Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:Asherah

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{Short description|Ancient Semitic goddess}}
{{For|the small research submarine|Asherah (submarine)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Canaanite
| name = Asherah<br />{{Script/Hebrew|אֲשֵׁרָה}}
| image = File:Hecht Museum, Israel – figurines 010.JPG
| caption = 
| deity_of = Lady Day{{sfn|Binger|1997|p=44}}<br>''Goddess of fertility''
| other_names = Athirat
| cult_center = Middle-East<br />''Formerly Jerusalem''
| symbol = Sacred tree, yoni 
| parents = 
| siblings = 
| consort = {{ubl|
[[El (deity)|El]] ([[Ugarit#Religion|Ugaritic religion]])|
[[Yahweh]] ([[Yahwism|Israelite religion]])|
[[Amurru (god)|Amurru]] ([[Amorite|Amorite religion]])|
[[Anu]] ([[Mesopotamian religion|Akkadian religion]])|
[['Amm]] ([[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Qatabanian religion]])|[[Ashur (god)|Assur]] ([[Assyrian religion]])
[[Elkunirsa]] ([[Hittite mythology|Hittite religion]]) |
}}
| offspring = {{ubl|70 sons (Ugaritic religion)|77 or 88 sons (Hittite religion)}}
<!--| Greek_equivalent = [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]<ref name=Miller>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Patrick D. |title=El the Warrior |journal=The Harvard Theological Review |date=1967 |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=411–431 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000003886 |jstor=1509250|s2cid=162038758 }}</ref>-->
}}
{{Fertile Crescent myth (Levantine)}}{{Middle Eastern deities}}

'''Asherah''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|ʃ|ər|ə}};<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Asherah |encyclopedia=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |year=2022 |last= |first= |publisher=Columbia University Press |location= |id= |url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ashera |access-date=October 7, 2022 }}</ref> {{lang-he|אֲשֵׁרָה|translit=ʾĂšērā}}; {{lang-uga|𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚|translit=ʾAṯiratu}}; {{lang-akk|𒀀𒅆𒋥|translit=Aširat}};<ref>Day, John. "Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature." ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', vol. 105, no. 3, 1986, pp. 385–408. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/3260509. Accessed 5 Aug. 2021.</ref> [[Qatabanian language|Qatabanian]]: {{lang|xqt|𐩱𐩻𐩧𐩩}} ''{{transliteration|xqt|ʾṯrt}}'')<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dasi.cnr.it/index.php?id=53&prjId=1&corId=14&colId=0&navId=849581709|title=DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Word list occurrences|website=dasi.cnr.it|access-date=6 August 2021|archive-date=6 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806134253/http://dasi.cnr.it/index.php?id=53&prjId=1&corId=14&colId=0&navId=849581709|url-status=live}}</ref> is the great goddess in [[ancient Semitic religion]]. She also appears in [[Hittites|Hittite]] writings as ''Ašerdu(s)'' or ''Ašertu(s)'' ({{lang-hit|𒀀𒊺𒅕𒌈|translit=a-še-ir-tu<sub>4</sub>}}).<ref>'[https://libdigitalcollections.ku.edu.tr/digital/collection/GHC/id/13678 Asertu, tablet concordance KUB XXXVI 35 - CTH 342] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805164127/https://libdigitalcollections.ku.edu.tr/digital/collection/GHC/id/13678 |date=5 August 2021 }}', Hittite Collection, Hatice Gonnet-Bağana; [[Koç University]].</ref> Her name was ''Aṯeratum'' to the Amorites,<ref>{{cite book | last1=Lete | first1=Gregorio del Olmo | last2=Sanmartín | first2=Joaquín | title=A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition | publisher=Brill | publication-place=Leiden | volume=67 | date=2004 | isbn=90-04-13694-0 | page=128}}</ref><ref>aṯrt (II) DN; El's wife (cf il (I); Hb ʔšrh, HALOT 99; DNWSI 129; Amor. ʔaš(i)ra(tum) Gelb CAAA 14 is how it's transliterated in DULAT.</ref> and '''Athiratu''' in  [[Ugarit]]. Significantly, [[Yahweh]] and Asherah were a consort pair in ancient Israel and Judah.{{sfn|Binger|1997|p=108}}<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zw3fl |title=BBC Two - Bible's Buried Secrets, Did God Have a Wife? |publisher=BBC |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 }}</ref><ref name="Wesler">{{cite book|last1=Wesler|first1=Kit W.|title=An Archaeology of Religion|date=2012|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0761858454|page=193|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qSExw3tH1oC&q=Dever+2005+Asherah+yahweh&pg=PA193|access-date=3 September 2014|archive-date=10 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120013/https://books.google.com/books?id=0qSExw3tH1oC&q=Dever+2005+Asherah+yahweh&pg=PA193|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Mills|editor1-first=Watson|title=Mercer Dictionary of the Bible|date=31 Dec 1999|edition=Reprint|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0865543737|page=494|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Asherah+consort+yahweh&pg=PA494|access-date=5 November 2020|archive-date=10 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120004/https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Asherah+consort+yahweh&pg=PA494|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Name==

