religion 135
axe or not. the stele’s inscription mentions the death of King hamiyata
(tell ahMar 1)36 and it is dated to about 900 B.c.
stele a from til Barsib, now in the louvre, differs from the newly
found one.37 stele a is damaged, so it is not possible to determine if it
ever depicted a bull, a winged solar disk or lunar symbol, or relief bands
at the lower section. the inscription mentions King hamiyata (tell
ahMar 2)38 and is dated around 900 B.c. this stele matches one from
the elie Borowski collection,39 also with an inscription of King hamiyata
(BoroWsKi 3).40
the common element of all stelae is the representation of the weather-
god as “smiting god”, a stance known since the late Bronze age.41
inscriptions in aramaic, assyrian, and hieroglyphic luwian from til
Barsib and hadattu (arslan tash) mention in addition to the weather-god
the god ashur, the goddess ištar of arbela, the moon-god of harran, a
solar deity, the goddess Kubaba, as well as the gods anu and enlil. a lack
of sources does not allow us to determine whether all these deities were
incorporated into the aramaean cults of this region, or to what extent.42
lastly, the two amulet tablets found in arslan tash must be mentioned.
their inscriptions mention the deities sasam, ashur, the highest god of
the pantheon, Baʿal, the wife of horon, the wife of Baʿal Qdš, as well as
several demons.43 all these deities of assyrian, anatolian, and aramaean
origin clearly show the cultural medley that was present in Bit adini.
another important find complex for the reconstruction of the aramaean
pantheon in Bit adini is the collection of proverbs in the aramaic aḥiqar
novel.44 this collection documents the advanced aramaization of til Bar-
sib (tell aḥmar). the convergence of hurrian-luwian and Mesopotamian
wisdom tradition in these proverbs is crucial for the localization of the
collection’s source. it most likely originated from the region of Bit adini,
especially its capital city til Barsib. this fits with the fact that the assy-
rians made til Barsib an assyrian administrative center. aramaeans were
36 text and translation in hawkins 2000: 239–243.
37 cf. Bunnens – hawkins – leirens 2006: 111, 157 fig. 58.
38 text and translation in hawkins 2000: 227–230.
39 cf. Bunnens – hawkins – leirens 2006: 112, 157 fig. 59.
40 text and translation in hawkins 2000: 230f.
41 cf. the catalogue in Bunnens – hawkins – leirens 2006: 156–172 figs. 109–122.
42 on the inscriptions, see green – hausleiter 2001; galter 2004b; id. 2007; röllig
2009.
43 see section 2.5.
44 cf. most recently grelot 2001; contini – grottanelli 2005; niehr 2007; Weigl 2010.