Barama (

Eblaite Eblaite (, also known as Eblan ISO 639-3), or Palaeo-Syrian, is an extinct East Semitic language used during the 3rd millennium BC by the populations of Northern Syria. It was named after the ancient city of Ebla, in modern western Syria. Varian ...

: ''^dba-ra-ma'') was a goddess worshiped in the Syrian city of

Ebla Ebla ( Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', ar, إبلا, modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center t ...

in the third millennium BCE as the wife of its tutelary god, Kura. She is not attested from any sources postdating the destruction of the city.

Character

Barama was the wife of Kura, the tutelary god of

. She is relatively infrequently attested in Eblaite texts. Only five mentions come from offering lists, and about twenty from other administrative documents. However, it can be assumed that she nonetheless headed the pantheon alongside her husband. The status of these two deities was reflected in their connection to the royal couple of the city. Alfonso Archi proposes that her name should be understood as "full of color," and that it is derived from the Semitic root *''brm''. A possible cognate word, ''barāmu'', "to be multicolored," is known from

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

texts. Walther Sallaberger notes that it has been proposed that the name referred to her colorful clothes. Archi also considers it possible that her name belonged to a linguistic substrate, like these of other deities worshiped in Ebla, such as Kura,

Hadabal Hadabal (also spelled 'Adabal) was a god worshiped in Ebla and its surroundings in the third millennium BCE. He was one of the main gods of that area, and appears frequently in Eblaite documents. His character is not well understood, though it ha ...

Ishara Ishara (Išḫara) was the tutelary goddess of the ancient Syrian city of Ebla. The origin of her name is unknown. Both Hurrian and West Semitic etymologies have been proposed, but they found no broad support and today it is often assumed that ...

, Adamma or

Aštabi Aštabi ( uga, 𐎀𐎌𐎚𐎁, ''aštb''), also known as Aštabil, was a god worshiped in the third millennium BCE in Ebla, later incorporated into Hurrian beliefs in locations such as Alalakh and Ugarit and as a result also into the religion o ...

. He also notes it is unusual for Barama's name to lack the feminine suffix ''-at'', if it had its origin in a Semitic language. Similar to Kura, but unlike Hadabal, Barama is very rarely attested outside the city itself. She disappeared from history after the destruction of Ebla.

Worship

Barama does not appear in any known

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

s. The name-giving customs at Ebla are assumed to largely reflect an older tradition that the pantheon of the city, and the most common theophoric elements are not personified deities, but the words ''

damu Damu ( sux, 𒀭𒁕𒈬) was a Mesopotamian god. While originally regarded as a dying god connected to vegetation, similar to Dumuzi or Ningishzida, with time he acquired the traits of a god of healing. He was regarded as the son of the medic ...

'' and ''lim'', representing the deified concepts of, respectively, kinship ties and clan organization. A priestess, ''pa₄-šeš''(''-mí''), was jointly responsible for the cult of Barama and Kura. The holder of this office attested in documents bore the name Enna-Utu. Furthermore, functionaries belonging to the cult of Barama are alluded to in the text ARET 7.13, dealing with purchases of clothing for individuals involved in the worship of both her and Adamma. It is possible that two ''damâtum'' (a type of

betyl Baetylus (also Baetyl, Bethel, or Betyl, from Semitic ''bet el'' "house of god"; compare Bethel, Beit El) are sacred stones that were supposedly endowed with life, or gave access to a deity. According to ancient sources, at least some of these ...

-like boundary stone to which religious importance was assigned in Ebla), were dedicated jointly to Kura and Barama.

The rite of royal ascension

Following the royal wedding of a new Eblaite king, a four day pilgrimage involving both Barama and Kura had to be undertaken. During preparations for it, the queen had to make an offering to a number of deities, including Barama, in the temple of Kura. The target of the journey was the nearby village Binaš (less commonly read as Nenaš), which was the location of a royal mausoleum. The statue of Barama traveled in its own cart, similar to that of Kura. During a ritual which took place in ''é ma-dim'', "house of the dead" (the mausoleum in mention) both of the deities were believed to undergo ritual renewal. The process is described in a ritual text: According to Alfonso Archi, Nintu/^dTU should not be understood as the Mesopotamian goddess in this context, but rather as a stand in for an unknown Eblaite goddess of similar character. He points out that similar use of this logogram is known from Mari. Other renewal rites seemingly did not involve goddesses, as none are attested for Ishara,

Ishtar Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...

or the spouses of Hadda ( Halabatu) and Resheph (Adamma). The ceremony was a royal ascension ritual, though despite direct statements confirming this in Eblaite texts, it appears that both Ishar-Damu and

Irkab-Damu Irkab-Damu (reigned c. 2340 BC), was the king ( Malikum) of the first Eblaite kingdom, whose era saw Ebla's turning into the dominant power in the Levant. During his reign, the vizier started to acquire an important role in running the affair of ...

had already been rulers for multiple years when they undertook it during their respective reigns. It has been proposed that the royal couple was understood as the earthly manifestation of Kura and Barama in its context.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *{{cite book, last=Sallaberger, first=Walther, editor-last=Matthiae, editor-first=Paolo, editor-last2=Pinnock, editor-first2=Frances, editor-last3=D’Andrea, editor-first3=Marta, title=Ebla and Beyond, chapter=Kura, Youthful Ruler and Martial City-God of Ebla, publisher=Harrassowitz, date=2018, isbn=978-3-447-19744-1, doi=10.2307/j.ctvcm4f5r Eblaite deities