The Good and Evil Serpent (145 page)

56
. See the massive work published by O. Keel,
Corpus der Stemplelsiegel-Amulette aus Palästina/Israel
, 2 vols. (Freiburg and Göttingen, 1995 and 1997). See esp. the illustrations in vol. 1, p. 76, and vol. 2, pp. 13, 15, 41, 75, 97, 111, 119, 121, 127, 131, 149, 153, 155, 159, 171, 175, 189, 197, 199, 205, 207, 211, 213, 235, 237, 239, 243, 245, 543, 547, 549, 553, 597, 607, 611, 623, 627, 629, 633, 635, 665, 675, 687, 703, 709, 715, 717, 721, 725, 729, 735, 743, 749, 751, 767, 771, 780, 789, and 790.

57
. Guy,
Megiddo Tombs
, Plate 161:20. Item no. 21 may also be the remains of a serpent-headed bracelet.

58
. Guy,
Megiddo Tombs
, Plate 166:5.

59
. J. G. Duncan,
Digging Up Biblical History
(London, 1931) vol. 2, p. 72.

60
. See the drawing in R. A. S. Macalister,
The Excavation of Gezer
(London, 1912) vol. 2, p. 399, Fig. 488.

61
. Macalister, ibid., p. 399.

62
. Macalister,
The Excavation of Gezer
(London, 1912) vol. 1, p. 96.

63
. Macalister,
The Excavation of Gezer
, vol. 1, p. 98. See the drawing in Macalister,
The Excavation of Gezer
, vol. 3 (London, 1912) Plate 26:13. For a photograph of Cave 15 IV see vol. 1, p. 97.

64
. W. G. Dever et al.,
Gezer IV: The 1969–71 Seasons in Field VI, the “Acropolis”
(Jerusalem, 1986) Part I, vol. 4, p. 43.

65
. Dever et al., ibid., p. 45.

66
. See the drawing in W. G. Dever et al.,
Gezer IV: The 1969–71 Seasons in Field VI, the “Acropolis”
(Jerusalem, 1986) Part 2, vol. 4, Plate 51:2. Also, see the photograph on Plate 116B.

67
. See J. D. Seger,
Gezer V: The Field I Caves
, ed. J. D. Seger and H. D. Lance (Jerusalem, 1988) vol. 5, Plate 69: A-E, H.

68
. Seger, in
Gezer V
, vol. 5, pp. 77–78. For Cypriot ophidian iconography in the Cyprus Museum, see the early and dated report in J. L. Myres,
A Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum
(Oxford, 1899) pp. 43:91 (snake ornament, Bronze Age pottery [= Plate II:91]), 43:96–100 (snakes on Bronze Age pottery), 47:255 (snake ornament, Bronze Age pottery [= Plate II:255A]), p. 73:1114 (Greek-Phoenician Pottery with handles like serpents’ heads), p. 86:1683 (a satyr attempts to catch a serpent), p. 110:3151 (Hercules and a serpent), p. 130:4259–64 (serpents’ heads), p. 135:4566 (scarab showing a figure holding two serpents [= Plate 8:4566]), p. 176:100 (silver serpent-head bracelets), p. 182:76 (two silver spirals ending in serpent heads).

69
. A. M. Roveri, “Qadesh,”
EAA
5 (1965) 583–84; the photograph on p. 583 shows a nude Qadesh holding a serpent in her right hand and standing on a lion.

70
. Macalister,
Excavation of Gezer
, Vol. 3, Plate 221:9.

71
. See ibid., Plate 221:10. Pritchard
(Palestinian Figurines
, p. 7, No. 11) and Joines (JBL 87 [1968]) interpret the art work to denote serpents. This is conceivable, but far from probable (let alone certain).

72
. See A. Ben-Tor, “Hazor,” in
OEANE
3:1–5.

73
. For a photograph of the site, before and after excavation in 1957, see Yadin et al., eds.,
Hazor III-IV: Plates
(Jerusalem, 1961) Plate 121.

74
. Y. Yadin et al.,
Hazor III-IV
, Plate 339:5–6. Joines (JBL 87 [1968] 245 n. 4) reports that “Yadin informed me of their provenance in a personal correspondence.” The data given are taken from Yadin et al., ibid., Plate 339:5,6, but they are not exactly the ones she provides. Only the provenance of 139:5 is specified. The assumption is that both were found in the same locus.

75
. See the drawings in Keel,
Das Recht der Bilder
, p. 233:178, 182. Also see the Babylonian black limestone deed of gift, also from c. 1200 BCE, and showing a serpent with a scorpion.

