| Revadim Asherah | |
|---|---|
| Type | Figurine |
| Symbols | Asherah, Great Mother, twins, vulva, ibices, crescent pendant, jewelry |
| Discovered | 1986 Revadim, Israel |
| Culture | Canaanite, Hebrew |
The Revadim Asherah is an artifact from Revadim representing a genre of Asherah figurines. [1] Like the inscriptions found at Khirbet el-Qom and Kuntillet Ajrud, these findings revealed Asherah's prominence in Canaanite and Hebrew religion. [2]
The figure is the Great Mother, portrayed displaying her vulva and feeding twins. [3] Tadmor emphasizes that the figure represents a deity, not a wetnurse. [4] This distinction wouldn't have made sense to the Ugaritians, who called her the mšnqt .ʔilm or "wetnurse of the gods." [5] In Revadim, she has features such as long locks that are reminiscent of snakes directed towards the infants she cradles, jewelry adorning her wrists and neck, where hangs a large crescent pendant. Her hands open the vulva, and above is a ridge suggesting pubic hair. On each of her legs is a tall and sparse tree accompanied by ibices. [6]
The crowded symbolism of the Revadim Asherah stands in contrast to related Judean pillar figurines. Whereas the pillar figures are plain, definitionally emphasizing their face and breasts without detail below, the Revadim prototype is maximalist, filling all possible space with sophisticated polysemy.
Following publication in 1986, other examples were found at Aphek, Tel Harasim, Tel Burna, and Revadim. Differences are regional features, as they're dated mutual contemporaries of the latter 13th century. [7]
A Tel Burna goddess differed most in jewelry around the chest:
A horizontal line of three small pellets appears at the neck. Two braids depicting hair extend down the chest area, similar to the Egyptian Hathor style, are separated by an amorphous-shaped decoration just above the navel. There is a crescent or ring connected to a unique vertical band of eight rings extending down between these braids. This vertical row of rings running down the woman’s chest is unique. The crescent (or ring) shape near the woman’s neck is also distinctive.
The overall impression is of a long necklace of many small chained elements. [8]
The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries. Jews are named after Judah, and primarily descend from people who lived in the region.
Yahweh was an ancient Levantine deity, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Though no consensus exists regarding the deity's origins, scholars generally contend that Yahweh is associated with Seir, Edom, Paran and Teman, and later with Canaan. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age, if not somewhat earlier. Although the religion of Israelites was polytheistic prior to the Babylonian captivity, the deity of Yahweh later evolved into the concepts of God in Judaism and Samaritanism, which are strictly monotheistic.
Lachish was an ancient Israelite city in the Shephelah region of Canaan on the south bank of the Lakhish River mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. The current tell by that name, known as Tel Lachish or Tell el-Duweir, has been identified with Lachish. Today, it is an Israeli national park operated and maintained by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. It lies near the present-day moshav of Lakhish, which was named in honor of the ancient city.
Asherah was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as Ašerdu(s) or Ašertu(s), and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Yahweh and Asherah were a consort pair in ancient Israel and Judah, while others disagree.
Ekron, in the Hellenistic period known as Accaron was a Philistine city, one of the five cities of the Philistine Pentapolis, located in present-day Israel.
Anat, Anatu, classically Anath was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic texts. Most researchers assume that she originated in the Amorite culture of Bronze Age upper Mesopotamia, and that the goddess Ḫanat, attested in the texts from Mari and worshiped in a city sharing her name located in Suhum, should be considered her forerunner.
An Asherah pole is a sacred tree or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the goddess Asherah. The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate.
Deir Alla is the site of an ancient Near Eastern town in Balqa Governorate, Jordan. The Deir Alla Inscription, datable to ca. 840–760 BCE, was found here.
William Gwinn Dever is an American archaeologist, scholar, historian, semiticist, and theologian. He is an active scholar of the Old Testament, and historian, specialized in the history of the Ancient Near East and the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah in biblical times. He was Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 1975 to 2002. He is a Distinguished Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania.
Tel Burna is an archaeological site located in the Shephelah, along the banks of Nahal Guvrin, not far from modern-day Qiryat Gat. Tel Burna is located near Beit Guvrin/Maresha, Tel Goded, Lachish, Tell es-Safi/Gath and Tel Zayit. The site is thought to have been one of a series of sites along the border between Judah and Philistia.
Kuntillet ʿAjrud or Horvat Teman is a late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE site in the northeast part of the Sinai Peninsula. It is frequently described as a shrine, though this is not certain. The Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions discovered in the excavations are significant in biblical archaeology.
Khirbet el-Qom is an archaeological site in the village of al-Kum, West Bank, in the territory of the biblical Kingdom of Judah, between Lachish and Hebron, 14 km (8.7 mi) to the west of the latter.
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it was commissioned by biblical king Solomon before being destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 587 BCE. No remains of the destroyed temple have ever been found. Most modern scholars agree that the First Temple existed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by the time of the Babylonian siege, and there is significant debate among scholars over the date of its construction and the identity of its builder.
A ceremonial pole is a stake or post utilised or venerated as part of a ceremony or religious ritual. Ceremonial poles may symbolize a variety of concepts in different ceremonies and rituals practiced by a variety of cultures around the world.
The Book of Joshua lists almost 400 ancient Levantine city names which refer to over 300 distinct locations in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Each of those cities, with minor exceptions is placed in one of the 12 regions, according to the tribes of Israel and in most cases additional details like neighbouring towns or geographical landmarks are provided. It has been serving as one of the primary sources for identifying and locating a number of Middle Bronze to Iron Age Levantine cities mentioned in ancient Egyptian and Canaanite documents, most notably in the Amarna correspondence.
2 Kings 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter records the reigns of Jehu's son, Jehoahaz, and Jehu's grandson, Jehoash, in the kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jehoash, the king of Judah, as well as the events around the death of Elisha. The narrative is a part of a major section 2 Kings 9:1–15:12 covering the period of Jehu's dynasty.
The Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions refers to a set of jar and plaster inscriptions, stone incisions, and art discovered at the site of Kuntillet Ajrud. They were found at a unique Judean crossroads location that was among an unusual number and variety of vessels and other inscriptions. They date to the late 9th century BC in the Sinai Peninsula.
The Ta'anakh cult stand was found in the ancient city of Ta'anakh, near Megiddo, in Israel. It dates back to the 10th century BCE and has various images that are related to the religious practices of the Israelites. Some think that the "elaborate" 53cm stand was used for offering incense to the gods, while others suggest that it was a miniature representation of a temple or a shrine. The stand has four tiers.
The Lachish ewer is an ancient jug discovered at Tell el-Duweir dating from the late 13th century BC, identified as the site of the ancient city of Lachish, one of the most important cities in the Kingdom of Judah.
NB: Margalit and Margalith are different scholars.
