Malakbel
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Malakbel was a Semitic god who was particularly worshiped in the Syrian oasis city of Palmyra . He developed from a regional tribal cult in Roman times into a sun god and was often depicted together with Aglibol . In this connection they were called "holy brothers". Together they formed a triad on the side of the sky god Baalschamin .
origin
The cults of the two gods were originally related to growth in the plant world and to animal husbandry. The earliest followers were members of the influential Arab tribe of the Bene Komare. Their seasonal cults were presided over by priests . The other tribal name Kohenite is derived from the Phoenician word kohen , "priest", so they called themselves "sons of the priests". The derivation of the name and the worship of a pair of gods, as often happened in the Levant , indicate that the Bene Komare came from the west.
The word components of Malakbel are in the Aramaic language mlk as mal'ak, translated "messenger" and bel, a spelling for the supreme god of heaven Baal . Malakbel was understood as a servant of Baal. The bol contained in Aglibol has been converted from the Canaanite word ba'al , presumably at a time when Palmyra belonged to the territory of the Amurrites , as evidenced by inscriptions by the Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser I from the end of the 12th century. Bol is the older name for the Palmyrenian sky god compared to the Babylonian Bel , consequently Aglibol also seems to be older than Malakbel. The same goes for Jarchibol , who was venerated by the Amurrites, who introduced him as the first known settlers of the oasis as the ancestor of the spring. Jarchibol later became the older of the two independent sun gods.
Forms of cult
The temple for Malakbel and the moon god Aglibol was called "the holy garden". It was one of the earliest temples in Palmyra and, according to several inscriptions, belonged to one of the four most important temples, each owned by a tribe. Two of the temples have not yet been located. Only the Baalschamin temple, which was venerated by the Bene Maazin and built during the Seleucid period in the 2nd century BC, remained. Outside the city. In the 1980s, the small remains of a temple for the god Arsu , who was worshiped by the Bene Mattabol, were uncovered. The name of the fourth tribe is unknown.
In Dura Europos , a population who immigrated from Palmyra worshiped Malakbel. The city had come to the Roman Empire around 165 AD. Many of the soldiers who took up a position against the Parthians here came from Palmyra. Seven or eight inscriptions from North Africa confirm the Malakbel cult, which had spread there and throughout the empire through Roman soldiers from Palmyra.
Malakbel and Aglibol
Although the temple for the “holy brothers” was not found, it has been handed down figuratively and through dedicatory inscriptions. A Roman tessera shows two altars with an ox on the left and a cypress next to the right altar. Furthermore, the sanctuary of the two gods - two altars with cypress trees - is depicted on a frieze of the Bel Temple in Palmyra. Aglibol is usually shown dressed as a Roman soldier with a spear and shield in his hands, Malakbel next to it wears simple rural clothing with a coat and wide trousers, as on a stele that is in the Capitoline Museum . Wherever Malakbel appears alone or with aglibol, it is generally recognizable by peasant or Persian clothing, it bears symbols of fertility, but no nimbus.
In the Capitoline Museum there is also an altar, probably made in Rome , from the end of the 1st or beginning of the 2nd century AD or from the middle of the 3rd century, which shows the veneration of Malakbel, which he enjoyed among the citizens of Rome. It was found in Trastevere at the end of the 15th century and bears inscriptions under the reliefs on two of the four sides. The Latin inscription dedicates the altar to the Roman sun god Sol Sanctissimus, the Palmyrenic inscription names Malakbel and other gods of Palmyra. According to the common interpretation, the altar depicts the phases of the course of the sun on its four sides. Malakbel is shown here threefold and in a context that most clearly shows its solar character. The images are also a link to the original role as fertility god. As a toddler, the god descends through the branches of a cypress on one side and carries a goat over his shoulders. In the next scene he is driving across the sky on his sun chariot pulled by four griffins . At lunchtime it appears on the front of the altar as a bust of a youth with a seven-pointed nimbus, as it appears above an eagle. The fourth page shows the bearded, curly haired face of Saturnus with a sickle.
