Astarte

As hunter goddess

In the text KTU 1.92, ʿAṯtartu is called ʿAṯtartu the Huntress (𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎕𐎆𐎄𐎚, ʿAṯtartu Ṣawwādatu) in the lines 2-3, with the next line mentioning her as "going to the desert" (𐎚𐎍𐎋𐎟𐎁𐎎𐎄𐎁𐎗, taliku bi-madbari). The following lines recorded that the goddess saw something whose name is lost due to damage to the text, and line 5 mentions that the deeps surge with water, which might either refer to a celestial sign or to a possible damp terrain where ʿAṯtartu was hunting. The lines 6-13 described ʿAṯtartu taking cover in the low ground and holding her weapons while hunting, and she finally slew an animal whose name is lost in line 14. Following this, ʿAṯtartu fed the animal she had slain to the gods El and Yarikh.^[42]

Thus, present in the Northwest Semitic goddess was present a trait which was also characteristic of the South Arabian masculine hypostasis of ʿAṯtar, in whose honour sacred hunts were performed as fertility rite. This hunter aspect of ʿAṯtartu later faded away by the 1st millennium BC.^[5]

In the later portion of the text KTU 1.92, ʿAṯtartu was given clothing, after which she is described as nšʾat ẓl k kbkbm (𐎐𐎌𐎀𐎚𐎟𐎑𐎍𐎟𐎋𐎟𐎋𐎁𐎋𐎁𐎎), meaning either raising a shadow like the stars, implying that ʿAṯtartu herself was brilliant and removed a shadow like the stars do, or as herself shining like the stars. This passage leads to another one in which Baal desires ʿAṯtartu for her beauty, and approaches her.^[43]

ʿAṯtartu also appears as a huntress in the text KTU 1.114, where she and her sister Anat are consistently described as hunting together and bringing back game whose meat they distributed to the gods. In this text, ʿAṯtartu is mentioned before Anat,^[44] unlike most Ugaritic texts where this order is inverted, although the two goddesses are again connected through poetic parallels in the lines 10 to 11, reading "ʿAṯtartu and Anat he approached; ʿAṯtartu had prepared a steak for him, and Anat a tenderloin" (𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎆𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎊𐎎𐎙𐎊𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎓𐎄𐎁𐎟𐎐𐎌𐎁𐎟𐎍𐎅𐎟𐎆𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎋𐎚𐎔, ʿAṯtarta wa-ʿAnata yamġiyu ʿAṯtartu taʿdubu našabi lêhu wa-ʿAnatu katipa).^[45]

As warrior goddess

Attestations of ʿAṯtartu as a warrior goddess at Ugarit are minimal, with the principal one being her role in the text KTU 1.2 I 40, where she and Anat together restrain Baal by holding, respectively, his left and right hands.^[46] This text also linked ʿAṯtartu and Anat through poetic parallelism in the lines "His right hand Anat seized, His left hand ʿAṯtartu seized" (𐎊𐎎𐎐𐎅𐎟𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎜𐎃𐎄𐎟𐎌𐎎𐎀𐎍𐎅𐎟𐎚𐎜𐎃𐎄𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚, ymnh ʿAnatu tʾuḫd šmʾalh tʾuḫd ʿAṯtartu).^[5][45]

The Ugaritic text KTU 1.86, the Book of Dreams (𐎒𐎔𐎗𐎟𐎈𐎍𐎎𐎎, Sipru Ḥulumīma), mentions the horses of ʿAṯtartu, which might possibly be another allusion to her role as a warrior.^[47]

Possibly due to her role as a goddess of warfare, ʿAṯtartu was sometimes mentioned alongside the god Resheph in Ugaritic texts, such as in administrative documents, with jars of wine for the temples of ʿAṯtartu and of Resheph-gn being respectively mentioned immediately after each other in the text KTU 4.219, and in the text KTU 1.91's mentioning that the Rašpūma (lit. 'plural Rašpus'). Moreover, the attribute animal of Resheph was the lion, which was analogous to the lioness being the symbol of the warrior goddess ʿAṯtartu.^[48]

As healer goddess

In the text KTU 1.114, ʿAṯtartu and Anat also went to hunt for ingredients to cure the drunkenness of El, to whose household they belonged, and they are later mentioned in the narrative as applying the components of the cure to cause the healing, thus connecting the two goddesses with healing.^[44]

Among the Ugaritic incantations mentioning ʿAṯtartu are two where she is invoked to protect against snakebites: in the first incantation, from the text KTU 1.100, which is part of a sequence addressed to the sun-goddess Shapash to be delivered to a succession of deities, she is mentioned immediately after Anat, and the two goddesses' names are combined in the form "Anat and ʿAṯtartu at ʾInbubu" (𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎆𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎛𐎐𐎁𐎁𐎅, ʿAnatu-wa-ʿAṯtartu ʾInbubaha),^[49] and the incantation itself is intended to be delivered to Anat's home at ʾInbubu, thus putting ʿAṯtartu on a secondary level compared to Anat. ʿAṯtartu was also mentioned on the side of the tablet on which the inscription was written. In this incantation, the first instance of ʿAṯtartu was that of ʿAṯtartu of Ugarit, while the second one was ʿAṯtartu of Mari.^[50]

In a second incantation against snakebites, from the text KTU 1.107, ʿAṯtartu was mentioned after Anat in a pairing of the two goddesses as part of a list also including pairings of Baal and Dagon, and Resheph and Yarikh.^[34]

A third incantation, from the text KTU 92.2016, either against fever or for good childbirth, mentioned "Baal and the holy ones in the river" (𐎁𐎓𐎍𐎟𐎖𐎄𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎁𐎐𐎅𐎗, Baʿli qadišūma bi-nahri), followed by "the torrent of ʿAṯtartu, in the Raḥbānu" (𐎐𐎃𐎍𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎁𐎟𐎗𐎈𐎁𐎐, naḫla ʿAṯtarti bi-Raḥbāni), itself in turn followed by "in the sea" (𐎁𐎊𐎎, bi-Yammi), suggesting that this incantation alluded to three distinct water bodies.^[34]

