Asherah, great mother of the Levant. At the beginning of time, when there was nothing but the waters of Chaos, the god El stood. The supreme god overlooked these waters, eventually coming to notice two heads bobbing in the sea. Intrigued, El pulled the two out of the waves and brought them to his home. The two were the goddesses Asherah and Raḥmayyu, upon noticing their collective hunger El began to cook a bird for them. Retreating into his tent he instructed the two that once the bird was done cooking that they’d call to him as either father or husband, and whichever one they chose he’d act as such. As time passed and the bird finished cooking, the two called out to El as husband. The following night was one of unrivaled passion, resulting in Asherah birthing the twins Shahar and Shalim, the gods of dawn and dusk. From their couplings the pantheon was born, from Baal, Astarte and Anat to Mot, Yam and Kothar-wa-Khasis, each one nursed by the mother goddess Asherah.
During the campaign for the king of the gods, Asherah lobbied El for her son, the sea god Yam, to ascend the throne. This support led to Yam gaining much influence in the race, ultimately having the favor of El. But after Yam lost against the storm god Baal in a duel, Baal ascended the throne instead, becoming the king of the gods.
Although Baal lived with El and Asherah, Asherah was still greatly frustrated with Baal, angry at his fight with his brother. Baal wishes for a palace of his own, and after Anat’s disastrous attempt at threatening El for Baal’s palace, Baal must instead ask Asherah for assistance. Baal knows of Asherah’s current contempt for him, so the storm god has three gifts made for her by the craftsman god Kothar-wa-khasis. While Asherah is seated by the ocean’s shore the pair of Baal and Anat come upon her. Asherah immediately became defensive, believing that Baal and Anat had come to kill her. To pacify the mother goddess, Baal presented the three gifts, an or ornate table and bowl, sandals, and furniture. Asherah’s mood swiftly changes, quickly accepting their presents and casting a net out into the sea, gathering fish to put on a feast for the two guests. Baal pleads with Asherah to speak on his behalf with El, swaying his mother’s mind. Asherah speaks to her husband El, finally convincing him to give his consent for Baal’s palace.
Later Asherah was with her husband El when Anat came to spread the news of Baal’s death, with venom in her voice Anat told Asherah that she ought to be happy Baal is dead seeing how contentious she was with him. As the universe mourns for Baal, the depressed El and Asherah convene to decide who should take Baal’s place as king of the gods. Asherah offers the god Attar as a replacement, however once he sits upon the throne El can immediately tell that Attar isn’t fit for the role, as the deity is too small to properly sit on the throne.
Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab of Israel, is said to have introduced the cults of Asherah and Ba’al into the nation. However once the god of Judah ascended in worship, Asherah was deemed a false idol, an icon of idolatry. Asherah’s divine pillars, the Asherah poles, were hunted down and destroyed, putting an end to her worship.
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Asherah was an incredibly important god, being one of the earliest and most well defined mother goddesses in history. Much like her husband El, Asherah spread across the entire ancient near east. In Mesopotamia, particularly by the Amorites, Asherah was cognate with the goddess Ashratum. Ashratum was the wife of the Amorite chief god Amurru, while there’s limited information on the goddess she almost certainly grew out of Asherah, most likely an Amorite regional manifestation. Though her position in the greater Mesopotamian pantheon isn’t quite understood, it’s been noted that the goddess is the daughter in law of the sky god Anu. Ashratum was possibly associated with mountains, the underworld, and fertility, however these characteristics could’ve just been a result of her association with Amurru. Ashratum was known as Gubarra in Sumerian sources, possibly being the result of Ashratum absorbing Gubarra. Ashratum was conflated with the Mesopotamian goddess Ninhursag, occasionally even sharing the title Belet-ili. Other deities conflated with Ashratum and Asherah include Sebitti and Sarahitu, older scholarship tended to include Ishtar and Inanna as well due to her sharing the same titles as Ashratum, but recent scholarship has thrown out the idea.
It’s theorized that the Egyptian goddess Qetesh could’ve developed out of Asherah, specifically from the title of Qodeš meaning “holy/sacred” or “to purify”, Qetesh is even called the “beloved of Ptah” a god with possible ties to Asherah’s husband El alongside being the “eye of Ra without equal”. But this theory depends on some shaky ground, firstly the title of Qodeš wasn’t just Asherah’s as she shared it with her husband El who used it more prominently, secondly most theories that insist on Qetesh being the same as Asherah rely on the idea that Asherah, Asarte and Anat formed a goddess trinity in Canaan which has been thoroughly ruled out seeing as Asherah wasn’t closely associated with the two like how Anat and Astarte were, this theory also ignores the other important goddesses of Canaan like Shapsh and the Kotharat. While it’s impossible to know for certain that Qetesh was considered to be Asherah, it’s more possible that she was patterned after the goddess or Canaanite practices. A more solid connection Asherah holds to Egypt is through Hathor, with whom Asherah was conflated with.
