The "Heracles Figure" at Hatra and Palmyra: Problems of Interpretation

Abstract

In this paper I intend to use the Heracles figure, a prime example of the application of Graeco-Roman imagery to the ever-varying process of expressing Near Eastern forms of religion in the Roman period, to illustrate and guide a brief discourse on the methodological problems concerning the approach to a religious world which was more heterogeneous than is sometimes thought. Iconographic representations of a male figure with club and lion's skin as his main attributes are widespread in the Near East, and indeed far beyond, in the Roman period. In what follows I will concentrate on the place and functioning of this so-called Heracles figure within the context of the religious life of Palmyra and Hatra, two desert cities which, each in their own distinctive way, present examples of a complex religious system in which different elements coexisted and might have influenced each other. Evidence from elsewhere in the Near East that may contribute to our perception of the variety of values which a Heracles figure could embody for different groups of worshippers will also be taken into account. With regard to the places on which I am focusing, I prefer to refer to the figure with club and lion's skin not as “Heracles” but as the “Heracles figure”, because neither at Palmyra nor at Hatra is that figure ever called by his Greek name in accompanying inscriptions. What the evidence does reveal, though, is that the Heracles figure enjoyed great popularity (especially at Hatra) and was clearly conceived of as deeply rooted in the divine world of both places. As we will see below, it is possible, although not “proven”, that both in Palmyra and in Hatra the Heracles figure was identified with Nergal, a deity with certain chthonian aspects from the Mesopotamian divine world. Nevertheless, the identifications are problematic, and one ought to attend to the names and epithets actually given by worshippers.