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206 Ashtoreth

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Ashura

The town was very old. It is mentioned by Thothmes III. (thirteenth century B.C. compare W. Max Milller, " Asien und Europa," p. 162) and in the

El- Amarna tablets (fourteenth century b. c. compare Schrader, "K. B." v., Kos. 143, 287; Sayee, "Patri;

archal Palestine," pp. 133, 153). It has been identified by Dillmann (on Gen. xiv. 5) with the mound of Tell Ashtereh; by G. A. Smith ("Hist. Geog." map) with Tell Ashary; and by Buhl ("Geog." pp.

248 et seq.), whom Gunkel (on Gen. xiv. 5) follows, with El-Muzerib (see also Buhl, "Zur Topographie des Ostjordanlandes," pp. 13 et seq. "Zeit. Deutsch. Palast. Ver." vols, xiii., xv.). The real site can not be determined until some of these mounds are excavated. See Ashtaroth. J. JR. G. A. B.

ASHTORETH tament



The name given

in the

Old Tes-

to the old Semitic mother-goddess, called in

Phenicia, Ashtarte; in Babylonia, Ishtar; and in Arabia, Athtar. (For her worship among the Hebrews, see Astarte.) Ashtoreth is derived from Ashtart by a distortion after the analogy of " Bosheth" (compare Jastrow, "Jour. Biblical Literature " xiii. 28, note). Ashtarte was the chief goddess of the Sidonians, among whom she was worshiped as an independent divinity, and also under the name The "Ashtarte of the name of Baal," as a Goddess in counterpart of Baal (compare " C. I. S. Phenicia. i. 3 and "Hebraica," x. 33). fragment quoted in Philo Biblos connects the worship of Ashtarte with Tyre (compare also

A

Josephus, "Ant." viii. 5, §3; "Contra Ap." i. 18, who quotes Menander), while Lucian ("De Syria Dea," §§ 6-9) describes in some detail her worship at Gebal (Byblos), in which the wailing for Tammtjz was a prominent feature. As a part of this ritual, women were obliged to sacrifice either their hair or A shrine of this goddess was found their chastity. also in the city of Askelon in Philistia (Herodotus, 105), in which the armor was hung after the battle of Gilboa (I Sam. xxxi. 10). The Phenician colonies carried the worship of i.

Ashtoreth into the Mediterranean. In Cyprus she had important temples at Citium and Paphos, and left a deep impression In Phenician on its civilization (compare "Heb." x. Colonies. 42-46 and " Jour, of Hellenic Studies," 1888,

pp. 175-206).

It

also

left

its

Heb. " x. 46-49). From to Corinth and other parts of Greece, where it corrupted the simple purity of the old Greek family life (compare Farnell's "Cults of the Greek States," xxi.-xxiii.). impress in Malta and Sicily Cyprus her cult found its

From

Sicily

it

made

its

("

way

way

to

some extent into

Italy.

In North Africa, Ashtoreth was known as Tanith "Semitic Origins," p. 253, note 6), to which is frequently attached the epithet " Face of Baal," showing that she was often regarded as sub(see Barton,

She was also called Dido ordinate to that god. (Love), and was, as Augustine says ("De Civitate Dei," ii. 4), worshiped with obscene rites (compare

"Heb."

x. 48-53).

In Babylonia and Assyria she was worshiped as

206

Ishtar at several different shrines, in each of which the goddess possessed slightly varying characterErech was one of the oldest and istics. In most important of these shrines, where Babylonia, she was called also Nana, and generally appears as the goddess of sexual love and of fertility. At Agade she was worshiped as the spouse of Shamash (" Heb. " x. 24-26), and at Babylon as that of Marduk. At the latter shrine, where she was called Zarpanit, she was the goddess of fertility for both According to Herodotus (i. plants and animals. 199), every Babylonian woman once in her life was compelled to offer her person at Zarpanit's shrine

(compare "Heb."

x. 15-23).

From

Babylonia, emigrants carried her worship to Assyria, as represented in the Assyrian inscriptions. In Assyria, at Nineveh, and Assur she was regarded as the spouse of Assur and the mother With the god Assur she was of gods and men. supreme, although other gods were worshiped. Another shrine of hers of high antiquity was at From the reign of Sennacherib onward the Arbela. Ishtar of Arbela is regarded as distinct from the She had no spouse, was mother, and other Ishtars. a goddess of war. Probably her worship there had never been united with that of a male deity (compare "Heb." ix. 131-155). In Arabia she was known as Athtar.and in southern Arabia at least was changed into a masculine deity. An interesting inscription ("Jour. Asiat." 8 ser. ii. 256 et seq.) exhibits this transition in In Arabia, process (compare "Heb." x. 204). As a goddess Athtar was a mother, and was bifurcated (rather than transformed) into a masculine and feminine deity, the father and the mother of mankind (compare Mordtmann, " Himyaritische Inschriften und Alterthumer," No. 869). The father was known as Athtar, or by such epithets as " Ilmaqqahu," "Talab Riyam," etc. the mother, as Shams (compare Barton, "Semitic Origins," pp. 129 ct ,



seq.).

As a god, Athtar was the god of fertility. From southern Arabia his worship was transferred to Abyswhere he was known as Astar, and where many features of his worship still survive In in the rites of the Abyssinian church Abyssinia, (compare " Epigraphische Denkmaler

sinia,

aus Abessinien of the Ethiopians

"

"

and Glaser,

Bent, " Sacred City " Die Abessinier in

Arabien und Africa"). In northern Arabia the name Athtar does not appear; but there are two goddesses, Al-Uzza and AlLat,

who

are

shown elsewhere

as goddesses of fertil-

under these epithets (compare " Heb. " x. 58-66). Al-Uzza was worshiped especially at Nakhla and Mecca, and Al-Lat at Taif and by the Nabataeans (compare "C. I. S." ii. Nos. 170, 182, She is mentioned by Herodotus, iii. 8. 183). This cult thus presents an underlying unity throughout the Semitic world, with many local differences. Various animals were sacred to this deity in different places, while she was frequently pictured in their form. Thus, at Eryx she was thought to assume the form of a dove, and of a dove and a gazelle at Mecca. At Arbela she was conceived by ity scarcely disguised