Asherah

Ancient Semitic goddess

Asherah

Lady Asherah (of the) Sea or Day[1]

Other names| Athirat
Major cult center| Levant
Symbol| Tree
Consort|

* El (Ugaritic religion)
* Amurru (Amorite religion)
* Elkunirsa (Hittite religion)
* Yahweh? (Israelite religion)
* Wadd? (Qatabanian religion)
* 'Amm? (Qatabanian religion)

Offspring|

* 70 sons (Ugaritic religion)
* 77 or 88 sons (Hittite religion)

Part of a series on Ancient Semitic religion

Levantine mythology
Deities

* Adonis
* Anat
* Arsay
* Asherah
* Astarte
* Atargatis
* ʿAṯtar
* Azizos
* Baʿalat Gebal
* Baʿal
* Baʿal Berith
* Baʿal Ḥammon
* Baʿal Marqod
* Baʿal Ṣapon
* Baʿalshamem
* Chemosh
* Dagan
* El
* Eshmun
* Haddu
* Kotharat
* Kothar-wa-Khasis
* Melqart
* Milcom
* Misor
* Mot
* Nikkal
* Qedesh
* Qos
* Resheph
* Sakkun
* Shadrafa
* Shahar
* Shalim
* Shapshu
* Sydyk
* Tanit
* Yam
* Yahweh
* Yarikh

* Religions of the ancient Near East
* Canaan
* Mesopotamia
* Arabia

* v
* t
* e

Deities of the ancient Near East

Ancient Egyptian

* Amun
* Anubis
* Apis
* Atum
* Buchis
* Geb
* Horus
* Isis
* Montu
* Nephthys
* Nut
* Osiris
* Ptah
* Qetesh
* Ra
* Set
* Shu
* Tefnut
* Thoth

Arabian

* Allah
* Aglibol
* Abgal
* al-Lat
* al-Qaum
* al-‘Uzzá
* Atarsamain
* ʿAṯtar
* Baalshamin
* Bēl
* Dhul Khalasa
* Dushara
* Gad
* Hubal
* Malakbel
* Manaf
* Manāt
* Nasr
* Nuha
* Orotalt
* Ruda
* Suwa'
* Theandrios
* Wadd
* Ya'uq
* Yaghūth
* Yarhibol
* Yatha

Eblaite

* Adamma
* Aštabil
* Dagan
* Hadabal
* Hadad
* Ḫalabatu
* Išḫara
* Kura
* Ninkarrak
* Saggar
* Shalash

Elamite

* Humban
* Inshushinak
* Ishmekarab
* Jabru
* Kiririsha
* Lagamar
* Manzat
* Nahhunte
* Narundi
* Napir
* Napirisha
* Pinikir
* Ruhurater
* Simut

Hurrian and Hittite

* Allani
* Aštabi
* Hayya
* Ḫepat
* Hutena and Hutellura
* Išḫara
* Kubaba
* Kumarbi
* Kušuḫ
* Lelluri
* Mitanni dynastic deities (Indra, Mitra, Varuna)
* Nabarbi
* Ninatta and Kulitta
* Nupatik
* Pirengir
* Shalash
* Šarruma
* Šauška
* Šimige
* Šuwala
* Takitu
* Tašmišu
* Teshub
* Tilla

Levantine
(Canaanite and Ugaritic)

* Adonis
* Anat
* Arsay
* Asherah
* Ashima
* Astarte
* Atargatis
* ʿAṯtar
* Azizos
* Baʿal
* Baʿal Marqod
* Baʿal Ṣapon
* Baʿalshamem
* Baʿalat Gebal
* Chemosh
* Dagan
* El
* Eshmun
* Haddu
* Kotharat
* Kothar-wa-Khasis
* Melqart
* Milcom
* Misor
* Mot
* Nikkal
* Qedesh
* Qos
* Resheph
* Sakkun
* Shadrafa
* Shahar
* Shalim
* Shapshu
* Sydyk
* Yam
* Yahweh
* Yarikh

Mesopotamian

* Adad/Ishkur
* Amurru
* An/Anu
* Asarluhi
* Ashur
* Aya
* Belet Nagar
* Dumuzi
* Enki/Ea
* Enlil
* Ereshkigal
* Gibil
* Inanna/Ishtar
* Ishtaran
* Manungal
* Marduk
* Nabu
* Nammu
* Nanaya
* Nisaba
* Shala
* Šumugan
* Nanna/Sin
* Nergal
* Ninazu
* Ninegal
* Ningal
* Ningishzida
* Ninhursag
* Ninisina
* Ninlil
* Ninshubur
* Pabilsag
* Papsukkal
* Sarpanit
* Sebitti
* Tishpak
* Utu/Shamash
* Wer
* Zababa

