religion 201
aramaeans of syria. only a few selected references to its survival far into
christian times can be presented here.
emperor Julian the apostate (361–363 a.D.) writes in a letter dated
between the 10th and 12th of March 363 a.D. to libanios about the sacri-
fices he made to the weather-god of aleppo who is now called Zeus:
From litarbae i proceeded to Beroea, and there Zeus, by showing a manifest
sign from heaven, declared all things to be auspicious. i stayed there for a
day and saw the acropolis and sacrificed to Zeus in imperial fashion a white
bull.373it is remarkable that there is a continuity of the cult in the weather-god’s
temple on the citadel of aleppo.374
the cult of the moon-god of harran is reported as existing even longer
than the cult of the weather-god of aleppo. Julian the apostate also sac-
rificed to him in 363 a.D. even the destruction of the moon-god’s temple
by emperor theodosius (379–395 a.D.) did not end the cult of the moon-
god of harran. the latest references date to the 10th century a.D., as
the moon-god’s cult endured in the religion of the Ṣābians. of particular
importance is the textual evidence from sumatar harabesi in the tektek
Mountains about 50 km from harran.375 the cult of Baʿalšamayin enjoyed
a comparable continuity and is attested in harran and nisibis until well
into the 6th century a.D.376
in guzana (tell halaf) the cult of the weather-god is also documented
into christian times.377
in hierapolis (modern Manbiğ), the goddess atargatis was worshipped
from the 4th century B.c. her name, atargatis, is a composite of the names
astarte and anat. the most important source about her cult, cult person-
nel, and followers is the De Dea Syria of lucian of samosata. atargatis
was worshipped together with her paredros hadad. her cult far overshad-
owed his and this old syrian weather-god now took second place behind
the goddess. other important cult sites of atargatis in syria are edessa,
harran, hatra, aleppo, Damascus, palmyra, and Dura europos. given the
373 text and translation in Wright 1923–1961: 200–203.
374 see above, section 3.3, on aleppo.
375 cf. esp. chwolsohn 1856; cramer 1986: 643f, 645–650; tubach 1986: 132–175; green
1992: 44–217; gündüz 1994; lipiński 1994: 190–192; strohmaier 2011.
376 cf. niehr 2003: 315–317.
377 cf. Müller-Kessler – Kessler 1995; on the region of guzana during the hellenistic
and roman periods, cf. luther 2012.