Vahagn or Vahakn (), also known as Vahagn Vishapakagh (), is a warrior god in

Armenian mythology Armenian mythology originated in ancient Proto-Indo-European religion, Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Hurrian religion, Hurro-Urartian religion, Urartian, Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Mesop ...

. 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. Vahagn is etymologically derived from ''*Varhraγn'', the Parthian name for the

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

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 Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

influence in antiquity, Vahagn was identified with the Hellenic deity

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

, but also rarely with

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

Name

The theonym Vahagn is cognate with Verethragna, the name of the Iranian god of victory mentioned in

Avesta The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...

, as well as the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

''Vŗtrahan'', the usual epithet of the thunder god

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

. It was borrowed into Armenian from Parthian ''*Varhraγn'' and developed from the earlier form ''*Varhagn''. In the old

Armenian calendar The Armenian calendar is the calendar traditionally used in Armenia, primarily during the medieval ages. Since 1918, the civil calendar in Armenia is the Gregorian calendar. The Armenian calendar was based on an invariant year length of 365 days. ...

, the twenty-seventh day of the month was called Vahagn. Additionally, the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

was called ''Atraher'' ("fire-hair") by the ancient Armenians in reference to Vahagn.

Historical attestations

Vahagn is mentioned in a number of Classical Armenian written sources. For example, in the history attributed to Agathangelos, 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 Tigranes (, ) is the Greek rendering of the Old Iranian name ''*Tigrāna''. This was the name of a number of historical figures, primarily kings of Armenia. The name of Tigranes, which was theophoric in nature, was uncommon during the Achae ...

(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 A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

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 relates a myth where Vahagn steals some straw from Barsham (i.e., Baalshamin) and drops it on his way back, creating the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

. 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 Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...

said 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 northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

poetry." Ivanov says 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 says Vahagn is 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 ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

, based on similarities in the accounts of their birth. Vahagn may have acquired his attribute of dragon-slayer from the Hurro-Urartian deity

Teshub Teshub was the Hurrians, Hurrian weather god, as well as the head of the Hurrian pantheon. The etymology of his name is uncertain, though it is agreed it can be classified as linguistically Hurrian language, Hurrian. Both Phonetics, phonetic and L ...

. Vahagn was identified with

during the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

. In the 5th-century Armenian translation of the Bible, Vahagn is used to translate Heracles in

2 Maccabees 2 Maccabees, also known as the Second Book of Maccabees, Second Maccabees, and abbreviated as 2 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which recounts the persecution of Jews under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt against him. It ...

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

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

has been called the "Christian heir of Vahagn's character," as a church dedicated to him was built near the demolished temple of Vahagn.

In modern Armenia

Today, Vahagn and Vahag are popular male given names among Armenians. Vahan, another popular name, may have originated from Vahagn. A village in the northern province of Lori was named Vahagni after him in 1947. It has a monumental statue of Vahagn by Ghukas Chubaryan and Liparit Sadoyan, erected in 1973, which also serves as a monument to the fallen soldiers of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

(World War II). There are several statues and sculptures of Vahagn in Yerevan dating from the Soviet period, including by Ara Harutyunyan and Rafayel Israyelian (1962/1965), Karlen Nurijanyan (1964/1969), Vahe Harutyunyan (1984/1985), Artashes Hovsepyan (1988). He is also depicted in painting by Lida Khanamiryan (1972) and on a 1997 stamp along with the Hercules constellation, which is named after him in Armenian.

References

Bibliography

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