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Capital punishment at Hatra: Gods, magistrates and laws in the Roman-Parthian period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Ted Kaizer
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This paper deals with gods, magistrates and laws. It centres on one example from the Roman-Parthian period. Its title derives from five Hatrean Aramaic inscriptions which record legal statements on capital punishment at Hatra, a city in the steppe of northern Mesopotamia that came to flourish suddenly (and briefly) in the second and early third century AD. I will argue that the information in these inscriptions about the divine world, institutional aspects and legislation can contribute to our understanding of the interaction of various cultural spheres of influence at Hatra. As such, this information may throw some light on the modes in which one can study the civilization of a Near Eastern city in the Roman-Parthian period, and it may help us to understand the gap left by the archaeological record. The paper aims to locate the inscriptions in the framework of the divine world of Hatra, and it will also make suggestions as to their contribution to our understanding of processes of urbanization in the “Classical” Near East. A detailed look at this material can help us to comprehend more fully the history of the Levantine lands in the period during which the Roman imperial armies spread over the eastern provinces. In the words of Fergus Millar, it is necessary to look beyond the range of sources generally used to define the field of Classical studies, “to discern the material development of human life and settlement in the whole vast range of different areas which at one time or another came within the orbit of Graeco-Roman civilisation”.

Hatra was of course brought within the power of the Roman empire only late, a few years before the Sasanian conquest in AD 240. By then — so we are told by Cassius Dio (LXVIII 31, 1–4; LXXVI 10–12) and Herodian (III 1, 2–3; 5, 1; 9, 1–7) — the city had already won renown for withstanding attacks by Trajan and (probably twice) Septimius Severus, and also by the Sasanian king Ardashir. The second Sasanian attempt, however, ended its existence as an inhabited city. When the historian Ammianus Marcellinus passed by its ruins in AD 363, on the way back from the emperor Julian's disastrous Persian campaign, he saw “an old city situated in an uninhabited area and deserted for a long time past” (25.8.5).

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Research Article
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IRAQ , Volume 68 , 2006 , pp. 139 - 153
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Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2006

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References

1 Earlier versions were given at a workshop at the Martin-Luther-Universität at Halle-Wittenberg in December 2001, at the Midlands Classical Seminar in Warwick in May 2002, and at a meeting of the Oxford Classical Society in February 2003. The inspiration goes back to early summer 1999, when I spent a stimulating month in the company of the Italian mission to Hatra at Turin, where I had the good fortune to discuss some of the textual issues at length with Fabrizio Pennacchietti. Thanks are also due, for discussion and references, to Olivier Hekster, Fred Hirt, Robert Hoyland, Jane Lightfoot, Alison Salvesen, Ulf Scharrer, Jürgen Tubach and Amélie Kuhrt. Above all, I am grateful to three friends and colleagues who generously commented in detail on the paper's penultimate version, Lucinda Dirven, Michael Sommer and David Taylor. It ought to be stressed that none of the above is responsible in any way for the remaining flaws and errors. Finally, I am glad to acknowledge support by the British Academy, through the award of a Postdoctoral Fellowship held at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (2002–5). A list of bibliographical abbreviations is appended.

2 In my use of the word “Hatrean” for the local Aramaic dialect of Hatra, I follow DNWSI I, p. xiii, instead of writing “Hatrene” (which I use as the non-linguistic adjective) or “Hatran”.

3 Thus F. Millar, “Author's prologue” in id., Rome, the Greek World and the East I, ed. H. M. Cotton and G. M. Rogers (Chapel Hill and London, 2002), p. 5.

4 Dio LXXX 3, 2, where he is referred to as Artaxerxes. In this case, the Persians actually managed to make a breach in the wall, but due to the loss of many of his forces in the process, “through ambuscade”, Ardashir decided to raise the siege.

5 On the fall of Hatra, see now Sartre, M., The Middle East under Rome (Cambridge, Mass., London, 2005), pp. 345–8Google Scholar.