===Etymology===
Some have sought a common-noun meaning of her name, especially in Ugaritic appellation ''rabat athirat yam''. 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 title ''rabat athirat yam'' is only found in the [[Baal cycle]].

The common NW Semitic meaning of ''šr'' is "king, prince, ruler."<ref>Pardee, COS I, p 277, DAWN AND DUSK</ref> The NW Semitic<ref name="Anthonioz2014">{{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}}</ref> root ''ʾṯr'' (arabic {{script/Arabic|أثر}}) means "tread".

===Grammar===

The -ot ending "Asherot" is found three times in the Tanakh,<ref>Judg. 3.7, 2 Chron. 19.3 and  3.3</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

===Title===
Her titles often include ''qdš'' "holy", or elat, ba'alat, or rabat,{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=580}} all meaning ''Lady'' or ''goddess,'' ''qnyt ỉlm'', "creator of the gods."<ref>Auth cites [[Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit|KTU]] 1.3 I 23 "etc"</ref>{{sfn|Ahituv|2014|p=33}}

=== Goddess or symbol ===

The Asherah in question is sometimes called a mere cultic [[Asherah pole|object]],<ref name="KeUeh">{{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=}}</ref> but de Vaux says "both,"<ref name="Anthonioz2014"/> and 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"}}

[[File:Minoansnakepillargoddess.jpg|thumb|''A-sa-sa-ra,'' she's the only word deciphered of Linear A.<ref>Die kykladische Sonnengöttin hatte eine ägäische Schwester, die Schlangengöttin Altkretas. Von ihr ist sogar der Name überliefert, der nach seiner Schreibung in Linear A als ''A−sa−sa−ra'' zu lesen ist.</ref><ref name="Haarmann 2017 p. ">{{cite book | last=Haarmann | first=Harald | title=Das Rätsel der Donauzivilisation | publisher=Verlag C.H.Beck | publication-place=München | date=2017-06-08 | isbn=3-406-70963-X | language=de | page=}}</ref> DNA from the Southern Levant made it to Crete. The emigres influenced island [[Levantine pottery|cream ware]]. Maybe they influenced the Minoan taste for ambiguity.<ref>{{cite web | last=Manolakakis | first=Stellios | title=Metaphysis The Ambiguity of the Minoan Mind | website=Academia.edu | date=2016-06-22 | url=https://www.academia.edu/26405597/Metaphysis_The_Ambiguity_of_the_Minoan_Mind | access-date=2023-12-22}}</ref>]]

[[File:Françoise Foliot - Figurine d'Astarté.jpg|thumb|Flat lighting and ''en face'' presentation can lessen the visual effect of the [[Judean pillar figure]]'s directly protruding breasts]]

== Interpretation ==

Beside the obvious connections between goddesses who sometimes can't be distinguished, 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 [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 3:20{{sfn|Kien|2000|p=165}} through the identification with the [[Hurrian]] mother [[Hannahannah|goddess]], [[Hebat]].<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> Olyan says Eve (hawwa) is an attested epithet of Tannit/Asherah in the first millennium BCE.{{sfn|Olyan|1988|p=71}}<ref>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.</ref> Hebrew chwwh is related to Aramaic chwyh and Phoenician chwt "snake".<ref>{{cite web | title=The Tree of Life, Asherah, and Her Snakes | website=Jehovah's Witness Discussion Forum | date=2004-06-10 | url=https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/73244/tree-life-asherah-her-snakes | access-date=2023-12-16}}</ref> A more Phoenician pronunciation Ḥawwat is Eve in the [[Punic Tabella Defixionis|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Another such aspect is seen in the feminine (grammatically or otherwise) treatment of the [[Holy Spirit]] or [[Sophia (wisdom)|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"}} Goddess "aspect creep" can even lap upon male figures like Jacob<ref>{{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}}</ref> or Jesus.<ref name="Rainbow (2007)">{{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 }}</ref>

