¹ Earlier versions of this paper were given in September 1998, at conferences in Cardiff at the University of Wales and, a few days later, in Baghdad. I am grateful to the Iraqi National Commission for Education, Science and Culture for making it possible for me to attend the conference in Baghdad. In addition, I owe many thanks to Professors Fergus Millar and Robert Parker, and to Dr Andreas Bendlin, for their comments on several drafts of the text and for being very generous with their time, and to Margherita Facella for providing me with references and helpful suggestions on numerous occasions. Abbreviations:

ANRW Temporini, H. and Haase, W. (eds.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt (1972–)Google Scholar.

H 1, 2, etc. Inscriptions from Hatra. Same numbering adopted by the main collections: Vattioni, F., Le iscrizioni di Hatra (1981)Google Scholar; Aggoula, B., Inventaire des inscriptions hatréennes (1991)Google Scholar; Beyer, K., Die aramäischen Inschriften aus Assur, Hatra und dem übrigen Ostmesopotamien (1998)Google Scholar.

PAT Hillers, D. and Cussini, E., Palmyrene Aramaic Texts (1996)Google Scholar.

RTP Ingholt, H., Seyrig, H. and Starcky, J. (eds.), Recueil des tessères de Palmyre (1955)Google Scholar.

² See e.g. Boardman, J., The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity (1994), ch. 4: “The East after Alexander the Great”, pp. 75–153 Google Scholar.

³ It is worth mentioning separately the material from Seleucia, collected by van Ingen, W., Figurines from Seleucia on the Tigris (1939), pp. 106–9Google Scholar, and especially the famous bronze statue of a Heracles figure which the Parthian ruler Vologaeses IV took from Mesene, with a bilingual inscription in Greek and Parthian (the latter written in Aramaic characters) that identifies the figure in Greek as Heracles, in Parthian as Verethraghna (wrtrgn). See Invernizzi, A., “Héraclès à Séleucie du Tigre” in Revue Archéologique (1989), fascicule 1, pp. 65–113 Google Scholar, with further references, and also Stierlin, H., Städte in der Wüste (1987), p. 177 Google Scholar Abb. 158. On the text see especially Pennacchietti, F. A., “L'iscrizione bilingue greco-partica dell'Eracle di Seleucia” in Mesopotamia 22 (1987), pp. 169–85Google Scholar.

⁴ On this deity see von Weiher, E., Der babylonische Gott Nergal (1971)Google Scholar, and Lambert, W. G., “Studies in Nergal” in Bibliotheca Orientalis 30 (1973), pp. 355–63Google Scholar. See also Dalley, S., “Near Eastern patron deities of mining and smelting in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages” in Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus (1987), pp. 61–6Google Scholar.

⁵ On the possible typological and historical antecedents of the Heracles figure in the more ancient Near East, see Burkert, W., Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual (1979)Google Scholar, ch. IV “Heracles and the Master of Animals”, pp. 78–98, and idem, “Oriental and Greek mythology: the meeting of parallels” in J. Bremmer (ed.), Interpretations of Greek Mythology (1987), pp. 10–40. On the various equivocal processes of assimilation see C. Bonnet, “Héraclès en Orient: interprétations et syncrétismes” in idem and C. Jourdain-Annequin (eds.), Héraclès. D'une rive à l'autre de la Méditerranée. Bilan et perspectives (1992), pp. 165–98.

⁶ For a survey of the history and culture of both cities see Drijvers, H. J. W., “Hatra, Palmyra und Edessa. Die Städte der syrisch-mesopotamischen Wüste in politischer, kulturgeschichtlicher und religionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung” in ANRW II 8 (1977), pp. 799–863 Google Scholar. In general see Millar, F., The Roman Near East (1993)Google Scholar, throughout, and especially the epilogue, “East and West”, pp. 489–532; van Rompay, L., “Palmyra, Emesa en Edessa: Semitische steden in het gehelleniseerde Nabije Oosten” in Phoenix 36 (1990), pp. 73–84 Google Scholar; Goodman, M., The Roman World, 44 BC–AD 180 (1997), pp. 242–50Google Scholar, “The Northern Levant and Mesopotamia”. See now also Freyberger, K. S., Die frühkaiserzeitlichen Heiligtümer der Karawanenstationen im hellenisierten Osten (1998)Google Scholar.

⁷ Like those from Hatra, the reliefs and sculptures from Palmyra have been characterised as “Parthian art”, a term used for the art of East Syria and North Mesopotamia on the basis of resemblances in style, of which the consistent frontality is the most important characteristic. On the problematic use of this term and for a recent overview of the scholarly debate, see Drijvers, H. J. W., “The Syrian cult relief” in Visible Religion 7 (1990), pp. 69–82 Google Scholar. See also Millar, , The Roman Near East, pp. 329–30Google Scholar.

