Hurri/Ba'il-hurri

The Assyrian king Sargon II (r. 721-705 BC) records that he had a stele set up on Cyrus (Akk. Jadnana/Adnana):  “[At that time], I had a stele made and [I engraved] upon it [image(s) of the] great [god]s, my lords. ... I had (it) erected [beside/facing Mount] Ba’il-HARri, a mountain [(that towers) abo]ve the land Adnana (Cyprus)” (Frame, RINAP 2 pp. 408-409 Sargon II 103 iv 43-57). The restoration and understanding of these lines in the Cyprus Stele (also known as the Larnaca Stele and Kition Stele) stating where Sargon’s monument was placed is highly uncertain and still a matter of scholarly discussion. There are various interpretations as to how the contents of col. iv 52-53 of that stele should be understood. Some scholars propose that this damaged passage contained a geographic name: Hurri or Baʾil-hurri. Other scholars, however, suggest that this passage did not contain a proper name and, thus, interpret hur-ri KUR-i as “mines” or “mountain ravines” (hurrī šadî). 

E. Lipiński thought that the mountain was located in the Levant and associated it with Ra’š aš-Šaq‘ā (classical Theou Prosōpon), ca. 21 km north of Byblos. Given that Hurri/Ba’il-hurri is mentioned only in a stele found at Larnaca and that the passage in question concerns matters on Cyprus, one should place the mountain — assuming that col. iv 52 actually contains a geographic name — on Cyrus, perhaps in the vicinity of where the stele itself was discovered. H. Tadmor (followed by A. Bagg) suggests that Mount Hurri/Ba’il-hurri was northwest of Larnaka, perhaps in the vicinity of Stavrovouni Monastery. [Note: Bagg places Hurri northeast of Larnaka, but Stavrovouni is northwest of Larnaka.] Alternatively, Bagg tentatively suggests that Hurri/Ba’il-hurri could be located “in the Phoenician homeland” (im phönizischen Mutterland”).