The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria

religion 187

ancestor cult images of the deceased king were placed in various temples,
and also in the temple of the weather-god.290
the stele erected by King Bar-rakkab (ca. 733–713/11 B.c.) for his
deceased father panamuwa ii, which had been originally at gerçin, was
brought later to samʾal and left halfway there at the town of tahtalı pınar.291
the relevant text states:

(16)... and my father panamuwa died while following his lord tiglath-

pileser, king of assyria, in the campaigns; even [his lord, tiglath-pileser,

king of assyria, wept for him],

(17) and his brother kings wept for him, and the whole camp of his lord, the

king of assyria, wept for him. his lord, the king of assyria, took...

(18) his spirit [eat and drink]; and he set up an image for him by the way,

and brought my father across from Damascus to this place.292 in my

days...

(19) all his house [wept] for him. (Kai 215: 16–19).293

thus, King tiglath-pileser takes care of the spirit of the deceased, which
becomes even more important since the funeral in the royal tomb can-
not take place immediately. in light of the newly found Kuttamuwa
inscription from samʾal it is clear that the construction of an image by
tiglath-pileser concerns the spirit, that is the nbš, of the dead king. Benno
landsberger noted this, translating the relevant passage in the following
manner: “... und es nahm sein herr, der König von assur [.. .] seine seele
und stellte für sie ein relief auf am Wege... .”294 one made an effigy, in
which the spirit of the deceased took residence, and had the body brought
to gerçin, where the burial took place. this points to an act of lamen-
tation by the family. Following these actions, Bar-rakkab ascended the
throne of his father.
the statue also prescribes some rules for the cult of the deceased king.
however, this text is too fragmentary to deduce the precise rituals for the

290 cf. niehr 2001: 85-89. on eating and drinking with a god, cf. the text of a sepulchral
stele from Kululu in tabal; text and translation of KUlUlU 2 in hawkins 2000: 487–490
and cf. also aro 1998: 247.
291 see note 171.
292 in concurrence sachau 1893: 77, 80; landsberger 1948: 70; gibson 1975: 81; sader
1987: 168. against tropper 1993: 126 “nach assu”, who assumes an orthographic mis-
take and interprets the burial of panamuwa ii at ashur and not in samʾal as “ehrung und
auszeichnung für den toten.” this is not attested anywhere else.
293 adopted from gibson 1975: 81.
294 landsberger 1948: 70.