160 herbert niehr
Furthermore, the inscription indicates that this goddess appeared next to
the samʾalite dynastic god rakkabʾel. researchers have regarded her as
the main goddess of the kingdom of samʾal. perhaps she had absorbed a
major aramaean goddess. Kubaba’s important position in samʾal is under-
scored by the mention of her next to the “hadad of the Vineyards” in the
Kuttamuwa inscription.150
King panamuwa i (ca. 790–750 B.c.) had a royal necropolis founded
at gerçin, 7 km northeast of samʾal. the inscription on the hadad stele
(Kai 214) from that necropolis dates from before 750 B.c.151 this dedica-
tive and commemorative inscription identifies the most important gods of
samʾal in the following significant order: hadad, el, rešep, rakkabʾel, and
Šamaš (Kai 214: 2). the transposition of rešep and Šamaš in the following
line 3 is linked to the fact that in the further course of the inscription the
god rešep is emphasized. this amended order is maintained also in lines
11 and 18–19 of the inscription.
there is a long discussion about the identification of the divine symbols
inscribed on the stelae of the kings Kulamuwa and Bar-rakkab.152 this dis-
cussion has made apparent that a correlation of the symbols with the gods
referred to in the inscription cannot easily be made. in fact, one should
take the inscriptions and the images as sources sui generis and interpret
them accordingly. it follows from the stelae that the kings Kulamuwa and
Bar-rakkab styled themselves as loyal vassals of the assyrians, and in
addition to matching the clothing of the assyrian kings also adjusted the
pictorial representations of the gods ashur and rakkabʾel.
the weather-god hadad is, as in the other aramaean kingdoms, the
supreme god of samʾal. his relevance is seen clearly in the attested evi-
dence: hadad is at the head of the pantheon in all inscriptions of samʾal
(Kai 214: 1–2, 11, 18; 215: 22). he commissions the king to construct the
necropolis (Kai 214: 13–14). the heir apparent is pledged both to the cult
of hadad and the cult before his statue (Kai 214: 15–18, 21–22). hadad is
the god of the kingdom (Kai 214: 8–9; 215: 2). the only statue of a god
found at samʾal is a hadad statue and hadad alone enforces the curse
contained in the inscription (Kai 214: 23–24).
150 cf., below, section 3.6. pardee 2009a: 62 interprets the spelling kbbw as a dittography,
while Younger 2009a: 166–170 leans toward a consequence of cuneiform writing.
151 cf. on the inscription especially tropper 1993: 54–97, 154–159; hamilton 1998: 225f;
green 2010: 175–193.
152 cf. the discussion in tropper 1993: 24–26; Mayer 1995a; niehr 2004b: 310f.