2014. Sass B. On epigraphic Hebrew ʾŠR and *ʾŠRH, and on Biblical Asherah. In J. Elayi and J.-M. Durand eds. Bible et Proche-Orient. Mélanges André Lemaire III (Transeuphratène 46). Paris, 47-66, 189-190, pls. 4-5.

References (60)

1. Op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 86-87.
2. In view of the bullae under discussion Avigad (ibid., p. 86) sided with the theophorous un- derstanding of the first element in ‫ֵל‬ ‫א‬ ‫ַרְ‬ ‫ֲשׂ‬ ‫א‬ (1Chr 4 16).
3. J.H. Tigay, You shall have no other gods, Israelite religion in the light of Hebrew inscrip- tions, HSS 31, Atlanta 1986, p. 65.
4. WSS, p. 486.
5. Not Aššur or Iššar-Ištar, whose alphabetic orthography might have been identical (see n. 25), and certainly not Osiris, whose alphabetic transcription differs. See further R. Zadok, The pre- Hellenistic Israelite anthroponymy and prosopography, OLA 28, Leuven 1988, pp. 102-103, n. 18, overlooked in WSS.
6. A. Lemaire, 'Les inscriptions de Khirbet el-Qôm et l'ashéra de YHWH', RB 84, 1977, pp. 595-608. 12. Ibid., p. 607.
7. A summary can be found in pp. 130-132 in S. Ahituv, E. Eshel and Z. Meshel, 'The inscrip- tions', Chapter 5 in Z. Meshel, Kuntillet ìAjrud (Ḥorvat Teman), An Iron Age II religious site on the Judah-Sinai border, Jerusalem 2012, pp. 73-142.
8. Z. Meshel, Kuntillet ìAjrud, A religious centre from the time of the Judaean monarchy on the border of Sinai, Israel Museum Catalogue 175, Jerusalem 1978, p. [17]. He was advised by F.M. Cross, A. Lemaire and P.K. McCarter -see Ahituv et al., loc. cit. (n. 13), p. 73.
9. M. Gilula, 'To Yahweh Shomron and his Asherah', Shnaton 3, 1979, pp. 134-136 (Hebrew).
10. E.g. L. Kogan, 'Lexicon of the Old Aramaic inscriptions and the historical unity of Ara- maic', in id. et al. eds, Memoriae Igor M. Diakonoff, Babel und Bibel 2, Winona Lake 2005, pp. 529- 530;
11. E. Lipiński, 'Athirat', Encyclopedia of religion 2 , Detroit 2005, vol. 1, pp. 589-590.
12. Latter e.g. KAI 225. îṯr etc. also denote various other places, such as Sam'alian 'territory' - J. Tropper, Die Inschriften von Zincirli, Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-Syrien-Palästinas 6, Münster 1993, p. 95. 18. KAI 202.
13. The restored occurrence with the meaning 'temple' at Ugarit, KTU 1.114, 14-15 yṯb il pt ┌ ḥ ┐ aṯ[rth], il yṯb bmrzḥh, 'Let îEl sit in the do[or of his sh]rine; let îEl sit in his symposium' (most re- cently F.M. Cross, 'The Phoenician ostracon from Acco, the Ekron inscription and ‫,'אשרתה‬ ErIs 29, 2009, p. 21*), was read differently by D. Pardee (edited by T.J. Lewis), Ritual and cult at Ugarit, Writings from the Ancient World 10, Atlanta 2002, p. 169: yṯb il k ┌ r ┐ a ┌ šk ┐ [rh], il yṯb bmrzḥh, 'îIlu takes a seat and calls together his drinking [group], îIlu takes his seat in his drinking club.' The traces of the relevant letter may fit a {š}, but not a {ṯ} (Pardee, ibid.). And besides, the parallelism aškr-mrzḥ is undeniable.
14. See J. Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling, Dictionary of the North-West Semitic inscriptions, HdO 1 21, Leiden 1998, pp. 125-128 (îšr4), p. 129 (îšrh1).
15. CAD A2, pp. 436-439.
16. W.F. Albright, 'The evolution of the West-Semitic divinity ìAn-ìAnat-ìAttâ', AJSL 41.2, 1925, pp. 99-100.
17. Numerous studies address the goddess aṯrt at Ugarit, e.g. S.J. Park, 'Short notes on the ety- mology of Asherah', UF 42, 2010 [2012], pp. 527-533.
18. E.g. N. Wyatt 'Asherah', in K. van der Toorn et al. eds, Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible, DDD, Leiden 1999, pp. 99-101.
19. Not Aššur nor Issar-Ištar (n. 10). On the Aramaic spelling îšr of Neo-Assyrian Issar-Ištar, goddess of Nineveh and of Arbaîil, e.g. in the Assur ostracon, see F.M. Fales, 'New light on Assyro- 33.
