Francesca Stavrakopoulou

His name is preserved in Israel.

So this is, I mean, his name simply means deity, but it also serves as a proper name.

And Asherah is the consort of the high God El.

And they have sons and daughters, like in many other pantheons we find across the world.

their sons and daughters who are the active gods.

They're the frontline deities, warrior gods and weather gods and fertility deities and such like.

So Asherah is really important.

So in the 8th century BCE, it's no surprise in some ways to find that the chief deity of ancient Israelite and Judahite religion is partnered with the goddess Asherah.

It gives him credibility

as much as anything else, that this is a high god who can take charge of this household of other deities and this portfolio of cosmic responsibilities.

Yeah, so the Hebrew Bible is very explicit about this.

It makes hundreds of references to the divine council of Yahweh or the divine council of El.

The two names are very interchangeable in lots of Hebrew Bible texts because they become identified at this point.

Yeah, the same root, absolutely.

Not so much sharing the same pantheon in common, but their local pantheons all look really similar.

They often have the same names and they have deities that serve pretty much the same roles.

So it's not direct translation, if you like, but they're sufficiently similar that everybody can understand that the world of the gods is mega important and you don't annoy somebody else's deity.

Ah, Baal.

I love Baal.

He's one of my favourites.