164 herbert niehr
panamuwa i (Kai 214: 2–3, 11, 18) and panamuwa ii (Kai 215: 22). King
Bar-rakkab accordingly carries the name of this god. none of the other
royal names known from samʾal contains the name of a deity from samʾal
as a theophoric element. Furthermore, Bar-rakkab credits his enthrone-
ment to the god rakkabʾel (Kai 216: 5) and sees himself as a servant of this
same god (Kai 217: 2–3) and the “gods of his father’s house” in general. in
return rakkabʾel should help his servant find favor before his so vereign
king, tiglath-pileser (Kai 217: 7–9).
an inscription of King Bar-rakkab of samʾal on an orthostat (Kai 218)
shows the adoption of the moon cult of harran in the pantheon of samʾal
(pl. iii). in this inscription, dated between 733/732 and 727 B.c., Bar-
rakkab, who usually calls rakkabʾel, the dynastic god of samʾal, his lord,
now calls a “Baʿal harran” his lord. that “Baʿal harran” stands for the
moon-god sin is shown by a depiction of a crescent moon with the tas-
sels typical for the moon-god of harran on the orthostats.174
an iconographic representation of aramaean deities from samʾal in
luwian dress can be found on the reliefs of the outer castle gate (pl. ii).175
they are the weather-god, a god of war, and two goddesses. More pre-
cisely, the orthostats of the east side of the outer castle gate form a pro-
cession of gods, including a goddess with a mirror in her hand standing
between a god of war and the weather-god. this goddess is interpreted
as the wife of the god of war and is seen as the goddess Kubaba.176 this
interpretation, though, is not supported by any inscriptions. the sitting
goddess following the image of the weather-god might be Ḫebat, the wife
of the weather-god of aleppo.177
seven silver medallions from samʾal depict a goddess standing on a
lion, behind whom the star of ištar is visible. in this case the identity of
the goddess is not recorded, but the circle of stars and the lion make plau-
sible the interpretation as the goddess ištar or astarte.178 additionally, a
naked goddess holding her breasts is depicted on a horse’s head-piece.
she can be interpreted as “mistress of the animals.”179
174 this does not mean that the dynastic god rakkabʾel is to be interpreted as moon-
god as proposed by Krebernik 2006–2008. cf. already tropper 1993: 146.
175 hawkins 1984: 76f. regarding the identification of the goddesses, cf. orthmann 1971:
274–279.
176 Wartke 2005: 87 and cornelius 2012: 16.
177 on the identification of Ḫebat, cf. Wartke 2005: 87 and cornelius 2012: 16.
178 cf. Kreuzer 1996: 110f; niehr 2010a: 277; cornelius 2012: 19–21.
179 cf. cornelius 2012: 18f, 20 with fig. 3 and see below the head-piece from Unqi.