⁸ Gawlikowski, M., “Les dieux de Palmyre” in ANRW II 18.4 (1990), pp. 2605–58, esp. 2652–3Google Scholar.

⁹ While still awaiting the first full-scale study of Hatrene religion, see Drijvers, H. J. W., “Monotheismus und Polytheismus in der haträischen Religion” in Studies in the History of Religions, Suppl. Numen 31 (1975), pp. 240–9Google Scholar; idem, “Mithra at Hatra? Some remarks on the problem of the Irano-Mesopotamian syncretism” in Acta Iranica 17 (1978), pp. 151–86; Dijkstra, K., “Aramese votiefteksten en votiefgeschenken uit Hatra” in Phoenix 40 (1994), pp. 184–94Google Scholar; idem, Life and Loyalty. A Study in the Socio-religious Culture of Syria and Mesopotamia in the Graeco-Roman Period Based on Epigraphical Evidence (1995), pp. 171–244.

¹⁰ Bowersock, G., Hellenism in Late Antiquity (1990), p. 7 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Millar, , The Roman Near East, pp. 326 and 523 Google Scholar.

¹¹ Bowersock, , Hellenism, p. 9 Google Scholar.

¹² Sartre, M., L'Orient romain (1991), p. 491 Google Scholar. He continues by calling it, p. 496, nothing more than a superficial veneer, applied only to give a Graeco-Roman aspect to the local deities, and argues that their “nature” or cult celebrations are not really affected.

¹³ Or, for that matter, the destruction of Dura-Europos by the Sasanians in AD 256/257. It should be noted that in the case of Palmyra the end of its local civilisation was less sudden or immediately definitive; see Millar, , The Roman Near East, pp. 335–6Google Scholar.

¹⁴ Stewart, C., “Relocating syncretism in social science discourse” in Aijmer, G. (ed.), Syncretism and the Commerce of Symbols (1995), p. 30 Google Scholar.

¹⁵ See MacMullen, R., Paganism in the Roman Empire (1981), pp. 3–4 Google Scholar, on the possible uses of πατρῷος (and patrius). The word can both be attached to a deity “for remembrance's sake and from a sense of being a stranger abroad” and to “him who watches over us here at home”. An equivalent in Palmyrene Aramaic can be found in PAT 0324, where Shamash is called “the god of the house of their fathers” ('lh byt 'bwhri). In the bilingual inscription PAT 0273, the phrase πατρῷοις θεοῖς is rendered into Palmyrene by 'lhy 'ṭby', “the good gods”.

¹⁶ See also the introduction in Stewart, C. and Shaw, R. (eds.), Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism. The Politics of Religious Synthesis (1994), p. 7 CrossRefGoogle Scholar: “both putatively pure and putatively syncretic traditions can be ‘authentic’ if people claim that these traditions are unique, and uniquely their (historical) possession.” Compare the introduction in Aijmer, G. (ed.), Syncretism and the Commerce of Symbols (1995), p. 12 Google Scholar, where the author describes the cultural process of what he calls “generating faked traditions out of a constantly ongoing bricolage”. For further references to recent approaches to the so-called “invention of tradition”, see Stewart and Shaw, op. cit, p. 1.

¹⁷ Stewart, , “Relocating syncretism”, p. 31 Google Scholar, where the author describes non-literate religions, as opposed to religions of the Book, as “basically more receptive to the incorporation of diverse, exogenous deities into its repertoire of worship”. Recently, the hypothesis has been put forward that since it has been proved that cuneiform continued into the first century AD, temples in which Babylonian deities were worshipped preserved their liturgy and regulations “in cuneiform script as it had been for millennia”, see Geller, M. J., “The last wedge” in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 87 (1997), especially p. 47 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Whether this can or should be connected to the “Babylonian” cults which are attested at Palmyra and Hatra remains more doubtful.

¹⁸ See Gawlikowski, M., “Le temple d'Allât à Palmyre” in Revue Archéologique (1977), p. 269 Google Scholar, and idem, “Du ḥamana au naos. Le temple palmyrénien hellénisé” in Topoi 7 (1997), p. 841. For the statue, now in the Museum of Palmyra, see Tanabe, K. (ed.), Sculptures of Palmyra I, Memoirs of the Ancient Orient Museum 1 (1986), Pls. 161–2Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Example given by Will, E., “Les aspect de l'intégration des divinités orientales dans la civilisation gréco-romaine: langage conventionnel et langage clair” in Kahil, L. and Augé, C. (eds.), Mythologie gréco-romaine, mythologies périphériques. Études d'iconographie (1981), pp. 159–60Google Scholar. See also Drijvers, H. J. W., “ De matre inter leones sedente. Iconography and character of the Arab goddess Allât” in de Boer, M. B. and Edridge, T. A. (eds.), Hommages à Maarten J. Vermaseren I (1979), pp. 331–51Google Scholar, and Starcky, J., “Allath, Athèna et la déesse syrienne” in Kahil, and Augé, (eds.), Mythologie gréco-romaine, mythologies périphériques, pp. 119–30Google Scholar.

