These events could have been used to mark times of worship and, most important, to control a calendar, and certainly convert the city of Petra, “a place of awe-inspiring crystallization of natural beauty and the unique artistic creation of the Nabataean will” into “a gift from their gods, shaped by the supernatural and holding a holy meaning”

undoubtedly points towards the importance of astral elements in Nabataean religion.

Light and shadow effects

reinforcing the astral character of the religion and showing that the equinox and perhaps the solstices were important for their time-keeping.

The last surviving inscription in the Nabataean language dates from 356 A.D., a quarter of a millennium earlier than the arrival of Islam but the Nabataean divinities were certainly worshiped in the region; the sanctuary of Al Uzza at Wadi Hurad was destroyed by Khalid Ibn al Walid at the commandment of Mohammed immediately after the capture of Mekka.

This histogram is similar to the one discovered for neighbouring cultures with a strong astral component in their religion, such as ancient Egypt [Belmonte, Shaltout and Fekri 2009] and shows a series of significant peaks. Significance is estimated by the following procedure.

The data sample includes 92% of the temples known, including those in Petra and in other Nabataean settlements of the kingdom such as el Qsar, Dhat Ras, Tannur, Dharih or Wadi Ramm (fig. 2). In Petra, data includes temples plus the majority (~80%) of the accessible highplaces (open-air altars carved on the rock in the top of cliffs and conspicuous mountains), including the best known at Djebel Madbah (fig. 2a), and a few of the most representative monuments excavated and sculpted in the sandstone walls. Although the number of rock-cut chambers present in the last census of the city is quite high [Lehme 2003] not all of them had a marked religious character. Our intention was selecting those architecturally significant for which a religious character behind its mortuary use has been definitely proven such as Ad Deir or Monastery, the Urn Tomb (fig. 2c) or the most controversial of them, Al Khazna or Treasury (fig. 3d) [Stewart

archaeological confirmation of suspected astronomical activities by the Nabataeans relating to religious practice

tatistical analysis of orientations

Dushara has sometimes been identified with the Greek gods Zeus, Dionysus or Ares, although the latter is a less common association.

his name is never found, whilst many inscriptions in Nabataean script have been found mentioning the goddess Al Uzza. Her name means “the Most Powerful” and she was the personification of the evening star, the planet Venus, identified with the Greek Aphrodite and the Cananaean Astarte, and also with the Egyptian goddess Isis.

the main goddess was Allat, meaning simply “the Goddess”. With a hypothetical solar character (since Sams, the sun, was a female divinity in pre-Islamic Arabia), she has been identified with Athena or Atargatis

Archaeological evidence suggests that he was a deity related to the cult of the deceased.

“He of Shara”, Shara being the mountain range to the east of Petra

he principal male divinity was the god Dushara or Dushares, very probably an astral god with a hypothetical lunar or solar character.

mixture of elements from pre-Islamic Arabs with Hellenistic, Egyptian and other Middle Eastern influences

the Nabataeans, a people of presumably Arab lineage, developed a singular and sophisticated culture in the harsh lands of Arabia Petraea (to the southeast of Palestine and Syria in antiquity) at the frontiers of the Hellenistic world

This was the capital of their kingdom for generations and represented the high point of their civilization, although the Nabataean genius was also present in many other sacred buildings scattered across their lands

light and shadow effects, perhaps connected with the bulk of Nabataean mythology,

possibly a trace of the astral nature of the Nabataean religion.

same literal meaning but diff er in socialmeaning