Religions of the ancient Near East

* v
* t
* e

Asherah (/ˈæʃərə/;[2] Hebrew: אֲשֵׁרָה, romanized: ʾĂšērā; Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚, romanized: ʾAṯiratu; Akkadian: 𒀀𒅆𒋥, romanized: Aširat;[3] Qatabanian: 𐩱𐩻𐩧𐩩 ʾṯrt)[4] was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as Ašerdu(š) or Ašertu(š) (Hittite: 𒀀𒊺𒅕𒌈, romanized: a-še-er-tu4),[5][6] and as Athirat in Ugarit as the consort of ʾEl.[7]

Some scholars hold that Asherah was also venerated as Yahweh's consort in ancient Israel (Samaria) and Judah,[8][9][10][11] while other scholars oppose this.[7][12][13][14]

## Name

[edit]

### Etymology

[edit]

Some have sought a common-noun meaning of her name, especially in Ugaritic appellation rabat athirat yam, only found in the Baal Cycle. But an Ugaritic homophone's meaning doesn't equate to an etymon, especially if the name is older than Ugaritic. There is no hypothesis for rabat athirat yam without significant issues, and if Asherah were a word from Ugarit, it would be pronounced differently.[1]

The common Northwest Semitic root ʾṯr (cf Arabic: أثر) means "trace, way".[15]

### Grammar

[edit]

Biblical Hebrew: הָאֲשֵׁרֽוֹת, romanized: ʾAšēroṯ, with the feminine grammatical gender plural form -oṯ,[16] is found three times in the Hebrew Bible: in Judges 3:7 and 2 Chronicles 19:3 and 2 Chronicles 33:3. Archaic suffixes like –atu/a/i became Northwest Semitic -aṯ or -ā, the latter often written -ah in transcription. Terminally alternate spellings like Asherat and Asherah reflect contextual rather than existential variation.[17]

A masculine plural form Asherim appears in Ezekiel 27:6, but refers to boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) as a variant form of תְּאַשּׁוּר təʾaššur "cypress of Lebanon (Cedrus libani).[18]

### Title

[edit]

Her name is sometimes ’lt "Elat",[19] the feminine equivalent of El. Her titles often include qdš "holy" and baʽlat, or rbt "lady",[19][20] and qnyt ỉlm, "progenitress of the gods."[21]

Flat lighting and en face presentation can lessen the visual effect of the Judean pillar figure's directly protruding breasts

## Interpretation

[edit]

Asherah was a significant divinity in Northwest Semitic cultures. However, particularly in the Hebrew Bible, asherah came to be identified with cultic wooden objects referred to as asherah poles. In this context, there is controversy about whether inscriptions referring to Asherah indicate the deity, the asherah pole,[22] or both (de Vaux[15]). Winter says the goddess and her symbol should not be distinguished.[23]

Some scholars have proposed 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[24] through the identification with Ḫepat of Aleppo. Ḫepat, whose name is Northwest Semitic in origin, was the partner of storm gods in several West Asian cultures speaking unrelated languages, including the West Semitic deity Hadad in Aleppo and Ebla, Teššub in Hurrian religion, and Tarḫunz of the Luwians of Anatolia.[25][26] Olyan states that the original Hebrew name for Eve, חַוָּה‎ Ḥawwā, is cognate to ḥawwat, an attested epithet of Tanit in the first millennium BCE,[27][a] though other scholars dispute a connection between Tanit and Asherah and between Asherah and Eve.[28] A Phoenician deity Ḥawwat is attested in the Punic Tabella Defixionis.

There is further speculation that the Shekhinah as a feminine aspect of Yahweh may be a cultural memory or devolution of Asherah.[29] Another such aspect may be seen in the feminine personification of Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs.[30]

## Iconography

[edit]

A variety of symbols have been associated with Asherah. The most common by far is a tree,[31] an equivalence seen as early as the Neolithic.[32]

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 asherah poles. An especially common Asherah tree in visual art is the date palm, a reliable producer of nutrition throughout the year. Some expect living trees, but Olyan sees a stylized, non-living palm or pole.[33][page needed] The remains of a juniper discovered in a 7500 year old gravesite in Eilat has been considered an Asherah tree by some.[34]

the Revadim Asherah

illustration

Asherah's association with fertility was not limited to her association with trees; she was often depicted with pronounced sexual features.[35] Images of Asherah, often called ’Astarte figurines’, are representative of Asherah as a tree in that they have bodies which resemble tree trunks,[36] 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 expose her vagina fully.[37] Many times, Asherah's pubis area was marked by a concentration of dots, indicating pubic hair,[38] though this figure is sometimes polysemically understood as a grape cluster.[35] 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.[39]

"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."[19]

Remarking on the Lachish ewer, Hestrin noted[40] that in a group of other pottery vessels found in situ, the usual depiction of the sacred tree flanked by Nubian 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 goddess in Egypt, and suggests that during the period of the New Kingdom of Egypt's rule in Palestine, the Hathor cult penetrated the region so extensively that she became identified with Asherah. Other motifs in the ewer such as a lion, Persian fallow deer and Nubian ibexes seem to have a close relationship with her iconography

