360 angelika berlejung
that, especially in north palestine during the fights between the kingdoms
of aram-damascus and israel, the gain and loss of territory happened in
very short intervals (see above). for the population of the conquered
areas the items of daily life remained the same, as did the cultic instal-
lations, the gods, and other things that were not destroyed. the primary
effect of the change in political supremacy was in taxation and jurisdic-
tion, since it had to be clear who should get the bribes. But we have no
records of these practical aspects of political changes in the 9th and 8th
centuries B.C. parallel to their political fate, Cis- and transjordan were
subjected to various cultic-religious influences, whereby one must reckon
with the existence of a local cult that survived all the transformations or
managed to integrate the successive influx of new religious notions into
its own local traditions (see, for example, the amalgamation of the local
weather-god hadad/Baʿal and the aramaean moon-god at et-tell). While
the weather-god of the hadad/Baʿal type is well-known and widespread
in syria and palestine even before the iron age, the moon-god of harran
seems to be an aramaean deity.106 his symbolism (crescent moon on
a pole with bells, bull iconography) and the lunar elements associated
with him107 found entrance into palestine and in subsequent times con-
tinued to assert themselves. aramaean, respectively aramaic influence
can be detected in the Gileadite inscription of tell deir ʿalla (end of the
9th, beginning of the 8th century B.C.), which provides evidence of the
autochthonous tradition of a vision of the seer Balaʿam, son of Beor (Num
22–24), in which various deities played a major role. they belonged to
the local pantheon of the place in transjordan: Šagar, aštar, deities (ʾlhn),
šadday-deities, and (according the (re-)construction of the text), perhaps
also el.108
how far the influence of the aramaean religious symbol system
extended into the israelite heartland and to the south, is also difficult to
say. in 2 kgs 23: 8 and ezek 8: 3–5, a “cult at the gates,” as archaeologically
106 the religious center of the aramaeans was harran in northwestern mesopotamia
from ca. 1050 B.C. on. at least since the 18th century B.C. a place of worship for the moon-
god was located in harran. for the early history of harran and its god, see Green 1992:
19–47 and keel 1994.
107 according to rima 3, a.0.102.92 there was a temple of the god sheru (aram.
śhr) in the city of malaḫa, which was a royal city of hazael of damascus (plundered by
shalmaneser iii). the location of malaḫa remains uncertain. for a summary of possible
locations, see younger 2005: 263 and hafÞórsson 2006: 132–134. lipiński 2000a: 350f, 384f
proposed the identification with the city of hazor, which is highly improbable.
108 Weippert 1991. for the classification of the Balaʿam inscription from tell deir ʿalla
as aramaic, see lipiński 2006: 290–292 and lemaire 2006a: 181 nn. 14 and 15.