Kahl (god)
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| Part of the myth series on Religions of the ancient Near East |
| Pre-Islamic Arabian deities |
|---|
| Arabian deities of other Semitic origins |
Kahl is a god of pre-Islamic Arabia. He was the chief god (tutelary deity) of the city of Qaryat al-Faw, the capital of the Kingdom of Kinda, beginning in the 2nd century BC. Kahl is attested regularly, but the evidence is more sparse with respect to how Kahl was understood. Based on recent evidence, it has been posited that Kahl was an Arabian version of the smiting or menacing god that is known in the regions of the Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia.[1] Kahl may have evolved into the god Rahmanan in the trend towards the evolution of pre-Islamic monotheism.[2]
In Ancient South Arabian texts, his name is rendered as khl. Due to the absence of information about how the name of this god is pronounced, his name has been transcribed in many ways in studies, including as kahl, kāhil, kuhūl and kāhal. Sometimes, it takes the grammatical form khlm (Kāhilim) with a final mimation.
In one Sabaic dictionary, khl means 'ruler, powerful'. Generally, it is a Semitic root that denotes an element of strength. Elsewhere, khl also occurs as a personal name and as the name of some places.[3]
Qaryat al-Faw
Kahl was one of, if not the principal tutelary deity of city of Qaryat al-Faw, the capital of the Kingdom of Kinda.[4]
Kahl becomes a prominent god in this place in the 2nd century BC, and the city goes on to become the primarily associated with the worship of Kahl. Out of all the names the place went by, Qaryatum dhāt Kāhilim, or "the City [of the god] Kahl" was most common. Kahl himself is regularly called khlm bʿl qrytm, or "Kāhlum, the Lord of Qarytum", reflecting the relationship between him and the city. From the 2nd century BC until the 1st century AD, Kahl appears on many coins from this site where the letters of the name are combined into a single artistic unit (a monogram). These coins can contain text that refers to Kahl as "Lord Kahl" (Baʿl Kahl). The coins, in addition to some figurines and rock carvings, present a consistent anthropomorphic image that has been speculatively connected with Kahl: this image shows a standing figure with his right arm holding a weapon, perhaps a club, over his right shoulder, and with a protruding left arm. This is consistent with notions and poses of the smiting god or menacing god known from West Asian and East Mediterranean deities, such as Resheph.[5]