20. S. Gitin, 'Seventh century B.C.E. cultic elements at Ekron', in A. Biran and J. Aviram eds, Biblical archaeology today 1990, Jerusalem 1993, pp. 250-251; S. Gitin et al., 'A royal dedicatory inscription from Ekron', IEJ 47.1-2, 1997, p. 13.
21. A. Lemaire, 'Histoire et épigraphie hébraïques et araméennes', EPHE IV e section, Livret 11 (1995-96), 1997, p. 24; Cross, loc. cit. (n. 19), p. 21*.
22. Gitin, loc. cit. (n. 33), p. 250; S. Gitin, 'Israelite and Philistine cult and the archaeological record in Iron Age II: The "smoking gun" phenomenon', in W.G. Dever and S. Gitin eds, Symbiosis, symbolism and the power of the past: Canaan, ancient Israel and their neighbors from the Late Bronze Age through Roman Palaestina, Winona Lake 2003, pp. 289-290.
23. Two separate articles, one by Lemaire, the other by Cross, loc. cit. (n. 34).
24. Or upsetting, depending on one's viewpoint.
25. O. Keel and C. Uehlinger, Gods, goddesses and images of God in ancient Israel, Minneapo- lis 1998, pp. 210-248.
26. These attributes do belong to a goddess, but occasionally a male deity displays them (Pl. IV, 6 herein) -U. Winter, Frau und Göttin, Exegetische und ikonographische Studien zum weiblichen Gottesbild im alten Israel und in dessen Umwelt, OBO 53, Fribourg-Göttingen 1983, pp. 264-272;
27. T. Ornan, '"Let Baìal be enthroned': The date, identification, and function of a bronze statue from Hazor", JNES 70, 2011, pp. 264-272. On a related subject -inferred pictorial representations of anthropomorphic Yahweh and of his attributes -see for instance Keel-Uehlinger, op. cit. (n. 38), pp. 272-277, 306-311;
28. T. Ornan, 'Member in the entourage of Yahweh: A uraeus seal from the Western Wall Plaza excavations, Jerusalem', ìAtiqot 72, 2012, pp. 15*-20*; T. Ornan et al., "'The Lord will roar from Zion" (Amos 1:2): The lion as a divine attribute on a Jerusalem seal and other
29. C. Uehlinger, 'Northwest Semitic inscribed seals, iconography and Syro-Palestinian reli- gions of Iron Age II: Some afterthoughts and conclusions', in B. Sass and C. Uehlinger eds, Studies in the iconography of Northwest Semitic inscribed seals, OBO 125, Fribourg-Göttingen 1993, pp. 275- 276;
30. Keel-Uehlinger, op. cit. (n. 38), p. 340. My thanks to T. Römer who in July 2011, during our discussion of Hebrew îšrth, reminded me of this seal and of C. Uehlinger's proposal.
31. T. Ornan, 'The Mesopotamian influence on West Semitic inscribed seals: A preference for the depiction of mortals', in Sass-Uehlinger, ibid., pp. 52-73, n. 11. 52. The right-hand figure is described as 'apparently female' in B. Sass, 'The pre-exilic Hebrew seals: Iconism vs. aniconism', in Sass-Uehlinger, ibid., p. 236 and n. 100. Nowadays I doubt it. 53. Ornan, loc. cit. (n. 51).
32. J. Jeremias, 'Thron oder Wagen? Eine außergewöhnliche Terrakotte aus der späten Eisenzeit in Juda', in W. Zwickel ed., Biblische Welten, Festschrift für Martin Metzger zu seinem 65. Ge- burtstag, OBO 123, Fribourg-Göttingen 1993, pp. 41-59; C. Uehlinger, 'Du culte des images à son interdit, Témoins et étapes d'une rupture', MoBi 110, 1998, p. 59.
33. F. al-Ajlouny et al., 'Spatial distribution of the Early Bronze clay figurative pieces from Khirbet ez-Zeraqōn and its religious aspects', Ancient Near Eastern Studies 48, 2011, p. 114.
34. A variant on the 'goddess' hypothesis for îšrth, doing away with the pronominal suffix, was presented by A. Angerstorfer, 'Ašerah als "consort of Jahwe" oder Aširtah?' BN 17, 1982, pp. 7-16. He conjectured that the he in îšrth at ìAjrud and Khirbet el-Qom is a mater lectionis for a frozen case ending -'Yahweh … and Aširta'. This notion was perhaps too rarefied to attract a large following, though it was picked up occasionally, see for instance J. Tropper, 'Der Gottesname *Yahwa', VT 51, 2001, pp. 81-106;
35. N. Na'aman, Review of S. Ahituv, Haketav vehamiḵtav, Handbook of ancient inscriptions from the land of Israel and the kingdoms beyond from the period of the First Common- wealth, Jerusalem 2005 (Hebrew), Zion 72, 2007, p. 229 (Hebrew).
