REL- 334 ASTARTE, THE CANAANITE ASHORETH by Ross S.

Marshall

Ashtoreth/Ashtaroth is the Biblical spelling of Canaanite Astarte, the fertility goddess of war

and sexual love. As the wife of Baal, her history spans the whole of antiquity. Her identities range

from the oldest Sumerian Inanna, the patron goddess of the E-anna temple at Uruk, daughter of the

Moon-god Nanna and Ningal, and wife of Dumuzi to her equivalents in every pantheon from

Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean, Iran, India, and even to Egypt.

Her religious worship moved westward from Mesopotamia into Syria, Palestine, and Cyprus,

where she became known under the Canaanite-Phoenician name of Astarte, the fertility goddess of

love and the wife of Baal. In Sidon, Tyre, and Ugarit (in Phoenicia), she was also known as Ashtart

or Athtart. The Assyrian monuments found by Layard in excavations at Nineveh show her to be

Ishtar/Ishtar, wife of Tammuz (1).

In the Phoenician colonies, such as Carthage (Modern Tunisia), she was known under the

Punic name Tanit/Tinit, the consort of Baal-Hammon. The cultural spread of Astarte shows that she

was the most prominent figure throughout the cultural traditions of the ancient World. Astarte shared

similar qualities with her sister Anath, and they may originally have been seen as a single deity. The

conflation of the two forms the basis for the Aramaic goddess Atargatis. The spelling is Semitic, and

in Phoenician is Athtart. Her name retains the word Athtart (Astarte) and is derived from Atar, the

daughter/mother of Ate the Fish Goddess Atar or Atar the favored (2). Her other identities are listed

in the footnotes (3).

Some Hebrew scholars believe that the goddess Ashtoreth conjoins the Greek name Astarte

and the Hebrew word boshet (shame) and suggests Israel's contempt for her cult. We shall see soon

why Israel held her in disgust as a seductress goddess.

Astarte-Ashtoreth was the goddess of war, hunting, especially love, and carried a bow,

arrows, and hunting gear. At the same time, her earlier counterparts (Inanna and Ishtar) were

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associated with the eight-pointed star, lions, and doves. She was the most prolific polyandrous

beauty goddess of all the ancient societies. Before the invention of writing in Paleolithic to Neolithic

times, she was carried about as the Venus of Willendorf, a good-luck charm totem, and a mother

goddess symbol. Some studies suggest she was made of oolitic limestone and tinted with red ochre

pigment - symbolic of blood, life, vitality, and fertility. Men possessed her as an imaginative effigy

aphrodisiac for the appreciation of men - in other words, a play toy (4).

In later historical times, her youthful days as a young girl were written up by Sumerian poets

to record her oral [no pun intended] traditions of promiscuity. Inanna, the Mistress, was known as the

Lady of the great powers who allows sexual intercourse in the open squares of Kulaba (5) who never

grew weary of admirers looking at her (6). She was romantically depicted relishing expensive ritual

baths preparing for potential patrons and kings using refined oils, fragrant soaps and a sprinkling of

cedar oil preparations. In one vignette, she “bathes her holy thighs… for the thighs of the king… [and]

rubs herself with soap...(7). In her most famous bathe scene, she performs a ritual bath for King

Culgi (Shulgi). She sings "I have bathed for the king, for the lord, [as] when I have bathed for the

shepherd Dumuzid, when I have anointed my flanks with…[and] my mouth with balsamic oil” (8).

This scene repeats her previous bath for Dumuzid, the Shepherd, where she poetically praises her

genitals. This bath prepares her for “the plowman,” or “the Ox,” who will have her “well-watered”

opened up mound. She explains: "I bathed and rubbed myself with soap… [for] My

bridegroom…the [wild-bull] Dumuzid…beside me…. These [his] genitals… this moored Boat of

Heaven plowman [etc., etc.]… my genitals, [my] a well-watered opened-up mound… who will put an

ox there?” (9).

Is it no wonder that such depictions of Inanna-Ishtar bathing and rubbing her gentiles excite

the lustful imaginations of those reading the poetics with visions of the goddess Ninlil’s rape by

Enlil? (10). By the time we get to Gilgamesh, Inanna-Ishtar-Astarte made her rounds and was

working on Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk, for her consort. He liked what he saw, and he liked what

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she saw, but he disliked what she was. He was a foreshadow of Josiah, who called a spade a spade.

