Topics Discussed in History’s Vanquished Goddess: ASHERAH

I – Pre-Late Bronze Age                    pre-1550 BCE
-6,000-year-old figurine of Asherah/Ashtoreth as “Goddess of Flocks and Milk”
-Asherah/tree image discovered in Early Bronze Age shrine
-Asherah/Asratum’s name on 4,000-year-old Nippur god-list
-Babylonian First Dynasty name translated as “Asherah/Asratum is my mother”
-Asherah/Asratum/Ashratum’s ancient titles of “Bride of the King of Heaven,”  “Lady of the  
          Desert Plateau,” “Lady of the Steppe/Grassy Meadowland” and “Goddess of Animals” 
-King Hammurabi dedication to Asherah/Ashratum
-Palestinian crowned “Serpent God” (actually “Serpent Goddess”)
-Rabbinic tradition attributing menstruation to Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden
-Cylinder seal depicting Asherah as a winged “Lion Goddess” 

II – Late Bronze Age I & II               ~1550-1200 BCE
-Palestinian Creatress Goddess figurine personifying “Mother Goddess” Asherah
-Asherah/Astarte/Salmanitu and El/Shalem, the original deities worshipped at Urusalem/    
          modern Jerusalem
-Ugarit tablets identify Asherah/Athirat as the “Nursing Mother of the Gods,” “Lady who
          Treads on the Sea,”  “Goddess” and “Qudsu” (meaning “Holiness”)
-Asherah’s Proto-Sinaitic epithet, “the One of the Serpent” 
-a “Wizard of Asherah” tells fortunes at Taanach oracle
-Asherah is Yahweh’s mother
-lunar, calendar date of “Finger of Asherah/Ashirat”
-Jewish worship of Asherah/Astarte personified as the Moon
-Asherah defined as Aegean “Great Mother Goddess” and “Vital Force of Nature” 
-Amorite king identifes himself at the “Servant of Asherah/Asirta” 
-Asherah as a Sacred Tree, the symbol of earth’s procreative and nurturing power

III – Qdš  Configurations                   ~1550-1200 BCE
-Asherah/Qdš identified as “Queen of Heaven”
-biblical “Queen of Heaven” personifies moon as epiphany of goddess 
-Palestinian seal depicting the “Savior and Healing Goddess” Asherah/Astarte/Ishtar
-Egyptian stela identifying Asherah within a Holy Trinity
-Asherah coalesces with Egyptian goddess 
Qdš    
-Palestinian plaques depict Asherah as “Vine and Vegetative Prosperity Goddess” 
-Palestinian Nature Goddess is identified as a “Sacred Harlot” 
-antiquity’s “sacred prostitutes” included males
-gold pendant of Asherah depicted as the “Queen of Heaven” and “Goddess of Animals”
-Asherah/Qdš/Ashtoreth portrayed as gold-foiled “Lady Godiva”
-Syrian-Palestinian goddess as “Creator of Vegetation & Life Itself”  

IV – Iron Ages I, IIA & IIB                ~1200-800 BCE
-ceremonial, religious shrines reference Asherah
-“intentionally buried asherah” discovered at the earliest Israelite worship site
-Asherah is Eve
-Asherah is depicted twice on a 4-tiered, religious Taanach temple stand
-Hebraic Wisdom is metaphorically identified as a “Sacred Tree of Life,” i.e. Asherah
-Palestinian temple model shrines are dedicated to, and depict, Asherah
-double-throned, Palestinian temple model shrine worships Asherah with a companion
          god or goddess
-Palestinian family’s Asherah figurine as “Protective Goddess” 
-Judean pillar figurines personify Asherah as “Protective Mother Goddess of Life and
          Sustenance” 

V – Kuntillet Ajrud                             ~830-760 BCE
-Asherah is paired with Yahweh, four times, on three different Hebrew blessing inscriptions  
          at Kuntillet Ajrud
-if there was no wife, who was Yahweh divorcing in biblical text?
-prayer dedicated to Asherah/Asherata
-Asherah’s sacred tree is precursor to maypole
-Asherah is depicted as a sacred tree, flanked by ibexes, above her signature lion on
          Kuntillet Ajrud pithos (storage jar)
-Asherah and Yahweh are portrayed as a divine bovine couple

VI – Iron Age IIC                                ~800-586 BCE
-Old Testament pillar figurines personify the generative life-force of the “Mother Goddess,  
          Asherah” 
-Jerusalem burial tomb headrests bestow goddess blessing upon the deceased
-a pomegranate scepter head from the temple of Asherah, Baalath or Yahweh?
-Asherah is paired with Yahweh, three times, on a Khirbet el Qom, Israelite blessing
          inscription
-the menorah is a personification of Asherah
-Yahweh is his “Anat and Asherah” 
-Asherah is depicted as a Palestinian, Hebrew “Queen of Heaven” 
-Hebrew seal portrays Asherah with Yahweh
-Ekron dedicatory temple inscriptions to Asherah
-220-pound stone temple inscription seeking Asherah’s blessing and protection
-childbirth prayer to Asherah as the “Goddess of Fertility”
-Asherah deleted from biblical Genesis childbirth

VII – Babylonian Period & Beyond         ~586 BCE +
-Gaza coin depicting Asherah/Astarte/Anat and Yahweh
-Sharon Plain shrine statue and Asherah dedication
-religious stone throne with Asherah dedication
-votive temple offerings to Asherah at Akko/Acco
-Yahwistic king presenting offerings to “His” goddess
-libation vessels ordered for Asherah and her sanctuary 
-dedicatory Asherah and Astarte temple inscription
-asherah pillars and sacred trees as “source of life” personifications
-Asherah’s signature as evidence in a priest’s witchcraft trial

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