Dushara, Al-Uzza and the God Without a Face

Nabataean religion is known almost entirely from inscriptions, from coins and from the rock cut monuments themselves, because no Nabataean literature survives. John Healey's conspectus assembles what those sources allow. At the head stands Dushara, whose name means of the Shara and ties him to a mountain range, with Al-Uzza and Allat as the principal goddesses and Manat also attested.

The distinctive feature is aniconism. The god is represented by a betyl, a plain rectangular block set in a niche, sometimes with the barest indication of eyes and nose and often with nothing at all. Hundreds of these niches are cut into the rock along the approaches to Petra, so that the whole gorge is a processional way lined with them. Whether the practice reflects a doctrine about images or a regional convention is not settled, and figured Hellenistic images of the same deities appear later.

The high places, open air platforms cut on the ridges above the city with basins and channels, are the other principal installation. Funerary religion is prominent. The tomb facades carry inscriptions invoking Dushara against anyone who alters the burial, which makes the god a guarantor of contract as well as a recipient of offerings.