76
. A. Ben-Tor, R. Bonfil, and A. Paris,
Hazor V
(Jerusalem, 1997) p. 42 (Photo II.20), p. 44 (Fig. II.14: L.628 no. 33 [drawing]).

77
. Yadin et al.,
Hazor III-IV
, Plate 313:13; also see Plate 196:13 and the description on the facing page.

78
. Yadin et al., ibid., Plate 313:11 (photograph). Serpents seem to be applied to the MBII jug shown on Plate 239:20.

79
. Yadin et al.,
Hazor III-IV: Text
(Jerusalem, 1989) p. 223.

80
. Yadin et al.,
Hazor III-IV
, Plate 260:24 (drawing) and Plate 313:12 (photograph).

81
. Yadin et al.,
Hazor II
(Jerusalem, 1960) Plate 181. For another photograph, see [Y. Yadin, ed.],
Hazor: Excavation of a Biblical City
(London, 1958?) illus. 6. A photograph is also published in
NEAEHL
2:596.

82
. In Yadin et al.,
Hazor II
, p. 117, it is reported that the “crescent is also found on the central stele (Vol. I, Pl. XXIX) among the elements of the deity symbols. The crescent on the bronze standard permits us to suppose that the latter’s use was associated with the nearby Shrine, the subject of whose cult (as noted in Vol. I) was the Moon-god.” See the photograph in Pritchard,
ANEPTS
p. 352:834.

83
. See the drawing by Tadmor and the discussion by Keel,
Das Recht der Bilder
, p. 202 (discussion) and p. 239:203 (drawing). Also see Keel and Uehlinger,
Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God
, pp. 66–67.

84
. See the drawings in Keel,
Das Recht der Bilder
, pp. 239–45.

85
. Yadin et al.,
Hazor II
, p. 118.

86
. Yadin, “Further Light on Biblical Hazor: Results of the Second Season, 1956,”
Biblical Archaeologist
, 20 (1957) 43.

87
. Yadin, “The Fourth Season of Excavation at Hazor,”
Biblical Archaeologist
, 22 (1959) 5–6.

88
. See Yadin,
Hazor III-IV
, Plate 282 (drawing and description), and 309 (photograph).

89
. See C. F.-A. Schaeffer,
Ugaritica II
(Paris, 1949) Plate 30 (photograph).

90
. See esp. A. Caquot and M. Sznycer,
Ugaritic Religion
(Leiden, 1980) Plate 14a (standing goddess with a serpent), Plate 15a (seated goddess with serpents), and Plate 19b (the Ugaritic pendant of a goddess with serpents). M. Pope is convinced that a limestone stela from Ugarit contains not only a uraeus but also a serpent held in the hand of El. See Pope, “The Scene on the Drinking Mug from Ugarit,” in
Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William Foxwell Albright
, ed. H. Goedicke (Baltimore, London, 1971) pp. 393–405.

91
. See Yadin,
Hazor III-IV
, Plate 282:1 for drawing and description and Plate 309 for a photograph. Also see Yadin,
Hazor II
, p. 109 for more details regarding the discovery of the vessel in 1957.

92
. See Yadin,
Hazor II
, p. 109 (description), Plate 123:4 (drawing), and Plate 177:6 (photograph).

93
. See B. Rothenberg, “Timna‘,”
NEAEHL
4.1475–86; W. G. Dever, “Timna‘,”
OEANE
5.217–18; D. W. Manor, “Timna (Place),”
AYBD
6.553–56. Also see A. Negev,
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land
(New York, 1986 [rev. ed.]), pp. 507–8. the works of Benno Rothenberg are essential, such as
Timna’: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines
(London, 1972); with Paul Tylecote,
Chalcolithic Copper Smelting
(London, 1978);
The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna
(London, 1988).

94
. See the color photograph in Negev,
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land
, p. 49. A wonderful color photograph is found in J. M. Landay,
Silent Cities, Sacred Stones: Archaeology Discovery in the Land of the Bible
(London, Jerusalem, 1971) p. 88. Excellent color photographs are found in Rothenberg,
Timna
, Plate 19 (full view) and 20 (close-up of head).

95
. Timna’ is not the site of copper mines belonging to King Solomon. See J. D. Muhly, “Timna and King Solomon,”
Bibliotheca Orientalis
41 (1984) 276–92.

96
. B. Rothenberg,
Were These King Solomon’s Mines? Excavations in the Timna Valley
(New York, 1972) p. 154. Also see Rothenberg,
The Egyptian Mining Temple
. The gilded copper serpent from Timna’ is shown in Plates 11 (full) and 12 (head close-up).

