Heavenly Aphrodite Argimpasa
Scythian · deity · timeless (attested 5th c. BCE; cult continues at the Bosporus into Roman times) · deity
Great goddess of fertility, sovereignty and divination. The transmitted theonym Ἀργίμπασα leads the term (per the rule to lead with the attested form), with Ustinova's preferred Ἀρτίμπασα and the proposed Arti/Aṣ̌i etymology given in alt/notes. Closely identified with, but scholarly-distinguished from, the Snake-Legged ancestress. Aniconic among the Scythians; iconographic at the Bosporus.
Domains
- fertility
- sovereignty
- divination and priesthood
Powers
- renders her diviner-priests womanlike
- strikes her offending diviners with the 'female sickness'
- grants prophecy to the Enarees who divine by lime-tree bark
Epithets
- Ἀργίμπασα
- Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανίη
Relations
- equated with: Sarmatian Great Goddess
- interpretatio: Aphrodite