Allat, 'the Goddess', was a major pre-Islamic Arabian deity who held an important place in the Palmyrene pantheon, reflecting the Arab component of the city's population. Her temple stood in the western quarter of Palmyra. By the second century CE she was thoroughly assimilated to Greek Athena and styled Athena-Allat, depicted with helmet, aegis and spear, while retaining Semitic cultic forms. Her most famous monument is the colossal limestone lion that guarded her temple, shown sheltering a gazelle between its paws, an emblem of her protective power. She was equated by the Palmyrenes with such goddesses as Atargatis and identified in the Greek world with Athena.