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Has an image

Original photograph

Study
Yahweh and Asherah
Blessings at Kuntillet ʿAjrud and el-Qom, female figurines and reform narratives: separating evidence from interpretation while examining worship before Yahweh’s exclusivity.
Female pillar figurine from Lachish, ceramic, about eighth–seventh century BCE; Metropolitan Museum 34.126.53, height 18.4 cm. Actual artifact; attribution to Asherah is unresolved
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Illustration

Concept
Asherah cult symbol
Asherah as a cult object or symbol, often wooden in biblical contexts; relation to the goddess and inscriptional ʾšrth remains debated.
Modern distinction between goddess, ritual term and inscription reading. No invented excavated wooden pole; symbol and goddess not always mutually exclusive
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Original photograph

Concept
Judean pillar figurines
Clay female figurines with pillar bases in Judah, especially widespread in the eighth/seventh centuries BCE; identity and function not determined by form alone.
Female pillar figurine from Lachish, ceramic, about eighth–seventh century BCE; Metropolitan Museum 34.126.53, height 18.4 cm. Actual artifact; attribution to Asherah is unresolved
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Illustration

Site
Khirbet el-Qom
Site west of Hebron known for an eighth-century BCE funerary inscription commonly associating Yahweh with “his asherah”; damaged text and readings disputed.
Modern diagram of context, common reading and limits at el-Qom. Not the inscription or its physical layout; debated translation not made certain
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Illustration

Site
Kuntillet ʿAjrud
Sinai site preserving blessings by Yahweh of Samaria/Teman and “his asherah” around 800 BCE; building function and wording disputed.
Modern summary of two Kuntillet ʿAjrud formulas in published readings. Not a jar photograph, inscription facsimile or map; does not settle “his asherah” or drawing identities
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Original photograph

Study
Ugarit
From the 1929 excavations and alphabetic cuneiform to houses, scribes and the Baal Cycle: what does Ugarit reveal about Levantine gods, and where are the limits of comparison?
Entrance to Ugarit at Ras Shamra, near Latakia; M. Benoist, August 1989. Modern photograph of the remains, not an ancient-city reconstruction
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Illustration

Entity
Dagan
Deity known in Syria and Mesopotamia, attested in Ugaritic lists, offerings and names; Baal is called his son. Temple attribution remains debated.
Modern comparison of Ugaritic evidence for Dagan; not a divine likeness or a settled identification of the temple
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Illustration

Entity
Urtenu and his house
Ugaritic figure close to court and commerce, associated with a south-central archive; family and personal texts helped identify its owner.
Modern grouping of evidence types from Urtenu’s house in the selected 1995 pages; not a room plan or complete archive census
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Illustration

Entity
Ilimilku
Ugaritic scribe associated with the Baal Cycle, Kirta and Aqhat; handwriting and colophons aid attribution. His work alone does not date the traditions’ origins.
Modern distinction between Ilimilku’s scribal work and the origin of recorded traditions; no portrait or claim that he invented the myths
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Original photograph

Concept
Ugaritic alphabet
Long cuneiform alphabet of 30 signs, chiefly consonantal. Its wedge shapes do not imply Akkadian syllabic principles or priority as the first alphabet.
Incomplete Ugaritic abecedary, Louvre AO 19992 / RS 10.087, museum date about 1400–1200 BCE; found 1938, 7 letters missing. Not the complete RS 12.033 found 1948
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Original photograph

Study
El and Baal
The old father and the young god: battle, palace, mourning, Athtar’s throne and Shapshu’s warning reveal overlapping authority without a narrative of El’s deposition.
Baal with Thunderbolt stela from Ugarit, limestone, Louvre AO 15775 / RS 4.427. The museum assigns a broad date of 2000–1150 BCE. This depicts Baal, not El, and does not prove that Baal overthrew him
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Illustration

Entity
Kothar-wa-Hasis
Craftsman god in the Baal Cycle, supplying weapons and building the palace.
Modern explanation of the craftsman’s battle and building roles; no reconstruction of the weapons or palace
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Illustration

