Before Allah, Al-’Uzza
The Chicago Tribune reports on a traveling exhibit (currently in Michigan) focusing on the lost city of Petra (home to the Nabataens) in what is now Southern Jordan. I found the section on the pre-Christian/Muslim religions in the area very informative.
“As archaeological and written evidence reveals, it drew upon the religious traditions of many surrounding regions?north Arabia, Edom, Syria and Egypt. All were strongly influenced by the Greeks, whose cultural presence dominated the eastern Mediterranean. State religion centered on the worship of two deities, a supreme god and goddess. At Petra, they were called Dushara and al-’Uzza, while in other parts of Nabataea they were known by different names but shared the same general characteristics. Dushara was the universal god of Heaven, equated with the Greek god Zeus. Al-’Uzza was the goddess of abundance and fertility, later identified with the Greco-Roman deity Aphrodite/Venus…Much about Nabataean religion remains unknown, yet what is clear is its enduring strength; it persisted for centuries after the advent of Christianity.”
A Venus/al-’Uzza bust from Petra
I like learning more about the Pagan past of the Middle-East, often tagged the “cradle of monotheism”. We often over-emphasize the Pagan past of Europe or Egypt and forget that the majority of religious expression was at one point “Pagan” by todays standards. Michael York argues that paganism is the “root-religion” that all other faiths offshoot or counter-develop from. That to really understand the prominent faiths of today, we must examine where they truly came from. As modern Pagans it is important that we are ever aware of our theological heritage and history.
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