== Iconography ==
{{Research paper|section|date=November 2023}}
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.{{sfn|Taylor|1995|pp=29–54}}

===Small figures===
{{Main|Judean pillar figure|Revadim Asherah}}

=== Symbolism ===

==== Cakes ====
The cakes baked for the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah are called Kawwanim.<ref>Jerm 7 18; 44 19</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel |last=Day |first=Peggy Lynne |publisher=Fortress Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-1-4514-1576-6 |page=115}}</ref> Ugaritic and Hebrew ''dblt'' means a similar fig and sometimes raisin cake.<ref>DULAT, p 263</ref> 

==== Snakes ====

Snakes are associated with transformation, completeness, immortality, ocracles,{{sfn|Stuckey|2002|p=35}} as well as water, the abyss, "bitter" poison, and healing. Mentions go together in places including Ugarit<ref>{{cite journal | last=KOITABASHI | first=Matahisa | title=Ashtart in the Mythological and Ritual Texts of Ugarit | journal=Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan | publisher=The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan | volume=55 | issue=2 | year=2013 | issn=0030-5219 | doi=10.5356/jorient.55.2_53 | pages=53–62}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=KTU 1.82: Another Miscellaneous Incantation/Anti-Witchcraft Text against Snakebite in Ugaritic |journal=Aula orientalis: revista de estudios del Próximo Oriente Antiguo |url=https://www.academia.edu/4582116 |last=Lete |first=Gregorio Del Olmo |issue=2 |volume=29 |pages=245–265 |year=2011 |issn=0212-5730}}</ref> and [[Papyrus Amherst 63]].<ref>Col XVI</ref>

See also "Sinai" below.

==== Yoni ====

[[File:Hyksosgoldwork ag vi v.png|thumb|''Several of these pendants{{efn|Figs 5a-b}} employ a metonymic representation in which limited parts of the goddess (ie head, breasts, and pubic triangle stand for the whole.''<ref>{{harvp|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=583}}: Shai fig 5a.</ref>]]

Vaginal symbols are often used in goddess art.<ref>It is interesting that the Hathor coiffe resembles the Ω symbol, it symbolized the womb.</ref>{{sfn|Stuckey|2002|p=56}} The ubiquitous pubic triangle indicates Asherah and depicts hair. 
Pubic hair is often indicated by concentrations of dots or dashes.{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=585}} 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."<ref name="KeUeh" />{{rp|26}}{{sfn|Stuckey|2002|p=56}} But the womb could be a ''nutrix'' symbol, as animals are often shown feeding directly if a bit abstractly from a pubic triangle.{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=584}}

==== 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{{sfn|Olyan|1988|p=}}{{page needed|date=December 2023}}.

==== Oak ====
Trees inconsistently translated as oak, terebinth, poplar contain the [[divine name]] El (elah, elim, elon, allah) and are sometimes utterly homophonous with 'Elat.<ref>{{JewishEncyclopedia|title=OAK AND TEREBINTH |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11638-oak-and-terebinth}}</ref> There is a plausible etymological relationship between ʾElat and אלה terebinth.{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=581}}<ref>Shai refers to {{harvp|Albright|1968|p=189}}.</ref>

====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.<ref>EncJud II col 666</ref> 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 {{Smallcaps|ama.gal}}. In Hebrew it would have been ’em g<sup>e</sup>dola."{{sfn|Taylor|1995|pp=47}} The almond may have its fertile association from its early blooming, which also gave it its other Hebrew name shaqed or vigilant/watcher. (A note on the word is here.<ref name="Balashon 2009 j889">{{cite web | title=shaked | website=Balashon | date=2009-02-08 | url=https://www.balashon.com/2009/02/shaked.html | access-date=2023-11-29}}</ref>) The name "luz" means both almond and [[Bethel|Betyl]].

