The Goddess of Kommagene West Terrace

in worthy wise setting up sacred tables with appropriate foods and filling jars from the winepress with precious drink (that is, wine mixed with water). He shall hospitably welcome the whole of the assembled people, both the native and the foreigners who stream hither, and he shall provide for the common enjoyment of the feast by the assembled multitudes, in that, as is the custom, he shall take for himself a portion, as a gift in honour of the priestly office, and then distribute the rest of my benefaction to the others for their free enjoyment, so that during the holy days everyone may receive a never failing sustenance and may thus be able to celebrate the festival without running the risk of malicious calumny. The drinking cups, which I have dedicated, are to be used by them as long as they remain in the holy place and participate in the general assembly for the feast.

The group of musicians whom I have chosen for the purpose and those who may later be consecrated, their sons and daughters, and also their descendants shall all learn the same art and be set free from the burden of every other responsibility; and they are to devote themselves to the observances which I have established to the end, and without any evasion are to continue their services as long as the assembly requests it. No one, no king or ruler, no priest or official shall ever make slaves of these hierodules, whom I have, in accordance with the divine will, consecrated to the gods and to my own honours, or their children or the descendants of their children, who shall continue their family to all later time; he shall neither enslave them to himself nor alienate them to anyone else in any way, nor injure one of them, nor deprive him of this ministry; but the priests shall take care of them, and the kings, officials, and all private persons shall stand by them, and the favor of the gods and heroes will be laid up for them as a reward for their piety.

Zeus Oromasdes West Terrace

3. Zeus / Oromasdes (West Terrace)

Because of the multitude of offering and the magnificence of the celebration I have consecrated two additional days, each of them as an annual festival. The population of my empire I have divided up for the purpose of these assemblies, festival gatherings, and sacrifices, and directed them to repair by villages and cities to the nearest sanctuaries, whichever is most conveniently located for the festival observance. Moreover, I have appointed under the same title that, in addition to the observance just named, my birth on the sixteenth and my accession on the tenth shall be observed every month by the priests. Now that these regulations have been established, to be observed continually as the pious duty of men of understanding, not only in my honour but also in the blessed hope of their own good fortune, I have, in obedience to the inspiration of the gods, ordered to be inscribed upon sacred, inviolable stelae a holy law, which shall be binding upon all generations of mankind who in the immeasurable course of time, through their special lot in life, shall successively be destined to dwell in this land; they must observe it without violation, knowing that the stern penalty of the deified royal ancestors will pursue equally the impiety occasioned by neglect as that occasioned by folly and that disregard of the law decreed for the honour of the heroes brings with it inexorable penalties. For the pious it is all a simple matter, but godlessness is followed by backbreaking burdens. This law my voice has proclaimed, but it is the mind of the gods that has given it authority.

Law

The priest who is appointed by me for these gods and heroes, whom I have dedicated at the sacred tomb of my body, on the topmost ridges of the Taurus range, and who shall at a later time hold this office, he, set free from very other duty, shall without let or hindrance and with no excuse for evasion keep watch at his memorial and devote himself to the care and the proper adornment of these sacred images.

On the birthdays which I have established forever as monthly and annual festivals of the gods and of my own person, throughout the whole year he shall, himself decently garbed in Persian raiment, as my benefaction and the ancestral custom of our race have provided, crown them all with the gold crowns which I have dedicated as the sacred honours due the deified ancestors; and out of income from the villages, which I have designated for the sacred honours of the heroic race, he shall offer on these altars rich additional offerings of incense and aromatic herbs, and also splendid sacrifices in honour of the gods and in my honour, ...

King Antiochos I Theos West Terrace

2. King Antiochos I Theos (West Terrace)

....so I chose to make this holy place a common consecrated seat of all the gods; so that not only the heroic company of my ancestors, whom you behold before you, might be set up here by my pious devotion, but also that the divine representation of the manifest deities might be consecrated on the holy hill and that his place might likewise not be lacking in witness to my piety.

Therefore, as you see, I have set up these divine images of Zeus-Oromasdes and of Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes and of Artagnes-Herakles-Ares, and also of my all-nourishing homeland Kommagene; and from one and the same quarry, throned likewise among the deities who hear our prayers, I have consecrated the features of my own form, and have caused the ancient honour of great deities to become the coeval of a new Tyche. Since I thereby, in an upright way, imitated the example of the divine Providence, which as a benevolent helper has so often been seen standing by my side in the struggles of my reign.

Adequate property in land and an inalienable income therefrom have I set aside for the ample provision of sacrifices; an unceasing cult and chosen priests arrayed in such vestments as are proper to the race of the Persians have I inaugurated, and I have dedicated the whole array and cult in a manner worthy of my fortune and the majesty of the gods.

I have decreed the appropriate laws to govern the sacred observances thus established for everlasting, so that all the inhabitants of my realm may offer both the ancient sacrifices, required by age-old common custom, and also new festivals in honour of the gods and in my honour. The birthday of my natural body, the sixteenth of Audnaios, and the tenth of Loos, the day of my accession to the throne, I have consecrated to the manifestation of the great deities, who were my guides in a prosperous beginning and have been the source of universal blessing for my whole kingdom.

Artagnes / Herakles / Ares (Westterras)

1. Artagnes / Herakles / Ares (Westterras)

De grote koning Antiochos, God, de Rechtschapene, de aan de mensen Geopenbaarde, de Vriend van Romeinen en Grieken, de Zoon van koning Mithradates Kallinikos en van Laodike, Godin, de Broederlievende, de Dochter van koning Antiochos Epiphanes, de Moederlievende, de Overwinnaar, legde voor eeuwig zijn zegenrijke daden vast met onvergankelijke letters op geheiligde troonsokkels.

Ik ben tot de conclusie gekomen dat van alle goede eigenschappen, rechtschapenheid voor een mens het zekerste bezit is en het volmaakste geluk brengt. Deze overtuiging heeft geleid tot mijn fortuinlijke macht en het weldadig gebruik er van. Heel mijn leven heb ik voor de burgers van mijn rijk gestaan als iemand die rechtschapenheid als zijn trouwste bondgenoot en als de weg naar een ongeëvenaarde gelukzaligheid beschouwde. Daarom ben ik tegen elke verwachting in ontsnapt aan de grootste gevaren, daarom werd ik onvoorziene en hopeloze situaties meester en bracht ik mijn leven rijk aan jaren in geluk door.

Nadat ik het rijk van mijn vader had overgenomen, kondigde ik vanuit mijn rechtschapen geest aan dat het aan mijn troon onderworpen koninkrijk de verblijfplaats van alle goden moest blijven. De afbeelding van hun gestalte is op de meest veelzijdige manier vormgegeven met behulp van de technieken die de Perzen en Hellenen de gelukzalige oorsprong van ons geslacht, ons hebben geleerd. Ik eerde deze afbeeldingen met offers en feestelijke plechtigheden volgens oud gebruik en zoals dat voor de mensen traditie is. Bovendien voegde ik er, na zorgvuldige overwegingen, passende plechtigheden aan toe.

Ik besloot de fundamenten te leggen voor een heiligdom dat tegen de tand des tijds bestand is in de nabijheid van de hemelse troon, zodat daar het uiterlijk omhulsel van mijn tot op hoge leeftijd in goede conditie verkerende lichaam tot in eeuwigheid kon rusten, nadat mijn door God geliefde ziel naar de hemelse troon van Zeus/Oromasdes gestuurd was. Tegelijkertijd nam ik me ook voor om deze heilige plaats tot gemeenschappelijke zetel van de goden te maken.