6 Hauser, S. R., “Hatra und das Königreich der Araber” in Wiesehöfer, J. (ed.), Das Partherreich und seine Zeugnisse (Stuttgart, 1998), pp. 493–528 Google Scholar. See also the classic paper by Drijvers, H. J. W., “Hatra, Palmyra und Edessa. Die Städte der syrisch-mesopotamischen Wüste in politischer, kulturgeschichtlicher und religionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung” in ANRW II 8 (1977), pp. 803–37Google Scholar, and now the illustrated overview by Sommer, M., Hatra. Geschichte und Kultur einer Karawanenstadt im römisch-parthischen Mesopotamien (Mainz, 2003)Google Scholar.

7 E.g. Ali, K. I., “Eine erste Miszelle. Zur Frage Hatra: aram. Ḥaṭrā, hebr. Ḥāṣōr/Ḥaṣar = arab. al-Ḥaẓr/Ḥaḍr/Ḥażr/Ḥażar ” in Oriens 35 (1996), pp. 188–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar, an ingenious though unconvincing attempt to claim identification of Hatra with a site destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 599 BC (Jer. 49: 28–33).

8 Namely an inscription written in so-called Imperial Aramaic, see Bertolino, R., “Un'iscrizione inedita in aramaico d'impero a Hatra” in Milano, L. et al. (eds.), Landscapes. Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East. Papers Presented to the XLIV Rencontre Assyrio-logique Internationale, Venezia, 7–11 July 1997 III.2 (Padua, 1999), pp. 133–8Google Scholar.

9 Peruzzetto, A. and Valentini, S., “I sondaggi recenti nel temenos di Hatra” in Topoi 10 (2000), pp. 159–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ricciardi, R. Venco, “New archaeological researches in the main sanctuary at Hatra” in Sumer 50 (1999–2000), pp. 21–9Google Scholar; ead., “Dernières découvertes dans le temenos de Hatra” in Breniquet, C. and Kepinski, C. (eds.), Études mésopotamiennes. Recueil de textes offert à Jean-Louis Huot (Paris, 2001), pp. 463–87Google Scholar.

10 Most clearly visible in the titles of recent works by Freyberger, K. S., Die frühkaiserzeitlichen Heiligtümer der Karawanenstationen im hellenisierten Osten (Mainz, 1998) and Sommer, Hatra Google Scholar.

11 Thus Dijkstra, K., Life and Loyalty. A Study in the Socio-Religious Culture of Syria and Mesopotamia in the Graeco-Roman Period Based on Epigraphical Evidence (Leiden, 1995), p. 175 Google Scholar: “This implies that the importance of trade as a major source of wealth must have been limited”. Dijkstra referred to the map by Stein, A., “The ancient trade route past Hatra and its Roman posts” in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1941), pp. 299–316, on p. 301 Google Scholar, who himself, on p. 300, stated that “topography makes it clear that Hatra owed its origin and importance wholly to having been a ‘caravan city’ in the truest sense”.

12 The interpretation of H29, by Caquot, A., “Nouvelles inscriptions araméennes de Hatra (II)” in Syria 30 (1953), pp. 235–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar, as referring to “those going to Mesene” is no longer valid. Cf. Beyer, , Inschriften, p. 36 Google Scholar. The two inscriptions discussed by Teixidor, J., “Notes hatréennes” in Syria 41 (1964), pp. 273–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar, do not refer to long-distance trade either, despite his efforts to read names of places with which Hatra allegedly maintained commercial relations.

13 E.g. Drijvers, , “Hatra, Palmyra und Edessa”, p. 825 Google Scholar. Cf. Schlumberger, D., L'Orient hellénisé (Paris, 1970), p. 124 Google Scholar: “sa fonction commerciale s'explique assez comme un effet des pèlerinages qu'attiraient ses sanctuaires”, an idea which according to Downey, S. B., Mesopotamian Religious Architecture (Princeton, 1988), p. 159 Google Scholar, is “plausible, if not provable”.

