Pre-Islamic Deities & Mythology

[Lux et Umbra]

I've come across some sites talking about Pre-Islamic deities which I thought was interesting. I'm not posting this with the intent to cause any drama or anything!

Al-Uzza ("The Most Mighty") is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, the virgin warrior and youngest in the triad of goddesses with Menat ("Time", the Death or Fate goddess, sometimes--I think erroneously--called the Goddess of the Full Moon, since the Moon in Arabia was masculine) and Al Lat (whose name means "The Goddess", as Al Lah means "The God"). They survived (a bit) even into Islam, where they are called in the Koran the three daughters of Allah. The three were worshipped as uncut aniconic stones, and the "idols" of Al-Uzza and Al Lat were two of the 300+ pagan statues at the Ka'aba that were destroyed by Mohammed. She is a star-goddess, associated with the planet Venus, and was honored by the Korei****es (incidentally Mohammed's tribe) as one of their highest goddesses. She was reputed to accept human sacrifices, though that comes from Islamic sources, who likely were not unbiased when writing about the "barbarous ways" of the competition.

Originally Sabean (the culture of the Kingdom of Saba or Sheba in the south of Arabia, present-day Yemen), worship of Al-Uzza spread all over Arabia. She had a sanctuary in a valley on the road from Mecca, comprising three acacia trees in which She was said to descend. Some scholars believe She may even have been the patron deity of Mecca itself.
The Greeks connected Her with their Urania ("The Heavenly", an epithet of Aphrodite, as well as the name of a Muse) and with Caelistis, a Moon Goddess and the Roman name for the Carthaginian's Tanit. Al-Uzza is also sometimes identified with Isis. Other sources link Her with Minerva/Athene which would make Her the virgin warrior goddess. Herodotus says the supreme goddess of the Arabs was Urania, who he says was called Alilat (i.e., Al Lat), and indeed Al-Uzza was sometimes confused with Al Lat, leading some scholars to wonder if Al Lat and Al-Uzza are different regional names for the same goddess.
Al-Uzza is a member of the Nabatean zodiac and has been called the Mistress of Heaven. She seems to be the premier goddess worshipped in their capital city, the famous Petra, located in present-day Jordan. Petra was a major stop on the spice roads and was a very wealthy city. The tombs or temples there are carved out of the living rock, and the only way into the city is through a dramatic tunnel-like narrow gorge, nearly a mile long, that suddenly opens on to the city. (If this sounds familiar, it's because Petra was used as one of the locations in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".)
Al-Uzza is also the goddess who guards ships on ocean voyages. Though Arabia is a land of deserts and nomads, the Nabateans did make ocean voyages to trade. In this aspect She is symbolized by the dolphin, whose habit of swimming alongside ships made them guardians and protectors. Felines are also sacred to Her, and the Temple of the Winged Lions at Petra may well be Hers.
Al-Uzza represents confidence, vigilance and preparation. She is fiercely protective, and is a strong ally in an approaching battle.
Alternate spelling: Al Uzza, al-'Uzza, El-'Ozza, Uzza, Izza.
Also called: Sa'ida 'Uzza ("Blessed Uzza"), as-S'ida ("The Blessed")
​

