Mount Ararat with the historic Khor Virap monastery visible at center-left

Mythology

Mihr was the Armenian deity of sun, light, and covenant, paralleling the Iranian Mithra (Avestan Mithra) and the Mithraic cults of the Roman Near East. The Hellenistic-style temple at Garni, built in the 1st century AD, is the sole standing Hellenistic-era Armenian structure and is academically attested as a sun-god sanctuary, surviving the 301 AD Christianization.

Mihr was the Armenian deity of sun, light, and covenant, paralleling the Iranian Mithra (Avestan Mithra) and the Mithraic cults of the Roman Near East. The Hellenistic-style temple at Garni, built in the 1st century AD, is the sole standing Hellenistic-era Armenian structure and is academically attested as a sun-god sanctuary, surviving the 301 AD Christianization.

729Mythology