Idols of the People Miniature Images of Clay

These lectures investigate the numerous miniature baked clay images from Canaan, Israel and Judah (c. 1600-600 BC). They constitute vital evidence for the imagery and domestic rituals of ordinary people, but significantly are not explicitly mentioned in the Old Testament. These terracottas are treated as a distinctive phenomenon with roots deep in prehistory. Attention is focused on whether or not the female representations are worshippers of unknown deities or images of known goddesses, particularly in Early Israelite religion.

List of Plates

vii

Preface

ix

Acknowledgements

x

I. In the Beginning: Origins and Originating questions

1. Terracottas and Old Testament study

1

(2)

2. Two paradigm shifts in recent scholarship: in the origins of Israelite religion and in cognitive archaeology

3

(4)

3. Some conceptual hazards: toys; magic; fertility

7

(4)

4. Clay and cuneiform texts: inscribed terracottas in ancient Mesopotamia

11

(2)

5. Images and imagery: the value of broad and extended perspectives

13

(1)

6. Contrasting terracotta repertories: Canaan, Israel and Judah

14

(1)

7. Some primary considerations

15

(8)

II. Terracottas in Early Complex Societies: Sumer, Babylonia, Syria, Egypt and Canaan (c. 3000-1150 BC)

1. Contrasts in the terracotta imagery of Canaan, Israel and Judah

23

(2)

2. The emergence of nude female images in early urban societies in Sumer, (c. 3000-2100 BC)

25

(3)

3. The 'Nude Female' in Babylonia (c. 2100-1650 BC)

28

(6)

4. The migration of the one-piece open-mould technology to Syria

34

(1)

5. Terracotta imagery in Canaan and the Egyptian connection

35

(2)

6. Terracotta Plaques in Canaan during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1650-1150 BC)

37

(3)

7. The Canaanite terracotta legacy in the first millennium BC (Iron Age).

40

(7)

III. Terracotta Imagery in Israel and Judah under the Divided Monarchy (c. 925-586 BC)

1. Israelite goddesses: terracotta figurines

47

(3)

2. The Emergence of free-standing Terracottas in Israel and Judah

50

(2)

3. Two key contexts: Cave 1 (Ophel) in Jerusalem (Judah) and area E-257 in Samaria (Israel)

52

(6)

4. The repertory of Judean terracottas in the eighth and seventh Centuries BC

58

(9)

5. Closing comments

67

(2)

Abbreviations

69

(1)

Bibliography

70

(9)

Index

79

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Idols of the People Miniature Images of Clay in the Ancient Near East

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