Tharapita
Estonian · deity · iron age · deity
Earliest securely attested Estonian high god (13th-c. chronicle), unlike most later Estonian 'gods' that are 19th-c. literary constructs. English keeps the chronicle form 'Tharapita' as primary (no plainer English exists); native Tharapita/Taara in term (Latin script per Estonian rule). The romantic-era figure 'Taara' as a serene sky-father is a partial back-formation.
Domains
- sky and war
- thunder
Powers
- fly from Vironia to Saaremaa
Epithets
- Taara
- Tarapita
Sources
- Henry of Livonia, Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae, c. 1224–1227
- Oeselians, Wikipedia
- Tharapita, Wikipedia