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.{{sfn|Binger|1997|p=44}}

The common NW Semitic meaning of šr is "king, prince, ruler."Pardee, COS I, p 277, DAWN AND DUSK{{Clarification needed|reason=Does the source suggest a connection between "ʾṯrt" and "šr"? such connection is not likely.|date=February 2025}} The NW Semitic{{cite book|title=Ishtar / Astarte / Aphrodite : Transformation of a Goddess|last=Anthonioz|first=Stéphanie|publisher=Academic Press|date=2014|isbn=978-3-525-54388-7|location=Fribourg|pages=125–139|editor-last=Sugimoto|editor-first=David T.|series=Orbis biblicus et orientalis|volume=263|chapter=Astarte in the Bible and her Relation to Asherah|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/7988493}} root ʾṯr (Arabic {{script/Arabic|أثر}}) means "tread".

The -ot ending "Asherot" is found three times in the Tanakh,Judg. 3.7, 2 Chron. 19.3 and 3.3 with -im "Asherim" making up the great majority.{{sfn|Taylor|1995|pp=39}} The significance is unclear, as the interaction of gender and number in Hebrew is not robustly understood.{{cite book| last=Pat-El| first=Na’ama| title=Comparative Semitic And Hebrew Plural Morphemes| series=Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures Series| publisher=Open Book Publishers| date=2018-11-06| pages=117–144| isbn=9791036574214| url=https://books.openedition.org/obp/20165| language=fr| access-date=2023-11-11}} 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.{{cite web| title=A New Analysis of YHWH's asherah| website=Religion and Literature of Ancient Palestine| date=2015-12-13| url=https://www.religionofancientpalestine.com/?page_id=230| access-date=2023-12-24}}

Her name is sometimes ’lt "Elat",{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=580}} the feminine equivalent of El. Her titles often include qdš "holy" and baʽlat, or rbt "lady",{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=580}}Locatell et al Apud KTU 1.3 I 23 "etc" and qnyt ỉlm, "progenitress of the gods."Context of Scripture I 1.87, pg = I:274 (§Author: Dennis Pardee. Editors Hallo, Younger, Orton, 2003. ISBN 90 04 135677 (VoL 1)

ISBN 90 04 131051 (Set)).

File:Françoise Foliot - Figurine d'Astarté.jpg's directly protruding breasts]]

Asherah was an important Goddess recognized across Northwest Semitic cultures. However, particularly in the Hebrew Bible, the term asherah and sometimes asherot, came to be identified with cultic wooden objects, sometimes referred to as asherah poles. In this context, in regard to certain attestations of Asherah, there is controversy about whether the inscriptions referring to Asherah indicate the deity, a "cultic object", {{cite book| last1=Keel| first1=Othmar| last2=Uehlinger| first2=Christoph| title=Gods, Goddesses, And Images of God| publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing| publication-place=Edinburgh| date=1998-01-01| isbn=978-0-567-08591-7| page=}} or both (de Vaux). Winter says the goddess and her symbol should not be distinguished.{{sfn|Winter|1983|loc=See §1.3.2 "Die Goettin & ihr Kultobjekt sind nicht zu trennen"}}

Some scholars have found an early link between Asherah and Eve, based upon the coincidence of their common title as "the mother of all living" in Genesis 3:20{{sfn|Kien|2000|p=165}} through the identification with the Hurrian mother goddess, Hebat.{{cite book|title=Women in the Hebrew Bible|last=Bach|first=Alice|publisher=Routledge|year=1998|isbn=978-0-415-91561-8|edition=1st|page=171}}{{cite book|title=Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times|last=Redford|first=Donald B.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-691-03606-9|page=270}} Olyan notes that Eve's original Hebrew name, ḥawwā^h, is cognate to ḥawwat, an attested epithet of Tanit in the first millennium BCE,{{sfn|Olyan|1988|p=71}}4 See KAT 89.1, rbt hwt “It, *rabbat hawwat ’ilat, “The Lady Hawwah, Elat,’” who is likely Asherah/Elat/Tannit. Elat is a well known epithet of Asherah both in the Bronze and Iron Ages. “The Lady” (rbt) is used frequently of Tannit in the Punic world. For another Punic attestation of hwt, see M. Lidzbarski, Ephemeris fuer semitische Epigraphik (GieBen: Topelmann, 1915) 3:285. though other scholars dispute a connection between Tanit and Asherah, and between Asherah and Eve.{{cite book|title=From Creation to Abraham: Further Studies in Genesis 1-11|last=Day|first=John|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2021|isbn=978-0-567-70311-8|page=56|chapter=The Serpent in the Garden of Eden: Its Background and Role|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gIpFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA56}} A Phoenician deity Ḥawwat is attested in the Punica tabella defixionis.

