Haldi, Pantheon of ancient Armenian gods

In the picture are numerous elements of Armenian and other ancient ornamental, mythological, and archeological symbols, including Armenian rug motifs and murals and carvings from old Armenian churches.

Various symbols of eternity are also used including the wheel of eternity, the six-and eight-pointed stars, and the swastika, commonly found on ancient rock carvings throughout the Armenian highlands.

One will notice the mysterious Tree of Life so ubiquitous in Urartian and Mesopotamian carvings and murals, Anunnaki gods, mythological creatures such as the Griffin, and symbols taken from the oldest rug in the world, the Pazyrik rug, which was woven during the time of the Urartians. When analyzed, I, ts fibers, dyes, and knot techniques confirmed its origins to be uniquely Armenian.

At the bottom are a series of ancient scripts used in the Armenian highlands, including cuneiform, Aramaic, and older versions of some letters of the modern Armenian alphabet. I will leave it up to the imagination of my followers to interpret their meaning.

So venerated was this god that the Urartians were sometimes called the Haldians or “children of Haldi”. Haldi was the chief warrior deity to whom the kings of Urartu would pray for victories in battle.

The ruling king was known as the “servant of Haldi” and many inscriptions ended with the phrase “By the power of Haldi” (Haldini ušmaši). Haldi’s weapon was called “šuri”, which equates to the modern Armenian “sur“ սուր (meaning “sword” or sharp).

Similarly, the word “Uš” means “power” in Urartian, linguistically related to the Armenian word “uzh” (ոյժ) meaning “power”. Even more significantly, the Armenian word for victory “hałt”, (or to win “hałt-el” -յաղթել), derives from the name of HALDI. The Urartian word “to conquer” was also called “ald”.

Along with Haldi, the other chief deities of the trinity of the pantheon of Urartu were Teisheba the storm god, and Shivini the sun god.

His wife was ARUBANI, the goddess of fertility and art. The Armenian root word for art “arvesd” (արուեստ) derives from her name.

By Joseph Sarkissian