Female Pillar Figurines of the Iron Age: a Study in Text and Artifact John

However polemic its intent, and not without a certain irony, the Hebrew Bible testifies eloquently to the manufacture and use of cultic images of wood, stone, and precious metal in ancient Israel. Biblical history documents the existence and tenacity of this phenomenon beginning in the days of the judges-in the tale of Micah and his house shrine complete with metal image, ephod, and teraphim Oudges 17-18)-to the sanctioned violence of king Josiah's attempted extirpation of it on the brink of Judah's end time (2 Kings 23). Second only to this are the prophets who rail against the divine images of Judah and Israel and mock those of the nations (Isa 10: 10-1 1). Not including the references to Zaah and Z ~ * m , there are over 200 occurrences of some 12 terms that signify cultic images. So far, this textual indication of the use of images must remain a general, even tentative observation, depending on a reading between the lines. The archaeological record of Syria-Palestine has yielded a variety of cult effigies from several sites (e.g., Beth-Shan, Gezer, Jerusalem, Lachish, Megiddo and Tel-Beit Mirsim) and periods (Middle Bronze to Hellenistic). These are chiefly of terracotta and female in sex. Metal and male are in a distinct minority.' The female terracotta figurines and plaques most frequently depict the entire nude female emphasizing the breasts and the pubic triangle (abb. 4448). Some females are touching one breast (abb. 49, 52, 53 , while others support both (abb. 22-24, 29; see figure 1). Still another group, the object of this study, consists of pillar figurines. These emphasize prominent and heavy breasts, encircled and supported by the arms, and the head is usually sharply and arrestingly defined. The pubic