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 asiatic lions" Potnia Theron motif are "almost undoubtedly depictions of the goddess Asherah."[41] The lioness was a ubiquitous symbol for goddesses in the ancient Middle East, similar to the dove[42][page needed] and the tree. Lionesses figure prominently in Asherah's iconography, including in the post-Late Bronze Age collapse finds: in Ti'inik known as the Ta'anakh cult stand dating to the 10th century BCE, which also includes a tree motif. An earlier arrowhead (11th century BCE) bears the inscription "Servant of the Lion Lady".[42][page needed]

The symbols around Asherah are so many (eight-pointed star, caprids, and lunisolar, arboreal, florid, and serpentine imagery) 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".[43][44]

## By region

[edit]

Earlier scholars were less reluctant to draw connections among the numerous similarly-named great goddesses.[45] Langdon says ʔ-th-r-t is "surely the same" as Babylonian Ašratu, West Semitic Aširtu, and Ašerat in Ras Shamra.[46]

### Sumer

[edit]

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.[47]

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.[48]

Though it is accepted that Ashratum's name is cognate to that of Ugaritic Athirat, the goddess occupies different positions within the pantheons of the two religions, despite having in both the status of consort to the supreme deity.[49]

### Akkad

[edit]

In Akkadian texts, Asherah appears as Aširatu; though her exact role in the pantheon is unclear; in the Sumerian votive inscription of Hammurabi, she is referred as the daughter-in-law of Anu, the sky god.[50][51] In contrast, ʿAshtart is believed to be linked to the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar who is sometimes portrayed as the daughter of Anu.[52]

In the first of two Amorite-Akkadian bilingual tablets from the 2nd millennium BCE and published in 2022, Asherah appears in the Amorite left column as ašeratum, while the corresponding Akkadian divine name in the right column is Belet-ili, the Akkadian name of the mother goddess Ninhursag.[53]

Points of reference in Akkadian epigraphy are collocated and heterographic in the Amarna Letters 60 and 61's Asheratic personal name. Within these Amarna letters is found a king of the Amorites by the 14th century BCE name of Abdi-Ashirta "servant of Asherah".[54]

* EA 60 ii | um-ma IÌR-daš-ra-tum

|

* EA 61 ii | [um-]ma IÌR-a-ši-ir-te ÌR-[-ka4

Each is on line ii within the letter's opening or greeting sentiment. Some may transcribe Aširatu or Ašratu.[52]

### Hittites

[edit]

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.[55]

### Ugarit

[edit]

See also: Canaanite religion

In Ugaritic texts, Asherah appears as Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚, romanized: ʾṯrt,[56] anglicised ʾAṯirat or Athirat. She is called ʾElat, 𐎛𐎍𐎚 ʾilt "goddess", the feminine form of ʾEl (compare Allāt); she is also called Qodeš, "holiness" (𐎖𐎄𐎌 qdš. There is reference to a šr. ‘ṯtrt.[57] Gibson says sources from before 1200 BC almost always credit Athirat with her full title rbt ʾṯrt ym (or rbt ʾṯrt).[58][b] However, Rahmouni's indexing of Ugaritic epithets states the phrase occurs in only the Baal Cycle.[59] Apparently of Akkadian origin, rabat means "lady" (literally "female great one").[59] 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",[60] alternatively, "she who walks on the sea",[1] or even "the Great Lady-who-tramples-Yam."[61] 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.[62] 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 DULAT'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".[63] The common Semitic root ywm (for reconstructed Proto-Semitic *yawm-),[64] from which derives (Hebrew: יוֹם), meaning "day", appears in several instances in the Masoretic Text with the second-root letter (-w-) having been dropped, and in a select few cases, replaced with an A-class vowel of the niqqud for Tiberian Hebrew,[65] resulting in the word becoming y(a)m. Such occurrences, as well as the fact that the plural "days" can be read as both yomim and yāmim (Hebrew: יָמִים), give credence to this alternate translation.

Another primary epithet of Athirat was 𐎖𐎐𐎊𐎚 𐎛𐎍 qnyt ʾlm,[66] which may be translated as "the creator of the deities".[58] In those texts, Athirat is the consort of ʾEl; there is one reference to the seventy sons of Athirat, presumably the same as the seventy sons of ʾEl.

