Astghik

Astghik was an ancient Armenian goddess of sensual love, beauty and water, her name derived from the Armenian word for star with a diminutive suffix. Ancient sources cast her alongside Aramazd and Anahit, both already recorded on this atlas, as part of an astral grouping of major Armenian deities, and tradition made her the lover of the warrior god Vahagn, also recorded on this atlas, with her principal shrine at Ashtishat holding a chamber dedicated to him known as Vahagn's bedroom. During the Hellenistic period she was identified with the Greek Aphrodite and the Mesopotamian Ishtar, and associated with the planet Venus. Armenians still mark the Vartavar festival each July in a tradition traced to her ancient cult, releasing doves and sprinkling water for good luck and health, a custom later reinterpreted under Christianity as a celebration of the Transfiguration of Christ.