128 herbert niehr
the religion of the aramaeans of syria must be examined from vari-
ous perspectives. these perspectives focus on: (1) the pantheon; (2) the
monarchy as an intermediary between the divine and the human world;
(3) the temples as the seat of deities and the cults as devotions to the
deities; (4) prophecy and divination; (5) magic as a means to explore the
divine will; and (6) the realm of funeral and mortuary cult.
sources for the reconstruction of the religion include aramaic written
and iconographic sources, archaeological finds and features, as well as
assyrian, Babylonian, phoenician, and hebrew written sources. another
important resource for the history of religion, only mentioned here, is the
prosopography of personal names with its theophoric elements and con-
tent of their constituent verbs, respectively nouns and adjectives.2
there is considerable difference in the level of information available
for the religions of the various aramaean kingdoms of syria. archaeologi-
cal finds and features as well as written sources are present in different
degrees of completeness. as for secondary literature on the religion of the
aramaean kingdoms of syria, the reader may be referred to a number of
important overviews.3
the chronological scope of the following presentation has at its core
the time of the aramaean kingdoms of syria (ca. 1000–720 B.c.). Due
to the incomplete source material this time frame must be extended at
some points. however, emesa, palmyra, hatra, and other sites will not be
included, because the written and archaeological evidence is significantly
more recent than the sources from the aramaean kingdoms of syria.
nevertheless, they should not be overlooked in that they preserve signifi-
cant relics of the aramaean religion.4
2. Between the Tigris and Euphrates
the aramaean kingdoms providing the most source material on the ara-
maean religion in the region between the tigris and euphrates are Bit
Baḫiani, with the cities guzana (tell halaf) and sikani (tell Fekheriye); Bit
2 on aramaean personal names, cf. lipiński 1975a; id. 1994; Fales 1977; id. 1978; id. 1991;
Zadok 1978; Maraqten 1988.
3 cf. Dupont-sommer 1949: 106–117; hoftijzer 1968; gese 1970: 216–229; greenfield
1987; xella 1994: 242–251; id. 2007: 69–94; teixidor 1995: 369–377; haider – hutter –
Kreuzer 1996: 101–127; niehr 1998: 148–194; id. 2010a; lipiński 2000a: 599–640; Martínez
Borobio 2008.
4 see section 5 and J. F. healey’s contribution in this volume.