The Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses , Devil and Demons
(Aštarat) Semitic goddess, associated mainly with Syria and Palestine. The Ugaritic form of her name is Attart; she appears in the Old Testament as → Asthoreth, and in Babylon as → Ištar. Her cult was that of an oriental goddess of love and fertility, and was accordingly marked by many excesses (temple prostitution).
She is usually shown naked. When she was taken over by the Egyptians she began to figure more and more as a goddess of war, and spear and bow were her attributes. Among the Greeks, Astarte was identified with → Aphrodíte as the heavenly goddess of love. As in the case of other fertility goddesses, her sacred creature was the dove. According to Philon of Byblos, she donned a bull’s head as a symbol of her ruling position, and there are other references to the horns assigned to her.
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