#ashtart

In Sidon, she shared a temple with Eshmun, while coins from Beirut show Poseidon, Astarte, and Eshmun being worshipped together. In Byblos, Astarte was known as "Baalat," the feminine form of Baal.

Other important cult centers were Cythera, Malta, and Eryx in Sicily, where she became known to the Romans as Venus Erycina. A bilingual inscription found on the Pyrgi Tablets, dated to around 500 BC and discovered near Caere in Etruria, equates Astarte with the Etruscan goddess Uni-Astre, equivalent to Juno. In Carthage, Astarte was worshipped alongside the goddess Tanit.

The Aramaic goddess Atargatis may originally have been related to Astarte, although the first element of her name seems linked to the Ugaritic form of Asherah's name: Athirat. The Canaanite name of Astarte (the Greek version of her original name) would be Athart, and the Phoenician Ashtart, both derived from the Akkadian Asdartu, related to the goddess Ishtar.

Her husband was Baal, the god of fertility and storms and a central figure of the Canaanite pantheon. However, in some versions, she was also married to Tammuz, as referenced in the Bible in Ezekiel.

Ishtar developed from the Sumerian goddess Inanna, attested in writings from the fourth millennium BC, although her cult is considered even older. Inanna, Ishtar, and Astarte shared the same attributes, being associated with love, sex, fertility, hunting, and war, as well as having a connection to the moon. They were goddesses represented by the planet Venus.

Astarte was often represented with symbols such as lions, horses, bees, doves, and stars.

She arrived in Egypt through trade, where she was adopted as a warrior goddess and given as a consort to Set, along with her sister Anat. Her cult persisted through the Ptolemaic period until the early Christian era.

After her arrival in Egypt, she began to be frequently depicted with horses and chariots, as well as appearing as a beautiful naked woman, sometimes winged or with horns, maintaining characteristics of Canaanite and Phoenician representations. Astarte was also syncretized with Isis and Hathor, besides being equated with the Greco-Roman deities Aphrodite, Artemis, Hera, and Juno.

Not much is known about her children; however, we know that Hauron/Horon, in Canaanite and Levantine mythology, is frequently described as her son. This divine relationship was transposed to Egypt, where Hauron, a god of healing and magic associated with the Sphinx, was seen as the son and lover of Astarte, facilitating his identification with the Egyptian myth of Isis and Horus.

Although many associate Astarte only with fertility and sexuality, a more impartial analysis of her textual and iconographic representations demonstrates that her main function during the Late Bronze Age was as a goddess of war, apotropaic (protective) magic, and healing, in strong analogy to her sister Anat, with whom she shared so many qualities that both may originally have been seen as a single deity at some point.

In this role, she was incorporated into the Egyptian New Kingdom pantheon, symbolically reinforcing Egyptian dominance over Canaan. During the first millennium BC, her warlike character became less evident, while her association with royalty strengthened. Later, during the Phoenician expansion into the western Mediterranean, Astarte merged with other local goddesses, although she maintained her functions linked to royalty and healing.

Her rituals were multiple, involving libations, worship of images and idols, as well as bodily practices of a sexual nature. Her main festival took place during the spring equinox, a period marked by grand celebrations of fertility and sexuality. The eroticism associated with her cult made her an extremely popular deity among the peoples of that time. According to biblical tradition, even King Solomon is said to have worshipped her (1 Kings 11:5).

Astarte is known in the Bible as Ashtoreth or Ashtaroth, consort of Baal, being condemned along with him as a "false god" by the Hebrew prophets, including Elijah and Jeremiah, for leading the people away from the worship of Yahweh.

As seen in Judges 2:13:

"They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth."

And also in Jeremiah 7:18:

"The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger."

And Jeremiah 44:

"Astarte is the Queen of Heaven to whom the Canaanites burned offerings and made libations."

Astarte received the title "Queen of Heaven" due to her high status among the Phoenicians and Canaanites, as well as her association with celestial bodies, maritime protection, and feminine power. However, the title might have been inherited from her counterparts: Ishtar and Inanna.

Many Hebrew scholars currently believe that the biblical name "Ashtoreth" is a deliberate fusion between "Astarte" and the Hebrew word boshet ("shame"), reflecting the Hebrews' contempt for her cult.

In later Christian mythology, Astarte was transformed into a male entity: Astaroth. In demonology, he is described as an important Grand Duke of Hell, a resident of the western infernal region, and ruler of the month of August. He is also considered the treasurer of Hell, being described by Francis Barrett in The Magus (1801) as a "prince of accusers and inquisitors."

Astaroth is associated with vanity and laziness, and is also listed as one of the 72 spirits of Solomon. His iconography presents him as a naked and crowned angel, riding a dragon and holding a serpent in his left hand. He is said to be able to teach all the secrets of Creation, answer questions about the past, present, and future, and reveal information about the fall of spirits and its causes. He could also make men wise in all liberal sciences and would command forty legions of spirits.

In the Grimorium Verum, it is claimed that Astaroth governs the American continent. He may appear dressed in white or black, usually in human form, though sometimes he takes the form of a donkey. Two subordinate spirits, Sagatana and Nesbiros, would assist him in governing this continent.

According to the Grimoire of Honorius, Astaroth grants the favor of the great and powerful, being astrologically linked to the star Sirius. According to Weyer, Scot, and the Goetia, he can answer truthfully about all past, present, and future matters, as well as reveal hidden secrets. The Grimoire of Armadel adds that Astaroth is also capable of revealing details about the Fall of the Angels, including their lives before the fall, the origin of their names, and their creation.

The conjunction cycles between the Sun and Venus that form upright and inverted pentagrams over eight-year cycles have also been associated with Astaroth, as has the New Moon. She has also been related to the star Sirius (13°57' Cancer), known as the Dog Star. Sirius has a long tradition in mythology and conjuration magic, having sanctuaries in Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome.

His precious stone is beryl, a sea stone. His associated plants are the vine, mugwort, and dracaena. Among animals, it is symbolically linked to the serpent. His magical image is that of a dog and a young virgin, associated respectively with Anubis and the goddess Sothis.

Astrologically, Sirius is related to luck, pride, wealth, ambition, fame, honors, occult interests, and even dog bites. In magic, it is believed to confer honor, goodwill, the favor of powerful men and aerial spirits, as well as the ability to reconcile kings, princes, and rulers. However, one was warned of the danger of an adverse connection with Mars during Sirius's ascension, as excessive ambition could lead to accidents or even attempts on one's own life.

The representation of Astaroth as a male entity in the Goetia of Solomon likely arose from a translation error related to the writings of Johann Weyer. In the original Latin text, there are no explicit references to Astaroth's gender. The masculine references appear only in English translations, where the use of "he" was employed more as a grammatical formality than as a literal definition of gender.

Reginald Scot, using a very flawed English transcription, ended up repeating this error unintentionally. Considering the references Scot himself makes to Astarte in his writings, it is unlikely that he intentionally masculinized the entity. From these translations, the male interpretation of Astaroth ended up being incorporated into later grimoires, which, contrary to popular belief, were largely relatively late compilations.

This misconception has often been commented on by later authors and even ironized by Collin de Plancy, who depicted the male Astaroth marrying, or rather, reuniting with, a Phoenician lunar goddess identified as Astarte.