There is further speculation that the Shekhinah as a feminine aspect of Yahweh may be a cultural memory or devolution of Asherah.{{cite journal|title=The Wings of the Dove are Covered with Silver: The (Absent) Presence of the Goddess in Psalm 68|journal=Ugarit-Forschungen|last=Walker|first=M. Justin|volume=47|year=2016|page=303|issn=0342-2356}} Another such aspect is seen in the feminine treatment (grammatically or otherwise) of the Holy Spirit or Sophia.{{sfn|Amzallag|2023|p=8|ps= : "Proverbs... includes references to a female divine being, and Asherah-like goddess personifying Wisdopm and present beside YHWH at the early time of creation"}} This transference of feminine aspects and attributes, some argue, can also be seen to be applied male figures like Jacob{{cite web| last=Wolfson| first=Elliot| title=The Face of Jacob in the Moon: Mystical Transformations of an Aggadic Myth| website=Academia.edu| date=2013-04-18| url=https://www.academia.edu/3326530| access-date=2023-12-31}} or Jesus.{{cite journal| last=Rainbow| first=Jesse| title=Male μαστoι in Revelation 1.13| journal=Journal for the Study of the New Testament| publisher=SAGE Publications| volume=30| issue=2| year=2007| issn=0142-064X| doi=10.1177/0142064x07084777| pages=249–253| s2cid=171035381}}

A variety of symbols have been associated with Asherah. The most common by far is that of the tree,{{sfn|Taylor|1995|pp=29–54}} an equivalence seen as early as Neolithic times.{{Cite journal|last=Ziffer|first=Irit|date=2010|title=Western Asiatic Tree-Goddesses|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23789949|journal=Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant|volume=20|pages=411–430|doi=10.1553/AEundL20s411|jstor=23789949|issn=1015-5104|url-access=subscription}}

Cultic objects dedicated to Asherah frequently depict trees, and the terms asherim and asheroth, regularly invoked by the Hebrew Bible in the context of Asherah worship, are traditionally understood to refer to sacred trees called "Asherah poles". 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.{{sfn|Olyan|1988|p=}}{{page needed|date=December 2023}} The remains of a juniper tree discovered in a 7,500 year old gravesite in Eilat has been considered an Asherah tree by some.{{cite web| last=Rich| first=Viktoria Greenboim| title=7,500-year-old Burial in Eilat Contains Earliest Asherah| website=Haaretz.com| date=2022-05-16| url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2022-05-16/ty-article/7-500-year-old-burial-in-eilat-contains-earliest-asherah/00000180-e9ef-dc12-a5b1-fdff17540000| access-date=2023-11-29}}

File:הכד_מלכיש_-_ציור_ההקדשה_לאלת.jpg [shows] the word Elat positioned immediately over the tree, indicating the... tree as a representation of the goddess Elat."{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=580}}]]

Asherah's association with fertility was not limited to her association with trees; she was often depicted with pronounced sexual features.{{sfn|Stuckey|2002|p=56}} Idols of Asherah, often called ’Astarte figurines’, are representative of Asherah as a tree in that they have bodies which resemble tree trunks,{{sfn|Taylor|1995|p=30}} while also further extenuating the goddess' connection to fertility in line with her status as a "mother goddess". The "Judean pillar figures" universally depict Asherah with protruding breasts. Likewise, the so-called Revadim Asherah is rife with potent, striking sexual imagery, depicting Asherah suckling two smaller figures and using both of her hands to fully expose her vagina.{{sfn|Dever|2005|p=188}} Many times, Asherah's pubis area was marked by a concentration of dots, indicating pubic hair,{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=585}} though this figure is sometimes polysemically understood as a grape cluster.{{sfn|Stuckey|2002|p=56}} The womb was also sometimes used as a nutrix symbol, as animals are often shown feeding directly (if a bit abstractly) from the pubic triangle.{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=584}}

Remarking on the Lachish ewer, Hestrin noted{{cite journal| last=Hestrin| first=Ruth| title=The Lachish Ewer and the 'Asherah| journal=Israel Exploration Journal| publisher=Israel Exploration Society| volume=37| issue=4| year=1987| issn=0021-2059| jstor=27926074| pages=215| url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27926074}} that in a group of other pottery vessels found in situ, 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.

