religion 155
cases priests of the moon-god Śahr had died, thus their god is mentioned
first. Śahr is also the chief god of neirab. other deities worshipped there
are the sun-god Šamaš, the lunar goddess nikkal, and the fire-god nusku.
in Mesopotamia the moon-god is the father of the sun-god, who acts as
judge. the deities mentioned last, nikkal and nusku, show an assyrian
influence that reached from harran to the cult in neirab. the sequence of
sin, nikkal, and nusku as divine family is also present in harran.
even though the inscriptions mention the moon-god by his aramaean
name Śahr,123 it is clear that this is the moon-god of harran. siʾgabbar,
mentioned in a letter from the governor of harran to King sargon ii (721–
705 B.c.), is described as a servant of King sargon in neirab, which places
him in the last quarter of the 8th century B.c.124 at the same time this
letter illustrates the integration of the priest siʾgabbar in the state cult of
the assyrian empire. the stele (ao 3026) mentioning the priest sin-zera-
ibni is generally considered to be a bit older.
Further insight into the cult of neirab comes from terracotta figures of
dressed and naked women, goddesses, heads of men, gods, equestrians,
as well as various creatures such as lions, sphinxes, and horses found dur-
ing the excavations of 1926.125 a detailed religio-historical interpretation
of these finds is not possible, however, due to a lack of relevant written
sources.
the fragment of an 8th-century stele comes from tell sifr. its relief and
inscription illuminate small aspects of the adoption of the luwian religion
by the aramaeans. in two consecutive lines the inscription mentions the
deities rešep and Kubaba. the relief above it shows the hindquarters of a
striding bull, referring to a weather-god, possibly hadad.126
the co-occurrence of an aramaean god with a luwian goddess is also
seen in the inscription from Ördekburnu, where the gods rakkabʾel and
Kubaba of aram (?) are mentioned.127 the inscription from tell sifr herein
not only mirrors the circumstances in samʾal, but its script is also very
similar to the one found in samʾal texts. the cult of the goddess Kubaba,
shown on the fragment of the stele from tell sifr, probably derives directly
from her nearby cultic center of carchemish.
123 on the etymology of the divine name, see footnote 25.
124 text in parpola 1985; id. 1987: 149f n. 189; and theuer 2000: 373f n. 242.
125 cf. carrière – Barrois 1927: 201–207 and abel – Barrois 1928: 307–313.
126 cf. Michelini tocci 1962.
127 see below.