Symbols of the Goddess - The BAS Library

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The Tree of Life was an important and ubiquitous motif throughout the ancient world. We find it in ancient Near Eastern texts and depictions presenting a tree or other plant with the power to impart health or life (e.g., Epic of Gilgamesh 11.283–309). A tree of life also appears in the biblical account of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22, 24). Now a recently discovered pottery decoration from Tel Burna may reveal how this popular motif was understood in Canaanite religion.1 Tel Burna, a candidate for biblical Libnah (e.g., Joshua 10:29; 2 Kings 8:22), is a multi-period site in […]

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Footnotes

1. Itzick Shai, Archaeological Views, “How Canaanites Worshiped,” BAR, September/October 2015.

Endnotes

1. For a detailed treatment, see Christian Locatell, Chris McKinny, and Itzick Shai, “The Tree of Life Motif, Late Bronze Canaanite Cult, and a Recently Discovered Krater from Tel Burna,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 142.3 (2022), pp. 573–596.