Английская Википедия:Barama (goddess)
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox deity Barama (Eblaite: dba-ra-maШаблон:Sfn) was a goddess worshiped in the Syrian city of Ebla 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 Ebla.Шаблон:Sfn She is relatively infrequently attested in Eblaite texts.Шаблон:Sfn Only five mentions come from offering lists, and about twenty from other administrative documents.Шаблон:Sfn However, it can be assumed that she nonetheless headed the pantheon alongside her husband.Шаблон:Sfn The status of these two deities was reflected in their connection to the royal couple of the city.Шаблон:Sfn
Alfonso Archi proposes that her name should be understood as "full of color," and that it is derived from the Semitic root *brm.Шаблон:Sfn A possible cognate word, barāmu, "to be multicolored," is known from Akkadian texts.Шаблон:Sfn Walther Sallaberger notes that it has been proposed that the name referred to her colorful clothes.Шаблон:Sfn 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, Ishara, Adamma or Aštabi.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn
Similar to Kura, but unlike Hadabal, Barama is very rarely attested outside the city itself.Шаблон:Sfn She disappeared from history after the destruction of Ebla.Шаблон:Sfn
Worship
Barama does not appear in any known theophoric names.Шаблон:Sfn 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 and lim, representing the deified concepts of, respectively, kinship ties and clan organization.Шаблон:Sfn
A priestess, pa4-šeš(-mí), was jointly responsible for the cult of Barama and Kura.Шаблон:Sfn The holder of this office attested in documents bore the name Enna-Utu.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn
It is possible that two damâtum (a type of betyl-like boundary stone to which religious importance was assigned in Ebla), were dedicated jointly to Kura and Barama.Шаблон:Sfn
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.Шаблон:Sfn During preparations for it, the queen had to make an offering to a number of deities, including Barama, in the temple of Kura.Шаблон:Sfn The target of the journey was the nearby village Binaš (less commonly read as Nenaš), which was the location of a royal mausoleum.Шаблон:Sfn The statue of Barama traveled in its own cart, similar to that of Kura.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn The process is described in a ritual text: Шаблон:C quote
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.Шаблон:Sfn He points out that similar use of this logogram is known from Mari.Шаблон:Sfn Other renewal rites seemingly did not involve goddesses, as none are attested for Ishara, Ishtar or the spouses of Hadda (Halabatu) and Resheph (Adamma).Шаблон:Sfn
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 had already been rulers for multiple years when they undertook it during their respective reigns.Шаблон:Sfn It has been proposed that the royal couple was understood as the earthly manifestation of Kura and Barama in its context.Шаблон:Sfn
References
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