The Goddesses Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Menat formed a triad in pre-Islamic Arabia. They were widely worshipped: from Nabatean Petra in the North to the legendary Kingdoms of Arabia Felix in the South, including Saba, the Biblical Sheba; as far east as Iran and Palmyra; and the three of them were very popular Goddesses in Mecca at the time of Mohammed. From left they are: Al-Uzza, whose name means "The Mighty One", the Goddess of the Morning Star; Al-Lat, the Mother, whose name means simply "The Goddess", as Al-Lah simply means "The God"; and Manat, Crone-goddess of Fate or Time. Sometimes the three of them are referred to as the daughters of Al-Lah; sometimes Manat and Al-Lat are considered daughters of Al-Uzza.
Al-Uzza, "the Strong One", was one of the most venerated Arab Deities, and the Goddess of the morning and evening star, Venus. She had a temple at Petra (though which one that was has not been determined), and may well have been the patron Goddess of that city. Isaac of Antioch (a writer of the 5th century CE) calls Her Beltis ("Lady", a title shared by many other Semitic Goddesses), and Kaukabta, "the Star". He also says that women would invoke Al-Uzza from the rooftops, a form of worship appropriate to a Star Goddess. St. Epiphanius of the 4th century CE calls Her the mother of Dusares, the local mountain God, calling Her by the title Chaamu or Chalmous, meaning "young girl or virgin". She has connections with the acacia tree, and Her sanctuary at Nakhlah had three acacias in which She was believed to descend. She has much in common with Ishtar and Astarte as Morning and Evening Star Goddesses—they all have aspects of both Love and War Goddess, and big cats were sacred to Them. She is shown here armed as a bellatrix, standing before an acacia tree, with a caracal, or desert lynx. She was associated by the Greeks with their Aphrodite Urania, "Heavenly Aphrodite".
Al-Lat, whose name is a contraction of al-Illahat, "the Goddess", is mentioned by Herodotus as Alilat, whom he identifies with Aphrodite. She is sometimes also equated with Athene, and is called "the Mother of the Gods", or "Greatest of All". She is a Goddess of Springtime and Fertility, the Earth-Goddess who brings prosperity. She and Al-Uzza were sometimes confused, and it seems that as one gained in popularity in one area the other's popularity diminished. The sun in Arabia was called Shams and considered feminine, and may represent an aspect of Al-Lat. She had a sanctuary in the town of Ta'if, east of Mecca, and was known from Arabia to Iran. Her symbol is the crescent moon (sometimes shown with the sun disk resting in its crescent), and the gold necklace She wears is from a pendant identified to Her. As a Fertility-Goddess She bears a sheaf of wheat; and in Her hand She holds a small lump of frankincense, as Her emblem is found carved on many incense-holders.
Manat or Manawayat derives Her name from Arabic maniya, "fate, destruction, doom, death", or menata, "part, portion, that which is alloted". She is a very ancient Deity and Her cult may precede both Al-Uzza's and Al-Lat's. Her cult was widespread, though She was particularly worshipped as a black stone at Quidaid, near Mecca. She is connected with the great pilgrimage, as Her sanctuary was the starting point for several tribes. She is known from Nabatean inscriptions, and tombs were placed under Her protection, asking Her to curse violators. She is accordingly a Goddess of Death, and Maniya (Death personified) is mentioned in poetry as actively bringing a person to his or her grave, holding out the cup of death. She is shown as an old woman with a cup, and the symbols at the bottom of Her gown spell Her name in Sabaic (which does not use vowels and is written right to left), M-n-t. The waning moon is shown over Her head as the symbol of the Crone-Goddess of Death.

Both are from this site.

There's also:
Pre-Islamic Arabic Culture
Pre-Islamic Paganism
Allat, Manat, and al-Uzza
Allat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Uzza - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Manah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia​

 

[Surya Deva]

This is very interesting, thanks for posting it. I have recently started reading something on the Pre-Islamic deities of Arabia. I noticed in the article that the Greeks associated their deities with the Arabic ones, although I am not entirely sure if if was just based on perceived similarities, or whether they geneologically related.
However, interestingly the Indians also lay claim on the Arabic deities, that too genelogically. I have only become recently aware of this, but I thought I would share this here.

The Indians claim that the deities Uzza is their deity Uurja; Al-Ila/Ilah is their Ila and Manat is their Somanat. I suppose their right to claim these deities is as valid as the Greek one, although the evidence does seem to be favour the Indian claims. That is

1) Uzza and Uurja are phonetically similar mean the same thing: the deity of power
2) Ilah and Ila are virtually identical phonetically and both ilah and Ila refer to a deity. Ila in the Indian pantheon is the fertility and earth goddess
3) Manat and Somanat are phonetically similar, mean the same thing: moon god; both have the functions of death, destruction and fate associated with them and both have as their idol a black stone
4) The Arabic rituals are similar to Hindu rituals
5) There are actually Arabic-Persian records that connect the Arabic deities to Hindu deities
6) There is strong evidence that India and Persia exchanged and traded culture and commodities.
7) There is evidence that parts of Arabia may have been under Indian occupation, due to the prevalence of Sanskrit place names.

It would be really fascinating to explore this further. It would certainly cause us to rewrite ancient history.

 

[hindupridemn]

Maybe they are similar because they are the same avatar of the panentheistic/henotheistic God.

 

[lastsplash00]

"The Goddesses Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Menat formed a triad in pre-Islamic Arabia. They were widely worshipped: from Nabatean Petra in the North to the legendary Kingdoms of Arabia Felix in the South, including Saba, the Biblical Sheba; as far east as Iran and Palmyra"

To my knowledge I don't think they were originally worshiped in Saba/South Arabia or Iran. They seem to be exclusively North-Central Arabian.

 

[nikola32]

great post thanks

 

[mimpibird39]

Al-lat, Al-Uzza and Manat were not really triple goddesses in the Wiccan sense of the Maiden-Mother-Crone. I love the Thalia Took site but the information on those three goddesses is a little off in that respect. Also, Al-lat might have been the wife off Al-lah instead of his daughter. I've seen her called both - either his wife or daughter before.

Here are some more good blogs:
Wathanism
Al-Muqaddas