Armazi, the Georgian bronze god. Not a single shred of the mythology surrounding this deity survives, leaving them in the obscurity of mystery. The only evidence of their existence comes from the later traditions of Armazi’s fall from worship. Said to have been erected by the first king of Kartli, Armazi was the chief god of Caucus Iberia. The Christian saint Nino was once invited to a feast held by Armazi’s worshippers. They took Saint Nino to the Idol of Armazi, it was a tall and imposing bronze figure, draped in chainmail armor, eyes of emerald, on top his head lead a helm of the crescent moon, and in his hands he gripped a sabre of lightning. As the feast began, Saint Nino began to pray, causing the statue to be struck by lighting and destroyed by hail. In another rendition it’s described that Armazi had a potent conflict with the Chaldean god Itrushana also known as Itrujan. In their battles it was described that Armazi fought with the sea as his weapon. However it was Itrushana who destroyed Armazi’s idol. Either way the destruction of the statue lead to the death of Armazi’s worship, supplanted by Christianity.
The history of Armazi’s worship is incredibly muddled and difficult to track from the lack of records. Armazi himself is not the only Georgian chief god, as the sky god Ghmetri was worshipped in the rest of Georgia. Ghmetri was the supreme creator god, who fathered the sun and moon. Armazi himself most likely grew out of that moon god mentioned previously, absorbing and taking some of the aspects of Ghmetri as he became the chief god. However, Armazi also holds deep ancestry to foreign gods as well. Armazi and by extension the original Georgian lunar god, may have been the Georgian rendition of the Hittite deity Arma. A lunar god as well, the deity Arma shares the same etymology with Armazi. Armazi is also theorized to have been connected to the Zoroastrian chief god Ahura Mazda, similarly to Arma, Armazi shares etymology with the divinity, with evidence of the presence of Zoroastrianism in Georgia as well. Armazi isn’t the only descendant of that Georgian moon god, as under the name Tetri Giorgi, Saint George also holds ancestry with the god. Now the patron of the moon and storms, Saint George’s reverence in Georgia synchronized with the moon god’s worship, leading to him to now be a successor of the Georgian mythos.