²⁰ Millar, , The Roman Near East, p. 326 Google Scholar.

²¹ It should be stressed that even the identification of a Heracles figure by an accompanying inscription still does not mean that we know what the deity really “was” for the local worshippers. One of the famous dexiôsis reliefs that Antiochus I erected throughout the kingdom of Commagene in the first century BC labels the naked figure with club and lion's skin who shakes hands with the king as “Artagnes-Heracles”, while “Ares” is joined to this name in another inscription. But the remnants of this royal dynastic cult proceed from the religious and political programme of Antiochus himself and do not tell us anything about the local culture of the area. See Wagner, J., “Dynastie und Herrscherkult in Kommagene” in Istanbuler Mitteilungen 33 (1983), p. 186 Google Scholar, and Millar, , The Roman Near East, pp. 452–4Google Scholar. See now also Huttner, U., Die politische Rolle der Heraklesgestalt im griechischen Herrschertum (1997), pp. 198–210 Google Scholar, who stresses that Antiochus's interest in the Heracles figure resulted from the influence of Hellenistic ruler ideology on the royal house of Commagene from Alexander onwards.

²² To make matters even more complicated, one ought to take into account that the sphere of influence of a Classical deity was not actually static. Graeco-Roman gods often had more than one “field of interest”, which could gradually alter its direction and should be seen within the context of a wider divine world. See Beard, M., North, J. and Price, S., Religions of Rome 1: A History (1998), p. 16 Google Scholar.

²³ Bonnet, , “Héraclès en Orient”, pp. 180–3Google Scholar.

²⁴ Seyrig, H., “Héraclès-Nergal” in Syria 24 (1944/1955), pp. 62–80 CrossRefGoogle Scholar (=idem, Antiquités syriennes IV (1953), pp. 1–19).

²⁵ Ibid., pp. 66–7, Nos. 12–15. It is worth referring here to a relief found in the so-called Camp of Diocletian, showing a figure in Palmyrene dress holding a club in his right hand and another object in his left hand, standing next to a small altar and an even smaller dog; see Drijvers, The Religion of Palmyra, Pl. XV, and Tanabe, Sculptures of Palmyra, Pl. 134. Following the interpretation of Gawlikowski, M., “Un nouveau type d'Héraclès à Palmyre” in Études et Travaux 3 (1966), pp. 141–9Google Scholar, most scholars accept that the relief is the result of the juxtaposition of Greek and Babylonian traditions, and thus represents Heracles-Nergal. Unfortunately, the accompanying inscription (PAT 1933) is damaged and does not help us any further.

²⁶ Seyrig, , “Héraclès-Nergal”, p. 67 Google Scholar. A. Bounni, on the other hand, seems to distinguish between the Greek and the oriental god, arguing that the naked and bearded figure must be Heracles, while the figure holding a double axe represents Nergal, even when he carries an attribute of Heracles in addition. See “Iconographie d'Héraclès en Syrie” in Kahil, L., Augé, C. and de Bellefonds, P. Linant (eds.), Iconographie classique et identitiés régionales (1986), p. 385 Google Scholar. Note that Bounni stresses military presence as being decisive for Heracles' popularity throughout the Near East, p. 387.

²⁷ See the evidence listed by al-Salihi, W. I., “The Sculptures of Divinities from Hatra” (PhD Princeton 1969 Google Scholar, available on microfilm from UMI), pp. 63–100, and by Downey, S. B., The Heracles Sculpture, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Reports III, Part 1, Fascicle 1 (1969), pp. 83–96 Google Scholar. See also Homès-Fredericq, D., Hatra et ses sculptures parthes (1963)Google Scholar.

²⁸ See al-Salihi, W. I., “Hercules-Nergal at Hatra” in Iraq 33 (1971), Pl. 34d and p. 114 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, where he states that the various pieces of evidence “clearly illustrate the assimilation of Hercules to Nergal” in Shrine X. The inscription is H71, see Aggoula, B., Inventaire des inscriptions hatréennes (1991)Google Scholar, and now also Beyer, K., Die aramäischen Inschriften aus Assur, Hatra und dem übrigen Ostmesopotamien (1998)Google Scholar. See also Bonnet, , “Héraclès en Orient”, p. 182 Google Scholar.

²⁹ Thus Christides, V., “Heracles-Nergal in Hatra” in Berytus 30 (1982), pp. 105–15Google Scholar, quotations on pp. 106–7. The “Cerberus relief”, found in the first shrine excavated in Hatra outside the central temple complex, owes its name to the three-headed dog on a leash next to the main figure on the relief. See Stierlin, , Städte in der Wüste, p. 203 Google Scholar Abb. 188. The main figure is a bearded deity with horns, topped by an eagle, surrounded by snakes and scorpions, and holding an axe in his right hand. Next to him stands a so-called “divine standard”, and in the background a goddess is seated between two lions. See also Freyberger, , Die frühkaiserzeitlichen Heiligtümer, p. 102 Google Scholar.

