Star of Ishtar

The star of Inanna usually had eight points,^[1] though the exact number of points sometimes varies.^[2] Six-pointed stars also occur frequently, but their symbolic meaning is unknown.^[3] The eight-pointed star was Inanna's most common symbol,^[1] and in later times became the most common symbol of the goddess Ishtar, Inanna's East Semitic counterpart.^[1] It seems to have originally borne a general association with the heavens,^[1] but, by the Old Babylonian Period, it had come to be specifically associated with the planet Venus, with which Ishtar was identified.^[1] Starting during this same period, the star of Ishtar was normally enclosed within a circular disc.^[3]

During later times, slaves who worked in Ishtar's temples were sometimes branded with the seal of the eight-pointed star.^[3] On boundary stones and cylinder seals, the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown alongside the crescent moon, which was the symbol of Sin, god of the Moon, and the rayed solar disk, which was a symbol of Shamash, the god of the Sun.^[4][2]

The rosette was another important symbol of Ishtar which had originally belonged to Inanna.^[5] During the Neo-Assyrian Period, the rosette may have actually eclipsed the eight-pointed star and become Ishtar's primary symbol.^[6] The temple of Ishtar in the city of Aššur was adorned with numerous rosettes.^[5]

In Arabic, the symbol is known as (Arabic: نجمة عشتار, romanized: najmat eshtar). The stars of Ishtar and Shamash featured on the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq from 1932 to 1959.

A simplified version with red rays and a yellow centre was incorporated into the flag of Iraq from 1959 to 1963. It also featured in a combination with the sun of Shamash on the national emblem of Iraq from 1959 to 1965.^[7][8][9]

• Lion of Babylon
• Dingir ⟨𒀭⟩
• Octagram
• Star of Lakshmi
• Kagome crest
• Shamsa
• Rub el Hizb