Hvare-khshaeta

Hvare-khshaeta[1] (Hvarə-xšaēta, Huuarə-xšaēta) is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian yazata (divinity) of the "Radiant Sun".

Avestan Hvarə-xšaēta is a compound in which hvar "sun" has xšaēta "radiant" as a stock epithet.

The short seven-verse 6th Yasht is dedicated to Hvare-khshaeta, as is also the Avesta's litany to the Sun.

Although in tradition Hvare-khshaeta would eventually be eclipsed by Mitra as the divinity of the Sun (this is attributed to "late" syncretic influences, perhaps to a conflation with Akkadian Shamash), in scripture the Sun is still unambiguously the domain of Hvare-khshaeta and remains distinct from the divinity of "Covenant".

The Slavic deity Hors has been generally considered to be etymologically related to Hvare-khshaeta, and possibly the result of Persian armies introducing their form of solar worship to Slavic peoples around the first millennium BC.