CHORA A SPACE BELOW MOUNT NEMRUT CALLED VAN IN ARMENIAN A TOPONYM AND INTERNAL ETYMOLOGY
CHORA A SPACE IS VAN IN ARMENIAN
Although now within the borders of the Republic of Turkey, Lake and town Van is the very heartland of Armenian civilization since times immemorial. In fact, so much so, that it is considered the very place where Armenian ethnic identity was first born. A 3,000-year-old castle from the Armenian kingdom of Urartu (Ararat) submerged underwater in Lake Van. The castle discovered below Lake Van is said to belong to the Iron Age Armenian civilization also known as the Kingdom of Urartu. The lake itself is believed to have been formed by a crater caused by a volcanic eruption of Mount Nemrut near the province of Van. Why it is called Mount Nemrut they say is due to the volcano which is named after a King named Nimrod who is said to have ruled this area in about 2100 BC. In the Genesis passage, the beginning of his kingdom is said to have been Babel, Erech, and Akkad, in the land of Shinar. Nimrod is said to have then built Nineveh, Calah (modern Nimrūd), Rehoboth-Ir, and Resen.
The geologic record at Mt. Nemrut indicates numerous prehistoric explosive eruptions during the Holocene Epoch (from about 10,000 years ago through the present); the last observed eruption of lava was in 1441. The last well-documented explosive eruption occurred during 1650.
According to the records of the 5th century Armenian historian Movses of Khorene, Hayk (the legendary founder of the Armenian nation) settled near lake Van in 2492 BC where he first founded the village of Haykashen and build there the mighty fortress of Haykaberd. At the very shores of Lake Van Hayk assembled his army and told them that they must defeat the Babylonian tyrant king Bel who had marched against him and his people, or die trying to do so, rather than become his slaves. At Dyutsaznamart (meaning: “Battle of Giants”) near lake Van, Hayk finally defeated Baal or Bel. (The mountain's name, "Nemrut" is recent and non-historical in the sense that it comes from an Armenian legend, in which the Armenian hero Hayk the Great defeated the Biblical king Nimrod. Armenian: Նեմրութ. This mountain seems to encapsulate the fiery, wrathful side of Nimrod's nature because this Nemrut, situated on the south east side of Lake Van is a volcano.The Armenians equate Nimrod with Baal or Bel, a title given to several gods in Mesopotamia.) Hereafter Hayk had named the region where the battle took place after his own name and the site of the battle Hayots Dzor (meaning: “Valley of the Armenians”). Thus the Armenian nation and its first free kingdom was born on the very shores of Lake Van after which the Armenians call themselves ‘Hay’ and their country – ‘Hayk’ or ‘Hayastan’, in honor of the legendary founder Hayk. The endonym of the Armenians is hay, and the old Armenian name for the country is Hayk' (Armenian: Հայք, which also means "Armenians" in Classical Armenian), later Hayastan (Armenian: Հայաստան). Armenians traditionally associate this name with the legendary progenitor of the Armenian people, Hayk. Khorenatsi had described the ancient settlements in Van and attributed them to one of the descendants of Hayk; Ara the Beautiful son of Aram. His description exactly matched, the later discovered, Assyrian clay tablet attributing the foundation of the kingdom to the first king of Urartu; king Aram (c. 860 – 843 BC). It was the works of Movses of Khorene that led to the discovery of the kingdom of Van named the capital of (Urartu).
Nemean Lion: Hayks nemesis, the thing that is very difficult for him to defeat. (a cause of) punishment or defeat that is deserved and cannot be avoided: Hesiod has the Nemean lion as the offspring of Orthus and an ambiguous "she", often understood as probably referring to the Chimera, or possibly to Echidna or even Ceto.[3] According to Hesiod, the lion was raised by Hera and sent to terrorise the hills of Nemea.[4] According to Apollodorus,[5] he was the offspring of Typhon. In another tradition, told by Aelian (citing Epimenides) and Hyginus, the lion was "sprung from" the moon-goddess Selene, who threw him from the Moon at Hera's request.The Lion of Cithaeron[a] was a lion in Greek mythology which was harassing the lands of king Amphitryon and king Thespius or of king Megareus. Some myths say that it was killed by Heracles, while others say it was slain by Alcathous of Elis.[1][2][3]
According to the Suda, it was also called the Thespian lion and the Ravine lion (Ancient Greek: Χαραδραῖος λέων, Charadraios leōn) because it lived in a place called "Ravine" (χαράδρα, charadra).
