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Hadaranes

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hadaranes
storm and weather
Major cult centreNiha, Lebanon
GenderMale
RegionNiha, Zahle in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon
ConsortAtargatis
Equivalents
CanaaniteHadad

Hadaranes (also recorded as Hadaranus, or Hadranes) was a local Syro-Phoenician deity worshipped during the Roman period in the Beqaa Valley of present-day Lebanon. He functioned as a storm and weather god, identified as a local manifestation of the Semitic weather god Hadad. At the sanctuary site of Niha, he was venerated along with his consort of the goddess Atargatis.

Cult and sanctuary

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Scholars identify Hadaranes as a local manifestation of the West Semitic storm and weather god Hadad.[1][2] The Belgian archaeologist and historian Franz Cumont, who provided the foundational scholarly treatment of the god in Pauly encyclopedias, argued that Hadaranes was a local form of Heliopolitan Jupiter of Baalbek.[1] In 2020, Rieger proposed that Hadaranes was a local god with his a distinct character, separate from the Heliopolitan god.[3]

The primary center of worship for Hadaranes was located at the site of Niha (ancient Nihata, not to be confused with temples of Hosn Niha), situated in the central Beqaa Valley near Zahlé.[4][5] The archaeological precinct features two lower Roman-era temples constructed between the first and third centuries AD.[4] The Small Temple was built in the late first century AD.[6] It is of the Ionic order and was believed to be dedicated to Hadaranes, or jointly to Atargatis and Hadaranes.[6] The Great Temple was constructed during the second and third centuries AD. In their 1938 work, the German architectural historian Daniel Krencker and the historian Willy Zschietzschmann attributed its construction to the early second century AD, while later estimates range from around 200 AD (Ernest Will) to the mid-3rd century AD (Klaus S. Freyberger).[7][8][9] Epigraphic evidence indicates that a triad may have been venerated in Niha, consisting of Hadaranes, Atargatis, and a minor male deity considered their son.[10]

Epigraphy

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The deity's name appears in the epigraphic record under several variant spellings, including Deus Hadaranus, and Hadranes.[11] Hadaranes is attested at two locations in the region: Niha and Deir el-Ahmar, a town approximately 15 km north-west of Baalbek. The principal inscriptions from Niha are collected in the Inscriptions Grecques et Latines de la Syrie (IGLSyr 6, 2928), while a Latin cippus from the temple at Deir el-Ahmar also records his name (IGLSyr 6, 2908).[12][3] The Latin votive inscription (IGLSyr 6, 2928) is dedicated by a priestess named Hochmaea.[13] The inscription records that Hochmaea was a consecrated virgin (virgo dei Hadaranis) who, by order of the god, abstained from eating bread for twenty years:[14]

Hocmaea, virgo dei Hadaranis, quia annis XX panem non edidit iussu ipsius dei, votum libens animo solvit.
("Hochmaea, virgin of the god Hadaranes, because by order of the god himself she did not eat bread for 20 years, willingly and deservedly fulfilled her vow").[15]

The inscription and associated stone altars dedicated to Hadaranes are preserved in the collections of the National Museum of Beirut and the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.[14][16]

Representation and attributes

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A relief on the soffit of the Great Temple's entrance architrave informs on the god's attributes; it features an eagle gripping a crown in its beak, flanked by a Victory figure on one side, and an Eros figure and a second Victory on the other.[17] This has not been interpreted in a mythological context, rather as a grouping of attributes, where the eagle and crown convey supreme, solar power and the Eros pointing to an identification of Dea Syria Nihathena (Atagartis). On another relief, now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, the god is shown in the iconographic style of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Heliopolitanus, accompanied by this consort (named in a bilingual inscription as both Dea Syria Nihathena and Atagartis).[17] A bronze votive hand from Niha showing a young, Mercury-like figure surrounded by two rams (attributes of Mercury), is cited as evidence that a divine triad was worshipped at the site.[17][18]

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See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 Cumont 1912, p. 2163.
  2. ↑ Rieger 2020.
  3. 1 2 Rieger 2020, p. 362.
  4. 1 2 Paturel 2019, pp. 165–175.
  5. ↑ Rey-Coquais 1992, p. 252.
  6. 1 2 Paturel 2019, p. 168.
  7. ↑ Aliquot 2009, 29.
  8. ↑ Paturel 2019, p. 175.
  9. ↑ Freyberger 1999, p. 573.
  10. ↑ Aliquot 2009, 21.
  11. ↑ Aliquot 2009, 59, 130.
  12. ↑ Rey-Coquais 1967, pp. 183, 196–197.
  13. ↑ Rey-Coquais 1967, p. 52.
  14. 1 2 Rey-Coquais 1967, p. 196.
  15. ↑ Rey-Coquais 1967, p. 197.
  16. ↑ Rey-Coquais 1967, pp. 197–198.
  17. 1 2 3 Freyberger 1999, p. 571.
  18. ↑ Rey-Coquais 1992, p. 252.

Sources

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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hadaranes&oldid=1376331638"