Who is ashtoreth goddess

At Agade she was worshiped as the spouse of Shamash "Heb. At the latter shrine, where she was called Zarpanit, she was the goddess of fertility for both plants and animals. According to Herodotus i. From Babylonia, emigrants carried her worship to Assyria, as represented in the Assyrian inscriptions. In Assyria, at Nineveh, and Assur she was regarded as the spouse of Assur and the mother of gods and men.

With the god Assur she was supreme, although other gods were worshiped. Another shrine of hers of high antiquity was at Arbela. From the reign of Sennacherib onward the Ishtar of Arbela is regarded as distinct from the other Ishtars. She had no spouse, was mother, and a goddess of war. Probably her worship there had never been united with that of a male deity compare "Heb. In Arabia she was known as Athtar, and in southern Arabia at least was changed into a masculine deity.

An interesting inscription "Jour. The father was known as Athtar, or by such epithets as "Ilmaqqahu," "Talab Riyam," etc. As a god, Athtar was the god of fertility. In northern Arabia the name Athtar does not appear; but there are two goddesses, Al-Uzza and Al-Lat, who are shown elsewhere as goddesses of fertility scarcely disguised under these epithets compare "Heb. She is mentioned by Herodotus, iii. This cult thus presents an underlying unity throughout the Semitic world, with many local differences.

Various animals were sacred to this deity in different places, while she was frequently pictured in their form. Thus, at Eryx she was thought to assume the form of a dove, and of a dove and a gazelle at Mecca. At Arbela she was conceived byAssurbanipal as a warrioress, behung with bow and quiver "Hebraica," ix.

Other local circumstances gave her many other forms. Ashtoreth is recorded in the Ras-Shamrah texts discovered in — in the land called Ugarit in biblical times, on the Mediterranean coastline, north of Israel, now in Syria. In one myth she is goddess of the sea and of fishermen and the wife of the god Baal. She is portrayed being a fertile source of life. Ashtoreth was related to similar goddesses of nearby cultures, such as Astarte of Phoenicia and Ishtar of Babylon, who also spread to other cultures.

Open image in new window. This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access. Diamant, A. The red tent. New York: St. Google Scholar. Leidenfrost, I. Pritchard, J. The ancient Near East: An anthology of texts and pictures. Princeton: Princeton University Press.