Animals in Arabian and Near Eastern Religion and Art - lemm.ee
Horse: Horses were renowned for their strength and capabilities in travel,
hunting and warfare. Cavalry commanders in Nabataea even held high positions in
society. Horses were tamed in North Arabia during the mid-first millennium BC at
the latest. Ammianus Marcellinus (c.330–395) tells us that the Saracens ranged
“widely with the help of swift horses and slender camels in times of peace or of
disorder” which shows that horses were a normal mount for both the nomadic and
settled peoples of the region. Rock art of horses and horsemen are found all
over Harrat Ash-Sham and the Arabian peninsula. They are one of the most
frequent subjects of these rock drawings, and are shown by themselves and in
scenes of hunting, raiding and fighting. Horses were used to hunt lions (often
with the aid of archers on foot), oryx, ibex, gazelle and sometimes onager and
ostrich. Onager hunts were mostly done on foot and sometimes ostrich were hunted
with bows on camelback. Hunting and raiding on horseback was often done with a
long flexible lance but short throwing spears were also used. Swords and bows
were mostly used on foot. Horse figurines outnumber all other animals in Petra.
Some figurines include mounted riders but its unclear if they’re meant to be
deities or human warriors. On the façade of Al-Khazneh we have two Dioskuroi,
sons of Zeus, linked to Gemini. The Diosckuroi and the terracotta figurines
might be alluding to Syrian mounted deities such as ‘Azizu, Arsu, Ma’an or
Abgal. Its interesting to note that these deities are sometimes referred to as
gny’ (jinn) while the horse is said to descend from a jinn. Jinn often take the
form of horses in folklore. Unridden horse figurines were used as votive
offerings when asking for the security, growth and health of the flock. These
figurines could replace the sacrifice of living animals or represented an animal
that was left to pasture and die a natural death, which is a practice attested
in Muslim sources on pre-Islamic Arabia. Horse figurines could also be deposited
in burials to symbolically transport the dead through the afterlife. Camel: The
life of a camel-herder and that of his family depended on the camel. The camel’s
milk and occasionally meat, feeds them. Its hair clothes them, gives them
shelter, and camel dung fuels their campfires. For merchants, camel caravans
brought them great wealth. Because of the value and cultural importance of the
camel we have many depictions of the animal in the form of sculptures, coins,
reliefs, rock art and figurines. Wild camels were hunted while domesticated
camels were raided and sacrificed. Rock art, monumental carvings and votive
figurines of camels could be dedicated to deities. In Egypt the camel is
associated with Seth who was banished to the desert after the conflict with His
brother Osiris for the throne. The camel was viewed as an impure animal and its
blood was used in malignant magic. This negative association did not exist in
Syro-Arabia where deities were often depicted riding camels. An inscription from
Dura-Europos refers to Arsu as rsw wmty “Arsu the camel-rider.” Many of the
reliefs in Palmyra that represent armed deities depict them as pairs, the
horseman representing a military escort and the camel-rider representing a
traveler. Camels were used during ceremonial processions where the animal would
transport the image or sacred stone of a deity to a temple or between temples.
This is depicted in Palmyra’s Temple of Allat where four veiled women walk
behind a camel. The camel carries a small round tent reminiscent of the
Islamicate mihmal, a passenger-less litter carried on a camel among caravans of
pilgrims to hajj. This tent is called a qubba, a portable shrine used to carry
holy objects. Today the term is applied to the domed tombs of saints. In front
of the camel is a unattended donkey who guides the procession of the camel. Its
possible that the donkey acted as a medium that identified where the temple
should be built similar to the fable in which Mohammad’s camel Qaswa decided the
location of his home which would later become a mosque. Only 50 years ago, the
Bedouin of the Sinai and Negeb were still using a howdaj, a curtained
acacia-wood frame similar to the qubba, mounted on a very special camel, which
was lined with ostrich feathers and housed a chunk of meteorite believed to
possess supernatural qualities. The meteorite lead them to good pasture and was
taken on raids. In Hatra’s Temple of Allat the Goddess is represented riding on
a camel alluding to a procession in which Allat was introduced to the city. Both
in Hatra and Palmyra the camel represents Allat’s nomadic roots and in both
cities the camel has a wasm tribal mark which indicates that the camel was
dedicated to the Goddess. Islamic-period sources describe a burial practice
called the baliyyah. This practice involves hamstringing a camel at the grave of
its owner to provide a mount in the afterlife. An excavated baliyyah from Wadi
Ramm contained a buried camel. A terracotta figurine could have been used in
place of a live camel since they and figurines of horses were placed in
Nabataean tombs. Ibex: The most popular animal in Neolithic Near Eastern art is
the ibex. Its easy to identify the crescent moon rising out of the mountains in
the east and then setting in the mountains of the west with the ibex who lives
in these mountains, symbolically carrying the moon on his head. The moon’s
cycles understood as symbolizing life, death and rebirth, paralleling the cycle
of the soul. Millenia later the ibex was sacred to the Mesopotamian Tammuz and
South Arabian Athtar. It was depicted on ritual furniture by both cultures. In
South Arabia the ibex was the victim of a rain-making hunt practiced well after
Islam. The connection between the ibex and rainfall is confirmed in Sabaean
inscriptions where Athtar withheld the rains because the ibex hunt wasn’t done
properly. Rock art near the Jordan-Saudi Arabian border and Negeb show an
absolute obsession with the animal. At Jabal Ideid rock art depicts a man who
touches the horns of an ibex with pole while a woman gives birth with upraised
arms in prayer. The relationship between the ibex, fertility and life is
explicit here. Other scenes depict people touching the horns of an ibex either
with bare hands or with a pole. Some rock art depicts dogs attacking or chasing
ibexes. Sometimes men are hunting the ibex with bows. This must’ve been an
initiatory ritual hunt as the ibex was not a major food source. In some
instances the ibex is saved rather than hunted, with the hunter shooting the
dog. Parallel motifs can be found across the Near East. Since the dog is usually
seen killing the ibex we can associate the dog with death and the underworld,
similar to Anubis or Cerberus. One example of rock art parallels a seal with
Tammuz being mirrored by another version of Himself that is upside-down. Beside
Him an ibex is being attacked by a dog. The rock art also depicts an ibex that
is mirrored by another upside-down ibex with a line separating the two,
indicating that the upside-down ibex is in the underworld. The ibex sometimes
occurs with a star, a cross, a dot, or the sun alluding astral associations. The
most common type of horned animal depicted in Nabataean terracotta figurines is
the ibex. Ibex horns show up as part of pottery vessels and vessels molded in
the shape of ram or sheep bodies show up well. At Jabal Serbal a pair of copper
ibex horns once part of a statue were placed on an altar. Its clear that ibex
iconography was key in certain Nabataean rituals. The ibex could represent the
main aspect of Dushara as a mountain God of storms and fertility. In the
Greco-Roman period the animal was sacred to Dionysus, who was syncretized with
Dushara. Dionysus also has dying and rising qualities like Tammuz. Gazelle and
Deer: The gazelle represents the wilderness, the untamed land. On tablet I of
the Gilgamesh epic, Enkidu, the untamed savage, is characterized as a companion
of the gazelles. Gazelle representations are rare in Mesopotamian art, deer are
far more common. Often scenes portray a lion attacking a deer. Abundance and
fertility appear simultaneously with death and demise. In the Greco-Roman period
both Temple XI at Hatra and the Temple of Heracles at Masjid-i Solaiman yielded
gazelle-pendants. They may reference the famous episode of Heracles’ chase of
the Ceryneian hind or the stag of Artemis. At Hatra and Dura-Europos, the
gazelle is frequently represented in hunting scenes, mainly in graffiti or
paintings. Unlike the ibex, the gazelle was often eaten. In Allat’s temple at
Palmyra a monumental figure of a lion with a gazelle sitting peacefully between
its paws is displayed indicating that the shedding of blood in the precinct was
forbidden. Two hand-made heads of a deer or a gazelle were found in Petra,
probably handles of pottery. Eagle: In the myth of Etana an eagle breaks an oath
of mutual aid with a snake and devours the snake’s young. When the snake comes
back he prays to Shamash who instructs him to hide in a bull’s carcass that will
be feasted on by the eagle. When the eagle arrives to feast on the carcass the
snake attacks the eagle and throws him into a pit to starve. The wounded eagle
prays to Shamash for help and so the God sends Etana who saves the eagle and
nurses him back to health. In return Etana gets taken up through the seven
heavens on the back of the eagle and finally meets with a Ishtar to get the
plant of birth. In the Nabataean temple of Khirbet Et-Tannur a sculpture of an
eagle with a snake was set up. The sculpture might represent disharmony or
duality. In the myth of Etana the eagle lives on top of a tree, while the snake
is at the bottom, the eagle flies, the snake crawls. In earlier versions the
snake hunts but only the eagle eats. The eagle and snake also symbolize heaven
and earth, or water, respectively. It may have also been an apotropaic symbol. A
solitary eagle was carved on the façade of Petra’s treasury and atop a sculpture
of a Goddess (possibly a personification of the spring) in Khirbet Et-Tannur.
The eagle was frequently carved on the doorways of tombs at Hegra, possibly
representing Dushara as Lord of Heaven and protector of tombs. Ba’al Shamin’s
temple at Si’, a popular pilgrimage destination for Safaitic nomads, had an
eagle carved above the entrance. The association between supreme weather Gods
and eagles is not surprising given the fact that rain clouds and thunderstorms
gather around mountains which were considered to be the home of the Gods. Allat
is also associated with eagles in both Hatra and Palmyra. The eagles atop tomb
entrances could also represent the soul’s flight from the body. Folklore and
Muslim sources tell us that ancient Arabs believed the soul would leave the body
in the form of a bird. This is usually an owl but sometimes an eagle. This
alludes to the eagle’s role as psychopompos, a guide of the souls to heaven. The
Roman emperors made their apotheosis in the same way, on the back of an eagle
like Etana or Ganymede, and an eagle was released from the pyre of important
funerals, symbolizing the ascent of the soul. In ancient Egypt small statuettes
in the form of a bird, often a falcon, with human heads represented the ba
(soul) of the deceased. Snake: The earliest dated sculpture in Petra is the
Snake Monument dated to the late 2nd century BC. Its a high rock-cut cube
crowned with a snake, likely a python. The snake was an apotropaic symbol. We
have found votive reliefs with an upraised snake and snake representations on
Nabataean tombs in Petra and Hegra. At Bab as-Siq in Petra two reliefs were
carved on the wall. One is a horse or mule carrying a baetyl and to it’s right
are two snakes with a quadruped between their heads. The left snake prevents the
animal from escaping while the right snake is trying to pull the animal
backwards to devour it. The quadruped is likely a dog or a jackal representing
death being devoured by the snake signifying immortality. The snake is
associated with immortality in the Epic of Gilgamesh where it eats the plant of
life. Snakes’ annual shedding of their skin rendered them a symbol of
regeneration and everlasting life like the phoenix. Hence the snake was
associated with healing deities such as Asclepius, Eshmun, Shadrafa and Hauron.
Hauron, once co-ruler with El, was punished for rebelling against Him. But when
He repented, Hauron was reprieved and banished from the mountainous abode of the
Gods. Before leaving the mountain, Hauron took revenge by destroying the Tree of
Life and transforming into a huge poisonous serpent, pouring His deadly spittle
over its life-giving fruit, turning the Tree of Life into a Tree of Death, and
enveloping the world in a poisonous fog. As a result the Gods lost Their
immortality and so They decided to send one of Them, named Adammu, down to save
the world. Hauron had hidden himself in the Tree of Life and was too fast for
Adammu to escape His deadly bite. Adammu tries to free Himself from the teeth of
the serpent, but fails. He doesn’t know how “to bind the Biter" and how to
conquer the poison. The venom starts to paralyze Adammu and so He invokes eleven
Gods with a plea to subdue the serpent by binding and feeding it, presumably
with a leaf from the Tree of Life. As in Mesopotamia, the serpent is an
adversary to the divine order. However, when none of the eleven Gods answer, a
twelfth is prayed to, Hauron. He gives in and uproots and trims the Tree of
Death, thus making life possible again. The remedy against the serpent’s venom
is the homeopathic principle of like cures like. A statue found in the Hauran,
the volcanic desert east of Damascus, depicts Hauron as the divine physician
Aesculapius, feeding a leaf to the serpent encircling His staff. To protect the
new life on earth, Hauron engenders the Kotharat, seven divine midwives who
protect and help pregnant women. It is interesting to note that so far two
sculptures of Aesculapius have been uncovered in Petra. Lion: The lion occupies
a predominant place in the iconography of the ancient world. Its in all
manifestations of the Zodiac as Leo, which is why the lion corresponds to the
heat of the summer in Greco-Egyptian magic. Towards the end of winter Leo is
directly overhead, displaying its maximum power as it “kills” Taurus, the Bull,
which is trying to “escape” below the horizon. Taurus then disappears in the
Sun’s rays for forty days and then reappears announcing the Spring equinox.
Egyptian myths represent the lion as a symbol of power, courage and revenge. The
Egyptian Goddesses Sekhmet and Menhit are depicted with the heads of lions. In
Palmyra, Allat’s temple displayed a monumental figure of a lion with a gazelle
sitting peacefully between its paws, indicating that the shedding of blood in
the precinct was forbidden. Inside the temple Allat was depicted in civilian
dress enthroned next to two lions looking very much like Atargatis. However,
Allat lacks a male consort such as Hadad, the mural crown, the spindle, kestos,
or rays around Her head as seen in depictions of Atargatis. It is far from
certain that the lion iconography was borrowed from Atargatis. Allat’s
association with lions is at least as old as the association of lions with
Atargatis and countless other Near Eastern Goddesses were also linked to lions
such as Anat, Astarte, Qedeshet, Ishtar and Nanaia. Allat’s iconography could
have been borrowed from any of them, if it was borrowed at all. Allat’s
association with lions dates back to at least the first century and is attested
in a region that stretches from the Hauran to Mesopotamia. Throughout this
region lions are associated with Allat both in the form of Athena and in
civilian dress. Sometimes they flank the Goddess’s throne like in Her temple in
Palmyra, but in other representations Allat is shown sitting on the back of a
lion, standing on a lion, or riding a chariot drawn by lions. The lion seems to
embody or represent Her. Hence we can understand the lion of Allat monument as
Allat Herself protecting the gazelle and ensuring that the sanctuary is not
defiled by blood. In the vision of the temple guardian Eusebius he sees a
flaming meteorite crash down accompanied by a gigantic lion coming down from a
mountain near Emesa where Allat had a sanctuary. Its clear that the lion
represents a fundamental aspect of Allat’s personality. In Petra lions are
carved along several procession ways leading to high places and temples. One of
these temples is a major Nabataean sanctuary called the “Temple of the Winged
Lions.” Its columns were decorated with winged lion capitals. Winged lions show
up on a mural at Siq el-Barid near Petra which depicts a winged Eros harnessing
two winged lions. Dolphin: The dolphin was one of the major religious symbols of
the Nabataeans. Even those living inland would have been familiar with dolphins
as Tyrian and Sinope coins struck with dolphins were in circulation for
centuries. And indeed dolphin motifs are found in places far removed from the
site or smell of the sea. They were placed on altars and carved in temples such
as Khirbet Et-Tannur and Khirbet Brak. Dolphin tails and dolphin heads appear on
facades. In the temple of Allat at Wadi Ramm we’ve found a bronze dolphin tail
that was once the handle of a ritual implement. Atargatis and Aphrodite (who
were synonymous according to Lucian) are both associated with dolphins.
Aphrodite was also linked to the sea in general, and Her form Aphrodite
Anadyomene (emerging from the sea) was incredibly popular in Syria and Nabataea.
Dolphins are found on Phoenician and Jewish sarcophagi and in Petra dolphins and
tragic masks representing death are often paired. The animal was considered to
be the harbinger of fair weather, successful enterprise, and safe journeys both
in this life and the next. Conclusion: Its helpful to look at figurines and
reliefs of animals as a source of information to illustrate the religious
attitudes and beliefs of the ancient Arabs and their neighbors. They act as
religious tools to perceive the divine world. Certain animals were associated
with certain deities, such as Aphrodite with the dove or Allat with the lion.
Figurines also act as votive offerings as an expression of thanks for all the
good things one receives each day. These are typically given at a shrine or
altar before statues or baetyls. They are tokens of respect to supreme beings,
and a way of acting and communicating with the Gods, and of keeping in contact
with Them. The Gods are the source of all that is good. Anyone wishing to draw
closer to the Gods should establish an altar with iconography that can include
animal motifs. Historically votive figurines of animals, in particular horses
and camels, were mass produced. They may have been connected with the hope for
security, growth and health of the flock. Placed on an altar, or elsewhere
prominently displayed, they acted as a legitimate substitution for animal
sacrifice, or indicated that a living animal was allowed to pasture in the