#### Equation with Shapshu

[edit]

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." Recent analyses[67] 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.[68]

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, the twins Shahar "Dawn" and Shalim "Dusk", are described as the 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.[69]

### Israel and Judah

[edit]

See also: Yahwism

There is significant debate on whether Asherah was worshipped in ancient Israelite religion.[7] Some scholars argue that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh's consort,[8][70][10][11] while others oppose this arguing that the relevant Hebrew epigraphic evidence actually refers to some cultic place or object rather than a goddess.[7][12][13][14]

Khirbet el-Qom's hand is a symbol of Asherah as a protector,[71] but there is no scholarly hypothesis on why it appears upside-down. Kuntillet Ajrud's jar has this common motif in illustration. Another alluring symbol of the Goddess, the suckling bovine.[72][73]

#### Inscriptions

[edit]

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.[74]

The second was at Kuntillet Ajrud.[75][76] In the latter, a jar shows bovid-anthropomorphic figures and several inscriptions[42][77] that refer to "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" and "Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah."[78] 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.[12][13][79] 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.[80][81]: 59–60

In one potsherd there appear a large and small bovine.[82] This "oral fixation" motif has diverse examples, see figs 413–419 in Winter.[83] In fact, already Flinders Petrie in the 1930s was referring to Davies on the memorable stereotype.[84][full citation needed] It's such a common motif in Syrian and Phoenician ivories that the Arslan Tash horde had at least four.

#### Sacred prostitution

[edit]

Early scholarship emphasized somewhat mutually-negating possibilities of holy prostitution, hieros gamos, and orgiastic rites.[85] It has been suggested by several scholars[86][87] that there is a relationship between the position of the gəḇirā in the royal court and the worship of Asherah in 1 Kings 15:13, 18:19, and 2 Kings 10:13.

The Hebrew Bible frequently and graphically associates goddess worship with prostitution (זְנוּת zənuṯ "whoredom") in material written after the reforms of King Josiah. Jeremiah and Ezekiel blame goddess worship for making Yahweh "jealous", and cite his jealousy as the reason he allowed the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. 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", literally means "priestesses" or "consecrated women", from the Semitic root qdš, meaning "holy".[88] However, sacred prostitution is no longer a broad presumption. Some argue that sex acts within the temple were limited to yearly sacred fertility rites aimed at assuring an abundant harvest.[89][90]

#### In the Hebrew Bible

[edit]

Earlier obfuscations like this translation of her name as a "fetish of happiness" long made Asherah difficult to see. 1900, grove at brook Kidron, Jerusalem, Gertrude Bell[91]

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 removing cultic items of Asherah in the temple Solomon built for Yahweh (2 Kings 23:4). Josiah's grandfather Manasseh had erected a statue of Asherah or perhaps an asherah pole (2 Kings 21:7).[92]

The noun ʾăšērâ appears forty times in the Hebrew Bible, although in most cases this refers to some cultic object.[93] The word is translated in LXX as Greek: ἄλσος (grove; plural: ἄλση) in every instance apart from Isaiah 17:8; 27:9 and 2 Chronicles 15:16; 24:18, with Greek: 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.[94] 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.[95] 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.[96] Jezebel brought hundreds of prophets for Baal and Asherah with her into the Israelite court.[97]

William Dever's book Did God Have a Wife? 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."[98]

### Philistine records

[edit]

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.[99] However, Frank Moore Cross argues that the "asherah" mentioned in the Ekron inscription refers to a shrine, not to the goddess.[100]: 21–22

### In Egyptian sources

[edit]

Further information: Hathor and 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.[101] His hesitance did not dissuade subsequent scholars from equating Asherah with Qetesh.[19]

### Arabia

[edit]

As ʾAṯirat (Qatabanian: 𐩱𐩻𐩧𐩩 ʾṯrt), the goddess is attested in several Pre-Islamic inscriptions from south Arabia dating from the mid-first millennium BCE to the mid-first millennium CE.[93][102] As she is sometimes mentioned alongside the moon-gods Wadd and ʿAmm, she might have been considered a consort of either of them or both.[93][103]

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 (צלם זי מחרמ‎), Šingalāʾ (שנגלא‎), and ʾAšîrāʾ (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.[104] Pritchard excerpts the mention wšnglʔ wʔšyrʔ ʔlhy tymʔ and differs on the root's meaning.[105][106]

The Arabic root ʾṯr (as in 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).[107]"[108]

Asherah survived late in remote South Arabia as seen in some common era Qatabanian and Maʕinian inscriptions.[109]

## See also

[edit]

### Deities

[edit]

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

### Other

* 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

Portals:

* Mythology
* Asia

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ 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.
2. ^ Ugaritic 𐎗𐎁𐎚 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚 𐎊𐎎, rbt ʾṯrt ym

