Sumer, the peoples of western Syria and middle Euphrates Valley continued to follow
their own distinctive modes of cultural behaviour, these deriving from older, deeply
seated traditions and ways of thinking. Some of the regions’ distinctive cultural
traditions have already been described in the discussion above, but it may be of value
to review here in detail the specific areas where western Syria/middle Euphrates culture
differed from that of Sumer. Our discussion parallels some of Gil Stein’s ( 2004 )
suggested areas of divergence between northern and southern Mesopotamia, but
further elaborations and evidence specific to the regions of western Syria are also
presented here.
a) Syrian temples. The institution of the temple in Syria had a different place in
society, when contrasted with the temples of Sumer. While temples are present in the
Syrian Euphrates Valley and western Syria, they lack the same over-arching importance
within the cities as in Sumer. Sumerian temples were perceived of as the dwelling places
of the city-gods, and in most cases, Sumerian cities had grown up around earlier
temple-centred towns extending back as early as the Ubaid period (Stein 2004 : 74 ).
Moreover, some of the earliest powerhouses, not only of religious authority, but also
of socio-economic and political authority, emanated from the Sumerian house of the
god, and the earliest individuals who assumed ruling status over the communities did
so through their close connection to the temples and their claim to have been
sanctioned by the gods. In the case of Syria, temples have been documented in many
urban communities, but they rarely appear to be central to the operation of the city,
and there does not appear to be any tangible link between these places of worship and
local forms of political or economic authority (Stein 2004 : 75 ). Temple complexes can
have monumental features, as evidenced by some of the examples of large temples in
antisat Halawa Tell A and Tall Kabir, as reviewed above, but monumentality is not the
rule; indeed, many temples have modest features and dimensions. It is also common
to find more than one temple in antiscomplex within a single settlement, as at Qara
Quzaq and Tell Chuera, suggesting that these should be regarded more as neighbour-
hood places of worship, or serving small numbers of a local group, than constituting
the principal ritual focus of an entire community (Stein 2004 : 76 ).
b) Religious ideologies. Although the precise nature of religious beliefs and the cult
in western Syria and the middle Euphrates Valley is still somewhat obscure, it is clear
that they diverge from what existed in Sumer. From Syrian textual sources, we know
the names of some of the deities worshipped in these regions: Dagan, Malik, Kura,
Nidabal, Adda and Rashap. These deities are clearly separate from well-known
Sumerian pantheon of gods (i.e. Enlil, Inanna). The god Dagan appears to have been
particularly associated with the Euphrates region of Syria, with cult centres at Tuttul
(Tell Bi’a) and possibly another site close to the Euphrates’ polity of Gasur, north of
Emar (Feliu 2003 : 23 , 303 ). Unfortunately, the texts fail to provide any particulars
concerning the ways these gods were venerated. Images from wall paintings from
Halawa Tell B and Tell Munbaqa of possible divine beings, some holding tree branches,
some featuring large circular eyes between tapering stalks atop tree-trunk images or
human-like bodies, may hint at the ways in which the Syrian Euphrates gods were
perceived, distinguishing them from their Sumerian neighbours who customarily
portrayed their deities anthropomorphically or with a different suite of symbols
(Orthmann 1981 : 42 ; Cooper 2006 : 92 – 94 ). On the other hand, the people of the
middle Euphrates Valley were not entirely removed from the religious imagery of
–– Cultural developments in western Syria ––