A note on a head of Judean pillar figurine from Ramat Rahel in the Museum of Near East Egypt and Mediterranean

Abstract

On the occasion of the exhibition “Astarte. La dea dei mille volti”1 held at the Museum of Near
East Egypt and Mediterranean of Sapienza University of Rome, a head of female figurine from Ramat
Rahel gained a renewed interest. The head belongs to a Judean Pillar Figurine, a kind of artifacts made
in the Southern Levant during the 1st millennium, often associated with a female deity, sometimes
Astarte or Asherah, and connected with fertility and domestic cults. This paper is the occasion to reflect
in the light of new discoveries on the function and meaning of these statuettes and on the value of
archaeological heritage preserved in the Museum