CHAPTER FIVE ORIENTAL DEITIES Sadrafa A stele in the British Museum (PI. XXXII) dedicated to Sadrafa shows him bearded, in military dress, wirh a cuirass over his sleeved tunic. He wears a short cloak, grasps a spear, and holds a shield. On the god's left shoulder is a scorpion, and a snake entwines the spear: these two beasts are Sadrafa's animals. The Palmyrene inscription dates the relief to May, A.D. 55. The text reads as follows:
1. byrl). 'yr snt 366 m~b' 1. dnh n~b 'tntn br zbd'th tSbb 3. lSdrp' 'lh' tb' dy yh' 4. gyr bh hw wbny byth klhn (CISem. II, 3972.) In the month Iyyar, the year 366 (May, A.D. 55), cAttenatan son of Zabdecateh t§bb erected this stele to Sadrafa, the good god, in order to become a votary in his (temple), he and all the members of his house. The interpretation of tsbb as the personal name of an ancestor of 'Attenatan was first proposed by Ingholt in Berytus 2 (1935) II5-II6, who in 1925 had excavated the tomb of 'Attenatan. For the meaning of the term ger in the Near East during the Persian and Greco-Roman period, see Pagan God, pp. 12-13, note 28. A new reading of another text which supposedly concerns Sadrafa's cult has been proposed by Milik in Dedicaces, p. 85. The inscription runs as follows:
1. ~lm' dnh dy [blJswry 2. br l).ggw br blSwry b () 3. 'qymw lh sdrp' wkmr' 4. lyqrh mn dy spr lhn wI 5. 'lhyhwn byrl). knwn snt 6. 3[ .. ] (CISem. II, 3929.) I02 ORIENTAL DEITIES
This (is) the statue of BelSuri son of Hagegu son of BelSuri Baa (which) Sadrafa and the priests erected to him, in his honor, because he was considerate of them and of their gods. In the month Kanun, year 3[ .. J (November, A.D. 30 to 50). For the date, see Milik, Dedicaces, p. 88. Line 3 is damaged in the middle, and this makes the restoration of the name Sadrafa altogether questionable. Moreover, the bare mention of the name Sadrafa without the usual epithets "god" or "good god" is indeed suspicious. Equally surprising is the expression "their gods." This can be a reference to Sadrafa and Du (anat. At Palmyra Sadrafa is often mentioned together with Du(anat (d[w)'nt) , "the One of (Anat," i.e. the (supreme) god of (Anat, a town about fifty miles down the Euphrates River from Dura-Europos. Du(anat seems to have been the one god with whom Sadrafa associated himself. Their names appear on a tessera (RTP 329); they are invoked as "good gods" in a Palmyrene inscription from the Agora dated A.D. 30/3I (Inv. X, I45) and again on a relief found by the Swiss archaeological mission in the temple of Baal Shamin (BS 58). This monument, badly damaged, shows only the feet and the legs of the two deities, one of them standing on a pedestal. He may be Sadrafa, to whom the inscrip tions seem to entrust preeminence. A cultic relief of Du(anat (PI. XXXIII), found at Dura-Europos in a room called an andron, or banqueting hall, portrays the god in a frontal pose standing on the back of two griffins. Du (anat wears military dress. The cuirass, adorned with stars and crosses, is encircled by a knotted girdle. Under the cuirass a long-sleeved tunic falls to the knees. Tight trousers and high laced boots complete the deity's military attire. The god is bearded, and a polos with streamers that reach his shoulders gives him the appearance of a weather god (Perkins, Art of Dura-Europos, pp. 77-79). The relief was dedicated by a certain Hadadyaheb son of Zabdibol. Du (anat is an appellation of Aphlad, as the Greek inscription on the relief indicates (Rep., V, pp. 106-II3; Milik, Dedicaces, pp. I36-137). Aphlad's name does not appear in the inscriptions of Palmyra, most probably because the name was a local denomination of the god. If Aphlad is a composite term meaning "Son of Hadad,"