Shivini (), also known as Siuini, Artinis, Ardinis, was a solar god in the

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

of the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

kingdom of Urartu in the

Armenian Highlands The Armenian highlands (; also known as the Armenian upland, Armenian plateau, or Armenian tableland)Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: ...

. He is the third god in a triad with Khaldi and Theispas. The Assyrian god

Shamash Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...

is a counterpart to Shivini. He was depicted as a man on his knees, holding up a solar disc. His wife was most likely a goddess called Tushpuea who is listed as the third goddess on the Mheri-Dur inscription. Armen Petrosyan and other scholars argue that his name derives from a Hittite source, and is, therefore, of the same Indo-European origin as the names of Ancient Greek

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and Roman

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

.Petrosyan, Armen.
Collegiality and Interchange in Armenian Studies
. In: ''Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies'' Vol. 20 (2011): 145 and footnote nr. 26.

Gallery

Stamp of Armenia m29.jpg, Armenian postage stamp, 1993 Urartu God Shivini.jpg, Shivini god UrartianCaldron03.jpg, Shivini's bronze caldron UrartianCaldron03~.jpg, The caldron's bronze-sculpted handle

Gallery

Footnotes

References

Further reading