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Binger 1997, p. 44.
2. ^ "Asherah". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Columbia University Press. 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
3. ^ Day, John. "Asherah in the Hebrew Bible and Northwest Semitic Literature." Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 105, no. 3, 1986, pp. 385–408. JSTOR. Accessed 5 Aug. 2021.
4. ^ "Word list occurrences". DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
5. ^ Laroche, Emmanuel (1968). "Textes mythologiques hittites en transcription, 2e partie : Mythologie d'origine étrangère". Revue Hittite et Asianique. 26 (82): 5–90\. doi:10.3406/rhita.1968.1214.
6. ^ 'Asertu, tablet concordance KUB XXXVI 35 - CTH 342 Archived 5 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine', Hittite Collection, Hatice Gonnet-Bağana; Koç University.
7. ^ a b c d Wyse-Rhodes, Jackie (2015). "Finding Asherah: The Goddesses in Text and Image". In Hulster, Izaak J. de; LeMon, Joel M. (eds.). Image, Text, Exegesis: Iconographic Interpretation and the Hebrew Bible. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 71–90\. ISBN 978-0-567-58828-9.
8. ^ a b Binger 1997, p. 108.
9. ^ Dever, William G. (2008). Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 166–167\. ISBN 978-0-8028-6394-2.
10. ^ a b Wesler, Kit W. (2012). An Archaeology of Religion. University Press of America. p. 193\. ISBN 978-0761858454. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
11. ^ a b Mills, Watson, ed. (1997) [1990]. Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (Reprint ed.). Mercer University Press. p. 494\. ISBN 978-0-86554373-7. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
12. ^ a b c Sass 2014, pp. 47–66.
13. ^ a b c Puech, Émile (2015). "L'inscription 3 de Khirbet el-Qôm revisitée et l' 'Ashérah". Revue Biblique. 122 (1): 5–25\. doi:10.2143/RBI.122.1.3149557. ISSN 2466-8583. JSTOR 44092312.
14. ^ a b Blum, Erhard (2023). "Ein Götterpaar JHWH und Aschera – kultische Realität oder akademisches Konstrukt?". In Krause, Joachim J.; Markl, Dominik; Weingart, Kristin (eds.). Die Entdeckung des Politischen im Alten Testament: Festschrift für Wolfgang Oswald zu seinem fünfundsechzigsten Geburtstag (in German). Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 259–282\. ISBN 978-3-447-12130-9.
15. ^ a b Anthonioz, Stéphanie (2014). "Astarte in the Bible and her Relation to Asherah". In Sugimoto, David T. (ed.). Ishtar / Astarte / Aphrodite : Transformation of a Goddess. Orbis biblicus et orientalis. Vol. 263\. Fribourg: Academic Press. pp. 125–139\. ISBN 978-3-525-54388-7.
16. ^ Pat-El, Na’ama (6 November 2018). Comparative Semitic And Hebrew Plural Morphemes. Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures Series. Vol. 7\. Open Book Publishers. pp. 117–144\. doi:10.11647/obp.0250. ISBN 9791036574214.
17. ^ "A New Analysis of YHWH's asherah". Religion and Literature of Ancient Palestine. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
18. ^ Taylor 1995, pp. 39.
19. ^ a b c d Locatell, McKinny & Shai 2022, p. 580.
20. ^ Locatell et al Apud KTU 1.3 I 23 "etc"
21. ^ 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)).
22. ^ Keel, Othmar; Uehlinger, Christoph (1 January 1998). Gods, Goddesses, And Images of God. Edinburgh: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-567-08591-7.
23. ^ Winter 1983, See §1.3.2 "Die Goettin & ihr Kultobjekt sind nicht zu trennen".
24. ^ Kien 2000, p. 165.
25. ^ Bach, Alice (1998). Women in the Hebrew Bible (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 171\. ISBN 978-0-415-91561-8.
26. ^ Redford, Donald B. (1992). Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton University Press. p. 270\. ISBN 978-0-691-03606-9.
27. ^ Olyan 1988, p. 71.
28. ^ Day, John (2021). "The Serpent in the Garden of Eden: Its Background and Role". From Creation to Abraham: Further Studies in Genesis 1-11. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 56\. ISBN 978-0-567-70311-8.
29. ^ Walker, M. Justin (2016). "The Wings of the Dove are Covered with Silver: The (Absent) Presence of the Goddess in Psalm 68". Ugarit-Forschungen. 47: 303. ISSN 0342-2356.
30. ^ Amzallag, Nissim (2023). Yahweh and the Origins of Ancient Israel. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 8\. ISBN 978-1-009-31476-3. "Proverbs... includes explicit references to a female divine being, an Asherah-like goddess personifying Wisdom and present beside YHWH at the early time of creation"
31. ^ Taylor 1995, pp. 29–54.
32. ^ Ziffer, Irit (2010). "Western Asiatic Tree-Goddesses". Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant. 20: 411–430\. doi:10.1553/AEundL20s411. ISSN 1015-5104. JSTOR 23789949.
33. ^ Olyan 1988.
