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SCI.DAN.H. 4 • Ü • THE WORLD OF PALMYRA THE ROYAL DANISH A CA DEM Y OF SCIENCES AND LETTERS ■ 2 016 TED KAIZER SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 these “two systems, local and national, may clash, but various divine constellations (as they will be referred rarely do, since listening to or reading Homer or at­ to for present purposes) and aim to analyse the diver­ tending a tragedy takes the participants into another gent ways in which they could be constructed - with­ world, a world far more distant, sublime and awesome out any intention to provide a comprehensive over­ than everyday reality where sacrifices are made and view. prayers are addressed to the local gods who are ‘right Any order of discussion would of course be arbi­ here’. Many pantheons, many horizons.”4 Needless to trary, but the most obvious place to commence a dis­ say, the paradigm from the Greco-Roman world can­ cussion of the divine constellations at Palmyra is the not be imposed uncritically unto the Levantine evi­ so-called ‘triad of Bel’. Though it is sensible to avoid dence, and categorising any grouping of deities in the pitfalls of the modern scholarly phenomenon of terms of a pantheon may only be sanctioned follow­ what Kevin Butcher has called ‘triadomania’,5 and fair ing a proper qualification of the phraseology. It can to appreciate that the only undisputable triad in the therefore be expected that the application of the label Roman Near East was formed by Maren, Marten and ‘pantheon’ to the divine world of Palmyra (and in­ Bar-Maren at Hatra,6 the fact remains that the major deed of other places in the Near East in the Roman temple dominating the religious topography of Pal­ period) will remain contentious. myra was dedicated in AD 32 not only to Bel, but This paper will not be an attempt at a sophisticat­ jointly ‘to Bel and Yarhibol and Aglibol’, as the fa­ ed definition of the term. Instead, the argument is mous inscription from thirteen years later records.7 built upon the simple observation that in a majority The association between the three gods has often been of cases (though clearly not always) Palmyrene deities explained as the ‘theological’ creation of a triad around were grouped together, in inscriptions and on sculp­ this time by the priesthood of Bel,8 but the joint nature tures alike. One should not claim to be able to say of the dedication could also be understood, more ad­ much about the precise nature of the associations be­ vantageously as far as I am concerned, as following on tween these deities, since there are no literary sources the initiative of the benefactor who paid for the north on ‘Palmyrene mythology’ preserved nor, as noted by adyton.9 10When this hykl’ was, following the convincing Lipinski, equivalent ‘god-lists’ to those known from hypothesis of Michal Pictrzykowski,'" extended about the Ancient Near East. The evidence from Palmyra is a generation later with the south adyton and turned hardly sufficient to warrant the recognition of clearly into the cella as it now stands, the goddess Astarte may structured relations between different divinities and it have joined the main cultic line-up of the sanctuary.11 would be absurd to think that a proper religious ‘sys­ tem’ can be reconstructed. But it seems nonetheless 5. Butcher 2003, 342. clear that if worshippers chose to list or depict various 6. Kaizer 2000, 233 and 236-7. gods and goddesses jointly, they were in any case not 7. PAT no.1347. See Kaizer 2002, 69. Seyrig 1932 was the first to thinking of them in isolated fashion. As not all Pal­ emphasise that the constellation always follows the same myrene groupings of deities were built up in an iden­ ‘hierarchical’ order. 8. Seyrig 1971, 94. See also Drijvers 1976,11: “It may be assumed tical manner, this paper will propose to classify the that the formation of this cosmic triad is a product of that kind of theological thinking which at the beginning of our era liked 4. Versnel 2011,143, who added the following: “Local gods, as to combine its gods into abstract concepts of a cosmic order.” most exemplarily represented by the gods worshipped by each g. As argued in Kaizer 2006. polis (and its chord), together formed a local pantheon, thus 10. Pietrzykowski 1997,119-135 (French résumé of Polish text). generating many local, relatively isolated, pantheons, one 11. As argued by Dirven 1999, 70-71. It ought to be emphasised differing from the other not only in their composition, but though that there is no hard evidence that the south adyton, also in that gods with the same name belonging to different to be credited to a different benefactor than the north adyton, cities were not (necessarily) perceived as being the same was separately dedicated to Astarte. On the relationship at gods.” Palmyra between Astarte and Bel, see also Seyrig 1960. SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 DIVINE CONSTELLATIONS AT PALMYRA. RECONSIDERING THE PALMYRENE PANTHEON

