Armaz god of moon

According to Rayfield, Mushki and Meshki (moon worshippers, Caucasian Amazons, Iberians) were related to each other in the worship of gods: the Hittite moon god Armaz (Arma) and the Luwian god Santush (Santa/Sandan) are the pagan Iberian gods Armaz and Zaden whose idols were overthrown by Christian missionaries in the 4th century AD in Kingdom of Iberia.

Beyond the medieval Georgian annals, composed five or more centuries after Christianization, there are no records of the pre-Christian Georgian pantheon. Modern scholars are divided as to the origin of Armazi.[citation needed] It would appear to be connected to the Zoroastrian supreme god Ahura Mazdā (Middle Persian Ohrmazd, Armenian Aramazd) and contemporary archaeological evidence bears evidence to the penetration of Zoroastrianism in ancient Georgia. On the other hand, Giorgi Melikishvili[year needed] proposed the identification of Armazi as a local variant of Arma, the god of the moon in Hittite mythology. This is in keeping with Ivane Javakhishvili's[year needed] argument of a pre-Christian Georgian moon cult, which fused with the Christian St. George (Tetri Giorgi), Georgia's patron saint since the Middle Ages.