THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, iii, New York, 1901, §§ 1184 sqq.). The best illustrations are afforded by the Babylonian hymns to Ishtar as the great mother-goddess, as the creator of the animate universe generally (cf. the exordium of Lucretius, De rerutn natura), and as the helper of men, freeing them from sickness and the curse of sin and guilt. Though we learn nothing directly from the Old Testament as to the character of the service of Ashtoreth in Palestine, the connections in which the word occurs make it clear that, whatever else may have been here and there included, the lowest forms of Ishtar worship were ordinarily exhibited. The regular association in the singular with " the baal " and in the plural {'Ashta- 8. Tendency roth) with " the baals " indicates the of the predominance of the sexual aspects Cult in of the many-sided cult. Its popu- Israel. laxity and seductiveness are also manifested in the use of the plural (exactly as in Babylonian) as an equivalent of goddesses in general (Judges ii, 13, x, 6 ; I Sam. vii, 3, 4, xii, 10) in passages which, it is true, proceed from later deuteronomic editing, but are therefore all the more indicative of the prevailing tendency.
A comprehensive historical view of the whole subject helps to understand the fascination of Astarte worship as a seductive and formidable obstacle to the service of Yahweh. See Assyria, VII; Atargatis; Asherah; Baal; Babylonia, VII, 2, § 7; 3, § 5. J. F. McCurdy.
Bibliography: J. Selden, De dis Syris, ii, 2, London, 1617; F. Miinter, Die Religion der Carthager, pp. 62-86, Copenhagen, 1S21; F. C. Movers, Die Phbnizier, i, 559-650, Bonn, 1841; E. Schrader, Die Hollenfahrt der Istar, Giessen, 1874; idem, KAT, pp. 436 sqq.; P. Berger, L'Ange d'Astarte, Paris, 1879; F. Hitzig, Biblische Theologie des Alien Testaments, pp. 17 sqq., Carlsruhe, 1880; P. de Lagarde, Astarte, in Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gidtingen, 1881, pp. 396-400; C. P. Tiele, La Deesse Istar surtout dans le mythe Babylonien , Leyden , 1884; F. Baethgen, Beitrage zur semilischen Religionsgeschichte, pp. 31-37, 218-220, Berlin, 1889; Collins, •Ashtoreth and the 'Ashera, in PSBA, xi (1888-89), 291 303; A. Jeremias, Die babylonisch-assyrischen V orstellungen vom Leben nach dem Tode, pp. 4-45, Leipsic, 1887; idem, Izdubar-A'imrod, pp. 57-66, 68-70, ib. 1891; P. Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylunier, pp. 117-118, 135, 227 sqq., Strasburg, 1890; Ashtoreth and Her Influence in the O. T, in JBL, x(lS91), 73 sqq.; G. A.Barton, The Semitic Ishtar Cult, in Hebraica, ix (1892-93), 131-165, x (1893-94), 1-74. For the " Queen of Heaven " consult: B. Stade.in ZATW, vi (lsSii), 123-132, 289-339; E. Schrader, in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1886, pp. 477-491; idem, inZ^l, iii (l.SSS), 353-364; iv (1889), 74-76; J. Wellhausen, Heidenthum, pp. 38 sqq.; A. Kuenen, De Melecheth desHemels, Amsterdam, 1888 (Germ, transl. in Gesammelte Abhandlungen, pp. 186-211, Freiburg, 1894).
On the connection between Aphrodite and Astarte consult: J. B. F. Lajard, Recherches sur le culte de Venus, Paris, 1837; W H. Engel, Kypros, ii, 5-649, Berlin, 1841; L. F. A. Maury, Histoire des religions de la Grece antique, iii, 191-259, Paris, 1859; F. Hommel, Aphrodite- Astarte, in Neue Jahrbiicher fur Philosophic und Padagogie, exxv (1882), 176; Ohnefalsch-Richter, ut sup., pp. 269-327; DB, i, 165, 167-171; M. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898 (cf. Index under Ishtar); EB, i, 330-333, 335-339; G. A. Barton, A Sketch of Semitic Origins, pp. 106, 246-268, New York, 1902; Schrader, KAT, pp. 436-438.
ASH WEDNESDAY (Lat. Dies cineris, feria quarta cinerum) : The first day of Lent, the beginning of the forty days' fast before Easter in the Western Church. The name is not simply a general allusion to the repentance in sackcloth and ashes of which the prophets speak in the Old Testament, but refers more directly to a rite which marks the observance of the day in the Roman Catholic Church. The palm-branches blessed on the Palm- Sunday of the previous year are burned to ashes, and these ashes are placed in a vessel on the altar before the beginning of mass. The priest, wearing a violet cope (the color of mourning), prays that God will send his angel to hallow the ashes, that they may become a salutary remedy to all penitents. Then follows the prayer of benediction, which explains the symbolical meaning of the use of ashes still more clearly. The ashes are then thrice sprinkled with holy water and censed, after which the celebrant kneels and places some of them upon his own head. The congregation then approach the altar and kneel, while the sign of the cross is made upon their foreheads with the blessed ashes; to each one are said the words Memento, homo, quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris (" Remember, O man, that dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return ").
It is impossible to determine accurately the date at which the imposition of ashes, which originally formed a part of the public penance for grievous sinners, became a custom applicable to all the faithful. It is demonstrably at least as old as the synod of Beneventum in 1091, which expressly commands it for clergy and laity alike. In the Anglican communion the day is marked by a special service known as the " commination service," (q.v.) or at least by a special collect and Scripture lessons; and the Irvingite liturgy also contains prayers for it. See Church Year.
Bibliography: Bingham, Origines, book xviii, chap, ii, § 2; G. Bevinet, History of the Reformation of the Church of England, ii, 94, London, 1681; J. Kutschker, Gebrauche, pp. 91-152, Vienna, 1843.