An inscription dated to AD 137 indicates how, ten years Bel (regardless of the reasons behind its arrangement earlier, this ‘new’ group of Bel, Yarhibol, Aglibol and in AD 32) had grown into a true civic symbol for Pal­ Astarte had come to be established as a divine constel­ myra by the time the city started to mint its own coins, lation in its own right.12 most likely at some point in the first half of the second Naturally, the three gods, without the goddess, century - an argument which is strengthened by the could also continue to appear in their earlier composi­ fact that this particular coin concerns one of the very tion. A Palmyrene coin shows three deities who can be few giving the name of the city: IIAAMYPA on the ob­ interpreted on convincing iconographic grounds as verse, depicting a victory goddess holding scales and Bel, Yarhibol and Aglibol: the central god is wearing a palm, and perhaps [tjdfmr], the indigenous name in a kalathos while his ‘acolytes’, the two figures that flank Aramaic, below the three divine busts/4 him, are wearing a solar crown and a crescent respec­ Even if (as the coinage suggests) the dedicatory tively/3 *It could therefore be argued that the ‘triad’ of group of Bel, Yarhibol and Aglibol over time grew into a civic constellation, the great temple of whose 12. Drijvers 1995a; see below, 23. It is possible that the four first adyton they were the recipient deities in AD 32 gods are worshipped in association with each other also in had more commonly been referred to in inscriptions Rome, according to the interpretation by Seyrig 1960, 71 n.i of from the early first century as the ‘temple of Bel’/5 a low pillar with a fragmentary relief and a damaged bilingual This designation, however, is a simplification of the inscription; see also LIMC III “Bel” no.9 = V “Iarhibol” no.18. actual cultic situation. An abundance of epigraphic The Aramaic part contains only the names of one of the dedicants, whereas the Greek part preserves a dedication to evidence leaves no doubt that a large number of other Bel and Yarhibol, denoted as ancestral gods but without the deities also received a cult in the sanctuary, already conjunctive Kai, which makes it likely that the name of Aglibol before the dedication of the north adyton,16 1718and in ad­ should be restored. The name of Astarte, in Greek, is added dition to the above-mentioned first-century inscrip­ separately above the female head and should therefore tions that refer to the temple as that ‘of Bel’, there are probably not be restored in the bilingual dedication, as was indeed others from around the same time that desig­ done in CIS II3904. Cf. correctly PAT0249. Adams 2003, 252, interestingly discusses the document as one of “the most nate it (more correctly) as the ‘house of the gods of aggressively ‘Palmyrene’ religious texts” from outside the Palmyrenes’/7 But whereas the latter label eventu­ Palmyra, but wrongly restores the Aramaic part as a ally seems to have gone out of fashion, the sources dedication to Bel, Yarhibol and Astarte. Astarte is also said to show that the conventional name ‘temple of Bel’ re­ have joined Bel, Yarhibol and Aglibol on a relief from Palmyra mained in use into the second century/8 itself, see Drijvers 1976, pl.VIII.2; Tanabe 1986, pl.101; LIMC I The notion of collective Palmyrene divinity, as “Aglibol” no.19 = III “Bel” no.2 = III “Beltis” no.3 = V “Iarhibol” no.14. It is clear from the monument’s shape, evoked by the citizens’ reference to the great temple however, that two other deities are missing, and that there as the ‘house of their gods’, is also attested outside the thus were six in total. It seems that originally the deities were city. A Palmyrenean inscription found in the midst of all identified by an inscription, but most of them - including Safaitic graffiti in the Wadi Miqat in present-day Iraq, the one above the goddess supposed to be Astarte - are no longer readable. Though no one seems to have provided the cross-reference to CIS II 3982, the inscription is in fact, as which only two figures remain, interpreted as Bel and Jean-Baptiste Yon pointed out to me, PAT0328. Cf. Chabot Yarhibol, see Tanabe 1986, pl.109. 1922, 71-72. In any case, the fact that the relief originally 14. As argued in Kaizer 2007a, 52-53. If the hypothesis is depicted six deities disqualifies the remaining four from being correct, these coin legends match the unique bilingualism of considered as a representation of‘the triad of Bel with the public inscriptions of Palmyra and also of its Astarte’. Cf. Borkowska-Kol^taj 1966. countermarked currency. 13. Du Mesnil du Buisson 1944, no.XCI; See also a third- 15. PAT no.0270 (AD 17 or ig), no.1352 (AD 24). century dedication of an altar to the three gods: Dentzer- 16. See Kaizer 2002, 75-79- Feydy and Teixidor 1993,149 no. 157; PAT no. 1610. For a 17. PAT no.1353 (AD 25), no.0269 (AD 51). damaged relief allegedly showing the ‘triad of Bel’, but of 18. PAT no.2769 (AD 171), no.0260 (AD 175).

T9 TED KAIZER SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 well outside the territory of Palmyra, seems to record with the Lord of the Heavens having received wide­ a prayer by two men ‘to be remembered before the spread worship in the Northwest Semitic world from gods of Tadmor’, thus invoking the united gods of the tenth century onwards and Durahlun most likely their home town under its indigenous name/9 The to be interpreted as ‘the one from Rahle’, a settlement same phrase appears on the famous altar from Rome on Mount Hermon/4 This was not the only occasion with its four reliefs, probably dating to the late first or at which Baal-Shamin and Durahlun received a joint early second century AD and now in the Capitoline cult/5 and in AD 62/3 they had formed a dedicatory Museum. Whereas the main inscription, below the im­ constellation with two other deities, when an altar was age of a radiated sun god, is in Latin and records how offered ‘to Baal-Shamin, to Durahlun, to Rahim and the altar was ‘consecrated to the most holy Sun’ (Soli to the Gad of Yedibel’/6 The fact that a deity such as sanctissimo sacrum), a less refined line was added in Pal- Rahim could be mentioned alongside Baal-Shamin myrenean underneath the relief of a figure in a chariot and Durahlun in an altar offering but was left out drawn by four griffins, dedicating the monument to from the cella dedication around seventy years later Malakbel and ‘the gods of Tadmor’ (’Ihytdmr)."10 A dif­ may serve as a warning against interpreting what ferent form of divine collectiveness can be found on seems to have been the main divine constellation of an inscribed relief from Khirbet Farwan in the Pal­ the temple as in any way cast-iron and permanent. myrena, which groups together seven divinities as the Deities from the same cultural sphere of influ­ genaye of the village of Beth Phasiel (gny’ dy qryt’ dy bt ence* 2021222324252627 28also formed constellations in the context of the psy’l), applying a term often explained along the lines temple of Allat-Athena, although not as joint recipi­ of Arabic ‘jinns’ or demons/1 Their individual ano­ ents of a formal dedicatory inscription of the build­ nymity is highlighted by the fact that they are repre­ ing. Rahim is mentioned together with Allat and the sented as six identical-looking gods with the same sun god Shamash in an inscription from AD 129, droopy moustache and hairdress, all wearing indige­ found in the Transversal Colonnade not too far from nous dress and carrying a small round shield and the temple of Allat, recording the offering of six col­ spear. Only the seventh figure, standing towards the umns of a portico with its entablature and roofing/8 It right, is different: it concerns a goddess, although she is of course likely that Rahim and Shamash were also is given no divine name to single her out. included in the anonymous reference to ‘all the gods The ‘triad’ of Bel combined the chief deity Bel, who stay with the Lady of the temple’, a Palmyrene whose name is to be explained with reference to Baby­ spin on the Classical prayer formula which is attested lonian influences, with two deities whose names con­ in an inscription that was reused in the Camp of Dio­ tain the typically indigenous element Bol/2 In con­ trast, the cella of the temple ‘of Baal-Shamin’ was temple, namely the Gad of a specific familial grouping: [gdjh jointly dedicated in AD 131 to deities coming from the d[hw]mn bnyydy 'bl, see Teixidor 1979, 20-21. The Greek same cultural sphere of influence as one another: ac­ counterpart, in any case, simply states that the naos was built cording to the Aramaic half of a bilingual inscription, ‘for Zeus’. Note that the inscription of AD 132 (discussed below, see 24), listing the temples that were presumably those the temple was built ‘for Baal-Shamin and Durahlun’/3 of the four tribes of the city, refers to it as the temple of Baal- Shamin or as that of Zeus only: PAT no. 0197; IGLS XVII.1, ig. /z/'/ no.2740, with Tcixidor 1967,188 (reporting a restoration no. 150. proposed by Michal Gawlikowski): [Jlhy t[dmr]. 24. For Baal-Shamin, see Niehr 2003; for Durahlun, see 20. PAT no.0248, with Houston 1990. See Drijvers 1976, pl.XL- Aliquot 2009, 351. XLIII; Dirven 1999,175-180. 25. For references and discussion, see Gawlikowski 1990, 2630; 21. Drijvers 1976, pl.LIV.2, with PAT no.1704. Kaizer 2002, 79-88. 22. Hoftijzer 1968, 26-33, especially 27 n.5. 26. PAT no.0179. 23. PAT no.0305; IGLS XVII.i, no.145. According to an 27. On which see Kaizer 2002, 56-60. alternative reading there was a third divine recipient of the 28. PAT no.0301.

