Astarte: Encyclopedia II - Astarte - ‘Ashtart in Egypt

Astarte - ‘Ashtart in Egypt

‘Ashtart's first appears in Egypt beginning with the 18th Dynasty along with other northwest Semitic deities. She was especially worshipped in her aspect of a war goddess, often paired with the goddess ‘Anat. In the Contest Between Horus and Set, these two goddesses appear as daughters of Re and are given in marriage to the god Set, here identified with the Semitic god Hadad. ‘Ashtart was also identified with the goddess Sekhmet but seemingly more often conflated, at least in part, with Isis to judge from the many images found of ‘Ashtart suckling a small child. Indeed there is statue of the 6th century BCE in the Cairo Museum, which would normally be taken as portraying Isis with her child Horus on her knee and which in every detail of iconography follows normal Egyptian conventions but the dedicatory inscription reads: "Gersaphon, son of Azor, son of Slrt, man of Lydda, for his Lady, for ‘Ashtart." See G. Daressy, (1905) pl. LXI (CGC 39291).

Plutarch, in his On Isis and Osiris, indicates that the king and queen of Byblos, who unknowingly have the Osiris' body in a pillar in their hall, are Melcarthus (ie. Melqart) and Astarte (though he notes some instead call the queen Saosis or Nemanūs, which Plutarch interprets as corresponding to the Greek name Athenais).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "‘Ashtart in Egypt", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki