Alilat West Asia
The Arabian mother goddess, a deity under considerable Assyrio-Babylonian influence. At Petra, the capital of the Nabataean kingdom, the cult turned upon worship of Dusura, her dying son. He was either a mountain god or an astral deity; statues portray him as genius of the vine. An Arabic historian records that the Nabataeans revered a four-sided stone, known as Allat or Alilat. Veneration of stones and pillars was a feature of the nomadic peoples of West Asia. The Hebrews were attracted to rocks as natural altars during their wanderings in the desert, while the ascetic movement in ...