34. ^ Rich, Viktoria Greenboim (16 May 2022). "7,500-year-old Burial in Eilat Contains Earliest Asherah". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
35. ^ a b Stuckey 2002, p. 56.
36. ^ Taylor 1995, p. 30.
37. ^ Dever 2005, p. 188.
38. ^ Locatell, McKinny & Shai 2022, p. 585.
39. ^ Locatell, McKinny & Shai 2022, p. 584.
40. ^ Hestrin, Ruth (1987). "The Lachish Ewer and the 'Asherah". Israel Exploration Journal. 37 (4). Israel Exploration Society: 215. ISSN 0021-2059. JSTOR 27926074.
41. ^ Beaulieu 2007, p. 303.
42. ^ a b c Dever 2005.
43. ^ Cornelius 2004, p. 28–29.
44. ^ Frevel, Christian; Lippke, Florian (Herausgeber) (1995). Aschera und der Ausschließlichkeitsanspruch YHWHs. Beiträge zu literarischen, religionsgeschichtlichen und ikonographischen Aspekten der Ascheradiskussion (in German). Universität Tübingen. hdl:10900/56117.
45. ^ "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". Internet Archive. 23 October 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
46. ^ S Langdon 1933-1935, "Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic Calendars," pg 14
47. ^ Wiggins 2007, p. 153.
48. ^ Context of Scripture II 2.107D, pg = II:257 (No author named; only ref: Sollberger and Kupper 1971: 219; Frayne 1990: 359-360).
49. ^ Wiggins 2007, pp. 153, 171–172.
50. ^ Wyatt 1999, pp. 100–101.
51. ^ Wiggins 2007, pp. 155, 157–158.
52. ^ a b Hess, Richard S. (1996). "Asherah or Asherata?". Orientalia. 65 (3): 209–219\. ISSN 0030-5367. JSTOR 43078131.
53. ^ Hess, Richard S. (2025). "New Evidence for Asherata/Asherah". Religions. 16 (4): 397. doi:10.3390/rel16040397. ISSN 2077-1444.
54. ^ Patai, Raphael (January 1965). "The Goddess Asherah". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 24 (1/2): 37–52\. doi:10.1086/371788. ISSN 0022-2968. S2CID 162046752.
55. ^ Hoffner, Harry A. (1998). Hittite myths. Scholars Press. p. 90\. ISBN 978-0-7885-0488-4.
56. ^ DULAT I p 128
57. ^ the administrative text (KTU2 4.168: 4) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jorient/55/2/55_53/_article/-char/en
58. ^ a b Gibson, J. C. L.; Driver, G. R. (1978), Canaanite Myths and Legends, T. & T. Clark, ISBN 9780567023513
59. ^ a b Rahmouni 2008, p. 278.
60. ^ Rahmouni 2008, p. 281.
61. ^ Wyatt 2003, p. 131ff.
62. ^ Park 2010, pp. 527–534.
63. ^ Binger 1997, pp. 42–93.
64. ^ Kogan, Leonid (2011). "Proto-Semitic Lexicon". In Weninger, Stefan (ed.). The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 179–258\. ISBN 978-3-11-025158-6.
65. ^ Numbers 6:5, Job 7:6
66. ^ see KTU 1.4 I 23.
67. ^ Sarlo, Daniel (1 January 2022). "The Equation of Athirat and Shapshu at Ugarit". Ugarit Forschungen.
68. ^ Nougayrol, J., et al. 1968. Ugaritica. Volume 5. Paris.
69. ^ Wyatt 1999, p. 100.
70. ^ "Bible's Buried Secrets, Did God Have a Wife?". BBC Two. 21 December 2011. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
71. ^ Binger 1997.
72. ^ See Keel & Uehlinger (1998), p. 40, fig. 31a, and lately Ornan (2005), pp. 160–163.
73. ^ Goldwasser 2006, pp. 121–160.
74. ^ Stuckey 2002.
75. ^ Dever, William G. (1984). "Asherah, Consort of Yahweh? New Evidence from Kuntillet ʿAjrûd". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (255): 21–37\. doi:10.2307/1357073. ISSN 0003-097X. JSTOR 1357073. S2CID 163984447.
76. ^ Meshel, Zev (1 January 1986), "The Israelite Religious Centre of Kuntillet 'Ajrud, Sinai", Archaeology and Fertility Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean, Amsterdam: B.R. Grüner Publishing Company, pp. 237–240, doi:10.1075/zg.15.24mes (inactive 11 July 2025), ISBN 978-90-6032-288-8, S2CID 211507289, retrieved 23 December 2023`{{citation}}`: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
77. ^ Hadley 2000, pp. 122–136.
78. ^ Bonanno, Anthony (1986). 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. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 238\. ISBN 9789060322888. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
79. ^ Ahituv 2014, p. 35.
80. ^ Emerton, J. A. (1999). ""Yahweh and His Asherah": The Goddess or Her Symbol?". Vetus Testamentum. 49 (3): 315–337\. doi:10.1163/156853399774228010. ISSN 0042-4935. JSTOR 1585374.
81. ^ Lemaire, André (2024). "Judahite Hebrew Epigraphy and Cult". Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology. 7: 43–72\. doi:10.52486/01.00007.3. ISSN 2788-8819.
82. ^ Dever 2005, p. 163.
83. ^ Winter 1983.
84. ^ 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=101,1013,391,57&edge=0 https://books.google.com/books?id=wkdFAAAAYAAJ&q=licking+her+sucking
85. ^ Patai 1990, p. 37.
86. ^ Ackerman, Susan (1993). "The Queen Mother and the Cult in Ancient Israel". Journal of Biblical Literature. 112 (3): 385–401\. doi:10.2307/3267740. JSTOR 3267740.
87. ^ Bowen, Nancy (2001). "The Quest for the Historical Gĕbîrâ". Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 64: 597–618.
