Nasr (deity)

In Balkha

Hisham ibn Al-Kalbi's Book of Idols describes a temple to Nasr at Balkha, an otherwise unknown location.[[File:Qaryat maria01.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Vulture (nasr) reliefs from [[Himyarite Kingdom|Himyar]]]]

In Himyar

Reliefs depicting vultures (nasr) have been found in Himyar, including at Maṣna'at Māriya and Haddat Gulays, and Nasr appears in theophoric names. Some sources attribute the deity to "the dhū-l-Khila tribe of Himyar". 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; however these are now thought to read "eastward" and "westward" with n-s-r as a preposition. J. Spencer Trimingham believed Nasr was "a symbol of the sun".

In Hatra

Nasr has been identified by some scholars with Maren-Shamash, who is often flanked by vultures in depictions at Hatra. Coins depicting vultures were also found at Hatra.

Nishra

Many scholars suggest that Nasr should be identified with Nishra (), an idol mentioned by Aramaic texts.

In "Arabia"

An "Arabian" vulture-god is mentioned by the Babylonian Talmud and the Doctrine of Addai. This "Arabia" may be Arbayistan. The Talmud, Avodah Zarah 11b, reads: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, the temple of Atargatis in Manbij, the temple of Serapis{{Efn|1=Aramaic: צריפא (hapax). The reading Serapis is supported by:

• Shaick, Ronit Palistrant. "Who is Standing Above the Lions in Ascalon?". Israel Numismatic Research, 7, 2012.

• Rodan, Simona (2019-09-30). Maritime-Related Cults in the Coastal Cities of Philistia during the Roman Period: Legacy and Change. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. .

• Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart (1980). The Philistines: Their History and Civilization. Library of Alexandria. .

• Greenfield, Jonas Carl (2001). 'Al Kanfei Yonah. BRILL. .

• Clermont-Ganneau, Charles (1897). Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des hautes études...: Sciences philologiques et historiques (in French). aE. Bouillon. Bochart argues for the emendation Aphrodite Urania based on Herodotus' identification of the Ashkelon temple in his Histories (1:105), some 750 years prior. See Venus Castina.

• Bochart, Samuel (1712). Samuelis Bocharti Opera omnia. Hoc est Phaleg, Chanaan, et Hierozoicon. Quibus accesserunt Dissertationes variae ad illustrationem sacri codicis aliorumque monumentorum veterum. Praemittitur vita auctoris à Stephano Morino descripta...viri clarissimi Johannes Leusden & Petrus de Villemandy. Editio quarta (in Latin). apud Cornelium Boutesteyn, & Samuelem Luchtmans.}} in Ashkelon, and the temple of Nishra{{Efn|1=Aramaic: נשרא (hapax). The reading vulture-god is supported by:

• Bochart, Samuel (1712). Samuelis Bocharti Opera omnia. Hoc est Phaleg, Chanaan, et Hierozoicon. Quibus accesserunt Dissertationes variae ad illustrationem sacri codicis aliorumque monumentorum veterum. Praemittitur vita auctoris à Stephano Morino descripta...viri clarissimi Johannes Leusden & Petrus de Villemandy. Editio quarta (in Latin). apud Cornelium Boutesteyn, & Samuelem Luchtmans.

• The Journal of Philology. Macmillan and Company. 1880.

• Greenfield, Jonas Carl (2001). 'Al Kanfei Yonah. BRILL. .

• Epstein, Isidore (1935). The Babylonian Talmud ... Soncino Press.

• Neubauer, Adolf (1868). La Géographie du Talmud (in French). Michel Lévy frères. .

• Hastings, James (1908). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics: A-Art. C. Scribner's sons.

• Clermont-Ganneau, Charles (1897). Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des hautes études...: Sciences philologiques et historiques (in French). aE. Bouillon. The emendation Dushara is supported by:

• Rodan, Simona (2019-09-30). Maritime-Related Cults in the Coastal Cities of Philistia during the Roman Period: Legacy and Change. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.

• Kasher, Aryeh (1990). Jews and Hellenistic Cities in Eretz-Israel: Relations of the Jews in Eretz-Israel with the Hellenistic Cities During the Second Temple Period (332 BCE - 70 CE). Mohr Siebeck. .}} in Arabia".A similar mention appears in the Doctrine of Addai:Who is this Nebo, an idol made which ye worship, and Bel, which ye honor? 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, as the Arabians; also the sun and the moon, as the rest of the inhabitants of Harran, who are as yourselves.

In Kashkar

In the Acts of Mar Mari, which derives from the Doctrine, Mari Mari is told to "Convert the city of Kashkar, where a demon in the likeness of a nishra is worshipped and [where] a standard stands, on which there is an idol named Nishar".

A Mandaean magical text reads "Bel is turned from Babylon, Nebo turned from Borsippa, Nishra turned from Kashkar"; E. S. Dower says that "Nishra is obviously a corruption", and Walter Baumgartner agreed, but Jonas C. Greenfield and Yakir Paz identify it with Nasr.

In Persia

A further mention is found in one manuscript of 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 Nishra*.* However, Abbé Martin prefers the reading of another manuscript, "Nisroch".

Notes

References

References

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2. [[Paul Alan Yule. Paul Yule]], [http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/111/1/Yule_Eagle2005.pdf Late Ḥimyarite Vulture Reliefs], in: eds. W. Arnold, M. Jursa, W. Müller, S. Procházka, ''Philologisches und Historisches zwischen Anatolien und Sokotra, Analecta Semitica In Memoriam Alexander Sima'' (Wiesbaden 2009), 447–455, {{ISBN. 978-3-447-06104-9
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12. Trimingham, J. Spencer (1990). Christianity Among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times. Stacey Publishing. {{ISBN. 978-1-900988-68-1. pg. 20
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17. [[Bereishit Rabbah. B'reishit Rabbah]] 38:12
18. b. [[Sanhedrin (tractate). Sanhedrin]] 109a
19. "Avodah Zarah 11b:8".
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