al-Lāt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
al-Lāt is riding a camel. Relief from Ta'if in Saudi Arabia, around 100 AD
Video: Altarabic deities (including Hubal , al-Lāt, Al-Manât and al-ʿUzzā )

Al-Lāt ( Arabic اللات, DMG al-Lāt  '(the) goddess') is a pre-Islamic goddess of the Arabs and was already attested by Herodotus (I, 131; III, 8) as Alilat (Άλιλάτ), who was compared with Urania . Their cult has been around since the 4th century BC. Known in Syria . In pre-Islamic times she was one of the three main deities worshiped in Mecca alongside al-'Uzzā and al-Manāt . Her seat was assumed in a square, white stone, and on pilgrimages she was offered holy gifts and sacrifices. Idols of al-Lāt were carried along in battles by the Meccans.

Forms of cult

The cult of the goddess al-Lāt is mentioned by Herodotus in the middle of the 5th century BC. Mentioned as important in the north Arabian area. According to Wellhausen , personal names compounded with it were very common in the Palmyrian area in Roman times , for example with the son of Odaenathus and Zenobia , who bore the name Wahballāt ("gift of al-Lāt"), as well as: 'Abdallat, "slave the al-Lāt ”. During this time their cult flourished mainly in Syria, then also in central Arabia until the introduction of Islam in the 7th century.

The al-Lāt Temple, uncovered in the west of the Roman city of Palmyra in the 1970s, dates from the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd century. All later overbuilding of the temple left the shrine of the goddess in the core, which indicates her continued strong veneration.

In the oasis of Palmyra in eastern Syria, al-Lāt becomes tangible in inscriptions from the 1st century AD. Al-Lāt worship began in Palmyra from the Bene Maazin, one of the four Arab tribes who were among the founders of the city. Another tribe, the Bene Yedi'ebel, also worshiped the goddess as their patroness , as can be read on an altar dated 62/63 that was found in the Baalschamin Temple at Palmyra. On two Tesserae al-Lāt appears as a seated figure with a lion, the camel also depicted belonged to the family coat of arms of the Bene Nurbel, a branch of the Bene Maazin. In the Arab quarter to the west, two statues were erected in AD 62 and AD 64 bearing the name of the goddess in the dedicatory inscription. Their place of assembly was probably in the temenos of the al-Lāt temple. The temple cult is first mentioned in inscriptions in 115. In an inscription of 129 on a column console on Kolonnadenstrasse , two brothers are honored because they financed six columns of the portico and part of the ceiling and this was done in honor of the three gods of the temple. In addition to al-Lāt, who was called "mistress of the temple" (mrt byt ') , the Babylonian sun god Šamaš and the Arab god Raḥhim (rḥm) were among them.

A Nabataean inscription from AD 56 shows that the cult was also widespread in Hauran at an early stage . The Nabataeans had 85 BC They took Damascus and ruled the southern region ever since. The inscription from the place Salchad reports on the erection of an al-Lāt temple and suggests that the cult of the goddess was previously unknown and was introduced from far away.

In the Jordanian Wadi Rum , 40 kilometers east of Aqaba at the foot of the Jabal Ram , another temple of al-Lāt was discovered in 1931. The excavation in 1933 and a subsequent excavation in 1959 brought to light a central 4.1 × 4.9 meter large shrine on a platform, which was surrounded on three sides by a column wreath ( peristasis ) and outside by side rooms. The inner courtyard opened onto the staircase to the east. In front of the stairs, next to the northeast corner of the temple, was a large altar for sacrifices. Traces of a thermal baths were found 100 meters to the east , which had received water from a nearby spring. The believers probably took a ritual bath here before entering. The temple belonged to a caravan station on Frankincense Route .

There is a connection between al-Lāt and the fertility goddess Astarte . On the front of a tessera the triad Bel, Jarchibol and Aglibol is depicted, while on the other side Astarte, wearing a long tunic, holds a scepter in his hand. A single sky goddess was addressed under different names in Syria. Astarte was in Palmyra the counterpart to the Babylonian Ištar . According to Herodotus, the Arabs worshiped only one male and one female deity. He equated Al-Lāt with Aphrodite Urania .

According to the inscriptions, Al-Lāt can be placed as a companion to the bel by two tesserae . There you can read 'gn bl blty , where bl stands for Bel and blty, ("my mistress") means the goddess. On the back, al-Lāt is shown in a frontal sitting position, with a lion to one side and a bird in his hand. This motif is known from the goddess Atargatis .

In the 2nd century al-Lāt changed into an armed Athena with a helmet on her head, an aegis hung and a spear in her right hand, while her left hand rests on a shield by her side. She can be seen on reliefs in the Hauran. The connection with Athena is confirmed by Greek inscriptions from there and by a Greek text found in 1974 in the temple of al-Lāt at Palmyra.