Asherah may also have been associated with the ancient pan-Near Eastern "Master of animals" motif, which depicted a person or deity betwixt two confronted animals. According to Beaulieu, depictions of a divine "mistress of lions" motif are "almost undoubtedly depictions of the goddess Asherah."{{sfn|Beaulieu|2007|p=303}}

The lioness made a ubiquitous symbol for goddesses of the ancient Middle East that was similar to the dove{{sfn|Dever|2005}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}} 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".{{sfn|Dever|2005}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}}

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 "There is no genuine Asherah iconography".{{sfn|Cornelius|2004|page=28–29}}Aschera & der Ausschliesslichkeitsanspruch YHWH's, Frevel, 1995.

File:Syriangoddessnames.png.{{cite web | title=The Syrian goddess; being a translation of Lucian's De dea Syria, with a life of Lucian by Herbert A. Strong. Edited with notes and an introd. by John Garstang : Lucian, of Samosata : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive | website=Internet Archive | date=2016-10-23 | url=https://archive.org/details/syriangoddessbei00luciuoft/page/1/ | access-date=2025-03-30}} Langdon says ʔ-th-r-t is "surely the same" as Babylonian Ašratu, West Semitic Aširtu, and Ašerat in Ras Shamra.S Langdon 1933-1935, "Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars," pg 14]]

An Amorite goddess named Ashratum is known to have been worshipped in Sumer. Her Amorite provenance is further supported by her status as the wife of Mardu/Amurrum, the supreme deity of the Amorites.

A limestone slab inscribed with a dedication made by Hammurabi to Ashratum is known from Sippar. In it, he complements her as "lord of the mountain" (bel shadī), and presages similar use with words like voluptuousness, joy, tender, patient, mercy to commemorate setting up a "protective genius" (font?) for her in her temple.Context of Scripture II 2.107D, pg = II:257 (No author named; only ref: Sollberger and Kupper 1971: 219; Frayne 1990: 359-360).

Though it is accepted that Ashratum's name is cognate to that of Asherah, the two goddesses are not actually identified with one another, given that they occupied different positions within their pantheons, despite sharing their status as consort to the supreme deity.{{cite book|last=Wiggins|first=Steve|title=A reassessment of Asherah: with further considerations of the goddess|url=https://www.academia.edu/1307031|publisher=Gorgias Press|publication-place=Piscataway, NJ|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59333-717-9|oclc=171049273}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}}

In Akkadian texts, Asherah appears as Aširatu; though her exact role in the pantheon is unclear; as a separate goddess, Antu, was considered the wife of Anu, the god of Heaven. In contrast, ʿAshtart is believed to be linked to the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar who is sometimes portrayed as the daughter of Anu.{{Cite journal|last=Hess|first=Richard S.|date=1996|title=Asherah or Asherata?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43078131|journal=Orientalia|volume=65|issue=3|pages=209–219|jstor=43078131|issn=0030-5367}}

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".{{Cite journal|last=Patai|first=Raphael|date=January 1965|title=The Goddess Asherah|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/371788|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies|volume=24|issue=1/2|pages=37–52|doi=10.1086/371788|s2cid=162046752|issn=0022-2968|url-access=subscription}}

