Author: Johanna Stuckey, PhD
Beltane 2007, Vol 6-3
From the Archives of MatriFocus
A Cross-Quarterly Web Magazine for Goddess Women Near & Far
Discover More: “ASWM Presents MatriFocus”

A somewhat damaged Rangda in her most ferocious pose, her foot on a stone carved with sea waves. Time has removed some of the paint, and her left hand has lost its long nails. Painted stone or wood (?). Bali, probably in the Archaeological Museum.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Charlé 1990: 119

There is no ignoring Rangda.[1] Her appearance is shocking, terrifying. Her huge eyes protrude, her large breasts are pendulous, and her long red tongue hangs down her body almost to her knees. She has a mouth full of big teeth and curving fangs, her fingernails are extended to pointed claws, and her unkempt mop of gray hair hangs down her back.[2] According to her reputation, she likes to eat children, cause disease and pestilence, and lead of a horde of witches (Leeming 2005: 335). Today she is identified as an evil and vicious demon queen, but perhaps originally she was a goddess.

When I was a tourist in Bali some years ago, I met Rangda for the first time and have been fascinated with her ever since. All eyes focused on Rangda as she emerged from the inner part of the temple about a third of the way through the Barong dance, an exciting Balinese ritual drama (Charlé 1990: 66-67). The dance I attended at a village temple was shortened for tourists, but that did not change Rangda’s charisma (Charlé 1990: 64-65). There was no doubt that she was power: electrifying, dangerous, and otherworldly.

The Barong ritual drama focuses on the ongoing battle between good and evil; in this case, the evil Rangda versus the good Barong (Edge 2007: 10 of 21). The Barong I saw was a somewhat silly-looking dragon-lion with a prominent and ornate feathery tail.[3] Though not obviously sexed, he is understood as male, whereas Rangda is always female and human.[4] Both are wielders of powerful magic. The Barong protects villages from plague and malicious magic, whereas usually Rangda menaces them with both. At the rite I witnessed, Rangda was explicitly associated with the Hindu goddess Durga, who was presented as the personification of evil. In another explanation, she was once an eleventh-century queen, exiled after using witchcraft against her husband’s second wife (Charlé 1990: 30-31). Becoming Rangda, she exacted revenge by causing a plague that killed half the inhabitants of the realm. Whatever her origin, Rangda is an independent and autonomous female who makes me think about the demonization of earlier deities by later cultures.[5]

Rangda, with huge protruding eyes, unkempt long hair, prominent fangs, sharp nails, and lolling tongue. From Bali. Painted wood. Dating 1800-1900 C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after photograph on the web site Flickr.

While the Barong is a benevolent forest creature, Rangda belongs to the dark, to graveyards and, most of all, to the sea. Bali’s good spirits inhabit the heights, on or close to the sacred Mount Agung. The people live in the world between, in which they maintain the balance between good and evil by daily offerings and frequent rituals. Bali’s evil spirits, on the other hand, infest the lower areas of the island, the lowest being the demonic sea (Edge 2007: 9, 17 of 21).

Rangda is associated with the sea, which most Balinese fear (Charlé 1990: 134). Perhaps the demon Rangda resulted from a Balinese Hindu reworking of an aboriginal sea goddess, as did a few other popular Balinese figures (Leeming 2005: 44). She is clearly more divine than mortal, for, although the Barong always defeats her, she never dies. In addition, in some parts of the island she has a beneficial side, like Kali and Durga, with whom she is often connected. It is not hard to see her as crone goddess who has been turned into witch.

Ancient Mesopotamia had many demons, among them a female and a male monster, one of whose stories presents a pattern eerily similar to that of Rangda and the Barong. The dog-faced male demon Pazuzu was the only one who could control the fierce female demon Lamashtu and force her to return to the Underworld.

Amulet from Mesopotamia. The back of the object shows the body of the male demon Pazuzu, his head peering over the top at the front. At the bottom left, Pazuzu drives Lamashtu back to the Underworld, to which she is lured by offerings. She is standing on her donkey, and both are in her boat on the river to the Underworld. She holds snakes and suckles the usual animals. The registers above show a sick person being attended by healers and protective beings, just above a row of protective spirits, and at the top the symbols of the main Babylonian deities. Bronze. 13.3 cms high. Dating to around 625-539 B.C.E.).
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Black and Green 2003: 181.

Great is the daughter of Heaven [the god Anu] who tortures babies,
Her hand is a net, her embrace is death.
She is cruel, raging, angry, predatory…
She touches the bellies of women in labor
She pulls out the pregnant women’s baby
The daughter of Heaven is one of the Gods, her brothers
With no child of her own.
Her head is a lion’s head
Her body is a donkey’s body
She roars like a lion
She constantly howls like a demon-dog.[6]

Like most Mesopotamian demons, Lamashtu, daughter of the supreme sky god Anu, was divine, but held a rank below that of most deities. Demons lived in graveyards, wastelands, and deserts. They were agents of the main deities and either helped or hindered humans. There were large numbers of them, especially bad or evil ones (Leick 1998: 30-31). Demons did not often occur in the mythology of Mesopotamia, but they abounded in magical texts and incantations. They were responsible for diseases and other afflictions, usually at the instructions of a deity. However, most demons could be either malevolent or beneficent. Those known by name had particular functions: for example, Pashittu’s job was to carry off babies. Pazuzu was ruler of wind demons. As her main task, Lamashtu attacked babies (Stol 2000: 224; Riley in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 236-237).

As depicted in Mesopotamian iconography, Babylonian Lamashtu (Sumerian Dimme) was a pale, ashen monster, her hairy body covered in blood. At her naked, drooping breasts, a black dog (or wolf) and a pig suckled. She dangled snakes from her long clawed fingers and fingernails. Her feet had the cruel talons of a predatory bird, and she had a lion or eagle head and the teeth of a dog or a donkey. Her sacred animal was the donkey, and she sailed the river of the Underworld in her own boat.

