Remembering the Gods

An Essay on Armenian Mythology and Pre-Christian Religion

Before Armenia became the first nation to officially adopt Christianity in 301 AD, it was home to a rich and complex religious tradition rooted in Indo-European myth, local folklore, and centuries of cultural exchange with neighboring empires. The gods of ancient Armenia—now long obscured by Christian hagiography and imperial conquest—once reigned over mountains, rivers, fire altars, and the minds of a people whose identity was intimately woven into the rhythms of nature and myth.

At the head of the pantheon stood Aramazd, a dignified and commanding figure whose name bears the imprint of Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of Zoroastrianism. Yet Aramazd was more than a borrowed deity—he embodied patriarchal wisdom and cosmic authority (Russell, 1987). His daughter, Anahit, was among the most revered figures in the Armenian spiritual landscape. The goddess of fertility, healing, and water, Anahit was worshipped at temples adorned with golden statues and visited by pilgrims seeking blessings for childbirth and health. Strabo, the Greek geographer, describes the statue of Anahit at Erez as a famed object of veneration, one covered in gold and ritually washed by priestesses (Strabo, Geography 11.14.16). Even after Christianization, her presence lingered, subtly transforming into the veneration of the Virgin Mary in local practice (Garsoïan, 1997).

Then there was Vahagn, the dragon slayer—born from fire, smoke, and flame. The surviving birth hymn of Vahagn, recorded in the History of the Armenians by Movses Khorenatsi, is perhaps the most striking poetic fragment from Armenia’s pre-Christian past: “Fiery hair he had, flaming beard, his eyes were suns” (Khorenatsi, 5th century). This elemental warrior, lover of the goddess Astghik, stood as a symbol of order confronting chaos, not unlike Indra in the Vedas or Marduk in Babylonian myth (Russell, 2004). Their union was ritually remembered in the midsummer festival of Vardavar, which survives to this day under the Armenian Church calendar, but is rooted in a pagan celebration of water and fertility (Petrosyan, 2002).

Other deities like Mihr, god of light and covenants, and Tir, patron of language, dreams, and scribes, reflect Armenia’s role as a cultural crossroads—between the Zoroastrian rituals of Persia, the astral cults of Mesopotamia, and Hellenistic philosophies brought by Alexander’s successors. Mihr was particularly important in the region of Derjan and had temples that likely involved fire worship (Russell, 1987), while Tir was imagined as a divine scribe, a parallel to Mesopotamian Nabu and Greco-Egyptian Hermes-Thoth (Petrosyan, 2020).

But what of the practices—the rituals, the rites, the sacred acts now lost to time? Archaeological evidence and comparative study offer clues.

It is likely that fire played a central role in ritual life, not only in homage to Mihr but as a purifying force and divine medium. Fire altars uncovered near Garni and Metsamor suggest ceremonial hearths were used for both domestic and temple-based offerings (Kroll, 2000). As in Zoroastrianism, which heavily influenced the Armenian plateau during the Achaemenid and Parthian periods, priests may have maintained eternal flames, and strict purity codes may have governed sacrificial rituals.

Water rituals likely accompanied rites for goddesses like Anahit and Astghik. The bathing of Anahit’s statue at Erez, as described by Strabo, indicates a ceremonial cleansing process and ritual use of sacred springs. The survival of Vardavar as a water festival—with people dousing each other in the summer heat—may retain echoes of these ancient lustrations (Russell, 2004; Petrosyan, 2002).

Seasonal festivals probably aligned with equinoxes and solstices. It is reasonable to speculate, based on Indo-European patterns, that such festivals involved processions, music, sacrifice, and symbolic reenactments of mythological events. The sacred topography of Armenia—such as Mount Ararat, Mount Aragats, and sacred rivers like Araks—would have served as sites of pilgrimage and cosmological orientation (Martirosyan, 2014). Mountains were often seen as “world mountains” or cosmic axes, a feature common across Indo-European traditions.

The temple of Garni, a Greco-Roman style structure believed to be dedicated to Mihr, stands as the only surviving pagan temple in Armenia. Its orientation, construction, and hilltop location suggest a site used for solar rituals and seasonal observances. Scholars like Kroll (2000) and Vardanyan (1994) have hypothesized that dawn ceremonies, accompanied by chants and offerings, were central to Garni’s function.

Divination may have played a role in both private and state matters. Tir, as the god of dreams and writing, suggests a tradition of dream interpretation and possibly astrological consultation. Carahunge (Zorats Karer), a megalithic site sometimes referred to as Armenia’s Stonehenge, features alignments that may have functioned as astronomical observatories. Whether or not it was a true temple complex, its existence supports the theory that celestial events were ritually significant (Herouni, 2004).

Religious experience in pre-Christian Armenia was likely communal, seasonal, and intertwined with nature. Burial mounds, votive offerings, and animal sacrifices—especially bulls and rams—appear in both archaeological layers and in classical accounts (Diakonoff, 1984). Ritual feasting, libations, and oral epic performance may have accompanied these events.

But all of this was swept away, not just by Christian evangelism, but by a campaign of cultural erasure. Temples were destroyed or converted, sacred groves burned, and myths reinterpreted as superstition or heresy. And yet, in whispered folktales, oral songs, and seasonal rites like Vardavar, fragments of the old religion survived. They continue to shimmer beneath the surface of Armenian identity—a reminder that before the cross, there was the sun, the star, the spring, the flame.

As I reflect on Armenian mythology and pre-Christian religion, I see not merely a set of forgotten gods, but a philosophy of life intimately tied to the rhythms of nature, memory, and symbol. These stories are not dead. They are waiting to be remembered.

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Selected References

Diakonoff, I. M. (1984). The Pre-History of the Armenian People.

Garsoïan, N. G. (1997). The Emergence of Armenian Identity.

Herouni, P. (2004). Armenians and Old Armenia.

Khorenatsi, M. (5th century). History of the Armenians.

Kroll, S. (2000). "Garni Temple and its Place in Armenian Paganism." Revue des Études Arméniennes.

Martirosyan, H. (2014). Etymology and Sacred Geography in Armenian.

Petrosyan, A. (2002). “The Indo-European and Armenian Dragon-Slayer Myth.” Journal of Indo-European Studies.

Petrosyan, A. (2020). Armenian Mythology: Historical and Comparative Perspectives.

Russell, J. R. (1987). Zoroastrianism in Armenia.

Russell, J. R. (2004). The Armenian Pagan Revival.

Strabo. Geography, Book 11.