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

In Ugaritic texts, Asherah appears as ʾṯrtDULAT I p 128 (Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚), anglicised ʾAṯirat or Athirat. She is called ʾElat,{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎛𐎍𐎚, ʾilt}} "goddess", the feminine form of ʾEl (compare Allāt); she is also called Qodeš, "holiness".{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎖𐎄𐎌, qdš}} There is reference to a šr. ‘ṯtrt.the administrative text (KTU2 4.168: 4) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jorient/55/2/55_53/_article/-char/en Gibson says sources from before 1200 BC almost always credit Athirat with her full title rbt ʾṯrt ym (or rbt ʾṯrt).{{citation|last1=Gibson|first1=J. C. L.|title=Canaanite Myths and Legends|year=1978|publisher=T. & T. Clark|isbn=9780567023513|last2=Driver|first2=G. R.}}{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎗𐎁𐎚 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚 𐎊𐎎, rbt ʾṯrt ym}} However, Rahmouni's indexing of Ugaritic epithets states the phrase occurs in only the Baʿal Epic.{{sfn|Rahmouni|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/divineepithetsug00ford/page/n308 278]}} Apparently of Akkadian origin, rabat means "lady" (literally "female great one").{{sfn|Rahmouni|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/divineepithetsug00ford/page/n308 278]}} She appears to champion her son, Yam, god of the sea, in his struggle against Baʾal. (Yam's ascription as god of the sea may mislead; Yam is the deified sea itself rather than a deity who holds dominion over it.) So some say Athirat's title can be translated as "Lady ʾAṯirat of the Sea",{{sfn|Rahmouni|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/divineepithetsug00ford/page/n311 281]}} alternatively, "she who walks on the sea",{{sfn|Binger|1997|p=44}} or even "the Great Lady-who-tramples-Yam."{{sfn|Wyatt|2003|p=131ff}} This invites relation to a Chaoskampf in which neither she nor Yam is otherwise implicated. Park suggested in 2010 that the name Athirat might be derived from a passive participle form, referring to the "one followed by (the gods)", that is, "progenitress or originatress", which would correspond to Asherah's image as the "mother of the gods" in Ugaritic literature.{{sfn|Park|2010|pp=527–534}} This solution was a response to and variation of B. Margalit's of her following in Yahweh's literal footsteps, a less generous estimation nonetheless supported by D{{sc|ULAT}}'s use of the Ugaritian word in an ordinary sense. Binger finds some of these risibly imaginative, and unhappily falls back on the still-problematic interpretation that Ym may also mean day, so "Lady Asherah of the day", or, more simply, "Lady Day".{{sfn|Binger|1997|pp=42–93}} The common Semitic root ywm (for reconstructed Proto-Semitic *yawm-),{{cite book|title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook|last=Kogan|first=Leonid|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2011|isbn=978-3-11-025158-6|pages=179–258|editor-last=Weninger|editor-first=Stefan|chapter=Proto-Semitic Lexicon}} from which derives ({{langx|he|יוֹם}}), meaning "day", appears in several instances in the Masoretic Texts with the second-root letter (-w-) having been dropped, and in a select few cases, replaced with an A-class vowel of the Niqqud,{{Bibleverse||Numbers|6:5|WLC}}, {{Bibleverse||Job|7:6|WLC}} resulting in the word becoming y(a)m. Such occurrences, as well as the fact that the plural, "days", can be read as both yōmîm and yāmîm ({{langx|he|יָמִים}}), gives credence to this alternate translation.

Another primary epithet of Athirat was qnyt ʾilm,{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎖𐎐𐎊𐎚 𐎛𐎍𐎎, qnyt ʾlm}}see KTU 1.4 I 23. which may be translated as "the creator of the deities". In those texts, Athirat is the consort of the god ʾEl; there is one reference to the 70 sons of Athirat, presumably the same as the 70 sons of ʾEl.

Among the Hittites this goddess appears as Ašertu(š) or Ašerdu(š) in the myth of Elkunirša ("El, the Creator of Earth") her husband, in which she tried to sleep with the storm god.{{Cite book |last=Hoffner |first=Harry A. |url=https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/nz806014s |title=Hittite myths |date=1998 |publisher=Scholars Press |isbn= 978-0-7885-0488-4|pages=90 |language=en}}

The Ugaritic texts reveal significant parallels between the goddesses Athirat and Shapshu, suggesting a possible identification. Both are referred to as "The Lady" (rbt), a title signifying supreme authority in the pantheon, and they are described as mothers of the gods, key figures in creation, and central to maintaining cosmic order. Athirat’s epithet rbt ˀaṯrt ym has traditionally been interpreted as "Lady Athirat of the Sea," but recent analyses{{Cite journal |last=Sarlo |first=Daniel |date=2022-01-01 |title=The Equation of Athirat and Shapshu at Ugarit |url=https://www.academia.edu/109021391 |journal=Ugarit Forschungen}} propose that ym might mean "day" instead of "sea." This reading aligns with Athirat’s name (ˀaṯrt), meaning "the one who goes," reflecting the sun’s journey across the sky.Nougayrol, J., et al. 1968. Ugaritica. Volume 5. Paris.

