The Many Faces of the Goddess: The Iconography of the Syro-Palestinian Goddesses Anat, Astarte ...

320 Pages·2017·27.36 MB·English

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Year: 2008
The Many Faces of the Goddess: The Iconography of the Syro-Palestinian
Goddesses Anat, Astarte, Qedeshet, and Asherah c. 1500-1000 BCE
Cornelius, Izak
Abstract: The goddesses of ancient Syro-Palestine have recently received detailed attention. This study
attempts to make a contribution to the iconography of Anat, Astarte, Asherah and Qedeshet in the
period 1500-1000 BCE. Because Anat and Astarte were closely related, and it is sometimes argued that
Qedeshet was a mere epithet of the goddess Asherah, these goddesses need to be studied together. It is
arguedthatitispossibletodifferentiatebetweenthesegoddessesandthatQedeshetwasanindependent
goddess with her own iconography. The main iconographic types (armed, seated, standing, equestrian,
naked woman with objects) are discussed, attributes compared, items identified with a specific goddess,
and an iconographic typology established. Like Astarte, Anat was depicted armed and Astarte is also
shownonhorseback. ThewomanholdingobjectsisidentifiedasQedeshet. Thisbookpresentsadetailed
catalogueofitemsrelatedtothesegoddesses,withphotographsandcomparativedrawings. Thecatalogue
has been updated for this second, slightly revised edition.
Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich
ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-138019
Monograph
Published Version
Originally published at:
Cornelius, Izak (2008). The Many Faces of the Goddess: The Iconography of the Syro-Palestinian
GoddessesAnat, Astarte, Qedeshet, andAsherahc. 1500-1000BCE.Fribourg, Switzerland/Göttingen,
Germany: Academic Press / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht.
Cornelius The Many Faces of the Goddess
ORBIS B¡BLICUS ET ORIENTALIS
Published on behalf of the BIBLE+ORIENT Foundation
in co-operation with
the Department of Biblical Studies, University of Fribourg (Switzerland),
the Egyptological lnstitute, University of Basel,
the lnstitute of Archaeology, Near Eastern section, University of Berne,
the Department of Religious Studies, University of Zurich,
and the Swiss Society for Ancient Near Eastern Studies
by
Susanne Bickel, Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger
Author
lzak (Sakkie) Cornelius is a South African and studied Theology and
Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Universities of Stellenbosch and
Tübingen. He was born in Stellenbosch in 1958. After completing his
D.Litt. (Stellenbosch 1985) he became a Lecturer at Stellenbosch Univer-
sity (1986) and a Professor in Ancient Studies (1999). He spent sabbaticals
at the Universities of Fribourg (1989-1990), Heidelberg (1996) and
Tübingen (2002-2003).
Orbis B¡bl¡cus et Orientalis 204
lzak Cornelius
Many
The Faces
of the Coddess
The lconography of the Syro-Palestinian
Goddesses Anat, Astarte, Qedeshet, and
Asherah c. 1500-1 000 BCE
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Academic Press Fribourg
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Cött¡ngen
Thefinancial assistanceof the National Research Foundation (NRF)towardsthis research is
hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the
author and are not to be attributed to the National Research Foundation.
The publication of this book was subsidized by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Camera-ready text submitted by the author.
@ 2004 by Academic Press Fribourg / Faulusverlag Freiburg Schweiz
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Cöttingen
2008 Second enlarged Edition
Fabrication: lmprimerie Saint-Paul Fribourg Switzerland
ISBN: 3-7278-1485-3 (Academic Press Fribourg)
ISBN: 3-525-53061-7 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht)
ISSN: 1015-1850 (Orb. biblicus orient.)
Vir Magna …

dk nam ant namh
km tsm aTtrt tsmh
(CAT 1.14:III:41-42)

“Wie se sjarme is soos die sjarme van Anat,
Wie se skoonheid is soos die skoonheid van Astarte”

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The 2004 edition of “The many faces” was sold out in 2007. I want to
thank the editors of OBO for their willingness to publish a second edition.
Some corrections and additions are included in the CORRIGENDA ET
ADDENDA on pages 209-216 (with an additional Bibliography of works
cited). Plate 5.5 was replaced with a better quality photograph, and plate
4.4b and figure 55 were added.

This research was undertaken with the financial assistance of the German
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the South African Human Sciences
Research Council (now National Research Foundation) and the University
of Stellenbosch during a sabbatical in Heidelberg Germany (1996). Further
financial support from the Humboldt Foundation, the University of
Stellenbosch, and the University of Tübingen enabled me to complete the
manuscript in Tübingen in 2002-2003. A word of thanks is expressed to my
hosts in Heidelberg (Jan Assmann and Manfred Weippert) and Tübingen
(Siegfried Mittmann and Herbert Niehr).
Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger (Fribourg) are thanked for
their continuous support and advice and for accepting the manuscript for
OBO. For technical assistance Juerg Eggler (Fribourg) is also thanked. A
baie dankie is expressed to my assistants René Fourie and André Mouton
(Stellenbosch) for drawing the maps and helping with the editing, to my
children Elnalene and Pieter-Willem for help with the illustrations and to
my wife Magna for her contagiously positive moral support.
In addition to the people who supplied information and the
museums that supplied photographs (see list of sources and credits on pp.
205-207), the following people are especially thanked: Nigel Strudwick
(British Museum), Baruch Brandl (IAA) and Osnat Misch-Brandl (Israel
Museum).
Papers on the goddess Qedeshet were read at the Research
Colloquium of the Institute of Egyptology in Heidelberg (1996) and at the
annual conference of the SA Society for Semitics (1997). Preliminary
results were published in articles (Cornelius 1999 and 2000). A research
report Die visuele voorstelling van die Siro-Palestynse godinne Asjera,
Anat, Astarte en Qedesjet in die Laat Brons en Vroeë Ystertyd periodes
(circa 1500-1000 v.C.) (1998) was submitted to the South African Centre
for Scientific Development of the Human Sciences Research Council (now
National Research Foundation). An Oberseminar (with Herbert Niehr) on
the theme was presented at the University of Tübingen (January 2003) and
papers read at the University of Mainz (H-J Stipp and W Zwickel, May
2003) and at the AT Sozietät of the University of Tübingen (W Gross, May
2003).
ABBREVIATIONS

A = Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Aleppo = Aleppo Museum
ANE = Ancient Near East
Berlin = Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Berlin
BM EA = British Museum Egyptian Antiquities, London
DeM = Deir el-Medina
EC = Egyptian Museum, Cairo
IAA = Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
IA = Iron Age
IM = Israel Museum, Jerusalem
L = Museé du Louvre, Paris
LB = Late Bronze Age
MB = Middle Bronze Age
M = Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
OIC = Oriental Institute, Chicago
RJ = Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem
SM = Sammlung Michaélidis, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung,
Berlin
T = Museo Egizio di Torino
UC = University College, London (Petrie Collection)
UM = University Museum, Philadelphia
VA = Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin