According to the early Christian bishop
Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...
(c. 315–403), Chaabou or Kaabu (;
) was a goddess in the
Nabataean pantheon—a
virgin
Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
who gave birth to the god
Dusares. However, a few modern scholars claim without proof that Epiphanius may have mistaken the word ''kaʿbu'' ("cube", etymologically identical to the name of the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
), referring to the stone blocks used by the Nabateans to represent Dusares and possibly other deities, for the proper name of a goddess.
His report that Chaabou was a virgin was likely influenced by his desire to find a parallel to the Christian belief in the
virgin birth of Jesus
In Christianity and Islam, it is asserted that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived by his mother Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary solely through divine intervention and without sexual intercourse, thus resulting in his Virgin birth (mythology), virgin bir ...
, and by the similarity of the words ''ka'bah'' and ''ka'ibah'' ("virgin") in Arabic, the native tongue of the Nabataeans.
See also
*
al-Lat
Al-Lat (, ), 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 ...
*
Kaaba
The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
References
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