Another significant reason for this conflation would be a passage found in Ugaritic inscription KTU 1.23 which describes the myth known as The Gracious and Most Beautiful Gods. In this text, twins Shahar (dawn) and Shalim (dusk) are described as offspring of El through two women he meets at the seashore. The brothers are both nursed by "The Lady", likely Asherah and in other Ugaritic texts, the two are associated with the sun goddess Shapshu.{{Cite book |title=Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible DDD |date=1999 |publisher=Brill ; Eerdmans |isbn=978-90-04-11119-6 |editor-last=van der Toorn |editor-first=K. |edition=2nd extensively rev. |location=Leiden ; Boston : Grand Rapids, Mich |editor-last2=Becking |editor-first2=Bob |editor-last3=Horst |editor-first3=Pieter Willem van der}}

{{Main|Ancient Semitic religion|Canaanite pantheon|Yahwism}}

The conception of Asherah as the partner of Yahweh has stirred a lot of debate.{{cite book|title=Image, Text, Exegesis: Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible|last=Wyse-Rhodes|first=Jackie|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2015|isbn=978-0-567-58828-9|pages=71–90|editor-last=Hulster|editor-first=Izaak J. de|chapter=Finding Asherah: The Goddesses in Text and Image|editor-last2=LeMon|editor-first2=Joel M.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dPNzBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71}} While some scholars invoke a separation of Asherah worship from Yahwism,{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |title=The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel |date=2002 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co |isbn=978-0-8028-3972-5 |series=The Biblical Resource Series |location=Chicago}} most scholars have found that Yahweh and Asherah were a consort pair.{{sfn|Binger|1997|p=108}}{{cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zw3fl |title= Bible's Buried Secrets, Did God Have a Wife?|publisher= BBC Two |date=21 December 2011 |access-date= 4 July 2012|archive-date= 15 January 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120115173447/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zw3fl|url-status=live}}

File:כתובת אריהו מפורשת.jpg's hand is a symbol of Asherah as a protector,{{sfn|Binger|1997|}} but there is no scholarly hypothesis on why it appears upside-down.]]

File:Levantine - Inlay Cow Suckling a Calf - Walters 711170.jpg's jar has this common motif in illustration. Another alluring symbol of the Goddess, the suckling bovine.See {{harvp|Keel|Uehlinger|1998|p=40}}, fig. 31a, and lately {{harvp|Ornan|2005|pp=160–163}}.{{sfn|Goldwasser|2006|pp=121–160}}]]

{{See also|Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions}}

Possible evidence for her 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.{{sfn|Stuckey|2002}}

The second was at Kuntillet Ajrud.{{Cite journal|last=Dever|first=William G.|date=1984|title=Asherah, Consort of Yahweh? New Evidence from Kuntillet ʿAjrûd|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1357073|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|issue=255|pages=21–37|doi=10.2307/1357073|jstor=1357073|s2cid=163984447|issn=0003-097X|url-access=subscription}}{{Citation|last=Meshel|first=Zev|title=The Israelite Religious Centre of Kuntillet 'Ajrud, Sinai|date=1986-01-01|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/zg.15.24mes|work=Archaeology and Fertility Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean|pages=237–240|access-date=2023-12-23|place=Amsterdam|publisher=B.R. Grüner Publishing Company|doi=10.1075/zg.15.24mes|doi-broken-date=3 December 2024 |isbn=978-90-6032-288-8|s2cid=211507289}} In the latter, a jar shows bovid-anthropomorphic figures and several inscriptions{{sfn|Dever|2005}}{{sfn|Hadley|2000|pp=122–136}} that refer to "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" and "Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah."{{cite book|last=Bonanno|first=Anthony|title=Archaeology and Fertility Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean: Papers Presented at the First International Conference on Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean, University of Malta, 2–5 September 1985|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uuKfXsvfr2YC|access-date=10 March 2014|year=1986|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=9789060322888|page=238|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118214135/https://books.google.com/books?id=uuKfXsvfr2YC|url-status=live}} However, a number of scholars hold that the "asherah" mentioned in the inscriptions refers to some kind of cultic object or symbol, rather than a goddess. Some scholars have argued that since cognate forms of "asherah" are used with the meaning of "sanctuary" in Phoenician and Aramaic inscriptions from the same period, this may also be the meaning of the term in the two Hebrew inscriptions.{{sfn|Sass|2014|pp=47–66}}{{cite journal|title=L'inscription 3 de Khirbet el-Qôm revisitée et l' 'Ashérah|journal=Revue Biblique|url=https://doi.org/10.2143/RBI.122.1.3149557|last=Puech|first=Émile|issue=1|volume=122|pages=5–25|doi=10.2143/RBI.122.1.3149557|year=2015|issn=2466-8583|jstor=44092312}}{{sfn|Ahituv|2014|p=35}} Others argue that the term "asherah" may refer to a sacred tree used for the worship of Yahweh as this is the meaning that the Hebrew term has in the Hebrew Bible and in the Mishnah.{{Cite journal|last=Emerton|first=J. A.|date=1999|title="Yahweh and His Asherah": The Goddess or Her Symbol?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1585374|journal=Vetus Testamentum|volume=49|issue=3|pages=315–337|doi=10.1163/156853399774228010|jstor=1585374|issn=0042-4935|url-access=subscription}}{{cite journal |title=Judahite Hebrew Epigraphy and Cult |journal=Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology |last=Lemaire |first=André |volume=7 |pages=43–72 |doi=10.52486/01.00007.3 |year=2024 |issn=2788-8819 |doi-access=free}}{{rp|59–60}}