Sun worship experienced its climax in Rome under Elagabal (r. 218–222), who introduced the sun god Elagabal , who was worshiped around Emesa , from his oriental homeland and wanted to make it the state religion in vain. This only succeeded Emperor Aurelian in the year 274. The sun cult in Rome has an Arab origin, the transformation into a state religion was done by philosophers in the west of the empire.
Triad
The cult of the sun and moon has existed in Syria since at least the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. BC, of both the Arameans in Syria and the Babylonians the moon god had the greater importance. A relief found in Homs , which probably originates from Palmyra and is dated 30/31 AD, shows the bust of a sun god with a halo, behind whose shoulders the crescent-shaped bull horns of the moon god (aglibol) protrude, but according to the Greek inscription Helios represents the Babylonian sun god Shamash . The snake in the upper right corner creates another connection to the sun.
In addition to his identification with the Roman sun god Sol, Malakbel's personality also includes his role as a messenger of the heavenly god, the name can also be translated as "Angel of Bel". Aglibol performed a similar role at Bel's side. The other sun god Jarchibol was worshiped in the Bel temple together with Bel. This triad was joined by another arrangement of gods in Palmyra, in which Baalschamin, the supreme god, was surrounded by aglibol and malakbel. The pictorial difference between the two triads was that Malakbel was always depicted on the left of Baalschamin and Aglibol on his right, while Aglibol was on the left of Bel. This triad seems to have developed and revered at the same time as that of Bel, although it is only known from illustrations in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and is no longer mentioned. Baalschamin only appears in inscriptions between 67 and 134 AD, later he remained anonymous or was paraphrased with a praising formula.
During the excavation of the Baalschamin temple, a fall stone came to light that was originally placed over a cult niche. In the middle it shows an eagle, under whose left wing a bust of Malakbel and on the right one of Aglibol can be seen. The eagle is interpreted as a sky bird and as a symbolic representation of the sky god Baalschamin, which probably comes from the first half of the 1st century AD.
A fragmentary relief comes from Khirbet Ramadan (in the desert near Palmyra) and is now in the National Museum of Damascus . It shows three deities in military clothing with Baalschamin in the middle and his companions. Baalschamin can be recognized by his beard and a calathus ( kalathos, basket-shaped crown with leaf tendrils ) on his head. Wherever Malakbel is represented with Baalschamin, he always wears military clothing and the halo of a sun god. Other reliefs with these three gods have been found in the rulership of Palmyra. On some reliefs they can be seen together with other deities.
literature
- HJW Drijvers: The Religion of Palmyra. Iconography of Religions. EJ Brill, Leiden 1976, pp. 10-18
- Luciana Dirven: Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, the Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos: A Study of Religious Interaction in Roman Syria. Brill, Leiden 1999, pp. 86-88, 175-189
- Otto Eißfeldt : Temples and cults of Syrian cities in the Hellenistic-Roman period. JC Hinrichs Verlag, Leipzig 1941, pp. 83-90
- Javier Teixidor: The Pantheon of Palmyra. Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Émpire romain 79. Leiden 1979, pp. 34-52
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Divine Triad. Louvre ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. / Drijvers, Fig. XXXIV / Teixidor, Fig. VIII
- ↑ Teixidor, p. 35
- ↑ Eißfeldt, p. 84 f
- ^ Ted Kaizer: The religious life of Palmyra: a study of the social patterns of worship in the Roman period. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2002, p. 116 f
- ↑ Dirven, p. 176
- ↑ Teixidor, p. 47 and Eißfeldt, p. 88, Fig. Panel X
- ↑ Drijvers, p. 17
- ↑ Teixidor, pp. 41 f, 47-49
- ↑ Drijvers, p. 12 f
- ↑ Eißfeldt, p. 89
- ↑ Drijvers, p. 16
- ↑ Herbert Nier: Ba'alsamem: Studies on the origin, history and reception history of a Phoenician god. Studia Phenicia, 17, Peeters Publishers, Leuven 2003, p. 126 f / Drijvers, p. 17