36. P. Xella's only other Levantine examples come from third-millennium Ebla.
37. D. Pardee, Review of M. Dietrich and O. Loretz, 'Jahwe und seine Aschera', Anthropo- morphes Kultbild in Mesopotamien, Ugarit und Israel, Das biblische Bilderverbot, UBL 9, Münster 1995, JAOS 115.2, 1995, p. 301; id., Les textes rituels, Ras Shamra-Ougarit 12, Paris 2000, pp. 247- 248; id., op. cit. (n. 19), pp. 108-109, n. 95. All references from D. Pardee.
38. 'Unfortunately, what we have before us is a prime example of obscurum per obscurius. In this case the enigmatic term îšrth, known from several Hebrew inscriptions, where the suffix is gene- rally if not universally interpreted as pronominal ("his îšrh" …), is interpreted [by Dietrich and Lo- retz] in the light of the form ìnth in a Ugaritic ritual text' (Pardee, ibid. 1995, p. 301). 'In any case this text by itself is not clear enough to provide the key for the interpretation of (l) yhwh w (l) îšrth in the Hebrew inscriptions' (Pardee, ibid. 2000, p. 248).
39. In relation to yhwh wîšrth -first Lemaire, loc. cit. (n. 11), p. 608. LÉGENDES DES PLANCHES
40. Pl. I, 1a-b : Poids 6126 en forme de pyramide tronquée avec une inscrip- tion sur sa base.
41. Pl. II, 2a-b : Poids 6116 en forme de pyramide tronquée avec caducée et balance. Pl. III, 3a-b : Poids 6117 en forme de pyramide tronquée avec signe de Tanit sur sa base.
42. Pl. IV, 1 : Unprovenanced bulla inscribed [lîû]r@y(?) ìûyhw (Avigad, op. cit. [n. 1], no. 34; WSS 457); figs1-3 reproduced with the permission of the Israel Exploration Society.
43. Pl. IV, 2 : Unprovenanced bulla inscribed lnryhw îûr@y (Avigad, ibid., no. 126; WSS 579).
44. Pl. IV, 3 : Unprovenanced bulla inscribed lnryhw [î]ûry@t (Avigad, ibid., no. 127; WSS 580).
45. Pl. IV, 4 : Lachish, scaraboid, surface find, eighth-seventh centuries (Keel-Uehlinger, op. cit. [n. 38], fig. 323; reproduced with the permission of O. Keel).
46. Pl. IV, 5a-b : Jerusalem bifacial stamp seal, seventh century, one side in- scribed lrpîyhw ûlm (R. Reich and E. Shukron, 'Two He- brew seals and three Hebrew bullae from the City of David in Jerusalem', ErIs 29, 2009, p. 358, photographer V. Naikhin, reproduced with the permission of R. Reich).
47. Pl. V, 6 : Hazor, enthroned Baal Statue, bronze, Late Bronze Age (Or- nan, op. cit. [n. 39], p. 255, fig. 2, drawing by H. Bitan, re- produced with the permission of A. Ben-Tor).
48. Pl. V, 7 : Kuntillet ìAjrud pithos A, detail of drawing (Ahituv et al., op. cit. [n. 13], back cover, reproduced with the permission of Z. Meshel and the Israel Exploration Society).
49. Pl. V, 8 : Unprovenanced scaraboid inscribed yh[y]hw [û]lm (Drawing by N. Z'evi after WSS 173).
50. Pl. V, 9 : Unprovenanced terracotta group (Jeremias, op. cit. [n. 54], p. 46, reproduced with the permission of the editor, O. Keel).
51. Pl. V, 10 : Khirbet ez-Zerqon Terracotta group, Early Bronze Age (Aj- louny et al., op. cit. [n. 55], p. 114, no 1a, reproduced with the permission of A. Sagona, editor, ANES).
52. Pl. VI : Line drawing of silver bowl from Kourion. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 74.51.4556. Source: Markoe, op. cit. (n. 53), p. 254.
53. Pl. VII : Line drawing of E2. Source: Markoe, op. cit. (n. 53), p. 278.
54. Pl. VIII : Source: Hölbl, op. cit. (n. 64), pl. 159b.
55. Pl. IX, 1a : The îAmaryahu bn hmlk bulla -front side (courtesy of the owner; Photo: R. Wiskin).
56. Pl. IX, 1b : The îAmaryahu bn hmlk bulla -back side (courtesy of the owner; Photo: P. Van der Veen).
57. Pl. IX, 1c : Line-Drawing of the îAmaryahu bn hmlk bulla ((c) line- drawing -R. Deutsch).
58. Pl. X, 2 : [= K 16] The Domlaì servant of Hezekiah bulla (courtesy of J.C. Kaufman; (c) courtesy of R. Deutsch).
59. Pl. X, 3 : [= K 268a] The Neraì (son of) Malkiyahu bulla (courtesy of J.C. Kaufman; (c) courtesy of R. Deutsch).
60. Pl. X, 4 : [= K 183] The 'Yigdalyahu (son of) îAmaryahu' bulla (cour- tesy of J.C. Kaufman; (c) courtesy of R. Deutsch).