Anahita
Mythic, worshipped in Persia, beginning circa 648 B.C.E.
Anahita, literally “unstained” or “immaculate,” was the Persian virgin goddess of fertility, love, and war. She is particularly associated with water and its life-giving powers. In Modern Persian, her name, Nahid, is also the name for the planet Venus. Worship of Anahita was strongest in western Iran, which houses two of her most important temples, in the cities of Kangavar and Bishapur.
