176 herbert niehr
Despite excavations in neirab there is as yet no archaeological evidence
of a temple there.
two sepulchral stelae from neirab offer an important clue to the exis-
tence of a temple to the moon-god Śahr. the wording “... kmr śhr bnrb”
(“... priest of Śahr in neirab”; Kai 225: 1–2; 226: 1) in these inscriptions
indicates that Śahr’s cultic site was in neirab. even though aramaic syn-
tax does not distinguish between the location of the priest and that of
the god, there are similar aramaic expressions in the texts from elephan-
tine that mention “Yahu [who is] in the fortress Yeb” that can be used for
clarification.245 thus, the temple of the moon-god Śahr in neirab is clearly
distinguished from the temple of the moon-god sin in harran.
the temple on the acropolis of ʿain Dara has been especially well investi-
gated.246 it is of the “long-room” type with exterior dimensions of 38 × 32 m.
this type of temple is mainly known from north syria, in for example,
tell tayinat,247 alalaḫ, ebla (tempel D), and emar (temple of Baʿal and
astarte). it is also found in palestine in, for example, hazor and Jerusalem.
solomon’s temple in Jerusalem is a “long-room” with a tripartite interior.
the old testament gives its length as 30 m (cf. 1 Kgs 6: 2), which accu-
rately corresponds to the temple in ʿain Dara.
the sefire treaties mention the location in which they were placed
(Kai 223 c: 2–3, 7). the bty ʾlhyʾ mentioned here are widely understood
to mean “betyls”.248 this is inaccurate, because the term refers to the tem-
ples in which the treaty stelae were placed before the gods. thus, sefire
was a cultic site for the treaties’ oath deities, i.e., the gods of Kitikka, who
ensured that the treaties were observed. this is also indicated by the list
of oath deities where the deities are requested to open their eyes over the
treaty.249
a neo-Babylonian inscription written on the torso of a statue found
in sefire also points to the existence of a temple at this site. it refers to a
residence for the god of sefire and the installation of his statue.250
the temple of the kingdom of Kitikka, where the stelae were located,
was probably a sanctuary located near the border of Bit agusi, although the
fact that the inscription mentions several temples means that the stelae
245 porten – Yardeni 1986: taD a 4.7: 6; 4.8: 7 [incompl.]; B 2.2: 4; 3.3: 2; 3.5: 2; 3.10: 2;
3.11: 2; cf. similar expressions in niehr 2003: 194.
246 cf. the references in footnote 128.
247 see below.
248 cf. for example alt 1934 = 1959; Donner – röllig 3 – 51971–2002: 259, 263; lemaire –
Durand 1984: 128, 142; Fitzmyer 21995: 125.
249 see below on the textual finds from one of the temples in tell tayinat.
250 cf. Warmenbol 1985 and lipiński 2000a: 206, 209 fig 213.