religion 177
were duplicated. therefore, a corresponding temple must exist in the
kingdom of Bit agusi.
at samʾal the inscription of panamuwa i on the hadad statue depicts
the king as the builder of a temple (Kai 214: 19–20). With this, an impor-
tant trait of ancient near eastern royal ideology is adopted.
the fragmentary text of lines 19–20 reports that panamuwa built a tem-
ple for “the gods of this city,” i.e., for the gods of samʾal. the verb in line 19
is unclear. Most often “to plan” or “to promise” is amended. the verb bnh
“to conduct construction work” (partially reconstructed) denotes building
activity. in general, the construction of a temple included the establish-
ment of the cult; the phrase “and i let the gods live therein,” alludes to the
introduction of the statues of gods and divine symbols into the temple.
the topographical part of the claim “the gods of this city” cannot refer
to gerçin, the site where the statue of hadad was found. it may rather
refer to samʾal as the capital. the construction notice in Kai 214: 19 gives
the impression that the main gods of samʾal were worshipped in a temple,
hadad taking the highest position, while the other gods can be addressed
perhaps as theoi synnaoi.
the remark that the king had given the gods “a place of rest” (Kai 214:
20) during his reign is probably a reference to this temple’s cultic conti-
nuity. compare to this the aramaic inscription on the statue from tell
Fekheriye, according to which hadad “gives rest and vessels of food to all
the gods, his brothers” (Kai 309: 3–4).
the inscription of King Bar-rakkab for his father and predecessor pana-
muwa ii (Kai 215) also contains an allusion to gifts for the gods, which
merely states that the cult proceeded in the correct manner. the same
inscription speaks of a sacrifice to hadad and the invocation of his name.
Despite the fragmentary context the crown prince can still be identified as
the one offering a sacrifice to the chief god of the kingdom of samʾal. the
peculiarity of this passage lies in the combination of the sacrificial offering
to the god hadad with the royal mortuary cult.
after this insight into the textual foundations let us now consider
the archaeology of samʾal. the recent excavations, in particular, which
began in 2006 and have continued regularly, have led to some interesting
insights regarding to the remains of temples and shrines.
the difficulty in locating a central temple building within the city of
samʾal does not mean that there was no temple at all.251 rather, the problem
251 this is the assumption of novák 1999: 201; id. 2004a: 325–327; id. 2005a: 254f, who
wants to localize the kingdom’s religious center in tilmen hüyük.