Thrones of Astarte

Short description: Phoenician votive thrones

Template:CSS crop Template:Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions sidebar The Thrones of Astarte are approximately a dozen ex-voto "cherubim" thrones found in ancient Phoenician temples in Lebanon, in particular in areas around Sidon, Tyre and Umm al-Amad.[1] Many of the thrones are similarly styled, flanked by cherubim-headed winged lions on either side.[2] Images of the thrones are found in Phoenician sites around the Mediterranean, including an ivory plaque from Tel Megiddo (Israel), a relief from Hadrumetum (Tunisia) and a scarab from Tharros (Italy).[2]

Two of the thrones bear inscriptions – one published by Ronzevalle in 1907, and a second published by Lemaire in 2014.

## Contents

* 1 List of Thrones
* 2 Gallery
* 3 References
* 4 Bibliography
* 5 External links

## List of Thrones

Image | Period | Location found | Current location | Inscription | Description | First published

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| Hellenistic | Byblos | National Museum of Beirut | none | On the front, two figures pouring a libation into a flower. On the seat, rectangular anathyrosis for placing an object.[3] | Dunand[4]
| Hellenistic | Sidon | National Museum of Beirut | none | On the front, a Phoenician palmette. On the seat, a large rectangular mortise used to fix an object. Backrest without decoration.[3] | 1941 Dunand[5]
| Roman | Sidon | National Museum of Beirut | Greek inscription | Seat very tilted, unable to hold an object. The back shows a globe inside a crescent.[3] | 1924[6]
|  | Sidon | Louvre | none | Naiskos in which is a throne with two sphinxes. Above the seat, U-shaped cavity, intended to receive an object rounded at the bottom: perhaps a round baetyl and its crowns. On the side faces, officiating priests.[3] | 1933[7]
|  | Sidon | Istanbul Archaeology Museums | none | Naiskos analogous to the previous one. At the back is a small cavity, intended to hold an object. On the sides, winged goddesses of Egyptian style.[3] | [8]
| 2nd century BCE | Khirbet et-Tayibeh, near Ras al-Ain near Tyre | Louvre | Phoenician dedication to Astarte, known as KAI 17 | On the throne, two stelae with reliefs, depicting two standing officiants.[3] | 1907 Ronzevalle[9][10][11]
| Hellenistic | Ain Baal near Tyre | National Museum of Beirut | none | Seat contains a stele or baetyl[3] |
| Hellenistic | Region of Tyre | National Museum of Beirut | none | Seat contains a stele or baetyl[3] |
| 4th century BCE | Umm al-Amad | Louvre | none | On the front, a Phoenician palmette[3] | 1860, Renan[12]
|  | Umm al-Amad | National Museum of Beirut | none | The front is broken. Horizontal seat, rounded front. Backrest without decoration. Large throne which could fit a person.[3] | Dunand
|  | Temple of Eshmun | Temple of Eshmun | none |  | Dunand
|  | Temple of Eshmun | National Museum of Beirut | none |  | Dunand
| Hellenistic | Unknown | National Museum of Beirut | none |  |

## Gallery

* A similar throne depicted on the Ahiram sarcophagus[13]

* KAI 17 (photo)

* KAI 17 (copy)

* Ivory plaque with Throne of Astarte

* Punic statue from Tunisia (Sanctuaire de Thinissut)

