Jabal Ithlib

To the east of the city of Hegra is a natural fault in the rocks allowing passage through the Jabal Ithlib. In this area a number of sanctuaries, ritual markers and meeting places from the Nabataean period have been found. To the left of the passage, set into the rock face, are numerous betyls, vertical stone carvings that represent Nabataean deities. Opposite, to the right of the passage, is a large hall cut into the rocks, known as the Diwan. The Diwan was a kind of dining area known as a triclinium, in which elite or ritual banqueting would likely have taken place.
The classical scholar Strabo wrote of Nabataean banquets in his Geography, written in the late 1st century BCE - early first century CE, noting that “they prepare common meals together in groups of thirteen persons; and they have two girl-singers for each banquet. The king holds many drinking-bouts in magnificent style, but no one drinks more than eleven cupfuls, each time using a different golden cup” (Strabo, Geography 16.4.26).
The Diwan is the largest example of such a space at Hegra, though there are other diwan dining spaces that have been found across the site. Around the three walls are benches carved into the rock, where diners would recline to eat, drink and talk. The open front of the Diwan suggests an elaborate entrance, but may even indicate that the activities that took place there had a public element. This differs from many of the triclinia at Petra, which were most likely used for family or clan activities.