Tir () is the god of written language, schooling, rhetoric, wisdom, and the arts in

Armenian mythology Armenian mythology originated in ancient Proto-Indo-European religion, Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Hurrian religion, Hurro-Urartian religion, Urartian, Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Mesop ...

. He was considered to be the scribe and messenger of the chief god Aramazd, as well as a fortune teller and interpreter of dreams, who recorded the good and bad deeds of men and also a

psychopomp Psychopomps (from the Greek word , , literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are creatures, spirits, angels, demons, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is ...

(guide of souls to the underworld). He was likely connected with ''Grogh'' (literally "Writer"), the angel of fate and death in Armenian folk tradition identified with the Archangel

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

. Tir's temple, called ( means "dream," while the meaning of the ending is unknown), was located near the city of Artashat. The fourth month of the ancient

Armenian calendar The Armenian calendar is the calendar traditionally used in Armenia, primarily during the medieval ages. Since 1918, the civil calendar in Armenia is the Gregorian calendar. The Armenian calendar was based on an invariant year length of 365 days. ...

, or ', was named after Tir. Also named after him was the mountain Tirinkatar, the city Tirakatar, the villages Tre and Tirarich. In the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

, Armenians identified Tir with the Greek gods

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

and

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

. Tir shares his name with an Iranian god (Avestan Tishtrya, Modern and Middle Persian Tir) also identified with the planet Mercury, but may be an indigenous Armenian deity identified with the Iranian Tir at a later period. Tir (both the Iranian and Armenian versions) may be identical with the Mesopotamian god of literacy and scribes

Nabu Nabu (, ) is the Babylonian patron god of literacy, scribes, wisdom, and the rational arts. He is associated with the classical planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian means 'announcer' or 'authorised pe ...

(also identified with Mercury).

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Cite encyclopedia , year=1986 , title=Tir , encyclopedia= Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia , url=https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_12.djvu/15 , volume=12 , pages=15–16 , language=hy, ref={{harvid, "Tir", 1986 Armenian gods Knowledge gods Arts gods

See also

References

Bibliography