====Other Trees====
Some sacred trees may have been left to archaeology.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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

The imagery of Asherah poles also inspired the design of the [[Temple menorah|menorah]] and the [[Burning bush|burning bush narrative]], as described in the Book of Exodus.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel |last=Sommer |first=Benjamin D. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1107422261 |pages=44–49}}</ref>

====Pottery====
[[File:הכד_מלכיש_-_ציור_ההקדשה_לאלת.jpg|thumb|''"The dedicatory inscription on the [[Lachish ewer]] [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}}'']]
{{Main articles|Lachish ewer}}
<blockquote>As further proof, Hestrin noted<ref>{{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 }}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Taylor|1995|p=30}}</blockquote>

====Mistress of animals====
[[File:עשתרת על כס כרובים מקפריסין – Astarte on cherubs throne from Cyprus – הכרוב הימני 3.jpg|thumb|The master of animals motif can include chimeric beasts, in this case - a "[[Thrones of Astarte|Throne of Astarte]]" fron Cyprus]]

{{also|Master of animals|Potnia Theron}}

The Master of animals and mistress of lions motifs 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}} and the tree. Lionesses figure prominently in Asherah's iconography, including the tenth-century BC [[Ta'anakh cult stand|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}}

The symbols around Asherah are so many (8+ pointed star, [[goat|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."{{clarify|date=December 2023}}{{sfn|Cornelius|2004|page=28–29}}<ref>Aschera & der Ausschliesslichkeitsanspruch YHWH's, Frevel, 1995.</ref>

==By region==

===Sumer===
A limestone slab for [[Hammurabi|Hammu-rapi]] was dedicatted to the goddess Ashratum, wife of Mardu/Amurrum in Sippar. He complements her mountain connection as lord of the mountain or ''bel [[El Shaddai|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.<ref>''Context of Scripture'' II 2.107D, pg = II:257 (No author named; only ref: Sollberger and Kupper 1971: 219; Frayne 1990: 359-360).</ref> Necessity alone corroborates that this was a different goddess from the more familiar versions as [[Sumer]]ian hegemony was quite early.

===Akkad===
In [[Akkadian literature|Akkadian texts]], Asherah appears as ''Aširatu''; though her exact role in the pantheon is unclear; as a separate goddess, ''[[Antu (goddess)|Antu]]'', was considered the wife of [[Anu]], the [[Sky father|god of Heaven]]. In contrast, [[Astarte|ʿAshtart]] is believed to be linked to the Mesopotamian goddess [[Ishtar]] who is sometimes portrayed as the daughter of Anu.<ref name="Hess">{{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}}</ref>

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

{| class="wikitable"
| * EA 60 ii || um-ma ''<sup>I</sup>''ÌR-<sup>d</sup>'''aš-ra-tum''' 
|- 
| * EA 61 ii || [um-]ma  ''<sup>I</sup>''ÌR-'''a-ši-ir-te''' ÌR-[-ka<sub>4</sub>
|}

Each is on line ii within the letter's opening or greeting sentiment. Some may transcribe ''Aširatu'' or ''Ašratu''.<ref name="Hess" />

===Ugarit===
In [[Ugaritic texts]], Asherah appears as ʾṯrt<ref>DULAT I p 128</ref> ([[Ugaritic language|Ugaritic]]: 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚), anglicised ''ʾAṯirat'' or Athirat. She is called ''ʾElat'',{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎛𐎍𐎚, ''ʾilt''}} "goddess", the feminine form of ''ʾEl'' (compare ''[[Allat|Allāt]]''); she is also called ''[[Qetesh|Qodeš]]'', "holiness",.{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎖𐎄𐎌, ''qdš''}} There is reference to a ''šr. ‘ṯtrt.''<ref>the administrative text (KTU2 4.168: 4) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jorient/55/2/55_53/_article/-char/en</ref> Gibson says sources from before 1200 BC almost always credit Athirat with her full title ''rbt ʾṯrt ym'' (or ''rbt ʾṯrt'').<ref name="Gibson-1978">{{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.}}</ref>{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎗𐎁𐎚 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚 𐎊𐎎, ''rbt ʾṯrt ym''}} However, Rahmouni's indexing of Ugaritic epithets states the phrase occurs  in only the [[Baal Cycle|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)|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 [[Chaos (cosmogony)|Chaoskampf]] in which neither she nor Yam is otherwise implicated. One scholar 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-''),<ref>{{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}}</ref> from which derives ({{lang-he|יוֹם}}), meaning "day", appears in several instances in the Masoretic Texts with the second-root letter (''-[[waw (letter)|w]]-'') having been dropped, and in a select few cases, replaced with an [[Mid vowel|A-class vowel]] of the [[Niqqud]],<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|6:5|WLC}}, {{Bibleverse||Job|7:6|WLC}}</ref> 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'' ({{lang-he|יָמִים}}), gives credence to this alternate translation.

