"Heracles Figure" at Hatra and Palmyra: Problems of Interpretation Author(S): Ted Kaizer Reviewed Work(S): Source: Iraq, Vol
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The "Heracles Figure" at Hatra and Palmyra: Problems of Interpretation Author(s): Ted Kaizer Reviewed work(s): Source: Iraq, Vol. 62 (2000), pp. 219-232 Published by: British Institute for the Study of Iraq Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200491 . Accessed: 27/01/2012 17:08 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. British Institute for the Study of Iraq is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Iraq. http://www.jstor.org 219 THE "HERACLES FIGURE" AT HATRA AND PALMYRA: PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION By TED KAIZER* Introduction In this paper I intend to use the Heraclesfigure, a primeexample of the applicationof Graeco- Roman imageryto the ever-varyingprocess of expressingNear Easternforms of religionin the Romanperiod, to illustrateand guidea briefdiscourse on the methodologicalproblems concerning the approachto a religiousworld which was more heterogeneousthan is sometimesthought.' Iconographicrepresentations of a male figurewith club and lion's skin as his main attributesare widespreadin the Near East, and indeed far beyond, in the Roman period.2In what follows I will concentrateon the place and functioningof this so-calledHeracles figure within the context of the religiouslife of Palmyraand Hatra, two desert cities which, each in their own distinctive way, present examples of a complex religioussystem in which differentelements coexisted and might have influencedeach other. Evidencefrom elsewherein the Near East that may contribute to our perceptionof the variety of values which a Heraclesfigure could embody for different groups of worshipperswill also be taken into account.3 With regardto the places on which I am focusing, I preferto referto the figurewith club and lion's skin not as "Heracles"but as the "Heraclesfigure", because neither at Palmyranor at Hatrais that figureever called by his Greekname in accompanyinginscriptions. What the evidence does reveal,though, is that the Heraclesfigure enjoyed great popularity(especially at Hatra) and was clearlyconceived of as deeplyrooted in the divineworld of both places.As we will see below, it is possible, althoughnot "proven",that both in Palmyraand in Hatra the Heraclesfigure was identifiedwith Nergal, a deity with certain chthonian aspects from the Mesopotamiandivine world.4Nevertheless, the identificationsare problematic,and one ought to attend to the names and epithetsactually given by worshippers. It should be stated at the outset that the nature of our sources makes them very difficultto interpret.The evidencefor religiouslife in the Near East in the Roman period mainly consists of sculpturaland epigraphicmaterial, and we know close to nothing with regardto mythologyand ritual life. In the recent past the Heraclesfigure has been the subject of a growing number of studieswhich are mainlypreoccupied with hypothesesconcerning his originand travelsthroughout the Near East and beyond, and with theoriesconcerning the variousinterpretations and assimila- tions which he underwent.5In what follows I will leave those problemsaside as much as possible. 2 *Brasenose College, Oxford. See e.g. J. Boardman, The of Classical Art in 1 Diffusion Earlier versions of this paper were given in September Antiquity (1994), ch. 4: "The East after Alexander the 1998, at conferences in Cardiff at the University of Wales Great", pp. 75-153. and, a few days later, in Baghdad. I am grateful to the 3It is worth mentioning separately the material from Iraqi National Commission for Education, Science and Seleucia, collected by W. van Ingen, Figurinesfrom Seleucia Culture for making it possible for me to attend the confer- on the Tigris (1939), pp. 106-9, and especially the famous ence in Baghdad. In addition, I owe many thanks to bronze statue of a Heracles figure which the Parthian ruler Professors Fergus Millar and Robert Parker, and to Dr Vologaeses IV took from Mesene, with a bilingual inscrip- Andreas Bendlin, for their comments on several drafts of tion in Greek and Parthian (the latter written in Aramaic the text and for being very generous with their time, and characters) that identifies the figure in Greek as Heracles, to Margherita Facella for providing me with references and in Parthian as Verethraghna (wrtrgn). See A. Invernizzi, helpful suggestions on numerous occasions. Abbreviations: "Heracles a Seleucie du Tigre" in Revue Archeologique ANRW H. Temporini and W. Haase (eds.), Aufstieg (1989), fascicule 1, pp. 65-113, with further