Bared-Sword War-God (Sarmatian Ares)
Sarmatian · deity · attested for the Alani in the 4th c. CE; continuous with the Scythian sword cult · deity
Sarmatian war-god worshipped as a sword; the brief explicitly asks to note the Sarmatian sword-cult. Native theonym unrecorded (term carries the Latin gladius/Mars of Ammianus). Distinct tradition tag 'Sarmatian'.
Domains
- war
Powers
- is worshipped as a sword fixed in the earth
Epithets
- the planted sword
Relations
- interpretatio: Mars
- equated with: Sword-God of War (Scythian Ares)
Sources
- Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 31.2.23
- 'Sarmatian Religion,' Encyclopedia of Religion (M. Eliade, ed.); D.S. Raevskiy (1977)