20 SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 DIVINE CONSTELLATIONS AT PALMYRA. RECONSIDERING THE PALMYRENE PANTHEON cletian, into which the temple of Allat became inte­ the sanctuary’s arrangement when the temple got ex­ grated.29 One relief from the sanctuary itself shows tended with the south adyton, while silver went to a the goddess alongside three other deities, two figures group consisting not only of Baal-Shamin and Durah­ in indigenous dress (one carrying spear and shield, lun (who were often associated with one another in the the other spear only) and a cuirassed god wearing a temple of Baal-Shamin) but also of Belti. The presence helmet.30 Perhaps surprisingly, the goddess to whom of this goddess can be explained by the fact that she is the temple is dedicated finds herself on the fringes of known to have received a cult on her own in the tem­ the relief rather than in the centre. Ona relief from ple of Baal-Shamin,35 but it is also possible that she Khirbet Wadi Swänc in the Palmyrena the Athena fig­ was added to the constellation in this particular case in ure stands alongside a sun god wearing long dress order to replicate the presence of Astarte alongside the (probably Shamash-Helios, since Yarhibol, the city’s members of the ‘triad of Bel’. In other words, the dedi­ other solar deity, was commonly depicted in military cant may have wanted to attach a goddess to each of tunic).31 Another relief from the same village depicts the sets of deities to whom two important temples at the goddess (in indigenous dress, and with spear and Palmyra were formally dedicated - perhaps even more shield) as part of a similar combination,32 while on a so due to his own devotion to Allat, his particular god­ third relief from the hinterland, from Khirbet Leqteir, dess. It is in any case noteworthy that this act of wor­ she is standing next to three deities, of which the one ship deliberately brings together the divine represen­ on the right is a bearded figure, the one in the middle tatives of the major temple of Bel, which in many ways has a solar nimbus and the one on the left is shown functioned as the federal sanctuary of the city, with a with a halo and a lunar crescent.33 The above-men­ constellation of deities from the temple of Baal-Sha- tioned inscription from AD 137 illustrates most clearly min, which served as one of the two main focal points how different divine constellations could appear to­ for the religious activities of tribal groupings whose gether within one and the same cultic context.34 It re­ ancestors came from the steppe to settle at the oasis - cords how, in AD 127, Allat, specified as the dedicant’s in the context, it should not be forgotten, of the tem­ special goddess, had received a gift made of both gold ple of Allat, the other focal point of worship for the and silver, followed by details on offerings to two sets same segment of Palmyrene society.36 We will look at of deities: first, Bel, Yarhibol, Aglibol and Astarte, another source combining the two main strands of Pal­ ‘the good and generous gods’, were given a golden myra’s religious world later in this article.37 bowl; second, Baal-Shamin, Durahlun and the god­ Another group of deities worshipped in the same dess Belti received a silver bowl. A hierarchy between cultic setting was formed by the unexpected combina­ the constellations is thus made explicit: gold went to tion of Herta, Nanaia and Reshef in a Palmyrenean the three gods to whom the first part of the temple of text from the temple of Bel that has been known for a Bel had been dedicated in AD 32 in conjunction with long time: in 6 BC, the priests of Herta erected a stat­ a goddess who may have first joined them formally in ue for a benefactor to the joint cult of these three dei­ ties, and initially it was thought that this particular constellation was simply a one-off.38 The later discov­ 29. PAT no. 1929, with Kaizer 2002,103: Imrtbyt'... wl'lhy' klhndy ytbyn Iwth dy [mrt byt 30. Ruprechtsberger 1987,309 no.31, with PAT no.1128; LIMCI 35. PAT no.0204, with Dunant 1971, pl.XV. 7. “Allath” no.13; Kaizer 2002, 230. 36. On this division in Palmyrene religious life and on how to 31. Drijvers 1976, pl.LVI.i LIMCY “Allath” no.14 = V “Helios” interpret it, see the discussion in Kaizer 2002, 56-60. no. 41a. 37. See below, 26. 32. Drijvers 1976, pl.LVI.2; LIMCN “Helios” no.42. 38. PAT no.2766; Kaizer 2002, 76; Healey 2009,145-147, no.29. 33. Drijvers 1976, pl.XXXVII.2; LIMC I “Aglibol” no.21 = I Note, however, that Herta and Nanaia (hrt' wnny) are mentio­ “Allath” no.18 = III “Baalshamin” no.9 = VIII “Malakbel” no.14. ned together, but without Reshef, on a number of tesserae: 34. Drijvers 1995a; see above, 20-21. Ä7Pno.i34 (with Bel) and no.238-242.