14 Dijkstra, , Life and Loyalty, p. 177 Google Scholar.

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16 The texts all appear in the main collections of Hatrean inscriptions (see the list of bibliographical abbreviations below). A number of textual issues and related aspects are discussed especially by Degen, R., “A note on the law of Hatra” in Istituto Orientale di Napoli, Annali 37 (n.s. 27), fasc. 4 (1977), pp. 486–90Google Scholar; Segal, J. B., “Aramaic legal texts from Hatra” in JJS 33 (1982), pp. 109–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Aggoula, B., “RIH XI” in Syria 64 (1987), pp. 91–106 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 Bertolino, R., La cronologia di Hatra, interazione di archeologia e di epigrafia. Istituto Universitario Orientale, Annali, suppl. 83, vo1. 55, fasc. 2 (Naples, 1995), p. 42 and tav. VIGoogle Scholar.

18 I owe to David Taylor the observation that another, of course unrelated meaning of ḥṭm' in Classical Syriac is “slave”, which makes for an interesting combination with mr', here signifying “spades” but more commonly used as the word for “lord”! Cf. Smith, Payne, TS, p. 1247 Google Scholar, and Brockelmann, , LS, p. 227 Google Scholar.

19 David Taylor informs me that Bar Ali's lexicon, quoted by Payne Smith, distinguishes three different items which are all called muklē, namely an extractor of nails (the smallest), a handtool for digging (intermediate size) and something to move heavy rocks (the largest), and adds another one used by a carpenter to make doors.

20 Bertolino, , La cronologia di Hatra, pp. 58–9 and tav. XVGoogle Scholar.

21 Bertolino, , La cronologia di Hatra, p. 59 and tav. XVGoogle Scholar.

22 Bertolino, , La cronologia di Hatra, pp. 59–60 and tav. XVIGoogle Scholar.

23 Bertolino, , La cronologia di Hatra, p. 60 and tav. XVIGoogle Scholar.

24 Freyberger, , Die frühkaiserzeitlichen Heiligtümer der Karawanenstationen, pp. 89–102, with Pls. 62–8 and Beilage 38dGoogle Scholar.

25 Drijvers, , in ANRW II 8 (1977), p. 825 Google Scholar; Dijkstra, K., “Aramese votiefteksten en votiefgeschenken uit Hatra” in Phoenix 40 (1994), p. 185 Google Scholar.

26 Degen, Contra, in Istituto Orientale di Napoli, Annali 37 (1977), p. 489 Google Scholar, who did explain 'rgmyt as a 1 sg. verbal form (with mrgym as an absolute infinitive in the af el), but stated that it “seems to be quite sure” that this first person “was a member of the upper class of the Hatran society and perhaps a high official”.

27 Gawlikowski, M., “Le tadmoréen” in Syria 51 (1974), p. 100 CrossRefGoogle Scholar: “selon toute apparence, c'est la divinité qui parle”. Cf. Kaizer, , The Religious Life of Palmyra, pp. 171–2 and p. 176 Google Scholar. The text is Hillers and Cussini, Palmyrene Aramaic Texts, n° 2767.

28 Thus e.g. Pennacchietti, , in Mesopotamia 23 (1988), p. 59 Google Scholar.

29 Cf. Aggoula, , “RIH V” in Semitica 27 (1977), p. 143 Google Scholar.

30 See Kaizer, T., “Some remarks about the religious life of Hatra” in Topoi 10 (2000), pp. 229–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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32 Kaizer, T., “The ‘Heracles Figure’ at Hatra and Palmyra: problems of interpretation” in Iraq 62 (2000), pp. 219–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 al-Salihi, W. I., The Sculptures of Divinities from Hatra (Ph.D. Princeton, 1969), pp. 63–100 Google Scholar.