ṯr is Ugaritic for bull.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ishtar / Astarte / Aphrodite : Transformation of a Goddess |last=Smith |first=Mark S. |publisher=Academic Press |date=2014 |isbn=978-3-525-54388-7 |location=Fribourg |page=46 |editor-last=Sugimoto |editor-first=David T. |series=Orbis biblicus et orientalis |volume=263 |chapter=Athtart in Late Bronze Age Syrian Texts |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/12709064}}</ref> Another primary epithet of Athirat was ''qnyt ʾilm'',{{efn|Ugaritic 𐎖𐎐𐎊𐎚 𐎛𐎍𐎎, ''qnyt ʾlm''}}<ref>see ''KTU'' 1.4 I 23.</ref> which may be translated as "the creator of the [[deities]]".<ref name="Gibson-1978" /> In those texts, Athirat is the consort of the god [[El (deity)|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 ''Ašerdu(s)'' or ''Ašertu(s)'', the consort of [[Elkunirsa]] ("El, the Creator of [[Earth]]") and mother of either 77 or 88 sons.

===In Israel and Judah===
{{Main|Ancient Semitic religion|Canaanite pantheon}}

The conception of Asherah as the partner of [[Yahweh]] has stirred a lot of debate.{{sfn|Sass|2014|pp=47–66}}<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> Many scholars have written at length about the possibility, and the majority conclude that Yahweh and Asherah were indeed a consort pair among the ancient Israelites.{{sfn|Binger|1997|p=108}}<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zw3fl |title=BBC Two - Bible's Buried Secrets, Did God Have a Wife? |publisher=BBC |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 }}</ref><ref name="Wesler">{{cite book|last1=Wesler|first1=Kit W.|title=An Archaeology of Religion|date=2012|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0761858454|page=193|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qSExw3tH1oC&q=Dever+2005+Asherah+yahweh&pg=PA193|access-date=3 September 2014|archive-date=10 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120013/https://books.google.com/books?id=0qSExw3tH1oC&q=Dever+2005+Asherah+yahweh&pg=PA193|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Mills|editor1-first=Watson|title=Mercer Dictionary of the Bible|date=31 Dec 1999|edition=Reprint|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=978-0865543737|page=494|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Asherah+consort+yahweh&pg=PA494|access-date=5 November 2020|archive-date=10 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110120004/https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Asherah+consort+yahweh&pg=PA494|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:כתובת אריהו מפורשת.jpg|thumb|[[Khirbet el-Qom]]'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|thumb|Another alluring symbol of the Goddess is the suckling bovine<ref>see KEEL and UEHLINGER 1998: 40, fig. 31a, and lately ORNAN 2005: 160–163 bibliography.</ref> This image is a logogram in the Egyptian hieroglyphic script with the reading Ams, “to show solicitude,” 𓃕.<ref name="Goldwasser 2014 j895">{{cite web | last=Goldwasser | first=Orly | title=Goldwasser, O. 2006. “Canaanites Reading Hieroglyphs. Part I – Horus is Hathor? Part II – The Invention of the Alphabet in Sinai.” Ägypten und Levante 16: 121-160. | website=Academia.edu | date=2014-03-18 | url=https://www.academia.edu/6465779 | access-date=2024-01-30}}</ref>]] 

Prime evidence for worship includes an iconography and inscriptions at two locations in use in the 8-9th century. The first was in a cave at [[Khirbet el-Qom]].{{sfn|Stuckey|2002}}

The second was at Kuntillet Ajrud.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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 |isbn=978-90-6032-288-8 |s2cid=211507289 }}</ref> 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."<ref name="Bonanno1986">{{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}}</ref>

{{Main|Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions|}}

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.<ref>
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&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=licking%20her%20sucking&f=false 
</ref>{{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; they can be seen in the Louvre.

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<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bowen |first1=Nancy |title=The Quest for the Historical Gĕbîrâ |journal=Catholic Biblical Quarterly |date=2001 |volume=64 |pages=597–618}}</ref> that there is a relationship between the position of the ''[[Gebirah|gəḇīrā]]'' in the royal court and the worship (orthodox or not) of Asherah.<ref>[[Books of Kings|1 Kings]] {{Bibleverse-nb||1 Kings|15:13|NRSVUE}}; {{Bibleverse-nb||1 Kings|18:19|NRSVUE}}, {{Bibleverse||2 Kings|10:13|NRSVUE}}</ref> 
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. As for [[Ritual sex|sexual and fertility rites]], it is likely that once they were held in honor in Israel, as they were throughout the ancient world. 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 "[[Sacred prostitution|temple prostitutes]]" or "shrine prostitutes", literally means "priestesses" or "consecrated women" from qds meaning "holy".<ref>{{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}}</ref> However, there is a growing scholarly consensus that sacred prostitution never existed, and that sex acts within the temple were strictly limited to yearly sacred fertility rites aimed at assuring an abundant harvest.{{sfn|Coogan|2010|p=133}}