97
. See Keel and Uehlinger,
Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God
, p. 68. Also, see F. M. Cross,
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic
(Cambridge, Mass., 1997); for the relation between Hathor and “the serpent lady” inscription, see pp. 19, 32, 34.

98
. See the large color photograph in R. Schulz and M. Seidel, eds.,
Ägypten: Die Welt der Pharaonen
(Cologne, 1997) pp. 446–47.

99
. For an aerial photograph of the tell, see
NEAEHL
, 1:214.

100
. See the refined chronology intimated by A. Mazar in
OEANE
1:305–09. Also see S. Geva, “A Reassessment of the Chronology of Beth Shean Strata V and IV,”
Israel Exploration Journal
29 (1979) 6–10.

101
. Numbers in parentheses denote plates in A. Rowe,
The Four Canaanite Temples at Beth-shan
(Philadelphia, 1940).

102
. The drawing in Rowe, ibid., on Plate 14:1 is misleading; see the photographs on Plate 58A:1–2, and the drawing on 58A:3.

103
. The color photograph in A. Negev,
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land
, p. 249 is attractive, but it scarcely indicates how fragmented is the cult stand.

104
. A decent photograph of the restored cylindrical cult stand is found in Pritchard,
ANEP
585 (on p. 194).

105
. The cylindrical stand is too fragmented to be certain; the drawing may be misleading. Too often the reality is confused with an artist’s recreation.

106
. The photograph in
OEANE
1:222 can be misleading; the cult stand is very fragmented.

107
. The placement of many fragments, especially numbers 16:5, 7, 8, 9, is unclear; that is, I cannot discern with which cylindrical cult stand they should be connected.

108
. Rowe,
The Four Canaanite Temples of Beth-shan
, p. 43.

109
. It is difficult to follow Rowe’s publications and too easy to criticize him. We should, however, understand that he excavated after World War I, in the 1920s, and had difficulty working and publishing during the Depression, finally seeing his work published in 1930 and 1940. He also used Egyptian chronology to identify his finds; this is lamentable, but he worked before the agreement to use the ages of technology and before the refinement of pottery chronology by Albright and others. I am indebted to R. A. Mullins, the Albright Montgomery Fellow for 1998–99, for discussions about some of these insights.

110
. H. Th. Bossert,
Altsyrien
(Tübingen, 1951) p. 196:646.

111
. Rowe,
The Four Canaanite Temples of Beth-shan
, p. 36.

112
. See the references and insights in Rowe,
The Four Canaanite Temples of Beth-shan
, pp. 50–51.

113
. See also F. W. James, P. E. McGovern, and A. G. Bonn,
The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan
, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1993) vol. 2, Plates 83:1–84:1.

114
. See the drawing in James, McGovern, and Bonn,
The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan
, vol. 2, 58:7 (see the descriptions on plate 57 where the item is misidentified as Rowe, Plate 33:11 [uraeus is also misspelled]).

115
. Also see the drawing in James, McGovern, and Bonn,
The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan
, vol. 2, 60:1, 2. Each is called a pendant and a uraeus. The photograph is in vol. 2, Plate 26:d and e.

116
. James and McGovern also suggest that this object is a cobra. See their “Zoo-morphic Objects: Cobra Figurines (Figs. 83–85),”
The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan
, vol. 1, pp. 171–72. Also see “Cobra Figurines” on pp. 95–96 and “Cobra Figurines: Construction Methods” in vol. 2, Fig. 3. They proved that the cobra figures were hand formed, without a mold, with appliqués attached in two main ways.

117
. See the drawing in James, McGovern, and Bonn,
The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan
, vol. 2, Plate 84:2, 85:2.

118
. For photographs of this item and the following ones, which are cobra figurines, see James, McGovern, and Bonn,
The Late Bronze Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan
, vol. 2, Plate 39.

119
. Also see the photograph in A. Rowe,
The Topography and History of Beth-shan
(Philadelphia, 1930) vol. 1, Plate 35:4 (facing view) and 35:5 (side view). On this plate the pottery figurine is identified as “a serpent goddess in the form of a uraeus, with breasts and a cup below for the lacteal fluid.” It is a pity that this insightful information was placed only here.

120
. Rowe, ibid., p. 44, thought that the men were “gods(?)” and they were “in fighting attitudes(?).” This is too speculative. The other side of this cult stand seems to be shown in a photograph in Pritchard,
ANEP
590 (p. 195).

121
. See the drawing of one in E. D. Oren,
The Northern Cemetery of Beth Shan
(Leiden, 1973) Fig. 41:31.