³⁰ Surprisingly, Christides seems to have missed the inscription on which al-Salihi (see above) based his identification of the two deities at Hatra, which makes even more speculative his own discussion of “how his (=Heracles') chthonian nature was spread and understood in the remote town of Hatra” (p. 115).

³¹ With regard to Palmyrene Aramaic it ought to be stressed that Greek divine names could appear in Semitic transliteration: Nemesis (nmsys) is mentioned in an inscription from Wadi ‘Arafa in the Palmyrène from AD 153 (PAT 1568) and in a bilingual one from Dura-Europos from AD 244 (PAT 1078). See Gawlikowski, , “Les dieux de Palmyre”, p. 2642 Google Scholar. It is worth mentioning here that the name of Heracles himself appears in Syriac transliteration (hrqls) in the enigmatic Oration of Meliton the Philosopher, see Cureton, W. (ed.), Spicilegium Syriacum (1855), p. 24, ll. 17 and 26Google Scholar.

³² For the inscription see Année Épigraphique 1958, No. 240. Published by Oates, D., “A note on three Latin inscriptions from Hatra” in Sumer 11 (1955), No. 81Google Scholar. For the statue, see Downey, The Heracles Sculpture, Pl. XIX, 2.

³³ Compare Bonnet, , “Héraclès en Orient”, p. 182 Google Scholar.

³⁴ Gawlikowski, M., “L'Hellénisme et les dieux de Palmyre” in Ο ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗ, International meeting of history and archaeology, Delphi 6–9 11 1986 (1991), especially pp. 246–7, 251 Google Scholar and the concluding remarks on p. 256.

³⁵ Ibid., p. 245.

³⁶ Ibid., p. 246.

³⁷ Most of the “archaic” material comes from a foundation wall in the court of the temple of Bel which is ascribed to the sanctuary that preceded the present one. For a list of the evidence see Gawlikowski, M., Le temple palmyrénien (1973), pp. 56–60 Google Scholar. Some of the material is fragmentary, undated and only ascribed to the so-called Hellenistic temple because it is believed to be “archaic”. It is worth mentioning that two Greek inscriptions, unfortunately too fragmentary to give any information, are among the material which can certainly be ascribed to the older structure. The following necessarily deals with Palmyra only, for we have no evidence of any cultic life in Hatra in the last centuries BC. In a way, the sudden appearance of Hatrene civilisation as it presents itself to us raises problems even more serious than those concerning Palmyra.

³⁸ Drijvers, The Religion of Palmyra, Pl. XIV and p. 12. Drijvers identifies the other three gods as Astarte, Aglibol and Yarhibol, which is possible but not certain. It is possible that originally more deities were depicted. Note that the figure on the right is very similar to the one which is depicted on a stele found at the temple of Nebu, see ibid., Pl. L, 2 and p. 19. Pratscher, W., “Das Pantheon von Palmyra” in Haider, P. W., Hutter, M. and Kreuzer, S. (eds.), Religionsgeschichte Syriens (1996), p. 224 Google Scholar, refers to a inscription from the temple of Bel which is dated to 6 BC and in which the priests of the goddess Herta offered various building structures to Herta, Nanai and Rešef, the gods (lḥrt'wlnny wlršp 'lhy'), see PAT 2766, after stating that “ein aus dem Osten eingewanderter Gott ist auch Nergal, ein Unterweltsgott, der mit dem kanaanäischen Gott Reschef identifiziert wurde. In Reliefs trägt er Züge des Herakles.” Although it is indeed possible to go one step further and to argue that the Rešef from the inscription from 6 BC should be connected with the Heracles figure on the Hellenistic relief, this must remain a hypothesis.

³⁹ Which is a good reason why a reference to the relief as representing “Héraclès et des divinités de Palmyre” in the above-mentioned study of Hellenism by Gawlikowski, p. 248, Fig. 2, ought to be avoided. The iconography of the Heracles figure may be Greek, but the style of all the deities that are depicted is still very local. Compare Boardman, , The Diffusion of Classical Art, p. 317 Google Scholar, who writes that although the use of nudity “could have made sense only to a Greek”, the nakedness of Heracles was accepted throughout the East.

⁴⁰ Pye, M., Syncretism versus Synthesis, British Association for the Study of Religions, Occasional Papers 8 (1993)Google Scholar; Stewart and Shaw (eds.), Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism; Aijmer (ed.), Syncretism and the Commerce of Symbols.

