An Iron Age II Pictorial Inscription from Jerusalem Illustrating Yahweh and Asherah

Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 141, 2 (2009), 87–103

AN IRON AGE II PICTORIAL INSCRIPTION FROM JERUSALEM ILLUSTRATING YAHWEH AND ASHERAH Garth Gilmour During the P.E.F. excavations at the Ophel in Jerusalem in the 1920s a large sherd of an Iron Age II jug was found with a pictorial design incised on the surface. The design shows two humanoid figures above a series of semi-circles bordering the broken edge of the sherd. The figures are joined by rough lines above and below the waist. The details of the figures include traditional Canaanite elements that indicate they are deity figures, one male and one female, and it is proposed that they represent Yahweh and Asherah. If so, this would add to the growing record of textual and symbolic imagery of Yahweh and Asherah together from Iron Age Israel and Judah. The sherd and its inscription are critical to our understanding of early Israelite religion, its relationship to its Canaanite antecedents, and to the nature of folk religion in Judah in the period of the monarchy. From 1923 to 1925, the Palestine Exploration Fund (P.E.F.) conducted excavations in the Ophel, Jerusalem. For the first six months, the excavation was directed by Professor R. A. S. Macalister after which his assistant, Rev. J. Garrow Duncan, continued as Acting Director. The excavation was published in the Annual of the Palestine Exploration Fund, volume IV (1926). Many of the finds and papers from the excavation were transferred to England where they have since been held in the archives of the P.E.F. in London. A review of the material held by the P.E.F. from this excavation is currently in progress by the author, sponsored by the Shelby White — Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications, and a final report is in preparation.1 Among the finds in the excavation archive is a sherd with a pictorial inscription of two figures, which it is here suggested illustrates Yahweh and Asherah (Fig. I, III. 1). It is published here for the first time. 1. the sherd The sherd is from a strainer spouted jug with a red wash, possibly a self-slip, and lightly burnished2 (Fig. 1, Ill. 3). There are no signs of painted decoration. It is in poor condition, with yellow staining along one edge where the burnish has partially peeled away, and dark water-wash stains scattered across the surface. The sherd comes from the body of the vessel, with just the edge of the strainer spout preserved (Fig. 6, Ill. 2), enabling the identification of the vessel type with some confidence. It is a fairly common Iron Age type in the south, in Phoenicia and in Philistia, especially in the early centuries, though it appears to be unusual in Jerusalem. Eleventh- to tenth- century examples come from Dor (Gilboa 1999, Fig. 12: 4–7), Tel Batash stratum IV (Mazar and Panitz-Cohen 2001, 122, pl. 11:19) and Tel Qasile stratum X (Mazar 1985, 64, fig. 50:1, 2), among others, though unlike the example from the Ophel they have painted decoration. Unpainted examples come from Tomb 521 at Lachish, which has a red slip and hand burnish, dated by Tufnell to around 1000 bce (Tufnell 1953, 222–224; pls 72:9, 89:364) and from Tell Beit Mirsim level A2 (Albright 1932, 87, pl. 70:13) dated to the 8th century.3 Address correspondence to Garth Gilmour, Dept of Old Testament, University of Stellenbosch, 7600 Stellenbosch, South Africa. email: [email protected] © Palestine Exploration Fund 2009

doi: 10.1179/174313009x437800

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Fig. 1. An Iron Age II sherd from Jerusalem with an inscription illustrating Yahweh and Asherah.

Ill. 1. An Iron Age II sherd from Jerusalem with an inscription illustrating Yahweh and Asherah.

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Ill. 2. The sherd showing the original inscription, Duncan’s cuts, and the edge of the strainer spout.

Ill. 3. The sherd reconstructed on an Iron Age II strainer jug.

Two examples of this type have been reported from Jerusalem, both from the Later Iron Age. The first, from the Hebrew University excavations directed by Y. Shiloh, is a body sherd containing part of the strainer spout with two red painted bands beneath the spout. It came from a fill beneath an 8th-century (Stratum 12) surface in Area B in the City of David (Ariel and Lender 2000, 7–12, 24; fig. 7:9). The second example came from the assemblage in Cave II of Kenyon’s excavations in Jerusalem, dated by Eshel to the 7th century bce (Eshel 1995, 33, fig 8:4).4 It is described as having a self-slip, vertically burnished on the neck, spout and handle, and wheel-burnished on the body, and like our example it has no painted decoration. It appears for now to be the closest parallel. Although we have reconstructed our vessel with a side handle from neck to body, it is possible that it had a basket handle. In his notes, Duncan described the provenance of the find as follows: ‘Inverted stratification North of N. Bastion Steps at 8–10 feet.’ The north bastion was what was later termed (by Shiloh) the stepped stone structure, which was flanked by two towers, a larger one to the south and a smaller one to the north (Fig. 7) (Macalister and Duncan 1926, 51–55). Although Macalister and Duncan’s identification of findspots is often obscure, in this case we can state with some certainty that the inscribed sherd was found in the vicinity of the northern tower, at the northern edge of the stepped stone structure. In his report of his excavations there, Duncan wrote about the northern tower: Before proceeding to build the tower the workmen cut a trench of the necessary width, throwing the material out beyond the required breadth. In doing so they necessarily inverted the order of the potsherds in the debris. Thus, the stratification in front of the tower was inverted, the oldest pottery being found on the top and the later pottery beneath it. (Macalister and Duncan 1926, 50)

