Page 70 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

RELIGION 57

'the god'; another, beside the bust, requests that certain persons, who are
named, be 'remembered before the god'. But a third inscription explicitly
identifies the god. It declares that the bust was made, 'to Sin the god for the
life of Tirdat1 bar Adona and for the life of his brethren.' Another inscrip-
tion, unfortunately difficult to decipher, seems to refer to the deposit of a
treasure and ends, '. . . I behold him, and lo! I am Sin the god.2'
On the bare summit of this sacred mount, among several brief dedicatory
inscriptions, is one which declares, 'Remembered be 'Absamya son of Adona
the nuhadra; [may he be] remembered before Marilaha.' Two other texts are
given pride of place on the mount. One, on the western side, states:
In the month of Shebat in the year 476,3 I, Tirdat bar Adona, ruler of the 'Arab,
built this altar and set a pillar to Marilaha for the life of my lord the king and his sons
and for the life of Adona my father. . . .
In an inscription on the eastern side of the mount is written:
In the month of Shebat in the year 476+... we set this pillar on this blessed mount and
erected the stool for him whom my ruler feeds.5 He shall be budar after Tirdat the ruler
and he shall give the stool to him whom he feeds. His recompense shall be from Mari-
laha. And if he withholds the stool,6 then the pillar will be ruined. He, the god, lives.7
The text was evidently inscribed by a group of 'Arab over whom Tirdat had
authority as ruler, or Arabarchos. The year in which these texts were written—
another Sumatar text has the date Adar 476 (approximately March 165)—was
a turning-point in the history of Osrhoene. The Roman armies occupied
Edessa and expelled its pro-Parthian monarch Wa'el in the following Novem-
ber. The 'king' of the Sumatar text is probably the king of Edessa, the
principal city of the province. There was a direct political connection
between Sumatar and Edessa at this time.
There was also a religious bond between the two places. The chief deity
of Sumatar is evidently referred to as Marilaha, 'the lord god'.8 The 'Arab
of the place set a stool and a pillar on the eastern side (ritually the more

1 Parthian, Tirdad (Tiridates). he shall give the stool to whoever feeds Him.
2 This reading is probable, but not certain. His recompense shall be from Marilaha. If the
3 Approximately February A.0. 165. stool falls and the pillar is ruined, [yet] He, the
4 A list of five names follows. God, knows us' (following my earlier reading
5 Lit., 'nourishes'. The phrase could also be of the last word). Shaked suggests that it is the
rendered, 'whose shepherd is my ruler'. deity who is fed, and that the Biadr is called
6 The reading on which this translation is 'ruler' as a priestly title, but with rank in-
based (Syriac nkl') is to be preferred, on ferior to that of Tirdat, ruler (of 'Arab),
grounds of script, to Syriac npl', i.e. 'if the 8 The importance of the shrine at Sumatar
stool falls'. Harabesi seems to be attested by remains at
7 After a fresh examination and recording of another site in the Tektek mountains now
this inscription in 1966,1 now read Syriac fey in- called Sanimagara. There, an altar is situated
stead of my previousyd'n. S. Shaked in A. D. H. on the summit of a mount. It faces eastwards
Bivar and Shaked, BSOAS xxvii, 1964, 28 ff., like the mount at Sumatar. But a large stone
interpretsthe text differently:'., .and we erected stands orientated towards Sumatar Harabesi—
the stool to whoever feeds Him (i.e. the god). My and perhaps towards Harran. PL 42.
ruler shall be Bwdr after Tirdat the ruler, and

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