Entity
Athtar
God who tries Baal’s throne on Saphon during his absence, then descends; it is not El’s throne.
Modern diagram of KTU1.6I; Athtar is not presented as a fallen angel or denied all kingship beyond Saphon
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Illustration

Entity
Shapshu
Ugaritic sun goddess; involved in Baal’s crisis and intervening verbally in the Mot conflict.
Modern explanation of Shapshu’s roles in the passages consulted; her warning does not mean El actually deposed Mot in the scene
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Illustration

Entity
Mot
God of death in the Baal Cycle; an adversary who returns even after a violent attack.
Modern diagram of three points in Mot’s story; no proof of an annual agricultural rite or a complete revival mechanism
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Illustration

Entity
Yam / Nahar
Sea god and Baal’s opponent for kingship, also associated with Nahar, River.
Modern narrative diagram of Baal and Yam; no likeness of the Sea god or reconstruction of the cycle’s lost opening
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Illustration

Study
Did El Have an Image?
Between the tentatively identified seated figurine and the elder described in texts: separating artifact attribution from literary appearance, and comparing El with the Ancient of Days without inventing a transmission route.
Modern diagram distinguishing the object, its attribution and El’s textual portrayal. It neither depicts El nor settles the statue’s identity
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Illustration

Concept
Marziḥu
A banqueting institution or association in Ugaritic documents, with religious functions not reducible to one ritual.
Modern diagram of evidence relevant to the marziḥu; no reconstruction of El’s feast, guest count or ritual
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Illustration

Concept
KTU: Ugaritic Text References
Abbreviation for a modern scholarly corpus of alphabetic cuneiform texts; its numbers are references, not dates.
Modern reference guide: KTU1.114 corresponds to RS24.258 in Spronk’s chapter. No ancient writing or tablet surface reproduced
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Illustration

Concept
Ancient of Days
Designation of the divine figure with white hair, throne and court in Daniel7.
Modern textual comparison, depicting neither El nor the Ancient of Days and proving no direct transmission route
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Illustration

Concept
Aniconism
Avoidance of divine images in a particular practice or tradition; not inferred solely from an unidentified artifact.
Modern diagram of different explanations for an unidentified image; not evidence that any one occurred at Ugarit
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Original photograph

Concept
Iconography
Study of images, their attributes and contexts; resemblance alone does not prove identity.
Seated god, possibly El; Ugarit, 1400–1300 BCE according to the catalogue; gold-covered bronze, RS 23.394 / S3573. Catalogue information names Damascus Museum in 2011; current whereabouts not verified here. Attribution to El remains tentative
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Original photograph

Study
Who Headed the Sumerian Divine Assembly? An or Enlil?
From Fara lists to Lugalzagesi’s inscription and Ekur: An’s seniority, Enlil’s authority and why list order cannot establish a transfer of the throne.
Ziggurat mound at Nippur from the southwest, photograph by Noémi Alzayadi. The building on top dates to late-nineteenth-century excavations, not a standing Sumerian temple. Modern site context; display copy resized only
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Illustration

Concept
Enlilship — ellilūtu
Akkadian expression of paramount authority associated with Enlil, applicable to others.
Modern diagram of rank terms and Marduk’s elevation in Hammurabi’s prologue. Transfer of a title alone proves neither identical deities nor lost cults; not a chronological succession chart
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Illustration

Concept
Anu standing — anūtu
Akkadian term for supreme standing or power associated with Anu, attributable to another god.
Modern diagram of rank terms and Marduk’s elevation in Hammurabi’s prologue. Transfer of a title alone proves neither identical deities nor lost cults; not a chronological succession chart
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Illustration

Concept
Ekur / E-kur
“Mountain House,” Enlil’s temple at Nippur, a place of ritual and legitimacy in literary and royal texts.
Modern explanation of Enlil, Ekur and Nippur. It reconstructs neither temple plan nor appearance and does not confine Enlil’s worship to the city
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Original photograph

Site
Nippur / Nuffar
Mesopotamian city and major Enlil cult centre, connected with kings’ legitimacy beyond the city.
Ziggurat mound at Nippur from the southwest, photograph by Noémi Alzayadi. The building on top dates to late-nineteenth-century excavations, not a standing Sumerian temple. Modern site context; display copy resized only
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Illustration

