Asherah

Asherah (

Some have sought a common-noun meaning of her name, especially in Ugaritic appellation rabat athirat yam, only found in the Baal Cycle. But a homophone's meaning to an Ugaritian doesn't equate an etymon, especially if the name is older than the Ugaritic language. There is no hypothesis for rabat athirat yam without significant issues, and if Asherah were a word from Ugarit it would be pronounced differently.^[1]

The common NW Semitic meaning of šr is "king, prince, ruler."^[15] The NW Semitic^[16] root ʾṯr (arabic أثر‎) means "tread".

Grammar

The -ot ending "Asherot" is found three times in the Tanakh,^[17] with -im "Asherim" making up the great majority.^[18] The significance is unclear, as the interaction of gender and number in Hebrew is not robustly understood.^[19] Not all scholars find HB references with final t plural. Archaic suffixes like –atu/a/i became Northwest Semitic -at or -ā latter written -ah in transcription. That is, merely terminally alternate spellings like Asherat and Asherah reflect contextual rather than existential variation.^[20]

Title

Her titles often include qdš "holy", or elat, ba'alat, or rabat,^[21] all meaning Lady or goddess,^[22] and qnyt ỉlm, "creator of the gods."^[23]

Goddess or symbol

The Asherah in question is sometimes called a mere cultic object,^[24] but de Vaux says "both,"^[16] and Winter says the goddess and her symbol should not be distinguished.^[25]

Interpretation

Beside the obvious connections between goddesses who sometimes cannot be distinguished, some scholars have found an early link between Asherah and

There is further speculation that the Shekhinah as a feminine aspect of Yahweh may be a cultural memory or devolution of Asherah.^[35] Another such aspect is seen in the feminine (grammatically or otherwise) treatment of the Holy Spirit or Sophia.^[36] Goddess "aspect creep" can even lap upon male figures like Jacob^[37] or Jesus.^[38]

Iconography

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There are many symbols associated, but the symbols equivalent to the Goddess have been taken for some time to be the sacred tree and the pubic triangle.^[39] The lady-tree equivalence is seen in the Neolithic at latest.^[40]

Small figures

Symbolism

Cakes

The cakes baked for the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah are called Kawwanim.^[41] It's likely a loan word from the Akkadian kamanu, "cake." Some have suggested the cakes were made "in her image" by use of molds, like the buxom and hippy clay molds found at Mari.^[42] Ugaritic and Hebrew dblt means a similar fig and sometimes raisin cake.^[43]

Snakes

Snakes are associated with transformation, completeness, immortality, oracles,^[44] as well as water, the abyss, "bitter" poison, and healing. Mentions go together in places including Ugarit^[45][46] and Papyrus Amherst 63.^[47]

Yoni

Vaginal symbols are often used in goddess art.^[49][50] The ubiquitous pubic triangle indicates Asherah and depicts hair. Pubic hair and fertility itself are often indicated by concentrations of dots.^[51] Sometimes a triangle is portrayed polysemically as a grape cluster or the yoni shape as the wings of a soaring eagle. See photo with gold jewelry. Some call it omega: "It is possible that the Ω... symbolized the womb."^{[24]: 26 [50]} But the womb could be a nutrix symbol, as animals are often shown feeding directly if a bit abstractly from a pubic triangle.^[52]

Palm

An especially common Asherah tree in visual art is the date palm, a reliable producer of nutrition through the year. Some expect living trees, but Olyan sees a stylized, non-living palm or pole^{[53][page needed]}.

Oak

Trees inconsistently translated as oak, terebinth, poplar contain the divine name El (elah, elim, elon, allah) and are sometimes utterly homophonous with 'Elat.^[54] There is a plausible etymological relationship between ʾElat and אלה terebinth.^[55][56]

Almond

Like the oak, almonds have an etymology with a possible goddess link by homophony. "Two strains grow in Israel: amygdalus communis var. dulcis, which has pink blossoms and sweet fruit, and amygdalus communis var. amara, with white blossoms and bitter fruit.^[57] Yarden points out that the name itself is curious. The Latin name amygdala probably derives from a Semitic root, meaning ’great mother’, which was in Mesopotamian amagallu, and in Sumerian ama.gal.^[58] In Hebrew it would have been ’em g^edola."^[59] The almond may have its fertile association from its early blooming, which also gave it its other Hebrew name shaqed or vigilant/watcher.^[60] The name "luz" means both almond and Betyl.

Other Trees

Some sacred trees may have been left to archaeology.^[61]

Joan Taylor says the trees of the Lachish ewer may be Asherim.