===In the canon===

[[File:Asherahfetishofhappiness.png|alt=Instead of "Asherah" it incorrectly reads fetish-of-happiness|thumb|References were long obfuscated]]

[[File:Nhlsqdm.png|thumb|1900, grove at brook Kedron, Jerusalem, Gertrude Bell<ref name="Gertrude Bell Archive 1900 m145">{{cite web | title=Photograph taken by Gertrude Bell in Israel, January 1900 | website=Gertrude Bell Archive | date=1900-01-01 | url=https://gertrudebell.ncl.ac.uk/p/gb-3-1-1-1-169 | access-date=2024-01-18}}</ref>]]

There are references to the worship of [[Polytheism|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).<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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 {{lang-el|{{lang|grc|ἄλσος}} }} ([[Grove (nature)|grove]]; plural: ἄλση) in every instance apart from Isaiah 17:8; 27:9 and 2 Chronicles 15:16; 24:18, with {{lang-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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 [[Vitis|grapevines]], [[pomegranate]]s, [[walnut]]s, [[Myrtus|myrtles]], and [[willow]]s.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Eventually, monotheistic leaders and the culture would begin failing to distinguish a precious or suspicious tree from an Asherah.

Asherah was patronized by female royals such as the [[Gebirah|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.

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

William Dever's [[Did God Have a Wife?|book]] discusses [[Judean pillar figure|female pillar figurines]], the [[Queen of heaven (antiquity)|queen of heaven]] name, and the cakes. Dever also points to the temple at [[Tel Arad]], the famous archaeological site with cannabanoids 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}}

===In Egyptian sources===
{{see|Hathor|Bat (goddess)}}
[[File:Pillarhathor.png|thumb|This dimensionally creative Hathor depiction shows her coiffure with such symbolic sureness, it could be sticky with hairspray. Such "Hathor locks" abound in Goddess representations, their curved form easily becoming snakes or sometimes horns.]]

[[File:Maler der Grabkammer des Thutmosis III. 001.jpg|thumb|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.]]

[[File:Twopoles.png|thumb|"The prominence of a definite pole here suggests that these are copies of some great mask of Hathor upon a pole, which was set up at the festivals."<ref name="Internet Archive 2023 j274">{{cite web | title=Researches in Sinai : Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), Sir, 1853-1942 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive | website=Internet Archive | date=2023-03-25 | url=https://archive.org/details/researchesinsina00petruoft/page/n349/mode/2up?view=theater | access-date=2024-01-31}}</ref>]]

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 [[Second Intermediate Period|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.<ref>{{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 ...}}</ref> His hesitance didn't dissuade additionally subsequent scholars from equating Asherah and Egyptian ''qds''.{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=580}}

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 teat coming from a tree.<ref>Due Uralte Sykomore & andere Erscheinung der Hathor. MOFTAH, RAMSES. Zeitschrift fuer Aegyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde #1-2. Fig 6 / Abb 6. Pg 45</ref>
(This is Goldwasser's goddess category IVa.){{sfn|Keel|1998|p=37}} In Revadim ([[Revadim Asherah]]) or Ugarit, in contrast, a small tree branch is seen on the [[Revadim Asherah|thigh]] or belly. (This is Shai's "pubis of life."{{sfn|Locatell|McKinny|Shai|2022|p=586}}) In each, the alternate aspect is subsumed emblematically.{{sfn|Keel|1998|p=47}}

A certain (PNs) Ashera and a Haya-Wr (Eve-Light) are mentioned in the [[Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446|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''.{{sfn|Albright|1969|p=14}} Goldwasser says Asherah and Hat·hor were identified rather than distinguished here, however.{{sfn|Goldwasser|2006|p=122}}

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

One of the [[Tayma stones|Tema stones]] (CIS II 113) discovered by Charles Huber in 1883 in the ancient [[oasis]] of [[Tayma|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 language|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. This ''ʾAšîrāʾ'' may be Asherah. 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 language|Proto-Semitic]] ''*ʾṯrt''.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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).<ref>(the Arabic root {{script/Arabic|يم}} ''yamm'' also means "sea")</ref>"<ref>[[Lucy Goodison]] and [[Christine E. Morris]], ''Ancient Goddesses: Myths and Evidence'' (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 79.</ref>

