Dushara, (

Nabataean Arabic Nabataean Arabic was the dialect of Arabic spoken by the Nabataeans in antiquity. In the 1st century AD, the Nabataeans wrote their inscriptions, such as the legal texts carved on the façades of the monumental tombs at Mada'in Salih, ancient Ḥ ...

: 𐢅𐢈𐢝𐢛𐢀‎ ''dwšrʾ'') also transliterated as Dusares, is a pre-Islamic Arabian

god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

worshipped by the

Nabataeans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic language, Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabian Pe ...

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

and

Madain Saleh Hegra ( grc, Ἕγρα), known to Muslims as Al-Hijr (), also known as Mada’in Salih ( ar, مَدَائِن صَالِح, madāʼin Ṣāliḥ, lit=Cities of Salih), is an archaeological site located in the area of Al-'Ula within Medina Provin ...

(of which city he was the patron). Safaitic inscriptions imply he was the son of

Al-Lat Al-Lat ( ar, اللات, translit=Al-Lāt, ), also spelled Allat, Allatu and Alilat, is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca where she was worshipped alon ...

, and that he assembled in the heavens with other gods. He is called "Dushara from

" in one inscription. Dushara was expected to bring justice if called by the correct ritual.

Etymology

Dushara is known first from

epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

Nabataean sources who invariably spell the name ''dwsrʾ'', the Nabataean script denoting only consonants. He appears in Classical Greek sources Δουσάρης (''Dousárēs'') and in Latin as ''Dusares''. The original meaning is disputed, but early Muslim historian Ibn al-Kalbi in his " Book of Idols" explains the name as ''Dhū l-Šarā'' ( ar, ذو الشرى), meaning likely "The One from Shara", Shara being a mountain range south-east of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Ban ...

. 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.

Worship

In Greek times, he was associated with

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...

because he was the chief of the Nabataean pantheon as well as with

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

. A shrine to Dushara has been discovered in the

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

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. The cult continued in some capacity well into the Roman period and possibly as late as the Islamic period.Peterson, Stephanie Bowers, "The Cult of Dushara and the Roman Annexation of Nabataea" (2006). Open Access Dissertations and Theses. Paper 5352. 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.

References

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

Nabataean religion
in the original Arabic (description on p. 5)
"Solving the Enigma of Petra and the Nabataeans"
Biblical Archaeology Review Nabataea Arabian gods Al-Lat {{MEast-myth-stub

Etymology

Worship

See also

References

Bibliography

External links