society, institutions, law, and economy 55
why Kuttamuwa claimed a special relationship to the god hadad after his
death and expected joint offerings for hadad and his nbš118 like the kings,
especially King panamuwa i (Kai 214), who also expected offerings to his
nbš together with offerings to hadad.119
2.3 Scribesthe most famous aramaean scribe in Syria is depicted on the stele of Bar-
rakkab from Samʾal (with inscription Kai 218; pl. iii), easily identified by
his writing implement, the symbol of his profession and his social status.120
during the iron age, there were still few trained scribes. these enjoyed a
good reputation and such privileges as permission to bear the title “scribe”
or to seal documents with a seal of their own. already in Bronze-age Syria,
many inscriptions bore the name and title of the scribe.121 as Bonatz
remarks, “all dies ist umso bemerkenswerter, als neben ‘herrscher’ und
‘priester’, der titel ‘Schreiber’ der einzige ist, der im sepulkralen Kontext
ausdrücklich erwähnt wird.”122
after the assyrians annexed Syria, many scribes worked for them both
in the assyrian heartland and in Syria.123 Some assyrian palace reliefs124
depict aramaean scribes and different texts mention them.125 in a rela-
tively short time, aramaic became a second language, especially in inter-
national correspondence and administration documents. many assyrian
clay tablets of the 7th century B.c. have an additional aramaic comment
or were completely written in aramaic.126
the statue of a seated person, whom the engraved inscription identi-
fies as the scribe Kammaki, son of ilu-lēʾi, came from tell halaf.127 the
statue probably dates from the 8th century B.c. when Guzana was already
under assyrian domination. it proves that the tradition of an ancestors’
cult continued into the assyrian period. w. röllig assumes that Kammaki
118 the term nbš is variously defined as “soul” or “spirit of the dead” or “vitality of the
dead”; see Kühn 2005: 124f, 134f.
119 niehr 1994a; id. 2001; id. 2006: 116–119.
120 For the bibliography, cf. tropper 1993: 145.
121 Bonatz 2000a: 96.
122 Bonatz 2000a: 96.
123 Garelli 1982: 439–441.
124 Görke 2004: 326.
125 dion 1997: 328 refers to the so-called wine lists from nimrud, which list scribes.
126 most of the aramaic tablets were found in Syria. Some finds were made in ninive
and ashur. For a distribution of the aramaic tablets and dockets, see Fales 2000.
127 röllig 2003.