art 241
samʾal since the image showing him seated in front of the feasting table
is strikingly similar in terms of both its relative proportions and the arm
and hand gestures to the orthostat reliefs from hilani Iv (“northern hall”)
with representations of King Bar-rakkab (see 2.1.1). Like the king and the
other members of the royal court, Kuttamuwa wears a cap with a pointed
tip and a long tunic with a fringed wrap. From the aramaic inscription
on Kuttamuwa’s stele, we learn that he was the “servant of panamuwa”
and thus lived during the reign of panamuwa II (ca. 743–733/732 B.c.),
who was Bar-rakkab’s father. Kuttamuwa’s visual self-representation is
thus consistent with the royal service mentioned in the stele’s inscrip-
tion. the cult of the deceased Kuttamuwa, however, displaces him from
the official sphere of the royal court at the citadel. Instead, the cult is set
in the domestic sphere of the lower town, where we can speculate that it
was firmly connected to the living world of the family clan.
the inscription on the Kuttamuwa stele, which can be not discussed in
detail here, is of great importance since it provides explicit information
on the rituals that were performed in the stele’s vicinity, including infor-
mation on the nature and the quantity of the offerings, as well as their
recipients, practitioners, timing, and source.166 the inscription is key to
understanding the ontological meaning of the funerary stelae. Line 5 of
the inscription reads, “... a ram for my ‘soul’ that [will be] in this stele,”
and lines 10–11 continue: “he is also to perform the slaughter in (proxim-
ity to) my ‘soul.’ ” these lines provide a clear indication that the mind or
the soul (nbš) of the deceased was thought to take up residence in the
stele, transforming it into an object to which offerings could be brought.167
these lines help us see that the representation of a funerary repast had
an appellative character and that the provision of food for the dead was
a ritual act performed in real life before the images. this was also the
case with the stele of the priest siʾgabbar, found in neirab (near aleppo),
which also portrays a funerary meal (pl. XvII).168 an important element
in the inscription on the stele is the phrase calling for protection of the
deceased priest’s monument and grave (KaI 226). It does not contain
a request for food for the deceased, since this request is implied by the
complementary function of the image (ṣlm) as the seat of the dead man’s
166 For a translation and commentary, see pardee 2009a and niehr’s chapter on religion
in this volume.
167 see also niehr 2010b: 54.
168 Bonatz 2000a: c35.