In one potsherd there appear a large and small bovine.{{sfn|Dever|2005|p=163}} This "oral fixation" motif has diverse examples, see figs 413–419 in Winter.{{sfn|Winter|1983|p=}} In fact, already Flinders Petrie in the 1930s was referring to Davies on the memorable stereotype.

1 NEWBERRY Beni Hasan i Pl xiii register 4 Cf PETRIE Deshasheh Pl v register 3 there is a very example in DAVIES Ptahhetep ii Pl xvii

https://books.google.com/books/content?id=wkdFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA19&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U11u8CT1WFcJ4vxFrwiXWvAs8n4_A&ci=101%2C1013%2C391%2C57&edge=0

https://books.google.com/books?id=wkdFAAAAYAAJ&q=licking+her+sucking

{{full citation needed|date=December 2023}} It's such a common motif in Syrian and Phoenician ivories that the Arslan Tash horde had at least four.

Early scholarship emphasized somewhat mutually-negating possibilities of holy prostitution, hieros gamos, and orgiastic rites.{{sfn| Patai| 1990| p=37}}

It has been suggested by several scholars{{cite journal|last1=Ackerman|first1=Susan|title=The Queen Mother and the Cult in Ancient Israel|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|date=1993|volume=112|issue=3|pages=385–401|doi=10.2307/3267740|jstor=3267740}}{{cite journal|last1=Bowen|first1=Nancy|title=The Quest for the Historical Gĕbîrâ|journal=Catholic Biblical Quarterly|date=2001|volume=64|pages=597–618}} that there is a relationship between the position of the gəḇīrā in the royal court and the worship of Asherah.1 Kings {{Bibleverse-nb||1 Kings|15:13|NRSVUE}}; {{Bibleverse-nb||1 Kings|18:19|NRSVUE}}, {{Bibleverse||2 Kings|10:13|NRSVUE}}

The Hebrew Bible frequently and graphically associates goddess worship with prostitution ("whoredom") in material written after the reforms of Josiah. Jeremiah, and Ezekiel blame the goddess religion for making Yahweh "jealous", and cite his jealousy as the reason Yahweh allowed the destruction of Jerusalem. Although their nature remains uncertain, sexual rites typically revolved around women of power and influence, such as Maacah. The Hebrew term qadishtu, formerly translated as "temple prostitutes" or "shrine prostitutes", literally means "priestesses" or "consecrated women", from the Semitic root qdš, meaning "holy".{{cite book|title=Harlot or Holy Woman?: A Study of Hebrew Qedešah|last=Bird|first=Phyllis A.|author-link=Phyllis Bird|publisher=Penn State Press|year=2020|isbn=978-1-64602-020-1|page=6}} However, sacred prostitution is no longer a broad presumption, and some argue that sex acts within the temple were limited to yearly sacred fertility rites aimed at assuring an abundant harvest.{{sfn|Coogan|2010|p=133}}Cf. {{cite book | last1=Levenson | first1=Jon D. | editor-last1=Berlin | editor-first1=Adele | editor-last2=Brettler | editor-first2=Marc Zvi | title=The Jewish Study Bible |edition=Second | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-19-939387-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT169 | access-date=29 July 2024 | page=72 | quote=many scholars doubt that cultic prostitution as it is usually understood existed in ancient Israel.}}

File:Asherahfetishofhappiness.png

File:Nhlsqdm.png

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).{{cite web|title=Genesis Chapter 1 (NKJV)|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=Asherah&t=NKJV#s=s_primary_0_1|website=Blue Letter Bible|access-date=14 August 2016|archive-date=27 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827061745/https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=Asherah&t=NKJV#s=s_primary_0_1|url-status=live}}

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 {{langx|el|{{lang|grc|ἄλσος}}}} (grove; plural: ἄλση) in every instance apart from Isaiah 17:8; 27:9 and 2 Chronicles 15:16; 24:18, with {{langx|el|{{lang|grc|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.{{Cite web|title = Asherah|url = http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html|website = www.asphodel-long.com|access-date = 2016-02-14|archive-date = 5 January 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060105095653/http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html|url-status = live}} 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.{{cite book|last1=Danby|first1=Herbert|title=The Mishnah: Translated from the Hebrew With Introduction and Brief Explanatory Notes|date=1933|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780198154020|pages=90, 176}} Eventually, monotheistic leaders would suppress the tree due to its association with Asherah.

