Legend About the Wise Goddess Nare and the City of Mush

The Armenian culture is rich in myths and legends. One of them tells a story of one of the most ancient cities of Armenia called Mush (modern Muş, Muş Province, Turkey).

On the river Aratsani, there was a city with unappeasable people. They were arrogant and remained hostages of their vanity. Pride prevented them from forming impartial opinions, even about themselves.

All they did from dusk till dawn was to argue with each other. Once, when the disputes broke out with more force so that the matter could end in a great battle, the Armenian goddess of wisdom Nane (Նանե) intervened in the quarrel.

She covered the whole city with a blanket of thick fog so that people saw nothing surrounding them. In the end, they were forced to stop screaming, threatening, and insulting each other.

But some still did not stop and kept shouting, “You just wait! As soon as the fog dissipates, we will continue our discussion! ”

But the fog did not dissipate and swam around the city like a cloud, thick and slow. The fog lasted until the irreconcilable offenders forgot their grievances and returned to the city and their peaceful lives. Calm, quiet lives.

Wise Nane did it quite often. She covered the city with fog as if calling people to righteousness. And in the end, she succeeded! The people of the city became calm, polite, and attentive to each other. They even learned to enjoy frequent fogs.

Because of these fogs, the city became known as Mshush (Armenian: մշուշ, fog), and after several centuries, the name was changed to Mush.