As leonine goddess

ʿAṯtartu's emblem was the lion, and she was explicitly called a lioness and a panther in the hymn RIH 98/02, which reads:^[51][52]

The hymn especially emphasizes ʿAṯtartu and her name, with its mention of the goddess as "name" possibly being connected to her role as the Name-of-Baal, and the second line calls her a "lioness" while the fourth and fifth lines liken her to a panther. This association of ʿAṯtartu with the lion corroborates with significant comparative evidence from ancient West Asia and North Africa:^[52]

• Ê¿Aṯtartu's East Semitic equivalent, á´°IÅ¡tar (𒀭𒀹𒁯), also had a lion as her attribute animal;
• one of Ê¿Aṯtartu's Egyptian hypostases, the goddess Qetesh, is depicted standing on a lion on a plaque where she is given the triple name of Qetesh-Ê¿Astart-Ê¿Anat (𓈎𓐰𓂧𓈙𓐰𓏏𓐱𓆇𓉻𓐰𓏛𓊃𓐰𓍿𓂋𓐰𓏤𓏏𓐰𓆇𓂝𓐰𓈖𓐰𓍿𓇋𓏏𓐰𓆇𓆗, QdÅ¡t-Ꜥsṯrt-Ꜥnṯt);^[53]
• Ê¿Aṯtartu herself was identified with multiple lion-goddesses in Egypt;
• the Phoenician goddess Tanit, whose name was linked to that of Ê¿Aṯtartu's later Phoenician iteration, Ê¿AÅ¡tart, was represented with a lion's head;
• the masculine counterpart of Ê¿Aṯtartu, Ê¿Aṯtaru, was also called "Lion" (𐎍𐎁𐎜, labaʾu).

ʿAṯtartu in her form as a lioness might have been invoked as a theophoric element in the personal names Šuma-labʾi (𐎌𐎎𐎍𐎁𐎛, 'Name of the Lioness'), and ʿAbdi-Labiʾti (𐎓𐎁𐎄𐎍𐎁𐎛𐎚, 'Servant of the Lioness'), the latter of which holds the same meaning as the personal names ʿAbdi-ʿAširti (𒁹𒀴𒀀𒅆𒅕𒋾) and ʿAbdi-ʿAštarti (𒁹𒀴𒀭𒈹), both meaning "Servant of ʿAṯtartu."^[54]

As gender non-conforming goddess

Although divine roles were often modelled on human ones, such as masculine gods in relation to patriarchy and kingship being represented like human men, and feminine goddesses in relation to marriage and domestic chores being represented like human women, the exceptional roles of ʿAṯtartu and ʿAnatu as hunter and warrior goddesses signalled them as being at odds with the social norms of the societies where human women were not supposed to hunt of which they were deities.^[55]

This characterisation is made explicit in the myth of Aqhat, where Aqhat exclaims to Anat, ht tṣdn tʾinṯt (𐎅𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎕𐎄𐎐𐎟𐎚𐎛𐎐𐎘𐎚), meaning either "now do womenfolk hunt?" as a question, or "now womenfolk hunt!" sarcastically, to contrast her with human women, who were not supposed to hunt.^[55]

Thus, while Baal and Resheph were both hunter gods whose roles as such made them conform to masculine gender roles, the roles of ʿAṯtartu and Anat as hunter and warrior goddesses constituted an inversion with respect to the gender roles of human women. This made them role models and mentors, as Anat does in the story of Aqhat, in which she addresses him with the intimate term "my brother" and tells him that she will instruct him in hunting, thus being able to bond with the addressee and be present and active in him development into an accomplished hunter.^[55]

The episode of ʿAṯtartu performing filial duties by "shutting down the jaws" of the enemies of El was another case of gender inversion where the goddess successfully performed actions which among mortals were reserved for men only.^[56]

As member of the household of El

In in the hymn RIH 98/02, ʿAṯtartu is called on to shut the jaw of El's attackers in the line "May she shut the jaw of El's attackers" (𐎚𐎕𐎔𐎖𐎟𐎍𐎈𐎚𐎟𐎄𐎟𐎂𐎗𐎟𐎛𐎍, taṣpiq laḥata dā gūri ʾIli), which finds a literary parallel in the myth of Aqhat, where the titular hero Aqhat is instructed to "shut the jaw of his (father's) detractors" (𐎉𐎁𐎖𐎟𐎍𐎈𐎚𐎟𐎐𐎛𐎕𐎅, ṭābiqu laḥatê nāʾiṣihu), thus signaling ʿAṯtartu as performing filial duties by protecting El, the patriarch of whose household she was a member of.^[59]

As consort of Baal

Although there is little to no evidence of ʿAṯtartu being explicitly considered the consort of Baal at Ugarit, the text KTU 1.114 did refer to Baal as sexually desiring ʿAṯtartu, with possible mention of a bed in line 32 of the text perhaps alluding to these two deities engaging in sexual intercourse.^[60]

Although the once widespread view that Anat was also a consort of Baal has recently fallen out of favour due to lack of evidence from Ugarit, indirect evidence, such as Egyptian adaptations of West Semitic myths in which both ʿAṯtartu and Anat were the consorts of Baal might constitute indirect evidence that this might also have been the case at Ugarit.^[41]

Sacrifice to ʿAṯtartu might have been included in the list of sacrifices for the family of Baal in the Ugaritic text KTU 1.148.16 possibly because ʿAṯtartu might have been regarded as the consort of Baal at Ugarit. Contemporary sources, including Egyptian adaptations of West Semitic myths which feature ʿAṯtartu and Anat as the brides of Baal, and later sources, such as the role of the Phoenician ʿAštart as the consort of Baal, also suggest that ʿAṯtartu was a consort of Baal, although this evidence is still very uncertain and this pairing appears to have been distinctly Levantine.^[61]

