Theodore J. Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190072544
- eISBN:
- 9780190072575
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190072544.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The literary portrayals of El worship must be complemented by a look at the aesthetically physical. Was El imagined in the form of an enthroned, benevolent patriarch or a majestic bull or even a ...
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The literary portrayals of El worship must be complemented by a look at the aesthetically physical. Was El imagined in the form of an enthroned, benevolent patriarch or a majestic bull or even a solid block of stone? Chapter Five situates the iconography of El within a comparative study of ancient Israel’s neighbors, especially the robust El religion of Late Bronze Age Syria (Ugarit). Methodologically, the chapter examines the misuse of comparative iconography prior to articulating criteria for determining whether a material object represents the divine. The numerous cults of standing stones or masseboth (known elsewhere as betyls or “houses of El”) attested archaeologically throughout Iron Age Israel’s history are discussed including at the key sites of Shechem, the so-called “Bull Site,” Hazor, Arad, Tel Dan and Khirbet Ataruz. Possible theriomorphic representations of El (especially as a lion and bull) in text and material culture are also discussed.Less
The literary portrayals of El worship must be complemented by a look at the aesthetically physical. Was El imagined in the form of an enthroned, benevolent patriarch or a majestic bull or even a solid block of stone? Chapter Five situates the iconography of El within a comparative study of ancient Israel’s neighbors, especially the robust El religion of Late Bronze Age Syria (Ugarit). Methodologically, the chapter examines the misuse of comparative iconography prior to articulating criteria for determining whether a material object represents the divine. The numerous cults of standing stones or masseboth (known elsewhere as betyls or “houses of El”) attested archaeologically throughout Iron Age Israel’s history are discussed including at the key sites of Shechem, the so-called “Bull Site,” Hazor, Arad, Tel Dan and Khirbet Ataruz. Possible theriomorphic representations of El (especially as a lion and bull) in text and material culture are also discussed.