34 al-Salihi, W. I., “A note on a statuette from Hatra” in Sumer 29 (1973), pp. 99–100 Google Scholar, with photographs in the Arabic part of the same volume, pp. 151–6 with Figs. 1–5.

35 Kaizer, T., “A study of the variety of appearances of Gad in Aramaic inscriptions and on sculptures from the Near East in the first three centuries AD, Part 2” in OLP 29 (1998), pp. 33–62 Google Scholar.

36 Greenfield, , in A Green Leaf, pp. 135–43Google Scholar. Cf. DNWSI, s.v. dḥšpṭ.

37 al-Salihi, W. I., “Hercules-Nergal at Hatra (II)” in Iraq 35 (1973), pp. 65–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 It is tempting to identify this deity with Nergol, considering the latter's legal involvement in H342. However, both H336 and H343 are inscribed below an eagle relief, and at Hatra the eagle is generally interpreted as the symbol of the sun god Shamash.

39 Seyrig, H., “Inscriptions grecques” in Syria 31 (1954), pp. 212–14, n° 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 In the first section, covering Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Cf. Schoff, W. H. (ed.), Parthian Stations by Isidore of Charax. An Account of the Overland Trade Route between the Levant and India in the First Century BC (Philadelphia, 1914), pp. 4–5 Google Scholar.

41 Welles, C. B., Fink, R. O. and Gilliam, J. F., The Parchments and Papyri. The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report V.I (New Haven, 1959), n° 60.B, 1. 12 Google Scholar.

42 Thus Seyrig, , in Syria 31 (1954), p. 214 CrossRefGoogle Scholar: “sans doute le dieu entérinait-il par quelque procédure oraculaire les décisions des magistrats”.

43 Hauser, , in Wiesehöfer, (ed.), Das Partherreich, pp. 501–3Google Scholar; Aggoula, B., “L'institution royale à Hatra” in Syria 71 (1994), pp. 159–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See now Sommer, M., “Hatra — imperiale und regionale Herrschaft an der Steppengrenze” in Klio 85 (2003), pp. 384–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and on a similar development at Luther, Edessa A., “Die ersten Könige von Osrhoene” in Klio 81 (1999), pp. 437–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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45 Hauser, , in Wiesehöfer, (ed.), Das Partherreich, p. 502 Google Scholar.

46 See Sommer, , in Klio 85 (2003), p. 391 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

47 See Kaizer, T., “Kingly priests in the Roman Near East?” in Fowler, R. and Hekster, O. (eds.), Imaginary Kings: Royal Images in the Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome (Stuttgart, 2005), pp. 177–92, on p. 184 Google Scholar.

48 Niehr, H., “The constitutive principles for establishing justice and order in Northwest Semitic societies with special reference to ancient Israel and Judah” in Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte 3 (1997), pp. 112–30, at p. 112 Google Scholar.

49 Dijkstra, , Life and Loyalty, pp. 171–244 Google Scholar. I have paraphrased from the Dutch text of id., in Phoenix 40 (1994), p. 193.

50 The obverse shows the bust of a figure with sun-rays above the legend; the reverse shows an eagle with a laurel wreath. Cf. Walker, J., “The coins of Hatra” in NC 18 (1958), pp. 167–72Google Scholar; Slocum, J. J., “Another look at the coins of Hatra” in The American Numismatic Society, Museum Notes 22 (1977), pp. 37–47 Google Scholar; Tubach, , Im Schatten des Sonnengottes, pp. 286–95Google Scholar.

51 Arneth, M., „Möge Šamaš dich in das Hirtenamt über die vier Weltgegenden einsetzen”. Der „Krönungshymnus Assurbanipals“ (SAA III, 11) und die Solarisierung des neuassyrischen Königtums” in Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte 5 (1999), pp. 28–35 Google Scholar.

