Roughly around 6th century CE and earlier Arabia was a hub of multiculturalism. Nomadic Bedouin tribes roamed the vast deserts, living off trade, herding, and occasional agriculture in oases.
Major trading hubs like Mecca and Medina thrived, fostering exchange of not only goods but also ideas and beliefs. Polytheistic in nature, Arabian religions worshipped numerous deities, often associated with natural phenomena or tribal histories.
Way before the advent of Islam, in the heart of Mecca, was situated a stone-made cubic-shaped structure, known as the Kaaba of Mecca that held a significant religious and cultural importance in the Arabian life.
The Kaaba or the ‘Cube’ served as a center for Arabian pagan worship, housing hundreds of idols representing various tribal gods and goddesses. These deities are praised in poetry for their power, protection and benevolence that had saved the Arabia. Pilgrims from across the Arabian Peninsula would journey to Mecca to perform rituals, circumambulating the Kaaba in a counterclockwise direction, and recite their declaration of submission for their Great Goddess, Al-Lat.
Al-Lat; the greatest of all. Her name literary translates to “The Goddess”.
Who was She?
Al-Lat, whose name also spelled “Allaht”, Allatu, and Alilat (Greeko-Roman), “Latan” and “Elat” was a prominent pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, whose worship reached as far as Syria. In the region of Mecca, Ta’if, and Thaqif tribes are recorded to believe her as the most important. Her popularity can be observed in the southern Arabia bordering Yemen, whereas poetry, stories and historical documents confirm her importance in the north and east Arabia. She is mentioned and invoked in many names. Her name, which means “the Goddess” or “the Lady,” denotes her significance as a divine figure in the polytheistic pantheon of pre-Islamic Arabia.
Al-Lat was mentioned as Alilat by the Greek historian Herodotus in his 5th-century BC book “Histories”, and she was considered the equivalent of Aphrodite.
Role as a deity
Al-Lat was revered as a fertility goddess, associated with the earth, agriculture, and feminine power. Her role as “The Mother” was not only confined in giving birth to life on earth, she was also “the Mother” of the universe.
She was also considered the Goddess of war, peace, combat, and prosperity.
Depiction
She was often depicted as a beautiful woman holding a sheaf of wheat or a crescent moon. She is always depicted with a lion. In some of her iconography she is holding a staff.
Her Symbol:
Some where she is a personification of the Sun, some where she is the Moon.
Her symbols are the sun disc cradled by the crescent moon and squared shaped crystals.
Her Abode:
The main sanctuary of Al-Lat was located near Ta’if, where an idol representing her stood, attracting pilgrims and worshippers from various tribes who sought her blessings for abundant crops and prosperity. Many of her temples were located across Arabia, its neighboring countries, even in the-then Persia and Syria. In Kabba, she was present with prominence as being one of the central deities.
Her Worship Rituals:
As a result of brutal destruction at the advent of Islam, not much can be found on how her devotees worshipped her. The little that we know reveals the Quraysh were to chant the following verses as they circumambulated the Kaaba
By al-Lat and al-‘Uzza,
And Manat, the third idol besides.
Verily they are the gharaniq
Whose intercession is to be sought. (Book of Idols)
She, along with Al-‘Uzza (the morning star) and Manat (the Goddess of Fate and time), formed a triad and her this form was situated in the-then Kaaba.
Appropriation :
Through time human society has changed; evolved, so has evolved its core values, thoughts and beliefs. Through the passage of time communities living in Arabia had become more and more male-dominated and new Gods started to emerge.
This created the need to associate Al-Lat with the Male Gods. People started to associate Al-Lat as the wife of “Allah” or “El”, also the daughter of “Allah”. She was also considered the wife of the lion she is often depicted. Further down the line she was also associated with two Gods “Dushara” and “Habul” as their mother. But there was some, who believed her to be the wife of “Dushara”.
To make “Allah” (The God) the most powerful, she was demoted as the daughter of him with two other sisters “Al-‘Uzza” and “Manat”, but “Manat” was married to “Habul”, which also made her the Mother-in-law of “Manat”.
In the event of rise of Islam, she was forced into inexistence. She was forgotten. Some of her variation were associated with evil.
Lately, she gained popularity as the Arabian Moon Goddess.
Al-Lat, the Goddess of love, fertility, child, agriculture as well as the divine source of power, trade, and wealth, although in her hay-days was the supreme Mother, only few are aware of her now. From Petra, Jordan to Damascus, Syria, all across Arabia, she, along with her lion, once revered as the divine mother of nourishment and protection, love and devotion, bestower of power and success. Till date her name echoed around in the air of the deserts.
