Zojz (deity)

Zojz is a sky and lightning god in Albanian pagan mythology. Regarded as the chief god and the highest of all gods, traces of his worship survived in northern Albania until the early 20th century, and in some forms still continue today.

In ancient times Zojz is considered to have been presumably worshiped by Illyrians as the ancestors of the Albanians. Albanian Zojz is clearly the equivalent and cognate of Messapic Zis and Ancient Greek Zeus (all from Proto-Indo-European *Di̯ḗu̯s 'sky god'). The cult practiced by the Albanians on Mount Tomorr in central Albania is considered as a continuation of the ancient Indo-European sky-god worship.

An epithet considered to be associated with the sky-god is "father", thought to be contained in the Albanian noun Zot ("Sky Father", from Proto-Albanian: *dźie̅u ̊ a(t)t-), used to refer to the Supreme Being. In Albanian the god who rules the sky is referred to as i Bukuri i Qiellit ("the Beauty of the Sky"), who is sometimes also associated with the Sun. In some of his attributes, the Albanian sky and lightning god could be related to the father god Baba Tomor, to the putative sky and weather god Perëndi (another name for the Supreme Being), to the weather and storm god Shurdh, and to the mythological demigod Drangue.

An Albanian mythical tale concerning the highest of the gods, who uses thunderbolts to defeat the sea-storm god Talas, has been documented in the early 20th century from the Shala region in northern Albania.