Independent and dangerous, Lamashtu was not only disrespectful, but she had a bad disposition. So her father threw her out of heaven (Stol 2000: 225). She proceeded to do evil on her own accord without instructions from other deities. Although she caused fevers and chills and killed adult men and women with diseases and plague, her particular malevolence was the provoking of miscarriages and the killing or kidnapping of newborns. She also tore babies from the womb to suckle them with poison. Complicated magic, rituals, and incantations could ward her off (Leick 1998:110). Further, amulets of the head of Pazuzu protected pregnant women against Lamashtu. Some plaques show Pazuzu in the process of forcing her back to the Underworld (Black and Green 2003:115-116; Wiggermann 2000; 244).

Lion-headed Lamashtu, holding snakes and with pig and dog at her breasts. On one side there is a lamp, on the other a human head. On the back is a magical incantation. Yellow alabaster. Dating from around 605-562 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Pritchard 1969: 215, Plate 657.

The Babylonian Lilitu, a wind spirit, was another female demon against whom Pazuzu was very effective (Black and Green 2003: 118). The Lilitu belonged to a group of demons with similar traits, especially their sexual appetites.[7] Their name derives from the Sumerian word lil, meaning “air, spirit.” They haunted the open spaces and deserts. They were sexually predatory, but incapable of “normal” sexual activity. The Lilitu could not give birth or suckle a child, and she threatened pregnant women and infants. It was a Lilitu that made its home in the trunk of Inanna’s huluppu tree and refused to leave.[8] This demon might be the origin of the Jewish child-stealer and temptress Lilith (Black and Green 2003: 118; Patai 1990: 221-222).[9]

So-called Lilith, but actually Inanna/Ishtar. She wears the multi-horned headdress of a great deity and, by analogy with the better-known but similar “Burney plaque” (Patai 1990: Figure 31), probably held in her hands symbols of power. She has wings and taloned feet and stands between two goat-like animals. Terracotta relief. Dating to about 2000 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Gray 1982: 71.

Known from Jewish writings of the Talmudic period (second-fifth centuries C.E.) and later, Lilith was responsible for barrenness in women and impotence in men. Like Lamashtu, she also was a child-stealer. Because of a popular association of her name with layla, the Hebrew word for “night,” Lilith was pictured as a demon of darkness. There is one possible reference to Lilith in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Isaiah 34:14, where she inhabited a desolate wasteland.

According to later Jewish legend, Lilith, who had long hair and wings, was Adam’s first wife. The pair quarreled over Adam’s wanting sexual superiority over her. She said, “Why should you be on top when we are equals?” Then Lilith spoke the deity’s magic name and flew away to the Red Sea area, where she bore innumerable demon children and started her malevolent career (Leeming 2005: 239; Patai 1990: 223-224). Against her, people needed amulets and used invocations (Hutter in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 520-521).

Aramaic incantation bowl from Iraq (Babylonia) with a sketch of Lilith in the center and a magical text around it. Lilith appears partly dressed, and her long hair hangs free. She seems to have small wings, and her ankles are chained, as the incantation intends. Dates from around 600 C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Patai 1990: figure 33.

One of the methods of dealing with Lilith and other demons was demonstrated in a group of Jewish “incantation bowls” found at Nippur in Mesopotamia and dating to the sixth century C.E. Several bowls dealt with Lilith (Patai 1990: 225, Plates 32, 33). A rough sketch of Lilith appears on the bottom inside of a couple of the bowls. Incantation texts accompanying the sketch tell us a good deal about the role of Lilith in Jewish popular religion. Lilith seduced men, did everything she could to prevent births, and killed children (Patai 1990: 225).

In Jewish popular belief of the Middle Ages, Lilith was the devil or his grandmother and also mother of witches and witchcraft (Patai 1990: 221-254). Eventually, in the Jewish mystical or Kabalistic tradition, which began in the Middle Ages, she became “queenly consort at God’s side” (Patai 1990: 221). Demonic nature notwithstanding, it is clear that Lilith was also divine.

Another ancient demonized female, the Greek Medusa, provides an illuminating counterpoint to the demons already discussed. Unlike Rangda, Lamashtu, and Lilith, the Gorgon Medusa was mortal, though her sister Gorgons, Sthenno and Euryale, were immortal. According to one story, Medusa was a beautiful young woman whom the goddess Athena changed into a monster because Poseidon raped Medusa in one of Athena’s temples. To punish her, Athena made her hair into writhing snakes, and afterwards her face was so hideous that it turned to stone any man who looked at her. She was eventually decapitated by the Greek hero Perseus. From her wound sprang the giant Khrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, their father being sea god Poseidon. Thus motherhood came to Medusa only after death (Graves 1988: 127, 129; Leeming 2005: 158-159, 256).

A guardian or warding-off (apotropaic) Medusa in kneeling warrior pose, with sword and shield, her hand on a lion. Around her waist two snakes are looped. She has large protruding eyes and curly hair, and her tongue lolls out of her mouth. The ancient Greeks used statues and masks (gorgoneia) of Medusa to protect temples and on warriors’ shields. Thus she too had a beneficent side, but only after she was dead! Clay. Source unknown.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, from image provided by JBL Statues to the Pantheon web site www.pantheon.org

Winged Gorgon/Medusa with curly locks and protruding tongue. She has large protruding eyes and fangs and is in a warrior pose. Her son, the winged horse Pegasus, is under her left arm. Painted marble. Sixth century B.C.E. From the pediment of the temple at Syracuse in Sicily.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Gadon 1989: Plate 1.

One tradition has it that Medusa and her sisters were daughters of Phorkys, a king of Libya in North Africa. Medusa succeeded her father as ruler. She fought battles to protect her country and was killed when her army encountered invading Greek troops led by Perseus (Graves 1988: 242, 244). Some say she was an Amazon queen and led an Amazon army. Barbara Walker describes her as “the serpent-goddess of the Libyan Amazons” and says that Athena was originally “the same goddess” (1983: 629).

