A'ra

List of pre-Islamic Arabian deities

List of pre-Islamic Arabian deities

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Deities formed a part of the polytheistic religious beliefs in pre-Islamic Arabia, with many of the deities' names known.[1] Up until about the fourth century AD, polytheism was the dominant form of religion in Arabia. Deities represented the forces of nature, love, death, and so on, and were interacted to by a variety of rituals.

Main article: Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia
Sabaean inscription listing the gods 'Athtar, Almaqah, Dhat-Himyam, Dhat-Badan and Wadd.

Formal pantheons are more noticeable at the level of kingdoms, of variable sizes, ranging from simple city-states to collections of tribes.[2] The Kaaba alone was said to have contained up to 100 images of many gods and goddesses.[3] Tribes, towns, clans, lineages and families had their own cults too. Christian Julien Robin suggests that this structure of the divine world reflected the society of the time.[2]

Many deities did not have proper names and were referred to by titles indicating a quality, a family relationship, or a locale preceded by "he who" or "she who" (dhū or dhāt).[2]

Pantheons and groupings

More information Pantheon, Deities ...

Alphabetical list

More information Name, Description ...

Notes

  1. Attested in archaeological and/or epigraphic evidence
  2. Attested in al-Kalbi's Book of Idols

References

Citations

  1. [1]
    Hoyland 2002, p. 139.
  2. [2]
    Robin, Christian Julien, "South Arabia, Religions in Pre-Islamic", in McAuliffe 2005, pp. 87
  3. [3]
    Armstrong, Karen (2000). Islam: A Short History. p. 11. ISBN 0-8129-6618-X.
  4. [4]
    Jordan 2014, p. 16.
  5. [5]
    Jordan 2014, p. 20.
  6. [6]
    Jordan 2014, p. 37.
  7. [7]
    al-Kalbi 1952, p. 37.
  8. [8]
    al-Kalbi 1952, p. 35.
  9. [9]
    Jordan 2014, p. 26.
  10. [10]
    Jordan 2014, p. 1.
  11. [11]
    Teixidor 1979, p. 81.
  12. [12]
    Hoyland 2002, p. 134.
  13. [13]
    Gardet, L. (2012-04-24). "Allāh". Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0047. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
  14. [14]
    Lurker 2015, p. 56.
  15. [15]
    Jordan 2014, p. 47.
  16. [16]
    Jordan 2014, p. 72.
  17. [17]
    al-Kalbi 1952, p. 32.
  18. [18]
    al-Kalbi 1952, p. 51.
  19. [19]
    Lecker, Michael, "Idol Worship in Pre-Islamic Medina (Yathrib)", in Peters 2017, pp. 130
  20. [20]
    Peters 1994, p. 109.
  21. [21]
    Hoyland 2002, p. 40.
  22. [22]
    Cook, A. B. (21 October 2010). Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion. ISBN 9781108021234.
  23. [23]
    Coulter & Turner 2013, p. 305.
  24. [24]
    al-Kalbi 1952, p. 10.
  25. [25]
    John F. Healey, Venetia Porter. Studies on Arabia in Honour of G. Rex Smith. Oxford University Press. p. 93
  26. [26]
    Jordan 2014, p. 260.
  27. [27]
    Teixidor 2015, p. 90.
  28. [28]
    J. F. Breton (Trans. Albert LaFarge), Arabia Felix From The Time Of The Queen Of Sheba, Eighth Century B.C. To First Century A.D., 1998, University of Notre Dame Press: Notre Dame (IN), pp. 119-120.
  29. [29]
    Julian Baldick (1998). Black God. Syracuse University Press. p. 20. ISBN 0815605226.
  30. [30]
    Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, 1999 - 1181 páginas
  31. [31]
    J. Ryckmans, "South Arabia, Religion Of", in D. N. Freedman (Editor-in-Chief), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992, Volume 6, op. cit., p. 172
  32. [32]
    al-Kalbi 1952, p. 42.
  33. [33]
    al-Kalbi 1952, p. 54.

Sources

  • Becking, Bob; Horst, Pieter Willem van der (1999), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 9780802824912
  • Coulter, Charles Russel; Turner, Patricia (2013), Encyclopaedia of Ancient Deities, Routledge, ISBN 978-1135963903
  • Hitti, Phillip K. (2002), History of The Arabs (Revised ed.), Macmillan International Higher Education, ISBN 9781137039828
  • Hoyland, Robert G. (2002), Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam, Routledge, ISBN 1134646348
  • Jordan, Michael (2014), Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Infobase Publishing, ISBN 978-1438109855
  • al-Kalbi, Ibn (1952), Book of Idols, Being a Translation from the Arabic of the Kitāb al-Asnām (Translation and Commentary by Nabih Amin Faris), Princeton University Press
  • Lurker, Manfred (2015), A Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons, Routledge, ISBN 9781136106200
  • McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (2005), Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān, vol. 5, Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-12356-4
  • Peters, Francis E. (2017), The Arabs and Arabia on the Eve of Islam, Routledge, ISBN 9781351894791
  • Peters, Francis E. (1994), Muhammad and the Origins of Islam, SUNY Press, ISBN 9780791418758
  • Teixidor, Javier (2015) [1977], The Pagan God: Popular Religion in the Greco-Roman Near East, Princeton University Press, ISBN 9781400871391
  • Teixidor, Javier (1979), The Pantheon of Palmyra, Brill Archive, ISBN 9004059873
  • Trombley, Frank R. (1993), Hellenic Religion and Christianization: C. 370-529, BRILL, ISBN 9789004096240
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