This is surely the inverted stratification north of the north bastion steps identified by Duncan as the findspot of the inscribed sherd. Sadly, while the mixed stratification is critical

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in identifying the findspot, it removes any hope of dating the object stratigraphically. Duncan continues: In the first 6 feet of debris, accumulated since the Post-Exilic period, we found Arab remains on the very surface; beneath these were scraps of Roman pottery, and at 6 to 8 feet we found Post-Exilic sherds in abundance. From 8 feet depth downwards we found scraps of Neolithic, I, II and III BronzeAge pottery, and, mixed with the III Bronze-Age, an abundance of Hebrew potsherds of various periods. Below these again we found Post-Exilic sherds, and thereafter the stratification resumed its normal sequence. (Macalister and Duncan 1926, 50–51)

Duncan concludes that the tower must date to what he calls the ‘Post-Exilic period’, a dating later supported by Kenyon (1974, 191–192) and Shiloh (1984, 20), and now by E. Mazar (2007, 71–73). The inscribed sherd must have come from the ‘abundance of Hebrew potsherds of various periods’ referred to by Duncan that was found in the trench cut in front of the northern tower, and that was probably imported there as fill material from elsewhere on site. Therefore, it cannot be dated stratigraphically to more than Duncan’s ‘Hebrew period’, or the Iron Age. The evidence from stratigraphy and of the vessel type and treatment leads to the conclusion that the vessel probably dates to the 8th century bce. The stratigraphy suggests that the inscription, which was cut into the sherd after the vessel was broken (see below), should be dated to the same period. 2. the inscription The inscription is 8.43 cm wide and 6.55 cm high, and shows two triangular humanoid figures, one male and one female, attached by two lines (Fig. 2, Ill. 4). The figures are set upon a series of semi-circular lines which extend to the break in the pottery. The inscription is cut more-or-less at right angles to the orientation of the vessel, indicating that it was incised post-breakage. In addition, a cut was made across the break in the sherd at the base of the inscription (Fig. 5, Ill. 2). Two further test incisions, a line on the outside of the sherd and a cross on the inside, were apparently made by Duncan (Ill. 2), and referred to in his notes, as follows:

Fig. 2. The inscription in closer detail.

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Ill. 4. Detail of the inscription. The incised drawing on it is not recently done. I have tested it on both sides and find that recent scratching would show bright red. The lines of the drawing show dark red like the rest of the sherd. The drawing is therefore the work of some Hebrew potter or potter’s apprentice.

Duncan appears to have suspected that the design may have been incised on the vessel before it was broken, as he continues, Père Vincent agrees that this drawing is not quite recent. The sherd is broken across the drawing, so that we cannot see what the under half was meant to represent. The break is not recent. That it is broken across the drawing confirms my statement that the drawing is not recently done. I may also say that, poor as the drawing is, not one of my men could draw so well.

The male figure (Fig. 3) is 5.67 cm high and 2.50 cm wide, and takes the form of an inverted triangle 2.68 cm high with two legs each defined by two lines extending downwards and a semi-circular hat above. A rudimentary face has been carved into the triangle, with eyes and eyebrows, nose and nostrils, a mouth and a chin. The two side lines of the triangular body extend downwards to become the two inside lines of the legs, thereby creating a small triangle whose third side is the inverted apex of the triangular body. The legs extend to the break in the sherd. The inside line of the figure’s right leg has what may be interpreted as an angled foot pointed inwards, but this may rather be a chip from dragging the cutting tool to the edge of the sherd. The three other leg lines have similar but smaller chips. To the left of the male figure is a female figure in the form of two triangles (Fig. 4). The upper triangle, which is inverted and contains a face, is 2.05 cm high and 1.80 cm wide; the lower triangle is 1.75 cm high and 2.10 cm wide; total height is 3.80 cm. As with the male figure, the upper triangle contains eyes, eyebrows, nose, nostrils, mouth and chin. The lower triangle contains two elements, an inverted triangle in the middle and a small dot just above it, representing the pubic triangle and navel, respectively. Unlike with the male figure, the lines of the triangles defining the female figure extend beyond the edge of the apexes at three of the four corners; only the bottom right corner is clean. In the bottom left corner the downward line extends faintly as much as 1.50 cm. The two humanoid figures are joined in two places. A line extends downwards from the top right corner of the female figure to the top left corner of the male. A second line extends almost horizontally from the bottom right corner of the female to the bottom left