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

== See also ==
===Deities===

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|

* [[Al-Lat]]
* [[Ašratum]]
* [[Ashtar-Chemosh]]
* [[ʿAṯtar]]
* [[Hathor]]
* [[Inanna]] (Ishtar)
* [[Ishara]]
* [[Qetesh]] (Qudshu)
* [[Queen of Heaven (antiquity)]]

===Other===

* [[Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions|Kuntillet ʿAjrud]] - inscriptions
* [[Nehushtan]]
* [[Revadim Asherah]] - Bronze age figures 
* [[Judean pillar figure]] - Iron age figures
* [[Semitic neopaganism]]
* [[Shekhinah#Kabbalah|Shekhinah]]
* [[Tel Arad]]
* [[Asherah pole]]
* [[Ashteroth Karnaim]]

}}
{{Portalbar|Mythology|Asia}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book |title="See, I will bring a scroll recounting what befell me" (Ps 40:8): Epigraphy and Daily Life from the Bible to the Talmud |last=Ahituv |first=Shmuel |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2014 |isbn=978-3-647-55062-6 |pages=29–38 |editor-last=Eshel |editor-first=Esther |chapter=Notes on the Kuntillet 'Ajrud Inscriptions |editor-last2=Levin |editor-first2=Yigal |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLbkEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA29}}
* {{citation |last=Ahlström |first=Gösta W.|publisher=C.W.K. Gleerup |year=1963 |title=Aspects of Syncretism in Israelite Religion |editor-last=Engnell |editor-first=Ivan |series=Horae Soederblominae 5 |location=Lund, SE |pages=68 |translator-last=Sharpe |translator-first=Eric J. |editor-last2=Furumark |editor-first2=Arne |editor-last3=Nordström |editor-first3=Carl-Otto}}
* {{citation |last=Albright |first=W. F. |date=1968 |title=Yahweh and the gods of Canaan: a historical analysis of two contrasting faiths |publisher=University of London, Athlone Press |location=London |isbn=9780931464010 |pages=105–106}}
* {{cite book | last=Albright | first=William Foxwell | title=The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and Their Decipherment | date=1969 | isbn=0-608-18593-0}}
* {{citation |last=Barker |first=Margaret |year=2012 |title=The Mother of the Lord Volume 1: The Lady in the Temple |publisher=T & T Clark |isbn=9780567528155}}
* {{cite book |last=Amzallag |first=Nissim |title=Yahweh and the Origins of Ancient Israel |year=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-31476-3 |publication-place=New York | url=https://www.academia.edu/102517534 | access-date=2023-12-10}}
* {{cite journal | last=Beaulieu | first=Stéphane | title=Eve's Ritual: the Judahite Sacred Marriage Rite | journal=Concordia University | date=2007-01-01 | url=https://www.academia.edu/32203467 | access-date=2023-12-09}}
* {{citation |last=Binger |first=Tilde |date=1997 |title=Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament |publisher=Sheffield Academic Press |location=Sheffield |isbn=9780567119766 |pages=42–93 |edition=1st}}
* {{cite journal | last=Cornelius | first=Sakkie | journal=Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 30/1 | year=2004 | pages=21–39 | title=A Preliminary Typology for the Female Plaque Figurines and Their Value for the Religion of Ancient Palestine and Jordan | url=http://www.coroplastic-studies.org/images/cornelius.pdf | access-date=2023-10-19}}
* {{citation |last=Dever |first=William G. |year=2005 |title=Did God Have A Wife?: Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=9780802828521 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGR7-OSz7bUC }}
* {{cite journal |last=Emerton |first=J. A. |year=1982 |title=New Light on Israelite Religion: The Implications of the Inscriptions from Kuntillet ʿAjrud |journal=Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |volume=94 |pages=2–20 | doi=10.1515/zatw.1982.94.1.2|s2cid=170614720 }}
* {{citation |last=Hadley |first=Judith M. |year=2000 |title=The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: The Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=University of Cambridge Oriental publications, 57 |isbn=9780521662352 |url=http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1161635/}}
* {{cite book | last=Keel | first=Othmar | title=Goddesses and Trees, New Moon and Yahweh | publisher=Burns & Oates | publication-place=Sheffield | date=1998 | isbn=978-1-85075-915-7}}
