240 dominik bonatz
the concept of the funerary repast is also embodied in the two mon-
umental grave statues that were found buried under the terrace of the
Western palace in Guzana.159 Both of these statues depict a woman sit-
ting with a cup in her right hand and presenting her flattened lap like
a table in order to receive mortuary provisions (pl. XvIII).160 the statue
of a seated couple found next to the image of the storm-god (see above,
section 3.1.1) in the cult room in the town of Guzana was apparently
also designated to receive regular offerings.161 there are unmistakable par-
allels to the ancestral cult statues created in the Middle Bronze age in
northern syria. nevertheless, the special role of women, which is demon-
strated by the seated statues discovered in Guzana, could signal a change
in social consciousness, the causes of which might lie in the aramaeans’
nomadic legacy.
a stele found at the southwest corner of hilani I in samʾal also focuses
on a woman, probably a member of the royal family.162 a young beardless
male waves a fan over the table and is apparently responsible for prepar-
ing her offerings. a winged disk above the table and an arch-shaped frame
bordering the scene may indicate some sort of sacred architectural setting
for the ritual, as exemplified by the two aforementioned female statues
in Guzana. each of these statues was placed in a small mortuary chapel,
but the find spot of the stele next to hilani I in samʾal suggests that it was
erected over a grave in the public area of the citadel.163
the Kuttamuwa stele (pl. XX), found during the renewed excavations in
Zincirli in 2008, is distinct from this other monument since it was discov-
ered in a small room of a building situated in the lower town of samʾal.164
the room is thought to have served as a mortuary chapel with the stele
as the focus of the mortuary ritual but not connected to a grave.165 the
fact that the stele was not erected at the citadel but in the lower town of
samʾal is important for understanding élite spaces in an aramaean city.
the owner of the stele, Kuttamuwa, clearly identifies with the élite of
159 On the context and the link between the statues and cremation burials, see the
recent work by niehr: niehr 2006: 123–128 figs. 5–6.
160 von Oppenheim 1955: 7f pls. 1–9 and Bonatz 2000a: 28f, 154f B4 and B5.
161 von Oppenheim 1955: 28f pls. 146–149 and Bonatz 2000a: 29, 152 B9.
162 Bonatz 2000a: 39 c46.
163 Koldewey 1898: 140 pls. 19–22 and niehr 2006: 116. there is no indication that a
chamber-like structure existed to host the stele but a chest grave was discovered very
close to it.
164 For a discussion of the archaeological context and the first comprehensive interpre-
tation of the stele, see struble – herrmann 2009.
165 struble – herrmann 2009: 37–39.