Abstract This paper discusses the administration of the cult in Emar during the period of Hittite rule over the city. It will be demonstrated that Hittite officials, with the cooperation of Emar citizens, mainly members of the Zu ¯ -Ba>la family, were deeply involved in the management of the cult. It will assess the data relating to the distribution of material and human resources, the registration of valuables belonging to temples, duties regarding sacrificial procedures, the installation of cultic personnel and the celebration of festivals and rituals. In conclusion an evaluation of the Hittites’ interest and involvement in the cults of Emar and its satellite cities is offered. Keywords: Emar, the Zu ¯ -Ba>la family, cult administration, Hittite officials, administration in the Hittite Empire. On the basis of Skaist’s (1998) work, Cohen and d’Alfonso (2008) and independently di Filippo (2008) have demonstrated that the Emar archives start with a ‘First Dynasty’ and continue through a partly overlapping ‘Second Dynasty’. 1 All documentation from this dynastic period is written in the so-called ‘Syrian’ script on ‘Syrian’ type ‘portrait’ tablets. The period of these two dynasties lasts from ca. 1350 to around 1270 BCE. At this stage the ‘Second Dynasty’ comes to an end and Hittite rule, which previously had not been attested, becomes apparent. One finds a host of Hittite officials, such as the ‘prince’ (dumu lugal) and the ‘overseer (of the land)’ (ugula (kalam.ma)), implementing Hittite policy directed by the Hittite viceroy (lugal) stationed at Karkamis ˇ. It is at this time that the Zu ¯ -Ba> la family of diviners thrived. During Hittite rule the ‘Syrian’ scribal tradition terminates, and almost all of the documentation from this period until the fall of the city (ca. 1175) is written in the so-called ‘Syro-Hittite’ script on ‘Syro-Hittite’ ‘landscape’-format tablets. Recent success in the chronological ordering of the Emar archives allows one to appre- ciate the changes that the city underwent with the demise of the ‘Second Dynasty’ and the beginning of Hittite rule. As these have been previously discussed in the literature, so they 1 Abbreviations follow the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary and the Chicago Hittite Dictionary; note in addition: Emar = Arnaud (1985–1987); ETBLM = Westenholz (2000); RE = Beckman (1996); and TSBR = Arnaud (1991). I thank Lorenzo d’Alfonso, Amir Gilan and Itamar Singer for their many helpful comments and suggestions. Yoram Cohen The Administration of Cult in Hittite Emar Altoriental. Forsch., Akademie Verlag, 38 (2011) 1, 145–157