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ASTARTE , a Semitic goddess whose name appears in the See also:Bible as Ashtoreth.' She is everywhere the See also:great See also:female principle, answering to the See also:Baal of the Canaanites and Phoenicians' and to the See also:Dagon of the See also:Philistines. She had temples at See also:Sidon and at See also:Tyre (whence her See also:worship was transplanted to See also:Carthage), and the Philistines probably venerated her at See also:Ascalon (I Sam. xxxi. to). See also:Solomon built a high-See also:place for her at See also:Jerusalem which lasted until the days of See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
King See also:Josiah (1 See also:Kings xi. 5; 2 Kings See also:xxiii. 13), and the extent of her cult among the Israelites is proved as much by the numerous biblical references as by the frequent representations of the deity turned up on Palestinian See also:soil.' The Moabites formed a See also:compound deity, Ashtar-Chemosh (see See also:MOAB), and the See also:absence of the feminine termination occurs similarly in the Babylonian and See also:Assyrian prototype See also:Ishtar. The old See also:South Arabian phonetic See also:equivalent 'Athtar is, however, a male deity. Another compound, properly of mixed See also:sex, appears in the Aramaean See also:Atargatis ('At[tjar-'athe), worn down to Derketo, who is specifically associated with sacred pools and See also:fish (Ascalon, See also:Hierapolis-Mabog). (See ATARGATIS.)
The derivation of the name Ishtar is uncertain, and the See also:original attributes of the goddess are consequently unknown. She assumes various See also:local forms in the old Semitic See also:world, and this has led to consequent See also:fusion and See also:identification with the deities of other nations. As the great nature-goddess, the attributes of fertility and See also:reproduction are characteristically hers, as also the accompanying immorality which originally, perhaps, was often nothing more than See also:primitive magic. As patroness of the See also:hunt, later identification with See also:Artemis was inevitable. Hence the consequent fusion with See also:Aphrodite, Artemis, See also:Diana, See also:Juno and See also:Venus, and the See also:action and reaction of one upon the other in myth and See also:legend.
Her See also:star was the See also:planet Venus, and classical writers give her the epithet Caelestis and Urania. Whether Astarte was also a lunar goddess has been questioned. As the female counterpart of the Phoenician Baal (viewed as a See also:sun-See also:god), and on the testimony of See also:late writers (See also:Lucian, Herodian) that she was represented with horns, the place-name Ashteroth-Karnaim in See also:Gilead (" Ashteroth of the horns ") has been considered ample See also:- PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)
proof in favour of the theory. But it is probable that the horns were primarily See also:ram's horns,' and that Astarte the See also:- MOON (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Mond, Du. maan, Dan. maane, &c., and cognate with such Indo-Germanic forms as Gr. µlip, Sans. ma's, Irish mi, &c.; Lat. uses luna, i.e. lucna, the shining one, lucere, to shine, for the moon, but preserves the word i
- MOON, SIR RICHARD, 1ST BARONET (1814-1899)
moon-goddess is due to the See also:influence of the See also:Egyptian See also:Isis
' The vocalization suggests the Heb. bosheth, " shame "; see BAAL.
! Add also the See also:Hittites; for Sutekh, the Egyptian equivalent of the male partner, see W. M. See also:- MULLER, FERDINAND VON, BARON (1825–1896)
- MULLER, FRIEDRICH (1749-1825)
- MULLER, GEORGE (1805-1898)
- MULLER, JOHANNES PETER (18o1-1858)
- MULLER, JOHANNES VON (1752-1809)
- MULLER, JULIUS (18oi-1878)
- MULLER, KARL OTFRIED (1797-1840)
- MULLER, LUCIAN (1836-1898)
- MULLER, WILHELM (1794-1827)
- MULLER, WILLIAM JAMES (1812-1845)
Muller, Mitt.. d. vorderasiat. Gesell. (1902), v. pp. II, 38. Astarte was introduced also into See also:Egypt and had her See also:temple at See also:Memphis. See also S.
A. See also:Cook, See also:Religion of See also:Ancient See also:Palestine, See also:Index, s.v.
' Such figurines are in a sense the prototypes of the Venus of See also:Medici. On the influence of her cult upon that of the Virgin See also:Mary, see Rosch, Studien u. Krit. (1888), pp. 265 sqq.
4 A See also:model of an Astarte with ram's horns was unearthed by R. A. S. Macalister at See also:Gezer (See also:Pal. Explor.
Fund, Quart. Statement, 1903, p. 227 with figure facing).and See also:Hathor. See also:Robertson See also:- SMITH
- SMITH, ADAM (1723–1790)
- SMITH, ALEXANDER (183o-1867)
- SMITH, ANDREW JACKSON (1815-1897)
- SMITH, CHARLES EMORY (1842–1908)
- SMITH, CHARLES FERGUSON (1807–1862)
- SMITH, CHARLOTTE (1749-1806)
- SMITH, COLVIN (1795—1875)
- SMITH, EDMUND KIRBY (1824-1893)
- SMITH, G
- SMITH, GEORGE (1789-1846)
- SMITH, GEORGE (184o-1876)
- SMITH, GEORGE ADAM (1856- )
- SMITH, GERRIT (1797–1874)
- SMITH, GOLDWIN (1823-191o)
- SMITH, HENRY BOYNTON (1815-1877)
- SMITH, HENRY JOHN STEPHEN (1826-1883)
- SMITH, HENRY PRESERVED (1847– )
- SMITH, JAMES (1775–1839)
- SMITH, JOHN (1579-1631)
- SMITH, JOHN RAPHAEL (1752–1812)
- SMITH, JOSEPH, JR
- SMITH, MORGAN LEWIS (1822–1874)
- SMITH, RICHARD BAIRD (1818-1861)
- SMITH, ROBERT (1689-1768)
- SMITH, SIR HENRY GEORGE WAKELYN
- SMITH, SIR THOMAS (1513-1577)
- SMITH, SIR WILLIAM (1813-1893)
- SMITH, SIR WILLIAM SIDNEY (1764-1840)
- SMITH, SYDNEY (1771-1845)
- SMITH, THOMAS SOUTHWOOD (1788-1861)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (1769-1839)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (c. 1730-1819)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (fl. 1596)
- SMITH, WILLIAM FARRAR (1824—1903)
- SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1808—1872)
- SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1825—1891)
- SMITH, WILLIAM ROBERTSON (1846-'894)
Smith, too, argues that Astarte was originally a See also:sheep-goddess, and points to the interesting use of " Astartes of the flocks " (Dent. vii. 13, see the See also:comm.) to denote the offspring. To nomads, Astarte may well have been a sheep-goddess, but this, if her earliest, was not her only type, as is clear from the sacred fish of Atargatis., the doves of Ascalon (and of the Phoenician See also:sanctuary of Eryx), and the gazelle or See also:antelope of the goddess of love (associated also with the Arabian Athtar).
The literature is vast ; see G. A. See also:Barton, Amer. Jaurn. of Sem. See also:Lang. vols. ix. x., and his Semitic Origins; See also:Driver, See also:Hastings' See also:Diet. Bible, i. pp.
167-171; Zimmern, Keilinschr. and das alte Tests pp. 420 sqq.; See also:Lagrange, Etudes d. Relig. Sem. pp. 123-140; and the articles See also:ADONIS, APHRODITE, ARTEMIS, BAAL.
(S. A.
End of Article: ASTARTE
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