art 229
works provide no conclusive evidence of the ethnic linguistic identity of
the rulers who had them erected.105
a clear assyrian influence can be seen in the stele from arslan tash
(hadattu) that depicts the storm-god striding on a bull, holding the tri-
dent-like thunderbolts characteristic of north syrian iconography (pl. XI).106
the assyrian elements include his cylindrical hat crowned by a disk, his
long, slit robe, and his powerfully defined leg muscles. the erection of this
monument in the 8th century in an aramaean city ruled by the assyrians
reflects a differentiation between local visual traditions and the traditions
shaped by new rulers. In this work it is the figure of the storm-god who
creates a thematic bridge spanning these different traditions: as adad-
hadad, tarḫunzas-teššub, and Baʿal(-Šamayin), the storm-god managed
to defend his position as the leading god in the syro-Mesopotamian region
in a process of continuous assimilation. But since different iconographic
concepts were used to represent this deity in a rather small area,107 we can
conclude that the concepts resulted in part from chronological develop-
ments but were also determined by the cultural disposition of their com-
missioners and the availability of local workshops.
It must be assumed that sculptural concepts were frequently reinter-
preted in the context of the culturally and politically heterogeneous devel-
opment of syrian society. In the case of individual works such as the stele
from tell ašara (pl. XII), these reinterpretations can be linked to specific
events in history. this stele is the only significant historical and archaeo-
logical monument dating to the Iron age in tell ašara, a period in which
the town was called Širqu and served as the residence of the aramaean
tribes of Laqe in the central euphrates region.108
the stele, which bears reliefs on three sides and an akkadian inscrip-
tion, shows the storm-god facing to the right. he holds an axe in his raised
right hand and with his left is grasping the throat of a serpent. this type of
105 Dalley illustrated a similar problem of textual evidence, pointing out that the form
of a person’s name that is transmitted in writing cannot serve as a criterion for his or her
affiliation with a linguistic group; cf. Dalley 2000: 80f.
106 see also thureau-Dangin et al. 1931b: pl. II.1, rendering in Börker-Klähn 1982: n. 250.
107 section 3.3 referred to the geographic proximity between hadattu (arslan tash)
and tell aḥmar (til Barsib), both of which were located in the tribal area of Bit adini. It
must also be noted that an additional fragment of a stele with the storm-god comes from
arslan tash. however, only its lower section with the bull and the storm-god’s feet has
survived; cf. thureau-Dangin et al. 1931b: pl. II.2. this sculpture can be linked stylistically
to the stelae from tell aḥmar; see also Galter 2004b: 179.
108 Masetti-rouault 2001: 89–133 fig. 9 (drawing), figs. 11–14. For the history of the ter-
ritory of Širqu/Laqe, see Lipiński 2000a: 77–108.