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The Sociolinguistic Research of the Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus Acta Ant. Hung. 59, 2019, 537–546 DOI: 10.1556/068.2019.59.1–4.47 TÜNDE VÁGÁSI THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH OF THE CULT OF JUPITER DOLICHENUS Summary: Jupiter Dolichenus was a Roman god, a so-called ‘Oriental deity’ whose mystery cult gained popularity in the 2nd century AD, reached a peak under the Severi in the early 3rd century AD, and died out shortly after. As for Jupiter Dolichenus, he is sometimes referred to by scholars as ‘Baal of Doliche’ or ‘Dolichenian Baal’.1 The name Baal is derived from the term Ba’al, meaning ‘owner’ or ‘lord’, and the word must have been used as a title for gods in general. Over six hundreds monuments – mainly inscriptions – of the Dolichenian cult have come to light from the Eastern and Western parts of the Empire. The name Jupiter with the epithet Dolichenus – from the original name of Doliche – appears in inscriptions in many incorrect forms including Dolichenius, Dolychenus, Dolochenus, Dolicenus, Dolcenus, Dulcenus, Dolucens. Which of the above epithets reflects the original Syrian form and tradition? Is it possible that Dul- cenus is the original and correct form of the deity’s name, or is it just another vulgar change which ap- peared separately in time and space? This paper tries to prove the latter with the help of the LLDB. The Dolichenian cult is thought to have first been introduced by Syrian merchants and auxiliary soldiers, in- cluding troops from Commagene (the province that includes Doliche). In the light of the names of the priests of Jupiter Dolichenus, Speidel2 states that the Jupiter Dolichenian cult in the army was largely supported by Syrians and other Orientals. Key words: Jupiter Dolichenus, Dulcenus, Syrian traders, Syri negotiatores, Vulgar Latin, inscriptions 1. INTRODUCTION The main deity of the town of Doliche in Syria, known as Jupiter Dolichenus, was widely worshipped in the area of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the 2nd * The present paper was prepared within the framework of the project NKFIH (National Research, Development and Innovation Office, former OTKA Hungarian Scientific Research Fund) No. K 124170 entitled ‘Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age’ (accord- ingly abbreviated as Database or LLDB hereafter; see: http://lldb.elte.hu/) and of the project entitled ‘Len- dület (Momentum) Research Group for Computational Latin Dialectology’ (Research Institute for Lin- guistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences). 1 TURCAN, R.: The Cults of the Roman Empire. Oxford 1997, 161. 2 SPEIDEL, M. P.: The Religion of Iuppiter Dolichenus in the Roman Army. Leiden 1978, 9. 0044-5975 © 2019 The Author(s) Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 05:27 AM UTC 538 TÜNDE VÁGÁSI century AD until the middle of the 3rd century. His popularity peaked under the Severi along the northern frontiers of the Roman Empire. Jupiter Dolichenus had several different names in antiquity, but his full name is Iuppiter Optimus Maximus Doli- chenus: he borrowed his general epithets from the Capitoline Jupiter through the interpretatio Romana. Most of our data about divine names come from dedicatory in- scriptions, which are by far the most common type of inscriptions concerning reli- gious life throughout the Empire. The name is most often abbreviated on the inscrip- tions in the form I.O.M.D.3 The Dolichenus epithet is often referred to in a different way, however, for example: Dolichenius, Dolychenus, Dolochenus, Dolicenus, Dol- cenus, Dulcenus, Dolucens. To date, more than 450 inscriptions of the cult have been found in five prov- inces along the northwestern frontier of the Roman Empire: in the Rhine-Danube frontier, Italy, Britain and Northern Africa as well as in the Balkan region. They are distributed in the border areas of the Roman Empire, with most of the evidence for this cult found close to military settlements. At the same time, the traces of the cult are missing from Gaul and Hispania, Asia Minor, Aegyptus, and areas outside the territory of Commagene in Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia.4 Answering the question of what effects and processes created the form Dul- cenus requires complex investigation; we also have to examine whether regional varia- tions influenced the Dolichenian cult. Firstly, we must look at relevant Latin inscrip- tions displaying the name of the god from the eastern area, especially Syria. Secondly, we must examine inscriptions mentioning the name of the town of Doliche. Thirdly, we must examine inscriptions erected by individuals of Syrian descent who contrib- uted greatly to the spreading of the Dolichenus cult, such as the Syrian merchants and cult priests. At the same time, we should also take a look at the inscriptions that appear first in western provinces, as they are the ones we can expect to best reflect the normative form of the name of the god. While doing so, we should establish whether variants developed in the everyday life of local populations or in the whole empire at the same time, and whether they existed from the beginning or appeared only with the emergence of new settlements. This is a complex task.5 2. SYRIA, DOLICHE (Δολίχῃ) Doliche,6 the town the god in question was named after is now located in southeast- ern Turkey. The sanctuary of Dolichenus, which served as the centre of the cult in 3 BEARD, M. – NORTH, J. – PRICE, S.: The Religions of Rome. Vol. I. Cambridge 1998, 281. 