Deuteronomy 12 has Yahweh commanding the destruction of her shrines so as to maintain purity of his worship.Deuteronomy 12: 3–4 Jezebel brought hundreds of prophets for Baal and Asherah with her into the Israelite court.{{cite book|last1=Coogan|first1=Michael|title=God and Sex|date=2010|publisher=Twelve|isbn=978-0-446-54525-9|page=47}}

William Dever's book discusses female pillar figurines, the queen of heaven name, and the cakes. Dever also points to the temple at Tel Arad, the famous archaeological site with cannabinoids and massebot. Dever notes: "The only goddess whose name is well attested in the Hebrew Bible (or in ancient Israel generally) is Asherah."{{sfn|Dever|2005|p=166}}

Various partial inscriptions found on destroyed seventh century BCE jars in Ekron contain words like šmn "oil", dbl "fig cake", qdš "holy," l'šrt "to Asherah", and lmqm "for the shrine". This has been taken as evidence that Asherah was worshipped in Philistia.{{cite journal| last1=Gitin| first1=Seymour| last2=Dothan| first2=Trude| last3=Naveh| first3=Joseph| title=A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron| journal=Israel Exploration Journal| publisher=Israel Exploration Society| volume=47| issue=1/2| year=1997| issn=0021-2059| jstor=27926455| pages=1–16| url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27926455| access-date=2024-02-19}}

{{further|Hathor|Bat (goddess)}}

Attempts to identify Asherah within the pantheon of ancient Egypt have been met with both limited acceptance and controversy.

Beginning during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, a Semitic goddess named Qetesh ("holiness", sometimes reconstructed as Qudshu) appears prominently. That dynasty follows expulsion of occupying foreigners from an intermediary period. René Dussard suggested a connection to Asherah in 1941. Subsequent studies tried to find further evidence for equivalence of Qetesh and Asherah, although Wiggins does not.{{Cite journal|last=Wiggins|first=Steve A.|date=1991-01-01|title=The Myth of Asherah: Lion Lady and Serpent Goddess|url=https://www.academia.edu/1307032|journal=Ugarit-Forschungen: Internationales Jahrbuch für ...}} His hesitance did not dissuade subsequent scholars from equating Asherah with Qetesh.{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=580}}

As ʾAṯirat (Qatabanian: {{lang|xqt|𐩱𐩻𐩧𐩩}} {{transliteration|xqt|ʾṯrt}}) she was attested in pre-Islamic south Arabia as the consort of the moon-god ʿAmm.{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses|last=Jordan|first=Michael|date=2014-05-14|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9781438109855|pages=37}}

One of the Tema stones (CIS II 113) discovered by Charles Huber in 1883 in the ancient oasis of Tema, northwestern Arabia, and now located at the Louvre, believed to date to the time of Nabonidus's retirement there in 549 BC, bears an inscription in Aramaic that mentions Ṣelem of Maḥram ({{script/Hebrew|צלם זי מחרמ}}), Šingalāʾ ({{script/Hebrew|שנגלא}}), and ʾAšîrāʾ ({{script/Hebrew|אשירא}}) as the deities of Tema. It is unclear whether the name would be an Aramaic vocalisation of the Ugaritic ʾAṯirat or a later borrowing of the Hebrew ʾĂšērāh or similar form. In any event, Watkins says the root of both names is a Proto-Semitic *ʾṯrt.{{Cite journal|last=Watkins|first=Justin|date=2007|title=Athirat: As Found at Ras Shamra|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/studiaantiqua|journal=Studia Antiqua|volume=5|issue=1|pages=45–55|access-date=10 July 2019|archive-date=1 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701133441/https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/studiaantiqua/|url-status=live}} Pritchard excerpts the mention wšnglʔ wʔšyrʔ ʔlhy tymʔ and differs on the root's meaning.J B Pritchard 1948 Palestinian figurines in relation to certain goddesses known through literature page 64. Further refers to Cooke in NSI pp 195 ff.{{cite web| title=A text-book of north-Semitic inscriptions : Cooke, G. A. (George Albert), 1865-1939 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive | website=Internet Archive| date=2023-03-25| url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924096083104/page/n223/mode/1up?view=theater| access-date=2024-02-20}}

The Arabic root ʾṯr (as in {{script/Arabic|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).(the Arabic root {{script/Arabic|يم}} yamm also means "sea")"Lucy Goodison and Christine E. Morris, Ancient Goddesses: Myths and Evidence (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 79.

