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The God Ṣalmu and the Winged Disk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Stephanie Dalley
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Extract

The exact nature and function of the winged disk in Western Asia have been the subject of discussion and disagreement for over half a century. There is no shortage of evidence; representations are found over a very wide geographical and chronological span. However, a new monument has recently come to light in Arabia, and it affords an unparalleled context for the winged disk. This study investigates in detail the proposal made by Winnett in 1970, that the Aramaic deity ṢLM, known mainly from inscriptions in the area of N.W. Arabia around the city of Teima, is the winged disk, and analyses cuneiform sources for the cognate Akkadian god Ṣalmu. The evidence shows that Ṣalmu may indeed be a name for the winged disk in cuneiform, and there are good indications that the winged disk was an object on which oaths of loyalty were sworn to the king and probably also to the crown prince during the neo-Assyrian period. Probable references to Ṣalmu as the winged disk in personal names and in various texts dating to the late second and early first millennia B.C. are assembled. Some evidence that Hebrew 'edūṯ and late Babylonian Adēšu are West Semitic words for the winged disk is presented. In the second part of the study the title šamšī, meaning “his/your majesty”, is investigated, and evidence is presented to show that the winged disk was adopted as the visual equivalent of the verbal title šamšī, and marked both mortal kings and certain deities who could claim to be head of a pantheon in a particular city or country. The symbol, whether representing a human or divine king, proclaims the sovereign's protection under oaths of loyalty which were guaranteed by dire curses and enforced by sympathetic magic on oath-breakers.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 48 , 1986 , pp. 85 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1986

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References

1 A brief version of a part of this study was published in Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 15 (1985), 27–33 Google Scholar.

2 A full bibliography is given by Donner and Röllig, KAI 2 no. 228.

3 Various suggested interpretations are: Lipiński, , Onomastics, 98 Google Scholar, “moongod of the palace”; Millard, , UF 4, 161–2Google Scholar, “divine queen”, Drijvers, , Cults and Beliefs of Edessa, 143 Google Scholar, “moongod of the heap of stones”. Clearly more information is needed.

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5 Portrayed in similar pose and garb to Nabonidus on the Harran stelae; see Gadd, , An. St. 8 (1958), Pls. 2–3Google Scholar.

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28 Menzel, op. cit., e.g. T 114 i. 27 with Aššur, i. 32 with Tispak.

29 Menzel, op. cit., T 147 ff. lines 57 and 80; also T 119 vi. 29.

30 Menzel, op. cit., T 119 vi. 29 and 32.

31 Menzel, op. cit., T 150 lines 60 and 105.

32 APN, 205a sub Ṣalmu-šar-iqbi 9.

33 APN, 205. Phonetic writings and complements show that the singular construct of ṣalmu can be ṣalam or ṣalmu; the latter appears to be more frequent.

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88 Judges 8:5, king of Midian. The analysis of the name is not certain. Human names ending -unna are all female; but it is likely that the name is Midianite-Semitic rather than Hurrian.

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124 This study has benefited during gestation from the help and criticism of Dr. P. R. S. Moorey, Dr. A. R. Green, Michael MacDonald, J. D. Hawkins, Diana Stein and Beatrice Teissier, but they cannot be held responsible for the result.