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Fig. 3. The male figure.

corner of the male. In the rough pentagonal shape created between the two figures by these lines is an X, one of whose arms cuts the edge of the lower triangle of the female figure. Several different cutting tools appear to have been used by the artist who created the inscription. The lines of the triangle of the male figure are thick and deeply cut into the sherd by an angled point. Except toward the bottom of the right hand line, the cut is clean, but there the surface of the sherd has chipped slightly. The legs of the male figure are also deeply cut, but with another implement with a sharper point. The headdress was cut with a third, much rounder pointed tool. The female figure was cut much more delicately; the lines of the triangles are thinner and shallower than the male counterpart. In both cases the facial and other details within the triangles were cut with a wide pointed tool. A similar tool or the same one was used to cut the lines connecting the two figures, and the cross in between them. At the edge of the sherd beneath the two figures are four inverted roughly semi-circular lines, separated from each other by short gaps. The male figure is standing between them, two to the left and two to the right. These semi-circles are, from left to right respectively, 1.22 cm high and 1.17 cm wide, 1.30 cm high and 1.85 cm wide, 1.65 cm high and 1.51 cm

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Fig. 4. The female figure.

wide, and 1.68 cm high and 1.54 cm wide. The gaps between them are, from left to right respectively, 0.62 cm, 1.55 cm and 0.54 cm. Three of the semi-circles are cut with the same rounded tool as the male figure’s headdress; the fourth, which is second from the left, appears to be cut with the sharper tool used to cut the legs of the male figure. A small incision has been made across the break in the sherd in the second semi-circle from the left (Fig. 5, Ill. 2). 3. discussion I propose that the inscription should be understood to represent two deities to be identified as Yahweh and Asherah, with the male figure, Yahweh, striding over the natural world. In spite of the sherd being dated to the later Iron II period, both figures contain imagery that dates back to the Late Bronze Age. The headdress on the male figure and the pubic triangle on the female are both elements that recall Canaanite imagery as represented in male seated and striding Baal figurines, and female plaque figurines representing the goddesses Asherah, Astarte and/or Anat. In the male figure, the headdress recalls bronze deity figurines of Negbi’s types IVa and Vb, dated from the Middle Bronze Age through to the Early Iron Age (Negbi 1976, 42–43, 50–53, Keel and Uehlinger 1998, 58–60). Examples of this type of headdress are found on figurines from Megiddo Area BB (Loud 1948, pl. 235.23) and Hazor Area B, stratum XI (Yadin et al. 1961, pl. CCCXLVI). The rounded headgear on these figures is distinctive, and while the oval headdress of the inscribed male figure on the Jerusalem sherd is similar, it

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Fig. 5. sherd.

The cut across the break in the

Fig. 6. The edge of the strainer spout.

Fig. 7. Macalister and Duncan’s North Bastion steps, looking northwest, and the small tower to the north, against which the inscribed sherd was found.

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must be noted that this incised decoration is rudimentary, and that it is likely that a generic type of high, rounded headdress is symbolised. The female imagery is even more striking. The naked frontal view with prominent pubic triangle is a definitive element in the second figure, not only identifying it as female, but also clearly harking back to classical Canaanite and early Israelite imagery (Cornelius 2004, 45–48, Keel and Uehlinger 1998, 68, 96–108). Late Bronze II plaque figurines such as those from Lachish (Tufnell 1958, pl. 49:4), Gezer (Dever et al. 1970, pls 25A, 37:11) and Tel Batash (Kelm and Mazar 1995, fig. 4:35, pl. C8) are the most common type of female religious iconography in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages and the most obvious antecedents, but other types (such as those represented on stands and seals and in metal pendants) and from earlier periods also contain this imagery. The pubic triangle itself is notably associated with a goddess ‘Elat’ on a selection of vessels from the Lachish Fosse Temple. On the famous ‘Lachish Ewer’, the goddess’s name appears above a sacred tree flanked by two quadrupeds (Tufnell et al. 1940, 47, frontispiece, pls LI A:287, LX:3), while on a goblet found nearby an almost identical design has the animals flanking not a tree but a pubic triangle (Tufnell et al. 1940, pl. XLVIIA: 229, LIX:2). This interchange between triangle and sacred tree in designs from Lachish and elsewhere has led Hestrin to identify the ‘Elat’ of the Lachish Ewer as well as the pubic triangle itself with the goddess Asherah (1987). The semicircles at the base of the image may be interpreted as clouds or mountains or water, or perhaps they are a generic representation of the natural world, suggesting that the entire image reflects ancient Canaanite imagery that recurs later in Israelite literature such as in Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 33, and Psalms 18, 29 and 77, of Yahweh as Lord of War allied to his status as Lord of Nature (Green 2003, 258–280). The X shape formed by two intersecting lines inside the space between the two figures is intriguing; clearly it may represent a taw sign, but in the absence of any obvious significance it may be more prudent to interpret it simply as a space filler, filling in the open area created by the lines joining the two figures. Another enigmatic aspect of the design is the different tools used to cut the two figures, or at least the difference in the thickness and depth of the lines. It is possible that the lines were deliberately incised in this way to emphasise the different sexes of the two figures, or it may be indicative that two different individuals, one male and one female, worked on the design. In the latter case, this may represent a form of sympathetic magic hitherto undocumented in the religion of ancient Israel. The whole image should be seen as a synecdochical image, where the part represents the whole. In each case only one aspect of the deity is included in each figure that in turn is meant to represent far more. For the male, it is the headgear, a stylized rounded headdress, and nothing else — not a striding posture, not a smiting raised arm, not a regal seated pose. And for the female, there is just the pubic triangle, no breasts, no characteristic Hathor-type hairstyle, no hands grasping lilies, or snakes, no riding on lion- or horseback. It is as if all the imagery once associated with these deities in their iconographic representations has been reduced in each case by the Iron II artist to one single, simple element that is sufficient to identify the figures for those to whom they were important. 3.1 Parallels and precedents Humanoid deity figures with triangular shapes carved into pottery are unprecedented in Iron Age Israel and Judah. However, a review of related images and objects is useful in seeking to understand the meaning of the inscription on the Jerusalem sherd. There is the obvious restriction of the absence of text. While this makes the task difficult, it is legitimate