21 TED KAIZER SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 ery of a text from AD 99, however, has made clear that cated ‘to Shalman and Argaya, the good and gener­ the constellation in fact remained in existence as an ous skry’.i3 This example may serve as a warning actual cultic reality. The later text is a bilingual one, against injudicious identifications of divinities whose found in the so-called temple of Nebu, which renders images are not epigraphically named, since without Herta with Hera, Nanaia with Artemis, and Reshef the inscription the relief of Shalman and Argaya with Rasaphos.39 The identification of Herta (hrt’) would no doubt have been interpreted as a (slightly with Hera is most likely on account of the homopho­ crude) representation of Aglibol and Malakbel. ny of their names, whereas that of Nanaia with Arte­ Although they are conventionally known amongst mis followed the pattern known from elsewhere in the scholars by reference to one divine name, the temples Near East. Reshef, however, is not identified with a ‘of Bel’ and ‘of Baal-Shamin’ were, as we have seen classical deity, and instead his name (rsp) is tran­ above, according to their dedicatory inscriptions liter­ scribed in Greek (Paoaijjoc), in the same way that ally ‘of multiple gods. Nearly all other sanctuaries at typically Palmyrene deities such as Yarhibol, Aglibol Palmyra have similarly revealed evidence to show that and Malakbel are never identified with a Greek god.40 they housed a variety of deities.44 But it must be em­ Regarding the continuation over time of a cultic phasised that those temples believed to have been the combination at Palmyra, the best attested example is temples ‘of the four tribes of the city’ are known within that of the two gods who were occasionally referred to that context by one divine name or one divine label only. as the ‘holy brethren’: Aglibol and Malakbel, who As is widely accepted, the sanctuaries are listed in two were worshipped together in a sanctuary enigmati­ bilingual inscriptions from AD 132 and 144 respective­ cally referred to as the ‘Sacred Garden’, which is de­ ly.45 Three temples appear in both lists, namely those picted on a beam from the temple of Bel, and whose of Arsu-Ares and of Atarate-Atargatis and the one joint cult is recorded in a host of inscriptions.41 The known as the sacred garden (to leqöv dÅcroc/grøf 'lym, two gods are shown shaking hands not only on the i.e. the temple of Aglibol and Malakbel, whose names beam, but also - identified by inscriptions - on reliefs are not mentioned in this context). The temple of the from Rome and from Khirbet Ramadan in the Pal­ fourth tribe is either that of Baal-Shamin-Zeus (in the myrena.42 43The programmatic dexiosis of Aglibol and earlier text) or of Allat-Athena (in the later one), a dif­ Malakbel, however, was not their monopoly, as other ferentiation that may have resulted from an actual Palmyrene deities could take over the hand-shake pos­ change in civic administration. If it is indeed the case ture as well. From Jebel Gattar in the Palmyrena that the phenomenon of ‘the four tribes of the city’ comes a relief of two gods in a similar pose which, was somehow artificial, based on territorial divisions according to the accompanying inscription, is dedi­ introduced under Roman influence and independent of existing familial connections, it cannot be said that the significance of these ‘four tribes’ for Palmyrene 39. Bounni 2004, 61, no.17; IGLS XVII.1, no.177. society was any less because of it. When considered 40. See Kaizer 2007b, for the argument that the Heracles figure at Palmyra may have been a visual manifestation of the indigenous Reshef rather than of Nergal. The inscription from 43. Drijvers 1976, pl. LXVII; Tanabe 1986, pl.i33, with PAT the temple of Nebu, however, would show that it did not, in no.2624. Perhaps one might link this relief with the dedication any case, concern an explicit identification. of an altar from Palmyra ‘to Shalmat and his brother, the good 41. For the cult of Aglibol and Malakbel in general, see and generous genaye’ (J shut wl 'hyh gny ’ [tby]' wskry ’), which Gawlikowski 1990, 2621; Dirven 1999,160; Kaizer 2002,124- would imply a slightly different spelling of the first divine 143. For the beam relief, see Drijvers 1976, pl.IV.i (drawing); name. See PAT Tanabe 1986, pl.29 with pl.30-31. 44. See Kaizer 2002, 67-161. 42. Rome: Drijvers 1976, pl.XXXVIII, with PAT no.0247; 45. PAT no.0197 and Drijvers 1995b, 34-38; IGLS XVII.1, no.150

Palmyrena: Drijvers 1976, pl.XXXIX; Tanabe 1986, pl.hi, with and no.127. For the full dossier and discussion, see Kaizer PAT no.1715, and see below, 25. 2002, 43-51 and 60-66; Yon 2002, 66-72.

22 SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 DIVINE CONSTELLATIONS AT PALMYRA. RECONSIDERING THE PALMYRENE PANTHEON together, the individual gods inhabiting the above- Keraunos;49 and she appears on a relief of unknown mentioned temples came to form a civic unity. Ac­ provenance together with Allat, with both goddesses cording to an attractive hypothesis put forward by identified by a Palmyrenean inscription.50 Christiane Delplace, the hapax rsrpaSstov, attested The latter relief must be kept in mind when inter­ only in an inscription from AD 145/6 from Um al- preting another sculptured image, namely a relief ‘Amad, about twenty km away from the city, throws from Wadi Arafa in the Palmyrena showing a dedi­ further light on this issue. This text records how a cant sacrificing before eight deities, of which only six benefactor, the same one who was the recipient of and a half are still visible, but which must originally statues in the four sanctuaries ‘of the four tribes’ both have shown eight divine figures, as is clear from the in AD 132 and 144, had once more received four stat­ accompanying inscription recording how it was made ues, but this time sv rro rsrpaSsioi Tf]g Alo;.'1' For Del- ‘for Bel and for Baa’-Shamin (sic) [and for Aglibol place, the key to an understanding of the enigmatic and for Malakjbel and for Astarte and for Nemesis term is to appreciate that “to A to; est une forme and for Arsu and for Abgal, the good and generous épique de to Ao; = la crainte”. She argued that gods’.51 Lucinda Dirven’s interpretation of this relief TsrpaÖsiov was in fact an abbreviation of the whole lot, is a good illustration of her thesis that the Palmyrene “la forme synthétique désignant les quatre sanctuaires deities worshipped outside Palmyra were chosen be­ des quatre tribus”.4746 According to her argument, cause of their significance for the city as an entity, and therefore, the unique term stood for the collectivity of she argued that it concerned the members of the ‘tri­ the four sanctuaries inhabited by the civic deities rep­ ad’ of Bel and the tutelary deities of the sanctuaries of resenting the official four tribes of Palmyra. ‘the four tribes of the city’, accompanied in this vil­ Many divine constellations are of course seeming­ lage in the Palmyrena by Abgal, a god who was par­ ly random and not only to us moderns. They might ticularly popular in this non-urban region.52 However, have seemed random also to ancient observers, espe­ some of the deities required for this model are absent cially in case they were based on individual religious from the relief. Since the restoration of Aglibol in the preferences of the respective dedicants. But it might inscription seems secure due to the depiction of one be telling that the goddess Nemesis, whose nomencla­ of the divine figures with a crescent on his shoulders, ture provides the exact opposite of the common local Yarhibol must be missing. And as regards the civic practice in that her Greek name was transliterated in deities of ‘the four tribes’, Dirven postulated that Palmyrenean Aramaic, usually appeared in combina­ Astarte stood in for Atargatis with whom she was al­ tion with other deities, possibly in order to add an ele­ leged to have been identical at Palmyra and that Nem­ ment of divine justice to the presence of these other esis ought to be identified with Allat. But as the deities: she seems to have been depicted alongside above-mentioned relief makes clear, Allat and Neme­ Aglibol and Malakbel on a relief from Khirbet Rama­ sis were perceived as separate goddesses at Palmyra,53 dan in the Palmyrena;48 she stands in between Aglibol and according to inscriptions so were Atargatis and and a deity in indigenous long dress on a relief from Astarte.54 It is of course clear that the dedicant of the Emesa, with the accompanying Greek inscription re­ relief from Wadi Arafa aimed to assemble some of the ferring to Bel, Yarhibol, Aglibol and one other deity and two Greek graffiti identifying the Nemesis figure 49. Drijvers 1976, pl.XI, with IGLS V, no.2220. as Athena and the deity in indigenous dress as 50. Briquel-Chatonnet 1990, with PAT no.2825; LIMC Suppl. (2009) “Allath” add.i. 51. Drijvers 1976, pl.X.2; Tanabe 1986, pl.107, with PAT no.1568. 46. PAT no.1062. For the date, see Taylor 2001, 212. 52. Dirven 1999, 68. 47. Delplace in ead. and Dentzer-Feydy 2005,118. 53. See above, 25. 48. Thus Kaizer 2001. 54. Kaizer 2002,153-154.

23 TED KAIZER SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 main Palmyrene deities and let them be joined by the formed into an alternative manifestation due to de­ popular regional god Abgal, but the overall result ployment in another constellation. Ona relief now in gives the impression of being unsystematic rather Lyon four divine figures are depicted in a strikingly than following a precise civic model.55 symmetrical pose: two bearded gods are seated on the Another divine constellation that may seem hard sides, with two gods in military costume standing in to explain, at least to us, consists of four deities who between them. According to the inscription at the occupy the four sides of a little altar recently discov­ bottom, dated to AD 121, the sculpture was made ‘for ered in the storage rooms of the Cincinnati Art Muse­ Bel and for Baalshamin and for Yarhibol and for um.56 The monument resembles the well-known altar Aglibol’.60 It is clear from the iconography that the from the temple of Baal-Shamin, which shows Malak- names mentioned in the inscription do not follow the bel in a chariot drawn by griffins, Allat next to a lion order on the relief: Aglibol and Yarhibol are standing and an armed figure in indigenous dress called Shaar- in the middle, the former distinguished by his cres­ ou or Shaadou, all identified by inscriptions.57 In the cent, and Baal-Shamin, wearing long dress and a kala- case of the Cincinnati altar, uniquely, all four sides are thos, is seated on the left alongside a bull. This leaves decorated, though none of them accompanied by an Bel as the figure seated on the right alongside the grif­ epigraphic label.58 On the basis of comparison with fin, wearing both a lamellar cuirass and a long dress. other representations they can nonetheless be identi­ As Bel is commonly depicted standing and dressed in fied with some confidence: a sun god (most likely armour (and normally also clean-shaven), his repre­ Shamash-Helios, though Yarhibol is also a possibili­ sentation on the relief from Lyon is certainly surpris­ ty), Allat, an armed god in indigenous dress, and El- ing, and various explanations are of course possible. Qonera'-Poseidon. But whereas the first three can of­ According to Michal Gawlikowski, Bel was depicted ten be encountered on Palmyrene sculpture, it is the here in an older outfit because of the venerability of presence of the latter deity which makes this particu­ his ancient cult statue.61 Alternatively, the guise in lar constellation hard to explain, since the altar repre­ which the god materialises on the relief from Lyon sents the first depiction of the figure with trident on a could be interpreted as a consequence of the dedi­ relief from Palmyra.59 cant’s intention to generate an image for Bel that Different interpretative problems raise their head would provide more of a parallel to the way in which when a deity’s customary form of appearance is trans­ Baal-Shamin was typically represented.62 A different relief presents the opposite case, and again an inscrip­ tion lists the names of the deities depicted, this time in 55. A further argument against Dirven’s interpretation of this relief is the fact that her list would include both Baal-Shamin the right order (of course from right to left): Astarte, and Allat, although according to the above-mentioned Aglibol, Bel, Baal-Shamin, and Yarhibol.63 It seems inscriptions from AD 132 and 144 they were not simultaneously obvious that the main cultic group from the temple of active as tutelary deities of the sanctuaries of‘the four tribes’. Bel (the three gods to whom the north adyton was 56. Dirven and Kaizer 2013. dedicated in AD 32 complemented by the goddess 57. Drijvers 1976, pl.XLIV-XLV; Tanabe 1986, pl.147-149. For the inscriptions, see PAT no.0181. 58. In this context there is no real difference between a set of 60. Briquel-Chatonnet and Lozachmeur 1998, with Yon 2013, deities depicted on different sides of an altar and a set of no.94. deities depicted alongside each other on a relief. In both cases 61. Gawlikowski 2015. some sort of association between them was clearly going on 62. Kaizer 2002,59. The name of the dedicant seems to hint at and the label ‘divine constellation’ can therefore legitimately a connection with the group of worshippers normally be applied in both scenarios. associated with the temple of Baal-Shamin, which could be 59. The god was already attested at the oasis on a mosaic and viewed as an argument in favour of this latter interpretation. on a tessera, in addition to being mentioned in an inscription. See Briquel-Chatonnet and Lozachmeur 1998,143. See Dirven and Kaizer 2013, 400-402 for references. 63. Drijvers 1976, pl.X.i; Tanabe 1986, pl.108, with PAT no.1567.

