At the head of the Nabataean pantheon was the god Dusares (e.g. in Tert. Apol. 24,8; Nabatean Dušarā/dw-šr; Δουσαρης in Greek inscriptions) (Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique (=RES) 1401; CIS II 350,3-4). His name (‘he from the Šarā[-mountains]’) shows him as a local mountain or weather god of the Petra [1] region. The oldest evidence for the name of this deity dates from c. 96/95 BC, an inscription from the Triclinium of Aṣlaḫ in Petra (RES 1432).
More insight into the character of this god is provided by bilingual inscriptions, which mention his nam…