200 herbert niehr
on coins from the early 1st century B.c. the goddess atargatis is also
shown standing on a two-tiered pedestal. she wears a veil and long, flow-
ing gown. in her left hand she is holding a fruit or flower and on her chest
is the emblem of the moon. an ear of grain grows on either side of her.
texts from tell Deir ʿalla mention not only prophecy but also cult per-
sonnel. the first column of the tell Deir ʿalla inscription refers in line 13
to a ʿnyh “a (female) fortune-teller”, rqḥt mr “woman who prepares myrrh”,
and khnh “priestess”. Because of the fragmented state of the text no state-
ments can be made about the activities of the cult personnel.368
4.4 Prophecy and Divinationthe inscription on the stele from tel Dan (Kai 310) gives a first look
into the area of prophecy, from which inferences can be drawn on the
practices of prophets at the royal court of Damascus. according to this
inscription the god hadad made hazael king. the act is preceded by an
inquiry into the divine will by prophets,369 a practice explicitly noted in
the inscription of King Zakkur of hamath (Kai 202), which also notes his
salvation from a siege.
Balaʿam, mentioned in inscription i from tell Deir ʿalla, functions as
seer of the gods (line 1).370 the inscription says nothing about the realiza-
tion of such an act of divination, though fasting and chanting probably
played a role. the revelation takes place at night, which could mean it is
a dream revelation or incubation dream.
the existence of a prophet’s writing is particularly noteworthy. it was
first written on a scroll and later copied onto an interior wall of a house
in tell Deir ʿalla.371 later, the prophetic character of Balaʿam was incor-
porated into the old testament (num 22: 2–24: 55), where he is the only
non-israelite prophet in the service of the god YhWh.372
5. Outlook
the defeat of the last anti-assyrian rebellion led by King Yaʾubidi of
hamath near Qarqar in 720 B.c. did not seal the fate of the religion of the
368 cf. Müller 1982: 228f and lipiński 2000a: 507f.
369 cf. lemaire 1998c: 6f and suriano 2007: 166f.
370 cf. on Balaʿam esp. lemaire 1990a.
371 cf. van der Kooij – ibrahim 1989: 64–69.
372 cf. in detail Weippert 1991; levine 2000: 267–271; seebaß 2007: 2–107; noort 2008;
puech 2008.