The name Nemesis is related to the Greek word νέμειν némein, meaning "to give what is due", from Proto-Indo-European *nem- "distribute". The word nemesis originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to what was deserved. Later, Nemesis came to suggest the resentment caused by any disturbance of this right proportion, the sense of justice that could not allow it to pass unpunished. O. Gruppe (1906) and others connect the name with "to feel just resentment". From the fourth century onward, Nemesis, as the just balancer of Fortune's chance, could be associated with Tyche.
Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts, and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions.The Lion of Cithaeron[a] was a lion in Greek mythology which was harassing the lands of king Amphitryon and king Thespius or of king Megareus. Some myths say that it was killed by Heracles, while others say it was slain by Alcathous of Elis.
Rout: as a noun is a disorderly retreat of defeated troops as a verb a defeat and cause to retreat in disorder. In law an assembly of people who have made a move towards committing an illegal act which would constitute an offence. Root:"dig with the snout," 1530s, wroot, of swine, from Middle English wroten "dig with the snout," from Old English wrotan "to root up," from Proto-Germanic *wrot- (source also of Old Norse rota, Swedish rota "to dig out, root," Middle Low German wroten, Middle Dutch wroeten, Old High German ruozian "to plow up"), from PIE root *wrod- "to root, gnaw.
Rout: as a noun is a disorderly retreat of defeated troops as a verb a defeat and cause to retreat in disorder. In law an assembly of people who have made a move towards committing an illegal act which would constitute an offence. Root:"dig with the snout," 1530s, wroot, of swine, from Middle English wroten "dig with the snout," from Old English wrotan "to root up," from Proto-Germanic *wrot- (source also of Old Norse rota, Swedish rota "to dig out, root," Middle Low German wroten, Middle Dutch wroeten, Old High German ruozian "to plow up"), from PIE root *wrod- "to root, gnaw.
According to the Suda, it was also called the Thespian lion and the Ravine lion (Ancient Greek: Χαραδραῖος λέων, Charadraios leōn) because it lived in a place called "Ravine" (χαράδρα, charadra). The Nemean lion (/nɪˈmiːən/; Greek: Νεμέος λέων, translit. Neméos léōn; Latin: Leo Nemeaeus) was a monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. Eventually, it was killed by Heracles (Hercules). Because its golden fur was impervious to attack, it could not be killed with mortals' weapons. Its claws were sharper than mortals' swords and could destroy any strong armour. In Bibliotheca, Photius wrote that the dragon Ladon, who guarded the golden apples, was his brother.[2]
In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and Arimaspians were associated with gold deposits of Central Asia.
Griffin: There is also the Armenian term Paskuč (Armenian: պասկուչ) that had been used to translate Greek gryp 'griffin' in the Septuagint,[14] which H. P. Schmidt characterized as the counterpart of the simurgh. However, the cognate term Baškuč (glossed as 'griffin') also occurs in Middle Persian, attested in the Zoroastrian cosmological text Bundahishn XXIV (supposedly distinguishable from Sēnmurw which also appears in the same text).[15] Middle Persian Paškuč is also attested in Manichaean magical texts (Manichaean Middle Persian: pškwc), and this must have meant a "griffin or a monster like a griffin" according to W. B. Henning. Deir El Bersha
In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and Arimaspians were associated with gold deposits of Central Asia.
Griffin: There is also the Armenian term Paskuč (Armenian: պասկուչ) that had been used to translate Greek gryp 'griffin' in the Septuagint,[14] which H. P. Schmidt characterized as the counterpart of the simurgh. However, the cognate term Baškuč (glossed as 'griffin') also occurs in Middle Persian, attested in the Zoroastrian cosmological text Bundahishn XXIV (supposedly distinguishable from Sēnmurw which also appears in the same text).[15] Middle Persian Paškuč is also attested in Manichaean magical texts (Manichaean Middle Persian: pškwc), and this must have meant a "griffin or a monster like a griffin" according to W. B. Henning. Deir El Bersha
About 400 kms east of the Mountain of the Gods is Turkey's second Mt. Nemrut.