⁴¹ Stewart, , “Relocating Syncretism”, pp. 26–7Google Scholar. See also Pye, , Syncretism versus Synthesis, p. 7 Google Scholar.

⁴² … and become as such part of the culture's tradition and pattern to which further elements are assimilated. For the quotation see Drijvers, H. J. W., Cults and Beliefs at Edessa (1980), p. 17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Aijmer's introduction in idem (ed.), Syncretism, p. 12. I do not believe that the distinction between “syncretism” and “synthesis”, as made by Pye, , Syncretism versus Synthesis, especially on p. 6 Google Scholar, is very helpful in this matter. Pye distinguishes “synthesis”, which “implies that, out of multiple possibilities, a new conclusion has been reached,” from other resolutions such as “assimilation” (here in the sense of “the outright dominance of one strand of meaning by another”) or “dissolution”. Those resolutions supposedly come out of the dynamically open and syncretistic situation in which “the potential claims of the constitutive elements are still alive.” Especially the idea of “synthesis” as the “coherent mixture” which “represents the conclusion to a process which is thereby completed” is much too artificial and static to be applied to any religious world.

⁴³ Gawlikowski, , “L'Hellénisme”, p. 246 Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ In an early article though, Gawlikowski referred to the “hétérogénèse de la culture, et surtout de la religion palmyrénienne”: see “Un nouveau type d'Héraclès à Palmyre”, p. 149.

⁴⁵ Aijmer's introduction in idem, Syncretism, p. 5.

⁴⁶ Or in Aijmer's words again, ibid., pp. 5–6: “People do not live in one society only, but simultaneously in several societies, which exist in parallel and apart.”

⁴⁷ See ibid., pp. 3 and 6. Compare the introduction in Stewart, and Shaw, (eds.), Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism, pp. 19–22 Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ Contra Feldtkeller, A., “Synkretismus und Pluralismus am Beispiel von Palmyra” in Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 48 (1996), especially pp. 27–8Google Scholar, who makes an unnecessary plea for reconsideration of the old theory of rivalry between the two so-called supreme gods at Palmyra.

⁴⁹ Bendlin, A., “Peripheral centres — central peripheries: religious communication in the Roman empire” in Cancik, H. and Rüpke, J. (eds.), Römische Reichsreligion und Provinzialreligion (1997), pp. 35–68, especially 52–4Google Scholar. In contrast I remain sceptical about any deliberate “Romanisation” as recently argued for by Colledge, M. A. R., “Roman influence in the art of Palmyra” in AAAS 42 (1996), pp. 363–70Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ These blocks were reused in the medieval citadel into which the propylaea of the temple of Bel were converted. See Seyrig, “Héraclès-Nergal”, Pl. IV and p. 75. He suggested that the two reliefs were originally used in a gymnasion or a palaistra.

⁵¹ E.g. Gawlikowski, , “L'Hellénisme”, p. 251 Google Scholar. Compare Colledge, M., The Art of Palmyra (1976), pp. 104–5 and 242 Google Scholar.

⁵² Both were published by Stern, H., Les mosaïques des maisons d'Achille et de Cassiopée à Palmyre (1977)Google Scholar, with detailed photographs.

⁵³ See Balty, J. Ch., “Une version orientale méconnue du mythe de Cassiopée” in Kahil, and Augé, (eds.), Mythologie gréco-romaine, mythologies périphériques, pp. 95–106 Google Scholar.

⁵⁴ Stern, , Les mosaïques, p. 42 Google Scholar. Balty, Contra J., Mosaïques antiques de Syrie (1977), pp. 32–4Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ For the mosaic from Apamea see Balty, , Mosaïqes, pp. 82–7Google Scholar, and Balty, J. Ch., Guide d'Apamée (1981), pp. 212–15Google Scholar. For the mosaic from Cyprus see Bowersock, , Hellenism, pp. 50–1 and Pl. 3Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ For the mosaic see Stern, , Les mosaïques, pp. 5–26 Google Scholar, and Balty, , Mosaïques, pp. 30–1Google Scholar. For the fresco see Kraeling, C. H., “Color photographs of the paintings in the tomb of the three brothers at Palmyra” in AAS 11–12 (1961/1962)Google Scholar, Pl. II–III and especially XIII, and Colledge, The Art of Palmyra, Pl. 115. The inscription which gives the date of foundation of the tomb is PAT 0066 (AD 133).

⁵⁷ For the statue see Gawlikowski, , “L'Hellénisme”, p. 251 n. 11Google Scholar, and idem, “Un banquet dionysiaque à Palmyre” in Études et Travaux 15 (1990), pp. 157–61. For the fresco, now inaccessible, see Starcky, J. and Gawlikowski, M., Palmyre (1985)Google Scholar, Fig. 13, and Colledge, The Art of Palmyra, Pl. 118.