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to speculate on their identities based on the evidence both from archaeology and the Hebrew Bible. The similarity of the female image to Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age plaque figurines has already been noted. Plaque figurines do trickle into the Iron II period as well, but they are unusual, especially following the fall of Samaria in 720 bce. Three plaque figurine moulds came from Tel Batash stratum III, with the date ‘securely anchored in the 8th century’ (Mazar and Panitz-Cohen 2001, 203), and several figurines came from Ashdod strata VIII to VI, the 8th to 7th centuries and perhaps even the 6th century (Dothan 1971, fig. 64). Outside of the Philistine area, a few plaque figurines came from Megiddo, dated to Strata II and I (May 1935, pl. XXIV), and another came from Tel Ira in the Negev (Beck 1999). It is perhaps noteworthy that both Holland (1995, 168) and Duncan (Macalister and Duncan 1926, 184) note the complete absence of plaque figurines from the Kenyon and P.E.F. excavations respectively in the City of David. Only one plaque figurine fragment has so far been reported from the Hebrew University excavations there, from stratum 16 of the Late Bronze Age II (Gilbert-Peretz 1996, 37, fig. 19:1, pl. 9:10). The triangular shape of the images on the Jerusalem sherd is also unusual, but there are Late Bronze Age antecedents. The most obvious of these comes in the distinctive LB II palm-and-ibex motif, where the decorative motifs contain animals, usually ibexes, which are sometimes painted as opposing triangles. Triangles are also a prominent motif in the geometric friezes that surround some of these vessels. Examples come from both north and south; for example, a chalice from Megiddo stratum VIIA has two ibexes standing against a central palm tree, all three elements based on the triangle motif (Loud 1948, pl. 72:3), and the Lachish Ewer from the Lachish Fosse Temple, dated to the 13th century bce, has, in addition to the famous written dedication and several creatures and palm trees, two complete quadrupeds, an ibex and a fallow deer, whose bodies, like those on the Megiddo chalice, are drawn as two opposing triangles (Tufnell et al. 1940, frontispiece, pls LI A:287, LX:3, Hestrin 1987, 213). While the animals composed of inverted triangles on these LB II vessels bear resemblance to the female figure on the Jerusalem sherd, the male figure also has a Late Bronze Age antecedent from Megiddo where triangles are central to the design. Two sherds from the same area of the mound from two different expeditions have remarkably similar images of warrior figures carrying shields and weapons (Schumacher 1908, pl. 24; Loud 1948, pl. 247.7). The sherd found by the University of Chicago expedition came from stratum VIIA in Area CC, in the south of the mound, and the Schumacher sherd came from the Südliche Burgtor; the areas are so close that Keel and Uehlinger suggest they may be from the same vessel (1998:60), though their different sizes make this unlikely. The Chicago sherd is the neck and head of a zoomorphic object, probably a kernos spout. The Schumacher sherd is much larger, too large to be from a kernos, and the vessel is not identified. For our purposes, the significance of these two sherds is in the outline of the male warrior figures, whose bodies are drawn in the form of an inverted triangle with striding legs, similar to the male figure on the Jerusalem sherd. Unlike our sherd, however, these figures have heads, hair, beards, faces and necks above the triangle, while the face on the Jerusalem sherd is inside the triangle. Another Late Bronze Age antecedent for the male figurine comes from the Egyptian style temple in stratum VI at Lachish, dated to the 13th to 12th centuries bce (Ussishkin 1978, 18, pl. 7.1; 2004, 259–267, figs 6.57, 6.58). A chalk slab, called Stone Slab I, found outside the side (south) entrance to the main hall of the temple, in room 3161, had a carved graffito of a standing deity figure wielding a long spear above his head with both hands. The figure has large eyes, perhaps a long beard, and a high conical headdress with a ribbon extending down from the peak. On another slab, Stone Slab II, from the same locus were two carved

