Ruda is a deity that was of paramount importance in the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...

of gods worshipped by the North Arabian tribes of

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia ( ar, شبه الجزيرة العربية قبل الإسلام) refers to the Arabian Peninsula before the emergence of Islam in 610 CE. Some of the settled communities developed into distinctive civilizations. Informatio ...

.Lipinski, 2000, pp. 618-619. He is first mentioned in the annals of

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of hi ...

in the early 7th century BCE. He served as a protective deity. According to modern scholarly interpretations, Ruda was a moon deity.

Etymology

The

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of his name gives the meaning "well disposed" an indication of his function as a protective deity.

Attestations

Pre-Islamic era

The oldest reference to Ruda is found in the annals of

who ruled over the

Assyrian empire Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyr ...

from 681 to 669 BC. The name is transliterated into Latin script from the original Akkadian as ''Ru-ul-da-a-a-ú'' and he is mentioned among the gods of the Arabs. Known as

Arsu Arsu was a god worshipped in Palmyra, Syria. A deity known from Syrian and northern Arabian lands, being sometimes in male or in female (most often) representation. Arsu was connected with the Venus, evening star. Frequently portrayed as riding ...

among the Palmyrenes, in a later

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

inscription, Arsu/Ruda is paired with the Syrian god

Resheph Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; phn, 𐤓‬𐤔‬𐤐‬, ''ršp''; Eblaite ''Rašap'', Egyptian ') was a deity associated with plague (or a personification of plague), either war or strong protection, and sometimes ...

, a protective deity for his worshippers from the 3rd millennium BC. Inscriptions in a North Arabian dialect found in the region of Najd refer to Ruda and other gods of the

pantheon, providing evidence of how all things good and bad were attributed to the agency of gods.Hoyland, 2001, p. 207. Examples of such inscriptions referring to Ruda include, "by Ruda are we" and "by Ruda is weeping".

Islamic era

Ruda is mentioned in

Hisham ibn al-Kalbi Hishām ibn al-Kalbī ( ar, هشام بن الكلبي), 737 AD – 819 AD/204 AH, also known as Ibn al-Kalbi (), was an Arab historian. His full name was Abu al-Mundhir Hisham ibn Muhammad ibn al-Sa'ib ibn Bishr al-Kalbi. Born in Kufa, he spent ...

's ''

Book of Idols __NOTOC__The ''Book of Idols'' ('), written by the Arab scholar Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (737–819), describes gods and rites of pre-Islamic Arab religions. The text is critical of pre-Islamic Arabian religion and decries the state of religious corrup ...

''. The name ''Abd-Ruda'' was said to be known at the time. Al-Kalbi reports that some traditionists relate Ruda to a temple belonging to the Banu Rabi’ah ibn Sa’d ibn Zayd ibn Manat tribe. During the early days of Islam, the temple was destroyed.

Scholarly interpretations

Dierk Lange writes that Ruda formed part of a trinity of gods worshipped by the

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

-attested Yumu´il confederation of northern Arabian tribes, which he identifies with the

Ishmaelites The Ishmaelites ( he, ''Yīšməʿēʾlīm,'' ar, بَنِي إِسْمَاعِيل ''Bani Isma'il''; "sons of Ishmael") were a collection of various Arabian tribes, confederations and small kingdoms described in Islamic tradition as being des ...

.Lange, 2004, pp. 268-269. According to Lange, Ruda was the moon deity, Nuha the

sun deity The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

, and Atarsamain the main deity was associated with

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

. A trinity of gods representing the sun, moon and Venus is also found among the peoples of the South Arabian kingdoms of

Awsan The ancient Kingdom of Awsān ({{Lang-ar, مملكة أوسان) in South Arabia, modern-day Yemen, with a capital at Ḥajar Yaḥirr in Wādī Markhah, to the south of Wādī Bayḥān, is now marked by a Tell (archaeology), tell or artificial m ...

Ma'in The Minaean people were the inhabitants of the kingdom of Ma'in (Minaean language, Minaean: ''Maʿīn''; modern Arabic ''Maʿīn'') in modern-day Yemen, dating back to the 10th century BCE-150 BCE. It was located along the strip of desert cal ...

Qataban Qataban ( Qatabanian: , romanized: , ) was an ancient South Semitic-speaking kingdom of South Arabia (ancient Yemen) which existed from the early 1st millennium BCE till the late 1st or 2nd centuries CE. The kingdom of Qatabān was one of the si ...

and

Hadramawt Hadhramaut ( ar, حَضْرَمَوْتُ \ حَضْرَمُوتُ, Ḥaḍramawt / Ḥaḍramūt; Hadramautic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, ''Ḥḍrmt'') is a region in South Arabia, comprising eastern Yemen, parts of western Oman and southern Saud ...

between the 9th and 4th centuries BC. There, the deity associated with Venus was

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart ( Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name ...

, the sun deity was Yam, and moon deity was variously called

Wadd Wadd ( ar, وَدّ) (Ancient South Arabian script: 𐩥𐩵) is a pre-Islamic Arabian god. He was the national god of the Minaeans of South Arabia, and the snake was associated with him. It is also called Waddum and Wadd'ab. In Islamic tr ...

, Amm and

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

References

Bibliography

* *
at Google Books
* * Arab history Arabian gods Stellar gods Lunar gods {{MEast-myth-stub