The Epic of Gilgamesh recounts Ishtar’s (Sumerian Inanna’s) proposal and Gilgamesh's vile diatribe

response. He recounts her six previous marital disasters after calling her every name in the book,

including a barbeque-pit, a busted water-skin, and pinching shoe. The irate adulteress then scurries

away and complains to her father that Gilgamesh has heaped insults upon her by telling about all her

“stinking deeds, stench, and foulness.” Her father replies that she asked for it! The irate Inanna-

Astarte throughs a tantrum and threatens to smash the doors of the Underworld if he (her father) does

not make her “the Bull of Heaven” to smite Gilgamesh. And so, he obliges her, only to see the Bull

of Heaven slain by Gilgamesh (11).

Such imagery brings us a thousand plus years down to the times of Solomon and the other

prophets of Israel. Hebrew tradition remembers her in a stereotype as the corrupt polytheistic

irritable goddess of lust and sex, Ashtoreth, the seductive strumpet goddess worthy of smoldering

incense (Jeremiah 44:17). Solomon was especially convinced of her divine qualities when he married

foreign wives, who happen to be devout worshipers of the Sidonian goddess, Astarte (1 Kings 11:5).

Solomon could not restrain himself for the sake of Yahweh and so “went after Ashtoeth,

elohim [deities] of the Sidonians.” He did not stop there but went after “Milcom, the abomination of

the Ammonites” (1 Kings 11:5). I guess he had more than just wives. Solomon evolved his

excitement into building “high places” adjoining the city of Jerusalem. He created “mounts of

corription” for Ashtoreth and her other compadre of the Phoenician-Canaanites. 2 Kings 23: 13 says,

“Chemosh the abomination of Moab and Milcom, the abhorrence of the sons of Ammon.” Poor

Solomon was the byproduct of the “sons of Israel [who] did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and

served the Baalim” (Judges. 2:11). Israel had “forsook the Yahweh Elohim of their fathers" He had

brought them forth from the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from the peoples around

about them, and bowed themselves down to them and provoked Yahweh to vexation” (Judges. 2:12).

The Book of Judges says they served “the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and the elohim of Aram, the

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elohim of Sidon, the elohim of Moab, the elohim of the sons of Ammon, and the elohim of the

Philistines…” (Judges 10:6).

It seems that some, if not all, of the above, are tied directly to Astarte-Ashoreth-Ishtar. Aram

(Aramaeans), in comparative mythology studies, is identified with Melqart within the nations

surrounding Israel (12). He was the son of Inanna-Ishtar and brother to Hellenic Melicertes, son of

King Athamas of Boeotia, and (second wife) Ino - another Hellenic equivalent of Inanna-Ishtar (13).

Melqart, Melkart, Melk or Melkarth was the West Semitic (Phoenician) version of Aram, son of the

chief deity of Tyre, Carthage, and Gadir (Spain), and known as the Tyrian Baal. As Malku, he was

equated with the Babylonian Nergal, god of death. He had a bear and wore a rounded hat, a kelt, held

an ax, and an Egyptian ankh symbol. Comparative mythographers say his sanctuary in Tyre was

Heracles shrine and was the model for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Melqart was the

Carthaginian Baal Hammon, the chief god of Carthage and consort of Tanit (14). In the Hellenic

Argonautic tradition, Melqart appears as Melicertes, where his mother Ino is a version of Inanna and

plays a role much like Jezebel (15). Needless to say, as the “sons of Rahab,” the above is just a

sample of Israel’s new “bunch of bastards” as Kugel puts it (16). They were the anti-Yahweh,

genealogically based household of Ashtaroth “elohim.” The ancient Subarians remember her as the

Stone Mother of Ullikummi. In the opposite direction, southeast of Sumer in Iran, she is Usan, the

Elamite version of Inanna. In the reign of Elamite ruler Puzur-Inshushinak, Awan king Kutik-

Inshushinak dedicated her sandstone statue in the Acropolis of Susa under the name of Narundi. His

inscription in Linear Elamite in the Akkadian language gives us this identity (See image in footnotes

below)(17,18).

