Thunder-God of the Adyghe
Circassian · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Adyghe ⟨Щыблэ⟩ Ŝəblə. In some accounts the supreme Theshxwe absorbs the thunder role; Shible is the specialized thunder-deity.
Domains
- thunder and lightning
- war
- sacred groves
Powers
- strikes the earth with the thunderbolt
- hurls the thunderbolt and strikes earth, beast and man with lightning
- sanctifies the place, tree or creature he strikes, making it a site of veneration
Epithets
- Shible The god of thunder and lightning; the storm whose stroke is holyCircassian (Adyghe) ethnography (secondary)
Relations
- equated with: God of Thunder and LightningStandard 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
- Shible is the Circassian god of thunder and lightning, with a distinctive cult around those struck by lightning.: Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Circassians: A Handbook. Curzon, 2001, religion chapter (Shible). (secondary)