Anahit ( hy, Անահիտ, fa, آناهید) was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in

Armenian mythology Armenian mythology originated in ancient Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Hurro-Urartian, Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Greek beliefs and deities."Armenia (Vannic)" by A.H. Sayce, p.793-4; "Armeni ...

. In early periods she was the goddess of war. By the 5th century BCE she was the main deity in Armenia along with

Aramazd Aramazd ( arm, Արամազդ) was the chief and creator god in the Armenian version of Zoroastrianism.; ; ; ; ; The deity and his name were derived from the deity Ahura Mazda after the Median conquest of Armenia in the 6th century BC. Aramazd was ...

. The Armenian goddess Anahit is related to the similar

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

goddess

Anahita Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" (Aban) and hence associate ...

. Anahit's worship, most likely borrowed from the Iranians during the

Median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...

invasion or the early

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

period, was of paramount significance in Armenia. Artaxias I erected statues of Anahit, and promulgated orders to worship them..

Armenian Anahit and Persian Anahita

According to Strabo, the "Armenians shared in the religion of the Perses and the Medes and particularly honored Anaitis". The kings of Armenia were "steadfast supporters of the cult". and Tiridates III of Armenia, Tiridates III, before his conversion to Christianity, "prayed officially to the triad

-Anahit-Vahagn but is said to have shown a special devotion to 'the great lady Anahit, ... the benefactress of the whole human race, mother of all knowledge, daughter of the great Aramazd'" Cit. Agathangelos 22. According to Agathangelos, tradition required the Kings of Armenia to travel once a year to the temple at Eriza (Erez) in Acilisene in order to celebrate the festival of the divinity; Tiridates made this journey in the first year of his reign where he offered sacrifice and wreaths and boughs. The temple at Eriza appears to have been particularly famous, "the wealthiest and most venerable in Armenia", staffed with priests and priestesses, the latter from eminent families who would serve at the temple before marrying. This practice may again reveal Semitic syncretic influences, and is not otherwise attested in other areas. Pliny the Elder, Pliny reports that Mark Antony's soldiers smashed an enormous statue of the divinity made of solid gold and then divided the pieces amongst themselves.Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History (Pliny), Naturalis Historia'
XXXIII.24
Also according to Pliny, supported by Dio Cassius, Acilisene eventually came to be known as Anaïtica. Dio Cassius also mentions that another region along the Cyrus River, on the borders of Caucasian Albania, Albania and Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity), Iberia, was also called "the land of Anaïtis."

Temples dedicated to Anahit

In Armenia, Anahit worship was established in Erzincan, Erez, Armavir, Armenia, Armavir, Artashat (ancient city), Artashat and Ashtishat. A mountain in the Sophene district was known as Anahit's throne (''Athor Anahta''). The entire district of Erez, in the province of Akilisene (Ekeghiats), was called ''Anahtakan Gavar''. According to Plutarch, the temple of Erez was the wealthiest and the noblest in Armenia. During the expedition of Mark Antony in Armenia, the statue was broken to pieces by the Roman soldiers. Pliny the Elder gives us the following story about it: Emperor Augustus, being invited to dinner by one of his generals, asked him if it were true that the wreckers of Anahit's statue had been punished by the wrathful goddess. "No!" answered the general, "on the contrary, I have today the good fortune of treating you with one part of the hip of that gold statue." The Armenians erected a new golden statue of Anahit in Erez, which was worshiped before the time of Gregory the Illuminator, St. Gregory Illuminator. The annual festivity of the month Navasard, held in honor of Anahit, was the occasion of great gatherings, attended with dance, music, recitals, competitions, etc. The sick went to the temples in pilgrimage, asking for recovery. The symbol of ancient Armenian medicine was the head of the bronze gilded statue of the goddess Anahit.

Historians' accounts of Anahit

According to Agathangelos, King Tiridates III of Armenia, Trdat extolls the "great Lady Anahit, the glory of our nation and vivifier ...; mother of all chastity, and issue of the great and valiant

." The historian Berossus identifies Anahit with Aphrodite, while medieval Armenian scribes identify her with Artemis. According to Strabo, Anahit's worship included rituals of sacred prostitution,Strabo, ''Geography'
XI.14.16
/ref> but later Christian writers do not mention such custom.

References

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