DUSARES (Arabic Dá Šará). – Deity of the ancient Arabs, especially venerated by the Nabataeans of Petra: the inscriptions of Petra and the eastern Jordan region frequently mention his name.
In his principal sanctuary at Petra, he was venerated in a great temple with an enormous quadrangular black stone. According to St. Epiphanius, his feast fell on 25 December, when “the Virgin... and her son were celebrated with Arabic hymns.” Another sanctuary was at Suwejdá, where his feast was celebrated in August. He was identified with Dionysus as the god of fertility.
BIBL.: J. Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentums, Berlin 1892, pp. 48–51. Alessandro Bausani