religion 203
of palmyra. his accompanying bulls were made astral deities and depicted
anthropomorphically. Yarḥibol became a sun-god and ʿaglibol a moon-
god. Bel’s followers in palmyra were members of the tribe of Bani Komare,
a tribe with an aramaic name (“the sons of priests”).
another divine triad of palmyra was worshipped in the temple of
Baʿalšamayin, as the gods ʿaglibol and Malakbel were under his sovereignty;
ʿaglibol took the role of moon-god and Malakbel that of sun-god.383
the triad consisting of the deities Maran (“our lord”), Martan (“our
lady”), and Barmaren (“son of our lords”) dominated the pantheon of
hatra. Maran and Barmaren featured prominently in the religious life of
hatra. the goddess Martan occurs rarely on her own in inscriptions. Maran
was the chief god of hatra. he was originally the sun-god, which becomes
apparent in two inscriptions where he is called son of Šamaš. on coins
from hatra he is depicted as helios. Barmaren is depicted with horns, a
crescent moon, and a radiant crown. this suggests a lunar aspect of the
god Barmaren, who is thus determined to be the moon-god of hatra. he
has also taken the title mrʾlhʾ (“lord of the gods”) from semitic moon-god
theology. if he is shown alone he gains solar aspects and is characterized
as cosmocrator. the goddess Martan is represented with a tower-like hair-
style. she has lunar aspects, which reflect her affiliation to the chief god
who possesses solar aspects.
other important deities from hatra are allat, atargatis, ashurbel, hera-
cles-nergal, and Baʿalšamayin. heracles-nergal was regarded as the protec-
tor of the city of hatra and numerous statues testify to his omnipresence
in the temples there. chthonic aspects can be seen in his representation
with a dog. Baʿalšamayin most likely came with merchants from palmyra
to hatra. he presided over a pantheon of several gods, which was located
in his temple. at the same time he was subordinate to the triad of hatra,
as inscriptions from his temple show.
Furthermore, the moon-god Śahr, the god of luck or fate g(n)dʾ, and
zqyqʾ, a spirit of the dead, all appear in the inscriptions from hatra.384
the preceding pages were only able to give a glimpse into the present
state of research on the religion of the aramaeans of syria. Further exca-
vations and discoveries of archaeological, iconographic, and epigraphic
finds will probably further expand our knowledge.
383 on the religion of palmyra, cf. esp. hoftijzer 1968: 25–50; niehr 1998: 170–186; id.
2003: 103–163; Dirven 1999; Kaizer 2002; tubach 2006; Martínez Borobio 2008: 417–428.
384 on the religion of hatra, cf. esp. hoftijzer 1968: 51–61; tubach 1986: 213–335; niehr
1998: 186–190; id. 2003: 169–179; Martínez Borobio 2003: 429–437.