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The foundation legends of the first capitals of Armenia and Georgia - Armawir and Armazi - have several common features. A specific cult of the moon god is attested in both cities in the triadic temples along with the supreme thunder god and the sun god. The names of Armawir and Armazi may be associated with the Anatolian Arma- 'moon (god).' The Armenian ethnonym (exonym) Armen may also be derived from the same stem.
The sacred character of cultic localities is extremely enduring. The cults were changed, but the localities kept their sacred character for millennia. At the transition to a new religious system the new cults were often simply imposed on the old ones (e.g., the old temple was renamed after a new deity, or the new temple was built on the site or near the ruins of the old one). The new deities inherited the characteristics of the old ones, or, one may say, the old cults were simply renamed, which could have been accompanied by some changes of the cult practices. Evidently, in the new system more or less comparable images were chosen to replace the old ones: similarity of functions, rituals, names, concurrence of days of cult, etc (Petrosyan 2006: 4 f.; Petrosyan 2007a: 175).1
On the other hand, in the course of religious changes, old gods often descend to the lower level of epic heroes. Thus, the heroes of the Armenian ethnogonic legends and the epic "Daredevils of Sasun" are derived from ancient local gods: e.g., Sanasar, who obtains the "lightning sword" - from the thunder god; Mher from Mithra/Mihr, etc (Abeghian 1966: 417; Petrosyan 2002 passim; Petrosyan 2007a: 191 ff.).
Aramazd and Vahagn
The name of Aramazd, the supreme god of pre- Christian Armenia, is borrowed from the Parthian version of the Iranian Ahura Mazda, attested in the first century BC in Greek as Aramasdes (Meillet 1916: 25). He, like the Iranian Ahura Mazda, was regarded as the creator of heaven and earth. Aside from that, Aramazd, like the other Armenian gods whose names are derived from the Iranian prototypes, had little in common with his Iranian namesake (Petrosyan 2007a: 178). Aramazd was identified with Zeus and, like Zeus, had a thunderous nature: according to Khorenatsi (II.86), St....