88. ^ Bird, Phyllis A. (2020). Harlot or Holy Woman?: A Study of Hebrew Qedešah. Penn State Press. p. 6\. ISBN 978-1-64602-020-1.
89. ^ Coogan 2010, p. 133.
90. ^ Cf. Levenson, Jon D. (2014). Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 72\. ISBN 978-0-19-939387-9. Retrieved 29 July 2024. "many scholars doubt that cultic prostitution as it is usually understood existed in ancient Israel."
91. ^ "Photograph taken by Gertrude Bell in Israel, January 1900". Gertrude Bell Archive. 1 January 1900. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
92. ^ Wyatt 1999, p. 102.
93. ^ a b c Wyatt 1999, p. 101.
94. ^ "Asherah". www.asphodel-long.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2006. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
95. ^ Danby, Herbert (1933). The Mishnah: Translated from the Hebrew With Introduction and Brief Explanatory Notes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 90, 176. ISBN 9780198154020. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
96. ^ Deuteronomy 12: 3–4
97. ^ Coogan, Michael (2010). God and Sex. Twelve. p. 47\. ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9.
98. ^ Dever 2005, p. 166.
99. ^ Gitin, Seymour; Dothan, Trude; Naveh, Joseph (1997). "A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron". Israel Exploration Journal. 47 (1/2). Israel Exploration Society: 1–16\. ISSN 0021-2059. JSTOR 27926455. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
100. ^ Cross, Frank Moore (2009). "The Phoenician Ostracon from Acco, the Ekron Inscriptions and 'ŠRTH". Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies. 29: 19*–28*. ISSN 0071-108X. JSTOR 23631346.
101. ^ Wiggins, Steve A. (1 January 1991). "The Myth of Asherah: Lion Lady and Serpent Goddess". Ugarit-Forschungen: Internationales Jahrbuch für ...
102. ^ Wiggins 2007, pp. 175ff.
103. ^ Wiggins 2007, pp. 180–181.
104. ^ Watkins, Justin (2007). "Athirat: As Found at Ras Shamra". Studia Antiqua. 5 (1): 45–55\. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
105. ^ 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.
106. ^ "A text-book of north-Semitic inscriptions : Cooke, G. A. (George Albert), 1865-1939 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. 25 March 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
107. ^ (the Arabic root يم‎ yamm also means "sea")
108. ^ Lucy Goodison and Christine E. Morris, Ancient Goddesses: Myths and Evidence (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 79.
109. ^ Ahituv (2014), p. 33: lists dates from 5th C BCE to 6th C AD.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Ahituv, Shmuel (2014). "Notes on the Kuntillet 'Ajrud Inscriptions". In Eshel, Esther; Levin, Yigal (eds.). "See, I will bring a scroll recounting what befell me" (Ps 40:8): Epigraphy and Daily Life from the Bible to the Talmud. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 29–38\. ISBN 978-3-647-55062-6.
* Ahlström, Gösta W. (1963), Engnell, Ivan; Furumark, Arne; Nordström, Carl-Otto (eds.), Aspects of Syncretism in Israelite Religion, Horae Soederblominae 5, translated by Sharpe, Eric J., Lund, SE: C.W.K. Gleerup, p. 68
* Albright, W. F. (1968), Yahweh and the gods of Canaan: a historical analysis of two contrasting faiths, London: University of London, Athlone Press, pp. 105–106, ISBN 9780931464010
* Albright, William Foxwell (1969). The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and Their Decipherment. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-608-18593-0.
* Barker, Margaret (2012), The Mother of the Lord Volume 1: The Lady in the Temple, T & T Clark, ISBN 9780567528155
* Beaulieu, Stéphane (1 January 2007). "Eve's Ritual: the Judahite Sacred Marriage Rite". Concordia University. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
* Binger, Tilde (1997), Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament (1st ed.), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, pp. 42–93, ISBN 9780567119766
* Cornelius, Sakkie (2004). "A Preliminary Typology for the Female Plaque Figurines and Their Value for the Religion of Ancient Palestine and Jordan" (PDF). Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 30/1: 21–39. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
* Dever, William G. (2005), Did God Have A Wife?: Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 9780802828521
* Emerton, J. A. (1982). "New Light on Israelite Religion: The Implications of the Inscriptions from Kuntillet ʿAjrud". Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 94: 2–20\. doi:10.1515/zatw.1982.94.1.2. S2CID 170614720.
* Goldwasser, Orly (2006), "Canaanites Reading Hieroglyphs. Horus is Hathor? - The Invention of the Alphabet in Sinai", Egypt and the Levant, 16: 121–160
