Mher the Elder

Second-generation Sassoun hero; son of Sanasar; lion-slayer and Dev-slayer; father of David of Sassoun (the central hero of the epic) and of his half-brother Misra Melik. The Mher-name preserves the Iranic polytheistic Mihr (Mithra) as a heroic-personal-name within the medieval Christian-Armenian Sassoun frame — reflecting the Iranic-syncretic substrate underneath the medieval epic. The two-marriage paternal structure (first to Armaghan/Misra Khanum of Egypt; second to Khandut Khatun) produces the half-sibling rivalry between Misra Melik and David of Sassoun that drives much of Cycle 3 of the epic. The Mets ("Great, Elder") superlative-positioning distinguishes him from his grandson Mher the Younger (the fourth-generation hero sealed in the Raven's Rock cave). Iconographic attributes include the lion-skin cloak, the lightning-sword tour-keatsakar (inherited from Sanasar), and the immortal magical horse Kourkik Jalali (which David subsequently inherits).

Parentage

• paternal: Sanasar

Children

• David of Sassoun
• Misra Melik

Powers

• Exert superhuman strength

Relations

• spouse: Armaghan / Misra Khanum, queen of Egypt; first wife; mother of Misra Melik · ArmenianSasna Tsřer Cycle 2 (primary)
• spouse: Khandut Khatun, Armenian noblewoman; second wife; mother of David of Sassoun · ArmenianSasna Tsřer Cycle 2-3 (primary)
• father of: Misra Melik
• father of: David of Sassoun

Sources

• existence: Sasna Tsřer ed. Abeghian Vol. I-II (primary); Srvandzteants (1873) (primary)