Satanaya

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Satanaya (Adyghe: Сэтэнай [satanaːj]; Kabardian: Сэтэней [satanaj]; Ubykh [satanaja]; Ossetian: Сатана Satana) is a mythological figure who appears in many cycles of the Nart sagas of the North Caucasus.

Satanaya is the mother of the Narts, a fertility figure who is also an authority over her children. Satanaya is often cast in the light of a "wise woman" or matriarch, which mirrors the relative freedom of women in North Caucasian societies generally. Satanaya can be compared to the Greek Demeter, with whom she shares many traits.^{[citation needed]}

In Ossetian tradition, she is the daughter of Uastyrdzhi (St. George).

The Chechen-Ingush version is somewhat different in that the counterpart of Satanaya, Sela-Sata, is primarily a goddess of crafts and women's work rather than a Nartic matriarch. However, many of her characteristics, including the story of her miraculous birth of a dead Nart mother and her involvement in the birth of chief hero Seska-Solsa (Sosruko), correspond closely to those of Satanaya in the other versions.^[1]