The Goddess of Ḥayyān

Taking everything together, the text reads ʾelāhat Ḥayyān bar NYBat, ‘the goddess of Ḥayyān son of NYBat’. The mix of Aramaic and Arabic is typically Nabataean, as is the combination of aniconic and figurative representations of the deity. Whether this slab represents Al-ʿUzzā or another goddess, it forms a beautiful illustration of how the Nabataeans were influenced by the many different cultures surrounding them and in turn left a lasting legacy in pre-Islamic Arabia.