TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents....................................................................................................v Preface to the Second Edition..............................................................................xi Preface to the 1993 Edition.................................................................................xv Acknowledgments...............................................................................................xvii Abbreviations........................................................................................................xxi 1 Preliminary Considerations and Review of Previous Scholarship..........1 Introduction ....................................................................................................1 Method.............................................................................................................3 The Primacy of the Ugaritic Information on Athirat ...............................4 Review of the State of Scholarship..............................................................7 M. B. Brink ....................................................................................................10 W. Louie.........................................................................................................13 V. L. Piper......................................................................................................15 J. M. Hadley...................................................................................................16 M. S. Smith ....................................................................................................17 M. Dietrich and O. Loretz ..........................................................................19 Iconography ..................................................................................................22 2 Athirat in the Elimelek Tablets of Ugarit.................................................25 Keret ( KTU 1.14-1.16)................................................................................25 The Baal Cycle (KTU 1.1-6)........................................................................33 Baal and Yam ................................................................................................34 The Palace of Baal........................................................................................42 Baal and Mot .................................................................................................75 Conclusions ...................................................................................................83 3 Other Ugaritic Texts Referring to Athirat................................................85 Shachar and Shalim and Mythological Fragments ..................................86 Shachar and Shalim (KTU 1.23).................................................................86 KTU 1.8..........................................................................................................92 KTU 1.12........................................................................................................92 KTU 1.114......................................................................................................94 v vi A REASSESSMENT OF ASHERAH RIH 78/20.....................................................................................................96 Texts associated with Ritual........................................................................98 KTU 1.39........................................................................................................98 KTU 1.41 and 1.87 .......................................................................................99 KTU 1.46 and 1.65 .....................................................................................101 KTU 1.49......................................................................................................102 KTU 1.112....................................................................................................102 KTU 1.47, 1.118 and 1.148........................................................................103 Conclusions .................................................................................................103 4 Old Testament Asherah ............................................................................105 Preliminary Considerations.......................................................................105 The Pentateuch...........................................................................................113 Exodus 34.13...............................................................................................113 Deuteronomy 7.5........................................................................................114 Deuteronomy 12.3 .....................................................................................115 Deuteronomy 16.21 ...................................................................................116 The Deuteronomistic History: Judges ....................................................118 Judges 3.7.....................................................................................................118 Judges 6. 25-30............................................................................................118 The Deuteronomistic History: Kings......................................................122 1 Kings 14.15 ..............................................................................................123 1 Kings 14.23 ..............................................................................................124 1 Kings 15.13 // 2 Chronicles 15.16.......................................................124 1 Kings 16.33 ..............................................................................................127 1 Kings 18.19 ..............................................................................................127 2 Kings 13.6.................................................................................................129 2 Kings 17.10 ..............................................................................................129 2 Kings 17.16 ..............................................................................................130 2 Kings 18.4.................................................................................................130 2 Kings 21.3.................................................................................................132 2 Kings 21.7.................................................................................................133 Josiah’s Reform: 2 Kings 23.4–15............................................................134 Summary of the Deuteronomistic References.......................................137 The Chronicler’s References.....................................................................138 2 Chronicles 14.2 (Eng. 3).........................................................................139 2 Chronicles 15.16......................................................................................140 2 Chronicles 17.6........................................................................................140 2 Chronicles 19.3........................................................................................141 2 Chronicles 24.18......................................................................................141 2 Chronicles 31.1........................................................................................141 TABLE OF CONTENTS vii 2 Chronicles 33.3........................................................................................142 2 Chronicles 33.19......................................................................................142 2 Chronicles 34.3, 4 and 7.........................................................................143 The Prophetic References.........................................................................144 Isaiah 17.8....................................................................................................144 Isaiah 27.9....................................................................................................145 Jeremiah 17.2...............................................................................................146 Micah 5.13 (Eng. 14)..................................................................................146 Rabbinic Sources ........................................................................................148 Conclusions .................................................................................................149 5 Mesopotamian, Hittite and South Arabian Evidence...........................151 Sumero-Akkadian Evidence .....................................................................152 Sumerian Votive Inscription.....................................................................155 God Lists .....................................................................................................159 AN = Anum.................................................................................................159 The Weidner List........................................................................................160 Nippur God List (CBS 13889) .................................................................161 The Series Tintir = Bābilu.........................................................................162 Cylinder Seals ..............................................................................................163 Ritual