religion 171
according to inscriptions and iconography, the kings of samʾal made
the following statements. King Kulamuwa (ca. 840–810 B.c.) wrote in his
inscription (Kai 24) at first negatively about the achievements of his pre-
decessors in order to highlight his own architectural and political achieve-
ments. he “sat on the throne of his father and was father and mother to
his people.” Because he was then beleaguered by foreign kings, he called
on the assyrians to help him.221 this corresponds to the notable fact that
King Kulamuwa had himself depicted in the image field of the orthostat
wearing the jewelry and clothing of an assyrian king. he not only elevated
his own status as an aramaean petty king but also displayed his status as
loyal vassal to his assyrian overlord.222 this agrees further with the image
in the upper frame of his orthostat where Kulamuwa turns to the gods
ashur and rakkab’el in the ubāna tarāṣu speech gesture. thus the chief
assyrian god and the dynastic god of samʾal were revered in tandem.223
King panamuwa i (ca. 790–750 B.c.) wrote in his memorial inscription
(Kai 214) of himself that the gods stood with him and placed the scepter
of lordship into his hands. after he had sat on the throne of his father,
the gods gave him all he asked for, as well as abundance and fertility for
his land. this abundance manifested itself in the construction of temples
for the gods of the city and a necropolis for the king’s royal funerary cult.
he pledged his successor to the throne, under threat of harm, to invoke
his name along with the name of the highest god hadad and to hold the
royal mortuary cult at gerçin, which included a joint sacrifice to hadad
and his death spirit.
King panamuwa ii (ca. 740–733 B.c.) was instated by the king of
assyria, according to his memorial inscription (Kai 215), which his son
and successor Bar-rakkab drafted in his honor. in return he gave his
political loyalty, which he never abandoned during his lifetime; he died
during the campaign against Damascus, as a vassal of the assyrian king
tiglath-pileser iii.
King Bar-rakkab (ca. 733–713/711 B.c.) was, according to his inscription
(Kai 216), instated by the dynastic god rakkabʾel and the assyrian king
tiglath-pileser iii, because of his father’s loyalty as well as his own. With
Bar-rakkab the loyalty of the rulers of samʾal to the assyrians reached
its peak.
221 on the correspondence of Kulamuwa’s domestic politics and foreign affairs accord-
ing to Kai 24, cf. gilibert 2011: 80f with fig. 45.
222 cf. esp. czichon 1995; Brown 2008; gilibert 2011: 79–84.
223 For the gods ashur and rakkabʾel, see above, section 2.1; for the ubāna-tarāṣu-
gesture, cf. Magen 1986: 45–55 and czichon 1995: 369–371.