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ISHTAR
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ISHTAR , or Is"See also:TAR, the name of the See also:chief goddess of Babylonia and See also:Assyria, the counterpart of the Phoenician See also:Astarte (q.v.). The meaning of the name is not known, though it is possible that the underlying See also:stem is the same as that of See also:Assur (q.v.), which would thus make her the " leading one " or " chief." At all events it is now generally recognized that the name is Semitic in its origin. Where the name originated is likewise uncertain, but the indications point to See also:Erech where we find the See also:worship of a See also:great See also:mother-goddess See also:independent of any association with a male counterpart flourishing in the See also:oldest See also:period of Babylonian See also:history. She appears under various names, among which are Nana, Innanna, Nina and Anunit. As See also:early as the days of Khammurabi we find these various names which represented originally different goddesses, though all See also:manifest as the chief trait the See also:life-giving See also:power See also:united in Ishtar. Even when the older names are employed it is always the great mother-goddess who is meant. Ishtar is the one goddess in the See also:pantheon who retains her independent position despite and throughout all changes that the Babylonian-See also:Assyrian See also:religion undergoes. In a certain sense she is the only real goddess in the pantheon, the See also:rest being See also:mere reflections of the gods with whom they are associated as consorts. Even when Ishtar is viewed as the See also:consort of some chief—of See also:Marduk occasionally in the See also:south, of Assur more frequently in the See also:north—the consciousness that she has a See also:personality of her own apart from this association is never lost sight of. ' With Adbeel (Gen. See also:xxv. 13) may be identified Idibi'il (-See also:ball) a tribe employed by Tiglath-Pileser IV. (733 B.c.) to See also:watch the frontier of Musri (Sinaitic See also:peninsula or N. See also:Arabia ?). This is suggested by the fact that Ashurbanipal (7th See also:century) mentions as the name of their deity Atar-See also:Samain (i.e. " Ishtar of the heavens "). We may reasonably assume that the See also:analogy See also:drawn from the See also:process of See also:reproduction among men and animals led to the conception of a See also:female deity presiding over the life of the universe. The See also:extension of the See also:scope of this goddess to life in See also:general—to the growth of See also:plants and trees from the fructifying See also:seed—was a natural outcome of a fundamental See also:idea; and so, whether we turn to incantations or See also:hymns, in myths and in epics, in votive See also:inscriptions and in See also:historical See also:annals, Ishtar is celebrated and invoked as the great mother, as the See also:mistress of lands, as clothed in splendour and power—one might almost say as the personification of life itself. But there are two aspects to this goddess of life. She brings forth, she fertilizes the See also:fields, she clothes nature in joy and gladness, but she also withdraws her favours and when she does so the fields See also:wither, and men and animals cease to reproduce. In See also:place of life, barrenness and See also:death ensue. She is thus also a grim goddess, at once cruel and destructive. We can, there-fore, understand that she was also invoked as a goddess of See also:war and battles and of the See also:chase; and more particularly among the warlike Assyrians she assumes this aspect. Before the See also:battle she appears to the See also:army, clad in battle See also:array and armed with See also:bow and arrow. In myths symbolizing the See also:change of seasons she is portrayed in this See also:double See also:character, as the life-giving and the life-depriving power. The most noteworthy of these myths describes her as passing through seven See also:gates into the nether See also:world. At each See also:gate some of her clothing and her ornaments are removed until at the last gate she is entirely naked. While she remains in the nether world as a prisoner—whether voluntary or involuntary it is hard to say—all fertility ceases on See also:earth, but the See also:time comes when she again returns to earth, and as she passes each gate the watchman restores to her what she had See also:left there until she is again clad in her full splendour, to the joy of mankind and of all nature. Closely allied with this myth and personifying another view of the change of seasons is the See also:story of Ishtar's love for Tammuz—symbolizing the See also:spring time—but as midsummer approaches her See also:husband is slain and, according to one version, it is for the purpose of saving Tammuz from the clutches of the goddess of the nether world that she enters upon her See also:journey to that region. In all the great centres Ishtar had her temples, bearing such names as E-See also:anna, " heavenly See also:house," in Erech; E-makh, " great house," in See also:Babylon; E-mash-mash, " house of offerings," in See also:Nineveh. Of the details of her cult we as yet know little, but there is no See also:evidence that there were obscene See also:rites connected with it, though there may have been certain mysteries introduced at certain centres which might easily impress the uninitiated as having obscene aspects. She was served by priestesses as well as by priests, and it would appear that the votaries of Ishtar were in all cases virgins who, as See also:long as they remained in the service of Ishtar, were not permitted to marry. In the astral-theological See also:system, Ishtar becomes the See also:planet See also:Venus, and the double aspect of the goddess is made to correspond to the strikingly different phases of Venus in the summer and See also:winter seasons. On monuments and See also:seal-cylinders she appears frequently with bow and arrow, though also simply clad in long See also:robes with a See also:crown on her See also:head and an eight-rayed See also:star as her See also:symbol. Statuettes have been found in large See also:numbers representing her as naked with her arms folded across her See also:breast or holding a See also:child. The See also:art thus reflects the popular conceptions formed of the goddess. Together with See also:Sin, the See also:moon-See also:god, and See also:Shamash, the See also:sun-god, she is the third figure in a triad personifying the three great forces of nature—moon, sun and earth, as the life-force. The See also:doctrine involved illustrates the tendency of the Babylonian priests to centralize the manifestations of divine power in the universe, just as the triad See also:Anu, See also:Bel and See also:Ea (q.v.)—the heavens, the earth and the watery deep—See also:form another See also:illustration of this same tendency. Naturally, as a member of a triad, Ishtar is dissociated from any See also:local limitations, and similarly as the planet Venus—a conception which is essentially a product of theological See also:speculation—no thought of any particular locality for her cult is See also:present. It is because her cult, like that of Sin (q.v.) and Shamash (q.v.), is spread over all Babylonia and Assyria, that she becomes available for purposes of theological speculation. Cf. ASTARTE, See also:ATARGATIS, GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS, and specially BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION. (M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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