Cult

The Ugaritic deity-lists gave minimal importance to ʿAṯtartu in the realm of rituals, and she was the last mentioned in several of these, although she was nevertheless important politically for the ruling dynasty of Ugarit and the administration of that city-state, being thus associated with the institution of the monarchy. In one letter to the king of Ugarit concerning maritime commercial activities with Cyprus, the lines 6 to 9 read "I do indeed speak to Baal Ṣapānu, to the Eternal Sun, to ʿAṯtartu, to Anat, to all the gods of Cyprus" (𐎀𐎐𐎋𐎐𐎟𐎗𐎂𐎎𐎚𐎟𐎍𐎟𐎁𐎓𐎍𐎟𐎕𐎔𐎐𐎟𐎍𐎟𐎌𐎔𐎌𐎟𐎓𐎍𐎎𐎟𐎍𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎍𐎟𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎍𐎟𐎋𐎍𐎟𐎛𐎍𐎟𐎀𐎍𐎘𐎊, ʾanākuna ragamtu lê Baʿli Ṣapuni lê Šapši ʿālami lê ʿAṯtarti lê ʿAnati lê Kulli ʾIlī ʾAlaṯiya),^[66] placing Baal and ʿAṯtartu in the initial position and naming ʿAṯtartu first, before the other Ugaritic goddesses, indicating the political importance of ʿAṯtartu at Ugarit.^[67]

The temple of ʿAṯtartu was likely located within the city of Ugarit, perhaps within the complex of the city's royal palace itself, with administrative records mentioning the existence of cultic personnel devoted to the goddess at this temple, the Ugaritic Akkadian text RS 20.235 referring to a servant of the goddess and the text KTU 4.163 mentioning singers of ʿAṯtartu, while the text KTU 4.219 contains the record of a payment of silver for the temple of the goddess immediately before that of a payment for the temple of the god Resheph.^[68]

Ugaritic administrative texts also mentioned the use of wine in the royal rituals pertaining to ʿAṯtartu, with the ritual text KTU 1.112 mentioning the offering of a jar of wine to the goddess's manifestation of ʿAṯtartu Ḫurri.^[68]

The texts KTU 4.242 I 1 and 11 mention clothing for the statue of ʿAṯtartu Šadî (𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎌𐎄,^[69] lit. 'ʿAṯtartu of the field'),^[70] who was identified with the North Syrian goddess ᴰIštar Ṣēri (𒀭𒈹𒂔, lit. 'Ištar of the steppe land'), with ʿAṯtartu Šadî herself being referred to as Ištar Ṣēri in Akkadian texts from Ugarit. Ištar Ṣēri was invoked as a divine witness in an oath between the kings of Ugarit and Carchemish,^[71] further attesting of her importance for the royalty of Ugarit, and she appears to have been popular enough in northern Syria and the Hittite Empire that she was worshipped in Hatti, where her name was written as Uliliyaš ᴰIštar (𒀭𒈹𒆤).^[37]

Although ʿAṯtartu had none of the erotic traits of her later Canaanite variant, ʿAṯtartu Šadî/Ištar Ṣēri was nevertheless present in hierogamy royal entry rituals whereby a statue or a woman representing the goddess was inserted in the alcove of Ugarit's royal palace.^[5][70]

Due to these aspects of the goddess, Akkadian texts from Ugarit and Emar identified ʿAṯtartu with her Mesopotamian counterpart Ištar, with the Akkadian milieu within which the Ugaritic texts were composed not distinguishing ʿAṯtartu from Ištar,^[72] and the Akkadian text RS. 17.22 + 17.87 from Ugarit referred to a second temple of hers as the "kunaḫi-temple of Ištar."^[5][73]

As warrior goddess

ʿAṯtart's role as a warrior goddess is more attested at Emar due to the widespread reference of the manifestation of ʿAṯtart as ʿAṯtart of Battle (𒀭𒀹𒁯 𒀞, ʿAṯtartu ša tāḫāzi), who was also the main basis of the cult of this goddess at Emar.^[77]

The warrior role of ʿAṯtart at Emar is also attested in the use of her name as a theophoric element in personal names such as ʿAṯtartu-qarrād (𒀸𒋻𒋾 𒌨𒊕, 'ʿAṯtart is a warrior') and ʿAṯtartu-lit (lit. 'ʿAṯtart is power').^[77]

The cult of ʿAṯtartu of Battle was performed by a priestess called the mašʾartu (𒈠𒀸𒅈𒌈), and the participants of her night festival were called the awīlû ša tāḫāzi (𒇽𒎌 𒋫𒄩𒍣, lit. 'men of the battle').^[77][76]

As hunter goddess

ʿAṯtart's connection to hunting at Emar in ritual settings is recorded in a text mentioning "on the 16th day is the hunt of ʿAṯtart" (𒄿𒈾 𒌋𒐋 𒌓𒈪 𒍝𒁺 𒊭 𒀭𒀸𒁯, ina 16 umi ṣadu ša ᴰAštart), that is the hunt of ʿAṯtart which was performed on the 16th of the month of Abi. This ritual hunt was performed on the same day as the procession to her manifestation of the Poplar ʿAṯtart (𒀭𒀸𒋻 𒍝𒅈𒁀, ʿAṯtar ṣarba) from "the storehouse", which ascribes to ʿAṯtart agricultural traits otherwise unknown of her elsewhere during the Bronze Age.^[5][78]

The line 𒄿𒈾 𒌋𒐋 𒌓𒈪 𒍝𒁺 𒊭 𒀭𒀸𒁯 also parallels the Sabaic hallowed phrase "the day when he performed the hunt for ʿAṯtar" (𐩺𐩥𐩣 𐩮𐩵 𐩮𐩺𐩵 𐩲𐩻𐩩𐩧, ywm ṣd ṣyd ʿṯtr), used to refer to the ritual hunts performed for the South Arabian god ʿAṯtar, who was himself a masculine counterpart of ʿAṯtart.^[5]

