Dushara

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Dushara

Dushara (

Madain Saleh (of which city he was the patron).[citation needed] Safaitic inscriptions imply he was the son of Al-Lat, and that he assembled in the heavens with other gods. He is called "Dushara from Petra" in one inscription. Dushara was expected to bring justice if called by the correct ritual.[1]

Etymology

Dushara is known first from

Hermon, and YHWH Teman and YHWH Shomron from Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions).[3] If this interpretation is correct, Dushara would be more of a title than a proper name, but both the exact form of the name and its interpretation are disputed.[4][5]

Worship

Part of the
myth series on
Religions of the
ancient Near East
Pre-Islamic Arabian deities
Arabian deities of other Semitic origins

In Greek times, he was associated with Zeus because he was the chief of the Nabataean pantheon as well as with Dionysus.

A shrine to Dushara has been discovered in the

harbour of ancient Puteoli in Italy. The city was an important nexus for trade to the Near East, and it is known to have had a Nabataean presence during the mid 1st century BCE.[6] The cult continued in some capacity well into the Roman period and possibly as late as the Islamic period.[7]

This deity was mentioned by the 9th century CE Muslim historian

Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi, who wrote in the Book of Idols
(Kitab al-Asnām) that: "The Banū al-Hārith ibn-Yashkur ibn-Mubashshir of the ʻAzd had an idol called Dū Sharā."

Safaitic inscriptions mention animal sacrifices to Dushara, asking for a variety of services.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Discussion: The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A Reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions - Academia.edu". www.academia.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  2. hdl:1887/3716330
    . Dusares, etymologically probably 'the one of the Shara (mountains north of Petra)'
  3. ^ Aḥituv, Shmuel; Eshel, Esther (2015). To Yhwh of Teman and His Ashera. Israel Exploration Society and Yad Ben-Zvi Press, Jerusalem. p. 134.
  4. OCLC 944920100.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  5. OCLC 399624
    .
  6. ^ AA.VV. Museo archeologico dei Campi Flegrei - Catalogo generale (vol. 2) - Pozzuoli, Electa Napoli 2008, pag. 60-63
  7. ^ Peterson, Stephanie Bowers, "The Cult of Dushara and the Roman Annexation of Nabataea" (2006). Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 5352.

Bibliography

  • Ibn al-Kalbī, The Book of Idols, Being a Translation from the Arabic of the Kitāb al-Asnām. Tr. and comm. Nabih Amin Faris (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1952).
  • Healey, John F., The Religion of the Nabataeans: A Conspectus (Leiden, Brill, 2001) (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 136).
  • el-Khouri, Lamia; Johnson, David, "A New Nabataean Inscription from Wadi Mataha, Petra," Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 137,2 (2005), 169–174.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dushara.
myth or legend from the ancient Middle East is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dushara&oldid=1211964865"