religion 129
adini, with the cities til Barsib (tell aḥmar) and hadattu (arslan tash);
and Baliḫ (also known as Ḫuzirina), with the city harran.
2.1 Deities and Pantheaat guzana (tell halaf ), the capital of the kingdom of Bit Baḫiani,5 the
façade of the Western palace built by King Kapara gives some insight into
the pantheon of this city. three statues of deities were positioned in the
entranceway of this palace.6 at the center was a weather-god standing on
a bull, his characteristic. this deity can be identified as addu or hadad in
aramaic. the goddess at his left, standing on a lion, may be identified as
Šala, his paredros. she may have been equated with a local ištar in tell
halaf. the statue of a young god standing on a lion to the right of addu/
hadad defies a convincing interpretation.
the assyrian inscriptions and texts from guzana,7 though, tell little
about the pantheon. the divine names found in these texts cannot read-
ily be transferred to the pantheon of guzana. the identification of the
weather-god addu/hadad is definite. his position as weather-god is, for
example, emphasized by a ritual concerning fields. in this ritual, per-
formed in cases of drought, the people should weep and pray, cleanse
the country and fields, and offer up burnt offerings.8 this deity also held
a function in the legal system since trials took place in his temple and
oaths were taken before his statue.9 the aramaic texts from Maʾallanate,
located southwest of guzana, show the importance of the hadad tem-
ple of guzana for the economy and jurisprudence of that region in the
7th century B.c.10
the mention of the god enmešarra in an inscription by the scribe Kam-
maki from guzana is surprising. this deity has probably been adapted in
his function as an underworld deity.11
5 on the kingdom of Bit Baḫiani and the city guzana (tell halaf ), cf. Dion 1997: 38–52;
lipiński 2000a: 119–133; niehr 2010a: 213–229; and the contributions in Baghdo – Martin –
novák – orthmann 2009; iid. 2012; cholidis – Martin 2010; cholidis – Martin 2011.
6 on the issue of their installation, cf. the account of the archaeological context and
the discussion in cholidis – Martin 2010: 113–117, 346–354. on the palace’s destruction,
cf. schaudig 2011.
7 the inscriptions are edited in Meissner 1933 = 1967; Weidner 1940 = 1967; Ungnad
1940 = 1967; sader 1987: 11–14; schwemer 2001: 615f; Fuchs – röllig 2012: 211.
8 cf. schwemer 2001: 617f.
9 cf. lipiński 1994: 217–233 and schwemer 2001: 616f.
10 cf. lipiński 2010: 120–122, 144, 150, 154f.
11 cf. röllig 2003: 422, 424.