4 For the possible causes, see TÓTH, I.: Iuppiter Dolichenus-tanulmányok. [Iuppiter Dolichenus- Studien.] Budapest 1976, 9. 5 FEHÉR, B.: Bujkáló adatok Aquincumból a nem szabályos nyelvhasználatra [Hidden data illus- trating non-normative linguistic usage from Aquincum] [FIRKÁK II]. Győr 2012, 173 – 179, here 173. 6 Doliche was located between the Euphrates River and the Taurus Mountains, in the Kingdom of Commagene, and was situated close to the intersections of important trade routes and military roads that connected it with Edessa, Carrhae, Samosata, Antioch, and other destinations well beyond the Near East. Acta Ant. Hung. 59, 2019 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/01/21 05:27 AM UTC THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH OF THE CULT OF JUPITER DOLICHENUS 539 Roman times,7 lies on the top of the mountain Dülük Baba Tepesi. On this hill stood a former shrine, and it was an important place of worship before the Roman area. The god Hadad or Zeus Hadados was honoured here.8 The name of Jupiter was only added when the settlement became the centre of the Roman cult.9 This fact excludes the possibility of the Dulcenus form on Latin inscriptions having been created because of substrate/adstrate effects.10 József Herman11 dealt with this type of transcriptional uncertainty, and said that the phenomenon can be seen as a striving for a better re- flection of the original pronunciation. With the Roman conquest, the cult underwent a major transformation, and the Dolichenus epithet appearing after makes it clear that the cult comes from Doliche, as opposed to the other Syrian gods who were also identified with Jupiter.12 The name of the settlement appears only in the Hellenistic era in literary sources, and even there it has various forms, so it is uncertain whether Dolicha or Doliche was the origi- nal name.13 This uncertainty of form is also reflected in ancient itineraria. Ptolemy is the first who mentioned Doliche in Commagene, and then it is mentioned in the Itinerarium Antonini as one of the stations of the road from Cyrrhus to Samosate.14 In addition, we also have evidence of an ethnic denomination in the form of Δόλιχος.15 Most of the inscriptions found in Syria are in Greek (CCID 2, 3, 30, 33, 34), where the god is invoked as Θεῷ Δολιχηνῷ.̣ 16 Inscriptions from the cult centre Doliche and its immediate vicinity appeared from 57–58 AD. Their language is uniformly Greek, and the god is mentioned as Δολιχηνῷ̣ (CCID 2–15). Among the dedicators we can find a certain Βαράδαδος bearing theophoric name (CCID 2) – that is, Hadad’s son – and this name appears in two more inscriptions related to the Dolichenian cult from 17 BLÖMER, M. – WINTER, E.: Commagene: The Land of the Gods between the Taurus and the Euphrates. An Archaeological Guide. Istanbul 2011. 18 In the Syrian inscriptions the deity is called several names, like Theos Epekoos, the ‘listening god’. Other popular epithets of the same god in this area included ‘Great-sighted god’, ‘holy god’ Theos Dolichenus, Zeus Magistos, etc. COLLAR, A.: Religious Networks in the Roman Empire. The Spread of New Ideas, Cambridge 2015, 84. 19 The relationship between Jupiter Dolichenus and the former deity was last discussed by BUN- NENS, G.: The Storm-God in Northern Syria and Southern Anatolia from Hadad of Aleppo to Jupiter Dolichenus. In HUTTER, M. – HUTTER-BRAUNSAR, S.: Offizielle Religion, lokale Kulte und individuelle Religiosität [Alter Orient und Altes Testament 318]. Münster 2004, 57 – 82. 10 There is no interaction between Semitic and Latin in the name of Hadad and Dolichenus. 11 HERMAN, J.: Latinitas Pannonica. Filológiai Közlöny 14 (1968) 364–376, here 371. 12 Jupiter Heliopolitanus, Jupiter Hieropolitanus, Jupiter Turmazgades, Jupiter Tavianus, etc. DUNAND, F. – LÉVÊQUE, P.: Les Syncrétismes dans les religions de l’antiquité: colloque de Besançon, 22–23 octobre 1973. Leiden 1975. 13 The name of the settlement in literary sources may also refer to Doliche of Thessaly. Ptolemy, Geogr. V 14.8. On Greek inscriptions, however, it typically appears as Δολίχη. For a review of the city’s variants see MERLAT, P.: Jupiter Dolichenus. Essai d’interpretation et de synthése. Paris 1960, 2. 14 Tabula Peutingeriana, segmt. X, A, 2 and Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, Asia, 184, 1–4: ‘Dolicha is 10 miles from Sicos Bassilisses, 14 miles from Zeugma, 20 miles from Gerbedisso and 25 miles from Hanuea’.
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