Dragon-slayer war-deity of the Armenian polytheistic pantheon; Iranic-syncretic reflex of Verethragna with extensive Armenian-internal narrative development. The Vahagn-birth hymn preserved by Khorenatsi (Patmutyun Hayots 1.31) is among the oldest surviving fragments of Armenian poetry — the cosmic-egg birth from heaven-earth-sea-reed travail constitutes the foundational Armenian theogonic-poetic image. The dragon-slaying (vishap-kagh-) establishes Vahagn as the Armenian reflex of the Indo-European storm-vs-serpent mythologem (Vedic Indra-Vritra; Iranic Verethragna; Norse Thor-Jörmungandr). His pairing with Astghik in the Aštišat cult-complex parallels the Iranic Mithra-Anāhitā pairing within the Iranic-syncretic frame. The Vahagn-cult was suppressed at the 301 CE Christianization but folk-residual associations of dragon-slaying with Christian saint-figures (notably St. George via Armenian-Christian transmission) preserve the underlying mythologem.