202 herbert niehr
criticism of the church fathers about the cult of atargatis it is clear that
this cult was active well into the 5th century a.D.378
in Damascus the cult of Jupiter Damascenus is documented into the
4th century a.D. at this point his temple was demolished and in place of
the temple’s cella a church dedicated to John the Baptist was built. the
church in turn had to give way to the forecourt of the Umayyad Mosque
in the 8th century a.D.379
north of Damascus is emesa, modern homs, which was under the influ-
ence of hamath, as the history of Qaṭna during the 1st millennium B.c.
shows.380 after hamath was destroyed in 720 B.c. and Qaṭna abandoned
in the middle of the 6th century B.c. the city of emesa experienced a major
upturn. the cult of the god elagabal is documented here. the divine name
refers to a deified mountain and demonstrates the deification of moun-
tains in the aramaean religion. elagabal was worshipped in the shape of a
divine stone (betyl). even though his cult complex is thought to be located
on the acropolis based on epigraphic finds, recent excavations have not
yet yielded sufficient evidence.381 elagabal gained supra-regional impor-
tance when his priest, Varius avitus, became emperor under the name
of Marcus aurelius antoninus in 218 a.D. he brought the revered stone of
elagabal from emesa to rome, where the god was placed at the head of
the pantheon and made equal or superior to Jupiter or the sun-god. a
temple was built for him on the palatine hill to which his cult image was
transferred. after the emperor’s death in 222 a.D. it was brought back to
emesa.382
it can be assumed that the cult of palmyra, in keeping with the other
aramaean regions, also worshipped hadad, although the name hadad was
replaced with the epithet Baʿal (“the lord”), Bol in the palmyrene dialect.
two bulls accompanied him, which fits with the cult of the aramaean
weather-god hadad. they were named ʿaglibol (“bull calf of Bol”) and
Yarḥibol (“young bull of Bol”). in palmyrene epigraphy and iconography
the chief god of this triad appears under the slightly varied name of Bel.
this shows the reception of the Babylonian god Marduk who carried the
epithet bēlu (“lord”) and thus connects well with the aramaean god Bol
378 on the cult of hierapolis, cf. esp. hörig 1979; Fick 1996: 210–216; niehr 2002 (with
literature).
379 on this basilica, its location, and destruction, cf. Dussaud 1922: 234–250; creswell
1958–1968: 59–73; id. 21969: 151–196; Burns 2005: 88–91, 111–124.
380 cf. al Maqdissi – Morandi Bonacossi 2009 and Morandi Bonacossi 2009.
381 cf. Moussli 1983: 254–261 n. 2; id. 1984; King 2002; Young 2003.
382 cf. niehr 1997b (with literature).