South-east Arabia was a hub on the international trade routes connecting the Hellenistic/ Roman world, Mesopotamia and south Arabia with India and Pakistan during the Late Pre-Islamic Period (3rd century BCE – 3rd century CE). The first raptor images occur on 3rd century BCE local coins that copied the image of a seated Zeus with eagle from the Greek Alexander coins. Most probably, however, it was seen as the representation of the Arabian sun god Shamash. Eagles or raptor statues were discovered at the harbour site ed-Dur in a temple and at the entrance of a fort that had been reused as a burial site. These statues are usually interpreted as representing the god Shamash but eagles can also stand for other Arabian deities or simply refer to royalty. The paper looks at the archaeological context of these discoveries and reviews their interpretations.