24 SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 DIVINE CONSTELLATIONS AT PALMYRA. RECONSIDERING THE PALMYRENE PANTHEON

Astarte) was joined for the occasion by Baal-Shamin, problem does not have a straightforward solution, and the fact that the latter was depicted as standing, since it is known that the only triad in the Roman wearing long dress and carrying a spear, alongside Near East which is truly unquestionable, the Hatrene Bel (whose central position confirms his status as ‘family’ of Maren, Marten and Bar-Maren (Our Lord, leading god of the constellation) suggests that his Our Lady and the Son of Our Lord), often appeared normal form of appearance had been adjusted to in inscriptions in the company of other deities. As make him fit in with the other four deities.64 The latter these three gods at Hatra necessarily formed some examples also touch on another problem: if it is ap­ sort of independent unit purely on the basis of their propriate to regard the constellation of Bel, Yarhibol peculiar nomenclature that emphasised their affilia­ and Aglibol as an actual triad - originating at the time tion with one another, it is suitable in those cases to of the dedication of the north adyton in AD 32 and recognise their triad ‘within’ a constellation of more developing into a true civic symbol according to its than three deities.67 In the case of Palmyra, however, it depiction on the city’s coinage, as I have argued65 - its is prudent to avoid the notion where appropriate and scholarly labelling as a triad seems considerably less not to make too many hasty assumptions.68 convincing when the three deities are depicted along­ A more fruitful approach to the constellation of side another deity, or other deities. As has been men­ Bel, Yarhibol and Aglibol is to view this group as tioned above, the addition of the goddess Astarte to “eine verkürzte Erscheinungsform des Bel... als Him­ the group may, perhaps, be viewed as an exceptional melsherren inmitten der Gestirne”.69 The cupola of case, possibly inspired by developments in the build­ the north adyton of the temple of Bel has a sculptured ing history of the temple of Bel. But even then it ceiling which consists of the busts of six deities encir­ would be more appropriate to discuss Bel, Yarhibol, cling the main figure in the centre, with a zodiac en­ Aglibol and Astarte as a freshly conceived constella­ compassing them.70 Employing Roman names for the tion rather than as ‘the triad of Bel plus a goddess’. planets and identifying them with the relevant Pal­ This should certainly be the case with those reliefs myrene deities, the bust of Jupiter-Bel is surrounded which depict Bel, Yarhibol, Aglibol and Arsu, since by Mars-Arsu (wearing his helmet), the Sun-Yarhibol, no convincing argument can be made that the latter Mercury-Nebu (with caduceus), Saturn-Malakbel was ‘added to the triad’ or that the former three kept (with sickle), Venus-Astarte (with veil), and the a status aparte within the group of four.66 However, the

67. For a different approach to the triad of Bel at Palmyra, see 64. Another, similar, joint appearance of Bel and Baal-Shamin Tubach 2006. And on the Hatrene triad, see now also Tubach may perhaps be recognised on a relief now in the Louvre, 2013. showing six deities lined up together, with a goddess on each 68. As an example of the difficulties scholars have sometimes flank (the one on the right is depicted in the guise of Athena created for themselves, it is worth quoting the interpretation by and can therefore be identified as Allat) and four deities in Han Drijvers of a relief that has no accompanying inscription, military costume in between them, of which two have a see Drijvers 1976,11, with pl.IX.2: “undoubtedly Yarhibol is nimbus (one of them a solar one) and two are wearing a shown on the right, which means that Bel and Aglibol were kalathos. Unfortunately there is no accompanying inscription represented on the part of the relief now lost. Next to Yarhibol preserved. See Drijvers 1976, pl.XXXVI; Dentzer-Feydy and from right to left we see Astarte-Bélti, Arsu with shield and Teixidor 1993, 140-141 no.150. conical helmet, and two unknown (Arab?) gods” (my italics, 65. See above, 20-21. TK). It may be added that, in any case, the notion of the ‘triad 66. The four deities are identified by an inscription on a relief of Bel’ is completely unproblematic when compared to the from Jebel al-Merah, see Drijvers 1976, pl.IX.i; Tanabe 1986, so-called ‘triads’ of Baal-Shamin and of the ‘Anonymous God’ pl.102, with PAT no.1569. Another relief, from the temple of at Palmyra, both of which are purely academic constructs. See Bel, seems to depict the same constellation, though this time Gawlikowski 1990, 2629-2632; Kaizer 2002,140-143. any interpretation must be based on iconography only: 69. Thus Gawlikowski 1981, 25. Drijvers 1976, pl.VII; Tanabe 1986, pl.100. 70. See now also Gawlikowski 2012.

