Satanaya is a myth

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

ological figure who appears in many cycles of the Nart sagas of the Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

.

Satanaya is the mother of the Narts, a fertility

Fertility

Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...

 figure who is also an authority over her children. She is often cast in the light of a "wise woman" or matriarch, which mirrors the relative freedom of women in North Caucasian

North Caucasus

The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....

 societies generally. Satanaya can be compared to the Greek

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

 Demeter

Demeter

In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...

, with whom she shares many traits.

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

Sosruko

Sosruko or Sosriqwe is a central character in many cycles of the Nart sagas of the Caucasus.Sosruko is a powerful but devious man who is the smallest of the Narts; as a character, he is sometimes cast in the light of the trickster god, comparable to the Scandinavian Loki , Georgian Amirani, or the...

), correspond closely to those of Satanaya in the other versions.