Anahit

Anahit was the principal goddess of fertility, healing, wisdom and water in ancient Armenian religion, and in earlier periods also carried a warlike character. By the fifth century BCE she ranked among Armenia's most significant deities alongside the sky god Aramazd, already recorded on this atlas, whom later tradition named her father. She carried titles such as the Golden Mother and Mother of all Chastity, and the Armenian king Tiridates III is recorded describing her as the benefactress of the whole human race and mother of all knowledge. Armenian kings were steadfast supporters of her cult and made annual pilgrimages to her temples, where festivals such as Navasard featured dancing, music and competitions, and the sick visited seeking healing; a bronze gilded statue of the goddess became a later symbol of ancient Armenian medicine. Scholars continue to debate whether her cult originated from Iranian, Urartian or indigenous Armenian sources, noting that Iranian religion heavily influenced Armenia's major deities.