This, the final volume dedicated to the German excavations of the important sanctuary site at Dülük Baba Tepesi, presents detailed studies of corpora of material alongside important and thorough interpretations of the archaeology within a broader regional context. The site sits at the top of a prominent hill, 1,200 m high, near Gaziantep in south-east Turkey. The sanctuary is famous as the temple of Jupiter Dolichenus, whose worship was taken into Europe through processes linked to the movements of the Roman military. (Discussion as to the reasons behind and methods of cult dissemination continue. I have proposed [A. Collar, Religious Networks in the Roman Empire: the Spread of New Ideas (2013)] that the social networks linking officers in the Roman army were of great importance in transmitting this cult.) However, although the Roman temple was of great importance, the new excavations shed light on its status in the Iron Age as well as during its use as a Christian monastery of St Salomon and subsequent use in the early Islamic period.
W. offers an overview of the history of the excavations, focusing on discoveries between 2013–2015. He outlines the central research aims: the first being clarification of the site's use during the earlier first millennium bce, with ceramic finds from the ninth century, although some small finds – of which there are hundreds – may indicate usage in the tenth century bce. The second was to build a more precise chronology for the Hellenistic-Roman period, which saw the sanctuary enlarged in the second century bce with a new enclosure wall, and during the Roman period with a basalt temenos with monumental steps, although details of the temple remain unclear. This is in part because of the subsequent Byzantine use of the site as a monastery. And the third aim was to work in the lower plateau, where the monastery buildings were begun in the fifth–sixth centuries ce.
Detailed discussion of excavations and finds begins with D. Leder's account of PPNB (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, c. 8700–7000 bce) lithics. Over 100 lithic fragments have been found, mostly flake and blade fragments, which suggests that the shaping of axes was undertaken here; but other shapes, including obsidian blades (the nearest obsidian source is 300 km away) and a basalt/serpentinite ground bifacial axe, were also found, indicative of seasonal hunting and timber extraction at the site.
W. Messerschmidt then delivers a robust, contextualised discussion of the Iron Age architecture and finds, adding much to our picture of North Syria at this time. Two Iron Age building phases have been discerned in the north-east of the sanctuary, representing the earliest temenos boundaries. The first, an east–west aligned double-faced dry stone wall 1.2 m thick that supported mudbrick upper levels, dates to the ninth century. That the site operated within a Late Hittite cultural milieu is backed by finds such as a stele with an image of a goddess (probably Kubaba), a Luwian inscription and a bulls-head basalt protome. Messerschmidt proposes that this first activity be considered as ‘invention of tradition’.
The Late Hittite-Aramaean city states were destroyed with the advances of the Assyrian Empire in the early eighth century, although it appears sanctuaries were not. The second major Iron Age expansion has now been dated to the earlier Achaemenid period (sixth century bce) by the important discovery of a foundation deposit of cylinder and stamp seals from Iran, Mesopotamia and the Levant, providing firm archaeological evidence for the long-term continuity of a practice until now only known from cuneiform texts. The numerous seals that were discovered in the mudbrick layers are interpreted not as votives given as part of sacrificial acts (as the many other sealstones from associated ash layers), but as deposits in the still-wet clay, part of the complex set of rituals that accompanied temple building. The enlargement of the sanctuary under the Achaemenids and the indicators of a Mesopotamian cultural context demonstrate the value the Achaemenids placed on the support of local cults, and the continuing prosperity of the sanctuary.
However, the main temple building remains elusive. Perhaps, as Messerschmidt suggests, this is because of disturbances across the central plateau; or instead, we should find parallels at the temple of the weather god at nearby Carchemish, which consisted of an open area with a tower temple in one corner. At Dülük Baba Tepesi, it seems as though the probable centre of cult activity was an ash altar, testified to by huge quantities of ash and burnt animal bone found across the site, which may have taken the form of a mound as at the seat of the weather god at Mount Kasios. Particularly exciting is the osteoarchaeological analysis of the burnt animal bone, which showed it was primarily the back right legs of young animals that were offered during the Iron Age, but, moreover, that this ritual practice continued unchanged into the Roman period. This continuity is supported by the discovery of a basalt relief depicting the divine couple in Hittite iconographic style, but which dates to the first–second centuries ce.
W. Oenbrink discusses Attic ceramics, which consist of shapes associated with wine and drinking and which date to the mid-fifth century bce. All sherds were found in the core area of the Iron Age temple and are interpreted as votives which underline the importance of the sanctuary. Oenbrink argues that they confirm the import of Greek pottery into south-eastern Asia Minor; but should these sherds be understood as representing imports proper, or are they better considered as deposits of exotica, acquired by any number of means, which signified the international connections of the person making the deposition?
