Scythian Goddess, Api, by unknown artist
"The Scythian Goddess of the birth-giving chthonic principle was Api (Hellenised as Απι Api; Latinised as Api) or Apia (Hellenised as Απια Apia; Latinised as Apia), which is reflected by her name, Api, which was a Scythian cognate of the Avestan word for water, api, and through her equation by Hērodotos of Halikarnāssos with the Greek Goddess of the Earth, Gaia. These identifications rested upon the conceptualisation in ancient cosmologies of Earth and water as being two aspects of same the birth-giving chthonic principle, and, within Iranian tradition, the earth was a life-giving principle which was inextricably connected to water, which was held to have fertilising, nourishing, and healing properties. The name Api was also linked to a child-talk endearing word meaning "mommy," with these various connections of Api and her name painting the consistent picture of her as a primordial deity from whom was born the world's first inhabitants.
Api was the consort of Papaios, with the two of them being the children of Tapatī́, the primordial fire. Api and Papaios initially existed together into an inseparable unity until their union, which reflected the Indo-Iranian tradition of the marriage between Heaven and Earth as the basis for the creation of the world (and parallels the union between Ahurā Mazdā and the Earth Goddess Ārmaiti in the Avesta), gave birth to the "middle world," that is the air space, the part of the cosmos where humanity and all physical beings lived, and to the Gods of the third rank of the Scythian pantheon, who were associated with the "middle world." The completion of this process of cosmogenesis created an ordered universe made up of three zones - a cosmic one, a central one, and a chthonic one - located each above the other.
As a primordial Goddess who gave birth to the first inhabitants of the world, Api remained aloof from worldly affairs and did not interfere with them after the creation of the world and the establishment of the proper order.
The worship of Api by Scythian peoples is attested in Strabōn's mention that the Derbikes worshipped "Mother Earth."
-taken from wikipedia
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| Scythian Goddess, Api, by unknown artist. |
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