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

by Moorey, P. R. S.

• ISBN13: 9780197262801
• ISBN10: 0197262805
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-15
• Publisher: British Academy

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

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