Armazi (god)
Supreme deity of pre-Christian Iberia, linked to a moon god.
Armazi (Armaz) was the supreme deity in the pre-Christian pantheon of Caucasian Iberia, as recorded in medieval Georgian chronicles. Its name and cult are central to accounts of the kingdom's early history and Christianization.
Quick Facts
- Deity of
- God of gods
- Weapon
- Sword
- Region
- Kingdom of Iberia
Facts from the source article.
Iberian Armazi and Hittite-Luwian Arma/Armaziti
The first king of Kartli, Pharnavaz I of Iberia, is credited with raising the idol Armazi on a mountain at his capital and building an Armazi fortress. The Life of Nino describes the statue as a bronze man in golden chain armor with a helmet, emerald and beryl eyes, and a lightning-like sabre that turned in his hands. Saint Nino, a 4th-century female baptizer of the Georgians, witnessed a feast for the idol; as she prayed, lightning burnt it. The Conversion of Kartli mentions a long-standing strife between Armazi and the God of the Chaldeans, Itrushana, with Armazi using the sea as a weapon; the Chaldean god is credited with the idol's destruction. The Hittite-Luwian deity Arma was a moon god appearing in theophoric names such as Armaziti. In the Iron Age he merged with the moon god of Harran, becoming Harranian Arma, depicted winged and bearded with a crescent moon on his helmet. His name was written with a lunette, and curse formulae ask him to spear victims with his horn.
Hypotheses about the origin of Armazi
According to Rayfield, the Mushki and Meshki (Iberians) shared worship of the Hittite moon god Armaz and the Luwian god Santush, equated with the Iberian gods Armaz and Zaden. No records of the pre-Christian Georgian pantheon survive beyond medieval annals composed five or more centuries after Christianization. Modern scholars are divided: some connect Armazi to the Zoroastrian supreme god Ahura Mazdā, supported by archaeological evidence of Zoroastrianism in ancient Georgia. Giorgi Melikishvili identified Armazi as a local variant of the Hittite moon god Arma, consistent with Ivane Javakhishvili's argument of a pre-Christian Georgian moon cult that later fused with St. George.
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