Sky-Father of the Magyars
Hungarian · deity · mythic / pre Christian · Recorded classification
Hungarian ⟨Isten⟩ (etymology debated; possibly *ős 'ancestor' + atya 'father'). The word became the standard Christian term for God. The totemic Turul bird, perched atop the world-tree, is associated with Isten as the impregnating father-spirit in the Emese dream.
Domains
- sky supremacy
- fate and justice
Powers
- watches the middle world from the sky and warns by lightning
Epithets
- Öregisten The Old God; the supreme sky-being of the ancient MagyarsHungarian ethnography (the táltos tradition) (secondary)
Sources
- Isten is the supreme sky-father of pre-Christian Hungarian belief, who shapes human fate and watches the middle world, dwelling in the upper world of the world-tree.: Diószegi, Vilmos. A pogány magyarok hitvilága. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1967. (secondary); Róheim, Géza. Hungarian and Vogul Mythology. New York, 1954. (secondary)