Castle Blue and its War Goddess... in Armenian mythology

[Qizilbashwoman]

Some of you on here probably know I enjoy some of the parallels I make with Armenian culture and Glorantha. I think of them as happy accidents.

TIL there is a Castle Blue in Armenian pre-Christian Mythology. The oldest version of her story is in the Sasna Cṙer or "Troublemakers of Sasun" (yes, like Vidal Sassoun"), but the story dates back to Hittite times 2500 years before.

Berd Kapotin, or Castle Blue, was the sacred home of the goddess Covinar (Tsaw-vih-NUHR - that's c is how Armenianists romanise ts, and the accent is always on the last syllable in Armenian), whose name is roughly "Inar of the Sea [Lake Van]". Inar here is parallel to Sanskrit Indra. The Emperor seized her after defeating her father, the Thunder God, Taru.

She bore twins, and the evil Emperor, the Water Serpent, tried to kill them. Her children were the new thunder god Sasanár, and his sibling Bałdasár. Sasanar slew the evil Emperor (called "the Caliph of Baghdad"), and his head rolled three times. In Hittite stories, the triple-rolling death roll of the serpent was illustrated instead.

This myth was repeated to bring rain!

I know this isn't the story of Castle Blue, but I found it interesting and thought it might be worth sharing. I have more information if you are interested because Armenian myth has Indo-European stuff but a lot of really odd non-Indo-European stuff because they were deliberately uprooted and isolated by the Urartian Empire about 1000 BCE or earlier in the Caucusus. Their story of the creation of the first human involves a reed catching on fire in a pond, for example.

[rsanford]

20 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

Some of you on here probably know I enjoy some of the parallels I make with Armenian culture and Glorantha. I think of them as happy accidents.

TIL there is a Castle Blue in Armenian pre-Christian Mythology. The oldest version of her story is in the Sasna Cṙer or "Troublemakers of Sasun" (yes, like Vidal Sassoun"), but the story dates back to Hittite times 2500 years before.

Berd Kapotin, or Castle Blue, was the sacred home of the goddess Covinar (Tsaw-vih-NUHR - that's c is how Armenianists romanise ts, and the accent is always on the last syllable in Armenian), whose name is roughly "Inar of the Sea [Lake Van]". Inar here is parallel to Sanskrit Indra. The Emperor seized her after defeating her father, the Thunder God, Taru.

She bore twins, and the evil Emperor, the Water Serpent, tried to kill them. Her children were the new thunder god Sasanár, and his sibling Bałdasár. Sasanar slew the evil Emperor (called "the Caliph of Baghdad"), and his head rolled three times. In Hittite stories, the triple-rolling death roll of the serpent was illustrated instead.

This myth was repeated to bring rain!

I know this isn't the story of Castle Blue, but I found it interesting and thought it might be worth sharing. I have more information if you are interested because Armenian myth has Indo-European stuff but a lot of really odd non-Indo-European stuff because they were deliberately uprooted and isolated by the Urartian Empire about 1000 BCE or earlier in the Caucusus. Their story of the creation of the first human involves a reed catching on fire in a pond, for example.

VERY interesting! I didn't know any of this.

[Sir_Godspeed]

Very interesting. I'd love to know more about Armenia, and Caucasian mythology in general.

[davecake]

1 hour ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

I'd love to know more about Armenia, and Caucasian mythology in general.

Have you seen the Narts comic? Caucasian sagas in comic form 

[dumuzid]

On 9/3/2020 at 1:57 PM, Qizilbashwoman said:

(called "the Caliph of Baghdad")

Makes you wonder how many times the villain's title has changed in the telling, if this myth dates back to the Hittites.

[Sir_Godspeed]

12 hours ago, davecake said:

Have you seen the Narts comic? Caucasian sagas in comic form 

I may or may not have binged this entire comic's archive this evening and enjoyed it immensely. 

They parallels to the Riders (Hyarolings) is quite inspiring as well.

(I may also use some of this as inspiration for some worldbuilding projects of my own)

[davecake]

1 hour ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

14 hours ago, davecake said:

 

I may or may not have binged this entire comic's archive this evening and enjoyed it immensely. 

It is terrific, isn't it? A great combination of really interesting and fun but little known mythological material with a cheeky and modern sense of humour, plus charming art.

[soltakss]

12 hours ago, davecake said:

It is terrific, isn't it?

Who can forget jizz-rock boy?