Šamš (šmš, 'sun') is the male solar deity of the Iron Age Aramaean kingdoms, distinct from the female Ugaritic sun goddess Shapshu. At Sam'al (Zincirli) he belongs to the standing dynastic pantheon: the colossal Hadad statue of King Panamuwa I (KAI 214, eighth century BCE) repeatedly lists 'Hadad, El, Rakib-El, Šamš and Resheph' as the gods who gave the king his sceptre, and the mortuary stele of the royal servant Katumuwa prescribes the offering of a ram to Šamš in an annual feast. As in the wider ancient Near East, the all-seeing sun functioned as guardian of justice and of sworn agreements: he stands among the divine witnesses of the Sefire treaties and in the curse formulae of the Nerab priestly stelae, where he is paired with the moon god Sahar.