To the Hittites, Asherah was known as Asertu, attested in the myth of Elkunirsa. In said myth, Asertu tries to seduce Baal, either with herself or maidens she sends to him, Baal declines greatly infuriating Asteru who threatens Baal’s life. Baal immediately runs to his father, the eponymous Elkunirsa, and tells him about Asertu’s threat, in response Elkunirsa tells Baal to “humble” her. After gaining his blessing, Baal approaches Asertu, declaring that he has killed all 80 of her children, causing the goddess to collapse weeping. Later on, Asertu meets with her husband Elkunirsa, confiding in him about how she’ll take his revenge against Baal. El allows her to continue with her plan, excited by this Asertu sleeps with Elkunirsa. However unbeknownst to either of them, Baal’s wife, either Anat or Astarte, overheard Asertu’s plan and runs off to warn Baal. The majority of the text after this is destroyed, but from fragments it’s seen that Asertu’s plan worked, as Anat or Astarte brings the wounded Baal to the underworld of Mot to perform an exorcism. This myth is believed to be a localized Amorite version of a native Canaanite myth.
Asherah was present in the pre-Islamic Arabic mythos as well, known as Atirat. In ancient Arabia, Atirat was the wife of the gods Amm and Wadd, two gods of the moon, both being the chief gods of their local pantheons. This has been used as evidence in the idea that Allah, another deity with ties to El, was originally a moon god, however such a theory has been rejected by most scholars due to the complete lack of archeological evidence.
Asherah’s presence in ancient Judah and Israel has caused great controversy. Asherah’s name, likeness, and symbols are present in a multitude of different Israeli inscriptions and artifacts from before the dawn of Judaism. In several inscriptions, Asherah is paired with the god Yhwh, usually written like “Yhwh and his Asherah”. Several other artifacts have been found as well, including several feminine figurines believed to be Asherah, alongside a clear representation of her breastfeeding Shahar and Shalim while Ibex feed from the trees on her legs. These have lead to the theory that Asherah was considered Yhwh’s wife in ancient Israel. Further evidence is shown in Yhwh’s development, as Yhwh was continuously equated with and absorbed Asherah’s original husband El, of whom Yhwh likely developed out of. Some evidence even exists in the Bible, as Asherah poles were known to be placed within and around temples dedicated to God before they were chopped down. However, new counter theories suggest that the word Asherah used in both the inscriptions and the Bible don’t refer to the goddess, but rather the poles along with sacred groves and sites, mainly built upon epigraphic studies. Others have countered this, stating that there wasn’t a distinction theology wise between Asherah and her related concepts, so the separation of the two shouldn’t be considered viable.
In the Bible, the subject of what the Asherah poles are is a bit vague. There isn’t an exact description given, but it is known they were made out of wood, possibly meaning they were carved trees, with said trees being an established icon of Asherah. The title of “Queen of Heaven” given in the Bible has been occasionally equated with Asherah, though mainly associated with Anat and Astarte, but some passages have been interpreted to be referring to Asherah.
Asherah has gone by many names and epithets over the centuries of her worship, including rabat and ba’lat meaning “lady”, and qnyt ỉlm meaning “creator/progenitress of the gods”. Another title of Asherah’s is Elat, which is the feminine form of El, pointing to her fundamental connection to her husband El, possibly being seen as his feminine counterpart. The most interesting title of hers is rabat Athirat ym. There are many different translations of this title, the most common being “lady Asherah of the sea”, other variations of this type include “she who walks on the sea” and “the lady who tramples Yam”. All of these highlight Asherah’s association with the sea like in the myth of Shahar and Shalim, specifically the sea god Yam as seen in the Baal Cycle. However a new version has developed in recent years regarding the title, as some has posited that it could translate to “lady Asherah of the day”. This alternative translation builds upon the equation of Asherah and the sun goddess Shapsh. Both are called the mother of the gods, both are referred to as Queen, both have an incredibly close connection to El, and even Asherah’s etymology reading “trace”, “stride”, or “the one who goes” pointing to the sun’s travels across the sky. Another point furthering this is the myth of Shahar and Shalim, in which Asherah births the twins of dawn and dusk, who in other texts are heavily associated with Shapsh.
Asherah has also been occasionally compared to the Carthaginian goddess Tanit, the wife of Baal Hammon, however this comparison is shaky as Tanit shares more in common with Anat and Astarte than with her counterpart Asherah.
It’s common for online sources to state that Asherah was a wife or consort of the storm god Baal, however this isn’t supported whatsoever in a vast majority of sources, likely resulting from an old misidentification of Baal with El.
Some scholars have posited that the biblical Eve developed from Asherah as the two share the epithet “the mother of all living”, alongside other disputed connections with the gods Tanit and Hebat. Other theories postulate that other Abrahamic figures could’ve evolved from a cultural memory of Asherah, such as Shekhinah and Barbelo.
Asherah’s iconography is incredibly vast, covering many different items and symbols, such as trees, snakes, the sea, poles, lions, deer, ibexes, luminaries, suckling bovines, hands, feminine sexuality, and motherhood. Her iconography is so vast that it regularly causes confusion between her and other goddesses of the pantheon, as her icons blur with theirs. Fragments of Asherah’s worship has been arguably traced back to prehistory, as the remains of a tree within a gravesite from the 8th millennium BC has been likened to an Asherah pole, however seeing how old it is and how little documentation we have of the development of Semitic mythology it’s impossible to know for sure.
Some have used evidence like this in order to push Asherah being apart of the prehistoric great goddess theory, a claim detailing that prehistoric humans used to be matriarchal in structure and primarily worshipped goddesses such as Asherah, Cybele and the controversial Minoan Snake goddess. However this theory has been routinely rejected as its evidence is extremely sparse, misinterpreted, misleading, and contradicted by other evidence.
The name Asherah isn’t actually the goddess’s original name, as it’s simply the Hebrew rendering from the Bible. The goddess’s name from Canaan (specifically from Ugarit) is Athirat.
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