Pre-Islamic goddess? Help needed

[Britannicus]

Hi, I was going to upload this to the Identification Help board, but it's not a coin, and I suspect this might be a better place to seek help on it.

It's a tiny silver or white metal square, 8.6 x 8.8 mm., but 3.5 mm. thick, and weighing 2.35 g.

On one side is a standing, facing female figure (dress, breasts), her hands held out at her sides with fingers spread, wearing a headdress, and with identical objects (altars?) to left and right.

On the othe side are 2 lines of Arabic (?) script. A more knowledgeable friend claims to be able to read "asman" (the heavens) and "parast" (worshipper, devotee).

Some kind of religious token?

Grateful for any help!

Francis

[Jan P]

Asherah?

[Jan P]

I came directly to Asherah, because above the red line I think to read "Asherah":

[Britannicus]

Wow! This is interesting. If the first line reads "Asherah", this could perhaps be a devotee's token of the goddess. Asherah worship seems to have survived in Southern Arabia well into the Christian era. But the iconography of the figure doesn't obviously match the iconography of known representations of Asherah.

It does match the British Museum's Burney Relief that you illustrate, including what could be owls (my "altars") and the rod-and-ring symbols in her hands (if that is what they are). But the Burney Relief (c. 1800 B.C.) is much, much older, and the figure has been described as being Lilith, Ishtar, or Ereshkigal, but never Asherah.

Has anyone come across such little metal depictions of goddesses from pre-Islamic Arabia?

[Jan P]

Well . . . this is more than odd!
I saw your coin or token and thought I could read "Asherah".
I look on the www and fall on the image of this site . . .
https://godswarplan.com/bible-battles-ehud-against-the-moabites-ehud-slays-king-eglon-israel-against-moabites-ammonites-and-amalekites-judges-3/02-asherah-pt
. . . were they wrongly present Ishtar or Lilith as Asherah.
So, with my "Asherah" we came here by surprise to Ishtar, whoes image resembles that of your token in all its attributes.
Meanwhile I checked what you wrote here above and the "godswarplan-guys" are clearly mistaken, Asherah has nothing to do with Ishtar.
If this is not serendipity . . . what Is ?!

[Jan P]

Hey Britannicus,
Re-reading your start message, I now saw your friends' translation as "Asman" and I think he is 100% right.
That pellet after the "s" must be an arabic "m".
So, forget Ashera, I was wrong. But I am glad I found Ishtar .

[Britannicus]

I think we might be getting closer...

Ishtar's famous title was "the Queen of Heaven". Her cult survived into Chjristian times, buit she also morphed into other goddesses like Astarte and Aphrodite ("Ourania", the "Heavenly One").

According to Wikipedia: "Worship of Venus deities possibly connected to Inanna/Ishtar was known in Pre-Islamic Arabia right up until the Islamic period. Isaac of Antioch (d. 406 AD) says that the Arabs worshipped 'the Star' (kawkabta), also known as Al-Uzza, which many identify with Venus. Isaac also mentions an Arabian deity named Baltis, which according to Jan Retsö most likely was another designation for Ishtar. In pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions themselves, it appears that the deity known as Allat was also a Venusian deity."

So at the moment I'm guessing that this little object was connected with a pre-Islamic Arabian sky-goddess cult. But it would be good to know whether anyone has ever seen anything similar?