One of the pearls in the culture of the Armenian people is the Pantheon of Armenian Pagan Gods, is located on the top of Mount Nemrut, located further west of lake Van. Antiochus an Armenian king who was one of the most famous rulers of the Kingdom of Commagene (an ancient Armenian kingdom in the Hellenistic era). The religious sanctuary established in Mount Nemrut was part of Antiochus' political program to revive the Persian traditions of Commagene. In order to do so, he merged and adjusted the political and religious traditions of Cappadocia, Pontus, and Armenia.[9]
Following the practice of the Mithridatic rulers of Pontus, Antiochus stressed his descent from the Achaemenids and Seleucids, and also claimed the royal legacy of Armenia.There the breathtaking statues include one of the king himself as well as two lions, two eagles, and many gods including Zeus, Hercules, and Apollo all seated in a row of six thrones. Antiochus is famous for building this impressive 'religious sanctuary' of Mount Nemrut. When Antiochus reigned as king he in the process of creating a cult to be worshipped after his death which was inspired to build a bridge between the Greek and the eastern religion of Zoroastrianism. Regarding Nimrod, the Qur'an says that it was Allah who had given Nemrut sovereignty. The 2,134-metre-high mountain features giant statues that date back to the 1st century BC and which have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The site in southern Türkiye features a giant 10-meter high, seated statues of King Antiochus I and surrounded by ancient gods, including Zeus and Apollo. Over 2,000 years ago, King Antiochus I chose the 7,000-foot-high Mount Nemrut in the Taurus mountains of southeastern Turkey for his tomb.
Place-naming
Toponyms Hydronyms Oronyms
place naming and the construction of national identity in Armenia.
A place-name normally exists in relation to a geographical object, real or imagined. In normal language usage all names have a deictic or mono-referential function. What is particular to place-names is that this mono-referentiality applies to places or localities, i.e. these names have an address function. Every language community has at any time at its disposal the stock of names that the members of society need to communicate with one another.A great deal has been said and written about the value of place-names, and about the view that it is important to take care of them and protect them. The arguments for this may be found in several factors. In the first place it is a matter of historical documentation. The majority of place-names have arisen as expressions describing certain properties of the locality that has been given the name, and they thus provide information about natural and cultural circumstances at the time the names were given in the areas to which they belong. It is a self-evident task for all countries to take care of their place-names.
In this work I have given great weight to old written forms as well as pronunciation that has been handed down, since both together they best reflect the linguistic basis of a name.
In this work I have given great weight to old written forms as well as pronunciation that has been handed down, since both together they best reflect the linguistic basis of a name.
When a landscape is man-made or man-named, it provides strong evidence of the kind of people that made it and named it. Who they are and or who they were. In other words, the culture of any nation is intentionally or unintentionally reflected in its ordinary vernacular.
People will not change that landscape or its name unless they are under very heavy pressure to do so. The Caucasus have been an arena of constant warfare between empires for the last 4500 years. This situation of constant warfare had a profound impact on the place-names in the region and especially in Armenia. Over the centuries, the highly unstable political situation in the region, the large-scale displacements of the Armenian populations and the penetration of nomadic tribes resulted in a transformation of the ethnic composition of most of the region and its cultural landscape. The Armenian toponymic nomenclature partially survived, but is largely adapted, altered, or entirely replaced.
Place-names are some of the most durable of national symbols. They can outlive most material artefacts of a civilisation. The material components of the cultural landscape may disappear or be destroyed, the civilisation that created them may also disappear but its place-names will most probably survive. In this capacity place-names are important features of national and territorial identity. According to D. W. Meinig, “Every mature nation has its symbolic landscapes. They are part of the iconography of nationhood, part of the shared set of ideas and memories and feelings which bind a people together.”
