Asherah

For the small research submarine, see Asherah (submarine). Asherah (from Hebrew אשרה), generally taken as identical with the Ugaritic goddess Athirat (more accurately transcribed as Airat), was a major northwest Semitic mother goddess, appearing occasionally also in Akkadian sources as Ashratum/Ashratu and in Hittite as Asherdu(s) or Ashertu(s) or Aserdu(s) or Asertu(s).
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[Judaic] Asherah was a goddess popular with the ancient Israelites, despite their priests' call to remain loyal to Yahweh. Biblical prophets condemn her repeatedly under the name Ashtoreth; it is the use of this name, a seeming combination of Asherah and Astarte, which has caused so much confusion for modern scholars.

[Other] A fertility goddess and goddess of the sea of ancient Syria and Palestine. The consort of Il. Probably another variation of the goddess Ashtart.

Asherah 'asherah (Hebrew) A Syrian goddess of fortune having close similarities with the Roman divinity Venus, and connected by analogy of attributes with Ashtoreth or Astarte, another Syrian divinity.
Also a sacred wooden pole or image standing close to the massebah and altar in early Shemitic sanctuaries, part of the equipment of the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem till the Deuteronomic reformation of Josiah (2 Kings 23:6). The plural, 'asherim, denotes statues, images, columns, or pillars; translated in the Bible by "groves." Maachah, the grandmother of Asa, King of Jerusalem, is accused of having made for herself such an idol, which was a lingham -- for centuries a religious rite in Judaea. Sometimes called the Assyrian Tree of Life, "the original Asherah was a pillar with seven branches on each side surmounted by a globular flower with three projecting rays, and no phallic stone, as the Jews made of it, but a metaphysical symbol. 'Merciful One, who dead to life raises!' was the prayer uttered before the Asherah, on the banks of the Euphrates. The 'Merciful One,' was . . . the higher triad in man symbolized by the globular flower with its three rays" (TG 37). See also ASTARTE .

(straight), the name of a Phoenician goddess, or rather of the idol itself (Authorized Version "grove"). Asherah is closely connected with Ashtoreth and her worship, (Judges 3:7) comp. Judg 2:3; 6:25; 1Kin 18:19 Ashtoreth being, perhaps, the proper name of the goddess, whilst Asherah is the name of her image or symbol, which was of wood. See (Judges 6:25-30; 2 Kings 23:14)
  

and pl. Asherim in Revised Version, instead of "grove" and "groves" of the Authorized Version. This was the name of a sensual Canaanitish goddess Astarte, the feminine of the Assyrian Ishtar. Its symbol was the stem of a tree deprived of its boughs, and rudely shaped into an image, and planted in the ground. Such religious symbols ("groves") are frequently alluded to in Scripture (Ex. 34:13; Judg. 6:25; 2 Kings 23:6; 1 Kings 16:33, etc.). These images were also sometimes made of silver or of carved stone (2 Kings 21:7; "the graven image of Asherah," R.V.). (See GROVE ¯T0001556 [1].).