Astarte

/a stahr"tee/, n.

1. an ancient Semitic deity, goddess of fertility and reproduction worshiped by the Phoenicians and Canaanites.

2. (l.c.) Also called chestnut clam. any of several marine bivalve mollusks of the genus Astarte, having a somewhat triangular, chestnut-brown shell.

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or Ashtart

Goddess of the ancient Middle East and chief deity of the Mediterranean seaports of Tyre, Sidon, and Elath.

Astarte shared many qualities, and perhaps a common origin, with her sister Anath. The goddess of love and war, Astarte was worshiped in Egypt and in Canaan, as well as among the Hittites. Her Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. She is often mentioned in the Bible under the name Ashtaroth; Solomon is said to have worshipped the goddess, and Josiah destroyed the shrines dedicated to her. In Egypt she was assimilated with Isis and Hathor; in the Greco-Roman world she was assimilated with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno.

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▪ ancient deity

also spelled  Athtart  or  Ashtart 

      great goddess of the ancient Middle East and chief deity of Tyre, Sidon, and Elat, important Mediterranean seaports. Hebrew scholars now feel that the goddess Ashtoreth mentioned so often in the Bible is a deliberate conflation of the Greek name Astarte and the Hebrew word boshet, “shame,” indicating the Hebrews' contempt for her cult. Ashtaroth, the plural form of the goddess's name in Hebrew, became a general term denoting goddesses and paganism.

      King Solomon, married to foreign wives, “followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 11:5). Later the cult places to Ashtoreth were destroyed by Josiah. Astarte/Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven to whom the Canaanites burned offerings and poured libations (Jeremiah 44).

      Astarte, goddess of war and sexual love, shared so many qualities with her sister, Anath, that they may originally have been seen as a single deity. Their names together are the basis for the Aramaic goddess Atargatis.

      Astarte was worshiped in Egypt and Ugarit and among the Hittites, as well as in Canaan. Her Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. Later she became assimilated with the Egyptian deities Isis and Hathor (a goddess of the sky and of women), and in the Greco-Roman world with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno.

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