Astarte’s infamy managed to transmigrate to ancient Egypt during the 18th dynasty with

other Semitic deities, such as her sister Anat and her husband Baal (Egyptian Set). The Egyptians

also remember her as a war goddess and pair her with Anat/Anath but lose her parentage. Sources

vary with her being the daughter of Ptah (19) or the Sun god, Ra (20). She was also conflated with

4
the goddesses Isis and Hathor. Her most famous intrigue is in the Contest Between Horus and Set

found in the first sixteen pages of the Chester Betty papyrus (21) as Set's political ally. Another of

her famed episodes is Astarte and the Legend of the Sea (22). The story repeats events of the weather

gods in the Semitic Ugaritic Baal cycle (23). It matches that of the Hurrian Song of Kumarbi (24).

Astarte appears as the most prominent figure in the battle between Baal and Yam, where her father

Ptah and the harvest god, Renenutet, persuade her to act as tribute bearer. Her story resembles other

Hurrian myths of Shauashka (Sauska/Shauska) battling the sea (25). Astarte shows up in Greek

mythology as Aphrodite and plays the goddess of sexual love. Because of her militancy, she was also

celebrated as Artemis (26). This Artemis can be tracked to ancient Ireland in the character of Queen

Medb (modern Irish, “Meadhbh,” meaning “intoxicating”) or Queen “Mead-Woman” (27)

In Irish legend, Astarte is Medb (Medhbh), the legendary queen of Connaught (Connacht)

who appears in the Ulster cycle. This is a story in a group of legends from ancient Irish literature,

especially in the epic tales of Tain bo Cuailnge (“The Cattle Raid of Cooley” and “Battle of Ross Na

Rig”). The legend says she instigates the eponymous raid, leading her forces against those of Ulster.

Like in the Egyptian, Ugaritic, and Hurrian myths, Medb has her fallout with Conchobar. The Irish

Battle of Ross na Ríg is an insular version of the above battles, though applicably anachronistic, it is

a more detailed goldmine of comparative information. The story clearly mirrors the sibling falling

out between Inanna (Medb) and Utu (Conchobar), according to Dr. John Pilkey, “at some time

subsequent to their appearing together in the Olympian tradition of exile to the Aegean under their

names Artemis and Apollo.” He says, further, that the text of The Battle of Ross na Ríg remembers

the last stand of the Akkadian Empire through an alliance between its founder Sargon and the great

goddess Ishtar. Furthermore, this Sargonic alliance recalls to mind the anachronistic Medb’s alliance

in the Gaelic text with Ailill, who, at one point, refers to her as “you bad woman,” and is

reminiscence of Inanna’s reference to her own “stinking deeds” in the Sumerian text (28).

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 Astarte-Inanna-Ishtar was not all bad. Her merits outweigh her demerits, and only the staunch

anti-Sumerian would cast her without virtue. As the Queen of Mesopotamia, she was the abiding

Matriarch, ruling E-anna, the ancient Sumerian Temple in Uruk. She was born in the legendary city

of Aratta of the Ararat-Iranian plains and was the cause of the war between the two city-states. With

the help of Uruk’s rulers, Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, she brought unification and prosperity to Uruk.

“She sat her [spouse?] Enmerkar on the throne with her (and spoke): ‘When you have instituted

[trade] with the lord of Aratta,…They will dig out flawless lapis lazuli… [and] heap them up in piles

in the courtyard of the E-anna [temple court)” (30). This legendary mythical 7-gated Sumerian city

of Aratta refers to Bactria at the eastern end of the Great Khorasan Road, the greatest source of

valuable gems and minerals, particularly lapis lazuli (31). The Bactrians had acquired their Inanna

from Scythian tradition naming her, Anaitis (Anahit, Astghik, Ishtar), the Assyrian Mylitta, and

Greek Venus Urania (32).

Later, unlike the other nations (“gentiles”), all the cult places of this temple prostitute and her

vial “bastard sons,” were destroyed in a fit of anti-pornea, polytheistic hating rage by Josiah. His

reform stopped sacrifices in various places and centralized Yahweh worship in the Temple in

Jerusalem (2 Kings 22: 8-13). He also destroyed the pagan altars and idols from the Temple and the

surrounding lands, destroyed the rural sanctuaries and fertility cults, and eradicated polytheism.

The Christian Church, unfortunately, forgets who she is but remembers her deeds and holiday (holy-

day) through the parallelism and erred translation of the Acts 12:4 passage, “Intending after

Easter…” immortalizing her in the minds of the people in celebrating the pagan holiday rather than

the “Pascha” or Passover. This syncretism led Christian society to perseverate on reproducing her

fertility rites, overshadowing the paschal truth. The Standard Version of the New Testament has only

recently substituted correctly “the Passover”. It now reads to us, “Intending after

the Passover [Greek “πασχα” = pascha] to lead him up to the people.”