In the Bel temple of Dura Europos there was a relief with a sacrificial scene in which two men offered incense to a group of five standing deities. The central figure of a god probably represents Bel, who is flanked by Jarchibol and Aglibol . On the far left al-Lāt can be seen with a long robe and a shield. Some inscriptions in the temple show that in Dura Europos the Palmyrenian deities were worshiped not only by Roman soldiers but also by native slaves and servants of the Roman families.

Tradition in the Koran

al-Lāt is mentioned in the Koran , sura 53 , verses 19 to 23 and 27, 28 next to al-Uzza and al-Manat:

“(19) Have you seen al-Lat and al-Uzza,
(20) and also al-Manat, this other one, the third?
(21) Is what is masculine for you and what is feminine for Him?
(22) That would then be an unjust distribution.
[…] Those are just empty names that you and your fathers thought up for idols, for which Allah has not given permission. "

One tradition (mostly with weak chains of narration ) claims that because of some kind of diabolical whispering ( Satanic verses ) during the Prophet's recital, verses 21 and 22 read as follows:

“These are the sublime cranes.
One can hope for her intercession. "

In the book of idols of Ibn al-Kalbī it says about al-Lāt:

“Al-Lāt was in at-Ta'if . She is younger than Manat. Al-Lāt was a square boulder that a Jew used to pound grits on. Their keepers were the Banū 'Attāb ibn Mālik of the Thaqif tribe. They had built a building over her. The Quraish and all Arabs worshiped them ... The worship of al-Lāt continued until the Thaqif tribe converted to Islam. The Messenger of God (God bless him and give him salvation) sent al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba; he destroyed them and burned them with fire. "

Correspondingly, the Arabs called the Jew, who used to crush gruel with the deity, al-Lātt and thus established a connection with the name of the idol (Part لث, لت / 'Chop / grind grain').

The idol of the goddess was destroyed by Mohammed and his followers after the capture of Mecca. The first mosque in the settlement was built in its place. Their Himā district was retained by Mohammed and sanctioned in Islam. But one has not forgotten the deity. Because the British explorer and orientalist Charles Montagu Doughty reported in his famous book: Travels in Arabia Deserta (Vol. II. 511 and 515-516) in the late 19th century about boulders at at-Taif, which the residents at that time al-'Uzzā , al-Lāt and Hubal and from whom they secretly sought help in cases of illness.

See also

literature

  • Susanne Krone: The Arab deity al-Lāt. Heidelberg Oriental Studies 23. Peter Lang 1992
  • Javier Teixidor: The Pantheon of Palmyra. Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Émpire romain 79. Leiden 1979
  • Julius Wellhausen: Remains of Arab paganism. DeGruyter Verlag. Berlin, Leipzig. 2nd edition 1927, pp. 33–34, 208

Web links

  • Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi: The Book of Idols (Kitab Al-Asnam): Allat

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Eißfeldt : Temples and Cults of Syrian Cities in Hellenistic-Roman Times. JC Hinrichs Verlag, Leipzig 1941, p. 95 f
  2. ↑ Teixidor, p. 53
  3. ↑ Michael D. Gunther: Allat Temple. Wadi Rum, Jordan. Photo and plan
  4. ↑ Klaus Stefan Freyberger: The early imperial sanctuaries of the caravan stations in the Hellenized East. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1998, pp. 41-44
  5. ↑ Teixidor, pp. 52-62, 75
  6. ↑ Rudi Paret : The Koran . Commentary and Concordance. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1980. p. 461; ders .: Mohammed and the Koran . Kohlhammer. Stuttgart. 8th edition. 2001. pp. 65-68
  7. ^ Translation: Rosa Klinke-Rosenberger, pp. 37–38.
    The Book of Idols (Kitab Al-Asnam) by Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi On al-Lāt see: The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Vol. 5. S. 692.
    Julius Wellhausen: Remains of Arab paganism. P. 32.
    W. Robertson Smith: Lectures. P. 201. Note 1
  8. ^ G. Hawting: The Literary Context of the Traditional Accounts of Pre-Islamic Idolatry. In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (JSAI), 21 (1997), p. 30; S. Krone (1992), p. 45
  9. ↑ See: MJ Kister: Some reports concerning al-Ṭāʾif . In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. Vol. 1 (1979) pp. 1ff. esp. 8-11; 18th
  10. ↑ See also: AJ Wensinck and JH Kramers: Short dictionary of Islam. P. 363. Brill, Leiden 1941. Susanne Krone: The Arab deity al-Lāt (= Heidelberg orientalist studies 23). Peter Lang. 1992
  11. ↑ Satanic Verses