Tir (god)
Tir or Tiur (Armenian: Տիր) was the god of written language, schooling, rhetoric, wisdom, and the arts worshiped in ancient Armenia.[1][2]
| Tir | |
|---|---|
God of schooling, rhetoric, wisdom and the arts | |
| Greek equivalent | Apollo, Hermes |
He was considered to be the chief god Aramazd's scribe and messenger,[3] as well as a fortune teller and explainer of dreams, who recorded the good and bad deeds of men and guided souls to the under world.[1] He spent one month of the year documenting the birthdays and deaths of people in his journal, the other 11 months were spent on gifting power to writers, poets, musicians, sculptors, and architects. He was likely connected with Grogh (literally "Writer"), the angel of fate and death in Armenian folk tradition identified with the Archangel Gabriel.[4]
Tir's temple, called Erazamuyn (eraz means dream, while the meaning of the ending -muyn is unknown), was located near Artashat.[3] The fourth month of the ancient Armenian Calendar Tre or Tri was named after Tir. Also named after him was the mountain Tirinkatar, the city Tirakatar, the villages Tre and Tirarich, and some Armenian names such as Tiran, Tirots, and Tiridates/Trdat.[1] In the Hellenistic period Armenians identified Tir with the Greek gods Apollo and Hermes.[1]
Origin
Tir shares his name with an Iranian god identified with the planet Mercury, but may be a local god identified with the Iranian Tir at a later period.[4] Tir (both the Iranian and Armenian versions) may be identical with the Mesopotamian god of literacy and scribes Nabu (also identified with Mercury).[5][6]
References
- "Tir". Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (in Armenian). Vol. 12. 1986. pp. 15–16.
- Herouni, Paris (2004). Armenians and Old Armenia. Yerevan. pp. 8, 133. ISBN 9789994101016.
- Russell, James R. (15 December 1986). "ARMENIA AND IRAN iii. Armenian Religion". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
- Petrosyan 2002, pp. 133–134.
- Ananikian 1925, pp. 29–33.
- Petrosyan 2007, p. 8.
Bibliography
- Ananikian, Mardiros H. (1925), “Armenian Mythology”, in MacCulloch, John Arnott and Moore, George Foot, eds., The Mythology of All Races (in 13 vols.); volume 7, Boston: Marshall Jones Company.
- Petrosyan, Armen (2002), The Indo‑european and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic, Washington, D.C: Institute for the Study of Man, ISBN 9780941694810