succoth benoth Summary and Overview

2 Kings 17:30. Hebrew "the tents of daughters," i.e. in which they prostituted themselves to the Babylonian goddess of love (Herodotus i. 109), or else "small shrines containing images of female deities." But, as the parallelism to Nergal and Ashima require a deity, Succoth Benoth is probably Zirbanit, called wife of the Babylonian idol Merodach, and "queen" of Babylon. Thus Succoth "tents" would be a Hebrew mistranslation of Zir as if related to Jarat, whereas it means "supreme"; or Succoth is the Hamitic for Zir (Sir H. Rawlinson). The people of Hani (2000 B.C.), according to G. Smith's reading of an inscription, defeated the Babylonians, and carried away the image of Zirat Banit or Succoth Benoth.