The imagery of Asherah poles also inspired the design of the menorah and the burning bush narrative, as described in the Book of Exodus.^[62]

Pottery

As further proof, Hestrin noted^[63] that in a group of other pottery vessels found in the Fosse Temple the usual depiction of the sacred tree flanked by ibexes or birds is in one goblet replaced by a pubic triangle flanked by ibexes. The interchange between the tree and the pubic triangle prove, according to Hestrin, that the tree symbolizes the fertility goddess Asherah. Hestrin draws parallels between this and representations of Hathor as the sycamore tree goddess in Egypt, and suggests that during the period of Egyptian rule in Palestine the Hathor cult penetrated the region so extensively that Hathor became identified with Asherah. Other motifs in the ewer such as a lion, fallow deer and ibexes seem to have a close relationship with the iconography associated with her. Moreover, the numerous clay images of a goddess, often called ’Astarte figurines’, found in Israelite levels of many sites are representative of Asherah as a tree. These figurines have bodies which resemble tree trunks.^[64]

Master of animals

The Master of animals and mistress of lions motifs are "almost undoubtedly depictions of the goddess Asherah."[65] The lioness made a ubiquitous symbol for goddesses of the ancient Middle East that was similar to the dove^[66] and the tree. Lionesses figure prominently in Asherah's iconography, including the tenth-century BC Ta'anach cult stand, which also includes the tree motif. A Hebrew arrowhead from the eleventh century BC bears the inscription "Servant of the Lion Lady".^[66]

The symbols around Asherah are so many (8+ pointed star, caprids and the like, along with lunisolar, arboreal, florid, serpentine) that a listing would approach meaninglessness as it neared exhaustiveness. Frevel's 1000-page dissertation ends enigmatically with the pronouncement "Es gibt keine genuine Ascheraikonographie."^{[clarification needed][67][68]}

By region

Sumer

A limestone slab for Hammu-rapi was dedicated to the goddess Ashratum, wife of Mardu/Amurrum in Sippar. He complements her mountain connection as lord of the mountain or bel shadī. Ashratum's name is cognate with Ugaritic ʾAṯirat. Hammu-rapi presages similar use with words like voluptuousness, joy, tender, patient, mercy to commemorate setting up a "protective genius" (font?) for her in her temple.^[69] Necessity alone corroborates that this was a different goddess from the more familiar versions as Sumerian hegemony was quite early.

Akkad

In

Points of reference in Akkadian epigraphy are collocated and heterographic Amarna Letters 60 and 61's Asheratic personal name. Within them is found a king of the Amorites by the 14th-century name of Abdi-Ashirta, "servant of Asherah".^[71]

Each is on line ii within the letter's opening or greeting sentiment. Some may transcribe Aširatu or Ašratu.^[70]

Ugarit

In

The conception of Asherah as the partner of Yahweh has stirred a lot of debate.^[12][13][14] Many have written about it, and many scholars conclude that Yahweh and Asherah were indeed a consort pair among the ancient Israelites.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Prime evidence for worship includes an iconography and inscriptions at two locations in use circa the 9th century. The first was in a cave at Khirbet el-Qom.^[87]

The second was at Kuntillet Ajrud.^[88][89][90] In the latter, a jar shows bovid-anthropomorphic figures and several inscriptions^[66][91] that refer to "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" and "Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah."^[92] Some scholars hold that the "asherah" mentioned in the inscriptions refers to a cultic symbol, rather than a goddess.^[93]

In one potsherd there appear a large and small bovine.^[94] This "oral fixation" motif has diverse examples, see figs 413-419 in Winter.^[95] In fact, already Flinders Petrie in the 1930s was referring to Davies on the memorable stereotype.^{[96][full citation needed]} It's such a common motif in Syrian and Phoenician ivories that the Arslan Tash horde had at least four; they can be seen in the Louvre.

Sacred prostitution?

Early scholarship emphasized somewhat mutually-negating possibilities of holy prostitution, hieros gamos, and orgiastic rites.^[97] It has been suggested by several scholars^[98][99] that there is a relationship between the position of the gəḇīrā in the royal court and the worship (orthodox or not) of Asherah.^[100] The Hebrew Bible frequently and graphically associates goddess worship with prostitution ("whoredom") in material written after the reforms of

There are references to the worship of numerous deities throughout the Books of Kings: Solomon builds temples to many deities and Josiah is reported as cutting down the statues of Asherah in the temple Solomon built for Yahweh (2 Kings 23:14). Josiah's grandfather Manasseh had erected one such statue (2 Kings 21:7).^[104]

The name Asherah appears forty times in the Hebrew Bible, but it is much reduced in English translations. The word ʾăšērâ is translated in Greek as Greek: ἄλσος (grove; plural: ἄλση) in every instance apart from Isaiah 17:8; 27:9 and 2 Chronicles 15:16; 24:18, with Greek: δένδρα (trees) being used for the former, and, peculiarly, Ἀστάρτη (Astarte) for the latter. The Vulgate in Latin provided lucus or nemus, a grove or a wood. From the Vulgate, the King James translation of the Bible uses grove or groves instead of Asherah's name. Non-scholarly English language readers of the Bible would not have read her name for more than 400 years afterward.^[105] The association of Asherah with trees in the Hebrew Bible is very strong. For example, she is found under trees (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10) and is made of wood by human beings (1 Kings 14:15, 2 Kings 16:3–4). The farther from the time of Josiah's reforms, the broader the perception of an Asherah became. Trees described in later Jewish texts as being an asherah or part of an asherah include grapevines, pomegranates, walnuts, myrtles, and willows.^[106] Eventually, monotheistic leaders would suppress the tree due to its association with Asherah.

