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Tayinat's Building XVI: the Religious Dimensions and Significance of A Tayinat’s Building XVI: The Religious Dimensions and Significance of a Tripartite Temple at Neo-Assyrian Kunulua by Douglas Neal Petrovich A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto © Copyright by Douglas Neal Petrovich, 2016 Building XVI at Tell Tayinat: The Religious Dimensions and Significance of a Tripartite Temple at Neo-Assyrian Kunulua Douglas N. Petrovich Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto 2016 Abstract After the collapse of the Hittite Empire and most of the power structures in the Levant at the end of the Late Bronze Age, new kingdoms and powerful city-states arose to fill the vacuum over the course of the Iron Age. One new player that surfaced on the regional scene was the Kingdom of Palistin, which was centered at Kunulua, the ancient capital that has been identified positively with the site of Tell Tayinat in the Amuq Valley. The archaeological and epigraphical evidence that has surfaced in recent years has revealed that Palistin was a formidable kingdom, with numerous cities and territories having been enveloped within its orb. Kunulua and its kingdom eventually fell prey to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which decimated the capital in 738 BC under Tiglath-pileser III. After Kunulua was rebuilt under Neo- Assyrian control, the city served as a provincial capital under Neo-Assyrian administration. Excavations of the 1930s uncovered a palatial district atop the tell, including a temple (Building II) that was adjacent to the main bit hilani palace of the king (Building I). Renewed excavations of recent times led to the 2008/2009 uncovering of a tripartite temple (Building XVI) located near Building II. The newly discovered temple had been occupied under Assyrian administration, but a spectacular conflagration brought its use to a fiery end in the seventh century BC. Fortunately for posterity, though not so much for the original inhabitants, the intense fire preserved some spectacular remnants. ii Among the finds in the temple’s cella was a cache of cuneiform tablets, including an oath tablet that can be described as a Syrian version of those found at Kalhu that recorded sworn oaths of loyalty to Esarhaddon by Median rulers. Building XVI and its artifactual finds raise new questions about religious practices at Tayinat during the Neo-Assyrian administration, including the identity of the deities worshipped in each temple and the reasons why various deities appear on the oath tablet as those who would inflict curses on all potential oath-breakers. Therefore, the present study seeks to describe the characteristics, architectural style, and material finds of Building XVI in the context of Tayinat’s citadel, in order to determine what can be learned from the religious architecture and artifacts that were excavated at the site, and to reconstruct the role and expression of religion at Tayinat, as well as can be known presently. iii Acknowledgments Anyone who has written a thesis or dissertation is aware of how important other people are to the success of the endeavor. Moreover, at least in the academic world of the Western Hemisphere, there is an enormous amount of help required to survive the coursework and comprehensive exams in the Ph.D. program, all while maintaining the lofty standard of an A- GPA. As a result, there are many people to whom I owe debts of gratitude that I can never repay. Not all of them can or will be mentioned here, unfortunately, but I would be remiss not to point out some. I will begin with my parents, Gerald and Marge Petrovich, to whom the greatest amount of credit is due. They always were there to encourage me and bandage the wounds that were suffered along the way. They provided me with sage advice, kept me from discouragement, and continually looked for the silver linings in every dark cloud that worked its way over my head. They were committed to seeing me succeed no matter what the odds, and they never wavered from believing that I would overcome those odds. Love believes all things. Without their constant help along the way, I am not sure whether I would be writing these acknowledgments. Honor to whom honor is due, and the accomplishment of this goal is the greatest badge of honor I can present to them. To my own family I owe a great deal of thanks. They came with me to Toronto after giving up a life in Russia, which—for my children—was the only life that they knew. My oldest, Alex, gave up the most, with many friends there and a lifestyle that he enjoyed. I remember the times when he shed tears in the months after our move to Canada. My wife, Sherri, was quite attached to many of our friends in Russia, and I saw the painful effects of those relationships that she no longer was able to enjoy. My older daughter, Elise, was not so devastated by the move, because she did not acquire most of her friends until we moved to Toronto. Once here, she thrived. My younger daughter, Danielle, forgot her Russian about the time of our arrival, so she quickly adapted. I am grateful for the support from all of them as I slowly trudged through the years of requirements to make it to graduation. My children have been a true inspiration to me daily, and without my wife’s willingness to work full-time during these years, we would be deeply in debt. Academically, the first person I would like to thank is Prof. Timothy Harrison, who has made me a far more refined student and scholar than I was before arriving on campus. He truly is a phenomenal scholar and archaeologist, and he pushed me at all the right times and in all the right ways. When he presented me with the revisions that needed to be made after submitting the first full draft of the dissertation, I could have fainted when I saw how much red ink he spilled on those iv pages. It took me from August to October to complete the revisions, working day and night. Prof. Harrison will always have a dear place in my heart for investing so much into my life. I also am indebted to my other committee members. The first to mention is Dr. Douglas Frayne. I spent countless hours chatting with him in his office over the years, and he become a treasure to me. I absolutely will miss those times of conversation. He also spent countless hours making sure that I was studying all of the right topics in the world of Assyriology, which is his world, and not mine. My dissertation simply led me into this vast field that is far out of my comfort zone. Without having him there to steer me along the way, I probably would be floundering still. Another important faculty member on my committee is Prof. Robert Holmstedt, who is our resident expert in Hebrew and Semitic languages. I enjoyed the years of monthly meetings with him and others in our Ancient Israel Working Group, which focused on numerous eras of the Israelite nation’s time in the Promised Land. Prof. Holmstedt helped to ensure that my treatment of the biblical text did justice to the ancient writers. A late entry to my committee was the internal reader, Prof. Paul-Alain Beaulieu, who is an amazing Assyriologist and scholar. I am extremely thankful that he treated me with graciousness and patience, knowing that Assyriology is not my specialization. He has a fantastic gift for understanding both the big picture and the minute details, as well as a rare ability to communicate them both with clarity and precision. After I passed the oral defense, the one regret that stood out to me in my studies was the disappointing reality that I never took Prof. Beaulieu for a class. The final member on my committee was Prof. Lawson Younger, the external reader. Although I had no contact with him about the dissertation before reading his critique, I knew that he would be adding a rich perspective. His reputation as a thorough and exacting scholar preceeded him, and I always have thoroughly enjoyed his presentations at annual conferences. He returned his critique of the dissertation so promptly that I nearly had time to complete all of his suggested revisions before the date of the oral defense. However, his seven-page critique made me work extra hard, which required me to take many trips to the library, always returning with two bags full of books. If I become half of the scholar that he is, I will enjoy a fruitful and successful career. Another person from the NMC Department whom I must acknowledge is Anna Sousa. I cannot thank Anna enough. Whenever I was suffering in an apparent crisis situation, I invariably found myself in her office, often dumbfounded as to how to continue forward or remain in the program. Anna always was there to pick me up off the carpet, dust me off, and assure me as to how or why everything would turn out fine in the end. I will never forget the timely encouragement v that she provided. I have no doubt that she has provided the same type of help to many other students, so for all them, I can state with confidence that her role here is far more than administrative. As far as friends within the department who came to mean a great deal to me, one name that stands out is Radovan Kabatiarova.
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