Another Ishtar is Ishtar of Arbela, daughter of Asshur, and sister of Marduk, styled by Esar- haddon ' lady of ladies, terrible in onslaught, lady of battle, queen of the gods,' a martial goddess, who appears to Asshurbanipal in a vision, armed with quivers and a bow, and brandishing a sword, and promises him victory against his foes. Ishtar of Uruk (Erekh) plays an important part in the legend of Izdubar (Gileamish) : when the hero has delivered Uruk from the Elamites, who have been besieging it, and won for himself the crown, Ishtar offers him her hand ; he refuses it, reproaching her with the levity with which she had chosen and
• The following quotations from Assyr. sources are taken from O. A. Barton's study, *The Semitic Ishtar Cult,' in Ilrbraua, April-July, ISOS.and Oct. IWU-Jan. lSi)4, where the Iiiscriptioni in which they occur are translated at length. Cf. also Tiele, Bab.-Agi. Gfgch. 626-623. Nani is also identified with Ishtar ; but it has not seemed necessary, for the purpOM of the preteoi article, to pursue this subject.
t III. p. 139.
I Srhrnder, KA Tt p. 117 (on Jg 2>«). ; KA ri 33317.
II The poem may he read also in Savc«*s Hibhert Leetura, p. 221 ff. ; or in a'. Jeremias, DU Bab.-Au. FonttUungen vom Lehtn nach dem Todt ()887), p. 10 ff.
ASHTORETH
ASHTOKETH
169
diBcardeJ her foniier husbands.* Here Ishtar is not only lavish with her luve, but appears almost as a polyandrous godiless.t In other resnects the 'lady of Uruk' resembles Ishtar of is'ineveh. Ishtar of Babylon is addressed in a hymn as ' mother of the gods, fulfiUer of the commands of Bil, producer oi verdure, lady of mankind, be- gettress of all, mother Ishtar, whose might no god approaches,' and whose aid and sympathy asuppliant may expect to receive.^ This was the goddess under whose protection, in virtue of a singular custom — reported independently by Herodotus (i. 199),§ the author of Uar G"'-, and Strabo (xvi. 1. 20), — the women of Babylon placed themselves by the sacrifice of their chastity.
Lastly, Ishtar is identified with the planet Venus : on this aspect of her nature it will be sufficient, however, to refer to the passages trans- lated in Schrader, KAT' on Jg 2'% or in Sayce, Hibb. Led. p. 253 f. (cf. p. 269 = Jeremias, Izdubar- Nimrod, p. 62).
Though Ishtar was thus variously localised, her general attributes remained the same. She occupied a place in the Assyr. Pantheon next to Asshur himself : II in particular, she was (1) the lady (or mistress) of tlie locality in which she was wor- shipped ; (2) queen of the gods, and princess of heaven and earth; (3) a warrior goddess; (4) the goddess of generation and productivity j (5) she was identified with the planet Venus. These aspects of her nature are retained as her cult travels westwards, sometimes one being more prominent than the other, sometimes several being combined. II
From the notices contained in OT itself, it would not be possible to determine the ideas associated with the Phucn. 'Ashtart, or the character of her rit«s ; but there are many independent indications which make these clear. She must have been pre- eminently the goddess of sexual passion. By Greeks and Phoenicians alike she is habitually identified with 'AcppoSlrri ; and there are sulliciently definite allusions to the unchaste character of the rit«8 with which she was worshipped.** Lucian {De dea Syria, § 4) visited a great t^jmple of Aphro- dite in Byblus (Gcbal), in which the rites of Adonis (who corresponded to Tammuz, g.v.) were per- formed : here such women as would not shave their hair in commemoration of his burial, were obliged to sell theniselves to a stranger, the money received being expended on a sacrifice to Aphrodite (cf. the Bab. custom referred to above). At Aphaka in the Lebanon there was a temple of Aphrodite, +t the rites practised at which were of such a character that tliej' were suppressed by Constantine (Euseb. Vit. Const, iii. 5.5).
Again, as we saw, Ishtar was 'queen of the gods, and princess of heaven and earth ' ; and it scarcely aamits of doubt that the ' Queen of
* Barton, Hebraica, Oct. 18B3-Jan. 1894. p. IS.; Baj-ce, Le. p. Uea.; Jeremiu, lidubar-lfimTodilWl), p. 24 t.
♦ W. U. Smith, Rel. Sem.' p. 68.
t Rarton, pp. l.s-l? ; Jeremias, Le. p. 68f.; Zlmmem, Bab. BwtitjuKiimen, p. 33 (T.
S MfXiTT*. as fidt. calls the (roddes.s (whom he Identifies with AphrtMiit*'), iH prohal)ly /Vi7t/. — the won! n-ndered 'lady' in the eKtnu-ts cit*<i atHj%'e, and the (em. o( Itrt (Ita'al), lord.
I How fully, in the popular creel. Isht-ar berame the Koddew mmr' i{«3r*i», may be inferred (roni the (act thai the pliir. itfitardt was iis(.>d to express the idea of (cmole divinities in generaKff/traisn).
•] The etymolopy of Ithlar, as of 'Aghtnrt, is obscure : there Is no apparent Sera, derivation, and the conjectures that have been offered ore not 8ati»fart/>ry ; the Arab, 'athara (Itarton, p. 71) is not to fall sirniilv. but fo ttumhlf or Irip. It is. perhaj>8, Of non-Sem. oriirin {KAT'' ITB: Sayce, llil^h. hrct. S.Vif.). The (ft-niler of the deity, after it was lulopted by the Phijoniclans, was marked externally by the atldilion of the (em. teruiina- tion, (,
** Hence her worship n\a\/ be alluded to lo passages such as Hos 411 14, Jer 2* etc.