196 herbert niehr
the pantheon in general is called ʾlhn and has a sub-group šdyn, which
may be considered a council of gods.350
although the cults of various aramaean deities ranged from the region
of Damascus to the Decapolis, only the deities atargatis, Baʿalšamayin,
hadad, Jupiter heliopolitanus, and Zeus Damascenus are mentioned here
without going into further detail.351
4.2 Kingshipthere is some evidence on the topic of kingship from Damascus but it
does not lend itself to constructing a coherent picture.
noticeable is the number of recorded royal names with a theophoric
element, such as hadad, Bar-hadad, hadad-ezer, and tab-ramman.352 in
these cases it can be assumed that the theophoric element hadad refers to
the chief god of Damascus. Whether and how the idea of a divine sonship
of the king is behind the royal names is a question that must be asked
especially for the name Bar-hadad (“son of hadad”).353 given the absence
of myths and rituals from Damascus this question will have to remain
unanswered. another question is the potential existence of throne names.
During the neo-assyrian period it is attested that his predecessor on the
throne could bestow a new name upon the crown prince.354 this is also
conceivable for the kingdoms of Damascus and Bit agusi.
the inscription on the tel Dan stele (Kai 310) offers further insight into
the conception of kingship. it states that hadad, the chief god of Damas-
cus, first raised the current king to his position: [w]yhmlk hdd ʾ[yty] (“and
hadad made me king”; Kai 310: 4) and then granted him military pro-
tection by marching into battle before him and arranging for a favorable
outcome.
the inscription further illustrates that the deceased king went to his
ancestors: wyškb ʾby wyhk ʾl [ʾbhw]h (“and my father lay himself down and
went to his [fathers]”; Kai 310: 3). this concept of entering the nether-
world355 is comparable to the concept of joining the rapiʾūma in late
Bronze age Ugarit as shown in KtU 1.161. this text, KtU 1.161, shows that
joining the ancestors was not simply accomplished by burial but was
350 cf. on the state of research niehr 1990–1993: 1082 and Jericke 2010: 161f.
351 cf. esp. sourdel 1952: 19–31, 39–44; niehr 2003: 229–264; Freyberger 2006: 168f.
352 cf. the overview in lipiński 2000a: 407.
353 see above, section 3.2.
354 cf. radner 2005: 33–35.
355 cf. suriano 2007: 164–166.