I. Name

Although the derivation of the Greek word from the (unattested) Semitic peraḥ-Istar, ‘bird of Ishtar’, is probably mistaken, there can be no doubt that the dove in the Eastern Mediterranean world was the bird of the mother-and love goddess (Aphrodite) in various forms. That the dove also was regarded as soul-bird is shown by dove-grottos in burial grounds (Greeven 1968:65) and funerary inscriptions, Jewish as well as Gentile (Greeven 1968:67). In Israel, turtledoves and pigeons were the onl…