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 Qlippoth Tree of Death Hierarchy of The Arch Demons click
Kate West & The Hearth Of Hecate
Isis, Astarte Pagan Music Chant
Amortis - Godless Aphrodite
Lyrics
They stare at you – my sweet heart, know, you are the one
But you only belong to me like you have always done
They can feel your power, they crave for your love
But you are my goddess, my gorgeous white dove
Confusion, fear, detestation
An immense work of god's creation
The only taste I perceive is desire
Strangulating me like rusty barbed-wire
You cause arousal inside my head
Your fucking lovers, I wish them dead
There is a connection between pain and lust
It is my obsession to watch you around dusk
The border-line between love and hate
Is paper-thin, sealing our fate
Condemned to agony from early past
My senses have never been made to lust
An empty canvas
A purely white screen
This hellish life
Things you have not seen
A darkly portrait
A purely black heart
This black illusion
Real blaspheming art
Who wants to feel secure, does well, not to be seen or heard
Who wants to catch interest, does well, to dig in the dirt
Detect, select, next victim is in sight
Tasteless, caress, anger and hate collide
Fear is, horrific, at same time turning on
Distinguish me from all others you have known
Eyes... tell everything of you
Sin of lust... a joyful mist to do
Do you think, forgiveness is existing?
The irretrievable of time – something I am missing
Control and distance – the magic words
Disconnected from the rest of the world
I am yearning for a breath of normality
Like a vampire I dwell, distracted from reality
This world is teeming of perverts unknown
I do not point at them, I judge on my own
Strangle them – a chain around their neck
They deserve to suffer, I spit on their wreck
I thought you'd trust me, but that's not enough
Your mental disorder, it's breaking you in half
I'll deliver you from this morbid game
My godless queen of love, the seed of all pain!
Meditation. Chapter VII - 'The Smiters' journey into the qlipha Gash Khalah/Gha'agsheblah - (Astaroth/Astarte)
Pictures Videos Music and Additional Reading
Phoenician statuette figurine of ʿAštārt from El Carambolo in Spain
Major Cult Center: Ugarit, Emar, Sidon, Tyre
Inanna - Sumerian Goddess (Ritual & Meditation Music)
Astarte
Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Astarte-ancient-deity
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Astarte, great goddess of the ancient Middle East and chief deity of Tyre, Sidon, and Elat, important Mediterranean seaports. Hebrew scholars now feel that the goddess Ashtoreth mentioned so often in the Bible is a deliberate conflation of the Greek name Astarte and the Hebrew word boshet, “shame,” indicating the Hebrews’ contempt for her cult. Ashtaroth, the plural form of the goddess’s name in Hebrew, became a general term denoting goddesses and paganism.
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King Solomon, married to foreign wives, “followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 11:5). Later the cult places to Ashtoreth were destroyed by Josiah. Astarte/Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven to whom the Canaanites burned offerings and poured libations (Jeremiah 44).
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Astarte, goddess of war and sexual love, shared so many qualities with her sister, Anath, that they may originally have been seen as a single deity. Their names together are the basis for the Aramaic goddess Atargatis. Astarte was worshiped in Egypt and Ugarit and among the Hittites, as well as in Canaan. Her Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. Later she became assimilated with the Egyptian deities Isis and Hathor (a goddess of the sky and of women), and in the Greco-Roman world with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno.
Read More Ishtar Inanna The Queen of Heaven click
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Aphrodite
Aphrodite, ancient Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, identified with Venus by the Romans. The Greek word aphros means “foam,” and Hesiod relates in his Theogony that Aphrodite was born from the white foam produced by the severed genitals of Uranus (Heaven), after his son Cronus threw them into the sea. Aphrodite was, in fact, widely worshipped as a goddess of the sea and of seafaring; she was also honoured as a goddess of war, especially at Sparta, Thebes, Cyprus, and other places. However, she was known primarily as a goddess of love and fertility.
ISHTAR INANNA ASTARTE GODDESS Sculpture By Adrian DiMetriou
Source: https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Sculpture-ISHTAR-INANNA-ASTARTE-GODDESS/718169/2250049/view
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At Byblos
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte
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The temple of ʿAštārt 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 Melitōn 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 Kinuras, 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 ʿAštārt, was also performed there.
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ʿAštārt 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 ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ ΟΥΡΑΝΙΑ (Aphroditē Ourania, lit. 'the Celestial Aphrodite').
Maysaloon - Seals Of Astarte
Lyrics
Lady of the Seven Moons
I'm the ancient long-last stem
Of Lilith, Adonis, Baal and Shem
I am the Phoenician sailor
The lawful heir of celestial failure
Onto the crescent of fertility
I were to march in endless effigy
Of countless enemies waging war
Against my innermost sleeping core... "quest"!
Seals of Astatre
Seals of Astarte
I forge with flesh and blood my
The holy, the fallen pagan lord
The synagogue I, and the Shrine
The church, the mosque, the dream divine
Encircled I, and will not sate
To the wall, to the seal, to the highest gate
I, batter my way through
And further breed death anew
I was, I am, and will be known
For all the malice I shall bestow
Astarte - Astarte
Lyrics
She lies above the earth's sphere
Nothing against her powers
Mother of universe
Standing through the ages carrying the spots of time
The absolute owner of balance, beauty and war
Her teutonic sons built her states
Beyond the approaches of light and darkness
Serpent inside her dreams appeared with blood-dripping skin
Her legs are carrying the honors of her past
Her hands hole the four pagan rivers
Portraits of the majesty of war
Surrounded by the stonewalls of fertility
Lion crowed standing upon her towers
Her image surpasses the goddess's beauty
None can avoid her presence
None can win her crown
Feel the ecstasy of her astonished eyes
Feed her last with the juice of eternal beauty
Goddess of eternity, her passion to create
There, alone in the center of universe
Formed of the progression of sphere
Have written the secrets of reproduction
She awakes the winds under her dominions
Furious circles round her knowledge
Mystical Surreal PRINT Ishtar Asherah Astarte Star Goddess Cycladic birdhead woman 'My Eyes are Starlight'
Source: https://www.etsy.com/listing/467104320/mystical-surreal-print-ishtar-asherah
Catamenia - The Fallen Angel , Pt.I (Astaroth & Astarte)
Lyrics
I am the fallen angel
Burst through the clouds
Scorched in the sky`s fire
Betrayed and deceived
I am the fallen angel
Looking for the revenge
No rest, no donation
Before punishment`s done
I wont be your heaven`s slave
I curse all with my anger`s blaze
Battle continues ti`ll my soul rests
Upon the highest and darkest mountain crests
I am the fallen angel
Feeling big sense of loss
Yearning for what used to be
This revenge I will never stop
I wont be your heaven`s slave
I curse all with my anger`s blaze
Battle continues ti`ll my soul rests
Upon the highest and darkest mountain crests
I am the fallen angel
Justice has done
Now i rest my dark soul
To beyond eternity
I wont be your heaven`s slave
I curse all with my anger`s blaze
Battle continues ti`ll my soul rests
Upon the highest and darkest mountain crests