Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes
Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes is the solar and covenant deity of Antiochus I's pantheon, a fourfold name uniting three Greek gods (Apollo for his solar and juridical character, Helios as the sun, Hermes as messenger between gods and men) with the Iranian Miθra, the ancient god of contract and light. He stands second in the cult-law inscription, immediately after Zeus-Oromasdes, sharing the religious-juridical function in the tri-functional scheme of the Commagenian gods. He is the most frequently depicted figure in the surviving dexiosis reliefs, where the youthful, radiate-tiara'd god in Iranian dress receives the handshake of the king; the finest example survives re-erected at Arsameia on the Nymphaios, the hierothesion of Antiochus's father.
Domains
- sun light
- covenant oath
Powers
- to bring forth the light of the sun across the heavens
- to watch over oaths and covenants between gods and men
Epithets
- Ἀπόλλων Μίθρας Ἥλιος ἙρμῆςDittenberger, Wilhelm. Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (OGIS), no. 383, lines 54ff. Leipzig: Hirzel, 1903-1905. (secondary)
Relations
- companion: Antiochus I Theos of CommageneThe best-preserved dexiosis stele, re-erected at Arsameia on the Nymphaios, shows Antiochus I clasping the right hand of Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes, sealing the king's covenant with the solar god.Dörner, Friedrich Karl and Theresa Goell. Arsameia am Nymphaios: Die Ausgrabungen im Hierothesion des Mithradates Kallinikos von 1953 bis 1956. Istanbuler Forschungen 23. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1963. (secondary)
- subordinate to: Zeus-OromasdesIn the tri-functional ordering of the Commagenian gods the solar Mithra stands beneath the supreme Ahura Mazda (Zeus-Oromasdes), with whom he shares the religious-juridical function.Schmitt, Rüdiger. 'Nemrud Daği.' Encyclopaedia Iranica (online edition). (secondary)
Sources
- Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes is the syncretic solar and covenant god of Commagene, fusing Greek Apollo, Helios and Hermes with the Iranian Mithra, named second in Antiochus I's cult law and represented by colossal statues and dexiosis reliefs.: Schmitt, Rüdiger. 'Nemrud Daği.' Encyclopaedia Iranica (online edition). (secondary); Gershevitch, Ilya. 'Mithra i. Mitra in Old Indian and Mithra in Old Iranian.' Encyclopaedia Iranica (online edition). (secondary)