Earth-and-Water Mother Api
Scythian · deity · timeless (attested 5th c. BCE) · Recorded classification
Earth/water mother and consort of Papaios. The mismatch between Herodotos' gloss (Earth) and the name's water-etymology is itself a noted scholarly point. Aniconic: no cult image attested.
Children
Domains
- earth
- water
- motherhood
Epithets
- Api The earth-goddess, consort of Papaios (whom Herodotus equates with Ge)Herodotus 4.59 (primary)
Relations
- spouse: Sky-Father PapaiosReciprocal of scythian_papaios.spouse — Herodotos glosses Api as Earth and reports the Scythians hold Earth to be the wife of Zeus (Papaios): the sky-father/earth-mother pair.Herodotus, Histories 4.59 (primary)
- interpretatio: GaiaHdt: 'Earth (Ge), in Scythian Api', wife of Papaios. Preserves the sky-earth primal pair; breaks on Api's likely water-element (the name suggests Iranian ap- 'water'), which Hdt's gloss flattens.Herodotus, Histories 4.59 (primary)
Sources
- Herodotos identifies Api with Earth (Ge/Gaia) and pairs her with Zeus-Papaios in the second rank of Scythian gods.: Herodotos, Histories 4.59 (Godley) (primary)
- Although Herodotos glosses her only as Earth, her name continues Iranian āp- 'water', so she is read as an earth-and-water mother-goddess, consort of the sky-father; some scholars connect the Scythian Snake-Legged ancestress to her as her daughter.: V.I. Abaev (1949); R. Schmitt et al., Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Scythians'; S.S. Bessonova, Religioznye predstavleniya skifov (1983) (secondary)