query: deity_of vahagn
supports: In Greek mythology, Alcmene or Alcmena (or  [Doric]) was the wife of Amphitryon by whom she bore two children, Iphicles and Laonome. She is, however, better known as the mother of Heracles whose father was the god Zeus. Vahagn Vishapakagh ( Vahagn the Dragon Reaper ) or Vahakn ( Armenian :  ) was a god of fire and war worshiped anciently and historically in Armenia . Some time during Ancient history , he formed a `` triad '' with Aramazd and Anahit . Vahagn was identified with the Greek deity Heracles . The priests of Vahévahian temple , who claimed Vahagn as their own ancestor , placed a statue of the Greek hero in their sanctuary . In the Armenian translation of the Bible , `` Heracles , worshipped at Tyr '' is renamed `` Vahagn '' . All the gods , according to the Euhemerist belief , had been living men ; Vahagn likewise , was introduced within the ranks of the Armenian kings , as a son of the Orontid Dynasty ( or Yervanduni dynasty , 6th century B.C. ) , together with his brothers -- Bab and Tiran . Historian Khorenatsi 's report of an ancient song gives a clue to his nature and origin : Ancient Armenian origin of Vahagn 's birth song 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 stalk came forth smoke , Through the hollow of the stalk came forth flame , And out of the flame a youth ran ! Fiery hair had he , Ay , too , he had flaming beard , And his eyes , they were as suns ! Other parts of the song , now lost , said that Vahagn fought and conquered dragons , hence his title Vishabakagh , `` dragon reaper '' , where dragons in Armenian lore are identified as `` Vishaps '' . He was invoked as a god of courage , later identified with Heracles . He was also a sun - god , rival of Baal - shamin and Mihr . The Vahagnian song was sung to the accompaniment of the lyre by the bards of Goghten ( modern Akulis ) , long after the conversion of Armenia to Christianity . The stalk or reed , key to the situation , is an important word in Indo - European mythology , in connection with fire in its three forms . Vahagn was linked to Verethragna , the hypostasis of victory in the texts of the Avesta ; the name turned into Vahagn ( the Avestan `` th '' becoming `` h '' in Arsacid Middle Persian ) , later on to take the form of Vahagn . See  for more on the origin of the name . The Armenian princely house of Vahevunis believed to derive from Vahagn . The Vahevunis were ranked high in the Royal Register of Armenia , recorded by King Valarshak . In the pre-Christian Armenia , the Vahevunis hereditarily possessed the temple town of Ashtishat on the left bank of the Aratzani river and most likelly also held the post of the Sparapet , i.e. the Commander - in - Chief of the Royal Armenian Army . In Greek mythology, Perseus, the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans, was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Perseus beheaded the Gorgon Medusa and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. Perseus was the son of the mortal Danaë and the god Zeus. He was also the half-brother and great grandfather of Heracles. Heracles ( "Hrakls", from "Hra", "Hera"), born Alcaeus ("Alkaios") or Alcides ("Alkeids"), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson and half-brother (as they are both sired by the god Zeus) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well. Hera (, Greek , "Hr", equivalently , "Hr", in Ionic and Homer) is the goddess of women and marriage in Greek mythology and religion. She is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Hera is married to her brother Zeus and is titled as the Queen of Heaven. Some of her characteristics include her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus's other lovers and offspring and against the mortals who cross her. Aramazd was the chief and creator god in pre-Christian Armenian mythology. The deity and his name were derived from the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazda after the Median conquest of Armenia in the 6th century BCE.
  Aramazd was regarded as a generous god of fertility, rain, and abundance, as well as the father of the other gods, including Anahit, Mihr, and Nane. Like Ahura Mazda, Aramazd was seen as the father of the other gods, rarely with a wife, though sometimes husband to Anahit or Spandaramet. Aramazd was the Parthian form of Ahura Mazda. Amphitryon ("gen".: ; usually interpreted as "harassing either side"), in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis. In Greek mythology, the Heracleidae or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles (Hercules), especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also sometimes thought of as Heracles' son by Melite) Other Heracleidae included Macaria, Lamos, Manto, Bianor, Tlepolemus, and Telephus. These Heraclids were a group of Dorian kings who conquered the Peloponnesian kingdoms of Mycenae, Sparta and Argos; according to the literary tradition in Greek mythology, they claimed a right to rule through their ancestor. Since Karl Otfried Müller's "Die Dorier" (1830, English translation 1839), I. ch. 3, their rise to dominance has been associated with a "Dorian invasion". Anahit was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in Armenian mythology. In early periods she was the goddess of war. By the 5th century BC she was the main deity in Armenia along with Aramazd. The Armenian goddess Anahit is related to the similar Old Persian goddess Anahita. Anahit's worship, most likely borrowed from the Iranians during the Median invasion or the early Achaemenid period, was of paramount significance in Armenia. Unlike Iranians, Armenians incorporated idol-worship into the cult of Anahit. Artaxias I erected statues of Anahit, and promulgated orders to worship them. Ahura Mazda (Modern Persian: (also known as Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hourmazd, Hormazd, Harzoo and Hurmuz, "Lord" or simply as "spirit") is the Avestan name for the creator and sole God of Zoroastrianism, the old Mede and Persian religion which spread across Asia predating Christianity. Ahura Mazda is described as the highest spirit of worship in Zoroastrianism, along with being the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the "Yasna". The literal meaning of the word "Ahura" is "mighty" or "lord" and "Mazda" is "wisdom". Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an attempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of Ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself. Armenian mythology began with ancient Indo-European and Urartian origins, gradually incorporating Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Greek ideas and deities. There are signs which indicate that the ancient Armenians were initially nature worshipers and that this faith in time was transformed to the worship of national gods, many of which originated in neighboring cultures.
candidates: armenian mythology christianity greek mythology zoroastrianism
answer: armenian mythology