Nakrah

Nakrah ( Saba NKRḤ [M] , Arabic نكرح, DMG Nakraḥ and Nikraḥ ^um ) was an ancient South Arabian god of protection and healing who was worshiped in the Minean kingdom.

The place of worship of the deity is located in today's Jauf in northern Yemen . It is located near the village of Ma'in, the ancient Qarnawu . Around his sanctuary was a sacred area , which was delimited by nine inscription stones . The site around the hill Darb al-Ṣabī can be located well outside the city. Urban temples were also built in honor of Nakrah, as evidenced in Baraqish . Adolf Grohmann assumed that Nakrah was a sun goddess who stood in Ma'in next to the moon god Almaqah and Venus star Athtar . Jacques Ryckmans and WW Müller see it differently , who assume a male god.

Functionally, the Holy District was a refuge for the sick and women who were either about to give birth or who had lost their child. On the orders of the oracle, those seeking refuge confessed those wrongdoings that could have been the cause of their illness or stroke of fate.

literature

Jacques Ryckmans: The Old South Arab Religion. In: Werner Daum (Ed.): Yemen. Umschau, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5 , pp. 111-115.

Web links

Mounir Arbach: LA DECOUVERTE DU TEMPLEINTRA-MUROSDE NAKRAHAMA'IN, L'ANTIQUE QARNA .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Jacques Ryckmans , Die Altsüdarabische Religion , (see lit.), p. 112
↑ Newsletter Archeologia (CISA), number 0, pp.50-90 / Alessandro de Maigret: THE EXCAVATIONS OF THE ITALIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION AT BARÂQISH (REPUBLIC OF YEMEN)
^ Adolf Grohmann, Cultural History of the Ancient Orient, Parts 3-4

[Ryckmans-1] Jacques Ryckmans , Die Altsüdarabische Religion , (see lit.), p. 112

[2] Newsletter Archeologia (CISA), number 0, pp.50-90 / Alessandro de Maigret: THE EXCAVATIONS OF THE ITALIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION AT BARÂQISH (REPUBLIC OF YEMEN)

[3] Adolf Grohmann, Cultural History of the Ancient Orient, Parts 3-4