The church was constructed from green, yellow, white and black stone which was brought from an older castle located at Ma'rib. Leading to the church was a marble staircase, while the door was made of bronze or copper. The church combined three separate architectural elements known as bayt, iwan and qubbah. Iwan and qubbah, consisted of mosaic ornamentation of floral motives and gold star for the former, and polychrome mosaic crosses, silver and gold for the latter. Taking into consideration a Byzantine edict issued in 427 prohibiting the placement of crosses to locations where they can be stepped upon, it is probable that the crosses were positioned on the walls. The rest of the decoration consisted of carved precious woods and ivory, combined with gold panels inset with precious stones and crosses. Chroniclers make no reference to figurative representations, a style commonly encountered in the aniconic Syrian and Palestinian mosaic traditions. [5]
Al-Lat ( Arabic : اللات , romanized : Al-Lāt , pronounced [alːaːt] ), also spelled Allat , Allatu and Alilat , is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess worshipped under various associations throughout the entire peninsula, including Mecca where she was worshipped alongside Manat and al-'Uzza . The word Allat or Elat has been used to refer to various goddesses in the ancient Near East , including the goddess Asherah-Athirat . Al-Lat was attested in south Arabian inscriptions as Lat and Latan , but she had more prominence in north Arabia and the Hejaz , and her cult reached as far as Syria . [3] The writers of the Safaitic script frequently invoked al-Lat in their inscriptions. She was also worshipped by the Nabataeans and she was associated with al-'Uzza . The presence of her cult was attested in both Palmyra and Hatra . Under Greco-Roman influence, her iconography began to show the attributes of Athena , the Greek goddess of war, as well as her Roman equivalent Min...
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