Ethnic groups that have preserved their national identity are especially sensitive about the maintenance of the national landscape. Often the national toponymy is the only witness to the fact that a territory belongs to a particular ethnic group. Most definitions of any ethnic community -- tribe, nationality, nation necessarily mention the common living space of that ethnic group. Within that territory a national toponymy has been formed -- a system of geographic names in the native language of the indigenous population. “The existence of these names clearly defines the territory of that ethnic group and is one of the most important expressions of the national identity. The use of national toponymy ensures historical continuity, preservation of cultural traditions of a nation. The native toponymy acquires special meaning for small stateless nations as it alone identifies their national territory.” It is therefore not surprising that place-names and ideology are related. The conscious use of place-names by a state can be seen as an instrument to preserve the unity and uniqueness of the nation; to enforce in the national consciousness its moral right to inhabit a particular territory; to protect its land from the territorial claims of its neighbours; or to justify its own territorial claims. A recreated or artificially created place-name landscape is a symbolic part of national identity. Therefore, toponymy is an important part of a state’s or nation’s ideological system.
3 George R. Stewart, Names on the globe (New York : Oxford University Press, 1975): Part I, chapters (...)
4 Ivan Lutterer, “Czech-German language contacts in the toponymy of Bohemia ;” J. B. Rudnyckyj, “Name (...)
2From the point of view of traditional onomastics all place-names undergo continual development within a language changing phonetically and semantically. This type of change consists primarily of sound shifts in a language. The changes that take place due to cultural transformation is when words are lost from common usage. Both changes eventually lead to the obscuration and substitution of the original meaning. What I hope has been established is that place-name alteration, be it within one language or between several languages is not an unusual phenomenon. The goal of this paper is to trace the linguistic transformations and origins of the place-names in the Armenia where but to understand the ideological and political motivation behind the place-name changes. This means that the classifications of place-names employed here reflect purely political perceptions rather than true origins of a place-name. To illustrate this point : a number of Turkic place-names are adaptations of the earlier Armenian place-names, which has undergone development within the language changing phonetically and semantically.
IMPORTANCE OF THE ARMENIAN TOPONYMS’ ONTOLOGICAL INTEGRITY IN THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL SECURITY Eduard L.Danielyan*
Armenian toponyms of the Armenian Highland constitute an essential part of Armenia’s historical resources. They symbolize the indigenous Armenian Nation’s2 cultural creation - the backbone of the Armenian statehood having more than five millennia old ethno-spiritual and civilizational roots testified by archaeological monuments and architectural relics, petroglyphs and cuneiform inscriptions et al.
Armenian provinces English Armenian notes
Aragatsotn Արագածոտն created from the districts of Ashtarak, Aparan, Aragats and Tʹalin
Ararat Արարատ created from the districts of Ararat, Artashat, and Masis
Armavir Արմավիր created from the districts of Armavir (previously called Hoktemberyan), Baghramyan, and Ējmiatsin
Aramazd (Armenian: Արամազդ) was the chief and creator god in the Armenian version of Zoroastrianism. The deity and his name were derived from the deity Ahura Mazda after the Median conquest of Armenia in the 6th century BC. 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. Aramazd is the Parthian form of Ahura Mazda.
Anahit, the historian Berossus identifies Anahit with Aphrodite, while medieval Armenian scribes identify her with Artemis.
Ani was also the diminutive of the ancient goddess Anahit, who was seen as the mother protector of Armenia. One legend claims that the daughter of Aramazd, the supreme god of Armenian mythology, was called Anahit, who was named the “golden-handed.” But for some reason, every person who looked at her would exclaim: “Ani!”, which means “that one” or “the one” in Armenian, thus Ani was probably the original name for her in Armenian. Ani is the most or more common name for Anahit.
The link between Anahita and Ishtar is part of the wider theory that Iranian kingship had Mesopotamian roots and that the Persian gods were natural extensions of the Babylonian deities, where Ahuramazda is considered an aspect of Marduk, Mithra for Shamash, and, finally, Anahita was Ishtar.
Aramazd, Mihr, Anahit, were very dominant deities of the Armenian pantheon.Vedic
Mitra is a prominent deity of the Rigveda distinguished by a relationship to Varuna, the protector of rta. Together with Varuna, he counted among the Adityas, a group of solar deities, also in later Vedic texts. Vedic Mitra is the patron divinity of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings.
The first extant record of Indo-Aryan [9] Mitra, in the form mi-it-ra-, is in the inscribed peace treaty of c. 1400 BC between Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni in the area southeast of Lake Van in Asia Minor. Mitra appears there together with four other Indic divinities as witnesses and keepers of the pact.