Another Emarite text records that the hunt of ʿAṯtart was performed on the 16th of the month of Marzaḫāni, with the hunt of Baal being on the 17th of this same month, and both hunts being mentioned together in the texts from Emar, suggesting that the hunt of the goddess involved game or provisions, and that ʿAṯtart and Baal appeared together at Emar, likely under the influence of their pairing in the Levant; Baal himself appears as a hunter at Ugarit, but never alongside ʿAṯtart as he does at Emar.^[78]

As consort of Baal

Although it was the pairing of the Hurro-Syrian goddess Ḫebat and Baal which was the principal divine couple at Emar, and despite there being no evidence yet that ʿAṯtart was explicitly paired with Baal at Emar as she was among the Canaanites, ʿAṯtart and Baal nevertheless had temples dedicated in common to both of them,^[79] and a common cult to this pair is suggested from the appearance of their names as theophoric elements in the popular personal names Zū-ʿAṯtarti (𒍪𒀸𒋻𒋾, 'The one of ʿAṯtart') and Zū-Baʿla (𒍪𒁀𒀪𒆷, 'The one of Baal').^[80] There is nonetheless little beyond this curcumstantial evidence at Emar for any pairing of ʿAṯtart with Baal, which appears to have been a Levantine occurrence.^[5][72]

Legacy

The worship of ʿAṯtart in the Middle Euphrates region, including at Emar, lasted until the Late Bronze Age.^[5]

By the Iron Age, the name of ʿAṯtart appears to have become used to mean "goddess" in general, so that an Akkadian inscription from the city of Ḫanat referred to the goddess ʿAnat as "the strongest of the ʿAṯtarts (goddesses)" (𒁉𒋥 𒀭𒁹𒁯𒈨𒌍, gašrat ištarāti).^[81]

As the "Face of Baal"

ʿAṯtart was called "Face of Baal" (ʾnpy-Bʿl) in the Wādī al-Ḥammāmāt inscription, which defined the goddess as representing the presence of the god Baal, especially in his temple. This usage of the name of a deity to represent their presence is also attested among the Phoenicians, who called the goddess Tanit as "the Face of Baal (Hammon)" (𐤐𐤍 𐤁𐤏𐤋‎‎‎, panē Baʿl), and among Israelites, in the verse of Book of Psalms of the Bible reading "Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name" (הָב֣וּ לַֽ֭יהוָה כְּב֣וֹד שְׁמ֑וֹ, hāḇū YHWH kəḇōḏ šəmō).^[62]

Iconography

Ê¿AÅ¡tart was often depicted as a naked goddess because of her role as a fertility and sexuality goddess, and many terracotta figures of naked women found in Israel and Judea were depictions of Ê¿AÅ¡tart, although not every image of a naked woman from this location was a representation of her. Ê¿AÅ¡tart was also depicted in the form of "concubines of the dead" statuettes placed in burials, as well as in sympathetic magic figurines possessing fertile traits intended to ensure that women desiring to have children would become pregnant.^[5]

Images of an armed goddess might also have been representation of Ê¿AÅ¡tart as a goddess of war and hunting, due to which she was often depicted on horseback or on a war chariot, sometimes holding an epsilon axe.^[5]

Ê¿AÅ¡tart was often depicted with a "Hathoric" hairstyle, which connected her with the Phoenician ivory sculptures of the woman at the window and to amulets representing a goddess who was analogous to Qetesh.^[5] Ê¿AÅ¡tart was also sometimes depicted surrounded by twin gods in some Phoenician coins.^[105]

ʿAštart Ḥor

Although the wooden throne upon which the Seville/El Carambolo Statuette rested had perished, its surviving bronze stool was inscribed with a dedication to ʿAštart Ḥor (𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 𐤇𐤓‎‎), that is to the Phoenician form of the manifestation ʿAṯtartu Ḫurri already attested in pre-Phoenician times,^[5] or maybe associated with Aphrodite of the salt marshes.^[106]

The cult of ʿAštart Ḥor held a certain importance, especially as part of royal rituals, and her domains were located at Šuksu, and at Ṣaʾu, a town belonging to the city-state of Siyannu.^[5]

As the "Name of Baal"

Another manifestation of ʿAštart was "ʿAštart-Name-of-Baal" (𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 𐤔𐤌 𐤁𐤏𐤋‎, ʿAštart šim Baʿl), who was the Phoenician form of "ʿAṯtartu-Name-of-Baal" (𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎁𐎓𐎍, ʿAṯtartu šuma Baʿli) already attested in the Bronze Age at Ugarit. This name defined the identity of the goddess as being in relation to Baal.^[65]

At Sidon

The worship of Ê¿AÅ¡tart at the Phoenician city-state of Sidon dates from the Late Bronze Age, when her name was recorded in Hittite texts, Ugaritic epics, and evocatory formulae.^[5]

The royal family of Ṣidōn worshipped ʿAštart, with several of its members bearing names in which the name of ʿAštart appears as a theophoric element, such as ʾImmī-ʿAštart (𐤀𐤌𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎‎), Bōd-ʿAštart (𐤁𐤃𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎), and ʿAbd-ʿAštart (𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎‎), and her title of milkōt (𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕‎, lit. 'Queen') being a theophoric element in the name of the 7th century BC Sidonian king ʿAbd-milkōt (𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕‎, lit. 'Servant of the Queen').^[5]

The kings of Ṣidōn from the 5th century BC, such as Eshmunazar I and his son Tabnit I, included "priest of ʿAštart" as part of their royal titulatory, and while Tabnit I's son, Eshmunazar II, who died when he was 14 years old, did not hold the title of "priest of ʿAštart," his mother Amoashtart was "priestess of ʿAštart." Before his death, Eshmunazar II and Amoashtart had built a sanctuary of ʿAštart at Ṣidōn ʾArṣ Yam (Sidon-Land-by-the-Sea), another sanctuary in the city's district of šmm ʾdrm (the Lofty Heavens), and a third sanctuary for ʿAštart šim Baʿl, with Eshmunazar II's cousin and successor Bodashtart having expanded the sanctuary of Ṣidōn ʾArṣ Yam.^[5]

