Vahagn or Vahakn ( hy,
Վահագն), also known as Vahagn Vishapakagh ( hy, Վահագն Վիշապաքաղ, lit=Vahagn the Dragon-reaper, label=none), is a warrior god 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; "Arm ...
. Scholars consider him to be either the thunder, or sun and fire god of the pre-Christian Armenian pantheon, as well as the god of war, bravery and victory. He formed a triad with
Aramazd and
Anahit
Anahit ( hy, Անահիտ, fa, آناهید) was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in Armenian mythology. In early periods she was the goddess of war. By the 5th century BCE she was the main deity in Armenia along with Ar ...
. Vahagn is etymologically derived from ''*Varhraγn'', the
Parthian name for the
Indo-Iranian god
Verethragna, although there are key differences between the two deities.
Vahagn was worshipped at a tripartite temple complex together with his bride
Astghik and the goddess Anahit in the district of
Taron, on the slopes of a mountain called Karke near the settlement of
Ashtishat. After Armenia came under
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
influence in antiquity, Vahagn was identified with the
Greek deity
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
, but also rarely with
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
.
Name
The
theonym Vahagn is cognates with
Verethragna, the name of the Indo-Iranian god of victory mentioned in
Avesta, as well as the
Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...
''Vŗtrahan'', the usual epithet of the thunder god
Indra
Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...
. It was borrowed into Armenian from
Parthian ''*Varhraγn'' and developed from the earlier form ''*Varhagn''. In the old
Armenian calendar, the twenty-seventh day of the month was called Vahagn. Additionally, the planet
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
was called ''Atraher'' ("fire-hair") by the ancient Armenians in reference to Vahagn. Today, Vahagn is used as a male given name among Armenians.
Historical attestations
Vahagn is mentioned in a number of Classical Armenian written sources. For example, in the history attributed to
Agathangelos
Agathangelos (in xcl, Ագաթանգեղոս Agatʿangełos, in Greek "bearer of good news" or angel, 5th century AD ) is the pseudonym of the author of a life of the first apostle of Armenia, Gregory the Illuminator, who died about 332.
...
, Armenian king
Tiridates III evokes the triad of Aramazd, Anahit and Vahagn in a greeting to his people: "May health and prosperity come to you by the help of the gods, rich fullness from manly Aramazd, providence from Anahit the Lady, and bravery come to you from brave Vahagn."
Historian
Movses Khorenatsi refers to Vahagn as one of the sons of
Tigranes (a mythologized composite figure of several Armenian kings in Khorenatsi's history) and records the following song about him:
Khorenatsi does not give the rest of the song, but states that it tells of how Vahagn fought and conquered
''vishap''s, which are the
dragons of Armenian mythology. This attribute of Vahagn is the reason for his title ''vishapakagh'', meaning "reaper of ''vishap''s" or "dragon-reaper."
The 7th-century Armenian author
Anania Shirakatsi
Anania Shirakatsi ( hy, Անանիա Շիրակացի, ''Anania Širakac’i'', anglicized: Ananias of Shirak) was a 7th-century Armenian polymath and natural philosopher, author of extant works covering mathematics, astronomy, geography, chron ...
relates a myth where Vahagn steals some straw from Barsham (i.e.,
Baalshamin
Baalshamin ( arc, ܒܥܠ ܫܡܝܢ ''Baʿal Šāmīn'' or ''Bʿel Šmīn'' Blit. "Lord of Heaven ), also called Baal Shamem ( phn, 𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤔𐤌𐤌 ''Baʿl Šāmēm'') and Baal Shamaim ( he, ''Baʿal Šāmayīm''), was a Northwest Semit ...
) and drops it on his way back, creating the
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...
. This is supposed to be the origin of one of the folk names of the Milky Way in Armenian, ''Hardagoghi chanaparh'', literally "the way of the straw-thief."
Temple
The chief temple of Vahagn at
Ashtishat on the slopes of Mount Karke was often called the Vahevanean or Vahevahean temple because its priests were members of the
Vahevuni or Vahnuni noble house, who claimed descent from Vahagn. Vahagn was worshipped jointly at the temple together with Anahit and Astghik. According to Agathangelos, after King
Tiridates III's conversion to Christianity in the early fourth century, the first head of the Armenian Church
Gregory the Illuminator went to Ashtishat and destroyed the temple of Vahagn. A church was constructed on the site of the destroyed temple, which became the first Mother See of the
Armenian Church.
Interpretations and comparative mythology
Georges Dumézil noted that Vahagn seems closer to the Vedic Vŗtrahan Indra than the Avestan Verethragna, since the former is depicted as a dragon/serpent-slayer like Vahagn, while the latter is not. Vahagn has frequently been regarded as a counterpart of Indra, but Armen Petrosyan considers the similarities between the two to be underlying Indo-European commonalities rather than the result of direct borrowing, since in that case the dissimilarity with Verethragna would be inexplicable. Philologist
Vyacheslav Ivanov considered the Song of Vahagn recorded by Khorenatsi to be "one of the striking examples of
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
poetry." In Ivanov's view, the myth of Vahagn contains several layers, including the later Iranian myth of Verethragna and an earlier Indo-European layer of a god persecuting the enemy. Armen Petrosyan considers Vahagn to be a pre-Iranian Armenian god who took on an Iranian name, rather than a complete borrowing. Petrosyan has also drawn parallels between Vahagn and the Vedic fire deity
Agni
Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hi ...
, based on similarities in the accounts of their birth.
Vahagn seems to have been identified with
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
during the
Hellenistic period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
. In the 5th-century Armenian translation of the Bible, Vahagn is used to translate Heracles in
2 Maccabees 4:19, while Khorenatsi states that the song of Vahagn tells of heroic deeds reminiscent of Heracles. More rarely, he was identified with the sun god
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
.
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
has been called the "Christian heir of Vahagn's character," as a church dedicated to him was built near the demolished temple of Vahagn.
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
A History of Armenia(Armenian Mythology) by Vahan M. Kurkjian. Published by the Armenian General Benevolent Union of America 1958/YR.
See also
*
Astłik
*
Hayk
Hayk ( hy, Հայկ, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the '' History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armenian historian Moses of Chorene ( Movses Khorenats ...
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Armenian gods
Fire gods
Thunder gods
War gods