Amanor was both a common noun referring the new year and a title for the deity whose celebration was held on the new year.
Ethnic groups that have preserved their national identity are especially sensitive about the maintenance of the national landscape. Often the national toponymy is the only witness to the fact that a territory belongs to a particular ethnic group. Most definitions of any ethnic community -- tribe, nationality, nation necessarily mention the common living space of that ethnic group. Within that territory a national toponymy has been formed -- a system of geographic names in the native language of the indigenous population. “The existence of these names clearly defines the territory of that ethnic group and is one of the most important expressions of the national identity. The use of national toponymy ensures historical continuity, preservation of cultural traditions of a nation. The native toponymy acquires special meaning for small stateless nations as it alone identifies their national territory.” It is therefore not surprising that place-names and ideology are related. The conscious use of place-names by a state can be seen as an instrument to preserve the unity and uniqueness of the nation; to enforce in the national consciousness its moral right to inhabit a particular territory; to protect its land from the territorial claims of its neighbours; or to justify its own territorial claims. A recreated or artificially created place-name landscape is a symbolic part of national identity. Therefore, toponymy is an important part of a state’s or nation’s ideological system.
3 George R. Stewart, Names on the globe (New York : Oxford University Press, 1975): Part I, chapters (...)
4 Ivan Lutterer, “Czech-German language contacts in the toponymy of Bohemia ;” J. B. Rudnyckyj, “Name (...)
2From the point of view of traditional onomastics all place-names undergo continual development within a language changing phonetically and semantically. This type of change consists primarily of sound shifts in a language. The changes that take place due to cultural transformation is when words are lost from common usage. Both changes eventually lead to the obscuration and substitution of the original meaning. What I hope has been established is that place-name alteration, be it within one language or between several languages is not an unusual phenomenon. The goal of this paper is to trace the linguistic transformations and origins of the place-names in the Armenia where but to understand the ideological and political motivation behind the place-name changes. This means that the classifications of place-names employed here reflect purely political perceptions rather than true origins of a place-name. To illustrate this point : a number of Turkic place-names are adaptations of the earlier Armenian place-names, which has undergone development within the language changing phonetically and semantically.
What is the relationship between Armenian and Indo-Iranian?
Early Indo-Europeanists thought that Armenian was a divergent form of an Iranian language. German linguist H. Hübschmann convincingly demonstrated that Armenian is not Iranian, but an independent branch of Indo-European that has undergone massive borrowings from Iranian into its lexicon (Parthian and Persian, mainly). At the core of Armenian, there remain several hundreds of words (perhaps up to a thousand) designating body parts, kinship, small numbers and other common vocabulary that have undergone regular sound changes distinct from the ones that are common to Indo-Iranian languages. Nevertheless, there remains a set of common features between Armenian and Indo-Iranian that, if they are due to contact, must be very old (before the two branches were too differenciated). Particularly striking are the common features of Armenian and Indic that are lacking in Iranian.
What is the relationship between Armenian and Sumerian?
No direct relation. Sumerian is a linguistic isolate and the oldest language attested, linked to the very beginings of human civilisation. Recent work however has identified some very plausible Indo-European words in Sumerian.[21] These words are not Armenian by a long shot, but it is an open question as to how Sumerian acquired them (if they are indeed IE). One possibility is that the IE homeland was in Mesopotamia and Sumerian acquired these words through immediate contact. Another possibility is that the words were acquired via trading with nations to the North who had previously acquired these words via trading with IE speakers. Note that under either scenario, it is possible that, rather than going from IE to Sumerian, the words in question went from Sumerian to IE (hard to tell).
The main shortcoming that I have observed in comparative etymological studies of Armenians is that scholars often neglect internal etymology. They are also guilty of taking very poorly explained, or even unexplained, choices between conflicting etymologies. Could Armenian be cognate with or identical to a non-Indo-European isolated language, such as Sumerian, or could Armenian be the Indo-European mother tongue or possibly the Architype of the IE languages.