As attested by three statuettes of children inscribed with dedications reading "to ʿAštart, to his Lord, to Eshmun" (𐤋𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 𐤋𐤀𐤃𐤍𐤉 𐤋𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍‎‎, la-ʿAštart la-ʾadōniy la-ʾEšmūn), which mention ʿAštart along with Eshmun, the 6th to 4th century temple of this god at Bustān aš-Šayḫ where these statuettes were found was in fact a common sanctuary of Eshmun and ʿAštart.^[5] A large shrine to ʿAštart was located on the eastern side of the sanctuary, below the platform upon which the temple proper rested, and it contained a paved waterpool and a stone throne flanked with sphinxes dedicated to the Sidonian ʿAštart, which itself rested against the background wall, which was decorated with hunting scenes.^[107]

During the period of the middle Roman Empire, a Sidonian coin of the Roman empress Julia Cornelia Paula was issued bearing the image of Ê¿AÅ¡tart resting her right arm on a cross-headed standard and holding a ship's stern in her left hand while crowned by the Roman goddess of victory, Victoria.^[5]

At Byblos

The temple of Ê¿AÅ¡tart at Afqa, in the territory of the city-state of Byblos, was one of the most renowned sanctuaries in ancient Phoenicia, located at the source of the Adonis river, where, according to Melito of Sardis, was the tomb of Adonis, whose blood turned the river's water red when he died there; according to Pseudo-Melito, this was the location of the tomb of Tammuz; and this temple was believed in ancient times to have been built by the legendary Cypriot king Cinyras, and it contained a waterpool, as well as pipelines which were used for lustrations linked to the cultic practises, and sacred prostitution, which was a typical part of the cult of Ê¿AÅ¡tart, was also performed there.^[108]

ʿAštart of Afqa, who possessed erotic traits, was a goddess of the planet Venus as the Evening Star which brought together the sexes. This goddess later identified in Graeco-Roman times with the Greek goddess Aphrodite Urania (lit. 'the Celestial Aphrodite').^[108]

By the Hellenistic period, the goddess Baalat Gebal had become explicitly assimilated to Ê¿AÅ¡tart, and therefore to the Greek Aphrodite), with whom Ê¿AÅ¡tart was herself equated, at Byblos, as well as at Afqa.^[109][108]

According to Zosimus, a phenomenon would take place at site of the temple of Afqa whereby a bright and fiery star-like object would be shot up from the top of a Lebanese mountain and would fall into the Adonis river. Pilgrims would gather at the temple on days of this occurrence, and would throw precious objects, such as gold- and silverworks or linen or sea silk into the waterpool of the temple as offerings: the offerings which sunk into the water were believed to have been accepted by Ê¿AÅ¡tart while the ones which floated were considered to have been rejected by the goddess.^[108]

The Roman emperor Constantine I ordered the destruction of the temple of Afqa, although Zosimus and Sozomen in the 5th century AD recorded that pilgrims still gathered at the site of the temple to make offerings on the days when the luminous phenomenon would occur. The temple building itself was permanently destroyed in an earthquake during the 6th century AD, although it remained a popular sacred site connected to fertility until recent times.^[108]

Tanit and Ê¿AÅ¡tart

Main article: Tanit

Although the goddess Tanit, whose first attestation was from the city of Sarepta, has been argued to have been a hypostasis of ʿAštart in older scholarship,^[110] the two goddesses to have been nevertheless possibly distinguished from each other in inscriptions. However, the evidence for so is still ambiguous and the name Tinnit might itself have been a title which was attributed to multiple deities, including to ʿAštart. One inscription from Sarepta recording the dedication of a statue to Tinnit-ʿAštart (𐤕𐤍𐤕𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎) nevertheless suggests some form of identification between Tanit and ʿAštart.^[111]

At Acre

Ê¿AÅ¡tart held high importance in the religious structure of the city-state of Acre, where she was identified with the Greek goddess Aphrodite in Graeco-Roman times, when she was the patron-goddess of the city's public baths.^[112]

Ê¿AÅ¡tart of Acre was depicted as Aphrodite on coins of the city from the 3rd century AD, where she was represented with a caduceus to her right, and the Greek god Eros, the son of Aphrodite, riding a dolphin to her left.^[112]

The goddess was however most often depicted on the coins of Acre under the traits of the Greek goddess Tyche in the latter's role as the patron goddess of a municipality, in which capacity she was represented as seated on a rock, wearing a crown made of crenellated towers, and placing one foot on the shoulder of a young swimmer who personnified the river Orontes, although the swimmer in the coins of Acre stood for the river-god Belus, that is the present-day Nahr al-Naʿāmayn, and he held a reed and leans over an amphora, with a crocodile beneath him.^[112]

Under the reign of the Roman Emperor Valerian, Ê¿AÅ¡tart was depicted coins similarly to a Syrian goddess, with a calathus hat, and seated between two lions like Atargatis, with her right hand in a blessing position and her left one holding a flower.^[112]

At Tyre

The goddess ʿAštart held high prestige in the city-state of Tyre, where she was a dynastic goddess, as attested by the names of the 10th to 9th century BC Tyrian kings ʿAbd-ʿAštart (𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎),^[113] Mattan-ʿAštart (𐤌𐤕𐤍𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎),^[114] and ʿAštart-ʾImmī (𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕𐤀𐤌‎‎);^[115] the king Hiram I allegedly built a new temple for ʿAštart and Melqart, and the later king Ithobaal II held the title of "priest of ʿAštart" before he ascended to the throne of Tyre.^[5]

At Tyre, Ê¿AÅ¡tart was closely associated to the god Melqart and was his consort, a custom which was carried on by the colonists who set out from Tyre to establish themselves throughout the Mediterranean sea.^[5]

At the site of Ḫirbat aṭ-Ṭayibā, to the south of Tyre, a stone "throne of Astarte" with an inscription (KAI 17) was dedicated to ʿAštart in a sacred site located in the middle of the fields of the one who offered the dedication.^{[5][116][117]}

