ASHIMA

(A·shiʹma).

A deity worshiped by the people from Hamath whom the king of Assyria settled in Samaria after his taking the Israelites into captivity. (2 Ki. 17:24, 30) Although numerous attempts have been made to identify Ashima with another deity, nothing can be stated with any certainty aside from what is contained in the Bible. Ashima, according to the Babylonian Talmud, was represented as a hairless he-goat, and for this reason some have identified Ashima with Pan, a pastoral god of fertility. Another suggestion is that the name Ashima may be a deliberate alteration of “Ashera” (the Canaanite fertility goddess) to combine it with the Hebrew word ʼa·shamʹ (guilt).