references, and und Niedergang der romischen Welt (1972-). also H. Stierlin, Stadte in der Waste (1987), p. 177 Abb. H 1, 2, etc. Inscriptions from Hatra. Same numbering 158. On the text see especially F. A. Pennacchietti, adopted by the main collections: F. Vattioni, "L'iscrizione bilingue greco-partica dell'Eracle di Seleucia" Le iscrizioni di Hatra (1981); B. Aggoula, in Mesopotamia 22 (1987), pp. 169-85. Inventaire des inscriptions hatreennes (1991); 4 On this deity see E. von Weiher, Der babylonische Gott K. Beyer, Die aramaischen Inschriften Nergal (1971), and W. G. Lambert, "Studies in Nergal" in aus Assur, Hatra und dem ubrigen Bibliotheca Orientalis 30 (1973), pp. 355-63. See also S. Ostmesopotamien(1998). Dalley, "Near Eastern patron deities of mining and smelting PAT D. Hillers and E. Cussini, Palmyrene Aramaic in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages" in Report of the Texts (1996). Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (1987), pp. 61-6. 5 RTP H. Ingholt, H. Seyrig and J. Starcky (eds.), On the possible typological and historical antecedents Recueil des tesseres de Palmyre (1955). of the Heracles figure in the more ancient Near East, see IraqLXII (2000) 220 TED KAIZER Ratherthan implyinghis Graeco-Romanness,or his Orientalbackground for that matter,I wish to approachthe Heraclesfigure at Palmyraand Hatra at face value, as we encounterhim in the first three centuriesAD. Since the evidenceis well known and has been studied thoroughlyby others, another overviewof the materialwould not, at present,help to furtherour knowledge. Instead,I wish to touch upon some generalproblems of approachfirst, and only then to see how far a study of the Palmyreneand HatreneHeracles figure, and of the contexts in which he was worshipped,can help to advanceour understandingof the natureof religiouslife in these places. There were of course many similaritiesbetween the religionsof the severaldifferent towns and local areas in the Near East, but above all the variousplaces were very differentfrom each other. Both Palmyraand Hatra - each in their own terms- had a culturewhich cannot be described unambiguously,and when one attempts to label the various facets of their respectivecultures either as "western"or as "eastern",those generalisationsturn out to be very problematic.6 While the archaeologicalremains of Palmyra,situated in the Syriansteppe, show a city which was largely Hellenised in its outward appearance,its distinctiveand still partly enigmaticart points to a wide rangeof influences,7and while both Greekand the local dialectof Aramaicwere used alongsideeach other as writtenlanguages inth the religionof Palmyra is usually describedas completelySemitic. The view expressedin the concludingremarks of the main work on Palmyrenereligion by Gawlikowskiis that an indigenoussubstratum was trans- formedby Babylonianand Canaaniteinfluences in pre-Hellenistictimes, followedby the penetra- tion of so-called Arab and Syrian deities by the first centuryBC. With the urban development from the early Roman empireonwards came theologicalsystems and astrologicaldoctrines which may have had their origin in HellenisticBabylonia.8 A numberof Graeco-Romandivine names and images also appear,but identificationof the Palmyrenedeity with the Greek one is usually perceivedas secondary,and believedto have also been regardedas such in Roman times. Hatra, the enigmaticcity in the desertof North Mesopotamiawhich probablyoriginated from a combinationof strategicand religiousfactors, gives a differentimpression from Palmyraat first glance,with the circularplan of its city walls (at least by the last stage)and the enormousvaulted structuresin its central temple complex. Its sculpturesreveal many resemblancesto those from Palmyra(see above), and the written language was a local dialect of Aramaic,with no Greek inscriptionsbeing found, and only three Latin ones from the brief period of Roman occupation before the city was capturedby the Sasanians.Due to the state of researchat present,knowledge of Hatrenereligion can only be provisional,but the religiouslife of the city in whichthe Heracles figure enjoyed such popularityis believed, in accordancewith the epigraphicevidence, to have been almost completelySemitic.9 7 W. Burkert, Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Like those from Hatra, the reliefs and sculptures from Ritual ( 1979), ch. IV "Heracles and the Master of Animals", Palmyra have been characterised as "Parthian art", a term pp. 78-98, and idem, "Oriental and Greek mythology: the used for the art of East Syria and North Mesopotamia on meeting of parallels" in J. Bremmer (ed.), Interpretationsof the basis