Endnote 4 – To What God?

Somewhat similar horned altars dated to the 13th century B.C.E. were found at sites in Syria along the northern Euphrates. (J. Bretschneider, “Göettewr in Schreinen: Eine Untersuchung zu den Syrischen und Levantinichen Tempelmodellen, ihrer Bauplastik und ihren Göetterbvilden,” Ugarit Forschungen 23 [1991] pp. 13–32; B. Muller, Les «Maquettes Architecturales» du Proche-Prient Ancien [Beirut, 2002]; H. Katz, “Architectural Terracotta Models from Eretz Israel, from the Fifth to the Middle of First Millennia B.C.E.,” Ph.D. thesis, Haifa University, 2006.) However, the time gap between the 13th and the 10th centuries B.C.E. raises the question whether there is indeed a connection between the two phenomena. Is it possible that artistic and cultic traditions originating in Late Bronze Age Syria would be preserved in tenth–ninth centuries B.C.E. Israel, and if so, why?