Paganism in Azerbaijan

Very little is known about pre-Christian and pre-Islamic mythology in Eastern Transcaucasia; sources are mostly Hellenic historians like Strabo and based on archaeological evidence.

Barhail was one of two major gods. He keeps sun on his right hand and moon on left hand. His right hand shows East and left hand shows West. If he drops his right hand for a while, world will fall under darkness forever. He decides if days should be longer or shorter.

Sabail was one of two major gods. He was protector of sea and wind. He stands perpendicular to Barhail. His left hand keeps ocean apart from continents, prevents floods. His right hand keeps weather calm, if he droppes that hand, typhoons and storms can occur.

Strabo names the gods of the sun, the sky, and above of all, the moon, and equates them to the Greek gods Helios, Zeus, and Selene respectively:

According to Strabo, human sacrifice was widely used in pre-Christian Albania:

And any one of those who, becoming violently possessed, wanders alone in the forests, is by the priest arrested, bound with sacred fetters, and sumptuously maintained during that year, and then led forth to the sacrifice that is performed in honour of the goddess, and, being anointed, is sacrificed along with other victims. The sacrifice is performed as follows: Some person holding a sacred lance, with which it is the custom to sacrifice human victims, comes forward out of the crowd and strikes the victim through the side into the heart, he being not without experience in such a task; and when the victim falls, they draw auguries from his fall and declare them before the public; and when the body is carried to a certain place, they all trample upon it, thus using it as a means of purification.

Unlike many pagan nations, Caucasian Albanians did not practice worship of ancestors. As Strabo states:

The Albanians are surpassingly respectful to old age, not merely to their parents, but to all other old people. And when people die it is impious to be concerned about them or even to mention them. Indeed, they bury their money with them, and therefore live in poverty, having no patrimony.

In East Albania, sacred lands existed in islands of Caspian Sea. Pomponius Mela wrote:

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