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individual heads, one female and one male. The male head has a similar high conical headdress, but without the ribbons, which appear instead on the female head (Ussishkin 2004, 263–264, fig. 6.59). Keel and Uehlinger have identified the figure as a combination of Canaanite Baal and Egyptian Seth (1998, 76, and illustration 86), while more recently Ussishkin has identified it with Resheph (Ussishkin 2004, 267, following Clamer 2004, 1320). This interpretation has been rejected out of hand by Cornelius (1994, 162–163), who prefers to identify the figure as Baal. Like the bronze deity figurines cited above, the images on Stone Slabs I and II confirm both the centrality of the oval style headdress as a frequent element of male Canaanite deity images, as well as its generic use and inappropriateness for identifying any specific deity. The use of triangles in male figures does not appear in the Iron Age until their appearance in the Jerusalem sherd. 3.2 The case for Asherah The drawings and inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud are critical to any discussion of Iron Age religious imagery. At this site in the Sinai desert excavated by Z. Meshel in 1975 and 1976 (Meshel 1978) and dated to the early 8th century bce, Yahweh and Asherah are famously linked in written inscriptions inked on pithoi and plastered walls. (Beck 1982, Dever 1984, Meshel 1992). These inscriptions contain references to all of El, Baal, Yahweh and Asherah. On the walls, El and Baal are mentioned together in one inscription (Zevit 2001, 372–3735), while Yahweh and Asherah are together in another (Hadley 2000, 130–136, Zevit 2001, 373). On Pithos A drawings of two male Bes figures and a seated female figure playing a lyre are accompanied by an inscription referring to ‘Yahweh of Shomron and Asheratah’ (Hadley 2000, 121–125, 137–152, Zevit 2001, 390), while on Pithos B there were inked drawings of five worshippers and two inscriptions referring to ‘Yahweh Teman and to Asheratah’ (Hadley 2000, 125–129, Zevit 2001, 393–399). While there are indeed many illustrations from the little room at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud that are in association with the written inscriptions, including the Bes figures and the lyre-playing woman, their relationship to and identification with the Yahweh and Asherah referred to in the inscriptions is disputed (Keel and Uehlinger 1998, 240–241, Dever 1994, Hadley 2000, 152, Zevit 2001, 388–389). For the purposes of this study, these inscriptions place on record a clear association of Yahweh and Asherah in the Iron Age II. The users of the caravanserai at Kuntillet ‘Ajrud were probably travellers from Israel and Judah to Egypt or the Red Sea (Meshel 1978). Closer to Jerusalem is the site of Khirbet el-Qôm, south east of Lachish, where a late 8th century inscription was carved into the wall of a burial cave (Dever 1969–70, Zevit 1984, 2001, 359ff, Hadley 2000, 84–105). This short inscription also mentions Yahweh and Asherah (Asheratah) together (Zevit 1984, 39, 2001, 361; but see Hadley 2000,104 [and 77–83], who suggests tentatively that the asherah referred to here is a cultic symbol rather than the goddess herself).6 In addition to the textual evidence for Yahweh and Asherah from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and Khirbet El-Qôm, a widespread religious dualism in Israel and Judah from the tenth century onward is now well documented, with Megiddo, Ta‘anach and Arad being the most prominent sites. At the Judahite fortress of Arad in the northern Negev desert, two incense altars, one large and one small, and two standing stones, one large and one small,7 were excavated in the sacred niche of the Arad temple, destroyed in the late 8th century bce (Herzog 2002, 50, 67). Earlier at Megiddo, in the 10th century bce shrine in room 2081 of stratum VA/IVB, there were several pairs of artefacts with one of the objects larger than the other, including incense altars, standing stones, limestone offering stands and fenestrated stands. The finds at both these sites are evidence of a dualism in the religious practice Iron