Armenian is genetically related to Indo-European languages such as Hittite, Sanskrit, Avestan, Greek, Latin, Gothic, and Slavic. The following are some lexical correspondences, examples belonging to the basic IE vocabulary. anun, a noun in English, anum ‘name’: Gr. ὄνομα, Lat. nōmen, Skt. nā man-, Goth. namo astɫ, asteɫ- ‘star’: Gr. ἀστήρ, Av. star-, Goth. stairno, Lat. stella, Hitt. ḫasterza duṙn ‘door’: Skt. ā r-, Gr. ϑύρα, Lat. foris, Welsh dor, Engl. door, OCS ьrь dustr ‘daughter’: Skt. duhitár-, Gr. ϑυγάτηρ, Lith. ukt kin, kanay- ‘woman, wife’: OAv. gənā- ‘woman’, Gr. γυνή, γυναι-, Goth. qino kov ‘cow’: Skt. gaúḥ ‘cow, bull’, Latv. gùovs ‘cow’, OCS gov-ę-do sirt ‘heart’: OCS srъ ьce, Lith. šir ìs ‘heart’, Goth. hairto ‘heart’.
Speakers of the Indo-European cognate languages once spoke the same language, which we conventionally call Proto-Indo-European. Furthermore, they once lived in a defined geographical area, the PIE homeland (Urheimat), the location of which has not yet been established.
The linguistic evidence allows to draw the following preliminary conclusions on the place of Armenian in the Indo-European language family. Armenian, Greek, (Phrygian) and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other or even formed a dialectal group at the time of the Indo-European dispersal. Within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian was situated between Proto-Greek (to the west) and Proto-Indo-Iranian (to the east).
One has in the front of ones mind that a word can be said to be of substrate origin if it is characterized by: 1. limited geographical distribution; 2. unusual phonology and word formation;
IMPORTANCE OF THE ARMENIAN TOPONYMS’ ONTOLOGICAL INTEGRITY IN THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL SECURITY Eduard L.Danielyan*
Armenian toponyms of the Armenian Highland constitute an essential part of Armenia’s historical resources. They symbolize the indigenous Armenian Nation’s2 cultural creation - the backbone of the Armenian statehood having more than five millennia old ethno-spiritual and civilizational roots testified by archaeological monuments and architectural relics, petroglyphs and cuneiform inscriptions et al.
Armenian provinces English Armenian notes
Aragatsotn Արագածոտն created from the districts of Ashtarak, Aparan, Aragats and Tʹalin
Ararat Արարատ created from the districts of Ararat, Artashat, and Masis
Armavir Արմավիր created from the districts of Armavir (previously called Hoktemberyan), Baghramyan, and Ējmiatsin
Aramazd (Armenian: Արամազդ) was the chief and creator god in the Armenian version of Zoroastrianism. The deity and his name were derived from the deity Ahura Mazda after the Median conquest of Armenia in the 6th century BC. 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. Aramazd is the Parthian form of Ahura Mazda.
Anahit, the historian Berossus identifies Anahit with Aphrodite, while medieval Armenian scribes identify her with Artemis.
Ani was also the diminutive of the ancient goddess Anahit, who was seen as the mother protector of Armenia. One legend claims that the daughter of Aramazd, the supreme god of Armenian mythology, was called Anahit, who was named the “golden-handed.” But for some reason, every person who looked at her would exclaim: “Ani!”, which means “that one” or “the one” in Armenian, thus Ani was probably the original name for her in Armenian. Ani is the most or more common name for Anahit.
The link between Anahita and Ishtar is part of the wider theory that Iranian kingship had Mesopotamian roots and that the Persian gods were natural extensions of the Babylonian deities, where Ahuramazda is considered an aspect of Marduk, Mithra for Shamash, and, finally, Anahita was Ishtar.
Aramazd, Mihr, Anahit, were very dominant deities of the Armenian pantheon.Vedic
Mitra is a prominent deity of the Rigveda distinguished by a relationship to Varuna, the protector of rta. Together with Varuna, he counted among the Adityas, a group of solar deities, also in later Vedic texts. Vedic Mitra is the patron divinity of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings.
The first extant record of Indo-Aryan [9] Mitra, in the form mi-it-ra-, is in the inscribed peace treaty of c. 1400 BC between Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni in the area southeast of Lake Van in Asia Minor. Mitra appears there together with four other Indic divinities as witnesses and keepers of the pact.
Amanor was both a common noun referring the new year and a title for the deity whose celebration was held on the new year.
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