⁵⁸ Just as an example, it is worth mentioning the unpublished graffiti of an altar and scorpions (the animal displayed in a prominent position on some reliefs from both Palmyra and Hatra) in tomb tower No. 12, and the painting of a satyr head in tomb tower No. 19. The graffiti are mentioned by Gawlikowski, M., Monuments funéraires de Palmyre (1970), p. 77 n. 41Google Scholar. The painting is mentioned by Michalowski, K., Palmyre 1961 (1963), p. 198 Google Scholar, with Fig. 242, and sketched by Colledge, , The Art of Palmyra, p. 84 Fig. 47Google Scholar. I am grateful to Agnes Henning for drawing my attention to this material and for providing me with some excellent photographs. See also, briefly, Parlasca, K., “Römische Elemente in der Grabkunst Palmyras” in Zayadine, F., Petra and the Caravan Cities (1990), pp. 191–6Google Scholar, and on the question of meaning in general see Drijvers, H. J. W., “After life and funerary symbolism in Palmyrene religion”, in Bianchi, U. and Vermaseren, M. J. (eds.), La soteriologia dei culti orientali nell'Impero Romano (1982), pp. 709–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁹ See also Beard, North and Price, Religions of Rome 1, p. 164.

⁶⁰ Bonnet, , “Héraclès en Orient”, pp. 167–72Google Scholar. See also Boardman, , The Diffusion of Classical Art, p. 321 Google Scholar. On Tyre see Bonnet, C., Melqart. Cultes et mythes de l'Héracles tyrien en Méditerranée, Studia Phoenicia VIII (1988)Google Scholar. On the particularities of the process of hellenisation in Phoenicia see Millar, F., “The Phoenician cities: a case-study of hellenisation” in Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 209, n.s. 29 (1983), pp. 55–71 Google Scholar.

⁶¹ Burnett, A., Amandry, M. and Ripollès, Père P., Roman Provincial Coinage I (1992)Google Scholar, Nos. 4619–706 (silver) and 4707–19 (bronze). See also above, n. 60, and on the region in general, Millar, , The Roman Near East, pp. 264–95Google Scholar.

⁶² There are a few coins on which Zenobia's son Wahballat (or Vaballathus) is associated with a Heracles figure. See Mazzini, G., Monete imperiali romane IV (1957), p. 171 Google Scholar with Tav. L, M/4v (RIC V,2, p. 585, No. 4). Compare RIC V,2, p. 585, No. 7. See also Schneider, E. Equini, Septimia Zenobia Sebaste (1993), p. 87 Google Scholar, n. 2, for further references. But any coinage of the brief period that the actual position of Roman emperor was claimed by Wahballat ought to be interpreted in an “imperial” context. In associating himself with Heracles/Hercules, the Palmyrene usurper would have continued an imperial tradition in order to substantiate his claim to the throne. Compare Picozzi, V., “Le monete di Vaballato” in Numismatica (Rome) n.s. 2 (1961, pp. 123–8Google Scholar. Despite the appearance of various other local deities on the more typically Palmyrene coins, there is no evidence yet for the depiction of the Heracles figure on any of them. See Krsyzanowska, A., “Le monnayage de Palmyre” in Proceedings of the 9th International Congress of Numismatics, Berne, September 1979 I (1982), pp. 445–57Google Scholar, and, in general, Szaivert, W., “Die Münzen von Palmyra” in Ruprechtsberger, E. (ed.), Palmyra. Geschichte, Kunst undKultur der syrischen Oasenstadt (1987), pp. 244–8Google Scholar, with further references.

⁶³ Walker, J., “The coins of Hatra” in The Numismatic Chronicle, 6th series, 18 (1958), pp. 167–72Google Scholar; Slocum, J. J., “Another look at the coins of Hatra” in The American Numismatic Society. Museum Notes 22 (1977), pp. 37–47 Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ Bellinger, A. R., The Coins. The excavations at Dura-Europos. Final Report VI (1949)Google Scholar.

⁶⁵ Spijkerman, A., The Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia, ed. Piccirillo, M. (1978)Google Scholar, and Meshorer, Y., City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period (1985)Google Scholar. In addition to Gadara and Philadelphia there are examples from Abila, Adraa and Pella. Golden apples (damaged): Spijkerman, Pella No. 10; Nemean lion: Meshorer, Abila No. 213.

⁶⁶ Spijkerman, , The Coins of the Decapolis, Philadelphia Google Scholar Nos. 21–2, 29, 35, 40, 43 and 46 (from Marcus Aurelius to Elagabal). Meshorer, , City-Coins, p. 96 Google Scholar, puts forward the hypothesis that the canopy covers the sacred stone which was worshipped in the cult of Heracles, and that the Greek deity was identified with both Melqart and the Ammonite deity Milkom. Bonnet, , Melqart, pp. 146–7Google Scholar, although writing with regard to the depictions of Heracles on the coins of the Decapolis that “rien cependant ne le distingue du type grec traditionnel” (p. 147 n. 9), connects the coins depicting Heracles' chariot with the title of ἐγερσε[ίτην τοῦ] Ἡρακλέου[ς] (“the one who raises Heracles”), given to a citizen from Philadelphia who is further identified as gymnasiarch, senator and president of the council and assembly, and argues that “l'Héraclès d'Amman n'est pas simplement le héros grec.”

