ABSTRACT

Mariam F. Ayad explores how five women were elevated to a position of supreme religious authority. Drawing on a variety of textual, iconographic, and archaeological evidence, and containing fifty-one black and white and colour illustrations, the volume discusses this often neglected subject, placing the women within the broader context of the politically volatile, turbulent seventh and eighth centuries BCE.

chapter |2 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|31 pages

The Historical Setting

chapter 2|82 pages

Rites and Rituals

chapter 3|37 pages

Avenues to Legitimacy

chapter 4|3 pages

Epilogue