Jews and Others
construction of theoikodomēand thepsalides(building and arches?),^41 or ‘‘the
oikodomēand thethyrōmata[gates],’’ referred to in../.^42 Artemis is how-
ever recorded from the same site also on inscriptions of theRomanperiod.
Nanaia, however, owes her place here, and her possible identification with
Artemis, to a single undated graffito, in which we have on the first line the
Greek letters:Π(Μ)ΑΘΘΑΝΑΩΝΑΝΑΙΑΑΔΑΔ, no doubt identifying
Nanaia and Hadad.^43 The question of what determines the identity of ‘‘the’’
god, or gods, ‘‘of ’’ a temple is clearly a real problem here, as it is elsewhere.
What is clear at least is that the first half of the first century was a flour-
ishing one for the ‘‘epigraphic habit’’ at Dura, and the inscriptions reveal a
whole series of deities, and perhaps of temples, attested within a few years.
. The ‘‘Temple of Zeus Kyrios’’ (M/N). It is paradoxical that in this case,
where a formal correspondence between the Greek and the Semitic name
of the deity is provided by the evidence (instead of being a hypothesis), the
temple goes under the Greek name of its god, Zeus Kyrios, only, and not
also under its Palmyrene one, Baalshamin. An inscription from above the
altar gives the date../, with no further information. But a bilingual
Greek and Palmyrene one, dated to../, and placed under a bas-relief
of the deity, who is seated on a chair (see fig. ), with the dedicant, identi-
fied as Seleucus, standing beside him, records that an image (MṢB’/andrias)
had been dedicated to ‘‘Baalshamin the god’’ (B‘L ŠMYN ’LH’) and to Zeus
Kyrios (‘‘Zeus the Lord’’).^44 The bas-relief was placed on the wall above an
altar. There is no documentary evidence for how the architectural setting in
which the bas-relief was placed would have been described or identified.
. The ‘‘Temple of Azzanathkona’’ (E). The structural development of
the site is not easy to follow. But an inscription of../ records that
something unspecified was dedicated to Azzanathkona, on behalf of himself
and his children, by one Rechimnaios.^45 The substantial list of Greek (and
later Latin) inscriptions from this context includes no others which name
the deity until we reach one of../, recording that Zabidkonos son
of Rhaeibelos ‘‘erected a chamber in the temple (?) to the goddess Artemis,
called Azzanathkona.’’^46 The temple, or cult site, evidently pre-existed the
dedication mentioned above, for the earliest of the long series of inscriptions
.ReportIII,no.SEGVII, no. .
.ReportIII, no. SEGVII, no. .
. Cumont (n. ), , no. SEGVII, no. .
.ReportVII/VIII, , no.c; Mesnil du Buisson, no. PAT, no. .
.ReportV, , no. .
.ReportV, , no. .