religion 163
as both the statue of the deified dynastic founder found on the acropolis
as well as the grave next to the hilani i building are aligned to the east,
facing the sunrise.166 the stele of Kuttamuwa was also set up facing the
sunrise.167 the inscription of Kuttamuwa calls for the offering of a ram to
the sun-god at the time of his funeral. Furthermore, a hardly recognizable
winged solar disk of approximately 13.5 cm in height fills the upper image
field of the Kuttamuwa stele.168
Deified ancestors also belong to the divine realm. this concept from
the West semitic area is already known from Ugarit and is found in the
expression of ʾlh ʾbh (“the god of his father”)169 in the inscription of King
panamuwa i in the context of an oath (Kai 214: 29) in samʾal.
King Bar-rakkab (ca. 733–713/11 B.c.), the successor of King panamuwa ii
(ca. 740–733 B.c.), erected a stele with a memorial inscription (Kai 215)
around 733/731 B.c.170 although found in tahtalı pınar, half way between
samʾal and gerçin, it belongs, like the inscription on the hadad stele of
panamuwa i (Kai 214), in gerçin.171 since the two inscriptions are only
twenty years apart and the same royal family remained in power, signifi-
cant differences cannot be expected to appear in the cult of the gods of
samʾal.
in the inscription for panamuwa ii hadad appears as the divine per-
sonal protector of the king (Kai 215: 2). otherwise, “the gods of Yādiya”172
are called on in general (Kai 215: 2). at the end of the inscription, hadad,
el, rakkabʾel, with the title “lord of the house,” Šamaš, and “all the gods
of Yādiya” appear (Kai 215: 22).
the construction and memorial inscriptions of King Bar-rakkab173
focus on the special position of the god rakkabʾel as the dynastic god in
samʾal (Kai 215: 22). he had held this position since the time of King Kul-
amuwa i (Kai 24: 16; 25) and continued to hold it until the time of kings
166 see below, section 3.6.
167 cf. struble – herrmann 2009: 36.
168 cf. struble – herrmann 2009: 20.
169 cf. van der toorn 1993 and id. 1994: 47–49.
170 cf. on the inscription esp. Younger 1986: 91–99; tropper 1993: 98–131, 159–162;
green 2010: 194–219.
171 cf. von luschan 1893: 48, 53f and sachau 1893: 65 and later Dion 1974: 3; tropper
1993: 98 and niehr 1997: 298f; id. 2006: 118. if hamilton 1998: 227 places the stele along
the northeastern road leading away from samʾal he ignores the cultic and royal ideological
context of the stele’s placement.
172 on Yādiya, cf. starke 1997b: 458 with note 121 and id. 1999: 525.
173 cf. on the inscriptions especially Younger 1986: 100–102; tropper 1993: 132–169,
163f; hamilton 1998: 226–230; green 2010: 220–231.