These female demons from different cultures have much in common, and their commonalities reflect male-dominated societies’ disapproval of females of the uppity sort, as well as implicit approval for their opposite, the feminine, biddable wives and daughters. The demons are all physically hideous. All are anti-mothers in one way or another, and all are childless or give birth in abnormal ways. All are dangerous and threaten humans with both diseases and death. All live in exile or, at least, are distanced from the cultures that produced them. All, eventually even the dead Medusa, partake to some extent of deity. All are independent of men and to a large extent autonomous. Finally, all are brought under control by males.

All possess characteristics that undermine or challenge male-dominated societies. War-like societies such as those of Mesopotamia could find a use for Inanna/Ishtar’s warrior characteristics. So she became a war goddess, while her sexual self became a goddess of love. Thus divided, she was less of a threat to a developing patriarchy. Demonizing the dangerous elements of a minor goddess performed a similar function, and it also provided a scapegoat for when things went wrong, as they always would. Perhaps at one time Rangda was a sea goddess, who became evil because of where she came from. It seems likely that Lamashtu and Lilith were once minor deities who both caused infant death and disease and protected against them.[10] And Medusa — what do we make of her? Certainly male-dominated society co-opted her “malevolence” to serve its burgeoning state. Her snaky head became a powerful warding-off or apotropaic device on shields and on temples and other buildings to be protected. Such analysis is not new, I know, but I am surprised to find that it applies just as neatly to Balinese culture as it does to cultures that fed into ours. Still, perhaps this shouldn’t surprise me.

Notes

Bibliography

Graphics Credits

Contributors retain the copyright to their work; please do not take art or words without permission. Other graphics and reference materials are used and attributed as per the Fair Use Provision of The Copyright Act and individual terms of use.

Author: Johanna Stuckey, PhD
Lammas 2006, Vol 5-4
From the Archives of MatriFocus
A Cross-Quarterly Web Magazine for Goddess Women Near & Far
Discover More: “ASWM Presents MatriFocus”

(Left) Omega symbol as main motif on small scarab-shaped seal amulet. Often amulets of this kind were found in graves of infants. Faience. Probably made in Syria around 1750 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Keel and Uelinger 1998: 25.
(Middle) Head of the Egyptian cow goddess Hathor, with obvious cow ears and the Hathor hairdo. Faience. Twenty-first Dynasty, tenth century B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Dee 1998: 55.
(Right) Mesopotamian divine symbol connected with birth goddesses. Often occurs on Babylonian boundary stones.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Black and Green 2003, p. 146.

Ancient Mesopotamia boasted many goddesses whose main, but not only function was birthing.[2] They were regularly identified with each other. Dingir-Makh “Exalted Deity” was the Sumerian birth goddess par excellence.[3] Other Sumerian birth goddesses included Nin-khursag “Lady of the Mountainous Areas,” Nin-makh “Exalted Lady,” Nin-tu[4] “Lady of Birth,” Nin-mena “Lady of the Crown,” and Nin-sikila “Pure Lady.” Dingir-makh’s Babylonian equivalent was Belet-ili “Lady of the Gods.” The name of Erua, also a Babylonian birth goddess, possibly originated from the Semitic Akkadian word eru “to be pregnant.” The Assyrians adopted Erua as Sheru’a . Sumerians addressed the birth goddess as Ama, while Babylonians called her Mama, “Mother” (Black and Green 2003: 132-133; Dijstra in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 603-604; Leick 1998: 119-121).

Goddesses of Many Spellings
Several of the Goddess names in this article have one or more variant spellings. Rather than repeat them in the text, I’ve listed them here:

Erua/Aruru
Mama/Mami
Nin-khursag/Nin-khursaga/ Nin-hursag/Nin-hursaga (The last two are the usual spellings, but the first two are correct. There is no “h” sound in Sumerian.)
Nin-mu/Nin-mud
Nin-tu/Nin-tud
Shasuru/Shasurum
Sheru’a/Sheruya

Note also that rhomb is the same as rhombus.

The best known of these birth goddesses was Nin-khursag, a great earth deity (Black and Green 2003: 140; Leick 1998: 132). Among her titles were “Mother of the Gods” and “Mother of All Children.” In the pantheon, she ranked as equal to the sky god An, the god of executive power En-lil, and the god of water/wisdom En-ki (Jacobsen 1976: 104-110). The Sumerian myth “En-ki and Nin-khursag” made it clear that the goddess had power of life and death even over great deities. The wisdom god En-ki impregnated his and Nin-khursag’s daughter Nin-mu, then their granddaughter, and finally Uttu, their great-granddaughter. When Uttu gave birth to eight plants, En-ki ate them all. At this point, Nin-khursag demonstrated not only her anger but her power. She cursed En-ki with death, and soon eight of his body parts began to die. Eventually, when the goddess’s anger cooled, she “seated En-ki by her vulva” and gave birth to eight deities, each assigned to heal a particular part of the god (Kramer in Pritchard 1969: 36-41). A great deal of Nin-khursag’s power was obviously situated in her vulva and womb.

Birth goddess, probably Nin-tu(d), Seems to be carrying two infants on her back. On each side of her under omega symbols, naked new borns. Terracotta plaque from Mesopotamia, dating somewhere between 2000 and 1600 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Black and Green 2003: 132.

Appropriately, Nin-khursag and other birth goddesses were represented by what has been interpreted as a womb symbol. It took the approximate shape of the Greek capital letter omega (Ω) and occurred often on seals dating from around 2000 B.C.E. to the seventh century B.C.E. The earliest known example dates to the Early Dynastic period (2900-2350 B.C.E.). Scholars have explained the symbol variously as weighing scales, a wig, swaddling bands, or — to me the most compelling interpretation — a stylized womb.[5] This last interpretation is supported by a clay plaque showing a goddess with an omega on either side of her and, under the symbols, “human forms resembling newborn babies,” possibly stillborn infants (Black and Green 2003: 146; Keel and Uelinger 1998: 26). The symbol might also have been connected with the great goddess Inanna/Ishtar (Black and Green 2003: 146). It was also occasionally associated with gods.[6]

Clay figure of a birth/mother goddess made from a “pressed mold.” Her hair is in an elongated omega shape. Around her neck she wears a necklace with a pendant shaped somewhat like an omega. She is suckling babies at her breasts. On each thigh there is a “sacred tree” with a goat-like animal reaching up to it. Her hands hold open her almost rhomb-shaped vulva. Found in Israel. Dated c.1550-c.1150 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Keel and Uelinger 1998: 7.

