Astarte
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Astarte (from Greek Αστάρτη (Astártē)) is the name of a major goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions, closely related in name, originm and functions with the goddess Ishtar in Mesopotamian texts. Other renderings and transliterations of her name include ‘Ashtart, Ashtoreth, Atirat, and As-tar-tú, among others.
‘Ashtart was connected with the fertility of crops and cattle, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. Pictorial representations often show her naked. In Ugartic texts she is closely associated with Ba'al, the cheif deity of the Canaanite pantheon during the period of the Israelite monarchy.
‘Ashtart was accepted by the Greeks under the name of Aphrodite. The island of Cyprus, one of ‘Ashtart's greatest faith centers, supplied the name Cypris as Aphrodite's most common byname. Other major centers of ‘Ashtart's worship were Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos. Coins from Sidon portray a chariot in which a globe appears, presumably a stone representing ‘Ashtart. In Sidon, she shared a temple with Eshmun. At Beirut coins show Poseidon, Astarte, and Eshmun worshipped together.
Other faith centers were Cytherea, Malta and Eryx in Sicily from which she became known to the Romans as Venus Erycina. A bilingual inscription on the Pyrgi Tablets dating to about 500 B.C.E. found near Caere in Etruria equates ‘Ashtart with Etruscan Uni-Astre, that is Juno. At Carthage ‘Ashtart was worshiped alongside the goddess Tanit.
The Syrian goddess Atargatis (Semitic form ‘Atar‘atah) was generally equated with ‘Ashtart.
‘Ashtart Ugarit in Judea
‘Ashtart appears in Ugaritic texts under the name ‘Athtart. Here, she and her sister and ‘Anat together hold back Ba‘al from attacking the other gods. ‘Ashtart also asks Ba‘al to "scatter" the sea-god Yamm after Ba‘al's victory. ‘Athtart is also called the "face of Ba‘al."
Astarte in the Bible was one of the Canaanite deities whom the Israelites must abhor. Astarte, or Ashtoret in Hebrew, was the principal goddess of the Phoenicians, representing the productive power of nature. The biblical writers speak against her frequently, blaming Israelite worship of her for God's abandonment of His people during the period of judges:
They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them. (Judges 2:12-14)
Her worship may have been fairly widespread in Israel, and she may even been seen as the female counterpart of consort of the Israelite god Yahweh. 1 Samuel 12:10 depicts the Israelites as repenting for serving "The Baals and the Ashtoreths." The head of the dead King Saul was placed by the Philistines in the "temple of the Ashtoreths" (1 Samuel 31:10) King Solomon's fall from grace is blamed on his worship of Ashtoreth. (1Kings 11:4-6) Astarte may also be the Queen of Heaven spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah several centuries later in the later seventh or early sixth century B.C.E. Here, the people of Judah fear that by heeding the words of the prophets and abandoning the worship of this goddess, they have brought ruin upon themselves:
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 44:18)
Jeremiah describes her worship as a family affair: "The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven." (Jeremiah 7:18) Archaeologists report finding small statuettes of a goddess, possible Astarte, in many homes through Israel and Judah during Jeremiah's time and earlier.
The Bible also reports a campaign by King Josiah, who reigned during the early part of Jeremiah's ministry, to rid the country of Astarte worship:
The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—-the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon. Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones. (2 Kings 23:13-14)
Later Jewish attitudes
The Masoretic rendering of the Hebrew Bible indicate the pronunciation as ‘Aštōret instead of the expected ‘Ašteret, probably because the two last syllables have here been pointed with the vowels belonging to bōshet—"abomination"—to indicate that word should be substituted when reading. The plural form is pointed ‘Aštārōt.
In later Jewish mythology, Ashtoreth is interpreted as a female demon of lust. The name Asherah may also be confused with Ashtoreth. In addition "the Ashtoreths" and "the Asherim" often refer to sacred pillars (or trees) erected next to Israelite altars, both to Baal and to Yahweh. In Christian demonology, Ashtoreth is connected to Friday, and visually represented as a young woman with a cow's horns on her head.
‘Ashtart in Egypt
‘Ashtart first appears in Ancient Egypt beginning with the reign of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt along with other deities who were worshiped by northwest semitic people. She was a lunar goddess adopted by the Egyptians as a daughter of Ra or Ptah. She was especially worshiped in her aspect of a war goddess, often paired with the semitic goddess Anat.
In the Contest Between Horus and Set, these two goddesses appear as daughters of Re and are given in marriage to the god Set, here identified with the Semitic name Hadad. ‘Ashtart was often conflated, at least in part, with Isis to judge from the many images found of ‘Ashtart suckling a small child. Indeed there is a statue of the sixth century B.C.E. in the Cairo Museum, which would normally be taken as portraying Isis with her child Horus on her knee and which in every detail of iconography follows normal Egyptian conventions but the dedicatory inscription reads: "Gersaphon, son of Azor, son of Slrt, man of Lydda, for his Lady, for ‘Ashtart." (See G. Daressy, (1905) pl. LXI (CGC 39291).)
