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Статус жреческой семьи Зу-Ба‘алы в Эмаре XIV–XIII вв. до н.э.
The article deals with the social status and political role of Zu-Ba‘ala’s family of diviners in Emar. The prominent socio-political role of Zu-Ba‘ala and his successors was connected to their vast authority in running the cultic and religious affairs of the city. Their rise to power was simultaneous to the decline of other traditional institutions of Emar, first of all, that of the monarchy. Those processes could be related to the changes in the international situation on the Middle Euphrates in the first half of the 13thcentury BCE. The diviners remained under Hittite control and their appointment was executed by the king of Carchemish. At the same time the family of Zu-Ba‘ala was exempted from the imperial duties of šahhan and luzzi which attests to its privileged status. The final part of the article contains a commented translation of four texts related to the history of Zu-Ba‘ala’s family.