Canaanite and Hebrew Goddesses

A live visual presentation by Max Dashu

The ancient female figurines go back more than 10,000 years in this part of the world, from the pre-pottery neolithic through the Yarmukian, to the ivories of Be'ersheva and the abstract stone goddesses of the 3rd millennium, to the bronzes in the temple of Nahariyya, and myriad ceramic icons across the 2nd millennium (and well into the 1st).

We'll view the goddess-inscribed Lachish Ewer, ritual stands from Beth She'an and Taanach, and clay shrines from Yavne, Philistia. The goddess 'Ashtart looms large in the archaeology, with an array of plaques, Egyptian reliefs where she is titled Qudsu, the "Holy One," and her lion-thrones in Phoenicia.

We'll also look at three famous inscriptions to Asherah; Jezebel of Tyre and the "Woman in the Window"; the Nimrud ivories and "pillar figurines." And we'll touch on Miriam the Prophetess, Dvorah the Bee, and the Baalat Ob seeress, more commonly known as the "Witch of Endor."

Live visual presentation 90 minutes, with extra time for discussion
and questions; (available in shorter 60-minute version).
Requires digital projector, screen, and mic.

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