* {{citation |last=Kien |first=Jenny |year=2000 |title=Reinstating the Divine Woman in Judaism |publisher=Universal Publishers |isbn=9781581127638 |oclc=45500083 }}
* {{cite journal | last=Locatell | first=Christian | last2=McKinny | first2=Chris | last3=Shai | first3=Itzhaq | title=Tree of Life Motif, Late Bronze Canaanite Cult, and a Recently Discovered Krater from Tel Burna | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=142 | issue=3 | date=2022-09-30 | issn=2169-2289 | doi=10.7817/jaos.142.3.2022.ar024}}
* {{citation |last=Long |first=Asphodel P. |year=1993 |title=In a Chariot Drawn by Lions: The Search for the Female in Deity |publisher=Crossing Press |isbn=9780895945754}}.
* {{citation |last=Margalit |first=Baruch |title=Some Observations On the Inscription and Drawing From Khirbet El-Qôm |journal=Vetus Testamentum |volume=XXXIX |issue=3 |year=1989 |pages=371–378 |doi=10.1163/156853389X00534 |issn=0042-4935 }}
* {{citation |last=Myer |first=Allen C. |year=2000 |chapter=Asherah |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Olyan |first=Saul M. |title=Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel |date=1988 |publisher=Atlanta, Ga. : Scholars Press |isbn=978-1-55540-253-2 |publication-place=Atlanta, Georgia}}
* {{cite journal |last=Park |first=Sung Jin |year=2010 |title=Short Notes on the Etymology of Asherah |url=https://www.academia.edu/1404167 |journal=Ugarit Forschungen |volume=42 |pages=527–534}}
* {{cite journal |last=Park |first=Sung Jin |year=2011 |title=The Cultic Identity of Asherah in Deuteronomistic Ideology of Israel |url=https://www.academia.edu/1404155 |journal=Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |volume=123 |issue=4 |pages=553–564|doi=10.1515/zaw.2011.036 |issn=0044-2526 |s2cid=170589596 }}
* {{citation |last=Patai |first=Raphael |year=1990 |title=The Hebrew Goddess |publisher=Wayne State University Press |series=Jewish folklore and anthropology |isbn=9780814322710 |oclc=20692501}}.
* {{citation |last=Rahmouni |first=Aicha |year=2008 |title=Divine Epithets in the Ugaritic Alphabetic Texts |url=https://archive.org/details/divineepithetsug00ford|url-access=limited |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, NE |translator-last=Ford |translator-first=J. N. |isbn=9789004157699}}
* {{citation |last=Reed |first=William Laforest |year=1949 |title=The Asherah in the Old Testament |publisher=Texas Christian University Press |oclc=491761457}}.
* {{cite journal |title=On Epigraphic Hebrew ʾŠR and *ʾŠRH, and on Biblical Asherah |journal=Transeuphratène |url=https://www.academia.edu/9823742 |last=Sass |first=Benjamin |volume=46 |pages=47–66 (with Pls. 4–5 on 189–190) |year=2014 |series=J. Elayi – J.-M. Durand (eds.). ''Bible et Proche-Orient. Mélanges André Lemaire''. 3 vol. (Transeuphratène 44-46; Pendé: Gabalda, 2014) |issn=0996-5904}}
* {{cite journal | last=Stuckey | first=Johanna H. | title=The Great Goddesses of the Levant | journal=Journal for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities | date=2002-01-01 | url=https://www.academia.edu/39990401 | access-date=2023-12-11}}
* {{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}}
* {{citation |last=Wiggins|first=Steve A. |year=2007 |title=A Reassessment of Asherah: With Further Considerations of the Goddess |publisher=Gorgias Press |editor-last=Wyatt |editor-first=N.|series=Gorgias Ugaritic Studies 2|edition=2nd |location=New Jersey}}
* {{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}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Asherah}}

===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"]

===Kuntillet ʿAjrud inscriptions===
*[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.)

===Israelite===
* [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:Asherah| ]]
[[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:South Arabia]]
[[Category:Arabian goddesses]]
[[Category:Queens of Heaven (antiquity)]]
[[Category:Ugaritic deities]]
[[Category:Lion goddesses]]
{{Навигационная таблица/Портал/Английская Википедия}}
[[Категория:Английская Википедия]]
[[Категория:Википедия]]
[[Категория:Статья из Википедии]]
[[Категория:Статья из Английской Википедии]]