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Concept
Astarte
Summary
Astarte (əˈstɑrtiː; Ἀστάρτη, Astartē) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar.
Astarte was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity, and her name is particularly associated with her worship in the ancient Levant among the Canaanites and Phoenicians, though she was originally associated with Amorite cities like Ugarit and Emar, as well as Mari and Ebla. She was also celebrated in Egypt, especially during the reign of the Ramessides, following the importation of foreign cults there. Phoenicians introduced her cult in their colonies on the Iberian Peninsula.
The Proto-Semitic form of this goddess's name was . While earlier scholarship suggested that the name was formed by adding the Afroasiatic feminine suffix to the name of the deity , more recent views accept the names and as being etymologically related while considering the exact relationship between them to be unclear. The meaning of the names and are themselves still unclear.
The Masoretic Text vocalization is in dispute: most scholars consider it as an artificial superimposition of the vowels of the Hebrew word bōšet ("shame") upon the consonants of the original name; some other suggest it is a result of the Canaanite shift from /ā/ to /ō/ (despite the unexpected occurrence of the shift in this position), or, with an assumption of an early form *, as a conventional occurrence of the shift "ā-i" to "ō-ē".
In various cultures Astarte was connected with some combination of the following spheres: war, sexuality, royal power, beauty, healing and - especially in Ugarit and Emar - hunting; however, known sources do not indicate she was a fertility goddess, contrary to opinions in early scholarship. Her symbol was the lion and she was also often associated with the horse and by extension chariots. The dove might be a symbol of her as well, as evidenced by some Bronze Age cylinder seals.
Official source
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