6
 The Church is like Israel, who played the harlot by playing with the harlot, Astarte-Ishtar-

Ester. The Teutons took the Chaldean Beltis, Queen of Heaven, and with a slight change in spelling,

worshiped her as goddess Ostern (also spelled, Osteron, Ostara). I am likened to play with words in

that the name of Austria is a Latinization of German Österreich. The etymology creates confusion as

German Ost is "east" but Latin auster is "south". If we disregard the Latin, the German cognate leads

us to think that Astarte’s name Ostern or Ostara is an interpretive superimposition designating her as

an “Eastern goddess” (33). This designation is indicated by its earlier Proto-Germanic

adverb aust(e)raz (“east, eastwards”), and from the even earlier Proto-Indo-European h₂ews-tero-

(“east, towards the dawn”)(34). According to the Western Teutons, Ostern came from towards the

dawn or rising Sun - in the east!

Likewise, the Hebrews played party to her foul deeds and her husband Bel, the Old

Testament Molech. In I Kings 11:1-11, he is defined as an abomination along with the other

polytheistic gods that Yahweh condemned under the rule of Menelik, son of Solomon, and Makeda,

the Queen of Sheba (according to the Kebra Nagast) (23), whom He wrenched the Kingdom. She

was the befitting companion of the old hoarsely-voiced Bull of Heaven.

Astarte is more than obviously a deeply well thought of and remembered fertility goddess

among the ancient cultures. She was more than just a promiscuous addition to a pagan pantheon as

Hebrew mythology slights her. She was the epitome of every primordial inner fantasy dream, the

ultimate far above standard, archetypal “Marilyn Monroe.” The perfect companion but Helen of Troy,

who sinks a thousand virtues of the masculine subconscious of the ancient Mesopotamians. Along

with seduction, her defaults and idiosyncrasies give nuance to her character no matter her “stinking

deeds,” as Gilgamesh paints. She was the female Ancient of Days, Queen Enmerkarzi of King

Enmerkar, founder of the prehistoric city of Uruk. There is some truth to the chauvinist statement,

“Treat a Lady like a whore, and a whore like a Lady,” and it is hoped by this author that I have

graciously treated Astarte-Inanna as the Lady she is.

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 FOOTNOTES:

1.) Layard, Austen H. (_____). Nineveh and Babylon. Vol. II, p. 629).
2.) Took, Thalia. (2006-2012). Obscure Goddess Online Directory. SOURCE:
http://www.thaliatook.com/OGOD/atargatis.php
3.) Pilkey, John D. (1984/2019). Origin of the Nations. Amazon Publishing. p153.
Other identifications of Inanna-Astarte are:
Aditi (Diti) (East Indian) d. of Dakṣa and Panchajani.
Ino (Hellenic-I), the mis-identified, Aphrodite.
Rhea (Hellenic-II)
Cybele
Venus (Roman)
Medb (Celtic)- Later Anachronistic version of Astarte in the Celtic legend. the great
villain of the Ulster Cycle.
Nanna (Teutonic), her name as taken from her Sumerian father, the Moon god, Nanna.
Nut (Egyptian), some say Isis.
Stone Mother of Ullikummi (Subarian)
Sauska/Shauska (Hittite)
Usan (Elamite) [Usan is believed to be the Elamite version of Inanna.
[T. G. Pinches, T.G. (1939) “Elam,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.]
4.) Kuiper, Kathleen. (2022). Venus of Willendorf.
SOURCE:https://www.britannica.com/topic/Venus-of-Willendorf
5.) NTCSL t1.1.2 Enki and Ninmaḫ. Line 367. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian
Literature. © Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental
Studies, University of Oxford. Updated 2016-11-30 by RC.
SOURCE: https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/#
6.) ETCSL: t1.1.3 Enki and the world order. Line 450
7.) NTCSL: t.2.5.3.1 A cir-namursaja to Ninsiana for Iddin-Dagan (Iddin-Dagan A) L. 181-186
8.) NTCSL: t.2.4.2.24 A praise poem of Culgi [Culgi X] Lines 9-35
9.) NTCSL: t.4.08.03 A balbale to Inana (Dumuzid-Inana C) Lines 3-18
10.) NTCSL: t.1.2.1 Enlil and Ninlil. Lines 134-145
11.) Gilgamesh Epic. Tablet IV)]
12.) Pilkey. P.38
13.) “Melicertes.” GreekMythology.com © Copyright 1997-2021. All Rights Reserved.
SOURCE: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Melicertes/melicertes.

