Fish and the Journey to the Afterlife

Among the earliest artistic expressions, the image of the fish held mythological meaning. In the Negev Desert rock art, it represents a sacred guide navigating the dark waters of the underworld— a psychopomp accompanying the soul toward rebirth. For the ancients, death was not an end but a passage, and through symbols such as ships, birds, serpents, the sun, and fish, they expressed this cosmic journey of transformation (Golan 1991).

Cosmic Waters and the Underworld

Many ancient cultures imagined the cosmos as divided between upper and lower waters. The Sumerians called the realm beneath the earth the “lower water,” a shadowy underworld reached by crossing a cosmic ocean. The path was perilous—filled with darkness, gates, and serpents—and required a divine guide to lead the soul through. This belief forms the mythological background for the Negev engravings, where the fish and ship act as sacred vehicles for the journey beyond death.

Vessels of Souls

In early rock art, various means of transport symbolize the psychopomp’s function. In Fig. 1, the inverted ship represents the voyage through the underworld, while the vertical lines depict souls embarking on their passage. Similar imagery appears in Aegean and Cycladic art, where ships drawn by fish are attacked by serpents—emblems of chaos opposing the voyage to light (Salimbeti 2014).

The Fish as a Psychopomp

In the Negev Desert engravings (Figs. 2–3), the fish assumes the central role of soul-carrier. In Fig. 2, the fish (3) bears the souls shown as vertical strokes (2), while a natural crack in the rock (4) marks the symbolic boundary between life and the underworld. Above them, a tri-fingered symbol (1), derived from a bird’s foot, represents the celestial messenger descending to guide additional souls (Kristiansen 2018).

Fig. 3 presents a similar theme. A serpent (1) coils around the sun (2), attempting to block its path, while the fish (4) advances with souls upon its back (3). This composition parallels the Egyptian myth of Ra’s nightly journey through the underworld, where the serpent Apophis tries to prevent the sun’s rebirth. The Negev version condenses this mythic drama into a single, precise scene: the struggle between light and darkness, life and death, and the enduring hope of renewal.

Interpretation and Meaning

The fish motif unites natural observation with metaphysical vision. By linking earthly and celestial waters, it becomes the perfect emblem of transition. Together with the serpent and the solar disk, it expresses the eternal cycle of descent and resurrection. Through such engravings, Negev artists translated abstract theology into vivid, enduring symbols of transformation.

These rock carvings are not mere illustrations but visual theologies—concise expressions of humanity’s oldest questions. The fish as psychopomp symbolizes continuity between life and death, embodying the faith that the soul, guided through peril, will ultimately rise again.

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Yehuda Rotblum