172 herbert niehr
More insight into the royal ideology is granted by an orthostat depict-
ing the enthroned king Bar-rakkab. the statement of the relief is usually
reduced to the depiction of the enthroned king and his scribe.224^ this
view, however, disregards the overall statement of the relief. in this scene
the king is the guarantor of law and order. he is seated on his throne while
an official approaches him with writing utensils in his hand and a diptych
under his arm.225^ Between the two figures in the center of the scene is
the symbol of the moon-god of harran representing the divine guarantor
of treaties and oaths. the king says the words: “i am Bar-rakkab, son of
panamuwa. My lord is Baʿal harran” (Kai 218), which commit him to fol-
low the legal order.
this situation is reflected by the expression ṣdq, referring to loyalty,
in other inscriptions of King Bar-rakkab. Because of this loyalty the god
rakkabʾel and the overlord tiglath-pileser placed Bar-rakkab on the
throne of samʾal (Kai 216: 4–7; 219: 4–5). Bar-rakkab describes himself
as more loyal than the other vassal kings (Kai 217: 3–6).
the relationships of the gods to the kings and vice versa in these
inscriptions can be summarized as follows: the gods place the king on
his throne, hand him the scepter of lordship (Kai 214: 2–3, 8–9), and
support him during his reign (Kai 214: 4, 10–14; 215: 1–2). accordingly,
the kings build temples to the gods for them to live in and provide for
them (Kai 214: 19–20). Furthermore, the kings build necropoleis (Kai 214:
11–15), prove themselves loyal to the gods and their political overlords
(Kai 215: 1–2, 11–18; 216: 4–7; cf. 217: 4–6 and 219), and their death spirits
are invoked together with hadad and their descendants sacrifices bring
after their death (Kai 214: 14–22; 215: 21).
in addition to the already discussed reliefs and statues of the kings
Kulamuwa, panamuwa i, panamuwa ii, and Bar-rakkab there are further
reliefs and orthostats at other locations in the city of samʾal. they too
grant insight into the royal ideology of samʾal.226
there is a deliberate sequence of stelae from the southern city gate
(a) to the outer citadel gate (D) and the hilani buildings on the citadel.
at the southern city gate were eight orthostats (Zincirli 3–10) with battle
224 e.g., gilibert 2011: 86 “in Zincirli 66 the king is shown engaged in administrative
matters... .”
225 cf. von luschan 1911: 347, who sees a “Buch... dessen Deckel durch ein richtiges
scharnier verbunden sind.”
226 i follow gilibert 2011: 191–221 in the numbering of the reliefs and orthostats.