52 Cf. Invernizzi, A., “The investiture of Nemesis-Allat in Hatra” in Mesopotamia 24 (1989), pp. 129–76Google Scholar.

53 Note a similar combination of divine representatives of concordia and of justice on a relief from a village in the territory of Palmyra, see Kaizer, T., “Nemesis, Aglibol and Malakbel: a note on a relief from Khirbet Ramadan in the Palmyrène” in Parthica 3 (2001), pp. 211–18Google Scholar.

54 For the text, see Drijvers, H. J. W., The Book on the Laws of Countries. Dialogue on Fate of Bardaisan of Edessa (Assen, 1965)Google Scholar, whose translation I have adopted. On Bardaisan and his school, see id., Bardaisan of Edessa (Assen, 1966) and Teixidor, J., Bardesane d'Edesse, la premiere philosophie syriaque (Paris, 1992)Google Scholar.

55 Degen, , in Istituto Orientale di Napoli, Annali 37 (n.s. 27), fasc. 4 (1977), p. 488 Google Scholar.

56 VerSteeg, R., Early Mesopotamian Law (Durham, NC, 2000), pp. 126–8Google Scholar.

57 Thus Pease, A. S., “Notes on stoning among the Greeks and Romans” in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 38 (1907), pp. 5–18, esp. 17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar (“no trace of legality”). But see Gras, M., “Cité grecque et lapidation” in Du châtiment dans la cité: supplices corporels et peine de mort dans le monde antique. Table ronde organisée par l'École française de Rome avec le concours du Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Rome, 1984), pp. 75–89, esp. 87Google Scholar, who argued that in the Greek and the Graeco-Oriental world the cruel practice of stoning was transformed into “un instrument décisif dans l'apprentissage de la vie démocratique”. A mythical perspective is applied to lapidation by Steiner, D. T., “Stoning and sight: a structural equivalence in Greek mythology” in Classical Antiquity 14 (1995), pp. 193–211 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, who argued that “mythical narrative presents a structural equivalence between blinding and lapidation” (p. 194).

58 von Weiher, E., Der babylonische Gott Nergal (Kevelaer, 1971)Google Scholar; Lambert, W. G., “Studies in Nergal” in Bibliotheca Orientalis 30 (1973), pp. 355–63Google Scholar.

59 I learnt about this passage only through a recent article by Steinmetz, D., “Crimes and punishments, part I: mitot beit din as a reflection of rabbinic jurisprudence” in JJS 55 (2004), pp. 81–101, esp. 86–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and I am very grateful to Alison Salvesen for drawing my attention to it. I quote from the edition by Goldschmidt, L., Die rechtswissenschaftliche Sektion des Babylonischen Talmuds (Berlin, 1907), fol. 52bGoogle Scholar, with translation following Steinmetz.

60 Steinmetz, , “Crimes and punishments”, p. 87 Google Scholar. Cf. ibid., p. 100: “Crime is a conscious, willful violation of a divine command; punishment is knowingly accepted by the criminal, who ‘gives himself over to death’ when he chooses to violate God's law.”

61 Good, E. M., “Capital punishment and its alternatives in Ancient Near Eastern Law” in Stanford Law Revue 19 (1967), pp. 947–77, at p. 947 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

62 Note, however, with Leemans, W. F., “Some aspects of theft and robbery in Old-Babylonian documents” in Scritti in onore di Giuseppe Furlani I, Rivista degli studi orientali 32 (1957), pp. 661–6, esp. 666 Google Scholar, that “there is an incongruity between the Laws of Hammurabi and the legal records, especially with regard to the consequences of the various forms of theft. These records afford an indication that the common law, as actually applied, differed largely from the prescriptions in the laws.” For a recent discussion of this text, see Roth, M. T., “The law collection of king Hammurabi: toward an understanding of codification and text” in Lévy, E. (éd.), La codification des lois dans l'antiquité (Paris, 2000), pp. 9–31 Google Scholar.