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Age Israel and Judah, with two deities being worshipped alongside each other (Gilmour 1995, 59–60; Zevit 2001, 220–225, 247–249, 312–313). The Ta‘anach cult stand excavated by Paul Lapp in 1968 (Lapp 1969, 42) has four tiers representing, alternately, female and male deities (Beck 1994; Zevit 2001, 319–325; Hadley 2000, 69–76). Here too there seems little doubt that the same dualism is represented.8 The many pillar figurines found in late 8th and 7th century sites in Judah add to the evidence for the strong presence of a female deity in the life and religious activities of the Iron II people. Many scholars are content to interpret these figurines as images of the goddess Asherah, small copies for private, domestic use of the larger Asherah pole or tree that evidently resided in the Temple until it was thrown out in the reforms of Josiah described in 2 Kings 23 (Holladay 1987, 276–278, Kletter 1996, 76–77). Other scholars disagree; Keel and Uehlinger note that the verbs used to describe their disposal identify the image as ‘a cultic symbol in the form of a stylized tree’ (1998, 335), while Moorey states that ‘attempts to relate (the pillar figurines) to the . . . symbol of Asherah lack both conviction and any direct justification’, and suggests instead that they represent ‘nurturing’ figures (2003, 60). Context is critical here, and as both Holladay (1987, 276–278) and Kletter (1996, 58–67, fig. 32) have shown, the pillar figurines are found predominantly in private, domestic contexts (see also Dever 2005, 180–181). Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that any differences in appearance may be those of style rather than substance, with the pillar figurines representing small personal representations of a religious concept that took another, related manifestation in the temple itself, and which is there named Asherah in the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, the presence of this dualism in 8th and 7th century religious practice in Judah is supported by many references in the books of the Hebrew Bible to this deity’s unwelcome presence (e.g. 1 Kings 14.15, 23; 2 Kings 17.10, 16; 2 Kings 21.3, 7; 2 Kings 23.4–15; Isaiah 17.8, 27.9; Jeremiah 17.2; Micah 5.14). A distinction has been drawn between the pillar figurines on the one hand, and the Iron Age II ‘naked goddess’ plaques and imagery on the other. The naked goddess in the eighth and seventh centuries appears to be largely confined to Judah’s neighbours. Rather than identify her as Asherah, Keel and Uehlinger suggest that this image represents Astarte (1998, 336). Yet this seems to be an unnecessary distinction. Kletter has shown that the pillar figurines are tightly defined in time and space to Judah in the late 8th and 7th centuries (1996, 43–48). One needs to ask why the same goddess as represented in Judah by the pillar figurines should not be differently represented beyond her borders. Furthermore, the distinction between Asherah and Astarte is perhaps not as well made as some would have, and there is significant evidence that by the Iron Age the roles and identities of the goddesses Asherah and Astarte were being confused, combined and interchanged (Dever 1984, 28–29; Frymer-Kensky 1992, 159; Zevit 2001, 321–324; Hess 2007, 322). The longevity of the pubic triangle motif is further demonstrated by its presence at the Wasta Cave dedicated to Aphrodite near Tyre during the Hellenistic period, where again it is associated with palm trees, recalling Hestrin’s linking of the pubic triangle, the sacred tree and Asherah in the Late Bronze Age (Hestrin 1987, 215, Delcor 1976, 108; see also Hadley 2000, 152–153).9 While the incised sherd from Jerusalem appears to be the first appearance of the pubic triangle motif in Late Iron Age Judah, its appearance in the Wasta Cave shows that the motif and its association with a female deity maintained its significance in the region well beyond the end of the Iron Age.10 In the light of all this evidence, we may agree with Holladay when he says, ‘there is only one major goddess known to Judah during the later part of the Iron II period: the goddess Asherah/Asherata, possibly syncretized with, assuming, or confused with attributes of both ‘Anat and ‘Astarte’ (1987, 278).