pastureland of the God and die a natural death. Sacred animals were also symbols
of Gods or their manifestations. Animal bodies and parts could be depicted on
ritual vessels such as incense burners, libation bowls and offering dishes. Most
of terracotta figurines were found in houses giving us a real tangible view of
Nabataean household worship. The following is a list of animals depicted on
reliefs, terracotta figurines and zoomorphic vessels from Petra as well as their
associations: * Horses: Strength, travel, hunting, warfare, Gemini, mounted
deities * Camels: Wealth, travel, the desert, wayfinding, nomadism, Allat *
Ibex: Moon, life, death, rebirth, reincarnation, Rudhaw, Dushara * Gazelle:
Wilderness, spring, abundance, fertility, innocence, Allat * Dove: Atargatis,
Aphrodite, Mother Goddesses, Allat(?), Al-'Uzza(?) * Eagle: Ascent, the heavens,
rain, sun, Dushara, Ba’al Shamin, Allat * Snake: Health, immortality, healing,
rebellion, medicine, healing deities * Lion: Leo, summer, kingship, power,
courage, revenge, Allat, Al-'Uzza * Dolphin: Safe travel, fair weather, wealth,
Allat, Atargatis * Monkey: Apotropaic symbol, wards off evil spirits References
and Further Reading: * The Horse in Arabia and the Arabian Horse: Origins, Myths
and Realities
[https://www.academia.edu/66492033/The_Horse_in_Arabia_and_the_Arabian_Horse_Origins_Myths_and_Realities]
* Hunting, Fighting, and Raiding. The Horse in Pre-Islamic Arabia
[https://www.academia.edu/9705432/Hunting_Fighting_and_Raiding_The_Horse_in_Pre_Islamic_Arabia]
* Fortune and Misfortune of the Eagle in the Myth of Etana
[https://www.academia.edu/12273465/Fortune_and_Misfortune_of_the_Eagle_in_the_Myth_of_Etana]
* The Eagle as a Divine Symbol in the Ancient Mediterranean
[https://www.academia.edu/63772171/The_Eagle_as_a_Divine_Symbol_in_the_Ancient_Mediterranean]
* “The Camel as a Sethian Creature,” in Essays for the Library of Seshat
[https://www.academia.edu/37272610/_The_Camel_as_a_Sethian_Creature_in_Essays_for_the_Library_of_Seshat_Studies_Presented_to_Janet_H_Johnson_on_the_Occasion_of_Her_70th_Birthday_edited_by_Robert_K_Ritner_pp_41_52_Studies_in_Ancient_Oriental_Civilization_70_Chicago_The_Oriental_Institute_2017]
* Camels, Caravans and Deities: Representations of Camels in Palmyra and Hatra
as Proof of Caravan Trade
[https://www.academia.edu/45206391/Camels_Caravans_and_Deities_Representations_of_Camels_in_Palmyra_and_Hatra_as_Proof_of_Caravan_Trade_in_D_Alexander_ed_The_Camel_through_the_Ages_A_Compendium_dedicated_to_Dr_Abd_Al_Rahmam_Al_Tayyis_Al_Ansari_Vol_II_Riyad_2020_197_212]
* The Metaphor of the Lion in Mesopotamian and Greek Civilization
[https://www.academia.edu/11843553/Ulanowski_K_2015_The_Metaphor_of_the_Lion_in_Mesopotamian_and_Greek_Civilization_in_Mesopotamia_in_the_Ancient_World_Impact_Continuities_Parallels_Proceedings_of_the_Seventh_Symposium_of_the_Melammu_Project_eds_R_Rollinger_E_van_Dongen_Ugarit_Verlag_M%C3%BCnster_255_284]
* Representing and Naming the Gods. Iconography and Nomenclature of the Goddess
Allat in Palmyra and Hatra [https://journals.openedition.org/mythos/5538] * The
Ibex as an Iconographic Symbol in the ancient Near East
[https://www.academia.edu/15735124/The_Ibex_as_an_Iconographic_Symbol_in_the_ancient_Near_East]
* Ibex, crescent and swastika as symbols of a lunar god in the rock art of the
Ancient Near East and Central Asia
[https://www.academia.edu/32100881/Ibex_crescent_and_swastika_as_symbols_of_a_lunar_god_in_the_rock_art_of_the_Ancient_Near_East_and_Central_Asia]
* Symbolism of the ibex motif in Negev rock art
[https://www.academia.edu/31640584/Symbolism_of_the_ibex_motif_in_Negev_rock_art]
* A Gazelle Pendant from Hatra. A Comparative Analysis
[https://www.academia.edu/3754973/A_Gazelle_Pendant_from_Hatra_A_Comparative_Analysis]
* Snakes in Petra
[https://www.academia.edu/37336556/Snakes_in_Petra_in_G_A_Kiraz_Z_Al_Salameen_eds_From_Ugarit_to_Nabataea_Studies_in_Honor_of_John_F_Healey_Gorgias_Ugaritic_Studies_6_Piscataway_Gorgias_Press_2012_235_254_279_282]
* Religious Stories in Transformation: Conflict, Revision and Reception
[https://www.academia.edu/91388595/Religious_Stories_in_Transformation_Conflict_Revision_and_Reception]
* Approaches to Nabataean Religion - Sculpture and Religion by Robert Wenning
[https://publication.doa.gov.jo/uploads/publications/208/SHAJ_2019_13_-553-563.pdf]
* The Nabataean Terracotta Figurines by Lamia Salem El-Khouri
[https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Nabataean-terracotta-figurines-El-Khouri/c10956b22a6f541eadb6c15707a78b517f254b8d]
The Dead And The Decaying
يا ليتني كوري شمالي 
شاهد على إبادة