ATHENA AL-LAT ~ THE GREEK WARRIOR GODDESS OF PALMYRA

The Temple of Al-Lat was an ancient temple located in Palmyra, Syria, dedicated to the goddess Al-Lat, who became identified with the  Greek Goddess Athena ,especially in the 2nd century CE. This temple hosted originally a shrine with the goddess Al-Lat, seated between two lions. In the 2nd century CE, the worship of the native goddess blended with the worship of Athena, and a statue of the Greek Goddess was placed in the temple along with the previous one.

The statue of Athena- a fine sample of Greek sculpture. 

Athena had already been one of the most well-known Goddesses of the Greek Pantheon. Her presence in coins minted by Alexander the Great and the Greek leaders who followed after him, signifies the importance of the Warrior Maiden in the Hellenistic world. 
The statue is made from Pentelic marble and it seems to have been imported by Greece- in fact, the technique points to the circle of the famous sculptor Pheidias and it really stands out as a purely Greek work of art. 

Local people were more than comfortable to identify their goddess Al-Lat with the Greek armed warrior Goddess Athena.  Moreover, merchants and travellers who passed through Palmyra have left their testimony of the worship of Athena; numerous Greek inscriptions found in Palmyra refer to the Greek Goddess by name, or by the title of 'The Great Goddess'. An interesting event that points out the importance of Athena Al- Lat is that the Palmyrene emperor Vaballathus, whose name is the Latinized form of the theophoric name Wahballāt ("Gift of Al-Lat"), changed his name to its Greek form- Athenodorus ( 'Gift of Athena' ). 

Another important feature of Athena, which made Her worship popular is the gorgoneion- the face of Medusa which is depicted on the aegis of the Goddess. It was widely used as protection against evil in the Hellenistic times and beyond. Similar statues of Athena have been found in different areas of Syria. 

The temple of Athena Al-Lat in 2004.

The temple of  Athena Al-Lat was closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, in a campaign made by Maternus Cynegius,between 25 May 385 to 19 March 388. The altar of the temple was destroyed and the cult statue of the Goddess was decapitated and had the center of its face crushed. Votive gifts of Roman Bronze coins from c. 364–375 and 376–386 illustrate that the sanctuary was still in use at the time of its destruction. In contrast to other temples in Palmyra, the temple of Al-Lat was not converted to a church, but left to decay.

The Athena Al-Lat appears even in modern currency, such as in this Syrian 5-pound banknote. 

The statue of Athena was restored after its discovery in 1975 and was kept at the Palmyra Museum. However, it was once again  brutally vandalized- this time by members of ISIS, who caused serious damage to Palmyra Museum artifacts and the city of Palmyra itself in 2015.