Safaitic in the context of "Old Arabic"

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👉 Safaitic in the context of Old Arabic

Old Arabic is the name for any Arabic language or dialect continuum before Islam. Various forms of Old Arabic are attested in scripts like Safaitic, Hismaic, Nabatean, and even Greek.

Alternatively, the term has been used synonymously with "Paleo-Arabic" to describe the form of the Arabic script in the fifth and sixth centuries.

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Safaitic in the context of Jabal al-Druze

Jabal al-Druze (Arabic: جبل الدروز, romanizedJabal ad-Durūz, lit.'Mountain of the Druze'), also known as Jabal al-Arab or Jabal Hauran, is an elevated volcanic region in Hauran in the Suwayda Governorate of southern Syria. Most of the inhabitants of this region are Druze, and there are also significant Christian communities. Safaitic inscriptions were first found in this area. The Jabal Druze State was an autonomous area in the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from 1921 to 1936, which had 42 of the Haurans ~180 towns. In the past, the name Jabal al-Druze was used for a different area, located in Mount Lebanon.

In Syria, most Druze reside in Suwayda Governorate, which encompasses almost all of Jabal al-Druze. This governorate is unique in Syria as it has a Druze majority. Additionally, it has integrated Christian communities that have long coexisted harmoniously with the Druze in these mountains.

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Safaitic in the context of Al-Lat

Al-Lat (Arabic: اللات, romanizedal-Lāt, pronounced [alːaːt]), also spelled Allat, Allatu, and Alilat, is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, at one time worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca, where she was worshipped alongside Al-Uzza and Manat as one of the daughters of Allah. The word Allat or Elat has been used to refer to various goddesses in the ancient Near East, including the goddess Asherah-Athirat. She also is associated with the Great Goddess.

The worship of al-Lat is 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. The writers of the Safaitic script frequently invoked al-Lat in their inscriptions. She was also worshipped by the Nabataeans and 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 Athena's Roman equivalent Minerva. According to Islamic sources, the tribe of Banu Thaqif in Ta'if especially held reverence to her.

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