The birth symbol, which probably originated in Mesopotamia, had a very long life in the Eastern Mediterranean area. It spread to the Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel), where it was in evidence from around 1500 B.C.E. well into the fifth century B.C.E. It seems likely that the shape retained the meaning of birth/womb (Keel and Uelinger 1998: 26, 53, 74, 367). It is even possible that the head supports found in sixth-century B.C.E. graves from Judah are examples of the symbol (Keel and Uelinger 1998: 367-368).

A large Israelite (Judahite) multiple tomb in Israel, with head and sometimes foot rests in the omega shape. Possibly indicating a memory of a symbolic connection between womb and tomb/earth. Dating from around 720/700 to around 600 B.C.E., a period that, according to the Hebrew Bible, saw continued attacks by prophets and kings on Canaanite polytheism. Inset shows enlarged head rest.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Keel and Uelinger 1998: 368.

The omega shape also appeared in the Levant as the hairdo of many female images. Scholars often refer to this as the “Hathor style of locks,” resembling the hairdo of the Egyptian love/sex goddess Hathor (Keel and Uelinger 1998: 66-67). (See Hathor image at top.) Hathor, who was often depicted as a cow, was worshipped in the Levant, and Levantine goddesses were often identified with her (Keel and Uelinger 1998: 69-70). Whether Hathor locks were a womb/birth symbol is unclear.

Goddess figure from Israel, wearing a tall hat possibly with horns on either side. Her hairdo is in the Hathor style. She supports her breasts with her hands and has an exaggerated vulva area or perhaps pubic covering. Made of lead. Dated to around 1300-1150 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Keel and Uelinger 1998: 34.

Another symbol that appears on many Mesopotamian seals is the rhombus or lozenge. This venerable sign goes back well into Mesopotamian pre-history (Goff 1963: 2, 17) as well the European Palaeolithic (Marshak 1991: 239, 313) and Neolithic (Gimbutas 1989: 143, 145). As Marshak and Gimbutas have demonstrated, in many instances the rhomb was closely associated with figures normally interpreted as goddesses, and it depicted the vulva, often quite realistically (Marshak 1991: 292-297; Gimbutas 1989: 100-103). Obvious vulva or pubic triangles in images going back to the Paleolithic are common in Mesopotamian and other Eastern Mediterranean goddess iconography (Aruz 2003: 163 plate 106; Black and Green 2003: 152; Keel and Uelinger 1998: 27).

A healing ritual with deity symbols including the dog of the healing goddesses Gula/Nin-Isina/Nin-karak and, above the dog, the rhomb symbol of the birth goddess. Clearly a life-or-death case, so that the birth goddess needs to be present, for she supervises such situations. Cylinder seal dating to the Neo-Babylonian period, 625-539 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Black and Green 2003: 67.

Rhombs occur on many Mesopotamian seals, sometimes together with dogs, the animal of the healing goddesses Gula, Nin-Isina, and Nin-karak (Göhde 2000). Göhde argues that the rhomb was primarily a symbol of the healing goddess Gula, and that it represented the constellation Lyra, with which Gula was identified (Göhde 2000:406). Since clay models of the symbol were also found in at least one temple of the goddess Ishtar, Göhde explains this by understanding Ishtar to have been a healer at that site (Göhde 2000:405). However, the usual scholarly interpretation of the rhomb, with which I agree, is that it was a vulva symbol, and thus entirely appropriate for Inanna/Ishtar as goddess of sexuality (Black and Green 2003: 153). On some seals the symbol was even depicted inside Ishtar’s shrine, thus making the identification quite explicit (Black and Green 2003: 146). Clay rhombs, as well as images of penises and scenes of sexual intercourse, were unearthed in Mesopotamia, often in temples of the goddess Inanna/Ishtar. It is likely that they were objects used in rituals. They might have been connected with the “Sacred Marriage”[7] rite or used as amulets to ensure sexual potency and fertility[8] (Black and Green 2003: 152 figure 154).

A rhomb-shaped vulva image in clay with holes for suspension on the body. From the temple of the goddess Ishtar at the Assyrian capital city Ashur. Dated 1350-1000 B.C.E.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Black and Green 2003: 152.

On seals, cult equipment, and other objects, then, the birth goddess was often represented by a symbol alone. Usually it was the rhomb; in specialized situations it was the omega symbol. Interestingly, as Barbara Walker points out,[9] a modern symbol of luck, the horseshoe, resembles the omega, although to bring luck, it must have its opening turned up. If it is a remnant of the ancient birth symbol, one wonders what the lucky horseshoe’s normal positioning signifies.

Notes

Bibliography

Graphics Credits

Contributors retain the copyright to their work; please do not take art or words without permission. Other graphics and reference materials are used and attributed as per the Fair Use Provision of The Copyright Act and individual terms of use.

Author: Johanna Stuckey, PhD
Beltane 2008, Vol 7-3
From the Archives of MatriFocus
A Cross-Quarterly Web Magazine for Goddess Women Near & Far
Discover More: “ASWM Presents MatriFocus”

Small, rectangular cult stand. Cross bars with four openings form the top (roof). The interior is occupied by two crouching lions with incised manes; their upheld tails appear on the back of the stand. On the side walls are somewhat damaged human figures, possibly female, and several large decorative knobs. The upper corners of the front bear animal heads, likely of bovines. In many areas of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, lions were the sacred animals of certain goddesses, one probably being Canaanite/Israelite Asherah. Clay. 11cm high. Dated about ninth century BCE. From the Philistine site of Yavneh, Israel. Eretz-Israel Museum, Tel Aviv.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006: 153.

