Relief of the god Haldi at the Erebuni Museum

The relief depicts Haldi, the supreme god of Urartu. Urartu was an ancient kingdom in the Armenian Highlands, around Lake Van, which existed in the 9th–6th centuries BC. Haldi was the god of war, victory and supreme power and the patron of the Urartian kings, who prayed to him before battles, especially against Assyria. His main sanctuary was in the city of Ardini (Musasir), and the temples dedicated to him were often decorated with weapons, which is why they were called “houses of weapons”.

Haldi was often depicted standing on a lion. This relief (or its reconstruction or copy) is at the Erebuni Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve in Yerevan. The winged god wears a tall horned headdress topped by a sun-like disc, holds a flowering branch and stands on a lion with open jaws.