v_public_serpent_dragon_beings: 1
This data as json
| rowid | entity_id | canonical_name | tradition | category | serpent_flag | primary_domains | short_note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ENT_ARM_VAHAGN | Vahagn | Armenian | War Deity | war; fire; lightning; dragon-slaying; victory; courage; vitality | War deity and dragon-slayer of the Armenian pantheon; son of Aramazd. Name derived from Zoroastrian Verethragna (god of victory, smiter of evil, dragon-slayer) via Parthian Wahrāgn. Khorenatsi (I.31) preserves the famous Vahagn birth hymn, the oldest surviving Armenian poem: "In travail were heaven and earth, / In travail, too, the purple sea! / The travail held in the sea the small red reed. / Through the hollow of the reed came forth smoke, / Through the hollow of the reed came forth flame, / And out of the flame ran a youth. / He had hair of fire, he had a beard of flame, / And his eyes were as suns." Agathangelos (§22) equates Vahagn with Heracles at his temple in Ashtishat and credits him with destroying a monster. He is associated with fire, the sun, and the primal vitality of the warrior. In the Artaxiad period his cult was primary at the same Ashtishat complex as Aramazd and Anahit. Russell (1987) pp. 443-500; Khorenatsi I.31; Agathangelos §22. |