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3.3 The case for Yahweh The male image on the Jerusalem sherd may similarly be interpreted in a number of ways, but it appears reasonable to conclude that the most likely candidate is Yahweh. As with the identification of the female figure, the inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qôm are critical in providing textual confirmation that Yahweh and Asherah were worshipped together in the Iron Age II period. Keel and Uehlinger (1998, 349) raise the possibility of oblique references in the Hebrew Bible to the presence of practices that may have been connected to Canaanite El religion (Amos 6.7, Jer. 16.5) or worship of the god Mot, ‘death’ (Isaiah 65.4) but these references contrast with the usual pattern where the biblical authors show little reluctance to call foreign or unwanted gods by their names. Nevertheless, it is possible that such practices continued into 8th and 7th century Judah, where the list of Josiah’s reforms in 2 Kings 23 includes a reference in verse 16 to the destruction of tombs that apparently were the focus of apostatical worship. There are brief references in the Hebrew Bible to Baal and Asherah together in 2 Kings 17.6, 21.3 and 23.4, but there is no evidence from the ground that Baal was being worshipped, let alone as a consort of Asherah, in later Iron Age Judah.11 The reform list in 2 Kings 23 also refers to Molech and Chemosh, the gods of Ammon and Moab. But in all these cases, there is little support in the archaeological record for a central role played by these deities in Judah. The many horse and rider figurines from Judah in the 8th and 7th centuries may be related to a particular male deity, but again the absence of written texts describing them is restrictive. There are several interpretations, but most scholars agree that they have to do with the introduction of Assyrian astral cult (Kenyon 1974, 142; Keel and Uehlinger 1998, 343; see also Holland 1995, 184–187), while Moorey points to their popularity throughout the Middle East in the Iron Age and suggests that they may have no religious significance at all, but rather represent images of mere men and horses (2003, 58–63; see now also Cornelius 2007, who proposes that they represent cavalry). Again, it is the text in 2 Kings 23 that suggests that these objects may have a cultic role, for verse 11 speaks of the king getting rid of horses and chariots of the sun. The presence of discs on many of these horse figurines, with and without riders, suggests that they represent these horses of the sun, though it must be said that there are few chariots among the finds. The images of the two figures on the sherd raise interesting questions about gender identity. While the pubic triangle clearly identifies the figure on the left as female, there is no such determinative identifier on the figure to the right. Nevertheless, there are several good reasons for identifying this figure as male in spite of the absence of a phallus. Perhaps most obvious is the size of the right hand figure, somewhat larger than its counterpart. But more directly, if the smaller figure is clearly identified as a female by the public triangle, what else could the larger figure be except a male? There does not seem to be any other option. If it too was to be female, we could legitimately expect it also to have a pubic triangle, but it does not.12 Indeed, from the waist down it is different in every way to its female counterpart — no second triangle, no pubic triangle, but rather two striding legs. The absence of any specific male genitalia in this figure may, ironically, further support its identification with Yahweh, for as some scholars have noted, Yahweh is portrayed in the Hebrew Bible with both male and female characteristics. Although God is normally represented as male and as a father, there are occasions where maternal imagery is used in portraying God’s compassion, devotion, loyalty and redemption (Frymer-Kensky 1992, 162– 167; Gruber 1992; see also Trible 1978, 31–59). Frymer-Kensky takes this idea further, noting that in spite of the obvious grammatical and sociological presentation of God as male in the Hebrew Bible, nevertheless as God is not human, he is also not male, at least not sexually male, nor is he worshipped for his potency or virility, and, in contrast with male pagan

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deities, he is never portrayed nor described with a penis (Frymer-Kensky 2006, 393–394; see also Baker 2003, 365). It is likely that these concepts were already so fixed in the mind of the 8th century residents of Jerusalem that the artist who carved the sherd represented his male figure as the Yahweh of the Hebrew Bible, clearly male, yet unsexed.13 The overwhelming evidence, then, from both archaeology and the Bible is that there was a well established religious dualism in ancient Judah in the 8th and 7th centuries, and that the two deities involved are best identified as Yahweh and Asherah. This dualism was a significant element in a multi-dimensional religious system during the period of the monarchy that found expression in a variety of ways and where a number of deities were venerated. In the Jerusalem sherd, we have, for the first time, pictorial imagery of twin deities, male and female, from Judah in the Iron Age II. In the light of this evidence, it is legitimate to propose that the two figures on the Jerusalem sherd should be identified with Yahweh and Asherah. 4. conclusion The presence of Asherah as a prominent female deity in 8th and 7th century Israel and Judah, and her association with Yahweh as evidenced by the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and Kh. El-Qôm inscriptions, and now the discovery of these two deity figures on the Jerusalem sherd, all strongly suggest that what has been considered unorthodox or ‘folk religion’ may instead have been the de facto orthodoxy. The biblically defined ‘official’ religion centred in the Jerusalem temple, whatever we may be tempted to think from the biblical account, indeed whatever the biblical authors may have tried to convey, may not have been the main event after all, nor the primary form of belief or religious exercise. In point of fact, a close reading of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible shows that during the reigns of Hezekiah, Manasseh and much of the reign of Josiah what have been considered as non-conformist practices so invaded and took over the temple cult that only a radical root and branch reform under Josiah, aided by the decline of Assyria as a regional power, was able to force a change (Cogan and Tadmor 1988, 293–302, Sweeney 2001, 40–63, 2007, 432–450). Whether this reform was a reversion to a past purity or the attempted development of a new orthodoxy centred in the worship of Yahweh alone is the subject of another debate. What can be said is that as the archaeological evidence proliferates it seems ever more clear that the unorthodox was in fact the orthodox, that folk religion as it has been called was instead the religion of folk, and that for much of the period of the divided monarchy the temple and its promoters were not champions but mere players in this unorthodox orthodoxy. The incised sherd from Jerusalem adds much to this debate. If it is correct to conclude that the figures indeed represent Yahweh and Asherah, then in addition to being the first pictorial representation of these two deities together, this is also the earliest picture of Yahweh ever found. It is important to stress that the size of the sherd and its inscription indicates that this was a privately owned and used object. Unlike the contemporary pillar figurines that may have been copies to some extent of the Asherah image in the temple, the figures on the sherd reflect the concepts of these deities held by the inscriber of the sherd. Aniconic restrictions on images of the deity notwithstanding, whoever carved and owned the sherd had a concept of Yahweh and Asherah that is here portrayed pictorially. That the images so obviously preserve critical elements of much earlier Canaanite deities tells us a good deal about the development of Israelite religion, the ongoing influence of elements of Canaanite culture in ancient Israel, and the ability of long-standing traditions to reach through time and regenerate themselves in new circumstances.