In the Tyrian town of Ḥamon, ʿAštart formed a triad with the god Milk-ʿAštart and the Angel of Milk-ʿAštart,^[118] and the city's sanctuary of Milk-ʿAštart contained a dedication to ʿAštart.^[5]

In the 7th century BC, the warrior goddess role of ʿAštart was invoked in the treaty between the Assyrian king Esarhaddon and the Tyrian king Baal I in a line reading "May ʿAštart break your bow in the thick of battle, and have you crouch at the feet of your enemy" (𒀭𒊍𒋻𒌓 𒀸 𒋫𒄩𒍣 𒆗𒉌 𒄑𒉼𒆪𒉡 𒇷𒅖𒄵 𒀸 𒉺𒅁𒆷𒉽𒆪𒉡 𒀸 𒇷𒊺𒅆𒅁𒆪𒉡, ᴰAstartu ina tāḫāzi danni qaštakunu lišbir ina šapla nakrikunu lišēšibkunu).^[5][119] This description of ʿAštart paralleled that of the Mesopotamian Ishtar, who was given the title of "Lady of Battle and War" (𒁁𒀖 𒉠 𒌋 𒀞, belet qabli u tāhāzi).^[120]

The association between Ê¿AÅ¡tart and Melqart at Tyre continued until the Roman period, and an inscription from the Severan dynasty mentions the goddess Ê¿AÅ¡tart, under the name of the Greek goddess Leucothea, along with Melqart, under the name of Heracles.^[5]

In Egypt

Due to the influence of the Egyptian Osiris myth, the Phoenicians who lived in Egypt during the Hellenistic period continued the identification of Ê¿AÅ¡tart with Isis, in which capacity they worshipped this latter goddess.^[85]

In Cyprus

The worship of Ê¿AÅ¡tart is widely attested in ancient Cyprus, where she had been assimilated to the Greek goddess Aphrodite from early times, due to which many early shrines of Aphrodite in Cyprus showed partial Phoenician influence.^[5]

The Cypriot ʿAštart was already depicted in Phoenician ivory sculptures and in the Book of Proverbs (7) of the Bible, and was likely referred by the Greeks as "the Peeper" (Παρακύπτουσα, Parakúptousa) and by the Romans as the Venus prōspiciēns of Salamis.^[5]

At Amathous

The goddess Ê¿AÅ¡tart was the main deity of the city of Amathous, where stood one of the most famous temples of hers at the top of the acropolis of the city. The temple of Ê¿AÅ¡tart of Amathous was erected in the 8th century BC, when the city was under Tyrian influence, with the presence of two Phoenician graffiti and Phoenician-type anthropoid sarcophagi at Amathous and Kition attesting of the existence of a Phoenician community living in these cities. The shrine of Amathous, like most Cypriot shrines of Ê¿AÅ¡tart, thus exhibited partial Phoenician influences, such as worship halls, courtyards, and altars within a temenos, and it was only in the 1st century AD that it was replaced by a Greek-style temple. During the 6th and 5th centuries BC, local hand-made votive figurines were associated to Phoenician-type small moulded plates depicting Ê¿AÅ¡tart as a naked standing goddess holding her breasts, as well as to small Greek-type korai.^[5]

Two dedications offered by Androcles, the last king of Amathous, some time between 330 and 310 BC, respectively to the goddesses Kupris (lit. 'the Goddess of Cyprus') and Kupria Aphrodite (lit. 'the Aphrodite of Cyprus'), as well as two monumental limestone vases have been found at the site of the shrine of Amathous.^[5]

Although Graeco-Roman authors had claimed that it was forbidden to spill blood in the temple of Amathous, remains of Hellenistic sacrifices provided evidence that goats and sheep were the main animals offered in sacrifice at the shrine Ê¿AÅ¡tart.^[5]

According to the Roman authors Ovid, Pausanias, and Tacitus, the inhabitants of Cyprus considered the shrine of Venus, that is, Ê¿AÅ¡tart, at Amathous as one of the three most reverend sites on Cyprus, along with Paphos and Salamis.^[5]

In the Aegean Sea and Greece

The name of the goddess ʿAštart was used as a theophoric element in several personal names, attested at Athens, Aphrodisias, Delos, and Rhodes, in their Hellenised forms and including the element Strat- (Στρατ-, from ʿAštart).^[5]

In Malta

In the late 8th century BC, Phoenicians repurposed an old Copper Age megalithic structure at Tas-Silġ on the island of Malta into a temple of ʿAštart where offerings were given to her by readjusting its walls, placing their altar on an older altar stone, building several shrines, and placing there large numbers of votive gifts, especially Hellenistic-style statues.^[5]

The sanctuary of ʿAštart at Tas-Silg was of large dimensions, being 100 metres wide, and was renowned in antiquity for its great wealth. The Tas-Silġ temple has yielded many Punic inscriptions dating from the 5th to 1st centuries BC containing short dedications to ʿAštart, who was there identified with the Greek supreme goddess Hera and later with the Italic Juno, due to which Cicero later referred to it as the fānum Iūnōnis, "the temple of Juno".^[5]

A temple of Ê¿AÅ¡tart also existed on the island of Gozo.^[5]

In Sicily

ʿAštart worshipped in Sicily at the Mount Eryx, where stood a temple a goddess, on a rocky outcrop which domonates from its north-east the city of Eryx, which itself was a town which had once belonged to the Elymians and was an ally of the Phoenicians settled at Ṣiṣ and Moṭwē before becoming a Punic fort during the 4th to 3rd century BC. The temple of Mount Eryx was initially dedicated to an indigenous goddess named in Oscan inscriptions as Herentas Herukina (𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌄𐌍𐌕𐌀𐌔 𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌖𐌊𐌉𐌍𐌀), who was later identified with ʿAštart, and later to the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus Erycina.^[5]