Asherah was patronized by female royals such as the Queen Mother Maacah (1 Kings 15:13). The women of Jerusalem attested, "When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?" Another raisin-cake reference is found in Hosea. (Jeremiah 44:19 and Hosea 3:1). This passage corroborates a number of archaeological excavations showing altar spaces in Hebrew homes.

Deuteronomy 12 has Yahweh commanding the destruction of her shrines so as to maintain purity of his worship.^[107] Jezebel brought hundreds of prophets for Baal and Asherah with her into the Israelite court.^[108]

William Dever's

In Egypt, the body of the goddess can be "in" the tree. In other cultures' art, you see a small tree on the goddess's body. The ancient Near Eastern goddess was not portrayed as a personified tree this way.^[40]

Beginning during the

In Egypt the imprecise term "tree goddess" might find some coherence, as in art the tree form was sometimes primary, unlike in the Levant. In Egypt, famous art shows a breast coming from a tree.[114] (This is Goldwasser's goddess category IVa.)^[115] In Revadim (Revadim Asherah) or Ugarit, in contrast, a small tree branch is seen on the thigh or belly. (This is Shai's "pubis of life."^[116]) In each, the alternate aspect is subsumed emblematically.^[117]

A certain (PNs) Ashera and a Haya-Wr (Eve-Light) are mentioned in the Papyrus Brooklyn.

Sinai

Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions distinguish Asherah from Hat·hor. Albright '69 says Asherah seems to be identified with a Nubian serpent goddess. The inscriptions, in fact the moments of the invention of the alphabet, almost all invoke Ba‘alat.^[118] Goldwasser says Asherah and Hat·hor were identified rather than distinguished here, however.^[119]

In Arabia

As ʾAṯirat (Qatabanian: 𐩱𐩻𐩧𐩩 ʾṯrt) she was attested in pre-Islamic south Arabia as the consort of the moon-god ʿAmm.^[120]

One of the

The Arabic root ʾṯr (as in أثر‎ ʾaṯar, "trace") is similar in meaning to the Hebrew ʾāšar, indicating "to tread", used as a basis to explain Asherah's epithet "of the sea" as "she who treads the ym (sea).[124]"^[125]

Asherah survived late in remote South Arabia as seen in some common era Qatabanian and Maʕinian inscriptions.^[126]

See also

Deities

References

Bibliography

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• Ahlström, Gösta W. (1963), Engnell, Ivan; Furumark, Arne; Nordström, Carl-Otto (eds.), Aspects of Syncretism in Israelite Religion, Horae Soederblominae 5, translated by Sharpe, Eric J., Lund, SE: C.W.K. Gleerup, p. 68
• Albright, W. F. (1968), Yahweh and the gods of Canaan: a historical analysis of two contrasting faiths, London: University of London, Athlone Press, pp. 105–106,
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• Albright, William Foxwell (1969). The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and Their Decipherment.
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• Barker, Margaret (2012), The Mother of the Lord Volume 1: The Lady in the Temple, T & T Clark,
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• Amzallag, Nissim (2023). Yahweh and the Origins of Ancient Israel. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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• Beaulieu, Stéphane (1 January 2007). "Eve's Ritual: the Judahite Sacred Marriage Rite". Concordia University. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
• Binger, Tilde (1997), Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament (1st ed.), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, pp. 42–93,
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• Cornelius, Sakkie (2004). "A Preliminary Typology for the Female Plaque Figurines and Their Value for the Religion of Ancient Palestine and Jordan" (PDF). Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 30/1: 21–39. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
• Dever, William G. (2005), Did God Have A Wife?: Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,
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• Emerton, J. A. (1982). "New Light on Israelite Religion: The Implications of the Inscriptions from Kuntillet ʿAjrud". Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 94: 2–20.
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• Goldwasser, Orly (2006), "Canaanites Reading Hieroglyphs. Horus is Hathor? - The Invention of the Alphabet in Sinai", Egypt and the Levant, 16: 121–160
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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asherah.

Asherah

• Asphodel P. Long, The Goddess in Judaism – An Historical Perspective
• Asherah, the Tree of Life and the Menorah
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Asherah
• Rabbi Jill Hammer, An Altar of Earth: Reflections on Jews, Goddesses and the Zohar
• University of Birmingham: Deryn Guest: Asherah at Archive.org
• Lilinah biti-Anat, Qadash Kinahnu Deity Temple "Room One, Major Canaanite Deities"

Kuntillet ʿAjrud inscriptions

• Jacques Berlinerblau, "Official religion and popular religion in pre-Exilic ancient Israel" (Commentary on Yahweh's Asherah.)
• ANE: Kuntillet bibliography
• Jeffrey H. Tigay, "A Second Temple Parallel to the Blessings from Kuntillet Ajrud" (University of Pennsylvania) (This equates Asherah with an asherah.)

Israelite

• David Steinberg, Israelite Religion to Judaism: the Evolution of the Religion of Israel