174 herbert niehr
raised his hands in prayer to Baʿalšamayin and the god answered him (lines
11–12). Baʿalšamayin spoke to the king by means of seers and prophets
(lines 11–13) and promised him liberation from his enemies (lines 13–15).
thus, Baʿalšamayin is the god of the kingdom of hamath.
in the kingdom of Bit agusi the royal name adramu or adrame (“addu/
haddu is exalted”) is found in the inscriptions on the stelae from antakya
and pazarcık as well as on the stele from Breğ.234 this name reflects the
king’s close connection to the chief god of the pantheon. Furthermore,
there is a close connection between the royal name Bar-hadad (“son of
hadad”) and the chief god hadad, as can be seen both in the inscription
Kai 201 found in Breğ near aleppo and in the royal names from Damascus.
in the latter case the question arises whether and in what way the names
are based on a perception of divine sonship of the king. a throne name
would also be a possibility,235 although without further written sources
from arpad or Damascus this question must remain unanswered.
3.3 Temples and Cultsexcavations have been conducted on the citadel of aleppo since 1998.
this has made it possible to confirm the existence of the temple of the
weather-god of aleppo. archaeological remains of a temple are attested in
the early and Middle Bronze ages. this temple was in use until the begin-
ning of the 1st millennium B.c. it burned down during a phase of rebuild-
ing in 900 B.c. and was abandoned.236 nevertheless, a continuity of cultic
practices, among others, can be established from written sources.
the earliest of these is an assyrian text according to which King shal-
maneser iii (858–824 B.c.) received tribute from King adramu/adrame of
Bit agusi, whereupon he offered sacrifices to the weather-god of aleppo.237
the inscriptions from sefire reveal that the sanctuary of aleppo could
grant asylum, as residents from Kitikka fled to aleppo (Kai 224: 4–7).
King Matiʾel was supposed not to grant them refuge but to repatriate
them to Kitikka instead.238
234 cf. riMa iii a.0.104.2, 5.9; riMa iii a.0.102.3, 11; Kai 201: 2; cf. lipiński 2000a:
212–216.
235 see below, section 4.2.
236 on this temple, cf. Kohlmeyer 2000; id. 2009; id. 2012; gonnella – Khayyata –
Kohlmeyer 2005 and the contribution of novák in this volume.
237 on this text, cf. schwemer 2001: 620 with n. 5007.
238 cf. greenfield 1991a and Fitzmeyer 21995: 147–149.