The Romans themselves called the temple of Mount Eryx the Veneris fānum (lit. 'temple of Venus'), and according to a Roman coin from the 1st century BC, it had four columns, the mountain itself was surrounded by a wall, so that the shrine could only reached by passing through a monumental gate. Claudius Aelianus recounted a legend, according to which the Veneris fānum possessed an open-air altar from which all the sacrifices offered to the goddess during the day would disappear during the night and would be replaced with dew and fresh herbs, which was similar to some characteristics of the cult of the Cypriot ʿAštart.^[5]

Older coins depicted the goddess of Eryx with a dove, which was an attribute of the Levantine ʿAštart, as well as with the Greek Erōs, the son of Aphrodite, and a dog, which was commonly found within Phoenician religion and thus showed the presence of West Asian influences on her. Later coins represent her wearing a laurel wreath and a diadem.^[5]

Another typically Levantine aspect of the cult of the ʿAštart of Eryx was the practise of sacred prostitution, which was carried out by the "servants" of the goddess. Sacred prostitution at the Veneris fānum was well known enough in antiquity that Plautus recorded an old man's advice to a pimp in which he mentioned that courtesans at the shrine would earn large amounts of money.^[5]

The worship of this goddess later spread to the Graeco-Roman world, where her worship is attested at Rome, Herculaneum, Dikaiarkhia, Potentia, and Greece. In the Punic world, she was worshipped at Karalis, in Sardinia, at Carthage, where two inscriptions refer to the ʿAštart of Eryx, as well as at Thibilis, Cirta, Madaure, and Sicca Veneria, which was well known in ancient times for its practise of sacred prostitution,^[5] which was performed there by the Pūnicae fēminae (lit. 'Carthaginian women').^[126]

In Carthage

In Carthage and in Phoenico-Punic Africa in general, the goddess Tanit appears to have displaced ʿAštart and taken over her roles, due to which she became called "Tanit-Face-of-Baal" (𐤕𐤍𐤕 𐤐𐤍 𐤁𐤏𐤋‎, Tinnit panē Baʿl), who was often paired with the supreme Carthaginian god Baal Hammon.^[111]

Although the goddess ʿAštart held lesser importance in North Africa, she was worshipped at Carthage, where her cult was imported directly from Phoenicia, especially from Tyre and Ṣidōn, as well as from Eryx.^[5]

A 7th century BC golden medallion from Carthage mentioned the goddess Ê¿AÅ¡tart alongside an individual named Pygmalion to whom the medallion belonged.^[5]

During the Punic period, ʿAštart was connected to the worship of Eshmun, as she was in the Sidonian temple at Bustān aš-Šayḫ, and she was herself worshipped under the name of "Mighty ʿAštart" (𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 𐤄𐤀𐤃𐤓𐤕‎, ʿAštart ha-ʾaddīrōt). ʿAštart, like Tanit, possessed a temple of her own in the city of Carthage, which was located in the city's centre. It was likely the warrior form of the goddess who was worshipped in this temple, since her weapons and chariot were kept there.^[5]

The Punic general Hannibal invoked Ê¿AÅ¡tart, referring to her in Greek as Hera, as one of the many deities he took as witness in the treaty he concluded with the king Philip V of Macedon.^[5]

During the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC, a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis, identified to Ê¿AÅ¡tart, existed at Carthage.^[85]

Following the destruction of Carthage and its annexation by the Roman Republic at the end of the Punic Wars, the Romans continued the worship of ʿAštart under the name of the "Celestial Juno" (Iūnō Caelestis), and when they rebuilt Carthage in 123 BC, they initially named it Junonia after Iūnō Caelestis, that is, after ʿAštart. The Romans also rebuilt the temple of ʿAštart and dedicated it to Juno Caelestis, who was thus a Roman continuation of the initial Punic cult of ʿAštart, and a distinct goddess from the native Roman Juno Regina. During the Roman period, ʿAštart was still worshipped under her Phoenician name at Thuburbo Maius, where she was identified with Juno Caelestis.^[5]

The identification of Ê¿AÅ¡tart with the Egyptian Isis continued in the formerly Punic territories of North Africa after the Roman conquest, and several Isea existed in the region under Roman rule.^[85]

Roman writers mentioned that Africans worshipped the "Carthaginian Juno" (IÅ«nō Poena), who arrived from the East and whose favourite place to stay was Carthage; Tertullian in the 2nd century AD noted the parallels between the African Caelestis and the Levantine Ê¿AÅ¡tart; Herodian in the 2nd to 3rd century AD mentioned a goddess Ourania (lit. 'the Celestial One'), who was worshipped by the Carthaginians and the Libyans, and whose name he recorded as "Queen of the Stars" (Ancient Greek: Ἀστροάρχη, romanized: Astroárkhē), which was both a deformation and reinterpretation of the name of Ê¿AÅ¡tart; and Augustine of Hippo recorded that Punic people called Juno "Astarte", that is Ê¿AÅ¡tart.^[5]

The worship of ʿAštart-Caelestis held an exceptional importance at Mididi, where she was called by her Phoenician-Punic name, and was called the "wife of Baal", as recorded in a neo-Punic inscription reading "Sanctuary for ʿAštart consort of Baal: the citizens of Mididi built (it)" (𐤌𐤒𐤃𐤔 𐤁𐤍𐤀 𐤋𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 𐤔𐤕 𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤁𐤍𐤀 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤀 𐤄𐤌𐤉𐤃𐤃𐤌‎‎‎, mqdš bnʾ lʿštrt št Bʿl bnʾ bʿlʾ hMyddm). Attesting of her primacy at Mididi was a stela discovered there, with the goddess being depicted on its pediment, while on its lower level was the African Saturn (that is, Baal Hammon), to whose right was the goddess Kubeleya seated on her lion, who was herself identified at Mididi with ʿAštart, and not with Tanit.^[5][61]

