Revadim Asherah Explained
| Revadim Asherah |
| Type: | Figurine |
| Discovered Date: | 1986 |
| Discovered Place: | Revadim, Israel |
| Culture: | Canaanite, Hebrew |
| Symbols: | Asherah, Great Mother, twins, vulva, ibices, crescent pendant, jewelry |
The Revadim Asherah is an artifact from Revadim representing a genre of Asherah figurines. Like the inscriptions found at Khirbet el-Qom and Kuntillet Ajrud, these findings revealed Asherah's prominence in Canaanite and Hebrew religion.
Depiction
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.
Specimens
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.
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 bandof 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.
[2]
External
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/13020564973 CC-licensed high-res photo by Nick Thompson. NB: the caption repeats incorrect information from
- https://www.imj.org.il/en/collections/198014-0 Israel Museum
- https://bibleplaces.photoshelter.com/image/I0000NLzQXXVWtzM Sharp photo
See also
External
- https://flickr.com/photos/101561334@N08/28347811027/in/photostream/ Public domain photo
References
Bibliography
NB: Margalit and Margalith are different scholars.
- Beck . Pirhiya . A new Type of Female Figurine . Insight through images: Studies in honor of Edith Porada . 1986 . 29–34.
- תדמור . מרים . Tadmor . Miriam . The Figurine from Revadim—Wet-nurse or Child-bearing Woman? / הצלמית מרבדים — מינקת או יולדת? . Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies / ארץ-ישראל: מחקרים בידיעת הארץ ועתיקותיה . Israel Exploration Society . ל . 2011 . 0071108X . 23630993 . 419–424 . 2023-10-18.
- Book: Dever, William G. . Did God Have a Wife? . William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company . Grand Rapids (Mich.) . 2005 . 0-8028-2852-3.
- Margalith . Othniel . A New Type of Asherah-Figurine? . Vetus Testamentum . Brill . 44 . 1 . 1994 . 00424935 . 1519430 . 109–115 . 2023-10-18.
- Via: Margalit . Baruch . Some Observations on the Inscription and Drawing from Khirbet el-Qôm . Vetus Testamentum . Brill . 39 . 3 . 1989 . 00424935 . 1519611 . 371–378 . 2023-10-19. O. Turfnell pl XLVIIB p 229 Pubic triangle is substituted for the stereotyped tree w flanking ibices: "the tree... symbolized the fertility goddess Asherah."
- Les inscriptions hébraïques de Kuntillet 'Ajrud (Sinaï) . Revue Biblique . Puech . Émile . 2 . 121 . 161–194 . 10.2143/RBI.121.2.3157150 . 2014 . 2466-8583 . 44092490.
- Sharp . Casey . McKinny . Chris . Shai . Itzhaq . The Late Bronze Age Figurines from Tel Burna . STRATA Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society . The Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society . 33 . 2015 . 61–79 . London . There are "copious amounts of scholarship on their context and iconography." p. 71 Distrib. across economic classes p. 64
- Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 30/1 . 2004 . A Preliminary Typology for the Female Plaque Figurines and Their Value for the Religion of Ancient Palestine and Jordan . Cornelius . Sakkie . 2023-10-19 . 30 . 1 . 21-39. "One cannot always trust excavation reports or catalogues, nor photographs or secondary line-drawings."
Notes and References
- Rahmouni's "Epithets" cites Ginsberg 1946 p 23 and more.
- Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeolocial Society 2015 Volume Sharp, Casey. The Late Bronze Age Figurines from Tel Burna.
