ASTARTE, ASH'TORETH. A goddess ap pearing frequently in the Old Testament 1 I. Kings xi. 5-33; 11. Kings xxiii. 13), where she is called the goddess of the Sidonians. The form of her name in thellassoretie text of the Old Testament appears to he due to intentional perversion, her real name being Ashtart, to the consonated frame of which scribes infixed the vowels of Dosheth, 'shame,' thlis producing the form Ashtoreth. Iler worship was quite prevalent in the time of the Judges, and Solomon built a temple to her. Astarte was, however, not only the goddess of the Sidonians; the Bible mentions a temple of Astarte at Ashkelon (I. Sam. xxxi. 10), and from Semitic inscriptions we learn of a temple to Astarte at Cilium in Cyprus, at Eryx in Sicily. as well as in Carthage. It is fair to infer, then, that she was a Phrenieinn godless. From Cyprus her cult was carried to Greece and appears as that of Aphrodite. Astarte herself is
not original with the Pluenicians. In Assyria there is an Ishtar, 'the Lady' the Queen of the Gods; `the Goddess of War,' the planet Venus: she, too, is the goddess of various local ities. •Islitar of Arbela."1slitar of Ninua,' and alone finally assumes a national position. In South Arabia there was a male deity Athtar, but very little is known of this god. Astarte is represented as a female figure, generally naked, rather short and round. with hands holding the breasts. The oldest representation of her is simply a white conical stone. but later, in Canaan and Pluenicia, she is typified in the form of a cow. From the biblical references it would ap pear that Astarte was regarded as the goddess of fertility and fruitfulness.