Astarte

אשרות Deut. xii. 13. Jer. xii. 18. xliv. 17, 18.ASTARTE, or Astaroth, a Phœnician Goddess. The Scripture often speaks of her in the plural number, by the name of Astaroth, which signifies properly flocks of Sheep or Goats. Sometimes she is called likewise Aserah, the Grove; or Aseroth, or Aserim, Woods¹, because she was adored in Woods, was the Goddess of them, and Groves were properly her Temple. Asera, or Groves, were consecrated to her, wherein such acts of lasciviousness were commonly committed, as made the worship of her infamous². Sometimes she was called the Queen of Heaven; and sometimes the worship of her is described by that of the Host of Heaven. The sacred Authors join her almost always with the God Baal, and call her by the name of Gods, having no particular one for expressing a Goddess.

1 Kings xi. 5. xiii. 33. אלהי צדנים If. lxv. 11. Jer. vii. 18. xliv. 17.It is believed that the Moon was adored under this name. Her Temples were generally with those of the Sun, and while bloody Sacrifices were offered to Baal, or to the Sun, and sometimes human Victims, Bread, Liquors and Perfumes were presented to Astarte, or the Queen of Heaven; tables were prepared for her on the platforms of houses, near gates, in porches and cross-ways, and on the first days of every month a supper was served up to her. This is what the Greeks called Hecate’s supper.

St. Jerom in several places translates the Hebrew name Asera, or Astarte, by that of 1 Kings xv. 13. 2 Chron. xv. 16.Priapus, as it were to denote the many acts of lasciviousness which were committed in the Groves consecrated to Astarte. The Eastern people, in many places, worshiped the Moon under the name of a God; they represented her with a beard, and in armour³. The statue which was worshiped in the Temple of Heliopolis in Syria, was that of a Woman cloathed like a Man⁴. Solomon, who had married many Wives that were foreigners, introduced the worship of Astarte in Israel; but it was Jezebel principally, Daughter to the King of Tyre, and Wife to Ahab, who brought the worship of this Deity into vogue in Palestine.

St. Austin assures us, that the Africans, who were descended from the Phœnicians, maintained Astarte to be the same as Juno⁵, Juno sine dubitatione ab illis (Pœnis) Astarte vocatur. Herodian⁶ nevertheless says, that the Carthaginians call the heavenly Goddess Astroarche, and affirm her to be the same as the Moon. The Phœnician Divines⁷ asserted confidently, that their Astarte was the Syrian Venus, born at Tyre, and Wife to Adonis; very different from her who was born in the Isle of Cyprus. Lastly, Lucian, who has written particularly concerning the Goddess of Syria, which is the same as Astarte, says expressly that she is the Moon, and no other; and it is indubitable that this Luminary was worshiped under different names in almost all parts of the East. Cœlestem Afri, Mitram Persæ, plerique Venerem colunt, pro diversitate nominis, non numinis diversitate⁸.

The manner of representing Astarte upon Medals, is not always the same⁹. Sometimes she is in a long, and at other times again in a short Habit; sometimes holding a long Stick with a Cross upon the top of it; in other Medals she is to be seen with a Crown of rays; and elsewhere she is crowned with Battlements, or by Victory. In a Medal struck at Cæsarea in Palestine, she is in a short Dress, crowned with Battlements, with a Man’s Head in her right hand, and a Staff in her left. This is believed to be the Man’s Head mentioned by Lucian, and which every year is brought from Egypt to Biblos, a City of Phœnicia, whereof we have spoken heretofore, in the Article ADONIS. Sanchoniathon¹⁰ says she was represented with a Cow’s Head, the Horns describing the royalty and rays of the Moon.

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