The Iron Age sanctuary was built of mudbrick, but these buildings were demolished in the Hellenistic-Roman periods and replaced with buildings in ashlar limestone. S. Haps looks at three aspects of the architectural organisation of the sanctuary, the expansion of the temenos, construction methods and foundations. Two styles of ashlar construction are seen, the first, employing stretchers and headers, is used across the central plateau and represents an earlier construction phase, although no date is offered; the second, dated to the Imperial Roman period, comprises only stretchers and is located in the lower plateau, confirming the considerable expansion of the built sanctuary area at this time.
The sanctuary was dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus, but other finds have surfaced which complicate this picture in extremely interesting ways. First, M. Blömer discusses the basalt relief of a god emerging from a flowering plant (hyacinth?), connected at its base with a spiral horn, a tree, a truncated cone, a crescent moon and stars, discovered built into the walls of the monastery and dated to the first–third centuries ce. The common motif of a fertility deity rising from flowers is unknown in the repertoire of Jupiter Dolichenus; the god is interpreted as one of his acolytes, the ‘Castores Dolicheni’, with the truncated cone from which the strange collection of icons grows a mountain, in the tradition of Near Eastern mountain gods. However, the iconographic dissimilarity is considerable, and the identification of the deity remains under discussion. The second intriguing find is discussed by Blömer and M. Facella: a small cylindrical altar dedicated to the Aramaic deity Turmasgade, whose name translates as ‘mountain of the place of adoration’. The implication is that Turmasgade is a divine mountain: both god and sanctuary; the authors propose that perhaps Dülük Baba Tepesi itself should be a candidate for this identification. The cult is known from only nine inscribed monuments and one statue from across the Roman Empire, but two altars were found in the Dolichenum in Dura Europus, underlining the connection with Jupiter Dolichenus; and the depiction of a solar god, an eagle and a pair of hands holding unidentifiable objects (one possibly a thunderbolt) on this new altar are interpreted as representations of Turmasgade's power over the cosmos, but there are also iconographic connections with Jupiter as supreme deity.
Fragments of another image have been found on the central plateau, and although difficult to reconstruct, Oenbrink makes the case for a late Hellenistic, locally-made limestone relief of the Gorgon Medusa, perhaps as an Akroterion or as part of a votive stele. Further details of the rich decoration of the Roman sanctuary buildings are supplied by J.-P. Löbbing, who discusses the many marble fragments from across the site, more than half of which were imported coloured marbles from the Aegean, Cipollino Verde and Pavonazzetto. Interestingly, the fragments were concentrated at the edges of the sanctuary, interpreted as relating to the destruction of the complex.
Smaller finds, including three Roman votive gems discussed by T. Schreiber; bone objects (including Pyxis fragments, knife handles, spindle-whorls, a cross pendant and gaming pieces), discussed by D. Olbrycht; and keys and locks, discussed by C. Höpken, deliver a rich insight into individual offerings and daily activities at both the Roman sanctuary and the Christian monastery, with monastery door keys interpreted as signifying an increased need for security at this time. Ceramic finds of African Red Slip Ware and Late Roman Sigillata C were discovered in monastery buildings, interpreted by E. Strothenke as the economic wing; two small vessels containing traces of Afghan ultramarine blue pigment, discussed by Höpken and F. Mucha, point to the existence of a scriptorium for producing illustrated manuscripts; and faunal remains, analysed by N. Pöllath and J. Peters, reveal the diet of these monks, which included sheep, goat, cow, chicken and game birds, but unusually for an inland site and not seen in earlier faunal assemblages, a considerable amount of catfish. These were perhaps from local rivers but more likely imported from the Euphrates or Orontes, and possibly kept in fishponds nearby. The authors suggest that the preference for fish reflects monastic fasting regulations and restrictions on the consumption of meat. Although it is unclear what the site was used for after the monastery's demise, Strothenke's discussion of the quantities of glazed pottery, imported from Iraq and dated between the ninth and fifteenth centuries ce, demonstrates that it was still a place of some importance in the medieval period.
Although peripheral and largely forgotten now, the picture of the sanctuary that emerges from this richly illustrated and coherent volume is one of an important, connected place, throughout its long history. The sealstones from the Levant, Mesopotamia and Iran in the Iron Age through Sidonian shekels and Attic ceramic fragments, Roman period offerings and evidence for a wealthy monastic community with library and scriptorium testify to this international status. People and valuable objects and materials from around the Mediterranean and far beyond found their way here, the numen of this place persisting for over 2,000 years.
