Astarte

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Old Syrian terracotta Astarte statuette, probably from Palmyra , now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum .

Astarte , Ugaritic ʿAthtartu, Phoenician : ʿštrt , ancient Greek Αστάρτη (Astártē) , Hebrew עַשְׁתֹּ֔רֶת ( Ashtoräth ) , Aramaic : ʿAthtar; was the queen of heaven and goddess of love for several West Semitic peoples. On an inscription from Delos , the Astarte of Ascalon is mentioned together with Aphrodite as the goddess of the seafarers.

Spread of the cult

Depiction of the enthroned Astarte in the 6th century BC Chr.

Aštart was worshiped in Syria and on the Levantine coast. In Emar on the middle Euphrates she was the most important goddess next to Išḫara and d NIN.KUR. In Ugarit it is mainly associated with Ba'al . However, it is subordinate to the anat . In the 18th dynasty , the cult of the Astarte was also introduced in Egypt . Aštart can also be used as an epithet for Meret .

According to Sanchuniathon , Astarte is said to have picked up a star that had fallen from the air and consecrated it on the sacred island of Tire .

Myths

The Papyrus Astarte and the Insatiable Sea tells the presumably Syrian myth of the battle of the gods against the sea god Jam in an Egyptian version. Astart, referred to as Ptah's daughter , is the messenger who is supposed to appease Jam.

Presentation and symbols

Ancient depictions of the Phoenician Astarte mostly show a woman with a naked torso. The bare breasts are a clear indication of the life-giving aspect of the goddess of love and fertility. In some representations - especially in the form of the Mesopotamian Inanna or Ištar - this is emphasized by additionally supporting the breasts with her hands or pushing them upwards.

Universal symbols and astronomy

A common feature of the Astarte is the snake it is holding in its hands. The symbolism of the snake is very complex and refers to the numerous contradicting, nowadays often seemingly contradicting aspects of the being of the goddess, “which can be male, female or out of itself. As an animal that kills, it is death and destruction; as one that periodically renews its skin, it is life and resurrection; When rolled up, it is equated with the cycles of manifestation. ” Another of her symbols is her crown, which is partly understood as a cow's horn , partly as a crescent moon , the universal symbol of femininity, and partly as a combination of both. Often this form is complemented by the sun disk . In addition, Venus , the evening or morning star , often appears next to it , usually represented as a large, octagonal star.

Ancient Egypt

In her function as the goddess of war, Astarte was usually depicted sitting on a horse in ancient Egypt . Her attributes were shield and spear, sometimes reinforced by the lion head of the goddess Sekhmet . It stayed here - unlike z. B. in the Greek Pallas Athene - the combination of combative and erotic elements has been preserved; in some depictions she appears "naked and standing on a lion, snakes grow from her hips and she holds lilies or snakes in her hands as symbols of eroticism and fertility."

Related gods

Related roles were played by the Egyptian Isis , the Babylonian Ištar , the ancient Arabic Al-Lāt , especially revered in Palmyra , and the Greek goddesses Aphrodite and Demeter . In Egypt Astarte was worshiped as the goddess of love and war . According to the name it is also related to the Ugaritic ʿAthtar . The cult of the goddess of love came with the expansion of the Phoenician colonies westward via Carthage to northern Morocco . In ancient Greece Astarte was equated with Hera or Aphrodite, the latter, for example, in the Sicilian Eryx . The Etruscans worshiped them as Uni-Astre , which in ancient Rome also became the mother of the gods Juno .

The female spirit of possession Aisha Qandisha , feared in the Moroccan Islamic folk beliefs , may have its roots in the temple cult of Astartes.

The name of the male god or demon Astaroth was derived from Astarte, or Astarte was equated with Astaroth or viewed as an alternative spelling.

Astarte in the Bible

King Solomon promoted the worship of Astarte at times (1. Kings chap. 11, verse 5).

“They cried out to the Lord and said, We have sinned; for we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and Astarten. Free us now from the violence of our enemies; we want to serve you again ” . The people of Israel violated the worship of Astarte against the first commandment of the Bible (Exodus 20: 2, 3, 5. Moses 5: 7).

The attempt to establish an image-free YHWH as the only permitted object of worship and to prevent the worship of other gods or powers in a visible form was of lasting importance to the Joschian cult reform . However, the archaeologists Finkelstein and Silberman are of the opinion that this attempt was not particularly successful. As evidence, they name numerous figures of gods, most of whom are identified with the goddess Astarte, which could be found in private homes from the 7th century BC.

See also

literature

as well as in artistic implementation

Web links

Commons : Astarte  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daniel Fleming: Nabu and Munabbiātu: Two new Syrian religious Personnel. Journal of the American Oriental Society 113/2, 1993, 175-183
  2. ^ Jean Leclant, Astarté a cheval d'après les représentations égyptiennes. Syria 37, 1/2, 1960, 1
  3. ^ Jean Leclant, Astarté a cheval d'après les représentations égyptiennes. Syria 37, 1/2, 1960, 2
  4. ^ Jean Leclant, Astarté a cheval d'après les représentations égyptiennes. Syria 37, 1/2, 1960, 3
  5. ↑ B. van de Walle, La déesse semitique Istar dans un texte egyptien. La Nouvelle Clio 8/9, 1955-1957, p. 282
  6. ^ Sanchuniathon's Phoenician story: based on the Greek adaptation of Philo von Byblos, Lübeck 1837, p. 12
  7. ↑ JC Cooper, JC (Ger. 1986, orig. 1976) Illustrated lexicon of traditional symbols
  8. ↑ Nadja Türk-Gothe: Meritneith - The ancient Egypt ( Memento from April 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) with a detailed list of sources
  9. ↑ K. Meyer: Sphinx Search ( Memento from December 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), see also Center Astarte ( Memento from November 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ Stephanie L. Budin, A Reconsideration of the Aphrodite-Ashtart Syncretism. Numen 51/2, 2004, 96
  11. ^ Stephanie L. Budin, A Reconsideration of the Aphrodite-Ashtart Syncretism. Numen 51/2, 2004, 95-145
  12. ↑ Manfred Barthel: Shine and mystery of antiquity, quoted by Wilfried Bluhm
  13. ↑ Michelle Belanger: The Dictionary of Demons: Names of the Damned . Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications 2010, p. 49.
  14. ↑ Astaroth . In: Augustin Calmet : Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible . Eighth Edition, revised with large additions, by Edward Robinson, 1837, p. 114.
  15. ↑ Swift Edgar: The Vulgate Bible . Volume II · Part B: The Historical Books: Douay-Rheims Translation . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard College 2011, p. 1876.
  16. ^ RA Boulay: Flying Serpents and Dragons . The Story of Mankind's Reptilian Past . Revised and Expanded Edition. Escondido, California: The Book Tree 1999, p. 91.
  17. ↑ 1 Samuel chap. 12, verse 10; from New Jerusalem Bible Standardized Translation
  18. ^ Israel Finkelstein / Neil A. Silberman: No trumpets before Jericho. The archaeological truth about the Bible , CH Beck, Munich 2003, p. 309