Between the Cults of Syria and Arabia: Traces of Pagan Religion at Umm Al-Jimål

!"#$%&"%'#(")*%+!"$,""-%$."%/01$)%23%45#(6%6-&%7#68(69%:#6;")%23%<6=6-%>"1(=(2-%6$% % ?@@%61AB(@61*C%!"#$%&'(%)("*&(+%'",-.(/)$(0-1*/&,2,3.(,4(5,-$/)(6D%7@@6-9% % E"F6#$@"-$%23%7-$(G0($(")%23%B2#&6-%HIJJKL9%MNNAMKMD% Bert de Vries Bert de Vries Department of History Calvin College Grand Rapids, MI 49546 U.S.A. Between the Cults of Syria and Arabia: Traces of Pagan Religion at Umm al-Jimål Introduction Such a human construction of religion as a so- Umm al-Jimål ’s location in the southern Hauran cial mechanism to achieve security does not pre- puts it at the intersection of the cultures of Arabia to clude the possibility that a religion may be based the south and Syria to the north. While its political on theological eternal verities (Berger 1969: 180- geography places it in the Nabataean and Roman 181). However, it does open up the possibility of an realms of Arabia, its cultural geography locates it archaeology of religion that transcends the custom- in the Hauran, linked to the northern Hauran. Seen ary descriptions of cult centers and cataloguing of on a more economic cultural axis, Umm al-Jimål altars, statues, implements and decorative elements. is between Syria as Bilåd ash-Shåm, the region of That is, it presupposes the possibility of a larger agricultural communities, and the Badiya, the re- interpretive context for these “traces” of religion gion of pastoral nomad encampments. Life of soci- using the methodology of cognitive archaeology. ety on these intersecting axes brought a rich variety The term “traces” is meant in the technical sense of economic, political and religious cross-currents of Assmann’s theory of memory (2002: 6-11). At the that gave special meaning to the problem of secu- core, these are the archaeological, material and in- rity. While the political and economic dimensions scriptional remains surviving at Umm al-Jimål and were largely exterior, imposed by the policies of re- its various geographic environments dated from the gional powers (Nabataean) and empires (Roman), first to the fifth centuries AD. These not only testify the religious dimension of security could be more directly to pagan religiosity known from symbolic local, or, at least, could be given locally indepen- shapes and the meanings of inscriptions, but also dent meaning. the larger archaeological socio-political context While religion is the often treated in isolation in which these specific traces had meaning. This from other cultural aspects (e. g., the classic by context also testifies to the role of these traces in Sourdel, Cultes de Hauran) or as incidental to so- the “memory” of the succeeding phases of occupa- cial and political dimensions of culture (e. g., the tion. excellent works of Adam T. Smith and Villo Harle), The essay begins with a brief introduction of the I have chosen to treat religion as a central — possi- nature of the political landscape — Nabataean and bly the central — component of the socio-political Roman hegemonies — to which Umm al-Jimål be- construction of security in ancient societies like longed. The substance of the chapter will present those of Umm al-Jimål . My operative definition of the traces of paganism, limited to those artifacts religion follows that of Peter Berger, “the establish- and texts with direct references to deities and their ment, through human activity, of an all-embracing role in society. The chapter will conclude with the sacred order, that is, of a sacred cosmos that will long-term memory, which involved in fact a delib- be capable of maintaining itself in the ever-present erate forgetting of their original religious functions face of chaos” (1969: 51, further, 26-28). The lan- and a recycling of these traces of paganism into guage used is particularly apt because it places the the fabric of the Roman fortress occupation of the issue of security in late paganism in the long tradi- fourth century. tion of the chaos-order paradigm of ancient Near The results of this inquiry are expected to Eastern myths. add insight into the social role of religion in the -177- Bert de VrieS achievement of local security under the domination cal geography in AD 106. of external regional and imperial power. It is the Traces of this Nabataean veneer are visible at first part of a larger inquiry into the fate of local Umm al-Jimål in the numerous Nabataean inscrip- religiosity in a society subjected to imperial occu- tions dated from the mid first to the late third cen- pation — how communal religiosity may adapt and turies AD, the survival of Nabataean-style architec- survive, but also how it may break down when the tural fragments, and the famous Dushara-Aarra text external source of security, imperial power, is re- to be discussed below. In the larger political land- placed by destructive