The site of the Philistine[1] city of Yavneh or Jabneh (2 Chronicles 26:6) lies in Israel near the coast, south of Tel Aviv. Today the town of Yavneh circles the ancient mound and covers the slopes of a smaller mound that modern residents call “the Temple Hill” (Kletter et al. 2006: 148, pictures 149). That name reflects the 1960 discovery of pieces of figurines and vessels almost certainly used in worship, that is, cult objects. In 2000-2001, a bulldozer used illegally to clear space for a public park damaged part of the small mound and revealed further fragments of pottery and cult paraphernalia.

Eventually, with looting increasing, the Israel Antiquities Authority decided to launch a salvage dig, but only of the damaged area, the rest of the hill being judged not in any danger. Archaeologists uncovered an ancient pit “two meters in diameter and one and a half meters deep.” It was packed with cult objects which they dated to around the ninth century BCE (Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006: 149). The ancient artifacts they unearthed with extreme care numbered in the thousands and included bowls, juglets, chalices, and cult stands.[2] In the collection were over a hundred “complete or restorable cult stands” (Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006: 155).

Cult stand with small orchestra or procession. The concave top has three openings. Two lion heads and partial torsos are affixed to the lower edges of the front. A female figure stands above the lion on the right side; likely the left side had a similar figure. The lions and female figures suggest at once that the stand was part of the cult paraphernalia of a temple in which a goddess was worshiped. Above the lions a long opening displays a group what appears to be female musicians, a temple orchestra? The opening has two sections, separated by what looks like a tree (or pillar) with six leaves hanging down. Originally two figures stood on either side of the tree-pillar, but now the one on the far right is missing. The remaining figures are female musicians. The one on the far left seems to be playing a small drum or tambourine. Next to her is a double-flute player. Although somewhat damaged, the third is probably a lyre player. The narrow ends are also decorated: On one side, a female figure holds her breasts, but the figure (?) beside her is now missing.  The opposite side has an opening, containing possibly a pillar, but no figures. Originally the stand was decorated with painted “motifs,” which have now practically disappeared. Clay. 16.6 cm high. Dated about the ninth century BCE. From the Philistine site of Yavneh, Israel. Eretz-Israel Museum, Tel Aviv.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006:152.

The discovery of so many cult stands is remarkable: Archaeologists are very excited to discover “a few fragments, not to mention one entire cult stand” (Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006: 155). The stands from Yavneh are perhaps not as visually challenging as the famous one from Taanach, which I discussed in detail in a previous article (Astarte, Goddess of Fertility, Beauty, War, and Love). Like the Taanach stand, most of the Temple Hill stands are decorated with animals and human figures. This imagery gives us our first really close look at Philistine religion in the period when, according to the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament), the Israelites and the Philistines were regularly engaged in warfare with each other.

It is significant that the animals depicted on the stands are mainly lions and bovines, and the human figures are “almost always female” (Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006: 156). We know from examples found all over the ancient Eastern Mediterranean that lions and bovines form part of the imagery associated with goddesses, as does the sacred tree with animals eating from it.[3] Thus, I can speculate that the cult objects from Yavneh were once used in a goddess temple that stood nearby, perhaps occupying the smaller of the two mounds. From the imagery I would guess that she was a goddess very like Canaanite Asherah.

One of two very similar stands. The central motif is a sacred tree with two goat-like creatures feeding at it. This motif is  very common in the ancient Mediterranean and is closely associated with goddesses. See Stuckey article in Matrifocus Archives, Beltane 2004, 3-3. Two bovine heads on long necks occupy either end of the front, just below naked female figures cupping their breasts. I have no doubt that this cult stand honours a Philistine goddess, probably one identified with Canaanite/Israelite Asherah. Clay. 15.5 cm high. Dated about ninth century BCE. From Philistine Yavneh, Israel. Eretz-Israel Museum, Tel Aviv.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006:153.

The archaeologists who excavated the Yavneh pit called it a genizah, from the Hebrew word denoting a storeroom in a synagogue into which worn-out or damaged sacred texts and objects were deposited, since they were too holy to be thrown into the garbage (Kletter, Ziffer, and Zwickel 2006: 148).[4] Such temple repositories, usually storage pits of some sort, have been found all over the ancient Eastern Mediterranean. For instance, the famous “snake goddesses” from Crete were discovered in a space under the floor in the Knossos temple, and the figurines buried in a pot near the altar at Nahariyah are probably another example (A Canaanite Goddess Shrine at Nahariyya in Israel). We know that in Mesopotamia and Egypt there were rituals to draw a deity into a newly made statue (Dick 1999), and another ritual would later be performed to renew it. In all likelihood, then, objects being retired had to be ritually deactivated to make them less sacred, but they would still retain an element of holiness; thus they could not be discarded as garbage. They required ritual burial.

Of course these rituals would have been part of what scholars call “priestly, temple, or official religion,” but how would an ordinary person treat a small figurine she had bought from a vendor outside a temple or actually made herself? Let me speculate here. First, if she could, she would have it blessed by a priest(ess) or herself perform a rite to induce her revered deity to take possession of the figurine. When she was forced to dispose of the still holy but no longer used or damaged goddess figure, wouldn’t she also handle it with care and respect and perhaps create her own repository to hold its remains? Why wouldn’t ordinary people, those who practiced what scholars call “popular or folk religion,” also have needed to activate and deactivate the image of a beloved deity? We might take as an example numerous little female clay images, which, from their shape, scholars have dubbed “pillar figurines.”

(Left) Figurine with pillar-like skirt and molded head. She has an elaborate hair-do and holds her arms around her breasts. Clay. Dated about ninth century BCE. Israel.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Patai 1990: Plate 1.
(Right) Female figure with pillar-like skirt, pinched head, and arms under breasts. The whole figure was hand made, perhaps by a worshiper for her own use. Clay. Dated about ninth century BCE. Found in Israel.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Patai 1990: Plate 6.

