§ Fig. 20 ; fig. 142=Rawl. Phcen. p. 327; fig. 323, from Sardinia. The figures, smiilar in general appearance, but holding a disc on the breast, may represent the same goddess (ib. fig. 193 ; fig. 233. from Sardinia "(these two also in Kawl. p. 142) ; fig. 290, from Tharros ; fig. 324 ; likewise the seated figures, with the hands on the knees (fig. 299, fig. 322). Whether figures of the type repre- sented in fig. 345, draped, with the hands straight donn the sides, also represent her, is uncertain.
II E. Curtius, * Das Phon. Urbild der Medicelschen Venus,' In the Arehdot. Zeit. 1869, p. 63 ; of. Perrot et Chip, pp 656 f., 627 (Eng. tr. U. 156, 226).
U See Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 477 ; Loftus, Chaidoea and Swfiana, p. 379 f. (of the Persian age) ; Perrot and Chip. Hist, of Art in Chald. and Ats. i. 80, 83 (fig. 18); Rawl. Anc. Mon.* i. 140 ; Heuzey, Les figurines antiques de terre cuite do Slus^e du Louvre (1883), Plate ii. 3, 4 ; iii. (cf. those from Cj-pnis, tv., ix. 4, 6, X. 7, xi. 6 ; and Rhodes, xii. 6); and in the Rev. Arch, xxxix. (188.5), pp. 1-10.
•• Whether the name Asmtkroth-Karnaim contains an allusion to this aspect of 'Ashtart (* the 'Ashtarts of the two_ horns ') is uncertain ; f^amaim may be the name of a locality C'Ashtaroth of — t.*. near — I^arnaim').
tt For Ishtar, though sister of Sbamash (the «un-god), !• daughter of Sin (the moon-god), not the moon-goddess herself.
ASHTORETH
ASIA
171
their head, between two cow-horns, the solar disc* Isis, further, is stated by riularch to have jour- neyed lo HybUis (Gebal), wliere slie was called by some 'AiTTo^rji ;t and in the famous Stele of Yeliaw- nieli'k, king of (jebal, the king is represented a-s making his offerings before a horned goddess, closely resembling the Kgyp. Isis, while the accom- panying inscription is a petition addressed by him to his -mistress, the lady of Gebal.' J Philo of Byblus says also that 'AardpTri tj ficyiuTj} . . . ineSrtKe TI7 iSia Kftfia^ti floffiAfias Trapaffrjuov k f (f>a\ij f t avpo u (Siujehonialhon, ed. Orelli, p. 04). In the light of these facts it is not impossible, as Meyer suggests, that tlie disc and horns with which 'Ashtart was represented may have been misunderstood, and taken to be the symbols of the full and crescent moon respectively.
'Ashtart, then, if what has been said above be correct, was llie link connecting Ishtar with Aphro- dite and with Venus. Born originally in the far E., the goddess was born again, for the (ireeks, from the foam {(Kppos) by Cyprus; and once brought under touch of the creative genius of Greece, her character was transformed ; particular aspects of it were made more prominent; if in one direction she was identified more and more with the sensuous side of human nature, in other directions her attri- butes were idealised ; she furnislied art with its most attractive ideals of female grace and beauty (see already //. xiv. 214-217 — her Ktarhv liiinTo) ; slie became even the personification of the all- pervading, living force of nature. ' Comnie la nature meme dont se rfisumaient et se personni- iiaient sous ce nom toutes les Energies, Astart6, vraie souveraine du monde, dans son activitC sans repos, ne cessait de ddtruire et de cr^er, de or<5i'r ot de d^truire. Par la giu'rre et par les fl^aux de ' tout genre, elle 61iminait les etres inutiles et vieillis ; en meme temps, par I'amour et la g^n^ra- tion, elle prfisidait au perp^luel renouvellement de la vie.' § This far-reaching conception of the range of her activity is exhibited strikingly in a passage placed by I'lautus in the moutli of an Athenian woman, I! and in the fine exordium, addressed to the ' yKneadum genetrix,' with which Lucretius opens his great poem, Dn rfriim nntura.l
Traces of a rorrespondiiir/ Sem. deity elseirhere. — There was a S. .Sem. maie deity, 'Athtar (which agrees phonetically with Ishtar ; cf. tr'?!:', liji^', etc.), mentioned in the Sabajan inscriptions (from San'&, the capital of Yemen) ; but little definite is at present known about him, except that the gazelle or antelope was sacred to him.**
There are also some compound names of deities, in which 'Aslitar (or 'Ashtart) forms jjart. Mesha' relates (Stone, I.e.) that he ' devoted ' 700(» Isr. captives to ••~3t-^';, i.e. 'Axlitar-rlipmi»!li, or'Ashtar of Cheniosh. Among the riiocnicians, al.so, we find Milk'aglUart, a deity formed by combination of the
• See represent.ition^ In liftwlinson. ffittl. of Anc. Eg. \. 3W, 86^;or.\Ia>i»cro. Tl>,' Ihiicn of CiciUtiittion,\t\t. 182,176,17", 187.
t Df (l„ir. et iMile, S 1.'..
J 'V.V I, i. 1. See represeiitiiliinis In Knwllnson. /fiit. of Phaii. p. :i4il; or I'crrnt et < hlple/. I. p. O'J ; cf. nlso the linnns- Ing lironze Uu'iire in tlie lnst-naiiu-<l work, l». "H (tip. 20). Tlie name of tliln trotl^lcss Is not piven ; but it i> hiclily prottahio ttint It wnn '.Vstitjirt; colnH of Uyblii.H exliibtt tmb'lttinliy n cono (whicli, fts tias liccn .shown, was licr syiiilioU, stnndlntr in the court of a temple (see the excellent rej/resi-ntatlon in l*errot et Chip. tie. I'J (|i. nil, or Kttwl. Plum. p. lli'O.
S Porrol et Chlpiez. p. l'.9 ; cf. 821, and csp. 020-fi'2S [V.ng. tr. t. I!9 f.. IWi f., II. •J2l-22r,).