Tir (god)

Tir
God of schooling, rhetoric, wisdom and the arts
Parents Hayk
Greek equivalent Apollo, Hermes

Tir or Tiur (Armenian: Տիր) was the god of written language,[1] schooling, rhetoric, wisdom, and the arts worshiped in ancient Armenia.

He was the son of Hayk and considered to be the chief god Aramazd's messenger,[2] fortune teller and the one who explained dreams, and who recorded the good and bad deeds of the men and the one who guided souls to the under world. 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.

Tir's temple was located near Artashat. The 4th month of the ancient Armenian Calendar was named after Tir; "Tre" or "Tri". Also named after him was the mountain Tirinkatar, the city Tirakatar, the villages Tre and Tirarich, and some Armenian names such as Tiran, Tirots, Tiridates. In the Hellenistic period Armenians considered Tir as the Greek gods Apollo and Hermes.

Origin

Tir's role as a psychopomp[3] may have been absorbed from the Luwian thunder god Tarhunda, whose name had been used to translate that of the Mesopotamian underworld god Nergal.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Herouni, Paris (2004). Armenians and Old Armenia. Yerevan. pp. 8, 133.
  2. 1 2 Russell, James R. (15 December 1986). "ARMENIA AND IRAN iii. Armenian Religion". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Tiur (Tur)" in Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition, by Anthony Mercanante and James Dow, Infobase, 2009. p.959
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