Religious worship among the Qedar, as was the case for most of the inhabitants of Arabia until the 7th century CE, was polytheistic. Its practices and beliefs included an emphasis on female idols and worshippers. Divine images of the gods and goddesses worshipped by Qedarite Arabs, as noted in Assyrian inscriptions, included representations of Atarsamain, Nuha, Ruda, Daa, Abirillu, and Atarquruma. The female guardian of these idols, usually the reigning queen, served as a priestess (apkallatu, in Assyrian texts) who communed with the other world. As mentioned above, there is also evidence that the Qedar worshipped Al-lāt, to whom the inscription on a silver bowl from a king of Qedar is dedicated. In the Babylonian Talmud, which was passed down orally for centuries before being transcribed c. 500 CE, in tractate Taanis (folio 5b), it is said that most Qedarites worshipped pagan gods .