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The sceptres of life-sized divine statues from Canaanite Lachish and Hazor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2020

Yosef Garfinkel
Yosef Garfinkel*
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (✉ garfinkel@mail.huji.ac.il)
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Abstract

Despite the investigation of hundreds of ancient temples across the Near East, life-sized statues of divine figures are rare and none have been found in the Canaanite Levant. In this article, contextual and iconographic analyses are used to argue for the interpretation of objects from Canaanite temples at Tel Lachish and Hazor, Israel, as sceptres associated with life-sized statues. This represents the first evidence for life-sized divine figures in the region. In turn, this identification may assist in the recognition of similar objects from elsewhere in the Levant and beyond, and stimulate discussion of the power embodied by these statues.

Keywords

LevantIsraelCanaanite religionsceptresstatuesiconography
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 94 , Issue 375 , June 2020 , pp. 669 - 685
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2020

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