Astarte

Aphrodite

Goddess of Love War Sex

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Astarte

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/astarte/

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Astarte is the Canaanite/Phoenician goddess of love, sex, war, and hunting who developed from the Mesopotamian deity Inanna/Ishtar. She is usually associated with the storm god Baal but seems to have been much more popular. She traveled to Egypt through trade where she was adopted as a war deity and consort of Set.

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She was associated with war in the Levant prior to her arrival in Egypt, but stories concerning her usually emphasize her skill in hunting and aspects of her relationship with Baal and the god El. She is often depicted with horses and chariots after her arrival in Egypt and as a beautiful naked woman, sometimes with wings or horns, as she was in Canaanite/Phoenician regions which also associated her with the dove, bee, and lion.

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She traveled from Phoenicia and then Egypt via trade throughout the Mediterranean and was clearly quite popular based on the number of temples raised in her honor. She is thought to have informed the development of the Greek goddesses Artemis and Aphrodite, the Roman Venus, as well as the Hurrian goddess Sauska, among others.

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Astarte is also known as Ashtart, Athart, and in the Bible as Ashtoreth, consort of Baal, and is condemned along with him as a "false god" by the prophet Elijah as well as others, including Jeremiah, for drawing people away from the worship of Yahweh.

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Name & Origins

Astarte is the Greek form of the Canaanite Athart and the Phoenician Ashtart both of which derive from the Akkadian Asdartu referencing the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar developed from the Sumerian goddess Inanna who is attested in writing from the 4th millennium BCE but whose worship is understood as much older. Inanna was the goddess of love, sexuality, sensuality, fertility, and war, and these attributes later characterized Ishtar.

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Inanna was already a popular goddess in Sumer when she was identified with Ishtar by Enheduanna (l. 2285-2250 BCE), high priestess of the temple at Ur and daughter of Sargon of Akkad (r. 2334-2279 BCE), founder of the Akkadian Empire. Sargon credits Ishtar for military victories in his inscriptions, identifying her as a war deity during his reign.

Read More Ishtar Inanna The Queen of Heaven click

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She was adopted with these attributes by the Canaanites who added the bee, dove, and palm tree to her iconography. Her characteristics, prior to her arrival in Egypt, have been interpreted by scholars primarily from statuary and reliefs as she plays a minor role in the tales of the Canaanite gods. Baal's sister, Anat, is far more well-defined in Canaanite religious literature while Astarte seems to have been in Egypt. The two goddesses were paired as cultic figures in Egypt, though recognized as different deities, and in Canaanite mythology, they appear together in at least two tales.

Read More Baal Bael God of Fertility Weather Tribes of Canaan click

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The Ugaritic Texts

Astarte is first mentioned in texts from the ancient city of Ugarit (modern-day Ras Shamra, Syria) dating back to the mid-14th to late 13th centuries BCE, specifically the Baal Cycle and El’s Drinking Party. The Baal Cycle is not a single work but a collection of tales concerning Baal's war with the sea god Yamm, his victory over death, and ascent as king of the gods.

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Astarte's role throughout is minor, and scholars Michael D. Coogan and Mark S. Smith explain this as an expression of Ugarit's patriarchal society which informed its theology (7). There is no doubt that Ugaritic patriarchy informed the religious texts, but this does not explain why Asherah and Anat are given central roles while a popular goddess like Astarte only appears in the scene where she helps restrain Baal and then later when she votes with the other gods that Baal should have his own palace.

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Astarte in the Levant & Egypt

However she was portrayed in the texts, archaeological evidence attests to her popularity throughout the Levant. She was worshipped at Baalbek, Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre, and at Baalbek – the major center for Baal's cult – her shrines and temples outnumbered his. From the Levant, she traveled via trade to Cyprus, where she became equally popular, and the same paradigm is observed with Greece and Egypt.