Asherah survived late in remote South Arabia as seen in some common era Qatabanian and Maʕinian inscriptions.{{harvp|Ahituv|2014|p=33}}: lists dates from 5th C BCE to 6th C AD.

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|

• Al-Lat
• Ashima
• Ašratum
• Ashtar-Chemosh
• ʿAṯtar
• Hathor
• Inanna (Ishtar)
• Ishara
• Ishtarat
• Išartu
• Qetesh (Qudshu)
• Queen of Heaven (antiquity)
• Shapshu

• Kuntillet ʿAjrud - inscriptions
• Nehushtan
• Revadim Asherah - Bronze age figures
• Judean pillar figure - Iron age figures
• Semitic neopaganism
• Shekhinah
• Tel Arad
• Asherah pole
• Xoanon
• Fig-cake (fruit)
• Ashteroth Karnaim

}}

{{Portalbar|Mythology|Asia}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

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• {{citation|last=Taylor|first=Joan E.|year=1995|title=The Asherah, the Menorah and the Sacred Tree|volume=20|publisher=University of Sheffield, Dept. of Biblical Studies|pages=29–54|journal=Journal for the Study of the Old Testament|issue=66|issn=0309-0892|oclc=88542166|doi=10.1177/030908929502006602|s2cid=170422840}}
• {{citation|last=Wiggins|first=Steve A.|year=1993|title=A Reassessment of 'Asherah': A Study according to the Textual Sources of the First Two Millennia B.C.E|publisher=Verlag Butzon & Bercker|series=Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Bd. 235.|isbn=9783788714796}}
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• {{cite book| last=Winter| first=Urs| title=Frau und Göttin| publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht| publication-place=Freiburg, Schweiz Göttingen| date=1983| isbn=3-525-53673-9| language=de}}
• {{citation|last=Wyatt|first=N.|year=2003|title=Religious Texts from Ugarit|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|edition=2nd|location=London}}

{{Commons category|Asherah}}

• [http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/goddess_in_judaism.html Asphodel P. Long, The Goddess in Judaism – An Historical Perspective]
• [http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html Asherah, the Tree of Life and the Menorah]
• [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1942&letter=A&search=Asherah Jewish Encyclopedia: Asherah]
• [http://www.zeek.net/spirit_0407.shtml Rabbi Jill Hammer, An Altar of Earth: Reflections on Jews, Goddesses and the Zohar]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040623054515/http://www.theology.bham.ac.uk/guest/Ancient%20Israel/asherah.htm University of Birmingham: Deryn Guest: Asherah] at Archive.org
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091026224544/http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2938/majdei.html Lilinah biti-Anat, Qadash Kinahnu Deity Temple "Room One, Major Canaanite Deities"]

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060708043601/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/berlinerblau5.htm Jacques Berlinerblau, "Official religion and popular religion in pre-Exilic ancient Israel"] (Commentary on Yahweh's Asherah.)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051217050511/http://www.ancientneareast.net/kuntillet_ajrud.html ANE: Kuntillet bibliography]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040612011854/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/second.htm Jeffrey H. Tigay, "A Second Temple Parallel to the Blessings from Kuntillet Ajrud" (University of Pennsylvania)] (This equates Asherah with an asherah.)

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050528023003/http://www.adath-shalom.ca/israelite_religion.htm David Steinberg, Israelite Religion to Judaism: the Evolution of the Religion of Israel]

{{Middle Eastern mythology}}{{Authority control}}

Category:Ancient Israel and Judah

Category:Book of Deuteronomy

Category:Book of Jeremiah

Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible

Category:Fertility goddesses

Category:Levantine mythology

Category:Mother goddesses

Category:Phoenician mythology

Category:West Semitic goddesses

Category:Arabian goddesses

Category:Queens of Heaven (antiquity)

Category:Ugaritic deities

Category:Lion goddesses

Category:Judaism-related controversies

Category:Canaanite religion

Category:Judaism and paganism