‘Ashtart described by Sanchuniathon
In the description of the Phoenician pantheon ascribed to Sanchuniathon ‘Ashtart appears as a daughter of Sky and Earth and sister of the God El. After El overthrows and banishes his father Sky, Sky sends to El as some kind of trick his "virgin daughter" ‘Ashtart along with her sisters Asherah and the goddess who will later be called Ba‘alat Gebul "the Lady of Byblos." It seems that this trick does not work as all three become wives of their brother El. ‘Ashtart bears to El children who appear under Greek names as seven daughters called the Titanides or Artemides and two sons named Pothos "Longing" and Eros "Desire."
Later we see, with El's consent, ‘Ashtart and Hadad reigning over the land together. ‘Ashtart, puts the head of a bull on her own head to symbolize Her sovereignty. Wandering through the world ‘Ashtart takes up a star that has fallen from the sky and consecrates it at Tyre.
Other associations
There is a serious basis for the opinion that the Greek Goddess Aphrodite (especially Aphrodite Erycina) is just another name for Astarte. Herodotus wrote that the religious community of Aphrodite originated in Phoenicia and came to Greeks from there. He also wrote about the world's largest temple of Aphrodite, in one of the Phoenician cities.
Connection to planet Venus is another similarity to the Aphrodite religious community, apparently from the Mesopotamian Goddess Ishtar. Doves sacrificed is another.
Her name is the second name in an energy chant sometimes used in Wicca: "Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna."
Saint Quiteria, a popular Christian saint, may have not been a saint at all. Her name may refer to title that the Phoenicians gave to the goddess Astarte: Kythere, Kyteria, or Kuteria, which means "the red one."[1]
Astarte in fiction
- In the MMO computer game EVE Online there is a class of field command ship named after Astarte.
- In Kaori Yuki's Angel Sanctuary, Astarte is the twin-sister of Astaroth and seemingly possessed with getting pregnant.
- In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Astarte (called Ishtar in the comic book) was once an ex-girlfriend of Destruction
- In the Tom Robbins novel Skinny Legs and All Astarte is discussed in reference to the Judeo-Christian roots of patriarchy in Western society, and the subsequent loss of worship to the power of the feminine.
- In Yami no Matsuei, Ashtaroth, (Christian demon) a leader of an army of demons, is never seen but mentioned by Sagantanus (apparently second-in-command).
- In Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp's Testament, Astarte is one of the characters that exist outside of the panels in the so-called "God Time."
- In Robert A. Heinlein's story "Space Cadet," the first space ship to travel to Venus was named Astarte.
- In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Space Marines are known as the 'Adeptus Astartes'.
- In Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Astarte is a boss in the Sandy Grave area (which is modeled after an Egyptian pyramid). She is described to possess irresistible beauty that no man can defy her, proven by her ability to charm the male hero of the game (Jonathan) to fight against his female companion (Charlotte).
- In the World of Darkness by White Wolf Games, Astarte is a powerful full-blooded fey who commands the Midnight Circus with two other counterparts. The circus is an infamous and malicious presence in that world, but Astarte's alignment, for good or ill, is often vague.
- In "Lilith" by George MacDonald, Astarte is a panther messenger serving Mara, the Lady of Sorrows. (Chap. 15)
- in Lord Byron's Manfred, Astarte is the dead lover/sister of Manfred, a sorcerer with superhuman powers. He feels guilty over her death, but did not kill her: "Not with my hand, but heart —which broke her heart; / it gazed on mine and withered" (2.2.119-20). Her Phantom is summoned and appears to Manfred, but does not give him the answers he's looking for.
- in the video game Alone in the Dark 1, a rich cotton plantation owner names his mansion Derceto, because it "reminds him of Astarte."
- In the video game Giten Megami Tensei, the character Astaroth is obsessed with becoming his old self, Astarte.
- In John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, Astarte is one of the fallen angels mentioned in the second book. Though not the angel's true name, it is the name that mankind will give her after the fall.
- The Joffrey Ballet of NYC did a multimedia Ballet called Astarte in the mid 1960's
- In August Wilson's plays "Gem of the Ocean" (2003) and "Two Trains Running" (1990) - part of his Pittsburgh cycle - Aunt Ester, an oracular black woman two and a half centuries old, living in Pittsburgh, would seem to be an avatar of the goddess.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Harden, Donald . The Phoenicians. 2nd ed., revised, London, Penguin 1980. ISBN 0-14-021375-9
- Daressy, G. Statues de divinités, vol. II. Cairo, Imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1905.
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