Female pillar figurines have been found all over modern Israel, but predominantly in the area known in the Hebrew Bible as Judah, the southern Israelite kingdom. Indeed, they have been discovered “in almost every Iron Age II excavation in Judah” (Kletter 1996: 10). Iron Age II covers the eighth and seventh centuries BCE; that is, the height of the Israelite monarchy as described in the Hebrew Bible.[5] So many pillar figurines have been excavated in the heartland of Judah that they are often regarded as “a characteristic expression of Judahite piety” (Keel and Uehlinger 1998: 327; Kletter 1996: 45). Today the generally accepted scholarly view is that they represent the goddess Asherah, who was in all likelihood the spouse of the Israelite god Yahweh (Asherah and the God of the Early Israelites).

Occasionally I have been involved in scholarly arguments about not only the identity of these pillar figurines, but also whether or not they were goddesses at all. Many scholars have dismissed them as “fertility fetishes,” “amulets,” and such. The figurines cannot, they insist, be images of a goddess, because, among other things, they were found broken up in garbage dumps. However, not all of them were broken, and very few, if any, were found in what had been an ancient dump.

The actual find sites include cisterns and pools, silos and pits, caves, tombs, house rooms and courtyards, and other such areas (Kletter 1996: 58-61). Indeed, as Kletter notes, it is “important” to discover whether any of the figurines were “found in waste pits,” since, if they were, it might mean that they carried “no special sacred status during disposal.” He comments that “there is no clear evidence” that the disposal sites were rubbish dumps. Indeed, silos and pits, for instance, were usually “domestic installations,” and garbage was normally thrown outside of houses (Kletter 1996: 59).

What seems quite certain is that female pillar figurines “are missing, or extremely rare,” in the few public buildings from the period which can be clearly identified as sacred, that is, belonging to the official religion (Kletter 1996: 62). The conclusion must be that the little statues were worshiped in domestic contexts, that is, in folk or popular religion. Perhaps, then, the sites where we find the pillar figurines functioned for ordinary folk as their sacred repositories.

Notes

Bibliography

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Contributors retain the copyright to their work; please do not take art or words without permission. Other graphics and reference materials are used and attributed as per the Fair Use Provision of The Copyright Act and individual terms of use.

Author: Johanna Stuckey, PhD
Lammas 2007, Vol 6-4
From the Archives of MatriFocus
A Cross-Quarterly Web Magazine for Goddess Women Near & Far
Discover More: “ASWM Presents MatriFocus”

A nude goddess with a prominent pubic triangle or wearing a pubic covering stands on a crouching lion. Her Hathor-style coiffure is topped by horns extending to the side. She wears a necklace and bracelets. Her arms are bent into a V shape, and she holds in each hand a long plant (lotus?). Plaque from a tomb in Akko (Acre), Israel. Cast in bronze in a mold and retains pierced suspension piece. Might have been part of the face piece or bridle of a horse. Dated ca. 1550-1200 BCE. Lost (stolen).
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Cornelius 2004: Plate 5.21

Qedesh[et], lady of heaven, mistress of all the gods, eye of
Ra, without her equal
(Egyptian inscription, quoted by Cornelius 2004: 83)

A nude goddess, often standing on a lion and holding snakes, plants, or both, is a very familiar figure to archaeologists working on Late Bronze Age sites (ca.1500-ca.1200 BCE) throughout the Levant.[1] Plaques, pendants, and figurines of this goddess abound,[2] but it is by no means clear who she was (Cornelius 2004: Plates 5.19-5.62; Keel and Uelinger 1998: 66-68; Patai 1990: 58-60). A few scholars have identified her with Anat, more think she was Astarte, and some argue for Asherah.[3]

Anat. Those who opt for Anat normally start from the assumption that the beautiful, young female warrior was also a sex / fertility goddess, and they usually base this view on a probable misinterpretation of at least one of the mythic texts from Ugarit, an ancient city on the coast of Syria (Wyatt 2002: 156-160; Patai 1990: 61; Coogan 1978: 108).[4] In addition, they take the figure’s nudity to signal sexuality and fertility (Stuckey 2005: 37; Cornelius 2004: 100).

Astarte. The proponents of Astarte’s candidacy call one form of the images “Astarte plaques” (Keel and Uelinger 1998: 100-108; Patai 1990: 59). They explain this identification in large part by Astarte’s popularity in the first millennium BCE as the Phoenician lover of the god Adonis and so as deity of love and sexuality, of the evening star (Aphrodite/Venus), and of war.[5].</p<

Asherah. The case for the images representing Asherah derives partly from the assertion that, in the Ugaritic texts, Asherah was called “Lion Lady” (Wiggins 1991).[6]. Primarily, however, some scholars think that some of the Ugaritic texts referred to Asherah as the “Holy One,” Qadesh(ah)[7] (Binger 1997: 54; Pettey 1990: 29; Cross 1973:33). And they use as additional evidence a group of Egyptianized images usually called Qudshu plaques.

The close resemblance of the Egyptian goddess to the obviously very popular Levantine goddess (Anat / Astarte / Asherah) is extremely striking. What is more, several of these Egyptianized plaques bear inscriptions giving the goddess a name: Qudshu or Qodshu, also Qedeshet and Qetesh, the “Holy or Sacred One.” Clearly, the Egyptians of the Late Bronze Age (ca.1550-ca.1200 BCE) worshipped this goddess both at home and abroad. As we shall see, she probably originated in the Syro-Canaanite part of the Egyptian empire[8] and seemingly was adopted into Egyptian religion during the Ramesside Age (1300-1200 BCE).

For many centuries before any of the Levant was incorporated into the their empire, the Egyptians had contact with West Asia, usually for trade. For instance, in historic times, Egypt maintained close relations with Byblos, now in Lebanon, mainly for the valuable cedar wood that city could provide. They identified the “Lady of Byblos” (Astarte?) with Egyptian goddess Hathor, and the pharaohs regularly sent offering gifts to her temple. In the third millennium BCE, Egyptian art began to depict conquered Asiatics as rough, bearded, and often half-naked. Later texts also mentioned them, often in derogatory terms; for example, “the vile Asiatic.”