The Roman temple of Juno Caelestis, according to the 5th century AD Bishop of Carthage, Quodvultdeus, was of large proportions, and was surrounded by shrines to various deities associated to the goddess, and the 5th century AD Bishop of Byzacena, Victor Vitensis, described it as being located near the Baths of Antoninus; the temple had already been desecrated under the reign of the Roman emperor Theodosius I, and it was finally destroyed in 421 AD following unrest by the pagan population of the city.^[5]

In Italy

The Etruscans identified Ê¿AÅ¡tart with their own goddess Uni, as attested by the gold tablets discovered in 1964 at the site of renowned sanctuary built in the 6th century BC to the goddess Uni in the town of Pyrgi, the port of the Etruscan city-state of Cisra. Uni was associated to the god Tinia, who was the Etruscan equivalent of the Greek Zeus and was assimilated to Melqart, with the divine couple of Uni and Tinia being thus assimilated to the Phoenician-Punic divine couple of Ê¿AÅ¡tart and Melqart.^[5]

The gold tablets from the Pyrgi renowned were engraved with Etruscan and Phoenician-Punic inscriptions recording the dedication of a cult centre to ʿAštart by the king Tiberius Velianas of Cisra, who ruled around c. 500 BC, on "the day of the burial of the god (Melqart)." The practise of this cult to the Phoenician-Punic by an Etruscan king might have been the result of a possible treaty with Carthage, and the rites practised at the shrine of Pyrgi included sacred prostitution, performed by the "scorta Pyrgensia", the prostitutes of Pyrgi.^[5]

The shrine of Pyrgi was a wealthy one, as evidenced by the 1500 talents which Dionysius I of Syracuse looted from it in 384 BC.^[5]

In Hispania

As attested by the Seville/El Carambolo Statuette, imported from the Levant to Hispania, the Phoenician activities in the Mediterranean had spread the cult of Ê¿AÅ¡tart till Hispania.^[5]

The worship of Ê¿AÅ¡tart also continued in Hispania after it was conquered by the Romans, with the goddess being there also called Juno, and the existence of a temple and an altar to "Juno," that is to Ê¿AÅ¡tart, is mentioned by Artemidorus and Pomponius Mela. One Latin inscription from the Roman imperial period refers to a priest named Herculis whose father was named Junonis, reflecting the Punic association of "Hercules" (Melqart) and "Juno" (Ê¿AÅ¡tart).^[5]

The "Islands of Hera," or "Islands of Juno," located in the Strait of Gibraltar, as well as the island of Junonia in the Atlantic Ocean and the "Cape of Hera" or "Cape of Juna" (presently Cape Trafalgar), also owed their names to Ê¿AÅ¡tart.^[5]

In Britannia

Under the Roman Empire, the cult of Ê¿AÅ¡tart had spread till the foot of Hadrian's Wall in Britannia, where she was invoked using her Phoenician name and associated to the "Tyrian Hercules," that is to Melqart, thus being a continuation of the close connection between Melqart and Ê¿AÅ¡tart, and attesting of the Phoenician origin of this cult.^[5]

Legacy

Other ancient Mediterranean peoples considered Ê¿AÅ¡tart to be the supreme goddess of the Phoenicians, due to which several of them identified her with their own supreme goddess, with the Greeks identifying her with Hera, the Etruscans with Uni, and the Romans with (Juno.^[5]

The Graeco-Romans Hellenised the name of ʿAštart as Astartē (Ἀστάρτη), which they in turn Latinized as "Astarte", and identified her with their own goddesses Aphrodite and Venus, due to her erotic aspect.^[5]

In the writings of the 1st century AD Roman poet Virgil, the goddess Venus mentioned the Cypriot shrine of Ê¿AÅ¡tart at Amathous among her most famous temples.^[5]

The name ʿAštart's variant of ʿAštārōniy was Hellenised as Astronoē (Ἀστρονόη) under the influence of the Greek term astron (ἄστρον, lit. 'constellation'.^[5]

In Israel and Judah

Following the trend of the disappearance of the worship of ʿAštart in inland Palestine, the state-level cult of this goddess was absent from Israelite and Judahite records from an early date, and she seems to have become one of many former gods demoted to the status of entities and powers of blessing under the control of the Israelite national god Yahweh. As such the plural form of ʿAštart's name, ʿAštārōṯ (עַשְׁתָּרוֹת), became used as a term for goddesses and for fertility, while her role as a deity of warfare was absorbed by Yahweh.^[131]

The worship of ʿAštart might nevertheless have survived as a minor and popular, but not royal, cult among the Israelite population, with the practice of hunting for undomesticated animals (to be sacrificed) being restricted to the family and local shrines; but not at the state level. The influence of the Neo-Assyrian Ishtar later increased the influence of this cult within the Israelite religion, so that the Ishtar-influenced Israelite ʿAštart might have been the same goddess referred to as the Queen of Heaven (מְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם, Məleḵeṯ haš-Šāmayīm) by the Judahite prophet Jeremiah.^[132]

The Bible claims that the Israelite king Solomon introduced the worship of the Phoenician Ê¿AÅ¡tart in his kingdom, although it is uncertain whether this claim rests on any historical basis or whether it was made retroactively as a reaction against Phoenician religious imports. The cult of the Phoenician Ê¿AÅ¡tart appears to have nevertheless enjoyed some level of royal support during the later periods of the Israelite kingdom.^[133]

In Transjordan

Although an Ammonite seal dedicated to ʿAštart in Sidon (𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 𐤁𐤑𐤃𐤍‎, ʿAštart bi-Ṣidōn) was found in Sidon, she appears to have been absent from Ammon itself.^[5][134]

Like in Israel and Ammon, there is no evidence of any cult of Ê¿AÅ¡tart in Moab or Edom.^[134]

In Philistia

The Hebrew Bible records that the Philistines displayed the armour of the dead Israelite king Saul in their temple of "Ashteroth", due to her role as a goddess of war and as the consort of Baal.^[5][120]

The inhabitants of the Philistine city-state of Ascalon worshipped Ê¿AÅ¡tart and identified her with the Greek goddess Aphrodite Urania.^[108]