religion 165
another silver medallion originating from the area of samʾal shows a
scene of the moon falling to the earth. this hittite myth still finds itself in
the iconography of the 1st millennium B.c.180
an amulet without inscription, also from samʾal, shows on one side a
man with a dagger standing over a person lying before him and on the
other side a standing armed man.181
representations of winged genii, sphinxes, and griffins are also found
in samʾal.182 the position of these hybrids within the religion, whether as
a protective spirit or demon, cannot be ascertained in any detail due to a
lack of written sources.183
the only written indication of aramaean deities in Unqi184 is an ara-
maic inscription on a horse’s head-piece, which came as a votive gift to
the heraion of samos,185 and on one of the blinders of a bridle, which was
a votive gift to the temple of the god apollo Daphnephoros of eretria in
euboea.186 the inscription reads:
that which hadad gave to our lord hazael from Unqi in the year when our
lord crossed the river.187to understand the inscription it must be said that it pertains to the booty
that the god hadad gave to King hazael of Damascus188 on the occasion
of his campaign over the orontes and into the kingdom of Unqi.
the authors of the inscription were possibly the inhabitants of Unqi,
who called hazael of Damascus their lord. More precisely, one can think
of the priesthood of the god hadad, who presented the conqueror hazael
with a gift in the name of their god.189 this gift then was brought to the
temple in Damascus and from there found its way as a votive gift to samos
or greece. this is not to say that King hazael himself sent votive gifts to
180 cf. the text in hoffner 1990: 33–35 and the interpretation of the silver medallion
in seidl 2002.
181 cf. Wartke 2005: 79 fig. 79.
182 cf. von luschan 1902: 205f, 217–219, 221–226; pls. xxxiV; xxxVi; xxxVii a/d;
xxxViii; xlii; xliii; xliV; id. 1911: 242 fig 149; 330–333, pls. lV–lVi; Wartke 2005: 80
fig. 80; 83 fig 88.
183 on this problem, cf. landsberger 1948: 95f.
184 on pattina/Unqi, cf. the information in niehr 2010a: 284–289; hawkins 2009; id. 2011.
185 cf. Braun-holzinger – rehm 2005: 11, 33 no. 16 (with literature) and pl. 5.
186 cf. Braun-holzinger – rehm 2005: 11, 30 no. 4 (with literature).
187 cf. on the inscription especially Bron – lemaire 1989; ephʿal – naveh 1989; amadasi
guzzo 1996; Fales 2006a.
188 on King hazael and his expansionist politics, cf. e.g., lemaire 1991a and niehr
2011.
189 so Bordreuil 1993b: 256 and id. 1998: 56f.