Relief with three Palmyrenian deities

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Relief with three deities

The relief with three Palmyrenian deities was found near Bir Wereb in the Wadi al-Miyah near Palmyra ( Syria ) and probably represents local deities of the settlement there. The relief is dated to the first century AD and is now in the Louvre ( Inventory number: AO 19801, material: limestone, dimensions: 60 × 72 × 7 cm).

description

The size and the location indicate that the relief comes from a local shrine or sanctuary and was venerated there as a cult image. Dowel holes suggest that the relief was embedded in a wall. The three figures shown are likely to copy cult images. Statues, but also reliefs, are attested as cult images in Palmyra.

The relief depicts three male deities in military clothing. All three wear a short tunic , lamellar armor and a short military cloak attached to a fibula on their right shoulder and grasp the hilt of their girdled sword with their left hand. The right hands that were once raised forward have broken off. The middle bearded deity wears a cylinder-shaped crown with a row of pearls on the lower part and trousers. In contrast, the two other deities in the relief are shown without pants. The hair of the two outer figures is curly and both wear a torc with a central stone around their necks. Both figures have a nimbus with sun rays. A crescent moon is depicted behind the head of the figure on the left. The inscriptions next to the figures were added later and mostly name and affiliations of various believers.

interpretation

The identification of the deities is problematic. The central figure has often been identified as Baalschamin . Accordingly, the other two deities were equated with the sun and moon deities Malakbel and Aglibol . This is not certain, however, as the discussion of whether Baalschamin could be depicted with a tank continues. According to another interpretation, the central figure could represent the mostly beardless Baal (main god in Palmyra), of whom there are also pictures with a beard. Another theory compares the crown of the central deity in cylinder shape , which is decorated in the lower part with a row of pearls, with the crown worn by the god Aphlad on a relief from Dura Europos . The inscription testifies that the representation there reproduces a cult image of the god Aphlad. Ribbons flutter from the crown of the Palmyren god, perhaps copying metal like those attached to a statue. Both figures (Aphlad from Dura Europos and the figure in the middle on the relief) also wear trousers.

The other two gods are unanimously interpreted as moon and sun gods.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Divine Triad in the Louvre.
  2. ^ Jean Starck: Les inscriptions. In Syria. Volume 26, Issue 1/2, 1949, pp. 35-41 ( online ).
  3. ↑ z. B. Henri Seyrig : Antiquites Syriennes. In Syria. Volume 26, Heft 1/2, 1949, pp. 29-33 with plate 2 ( online ); Malcolm AR Colledge: The Parthians. Thames and Hudson, London 1967, p. 228 and plate 39.
  4. ↑ For discussion, see for example with further literature Herbert Niehr : Baʻals̆amem: Studies on the origin, history and reception history of a Phoenician god (= Studia Phenicia. Volume 17). Peeters, Leuven 2003, p. 125 f.
  5. ^ Fowlkes-Childs, Seymour: The World between Empires - Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East , p. 152.
  6. ↑ Michał Gawlikowski: Bel of Palmyra. In: Michael Blömer, Achim Lichtenberger , Rubina Raja (eds.): Religious Identities in the Levant from Alexander to Muhammed. Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2015, ISBN 978-2-50354-445-8 , p. 251.

literature

  • Blair Fowlkes-Childs, Michael Seymour: The World between Empires - Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2019, ISBN 978-1-58839-683-9 , pp. 152–153, no.99

Web links

Commons : Three deities from Palmyra, relief in the Louvre  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Papin Caroline: The Divine Triad . Presentation of the relief on the Louvre website (accessed December 6, 2019)