The Moon-God of Albania
Udi · deity · Udi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The supreme divinity of pre-Christian Caucasian Albania was a lunar god, known to posterity only through Strabo's Greek equation with Selene; the native Albanian name is lost. Strabo reports that the Albanians revered the gods of sun, sky and moon, but the Moon most of all, with a rich temple estate near the Iberian frontier whose high priest stood second in rank to the king. The sanctuary held numerous temple-slaves, some of whom fell into prophetic possession, and its cult included the spearing of a divinely chosen victim, whose fall was read for omens. Ethnographers record that the Moon persisted as the remembered chief god of the Albanians and that lunar, solar and fire cults survive alongside Christianity among the Udis.
Domains
- moon
- oracles
- sacrifice
Powers
- presides as the chief deity of the Albanians
- speaks through the possessed of the sanctuary
- receives human sacrifice by the sacred lance
Sources
- The Albanians worshipped gods of the sun, sky and moon, honouring the Moon above all; its temple near Iberia was served by a high priest second only to the king, with prophetically possessed temple-slaves and rites of human sacrifice by a sacred lance.: Strabo, Geography 11.4.7, trans. H. L. Jones (Loeb Classical Library, 1928) (primary)
- The Moon remained the chief deity in Albanian memory, and cults of the moon, sun, fire and hearth persist as pre-Christian survivals among the modern Udis.: Encyclopedia of World Cultures, 'Udis' (Macmillan, 1994), section on religion and expressive culture (secondary)