Study
The Earliest Divine Names in Mesopotamia: When Writing Preserved the Name
From Uruk tablets to Fara lists: Nanna, Ninlil, Inanna, Enlil and An, and what makes a divine name readable without equating first attestation with the beginning of worship.
Modern distinction between logogram, phonetic use and determinative. Functions overlap; no ancient signs or fixed universal stages reproduced
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Illustration

Concept
Logogram
A sign representing a word or related words; context selects the reading, and a sign may also have phonetic uses.
Modern distinction between logogram, phonetic use and determinative. Functions overlap; no ancient signs or fixed universal stages reproduced
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Illustration

Concept
Divine determinative
A usually unspoken sign classifying a name as divine; usage differs by language, period and name.
Modern distinction between logogram, phonetic use and determinative. Functions overlap; no ancient signs or fixed universal stages reproduced
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Illustration

Entity
Ninlil
Goddess later associated with Enlil and Nippur; early writings require distinguishing sign labels from place context.
Modern evidence comparison for Nanna, Ninlil and An, not divine portraits or birth order. Name clarity depends on sign and context
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Illustration

Entity
Nanna / Su’en / Sin
Moon god associated with Ur, with early name evidence that does not date every later myth.
Modern evidence comparison for Nanna, Ninlil and An, not divine portraits or birth order. Name clarity depends on sign and context
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Illustration

Entity
An / Anu
Sumerian/Akkadian sky god; multifunctional AN alone cannot identify him in the earliest texts.
Modern diagram of known AN functions: sky, divinity/classifier, and An. Does not turn every early AN into a divine name or depict the god
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Original photograph

Study
The Warka Vase and Head: When the Sacred Became Recognizable
Offerings, Inanna’s emblems and authority at Uruk, alongside a female face probably from a composite statue: what the objects establish and how far goddess, priestess and ruler can be identified.
Warka Head, white marble, about 21 cm high; late fourth millennium/ca. 3000 BCE. Eye and eyebrow inlays lost. Possibly Inanna; lighting warms the stone’s colour. Iraq Museum, photo, 2019
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Original photograph

Site
Eanna at Uruk
An archaeological precinct and institutional centre at Uruk associated with Inanna; its name does not fix every early building’s function.
Warka Vase, Iraq Museum, IM19606, late fourth millennium BCE. Plants, animals and presentation; parts restored. Emblems link it to Inanna, while female identity remains unsettled. Photo, 2019
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Original photograph

Concept
Composite statue
A sculpted image assembled from multiple components or materials; missing parts do not automatically reveal identity or material.
Warka Head, white marble, about 21 cm high; late fourth millennium/ca. 3000 BCE. Eye and eyebrow inlays lost. Possibly Inanna; lighting warms the stone’s colour. Iraq Museum, photo, 2019
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Original photograph

Concept
Pictorial register
A band organizing imagery within a scene; counts may vary with the grouping of rows.
Warka Vase, Iraq Museum, IM19606, late fourth millennium BCE. Plants, animals and presentation; parts restored. Emblems link it to Inanna, while female identity remains unsettled. Photo, 2019
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Illustration

Study
Why Did People Elongate Their Children’s Skulls? From Neolithic Head Shaping to Ubaid Figurines
Head-shaping evidence from the Zagros, Jericho and Tell Zeidan, and possible identity, beauty and status motives: what bones establish and how far they explain Ubaid figurine heads.
Modern guide to vault growth, morphology and diagnostic limits. It gives no procedure for head shaping, represents no archaeological skull and reconstructs no site-specific equipment
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Illustration

Concept
Embodied identity
Affiliation or standing expressed through the body and its practices; an interpretive model requiring independent context.
Modern embodied-identity diagram: a caregiver-initiated childhood change and social meanings tested against context. It documents no particular Neolithic or Ubaid motivation
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Illustration

Concept
Circumferential head shaping
A pattern of early-growth head shaping associated with circumferential constraint and an elevated or extended vault.
Modern guide to vault growth, morphology and diagnostic limits. It gives no procedure for head shaping, represents no archaeological skull and reconstructs no site-specific equipment
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