and fragmenting force (see scape of the southern Hauran, Umm al-Jimål must de Vries 2007: 468-470). be seen as a satellite village of Bostra. Inscriptional evidence of this is the identification of more than I. Backgroung: the Political Landscape one person buried at the site as a member of the The religious context of Umm al-Jimål from the Bostra town council (Littmann 1913b: 343-344, first to the fourth centuries is dominated by three no. 284). socio-political circumstances: the local culture, Nabataean regional sphere of influence and Roman C. Roman Phase (AD 106 to 411) imperial domination. While local and Nabataean elements of cultural identity did not disappear, the Roman veneer im- A. Local Arab Culture posed on this is most evident in several Latin in- Evidences of the indigenous character of Umm al- scriptions indicating the presence of Roman im- Jimål survive mainly in the Arabic names written perial authorities. These inscriptions mention the in Safaitic, Nabataean and Greek scripts simulta- Provincia Arabia (Littmann 1913a: no 234), the neously (e.g., Al-‘Abd, buried AD 208, Littmann construction dedication of the northwest gate and 1913a: no. 275). In this, Umm al-Jimål appears typ- wall in the names of the co-rulers Marcus Aurelius ical of the mixed agrarian culture of the Hauran and and Commodus (Littmann 1913: no. 232), and the nomadic culture of the Badiya seen at many sites in construction dedication of an unidentified burgus the Hauran and territories immediately to the east. in the co-regency of Valentinian, Valens and Grati- It is traditional to talk about Umm al-Jimål in these an in AD 371 (Littmann 1913a: 132, no. 233). For- centuries as “Nabataean” or “Roman”. However, it mal Roman imperial construction, though mostly is the premise of this research that the dominant visible in fragments cycled into the later Byzan- aspect of its culture is local Arab, on which a ve- tine buildings, survives in the so-called Preatorium neer of Nabataean and Roman cultures were super- (Brown 1998). A Greek funerary text commemo- imposed as these two polities enveloped the settle- rating NeÒn, son of Ka’mih gives uncommon evi- ment into its respective hegemonic spheres. dence of a local conscript in the third Cyrenaica, the Roman legion at Bostra, the provincial capital B. Nabataean Phase (ca. AD 50 to 106 and Con- (FIG. 1; Littmann 1913a: 178, no. 349). tinuing Through the Third Century) Though it is easy to interpret the local evidence The town became “Nabataeanized” as later kings for religion as being “Hellenized” or “Romanized,” added the exploitation of the agricultural terrain of it must be stressed that such outside influences have the southern Hauran to their economic interests, and to be seen as a veneer which may have colored the made Bostra the administrative center of this north- outward appearances but did not penetrate to the ern Nabataea during the reigns of Aretas IV, Malik core of local religious identity. This presupposition II and Rabbel II (de Vries 1986). In terms of power starts in the general perspective that the religious politics expansion to the north was triggered by a impact of Hellenization throughout the entire era protracted power struggle over the region with the from Alexander to Constantine remained super- Herodian Tetrarchic rulers (the two Agrippas and ficial and that religion retained its Near Eastern Philip), with the result that the Hauran was split in character throughout, especially at the local level two, with the northern part incorporated into Ro- of society (that is, pagan in the original meaning man Syria as the Herodian puppet dynasty outlived of that word) in places like Umm al-Jimål . Teixi- its usefulness, while the southern portion survived dor states this emphatically, “Popular religion must under independent rule until it was folded into the have remained practically unchanged in Greco-Ro- Province of Arabia as part of the Nabataean politi- man times” (1977: 6). I would go further to say that -178- traceS of Pagan religion at Umm al-JimÅl Roman manipulation of local religious cults for imperial political purposes contributed to their aban- donment in favor of competing popular religious movements from the second century on. II. The Traces of Paganism: the Gods of Umm al-Jimål A. The Three Gods in Altar Dedications The three gods named on altars surviving in the Byz- antine ruins of Umm al-Jimål (FIG. 2) are Dushara Arra, the God Solmos and Holy Zeus Epekoos. 1. Dousares Aarra Dushara at Umm al-Jimål is known from the famous bilingual on two sides of the altar die located in the debris of the House VI; it is 1.40m. high and 0.37m. wide at base (FIGS. 3, 4). The Greek text is: Masexos Aoueidanou Dousarei Aarra “Masechos, (son) of Aweidanos of Dushara A’ra” (Littmann 1913a: 37-38, no.

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