God of Thunder and Lightning
Abkhaz · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Abkhaz ⟨Афы⟩ Afə. Functional parallel of Circassian Shible and Vainakh Sela.
Domains
- thunder and lightning
Powers
- shoots fiery arrows from heaven at men, beasts and trees
- marks those he strikes with lightning as chosen for the god
Relations
- equated with: God of Thunder and the SunAreal Caucasian identification across NW-Caucasian/Nakh lines (MNM cross-refs): thunder-lords with parallel lightning-death rites. Not cognate; Sela adds solar/calendar ties Afy lacks — flagged as areal-typological.'Sela', in S. A. Tokarev (ed.), Mify narodov mira (1980-82) (secondary); B. K. Dalgat, Pervobytnaya religiya chechentsev (1893) (secondary)
- equated with: Thunder-God of the AdygheReciprocal of circassian_shible.equated-with — Standard Abkhaz-Adyghe correspondence: thunder-lords of the shared NW Caucasian pantheon (MNM cross-identifies); parallel honours for the lightning-struck. Names unrelated — ethnographic-functional, areal not genetic.Sh. Kh. Salakaya, 'Afy', in S. A. Tokarev (ed.), Mify narodov mira (1980-82) (secondary); G. F. Chursin, Materialy po etnografii Abkhazii (1957) (secondary)
Sources
- Afy is the Abkhaz god of thunder and lightning, who sends fiery arrows from the sky; his cult included taboos on his name and rites for lightning victims.: Bartsyts, Marina, and Abkhaz ethnographic sources on traditional religion (Afy). (secondary); Colarusso, John. Nart Sagas from the Caucasus, 2002 (Abkhaz thunder-deity context). (secondary)