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notes the two small incense altars were used together in the shrine before being put out of commission and plastered over at the same time to be replaced by the single, red painted stela with no accompanying altars (2001, 166–167). 8 C. Uehlinger has drawn attention to a terracotta object originally published by J. Jeremias (Jeremias 1993; Uehlinger 1997,149-152) that was purchased on the Jerusalem antiquities market and is consequently of dubious provenance and authenticity. However, Uehlinger accepts that the object is genuine, and that it probably came from the Judean hill country and should be dated to the 8th or early 7th century bc. The imagery is not clear, but Jeremias and Uehlinger agree that it consists of two figures on a raised platform and leaning against a back wall or plate, and flanked by three partly preserved animals that may have been lions or sphinxes. The larger figure, almost in the middle, appears to be a seated bearded male, while the other, smaller figure is possibly a standing female, alongside and off centre. Jeremias suggested that the object was either a throne or possibly a chariot, and identified the male figure with Baal Hammon. Uehlinger demurs, proposing instead that its appearance as well as the date and provenance of the object, if they can be trusted, beg the conclusion that it represents ‘an 8th century figural representation of “Yahweh and his Asherah”’ (1997, 151). I am grateful to Izak Cornelius for drawing my attention to Uehlinger’s paper. 9 Hestrin refers to A. Beaulieu and A. Mouterde (1947-48), ‘La grotte d’Astarté à Wasta’, Mélanges de l’Université St. Joseph, 27, 1-20, which I was not able to see before this paper went to press; the Wasta Cave is referred to by Delcor (1976, 108). 10 The use of the triangle motif in the symbol of Phoenician Tanit, a variant of Asherah, may also be relevant. 11 There is evidence from 7th century Tel MiqneEkron, in Philistia, that both Baal and Asherah (Asherat) were worshipped in the same religious complex at the site (Gitin and Cogan 1999), though it has not been demonstrated that they were worshipped as a deity couple. 12 What appears to be a triangle at the inverted apex of the male figure is not in fact so; it was created by the inner lines of the two legs and the inverted apex of the triangular torso, so that it is clearly outside and not part of the body of the male figure. 13 I am grateful to Ziony Zevit for drawing my attention to these concepts, and to these references.

1 I am grateful to the trustees of the P.E.F. for giving me access to the material from the excavation, and for permission to publish it. I am also grateful to the Shelby White-Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications for financial support, and to the Dept of Old Testament at the University of Stellenbosch. My thanks are due to Felicity Cobbing, Sy Gitin, Izak Cornelius and an anonymous reviewer for advice on different aspects of this paper, and to Dylan Karges of the Cobb Institute at Mississippi State University for the drawings. 2 Analysis of the sherd is to be conducted by the British Museum, and will be published in the final report. 3 There is no description of the decoration of the jug from Tell Beit Mirsim, only a rather uninformative drawing which shows no decoration. 4 De Groot and Ariel have challenged Eshel’s dating, preferring to raise the date to the 8th century (De Groot and Ariel 2000, 94). 5 The literature on the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions is enormous; I have cited Zevit 2001 and Hadley 2000 but they are representative of scores of other possible references. 6 The Khirbet el-Qôm inscription is notoriously difficult to decipher; Dever’s original transcription and translation (1969-70, 159) did not include the reference to Asherah, and Zevit changed his reading between his 1984 paper and his 2001 book. However, it is now widely agreed that both Yahweh and Asherah are included in the inscription. 7 The evidence for the standing stones in the niche is confusing due to the disagreement in the different reports. What seems likely is that three standing stones were found in the Arad shrine, one with traces of faded red paint lying in the debris in the niche, and two others of flint plastered into the walls of the niche. In the pictures in Herzog 1997, illustrations 46, 50, one of the flint stelae is visible in the northwest corner of the niche, built into the wall with its base apparently resting on the low platform, while the second flint stela was in the wall to the right of the entrance to the niche, visible in Herzog et al. 1984, fig 24. The large stela lying in the debris in Herzog 1997, illustrations 33 and 46, and in Herzog et al. 1984, fig 24 was placed upright against the wall in the middle of the niche for the photographs in Herzog 1997, illustration 50 and Herzog et al. 1984: fig. 7 (Herzog 1997, 191-195; Herzog et al. 1984, 7; figs 7, 24; Aharoni 1993, 83-84). Yohanan Aharoni was originally of the opinion that the two flint stelae had gone out of use and been plastered into the walls (Herzog 1997, 192), a proposal taken up by Zevit who states that the two flint stelae and

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