A note on the trident mark, stone worship and cult practices in Southeast Arabia

Abstract

The worship of baetyls in antiquity is well documented in the Near East and the Mediterranean, archaeologically as well as historically. While such practices were also common in South-East Arabia, the archaeological information on it is still very limited. A boulder carved with a ‘trident’ (a mark familiar from local Abiel coin issues), which came to light at the site of Mleiha, has a circular cavity on the side similar to those visible on stones and on an eagle statue from contemporary ed-Dur. This association suggests a religious context for the Mleiha petroglyph and, thus, a possible identification as a baetyl. The archaeological evidence for stone worship and associated cult practices from the SE-Arabian Mleiha/PIR A-C period (3rd century bce–3rd century ce) is reviewed and compared with ethnographic parallels and information from, among other sources, the Kitāb al-aṣnām (Book of Idols) by Hishām ibn al-Kalbī (737–819 ce).