14.) Tikkanen, Amy. Melqart: Phoenician deity. Encyclopaedia Britannica.

SOURCE: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Melqart
15.) Pilkey. Origin of the Nations. p38.
16.) Kugel, James. (2007). How To Read The Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now. Free
Press, New York. P.372.and P. 308.
17.XX

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18.) Pinches, T.G. (1939) “Elam,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.]
19.) Smith, M. (2014). Athtart in Late Bronze Age Syrian Texts [in:] Transformation of a Goddess:
Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite. Academic Press Fribourg / Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Göttingen., p. 66
20.) Tazawa, K. (2014). Astarte in New Kingdom Egypt: Reconsideration of Her Role and Function
[in:] D. T. Sugimoto (ed), Transformation of a Goddess. p. 110
21.) Bruce, F. F. (1934). The Chester Betty Papyri. The Harvester 11.
22.) Sayce, A. H. (1933) The Astarte Papyrus and the Legend of the sea. The Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology. 1933;19(1):56-59.
23.) Koitabashi, Matahisa. (2013). Ashtart in the Mythological and Ritual Texts of Ugarit. January
2013 Bulletin of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan 55(2):53-62
24.) Hoffner, Jr., Harry A. ((1998). Hittite Myths. Society of Biblical Literature: Writings from the
Ancient World Series. Second Edition. Pp.42-45.
25.) Dijkstra, M. (2011). Ishtar seduces the Sea-serpent. A New Join in the Epic of Hedammu
(KUB 36, 56+95) and its meaning for the battle between Baal and Yam in Ugaritic Tradition.
Ugarit-Forschungen. 43, 2011, p. 57-59
26.) Marrassini, Paolo. (2007). "Kəbrä Nägäśt." In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N: Vol. 3,
edited by Siegbert Uhlig, pp.364-368. And…
Fiaccadori, Gianfranco. (2007). "Mənilək I." In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: He-N: Vol. 3,
edited by Siegbert Uhlig, pp.921-922.
27.) Wigington, Betty. (2018). Who Is Astarte? Learning Religions, Dotdash Publishing.
SOURCE: https://www.learnreligions.com/who-is-astarte-2561500 And…
28.) SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medb
29.) Pilkey, John D. (2019). Celtic Tradition According the Genesis 10. Edited and Annotated by
Ross S Marshall. Amazon Publishing. Pp.26, 29.
30.) Vanstipout, Herman. (2003). Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. Epics of Sumerian Kings: A
Matter of Aratta. Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta. P.91.
31.) Okar Research. (2013). Inanna, Anahiti & Historical Aratta (4,000 BC).
SOURCE: http://balkhandshambhala.blogspot.com/2013/09/inanna-aratta.html
32.) Art-A-Tsolum. (2018). Aratta, the Home of Anahit (Inanna).
SOURCE: https://allinnet.info/antiquities/aratta-the-home-of-anahit-inanna/
33.) Wikipedia under “Austria”. SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Austria
34.) Kroonen, Guus (2013). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic. Brill. Pp.43.

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 APPENDIX

Narundi-Inanna-Ishtar.

b.Narundi (Elamite Susa) b. Inanna (Sumer) c. Ishtar (Eshnunna)

(early second millennium BC)

Narundi (a) , Elamite-Susian version of Sumerian Inanna (b) and Babylonian Ishtar ©, wearing the
kaunakes. The Babylonians depict her here as naked.
Narundi: From Reign of Puzur-Inshushinak, ca. 2100 BC., Acropolis at Susa.
Dedicated by Awan king Kutik-Inshushinak, in Sandstone with inscriptions in Linear Elamite and in
Akkadian, circa 2100 BC, Louvre Museum. Copied from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_Narundi_Louvre_Sb54-Sb6617.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old-
Babylonian_plaque_showing_the_goddess_Ishtar,_from_Southern_Mesopotamia,_Iraq,_on_display
_in_the_Pergamon_Museum.jpg

10