63 Translation after Roth, M. T., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (Atlanta, 1995)Google Scholar.

64 Cf. Eskhult, M., “The Syro-Roman lawbook and local legal custom” in Lavenant, R. (ed.), Symposium Syriacum VII (Rome, 1998), pp. 149–57Google Scholar.

65 Cf. Kaizer, , The Religious Life of Palmyra, pp. 167–77Google Scholar.

66 With regard to H344, Aggoula, , “RIH XXII” in Syria 71 (1994), p. 404 Google Scholar, makes a fuss of the distinction between “une décision” and “la malediction qui … est une action divine implorée par une formule presque stéréotypée”.

67 Cf. Latte, K., Heiliges Recht: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der sakralen Rechtsformen in Griechenland (Tübingen, 1920), p. 47 Google Scholar, who observed “daß zwar eine starke Religiosität das griechische Recht durchdringt, aber nirgend der durch eine Priesterschaft vermittelte Wille der Gottheit direkt in das Verfahren eingreift”. Note, however, the trilingual inscription from Xanthos, to which Amélie Kuhrt drew my attention. In all three versions of this famous document, which dates from the fourth century BC, divine powers are invoked in the final lines to punish any transgression against the relevant regulations, albeit in a more prophylactic manner.

68 Pennacchietti, , in Mesopotamia 23 (1988), pp. 47–56, esp. 55–6Google Scholar.

69 Dijkstra, K., “State and steppe. The socio-political implications of Hatra inscription 79” in JSS 35 (1990), pp. 81–98 Google Scholar; Cf. Yon, J.-B., Les notables de Palmyre (Beirut, 2002), pp. 89–91 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

70 Macdonald, M. C. A., “‘Les Arabes en Syrie’ or ‘La pénétration des Arabes en Syrie’” in La Syrie hellénistique. Topoi Suppl. 4 (Lyon, 2003), pp. 303–18Google Scholar.

71 Cf. Millar, F., The Roman Near East, 31 BC–AD 337 (Cambridge, Mass., London, 1993), p. 495 Google Scholar. Contra M. Gawlikowski, review of Millar, op. cit., in JRS 84 (1994), p. 245: “this name for Bedouins was commonly used in Syria until quite recently and can still be heard from elderly villagers, in accordance with the usage of the legal inscriptions from Hatra, distinguishing between ‘Arabs’ and ‘Hatreans’.”

72 The main study of the walls of Hatra is by Gawlikowski, M., “Fortress Hatra. New evidence on ramparts and their history” in Mesopotamia 29 (1994), pp. 147–84Google Scholar.

73 Kennedy, D. and Riley, D., Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air (London, 1990), p. 105, Fig. 53Google Scholar.

74 Davies, G., “The circumvallation at Hatra” in Freeman, P. et al. (eds.), Limes XVIII. Proceedings of the XVIIIth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies held at Amman, Jordan (September 2000). BAR International Series 1084 I (Oxford, 2002), pp. 281–6Google Scholar.

75 al-Salihi, W. I., “Military considerations in the defences of Hatra” in Mesopotamia 26 (1991), pp. 187–94Google Scholar. The Medusa head is Fig. 90.

76 Thus ibid., p. 188, who mentioned a few authors without giving proper references. I am therefore very grateful to Robert Hoyland for the following information. Tabari (ed. De Goeje, 1.829) states that the “talisman” (ṭlsm) of the city of Hatra is the silver collar-dove. According to Yaqut al-Hamawi (ed. Wustenfeld, 2.282) it was built and talismaned (taṭallasmat) so that it could not be conquered except by a silver collar-dove. In both instances the Arabic terminology obviously goes back to τέλεσμα. Similarly, Mas'udi reports that the walls were protected by a charm. Yaqut (2.282) is most specific, stating that the walls have “sixty large towers and between each (large) tower and the (next) tower are nine small towers. Opposite each tower is a qasr (cf. Latin castra) and next to it a bath”.