Between 2000 and 1700 BCE, Egyptian kings often campaigned in the southern Levant and took captives whom they brought back to Egypt as slaves. Other Asiatics migrated into the Nile Delta area in search of food when times were hard. Many of them stayed and, of course, they brought their religions with them.

In the early seventeenth century BCE, the unthinkable happened to Egypt: Asiatics invaded and usurped the throne. Although they paid lip service to Egyptian divinities, it is clear that their real allegiance was to Anat, Baal, and other Levantine deities. These Hyksos, “rulers of foreign lands” (Redford 1992: 100), had control of a large part of Egypt for about one hundred years, reaching the height of their power around 1580 BCE; they were not expelled until around 1550 BCE.

Then the native pharaohs began to create the Egyptian Empire, which included at least the southern part of the Levant as, among other things, insurance against a recurrence of Asiatic invasions. The Empire lasted until about 1120 BCE. Captive Asiatics poured into Egypt, as did Canaanite traders, some of whom founded a temple for Baal and his consort Astarte at Memphis. Soon, warrior pharaohs were worshipping Canaanite deities, especially those associated with warfare, the goddesses Astarte and Anat and the warrior Reshep(h). This was especially true during the Ramesside period (1300-1200 BCE).

A number of Egyptian relief plaques from this period depict a fully frontally nude goddess[9] usually standing on a lion and sometimes posed between the Canaanite warrior god Reshep(h), an Underworld deity, and the Egyptian fertility god, ithyphallic Min[10] (Cornelius 2004: Plates 5.1-5.18; Binger 1997: 56-58; Pritchard 1969: 163-164 #470-474). The Egyptians called her Qedeshet or Qudshu.

Egyptian Qudshu. Qedeshet plaque. Nude goddess stands on a striding lion with ithyphallic Egyptian god Min on her right (see note 10) and Canaanite warrior god Reshep(h) on her left. With her arms in the V position, in her right hand she holds plants out to the fertility god and, in her left, she directs a snake at the Underworld deity. Her Hathor-style coiffure is topped with bovine horns and disk. She wears a Hathor-style neckpiece and a hip belt. The inscription on the front reads: “Qedesh, lady of heaven, mistress of all the gods, eye of Ra, without her equal.” On the back occur other titles: “lady of the two lands [Egypt], “child of Ra,” “beloved of Ra” (Cornelius 2004: 83). Painted relief carving on white limestone. Dated ca. 1300-1200 BCE. Louvre.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Cornelius 2004: Plate 5.4

That Qedeshet/Qudshu was “a proper divine name in Egyptian” is indicated by the sign for deity, the cobra (Cornelius 2004: 84). Among her titles were “lady of heaven,” “mistress of all the gods,” “beloved of [the Egyptian creator god] Ptah,” “great of magic, mistress of the stars,” and “eye of Ra, without her equal” (Cornelius 2004:83-84).[11] According to these epithets, Qedeshet was a very great deity indeed, though seemingly she was not included in the cultic practices of royalty and the elite (Cornelius 2004: 86). “Lady or queen of heaven” was an attribute shared by the greatest of Eastern Mediterranean goddesses: Inanna and Ishtar of Mesopotamia; Asherah, Anat, and Astarte of Syro-Canaan; Isis of Egypt; and Aphrodite and Venus of the Greco-Roman world.[12] A number of these great goddesses were also called “mistress of all the gods.” Was Qedeshet a title of one of the three Canaanite goddesses Anat, Astarte, or Asherah, or was she another separate deity? Again we can turn to the Egyptian plaques for help.

Qudshu relief plaque. With pubic triangle painted black, the nude goddess stands on a lion, and both are painted yellow. The lion has a shoulder rosette. The goddess holds in her right hand a red lotus flower, and in her left a snake, originally black. Her hair is in the Hathor style, and she wears a necklace and bracelets. Black cross-bands and girdle usually indicate the carrying of weapons. Images of Mesopotamian war goddess Ishtar often show her with cross-bands. The partly broken crown is difficult to interpret. The title reads: Qedeshet, Astarte, Anat.” Painted limestone. Dated to the time of Rameses III (1198-1166 BCE). Once owned by Winchester College in England, but apparently auctioned off.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Cornelius 2004: Plate 5.16

One plaque is unique in bearing the inscription “Qudshu-Astarte-Anat” (Cornelius 2004: Plate 5.16; Hadley 2000: 191-192; Pritchard 1969: 352 #830; Edwards 1955). Since some scholars think that, at Ugarit, Qadesh was a title of Asherah, they have concluded that Qudshu here refers to Asherah, since she is the only Canaanite goddess omitted from the heading of the plaque. So they see this inscription as evidence that the three Canaanite great goddesses were merging together. Others argue that Qudshu in the inscription is presenting the two named goddesses as examples of the state of sacredness. Yet others understand from the inscription that the two were already merged goddesses: “her holiness Astarte-Anath” (Patai quoted by Hadley 2000:192). A few think that the third name indicates an as-yet unidentified deity, “an independent goddess” named Qedeshet (Cornelius 2004: 96). Depending on how we interpret the inscription, we may now be able to identify the so-called “Astarte plaques” discussed above, and, even if there is still a little confusion, we can at the very least conclude that they represent Qedeshet, a goddess who had some form of relationship with Astarte and Anat.

In addition, it may help to realize that, aside from in the Qudshu plaques, both Astarte and Anat were well known as separate divinities in Egypt during the Ramesside period (1300-1200 BCE.), primarily as war goddesses. Astarte and Anat were both daughters of the great sun god Ra or Re. In one text, along with Anat, Astarte was awarded as wife to the god Seth, often identified with the Syro-Canaanite storm god Baal-Hadad. Another Egyptian text described both Astarte and Anat as “the two great goddesses who were pregnant but did not bear” (Wyatt in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 111). Further, an inscription at Medinet Habu in Egypt described the two goddesses as shields of Rameses III (Wyatt in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 111).

