Page 64 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

RELIGION 51

are among you those who worship Bath Nikal like the men of Harran your neighbours,
and Tar'atha like the men of Mabbog, and the Eagle like the Arabs,1 and the sun and
moon as others who are like you. Do not be led astray by the rays of the luminaries or
the gleaming star.
We have discussed the worship of Nabu, Bel, and Tar'atha (Atargatis) of
Mabbog, and the sun and moon. Bath Nikal is no doubt daughter of Ningal,
consort of Sin the moon deity, and herself perhaps to be identified with
Tar'atha. The Eagle may be the term given, as it was by later Arabs, to the
constellation of the Lyre, which includes one of the brightest stars in the
northern hemisphere. It may, on the other hand, be the symbol of Jupiter.
In the fragmentary Animal mosaic in Sehitlik Mahallesi at Urfa,2 all that
remains of the centre are outstretched wings and a hand grasping a staff.
Perhaps this is a representation of Zeus and his eagle; perhaps it told the
myth of Ganymede.
We meet with legends, in the Syriac literature of Edessa of this period,
that have much in common with those of contemporary cities, particularly of
Hierapolis. In the Doctrine of Added, on the introduction of Christianity to
Edessa, the Apostle relates the discovery of the Cross at Jerusalem by
Queen Protonice, wife of Emperor Claudius. The queen's name may be a
variant of Stratonice, wife of the king of Assyria, and one of the reputed
founders of the temple of Hierapolis. Protonice in this story obviously
reflects Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, whom history credits with
the finding of the Cross. But local legend confused this Helena with an
earlier queen Helena, who was renowned for her adoption of Judaism and
her largess to the temple at Jerusalem, and the latter was queen of Adiabene,
which was popularly called 'Assyria'.3 In the Syriac Oration, too, incorrectly
ascribed to Melito of Sardis we read that:
the Syrians worshipped 'Athi of Adiabene who sent the daughter of Belat, the woman-
physician and she healed Simi, daughter of Hadad king of Syria; after a time, when
leprosy came upon Hadad himself, 'Athi entreated Elisha the Hebrew and he came and
healed him of his leprosy.
These names remind us of the cult of Hierapolis—Hadad and 'Athi ('Atha,
'Athar'atha) are its chief deities, and Simi is the Semeion, the golden em-
blem that stood between them in the inner shrine of the temple. 'Atha,
however, was worshipped also at Edessa.4 The cure of leprosy by Elisha the
Hebrew echoes the healing of Abgar of Edessa of a sickness, by some identi-
fied with leprosy, by another Hebrew, the Apostle Addai.5
Finally, another passage of this Oration declares, 'Concerning Nabu that
is in Mabbog what shall I write ? That it is the image of Orpheus the Thracian
magus all the priests in Mabbog know.' It has been suggested that the
1 Syriac, 'Arbaye. 4 Cf. p. 50.
2 See p. 32. 5 Leprosy and lepers were carefully avoided
3 See pp. 68-70 below. by the pagans of Harran.

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