Nasr ( Arabic: نسر "Vulture") was apparently a pre-Islamic Arabian deity of the Himyarites. [1] Reliefs depicting vultures have been found in Himyar, including at Maṣna'at Māriya and Haddat Gulays, [2] and Nasr appears in theophoric names. [3] [4] Nasr has been identified by some scholars with Maren- Shamash, [3] [5] who is often flanked by vultures in depictions at Hatra. [6] Hisham ibn Al-Kalbi's Book of Idols describes a temple to Nasr at Balkha, an otherwise unknown location. [7] Some sources attribute the deity to "the dhū-l-Khila tribe of Himyar". [8] [9] [10] [11] Himyaritic inscriptions were thought to describe "the vulture of the east" and "the vulture of the west", which Augustus Henry Keane interpreted as solstitial worship; [12] however these are now thought to read "eastward" and "westward" with n-s-r as a preposition. [1] [a] J. Spencer Trimingham believed Nasr was "a symbol of the sun". [15]
Part of the myth series on |
Religions of the ancient Near East |
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Pre-Islamic Arabian deities |
Arabian deities of other Semitic origins |
Nasr is mentioned in the Qur'an (71:23) as an idol at the time of the Noah:
"وقالوا لا تذرن آلهتكم ولا تذرن ودا ولا سواعا ولا يغوث ويعوق ونسرا
And they say: Forsake not your gods, nor forsake Wadd, nor Suwāʿ, nor Yaghūth and Yaʿūq and Nasr."[ Quran 71:23
An Arabian vulture-god is mentioned by other ancient texts, including the Babylonian Talmud ( Avodah Zarah 11b):
Ḥanan b. Ḥisda says that Abba b. Aybo says, and some say it was Ḥanan b. Rava who said that Abba b. Aybo says, "There are five permanent idolatrous temples: the temple of Bel in Babylon, the temple of Nebo in Borsippa [b], the temple of Atargatis in Manbij, the temple of Serapis [c] in Ashkelon, and the temple of Nishra [d] in Arabia". [18]
And the Doctrine of Addai:
Who is this Nebo, an idol made which ye worship, and Bel, which ye honor? [e] Behold, there are those among you who adore Bath Nical, as the inhabitants of Harran your neighbours, and Atargatis, as the people of Manbij, and Nishra, [f] as the Arabians; also the sun and the moon, as the rest of the inhabitants of Harran, who are as yourselves. [20] [3]
A further mention is found in Jacob of Serugh's On the Fall of the Idols, wherein the Persians are said to have been led by the devil to construct and worship N-s-r. [3] [1]
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Nasr ( Arabic: نسر "Vulture") was apparently a pre-Islamic Arabian deity of the Himyarites. [1] Reliefs depicting vultures have been found in Himyar, including at Maṣna'at Māriya and Haddat Gulays, [2] and Nasr appears in theophoric names. [3] [4] Nasr has been identified by some scholars with Maren- Shamash, [3] [5] who is often flanked by vultures in depictions at Hatra. [6] Hisham ibn Al-Kalbi's Book of Idols describes a temple to Nasr at Balkha, an otherwise unknown location. [7] Some sources attribute the deity to "the dhū-l-Khila tribe of Himyar". [8] [9] [10] [11] Himyaritic inscriptions were thought to describe "the vulture of the east" and "the vulture of the west", which Augustus Henry Keane interpreted as solstitial worship; [12] however these are now thought to read "eastward" and "westward" with n-s-r as a preposition. [1] [a] J. Spencer Trimingham believed Nasr was "a symbol of the sun". [15]
Part of the myth series on |
Religions of the ancient Near East |
---|
Pre-Islamic Arabian deities |
Arabian deities of other Semitic origins |
Nasr is mentioned in the Qur'an (71:23) as an idol at the time of the Noah:
"وقالوا لا تذرن آلهتكم ولا تذرن ودا ولا سواعا ولا يغوث ويعوق ونسرا
And they say: Forsake not your gods, nor forsake Wadd, nor Suwāʿ, nor Yaghūth and Yaʿūq and Nasr."[ Quran 71:23
An Arabian vulture-god is mentioned by other ancient texts, including the Babylonian Talmud ( Avodah Zarah 11b):
Ḥanan b. Ḥisda says that Abba b. Aybo says, and some say it was Ḥanan b. Rava who said that Abba b. Aybo says, "There are five permanent idolatrous temples: the temple of Bel in Babylon, the temple of Nebo in Borsippa [b], the temple of Atargatis in Manbij, the temple of Serapis [c] in Ashkelon, and the temple of Nishra [d] in Arabia". [18]
And the Doctrine of Addai:
Who is this Nebo, an idol made which ye worship, and Bel, which ye honor? [e] Behold, there are those among you who adore Bath Nical, as the inhabitants of Harran your neighbours, and Atargatis, as the people of Manbij, and Nishra, [f] as the Arabians; also the sun and the moon, as the rest of the inhabitants of Harran, who are as yourselves. [20] [3]
A further mention is found in Jacob of Serugh's On the Fall of the Idols, wherein the Persians are said to have been led by the devil to construct and worship N-s-r. [3] [1]
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