Interestingly, in a late Egyptian text Astarte was called “Mistress of Horses, Lady of the Chariot” (Quoted in Wyatt in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 111). The many Egyptian images of a goddess riding a horse probably depict her (Cornelius 2004: Plates 4.1-26; Wyatt in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 111).[13] At Memphis in Egypt, Astarte was identified with the Egyptian lion-headed war goddess Sekmet (Cornelius 2004: 92), and she had there her own shrine with its attendant priest.

Naked goddess of the Qudshu type standing on a trotting horse. She has shoulder-length locks secured by a headband, but wears no jewelry. Her crown has two horns sticking out sideways and others stretching upwards. In the middle are Egyptian-style feathers. She carries two lotus flowers in each hand. Her eyes were originally inlaid. The horse has two ostrich feathers on its forehead and is covered with an ornate blanket or perhaps armor. The goddess might be Astarte, who was most often associated with horses. Possibly the plaque would have been attached to a screen in a cult niche of the temple in which it was found, on the acropolis at Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir), Israel. Gold foil (92% pure) torn into five pieces and wadded together, probably ritually deactivated and discarded. Dated to the twelfth century BCE. Israel Antiquities Authority.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Hadley 2000: 162

A stele depicting Anat was found in a temple built by Rameses III at Beth-shean (Beth-shan, Beisan), an Egyptian military post in Israel[14] (Cornelius 2004: 81 and Plate 3.1; Keel and Uelinger 1998: 86, 87 fig.107). Its inscription names her “queen of heaven, the mistress of all the gods” (Quoted by P. Day in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 38). However, it was in Egypt itself that Anat became a truly powerful goddess. Evidence points to her as having arrived in Egypt with the Hyksos who ruled Egypt from ca. 1650 to 1550 BCE, but the worship of Anat continued in Egypt at least until the Greco-Roman period (P. Day in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 40).

One Egyptian text described her as a woman who acted as a man (Cornelius 2004: 92). Most important, Anat became well known as a war deity of the Ramesside pharaohs. Indeed, the conquering king Rameses II “the Great” (1304-1237 BCE) took her as his patron and appealed to her as “Lady of the Heavens” to assist him in battle and validate him as ruler of the world. In his devotion Rameses II styled himself “Beloved of Anat” and named one of his daughters after her (Cornelius 2004: 85). He also dubbed one of his hunting dogs “Anat is Protection” and one of his swords “Anat is Victorious” (Quoted by P. Day in van der Toorn et al. 1999: 40).

The connection of at least Anat with Qedeshet was a close one. At the bottom of an Egyptian Qudshu plaque of this period, there is a representation, with inscription, of an offering rite to Anat (Cornelius 2004: Plate 5.1; Pritchard 1969: 163 #473).

A double-register plaque with a typical Qudshu scene at the top and an Anat ritual below. The quality of the relief carving is very good, though the plaque has sustained some damage over time. For instance, the goddess’s crown is missing. The nude goddess standing on a striding lion has a clearly marked pubic triangle, Hathor-style coiffure, heavy necklace, and anklets. Her elbows bent in a V position, she holds short lotus flowers and buds in her right hand, in her left two snakes. A loop of the flower stems is visible. On either side Egyptian fertility god Min and Syro-Canaanite warrior god Reshep(h) stand on plinths. Behind Min grow a lotus or lily plant and two lettuces, both symbols of fertility and healing, the lettuce often being seen as an aphrodisiac. An inscription reads: “Ke(d)eshet, lady of heaven” (Cornelius 2004: 83). The lower register depicts a ritual to Anat, who is enthroned to the far right. Fully dressed and wearing the cross-bands and girdle of the warrior, she wields a battle axe in her left hand and holds a spear and shield in her right. Her crown is one often worn by the Egyptian pharaoh ( the atef crown). Before her is an offering table laden with food (fowl, bread) and incense, and below it are lettuce plants and a jar on a stand. The male worshiper Qaha “the justified” was a foreman from the famous village Deir el-Medina, the home of the workers who built and decorated the tombs of the Valley of the Kings. He and his sister Twy “the justified,” “the lady of the house,” worship her with gestures of adoration. His son Any follows them carrying a live (?) bird and a lotus stalk (Cornelius 2004: 69). The inscription reads: “Anat, lady of heaven, Mistress of the gods. (May) all protection, life, stability, power, and dominion be with her” (Cornelius 2004: 80). British Museum. Limestone. Late Bronze Age, ca. 1550-1200 BCE.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Cornelius 2004: Plate 5.1

Thus, the Egyptian sources show that Astarte and Anat were very much separate deities, and it seems that Qedeshet/Qudshu was understood as a third goddess closely associated with them. However, that does not mean that Qedeshet was Asherah, though she could well have been. One fact seems clear: The images of Egyptian Qedeshet/Qudshu are very similar to those on the large number of small plaques, pendants, and figurines from Syro-Canaan, which I discussed at the beginning of this article. Indeed, according to Tilde Binger, they depict a goddess “who iconographically is practically identical to” Egyptian images entitled Qudshu (1997: 57). Thus, whether or not the Syro-Canaanite images depict one of the three known Canaanite great goddesses, we can say that they almost certainly represent the goddess the Egyptians addressed as Qudshu or Qedeshet, the “Holy One.”

Nude goddess with large pubic triangle or covering (?). She stands in a frame. Her hair is in the Hathor style, and she wears a narrow necklace, bracelets, and anklets. In each hand she has long-stemmed flowers which join at the bottom, also framing her. Typical of what some have called the “Astarte plaque,” but in stance very like Egyptian Qudshu. Found in a potter’s workshop at Lachish (Tell ed.-Duweir), Israel. Terracotta. British Museum.
Drawing © S. Beaulieu, after Cornelius 2004: Plate 5.38

Notes

Bibliography

Graphics Credits

Contributors retain the copyright to their work; please do not take art or words without permission. Other graphics and reference materials are used and attributed as per the Fair Use Provision of The Copyright Act and individual terms of use.