* Scarab with Throne of Astarte

## References

1. ↑ Milik, 1967
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Davila and Zuckerman (1993), p.77: "Compare the votive throne discovered at Umm el-'Amed (Dunand and Duru 1962: 168 pl. 67). The lower part of the throne is badly damaged, but the heads are preserved. The heads are human, and each bears a head-dress or coiffure that reaches down to the shoulders. They also have stylized beards. On our throne, what remains of the headdresses/coiffures and beards of the cherubs stylistically parallels those of the Umm el-'Amed cherubs. In fact, it seems quite probable that they stem from the same artistic and iconographic milieu. We may further note the cherub thrones depicted on a Late Bronze/ Iron I ivory from Megiddo, the sarcophagus of Ahiram (cf. Pritchard 1969: figs. 332, 456-59, respectively), a relief from Hadrumetum/Sousse (Cintas 1947: pls. 48-49), and a scarab from Sardinia (Bisi 1967: fig. 57). In each of those exemplars the cherubs have a feline body with wings, a tail, and styled hair, but no beard."
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Henri Seyrig's original list of 10 known thrones in 1959: Seyrig, 1959, page 51-52
4. ↑ M. Dunand, Excavations of Byblos, II, p. 79, no.7225, p. 152
5. ↑ Dunand, Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth, V, 1941, p. 93, where the origin is given as unknown.
6. ↑ Ch. Virolleaud, Syria, V, 1924, p. 119, pi. 32, where the origin is given as unknown. The throne had been received in Sidon by L. Brossé: cf. Noel Aimé-Giron, Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, XXV, 1925, p. 206
7. ↑ Noel Aimé-Giron, Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, XXXIV, 1933, pp. 31-; R. Dussaud, Syria, XIV, 1933, pp. 335-
8. ↑ G. Mendel, Catal. of sculpt. (Museums imper. Ottom.), I, n ° 92 (attribution in the 5th century); Noel Aimé-Giron, Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, XXV, 1924, pp. 191-; cf. R. Dussaud, Syria, VI, 1925, pp. 95-
9. ↑ Sébastien Ronzevalle, Note sur un monument phénicien de la région de Tyr; In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 51e année, N. 10, 1907. pp. 589-598; DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.1907.71970
10. ↑ Ronzevalle, 1909, p.755-
11. ↑ Clermont-Ganneau, in Repert. epigr. sémit., n ° 800.
12. ↑ E. Renan, Mission de Phénicie (1865–1874), p.707 and plate LIII: "Le petit fauteuil représenté planche LIII est une restitution en partie hypothétique de l'ensemble formé par deux fragments que nous avons rapportés (au Louvre, Catal. n° 75 et 76). Le globe ailé, les bras en forme d'aile, les sculptures fines, quoique très-frustes, du devant sont certains. Les figures des angles sont très-difficiles à agencer." [translated: "The small armchair shown on Plate LIII is a partly hypothetical restitution of the whole formed by two fragments that we have brought back (to the Louvre, Catal. N ° 75 and 76). The winged globe, the wing-shaped arms, the fine, though very rough, carvings on the front are certain. The angle figures are very difficult to arrange."
13. ↑ Noël Aimé-Giron, Un ex-voto à Astarté, BIFAO 25 (1925), p. 191-211

## Bibliography

* Sébastien Ronzevalle, Le "Trône d'Astarté", Mélanges de la Faculté Orientale (Beirut) 3 (1909), 755–83, pls 9–10;
* Sébastien Ronzevalle, 'Note sur un monument phénicien de la région de Tyr', CRAI (1907), 589–98
* James R. Davila and Bruce Zuckerman (1993). The Throne of ʿAshtart Inscription. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, (289), 67–80. doi:10.2307/1357365
* Józef Milik (1967). Les papyrus araméens d'Hermoupolis et les cultes syro-phéniciens en Égypte perse. Biblica, 48(4), 546–622. Retrieved July 28, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/42618436
* Henri Seyrig. Antiquités syriennes. In: Syria. Tome 36 fascicule 1–2, 1959. pp. 38–89; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/syria.1959.5447 https://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1959_num_36_1_5447
* Edward Lipiński, Rereading the Inscriptions of the 'Throne of Astarte' and the Sidonian Obelisk, Journal of Semitic Studies, Volume 61, Issue 2, Autumn 2016, Pages 319–325, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgw011
* Andre Lemaire, 'Tróne a Keroubs avec inscription phénicienne', in A. Lemaire (ed.), Phéniciens d'Orient et d'Occident: Mélanges Josette Elayi, Cahiers de Institut du Proche-Orient Ancien du Collége de France, 2 (Paris, Maisonneuve, 2014), pp. 127-45.

## External links

* Lion-Throned Goddesses of West Asia
* Classical Art Research Center: 20. Seated goddess

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