* Hadley, Judith M. (2000), The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: The Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess, University of Cambridge Oriental publications, 57, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521662352
* Keel, Othmar (1998). Goddesses and Trees, New Moon and Yahweh. Sheffield: Burns & Oates. ISBN 978-1-85075-915-7.
* Kien, Jenny (2000), Reinstating the Divine Woman in Judaism, Universal Publishers, ISBN 9781581127638, OCLC 45500083
* Locatell, Christian; McKinny, Chris; Shai, Itzhaq (30 September 2022). "Tree of Life Motif, Late Bronze Canaanite Cult, and a Recently Discovered Krater from Tel Burna". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 142 (3). doi:10.7817/jaos.142.3.2022.ar024. ISSN 2169-2289. (Access only by subscription or article purchase.)
* Long, Asphodel P. (1993), In a Chariot Drawn by Lions: The Search for the Female in Deity, Crossing Press, ISBN 9780895945754.
* Margalit, Baruch (1989), "Some Observations On the Inscription and Drawing From Khirbet El-Qôm", Vetus Testamentum, XXXIX (3): 371–378, doi:10.1163/156853389X00534, ISSN 0042-4935
* Myer, Allen C. (2000), "Asherah", Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Amsterdam University Press
* Olyan, Saul M. (1988). Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel. Atlanta, Georgia: Atlanta, Ga. : Scholars Press. ISBN 978-1-55540-253-2.
* Ornan, Tallay (2005). The Triumph of the Symbol: Pictorial Representation of Deities in Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban. Saint-Paul. ISBN 978-3-525-53007-8.
* Park, Sung Jin (2010). "Short Notes on the Etymology of Asherah". Ugarit Forschungen. 42: 527–534.
* Park, Sung Jin (2011). "The Cultic Identity of Asherah in Deuteronomistic Ideology of Israel". Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 123 (4): 553–564\. doi:10.1515/zaw.2011.036. ISSN 0044-2526. S2CID 170589596.
* Patai, Raphael (1990), The Hebrew Goddess, Jewish folklore and anthropology, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 9780814322710, OCLC 20692501.
* Rahmouni, Aicha (2008), Divine Epithets in the Ugaritic Alphabetic Texts, translated by Ford, J. N., Leiden, NE: Brill, ISBN 9789004157699
* Reed, William Laforest (1949), The Asherah in the Old Testament, Texas Christian University Press, OCLC 491761457.
* Sass, Benjamin (2014). "On Epigraphic Hebrew ʾŠR and *ʾŠRH, and on Biblical Asherah". Transeuphratène. J. Elayi – J.-M. Durand (eds.). Bible et Proche-Orient. Mélanges André Lemaire. 3 vol. (Transeuphratène 44-46; Pendé: Gabalda, 2014). 46: 47–66 (with Pls. 4–5 on 189–190). ISSN 0996-5904.
* Stuckey, Johanna H. (1 January 2002). "The Great Goddesses of the Levant". Journal for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
* Taylor, Joan E. (1995), "The Asherah, the Menorah and the Sacred Tree", Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 20 (66), University of Sheffield, Dept. of Biblical Studies: 29–54, doi:10.1177/030908929502006602, ISSN 0309-0892, OCLC 88542166, S2CID 170422840
* Wiggins, Steve A. (1993), A Reassessment of 'Asherah': A Study according to the Textual Sources of the First Two Millennia B.C.E, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Bd. 235., Verlag Butzon & Bercker, ISBN 9783788714796
* Wiggins, Steve A. (2007). A Reassessment of Asherah: With Further Considerations of the Goddess. Gorgias Ugaritic Studies. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-717-9. OCLC 171049273.
* Winter, Urs (1983). Frau und Göttin (in German). Freiburg, Schweiz Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53673-9.
* Wyatt, N. (1999). "Asherah". In van der Toorn, K.; Becking, Bob; Horst, Pieter Willem van der (eds.). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 99–105\. ISBN 978-0-8028-2491-2.
* Wyatt, N. (2003), Religious Texts from Ugarit (2nd ed.), London: Sheffield Academic Press

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asherah.

### Asherah

[edit]

* Asphodel P. Long, The Goddess in Judaism – An Historical Perspective
* Asherah, the Tree of Life and the Menorah
* Jewish Encyclopedia: Asherah
* Rabbi Jill Hammer, An Altar of Earth: Reflections on Jews, Goddesses and the Zohar
* University of Birmingham: Deryn Guest: Asherah at Archive.org
* Lilinah biti-Anat, Qadash Kinahnu Deity Temple "Room One, Major Canaanite Deities"

### Kuntillet ʿAjrud inscriptions

[edit]

* Jacques Berlinerblau, "Official religion and popular religion in pre-Exilic ancient Israel" (Commentary on Yahweh's Asherah.)
* ANE: Kuntillet bibliography
* Jeffrey H. Tigay, "A Second Temple Parallel to the Blessings from Kuntillet Ajrud" (University of Pennsylvania) (This equates Asherah with an asherah.)

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