A Moabite Sanctuary at Khirbat al-Mudayna

Daviau, P. M. Michèle; Steiner, Margreet

doi:10.2307/1357641

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…45-46, 161-162, fig. 388) and 340 (Ussishkin 1989), Khirbat al-Mudayna on the Wadi al-Thamad (Daviau and Steiner 2000)-and near major roads have been identified in the Negev Desert-Ḣ orvat Qitmit (Beit-Arieh 1995), Kuntillet 'Ajrud in northeastern Sinai (Meshel 2012), and Site WT-13 near Dhiban, Jordan (Dolan 2007). Cult corners appear in domestic spaces, which attest to the practice of household rituals that occurred alongside other quotidian practices (Albertz and Schmitt 2012).…”

Section: Religion and Ritual Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembling the Iron Age Levant: The Archaeology of Communities, Polities, and Imperial Peripheries

Porter

2016

J Archaeol Res

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Archaeological research on the Iron Age (1200-500 BC) Levant, a narrow strip of land bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert, has been balkanized into smaller culture historical zones structured by modern national borders and disciplinary schools. One consequence of this division has been an inability to articulate broader research themes that span the wider region. This article reviews scholarly debates over the past two decades and identifies shared research interests in issues such as ethnogenesis, the development of territorial polities, economic intensification, and divergent responses to imperial interventions. The broader contributions that Iron Age Levantine archaeology offers global archaeological inquiry become apparent when the evidence from different corners of the region is assembled.

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Section: Religion and Ritual Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembling the Iron Age Levant: The Archaeology of Communities, Polities, and Imperial Peripheries

Porter

2016

J Archaeol Res

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“…Although excavations in Moab are extremely limited, a cultic building was recently found at Khirbat al-Mudayna (Daviau and Steiner 2000), and another at Ataruz (Ji 2012). Another late Iron Age temple was discovered in Tell Damiya (Petit and Kafafi 2016), whose population was most likely Canaanite, and another in Rujm al Kursi in Ammon (for a recent overview, see Steiner, Tyson, in this issue).…”

Section: Iron Age Temples Outside the Kingdoms Of Israel And Judahmentioning

confidence: 99%

Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why

Faust

2019

Religions

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Most scholars in the late 20th and early 21st century believed that cultic activity in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah was practiced in various temples that were scattered throughout the kingdoms. Still, a detailed study of the archaeological evidence on Israelite cult reveals that Israelite cultic buildings were extremely rare, both in absolute terms and when compared to other ancient Near Eastern societies, suggesting that cultic activity in temples was the exception rather than the norm and that typical Israelite cult was practiced in the household and in other, non-temple settings. Hence, the evidence suggests that rather than viewing temples, like the one in Arad, as exemplifying typical cultic activity, they should be viewed as exceptions that require a special explanation. The first part of the article develops and updates the suggestion, first raised about ten years ago, that Israelite temples were indeed extremely rare. Given the ancient Near Eastern context, however, such practices seems to be exceptional, and the second part of the article will therefore explain why was such a unique pattern not identified in the past, and will suggest a possible explanation as to how was such an outstanding practice developed and adopted.

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“…60 Another example of public cult just to the south of Ammonite territory in Moab comes from a room just inside the city gate at Khirbat al-Mudayna ath-Thamad. The cultic nature of this room is easily identified by the existence of three small stone altars, benches along the walls, two female figurine heads, and the naked torso of a third, two bronze rings, a Wadjet-eye amulet, carved limestone "pegs," and a ceramic assemblage of lamps, a spouted vessel, a juglet, a decanter, small bowls, a small jug, and some store jars (Daviau and Steiner 2000). The three stone altars provide the most specific evidence in terms of actual practice.…”

Section: Private or Domestic Cultic Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

The Religion of the Ammonites: A Specimen of Levantine Religion from the Iron Age II (ca. 1000–500 BCE)

Tyson

2019

Religions

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In the Iron Age II (ca. 1000–500 BCE), the region around Amman, Jordan, was home to a sociopolitical group known as the Ammonites (literally, “the sons of Ammon”). This paper investigates the religious traditions of the Ammonites through an analysis of the extant archaeological and textual sources. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the religious tradition of the Ammonites is a specimen of the broader religious tradition of the Iron Age II Levant. One distinguishing feature of Ammonite religion is the state god Milkom, whose name is probably an epithet for the god ʾEl, and who appears to be represented in a tradition of stone sculptures that have been found in the vicinity of Amman. The rest of the non-physical realm was understood to be inhabited by gods, goddesses, a variety of other non-human beings, and dead ancestors. Also visible in the extant evidence is a blending of local and foreign elements, especially those from Mesopotamia. Unique in this respect is the probable temple to the moon-god at Rujm al-Kursi, which most likely reflects a local tradition of lunar worship influenced by the iconography of the Mesopotamian moon-god Sîn.

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A Moabite Sanctuary at Khirbat al-Mudayna

Cited by 16 publications

References 12 publications

Assembling the Iron Age Levant: The Archaeology of Communities, Polities, and Imperial Peripheries

Assembling the Iron Age Levant: The Archaeology of Communities, Polities, and Imperial Peripheries

Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why

The Religion of the Ammonites: A Specimen of Levantine Religion from the Iron Age II (ca. 1000–500 BCE)

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