25 TED KAIZER SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6

Moon-Aglibol.71 Michal Gawlikowski has convinc­ with those deities who received a cult in the temple of ingly argued that the six deities encircling the central Baal-Shamin than with those worshipped at the tem­ bust were “rassemblées en function de leurs corre- ple of Bel. But notwithstanding the difficulty in terms spondances astrales, pour former un cycle planétaire of identification, in both sanctuaries the planetary exprimant le caractére cosmique du dieu principal, constellations played an important role in religious régisseur du destin de l’univers”,72 which explains life: not simply because they occupied, in both cases, why the Palmyrene deities with whom the planetary literally the principal position within the sanctuary, busts can be identified did not match the actual cultic but even more because of the fact that in each temple situation in the temple of Bel.73 A similar scene is an individual mode of representing the hierarchy known from the temple of Baal-Shamin, where a lintel amongst the planets was chosen, rather than a basic with seven planetary busts came to supplement, and decorative model which could be said to have been eventually replace, an older lintel decorated with ea­ devoid of too much meaning. gles above the central niche of the adyton.74 The the­ As stated above, this paper does not claim to be an matic similarity with the visual programme from the attempt at a comprehensive classification of all possi­ cupola of the temple of Bel is significant, though the ble ways in which divine constellations at Palmyra order of the planetary busts on the lintel from the could be composed. Many more groupings of deities temple of Baal-Shamin is strikingly different. From ought to be discussed in order to provide a more com­ the left, one recognises Mars (with sword), the Moon, plete picture of the structured way in which Palmyrene Jupiter (wearing a kalathos), Saturn (with veil and gods and goddesses inhabited their divine world. harp) and Venus (with horn of abundance), which One could, for example, zoom in on each combina­ means that the two busts now lost towards the right tion of deities that appeared in the context of the indi­ must have represented the Sun and Mercury. The cen­ vidual sanctuaries, whether their joint cults are attest­ tral place amongst the planetary busts at the temple ed only once (as in the case of ‘Arsu, Qismaya and the of Baal-Shamin was therefore occupied by Saturn, daughters of El’, at the temple of Arsu76) or whether with Jupiter (whom the other busts were encircling at they formed part of a recurring arrangement (as in the the temple of Bel) placed alongside him.75 It is even case of Bel-Hammon and Manawat77). One could more difficult to make the seven planets correspond think of the archaic relief found in the temple of Bel showing four deities of which three are wearing long dress and of which the fourth is the Heracles figure:78 71. Drijvers 1976, pl.II, with the drawing in Gawlikowski 1990, if the latter is normally depicted on his own in the Ro­ 2612 fig.i. 72. Gawlikowski 1990, 2624. man Near East, on this particular relief he shares sty­ 73. Nebu and Malakbel would, according to Gawlikowski’s listic features with the other figures and seems very scheme, have been added to complete the number of the much part of the divine constellation (so much so that Pleiades despite not playing a role in the cult of the temple, see Gawlikowski 1990, 2613. Nebu’s presence, however, may be explained because in Mesopotamian mythology Nabu was 76. PAT no.0992; see Kaizer 2002,116. One may of course the son of Marduk-Bel. Note that Gawlikowski, ibid, wonder whether the kinship terminology of‘the daughters of identified the planetary Venus bust on iconographical grounds El’ could be viewed as an argument in favour of the notion of with Atargatis rather than with Astarte, although the latter a fully fledged pantheon, or whether the label should instead appears to fit better the evidence from the temple of Bel. be interpreted as an indication of some sort of abstract bond, 74. Gawlikowski and Pietrzykowski 1980, 426-429 with fig.7 without being taken literally in the sense of familial for a photo of the lintel with planetary busts. connections between divine beings. 75. Gawlikowski and Pietrzykowski 1980, 448-449. According 77. For references, see Kaizer 2002,108-116, with Healey 2009, to Feldtkeller 1996, 27, the different arrangements of the 207-209, no.40. See now also the new addition to the list in planetary busts in the temples of Bel and of Baal-Shamin Yon 2013, no.168. illustrate their alleged ‘rivalry’. 78. Drijvers 1976, pl.XIV.

26 SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 DIVINE CONSTELLATIONS AT PALMYRA. RECONSIDERING THE PALMYRENE PANTHEON labelling the relief ‘Heracles and the Palmyrene gods’ And finally, one could ponder what seems to have would be missing the point,79 as he himself is also, in­ been the most curious divine constellation, from Kh­ deed very much, a Palmyrene god in this context), irbet Abu Duhur in the Palmyrena, where a god seat­ while simultaneously standing out from the crowd ed between two bulls, a god in a chariot drawn by due to his nudity. One may brood over a possible panthers, and a winged divinity riding a lion seem to joint dedication, in Greek only, ‘to Samabol, Isis and be identified by the accompanying inscription as Aphrodite’ (SapaßroXoi Kai "I mot Kai AcppoSsiri]), and ‘kings’.84 wonder which names would have appeared in an Ara­ This paper has discussed inscriptions in which Pal­ maic counterpart.80 And one should certainly ac­ myrene deities are listed together and reliefs on which knowledge the only depiction of a divine constella­ they are depicted alongside each other. It seems clear tion in a mythological context, on the battle relief that they were not thought of as being in seclusion sculpted on a beam from the temple of Bel, showing a from each other. This is an important fact in itself, row of six deities (four in military dress, the naked though it is even more important to emphasise that Heracles figure and a goddess) standing to the right they constituted many different kinds of divine constella­ of a scene in which a god riding in a chariot and an­ tion, and that they could simultaneously form part of other one on horse-back are killing a monster.81 multiple arrangements. This variety amongst divine Outside the city of Palmyra itself, one should fur­ constellations and the individual deity’s flexibility to thermore take into account the ubiquitous rider gods, belong to more than one of them at the same time frequently represented on reliefs under a wide variety must have affected his or her place with regard to the of names, such as Abgal and Ashar, Maan and Shaad, local divine world of Palmyra as a whole. As Lipinski or Arsu and Azizu, sometimes both mounting horses noted in the citation with which this paper com­ and at other occasions one riding a horse and one a menced, the idiosyncratic civilization of the oasis city camel,82 and according to a Greek inscription on a undeniably had a strong composite element. The lo­ fragmentary relief from the Palmyrena at least now cal religious culture betrayed numerous glimpses of and again explicitly identified with the Dioscuri.83 * the fact that its gods and goddesses had originally been participants in quite distinctive divine networks, 79. As e.g. in Gawlikowski 1991, 248 fig-2. but the discussion of the selected source material has 80. Thus Teixidor 1968, 360 no.26; Teixidor 1979, 58-59; also made clear that the connections between the var­ Kaizer 2002, 71 n.27. See IGLS XVII.1, no.319 for the ious deities that were established at Palmyra were not alternative reading that would give, uniquely, the divine name limited to those with a perceived common origin in a Bol in isolation. According to Teixidor, Samabolos is the Greek transcription of the Semitic ‘Name of Bol’, which functions as shared cultural sphere of influence.85 The divine con- an epithet of Astarte both at Ugarit and at Sidon. 81. Drijvers 1976, pl.IV.2 (drawing); Tanabe 1986, pl.32 with should not be considered impossible: the very identification pl.33-34 for details. The best interpretation is Dirven 1997; with one of the twin sons of Leda may have led to the use of a Dirven 1999,147-155. classical language in this case. 82. Teixidor 1979, 77-85; Gawlikowski 1990, 2637-2638; 84. Drijvers 1976, 18 with pl.XLVI.i; Tanabe 1986, pl.116-119, Hvidberg-Hansen 2007. For some examples of reliefs, see with PAT no.1724 (mlk' tb' wskr1'). See above all the discussion in Drijvers 1976, pl.LXIII.2 and Tanabe 1986, pl.136, with PAT Gawlikowski 1986. Another possible dedication ‘to the king’ 1670 (Abgal and Ashar); Drijvers 1976, pl.LXV, with PAT 1700 (Jmlk') may be recognised in PAT0406. Andreas Kropp (Maan and Shaad); Drijvers 1976, pl.LXVIII.i, with /J/17 suggests to me that the iconography of the first divine figure no.0320 and Healey 2009, 210-211, no.41 (Arsu and Azizu). makes it likely that it concerns Jupiter Heliopolitanus. 83. A relief from Khirbet Semrine has a fragmentary Greek 85. An altogether different category consists of those gods and inscription reading [Kacsjuop, see Schlumberger 1951, 56, no.17 goddesses who are explicitly identified as coming from else­ with pl.XXI.4. According to Yon 2002,128 n.251, the latter where in the Near East, such as e.g. ‘the god of Sa'bu, who is relief was “visiblement importé” (from the city into the called the Gad of the Nabataeans’ flh. s‘b[w] dy mqr’ gd ’nbt), the countryside), although the use of Greek in the Palmyrena recipient of a dedicatory inscription set up at Palmyra in the