⁶⁷ Meshorer, City-coins, No. 13. Stephan of Byzantium, s.v. Ἀκη, tells the story how Heracles had founded the city in gratitude, the Semitic name Aco being interpreted as Ἀκή, the Greek word for “healing”.

⁶⁸ Compare Boardman, , The Diffusion of Classical Art, p. 328 n. 74Google Scholar. For the Heracles figure holding one or more apples at Hatra, see al-Salihi, , “The Sculptures of Divinities from Hatra”, pp. 65–6 and Nos. 16–19Google Scholar. Equally, what myth, if any, is represented on a cult bank from Hatra that shows three scenes of a Heracles figure, possibly supported by an Athena figure, fighting a centaur, remains unknown. See Downey, , The Heracles Sculpture, p. 88 and Pl. XXIGoogle Scholar. For the fight with the Nemean lion at Dura-Europos see ibid., Nos. 28–32. One Palmyrene tessera (RTP 1032) is believed to show Heracles hurling the Ceryneian hind to the ground, but this must remain a hypothesis. The mosaic from Philippopolis on which a drunken Heracles (identified as such in Greek) attends the wedding of Dionysos and Ariadne ought to be interpreted in the context of the rapid changes by which the village of Shahba was transformed in a Graeco-Roman city worthy of being the birthplace of the “Arab” emperor Philip. For the mosaic see Balty, , Mosaïques antiques de Syrie, pp. 50–7Google Scholar.

⁶⁹ See Gawlikowski, , “Les dieux de Palmyre”, pp. 2614–15Google Scholar, with further references. For the relief see Tanabe, Sculptures of Palmyra, Pls. 32–4, and Drijvers, The Religion of Palmyra, Pl. IV, 2. For an English translation with introduction of Enuma Elish see Dalley, S., Myths from Mesopotamia (1989), pp. 228–77Google Scholar. For a new interpretation see now Dirven, L., “The exaltation of Nabû. A revision of the relief depicting the battle against Tiamat from the temple of Bel in Palmyra” in Die Welt des Orients 28 (1997), pp. 96–116 Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ See Dirven, , “The exaltation of Nabû”, pp. 106–8Google Scholar. Whether the Akitu festival as such was really celebrated in Palmyra, and — if it was — whether it was also subject to local influences and full of Palmyrene peculiarities, we cannot know for sure.

⁷¹ Ibid., p. 115. It has indeed been recognised for a long time that any attempt to explain these attendant figures by referring to the cult of Bel causes a lot of problems, see Gawlikowski, , “Les dieux de Palmyre”, p. 2615 Google Scholar. Equally, a leading role on the part of Nebu on the relief is not incompatible with Nabu's rise to power within the religious world of Babylon, which by the late Babylonian period had made him reach a status equal to Marduk-Bel and which is believed to have been reflected in the Akitu festival; see Dirven, , “The exaltation of Nabû”, pp. 111–13Google Scholar. Nevertheless, the cult of Nebu at Palmyra is, to say the least, quite difficult to reconstruct.

⁷² See Bounni, A., “Les représentations d'Apollon en Palmyrène et dans le milieu syrien” in Kahil, and Augé, (eds.), Mythologie gréco-romaine, mythologies périphériques, pp. 107–12Google Scholar. A deity identified as Nebu and holding a lyre often appears on the tesserae. Note that Bounni, op. cit., pp. 108–10, interprets one of the deities lined up on the right side of the relief as Apollo instead.

⁷³ Note that the identification of the Greek twins with the Babylonian couple is also made by Strabo, , Geogr. XI 1, 7 Google Scholar.

⁷⁴ For the tesserae see RTP 168 and 237. For the relief see Drijvers, The Religion of Palmyra, Pl. XIII, 2.

⁷⁵ See Dirven, , “The exaltation of Nabû”, pp. 107–8Google Scholar, for a full description of the deities lined up on the right side of the battle relief. For some preliminary reports on the temple “of Nebu” see Bounni, A. and Saliby, N., “Six nouveaux emplacements fouillés à Palmyre” in AAS 15, 2 (1965), pp. 121–3Google Scholar8, and Bounni, A., “Le sanctuaire de Nabû à Palmyre” in Zayadine, F. (ed.), Petra and the Caravan Citie (1990), pp. 157–67Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ RTP 247.

⁷⁷ RTP 245 (and 246?).