Read More Baal Bael God of Fertility Weather Tribes of Canaan click

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In The Contendings of Horus and Set, Horus and Set appear before the council of the gods to make their cases for kingship, and it is decided they should resolve their differences through a series of contests. Most of the gods feel that Horus should rule as he is the son of Osiris, but Ra feels he is too young and inexperienced and that Set has the maturity to make a better king. The contests go on for 80 years until Isis intervenes and Ra is convinced, awarding the kingship to Horus.

Read More Set…

Read More Horus…

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Set was still regarded as an effective monarch, however, and so was given control of the foreign lands beyond Egypt's borders and the barren regions of the desert. As a consolation prize, since it was acknowledged these lands could not compare with the beauty of Egypt, he was also given Anat and Astarte as consorts. Although Set had lost the kingship and was portrayed as the villain in the Osiris-Set cycle, he was also worshipped during the New Kingdom of Egypt, and Astarte's popularity certainly did not suffer from her association with him.

Read More Osiris

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Astarte in the Bible

Astarte continued as a popular deity in the Levant and elsewhere and, according to the Bible, was a significant obstacle to the acceptance of the god Yahweh in the Kingdom of Israel. She is referred to as Ashtoreth in the biblical narratives and condemned as a false god by the prophets of Yahweh in I and II Kings, Jeremiah, and elsewhere.

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The Bible also references her by her epithet Queen of Heaven, which she inherited from Inanna/Ishtar, and makes clear how popular she was in a passage from the Book of Jeremiah. After the prophet Jeremiah has told the people that Yahweh would destroy them unless they humble themselves, reject other gods, and worship him alone, the people reject his warnings, claiming their lives were better when they worshipped the goddess:

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“Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present…said to Jeremiah, "We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! We will certainly do everything we said we would:

We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time, we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine." (Jeremiah 44:15-18)

Jeremiah responds by telling them that their problems are all being caused by the worship of false gods like Astarte and, if they persist, Yahweh will punish them severely. The struggle between the cult of Baal/Astarte and that of Yahweh serves as the plot device to show Yahweh's superiority here as well as in the famous story of the prophet Elijah's contest with the priests of Baal in I Kings 18-19.

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Conclusion

Elijah's war on the foreign gods forms the basis for his struggle against the Phoenician queen Jezebel, who encourages the worship of Baal and Astarte in Israel. Jezebel, like the goddess she worshipped, is presented as a villain in the Hebrew Scriptures and continued to be understood in this role once these became the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

Read More Baal Bael God of Fertility Weather Tribes of Canaan click

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Although Astarte is often confused with Asherah in biblical commentary, the two were distinct goddesses, and the Asherah referenced in the Bible is the fertility pole (or sacred tree) of the goddess, not an allusion to Astarte, though some translations of the Bible seem to suggest this. Astarte continued to be villainized throughout the early development of Christianity and was understood as a representative of pagan belief systems who should be rejected.

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By the Middle Ages, Astarte, like Baal, was associated with the Christian devil and was transformed in medieval works on demonology into the male demon Astaroth, part of an evil trinity with Beelzebub (derived from Baal) and Lucifer. Among certain Christian denominations in the present day, Astaroth continues to be understood in this same role, while Astarte is dismissed as an ancient false goddess whose clergy were defeated by the power of Yahweh.

Read More Astaroth Great Duke of Hell Fallen Angel click

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Modern Neo-Pagan and Wiccan adherents, however, counter this claim in continuing to venerate the goddess as she was honored in the past, finding in her a source of strength and personal empowerment.

Read More Fallen Angels The Nephilim Watchers 1st Book of Enoch click

Read More Sebitti The Seven Gods Children of The Anunnaki The Seven Evil Spirits click

Read More Ishtar Inanna The Queen of Heaven click

Read More Chemosh The Destroyer Tribe of Moabite click

Read More Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Menat The Triple Goddess of Arabia click

Read More Qlippoth Tree of Death Hierarchy of The Arch Demons click