27 TED KAIZER SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 stellations at the city did simply not fit in one logical commonly envisaged in solitary fashion (even if they system, and the available evidence is insufficient to could of course be mentioned or depicted on their explain precisely how and why relations between indi­ own too). They often formed divine constellations, vidual deities developed. From that perspective, our and indeed different kinds of divine constellation, which understanding of the divine world at Palmyra is not were continuously developing and being cultivated intrinsically different from that of the local consortia throughout the period from which our evidence of gods and goddesses elsewhere in the Roman Near dates. From that point of view, outward appearances East, where institutionalised religious systems are not that “popular religion must have remained practically easily revealed either. The only exception could be unchanged in Greco-Roman times”88 notwithstand­ made for the coastal cities of the Phoenician world, ing, the divine world of Palmyra was rather dynamic. where in the second century AD Philo of Byblos pres­ ents a properly organised and neatly structured re­ Abbreviations gional assemblage of divine beings in which each de­ ity’s place and function necessarily resulted from ANRW H. Temporini and W. Haase (eds.) 1972-, interaction with others and where they all had their Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, Berlin. place in an intricate divine genealogy - but it would CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum of course be a serious mistake not to read the frag­ IGLS V Jalabert, L., R. Mouterde, and C. Mondésert ments of his Phoenician History in the first place as a lit­ 1959, Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie V, erary construct.86 BAH 66, Paris. Details will continue to escape us and a fuller pic­ IGLS XVII.i Yon, J.-B. (ed.) 2012, Inscriptionsgrecqueset ture may never be within scholarly reach. But what latines de la Syrie XVII.1, BAH 195, Paris. one can say is that Palmyrene religion was inherently PAT Hillers, D.R. and Cussini, E. 1996, Palmyrene polytheistic. And as such, the gods and goddesses AramaicTexts, Baltimore and London. worshipped at the oasis in the Roman period una­ RTP Ingholt, H., Seyrig, H. and Starcky, J., with voidably shared in the provisions of activities, as was Caquot, A. 1955, Recueil des tesséres de Palmyre, the case with the paganism of the empire in general.87 BAH 58, Paris. In a few cases the action radius of an individual dei­ ty’s power may even be hinted at by divine nomencla­ Bibliography ture or iconographical attributes. Is it enough to rein­ state the term ‘pantheon’ in the discussion of Adams, J.N. 2003, Bilingualism and the Latin Language, Cam­ Palmyrene religion? Whatever way one chooses to bridge. describe the gathering of deities at the oasis, it is obvi­ Aliquot, J. 2009, La vie religieuse au Liban sous l’empire romain, BAH 189, Beirut. ous that the individual gods and goddesses were not Borkowska-Kolqtaj, T. 1966, Notes sur la datation d’un bas-relief votif en forme d’édicule de Palmyre, in M.- local Palmyrenean Aramaic dialect, cf. PAT“0337. Even if those L. Bernhard (ed.), Melanges ojfertså Kazimierz Michalowski, deities were not normally part of constellations with more Warsaw, 307-309. local ones, they could still be perceived as having added Bounni, A. 2004, Lesanctuaire deNabuå Palmyre. Texte, BAH elements from their own indigenous context to the local 131, Beirut. religious framework. For an overview and discussion of this Briquel-Chatonnet, F. 1990, Un bas-relief de style pal- phenomenon, including Palmyrene examples, see Kaizer 2015. myrénien inédit, Syria 67, 183-187. 86. For the fragments and commentary, see Kaldellis and Lopez Ruiz online. For an interesting attempt to draw the family tree of the deities from Philo’s fragmentary account, with some discussion, see Feldtkeller 1994, 83-84. 88. Teixidor 1977, 6: “for the inscriptions do not reflect the 87. Scheid 2003. impact of new fashions.”

28 SCI.DAN.H. 4 • 6 DIVINE CONSTELLATIONS AT PALMYRA. RECONSIDERING THE PALMYRENE PANTHEON

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