Armenian mythology

Armenian mythology comes from ancient Indo-European traditions. The earliest Armenian traditions (called Proto-Armenian) developed into Armenian mythology. Gradually, Anatolian, Hurro-Urartian, Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Greek beliefs and deities became a part of Armenian mythology.

The early religions in Armenia are not that well known. According to De Morgan there are signs which indicate that the Armenians, as their other Aryan relatives, were initially nature worshipers and that this faith in time was transformed to the worship of national gods, of which many were the equivalents of the gods in the Roman, Greek and Persian cultures.

Georg Brandes described the Armenian gods in his book: “When Armenia accepted Christianity, it was not only the temples which were destroyed, but also the songs and poems about the old gods and heroes that the people sang. We have only rare segments of these songs and poems, segments which bear witness of a great spiritual wealth and the power of creation of this people and these alone are sufficient reason enough for recreating the temples of the old Armenian gods. These gods were neither the Asian heavenly demons nor the precious and the delicate Greek gods, but something that reflected the characteristics of the Armenian people which they have been polishing through the ages, namely ambitious, wise and good-hearted.”

Armenian Mythology Media

• 

  Side view of the Temple of Garni.

• 

  Aralez on the battlefield.

• 

  Shamiram stares at the corpse of Ara the Beautiful (painting by Vardges Sureniants, 1899).