⁷⁸ See e.g. Dunand, M., Le musée de Soueida (1934)Google Scholar, No. 48, and the catalogue of the National Museum of Damascus, p. 112 (C5183). Sourdel, D., Les cultes du Haur à l'époque romaine (1952), p. 35 Google Scholar, put forward the hypothes that the Hauran functioned as a passage for Phoenician influences to Trans-Jordan, although she stressed the local aspect of the Heracles figure in the Hauran. Bonnet, , Melqart, p. 145 Google Scholar, argues against the old viewpoint and see the Greek model standing behind the Heracles figure in the, Hauran instead. Compare Bounni, , “Iconographie d'Héraclès en Syrie”, p. 383 Google Scholar.

⁷⁹ For the relief see al-Salihi, W. I., “Further notes on Hercules-Gnd' at Hatra” in Sumer 38 (1982), Fig. 1Google Scholar. For the stele see idem, “Palmyrene sculptures found at Hatra” in Iraq 49 (1987), Pl. XIIIa.

⁸⁰ For example, at Dura the Heracles figure appears on a fresco from the temple either known as “of the Palmyrene gods” or “of Bel”, on the tableau immediately left of the Tyche of the Palmyrenes and the Tyche of Dura. The context remains unclear. See Cumont, F., Fouilles de Doura-Europos (1926), p. 118 Google Scholar and Pl. XLIX. On the problems with regard to the labelling of this and other temples see Millar, F., “Dura-Europos under Parthian rule” in Wiesehöfer, J. (ed.), Das Partherreich und seine Zeugnisse, Historia-Einzelschrift 122 (1998), pp. 473–92Google Scholar.

⁸¹ See in general Kaizer, T., “ De Dea Syria et aliis diis deabusque. A study of the variety of appearances of Gad in Aramaic inscriptions and on sculptures from the Near East in the first three centuries AD”, Part 1 in Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 28 (1997), pp. 14–66 Google Scholar, Part 2 in OLP 29 (in press).

⁸² For the temple and its evidence see al-Salihi, W. I., “The excavation of shrine XIII at Hatra” in Mesopotamia 25 (1990), pp. 27–35 Google Scholar. See Fig. 18, a decapitated statue of the Heracles figure in Hatrene dress wearing an amulet, and especially Fig. 21, a statue of the Heracles figure, identified as the Gad of Ramgu (H413 II), standing in a small niche behind the dedicator. On the former see also idem, “Two cult statues from Hatra” in Iraq 58 (1996), pp. 105–8. The inscriptions from this shrine are published by Aggoula, B., “Remarques sur les inscriptions hatréennes XVIII” in Syria 67 (1990), pp. 405–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The Gad inscriptions from this temple are listed with translation in Kaizer, “De Dea Syria et aliis diis deabusque”, Part 2. See now also Beyer, Die aramäischen Inschriften. The fact that the forms gadda and ganda appeared alongside each other in these texts can be explained as a regular case of “dissimilatorische Geminatenauflösung”, see Kaizer, op. cit., Part 1, pp. 151–2.

⁸³ For the inscription see Aggoula, Inventaire, H 296. See also Kaizer, “De Dea Syria et aliis diis deabusque”, Part 2, and Beyer, Die aramäischen Inschriften. The statuette is discussed by al-Salihi, W. I., “A note on a statuette from Hatra” in Sumer 29 (1973), pp. 99–100 Google Scholar. For photographs see the Arabic part of the same volume, pp. 151–6 with Figs. 1–5.

⁸⁴ H 297, gd' dy' bwl' (North gate); Ibrahim, J. K., Pre-Islamic Settlement in Jazirah (1986)Google Scholar, No. XIV (H 1031 in Beyer, Die aramäischen Inschriften), nyš' dgnd' d'bwl' (East gate). See Kaizer, “De Dea Syria et aliis diis deabusque”, Part 2, for full references.

⁸⁵ For the Aramaic text see now Beyer, Die aramäischen Inschriften, p. 116 (S 1). For Ptolemy see Geographia (ed. C. Nobbe), V 18, 1 and VI 3, 4. See also Bonnet, , Melqart, p. 151 Google Scholar, and idem, “Héraclès en Orient”, p. 183.

⁸⁶ See Bonnet, , “Héraclès en Orient”, p. 180 Google Scholar. Professor Michal Gawlikowski kindly informed me that the column was found at the source of an aqueduct leading there.

⁸⁷ See Downey, , The Heracles Sculpture, p. 82 Google Scholar.

⁸⁸ Compare Drijvers, , “Hatra, Palmyra und Edessa”, p. 834 Google Scholar.

⁸⁹ Galinsky, G. K., The Herakles Theme. The Adaptations of the Hero in Literature from Homer to the Twentieth Century (1972), p. 2 Google Scholar.

⁹⁰ See above, n. 49.

⁹¹ Boardman, , The Diffusion of Classical Art, p. 320 Google Scholar.