Ashima (; la, Asima) is an ancient Semitic goddess.

Ancient Middle East

Asima was a West Semitic goddess of

fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

related to the Akkadian goddess Shimti ("fate"), who was a goddess in her own right but also a title of other goddesses such as

Damkina Damgalnuna, also known as Damkina, was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of the god Enki. Her character is poorly defined in known sources, though it is known that like her husband she was associated with ritual purification and that she ...

and

Ishtar Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in S ...

. Damkina, for example, was titled ''banat shimti'', "creator of fate". The name Ashima could be translated as "the name, portion, or lot" depending on context. It is related to the same root as the Arabian ''qisma'' and the Turkish '' kismet''. Asima was one of several

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

worshipped in the individual cities of

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...

who are mentioned specifically by name in

2 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

() in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. Julian Obermann suggests a close association with between the concept of "name" and "fate or purpose" from the West Semitic root "šm" and cites several examples in the Ugaritic text in which the naming of a person or object determines future function which is a familiar theme in many mythologies.

Godfrey Rolles Driver Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver (20 August 1892 – 22 April 1975), known as G. R. Driver, was an English Orientalist noted for his studies of Semitic languages and Assyriology.J. A. Emerton, 'Driver, Sir Godfrey Rolles (1892–1975)'. In ''Oxfo ...

translates "šmt" as "charge, duty, function" in his glossary of Ugaritic and links this with the Akkadian "shimtu" which he translates as "appointed lot". As a personification of fate, Ashima was cognate with the South Semitic goddess Manathu (or

Manāt ( ar, مناة pausa, or Old Arabic manawat; also transliterated as ') was a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess worshiped in the Arabian Peninsula before the rise of Islam and the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. She was among Mec ...

) whose name meant "the measurer, fate, or portion" who was worshiped by the

Nabataean The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Lev ...

peoples of

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and other early South Semitic and Arabian peoples. Both names appear in alternate verses in

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language and so the only known Amorite dialect preserved in writing. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologis ...

texts. (''In the same way, the name of the goddess''

Asherah Asherah (; he, אֲשֵׁרָה, translit=Ăšērā; uga, 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚, translit=ʾAṯiratu; akk, 𒀀𒅆𒋥, translit=Aširat; Qatabanian language, Qatabanian: ') in ancient Semitic religion, is a fertility goddess who appears in a ...

''appears in alternate verses with''

Elath Elath (; la, Aila; grc, Ελά, Ἀηλά, Αἴλανα, Αἰλανίτης, Αἰλανή, Ἐλάνα, Αἴλανον, Αἰλάς, Αἰλάθ, Αἰλών, Ἡλάθ, Αϊλά), or Eloth, was an ancient city mentioned in several places in ...

to indicate that both names refer to the same goddess). Ashim-Yahu and Ashim-Beth-El are forms of her name and a variant of her name is also attested in the Hebrew temple in

Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...

in Egypt. The divine name or epithet Ashima-Yaho (haShema YHWH) which is attested in the papyri from the Yahweh temple of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

has been connected in both theme and structure with a title of Astarte which appears in the Ugaritic texts as Astarte Name-of-Baal (e.g., KTU ("Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugarit") 1.16.vi.56). According to the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

, the Ashima idol took the form of a "bald sheep" (possibly a goat or ram), while Rabbi

Saadia Gaon Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...

explains that it was in the shape of a cat. Rabbi

Elias Levita Elia Levita (13 February 146928 January 1549) ( he, אליהו בן אשר הלוי אשכנזי), also known as Elijah Levita, Elias Levita, Élie Lévita, Elia Levita Ashkenazi, Eliahu Levita, Eliyahu haBahur ("Elijah the Bachelor"), Elye Bok ...

writes that Ashima was a monkey-shaped idol.

References

{{Time in religion and mythology Deities in the Hebrew Bible Mesopotamian goddesses Time and fate goddesses West Semitic goddesses Books of Kings