Nabataean Temple
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The temple was preceded by an earlier cultic structure dedicated to goddess Allat, inferred by an inscription on a sandstone block reused as a mere building material in the basement of the cella found during recent excavations. Built up during the 1st century a. D. and still in use until the 3rd century a. D., it shows two main structural phases and it was strictly connected with the small sanctuary of the Sacred Spring of ‘Ain Shellaleh to which it was linked through a specific pathway.
1.1. Phase 1
In its first conformation, dating between the 1st century b. C. and the 1st century a. D., the temple included a podium supporting a central cella, surrounded by twelve columns and a frontal staircase leading to it. The columns were covered with moulded stucco and painted plaster. In a second sub-phase, a low cancel wall was added between each column. On the left hand of the cella a small square cistern dug into the floor probably contained water to be used during the performance of the cult.
The temple and the Western complex were most probably supplied with the water coming from the ‘Ain Abu-Rmeīleh Spring at the foot of Jebel Ramm, as the presence of rock carved aqueduct elements scattered on the conoid reveals.
1.2. Phase 2
During the late 1st century a. D., the original temple was enlarged by blocking completely the intercolumns with full height thick walls, whose internal face was plastered and painted with geometric and floral patterns, while at a lower level a series of rooms were added around the podium, except on the façade. In the North-West and South-West back corners of the temple, two narrow rooms hosted staircases leading to a second floor, or more probably to the roof of the temple. A fragment of the lower part of the statue of the goddess Allat worshipped in the temple was found during excavation altogether with aniconic idols and a Roman votive altar.
Figure 5. The fragment of the statue of Allat (Savignac Rickmans 1935, planche IX). 2nd century a. D.
1.3. Epigraphs
1.3.1. During the second phase of the temple a series of inscriptions were engraved or painted on the plaster beside the cella. A bilingual one, written in Greek and Nabataean, asks the goddess Allat, worshipped in the temple, to remember the architect Ouaballas, son of Abdomanos, son of Aialos from Faino. This locality has been identified by some students with ancient Faina, in southern Syria, or with Feinan in Wadi Araba by others. Ouaballas, also nicknamed Abdomanos from his father’s name, is the one who probably designed or superintended the modification of the temple and most probably he is the same architect mentioned, altogether with three other technicians, in an inscription at the ‘Ain Shellaleh Sacred Spring whose small sanctuary he also contributed to build. This fact reveals that the spring sanctuary and the temple were involved in the same project and that both cultic installations were strictly connected.
Figure 6. The Greek inscription by Ouaballas (Savignac Rickmans 1935, p. 265, fig. 19). 1st-2nd centuries a. D.
1.3.2. A Nabataean inscription painted by an unknown writer mentions “the great goddess who is in ‘Iram” (todays Wādī Ramm) and it is particularly important because it is explicitly dated to the year 147 a. D.
Figure 7. The Nabataean inscription mentioning “…the great goddess who is in Iram…” (Savignac Rickmans 1935, planche 10). 2nd century a. D.
1.3.3. A small betyl in the shape of an aniconic idol was found during the first archaeological campaign along the southern stairway. 1st – 3rd centuries a. D.
Figure 8. 3D model of the betyl found in the temple. On the right, the sketch by Savignac (Savignac Horsfield 1935, p. 259, fig. 12).
1.3.4. In the 3rd century a. D., a small votive altar was installed beside the cella, on the right hand of the colonnade, bearing a Latin inscription by the Roman governor of the Provincia Arabia Aurelianus, maybe the same Aurelius Aurelianus known from a milestone in Bosra, and dedicated to two unknown emperors during the first half of the 3rd century a. D.
Last update
24.01.2026