs her most. The Armenian Gods represent an inner-strength that I think was lost when the country converted to Christianity.

 Pictured: Armenia’s last pagan temple, Garni 

The Armenian Gods

Anahit was part of a pantheon of nine main Gods and Goddesses (Astvadzner) worshiped in the Kingdom of Armenia from around 600 BC to 301 AD. Under the preceding Urartian pantheon there were 72, but these deities were all merged over time. 

Anahit - (Ah-nah-heet) Goddess of Motherhood, Wisdom and Fertility 

Aramazd - (Ar-ah-mahzd) Solar and Creator deity, head of the pantheon and Anahit’s consort

Astghik - (Ahst-reek) Goddess of Love , Rain and Water

Mihr - (Mee-hur) God of Light and Truth

Nané - (Nah-neh) War Goddess, “Grandmother of the Gods”

Spandaramet - (Spahn-dah-ra-met) Goddess of the Earth, the Underworld and of Wine

Tir - (Teer) God of Writing, Dreams and Death

Tsovinar - (Tsoh-vee-nar) Goddess of the Sea and Violent Storms

Vahagn - (Vah-ha-gun) God of Storms and Dragonslaying 

Hymn to Anahit (my rough translation) 

The world would be empty,

if there was no Mother.

Who else would give birth to the Gods?

Who else would sing with Ari (the Sun)?

Who would measure the pain of the World? 

Who in the world would show sympathy,

Who would sow the love of Spring…?

But would there be a Spring if there was no Mother?

If there was no Mother, what would a Father do?

Would the Sun still be itself?

Mothers were created in Anahit,

It was through motherhood that the Gods were created, 

And the Gods themselves call Anahit Mother. 

Vahagn Vishapakagh (Vah -hah-gun, Armenian: Վահագն) is a god of fire, lightning, thunder and war worshiped anciently and by modern neopagans in Armenia. Some time in his existence, he formed a "triad" with Aramazd and Anahit. The Christian historian Moses Khorenatsi preserved a fragment of an ancient song dedicated to  Vahagn, which provides a clue to his nature and origin:

In travail were heaven and earth,

In travail, too, the purple sea!

The travail held in the sea the small red reed.

Through the hollow of the stalk came forth smoke,

Through the hollow of the stalk came forth flame,

And out of the flame a youth ran!

Fiery hair had he,

Ay, too, he had flaming beard,

And his eyes, they were as suns!

Other parts of the song, now lost, said that Vahagn fought and conquered dragons, hence his title Vishapakagh, "dragon reaper", where dragons in Armenian lore are identified as "Vishaps". This gives him a similar root with other Indo-European myths known as the Chaoskampf, in which a storm God fights a dragon or serpent associated with destruction and chaos (Other examples of Chaoskampf include Hercules versus the hydra, Set versus the Chaos Serpent, Marduk versus Tiamat, etc.)

My artwork of Astghik

 

Astghik, (Ahst-reek, Armenian: Աստղիկ) was worshiped as the Armenian pagan deity of fertility and love from prehistoric times, later was the wife or lover of Vahagn. In the later heathen period she became the goddess of love, maidenly beauty, and water sources and springs.

The Vartavar festival is devoted to Astghik, celebrated in mid July and was transformed into the Christian holiday of the transfiguration of Jesus, and is still celebrated by the Armenians 90 days after Easter (Zatik). As in pre-Christian times, on the day of this fest the people release doves and sprinkle water on each other with wishes of health and good luck. This was meant as an act of sympathetic magic, hoping that pouring water on one another would prompt Astghik to bring rain and drench everyone. While deprived of its original meaning, it is impossible to walk outside in Armenia on that day without being drenched by young pranksters, or older people with a sense of humor. Today it is celebrated the traditional way by Armenian Neopaganism; neopagan priests give sermons at the Temple of Garni hoping for Astghik to bless Armenia with rain during the hot summer season, sprinkle the audience with rose water, and hand out wine and apricots as the audience dances and celebrates.

 

Tir’s statue at Mt. Nemrut

Tir is the god of literature, science, and art, and an interpreter of dreams, in Armenian paganism. Tir was a messenger of Aramazd. He was a fortune-teller and a guide of the dead person's soul. Another name for Tir was Grogh (meaning writer or scribe), though this might be a fusion of two originally distinct deities.

His biggest temple, known as the Erazamuyn (translated from Armenian "place where dreams are explained"), stood at what is today the ruined Zvartnots cathedral; uthe original design of the temple is still very evident in its construction as it is very different from the typical Armenian church, being circular, elevated by large steps and lined with columns. At Tir's temple, priests would interpret peoples dreams and tell their fortunes, and the temple also served as a library and academy.

Tir acted as a scribe to the Gods, and when someone was born he would write their name into the Book of Life; and on the forehead he imprinted the newborn’s fate, predetermining the given lifespan. He keenly observed everyone and entered all the sins and good deeds into his special folio, to read them during the final judgment. 

Trndez

A Hymn to Trndez

Who was born of the Divine heavens

And ignited by the fire of the sun?

You, Vahagn, like a torch,

The ritual of bonfire - Armenian Trndez. 

The thirsty fire, the leap of faith 

You, with fiery hair, are the herald of spring, 

The fiery leap of our ancestral spirit, 

Who, Vahagn - Armenian Trndez. 

A dance of fiery anointed bonfires, 

and a star-lit hymn 

You, our holy baptism and fiery spirit, 

Who, Vahagn - Armenian Trndez.

Trndez is Armenia’s native holiday for lovers, which, maybe not coincidentally, falls upon the day before Valentine’s day. It is interesting that it falls around the same time of the year; perhaps it’s the associations of late winter which bring to mind thoughts of love and fertility across different cultures of the northern hemisphere. It could also be a result of ancient Armenia’s contact with Rome or Greece or other civilizations, or who knows, maybe there’s something even more profound to it. During the holiday a large bonfire is lit, and there’s singing and line dancing around the fire, before newlyweds and young women take turns jumping over the bonfire. Traditionally it was the day where couples in arranged marriages first got to meet one another, but of course that’s no longer practiced. The bonfire is symbolic of the growing power of the sun as the days begin to lengthen, and has the added symbolic benefit of energetic purification. You can also make a wish while jumping, and maybe have it granted.

The main neopagan sect in Armenia, the Arordineri Ukht (Order of the Children of Ari), explain on their Facebook page:

            “Trndez, in essence, symbolizes the waning of winter and the arrival of spring. The origin of this holiday in folklore is related to Vahagn, the God of Fire. Tired of the frigid winter, Armenians burn bonfires to encourage the sun and accelerate the coming of spring. Born of the divine fire of the sun, Vahagn kills the dragon that guards and blocks the water source, freeing the flow of the water and causing the soil to blossom. Hence fire defeats the winter.

            The main symbol of Trndez is the bonfire over which newlyweds jump holding hands. It is also a holiday for blessing the family, especially families with a newborn. It is widely believed that if a couple can hold hands while jumping over the fire, their love will be eternal. In ancient times, the fire was built by burning wheat.”