Astarte ( / ə ˈ s t ɑːr t iː / ; Ἀστάρτη , Astartē ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart . ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar .
109-611: Astarte was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity , and her name is particularly associated with her worship in the ancient Levant among the Canaanites and Phoenicians , though she was originally associated with Amorite cities like Ugarit and Emar , as well as Mari and Ebla . She was also celebrated in Egypt , especially during the reign of the Ramessides , following
218-595: A carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I , whose reign is dated to 1971–1926 BC. A stela and a statuette of the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear when they first arrived at Ugarit. In the Amarna letters , messages from Ugarit c. 1350 BC written by Ammittamru I , Niqmaddu II , and his queen have been discovered. From
327-618: A "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two areas: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms eventually came into conflict, and
436-560: A 3rd-millennium BC culture postulated based on a collection of artefacts confiscated in 2001. In modern scholarship, the chronology of the Bronze Age Levant is divided into: The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early Iron Age . The old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first kingdom , Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom . The Akkadians conquered large areas of
545-469: A kind of weapon, the crescent axe . Within Iberian culture, it has been proposed that native sculptures like those of Baza , Elche or Cerro de los Santos might represent an Iberized image of Astarte or Tanit. The earliest record of ʿAṯtart is from Ebla in the 3rd millennium BC, where her name is attested in the forms 𒀾𒁯𒋫 ( Aštarta ) and 𒅖𒁯𒋫 ( Ištarta ). The main cult centre of ʿAṯtart
654-457: A panther. This association of ʿAṯtartu with the lion corroborates with significant comparative evidence from ancient West Asia and North Africa: ʿAṯtartu in her form as a lioness might have been invoked as a theophoric element in the personal names 𐎌𐎎𐎍𐎁𐎛 ( Šuma-labʾi , lit. ' Name of the Lioness ' ), and 𐎓𐎁𐎄𐎍𐎁𐎛𐎚 ( ʿAbdi-Labiʾti , lit. ' Servant of
763-402: A permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts. These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication. The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of
872-562: A power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At its beginning, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids . However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt allied to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power during the 14th century BC, Mitanni had outposts centred on its capital, Washukanni , which archaeologists have located on
981-427: A question, or "now womenfolk hunt!" sarcastically, to contrast her with human women, who were not supposed to hunt. Thus, while Baal and Resheph were both hunter gods whose roles as such made them conform to masculine gender roles, the roles of ʿAṯtartu and Anat as hunter and warrior goddesses constituted an inversion with respect to the gender roles of human women. This made them role models and mentors, as Anat does in
1090-496: A range of literal meanings including "not serving in a military campaign", or "freedom from having to serve", or "refusal of the call to serve". In legal contexts, it was the name of a military crime similar to draft evasion (but distinct from the crime of leaving one's post, which in Greek was lipotaxion ), and had some colloquial overlap with the idea of "cowardice". Regardless, later translators have rendered this epithet as "Artemis of
1199-447: A shadow like the stars, implying that ʿAṯtartu herself was brilliant and removed a shadow like the stars do, or as herself shining like the stars. This passage leads to another one in which Baal desires ʿAṯtartu for her beauty, and approaches her. ʿAṯtartu also appears as a huntress in the text KTU 1.114 , where she and her sister Anat are consistently described as hunting together and bringing back game whose meat they distributed to
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#17328757548321308-472: A small administrative town) appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC. The Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over a century later, it briefly took over the other city-states and formed the short-lived First Babylonian Empire during what is also called the Old Babylonian Period . Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia used
1417-637: A steak for him, and Anat a tenderloin ' ). Attestations of ʿAṯtartu as a warrior goddess at Ugarit are minimal, with the principal one being her role in the text KTU 1.2 I 40 , where she and Anat together restrain Baal by holding, respectively, his left and right hands. This text also linked ʿAṯtartu and Anat through poetic parallelism in the lines 𐎊𐎎𐎐𐎅𐎟𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎜𐎃𐎄𐎟𐎌𐎎𐎀𐎍𐎅𐎟𐎚𐎜𐎃𐎄𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚 ( ymnh ʿAnatu tʾuḫd šmʾalh tʾuḫd ʿAṯtartu , lit. ' His right hand Anat seized, His left hand ʿAṯtartu seized ' ). The Ugaritic text KTU 1.86 ,
1526-620: Is an argument to be made that the Bronze Age never properly ended in China, as there is no recognisable transition to an Iron Age. Together with the jade art that precedes it, bronze was seen as a fine material for ritual art when compared with iron or stone. Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou period, which some historians argue places it within the Shang. Others believe
1635-565: Is called the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex . The Kulli culture , similar to that of the Indus Valley Civilisation , was located in southern Balochistan (Gedrosia) c. 2500–2000 BC . The economy was agricultural. Dams were found in several places, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system. Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized Jiroft culture ,
1744-637: Is conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples , the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived into the 8th century BC. Arzawa , in Western Anatolia, during the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, likely extended along southern Anatolia in a belt from near the Turkish Lakes region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa
1853-529: Is debated among scholars. An ancient civilisation is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age if it either produced bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying it with tin , arsenic , or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from producing areas elsewhere. Bronze Age cultures were the first to develop writing . According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia , which used cuneiform script, and Egypt , which used hieroglyphs , developed
1962-517: Is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the Uralic group of languages across Europe and Asia, with extant members of the family including Hungarian , Finnish and Estonian . In China, the earliest bronze artefacts have been found in the Majiayao culture site (3100–2700 BC). The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there
2071-410: Is like the loveliness of Anat, whose beauty is like the beauty of ʿAṯtartu ' ), in which Anat and ʿAṯtartu were connected through poetic parallels. Another trait which both Anat and ʿAṯtartu shared was their love of war, and their pairing appears to have been due to their common roles as beautiful hunters and warrior goddesses. The Ugaritic ʿAṯtartu nevertheless did not yet possess the erotic traits of
2180-407: Is mentioned immediately after Anat, and the two goddesses' names are combined in the form 𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎆𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎛𐎐𐎁𐎁𐎅 ( ʿAnatu-wa-ʿAṯtartu ʾInbubaha , lit. ' Anat and ʿAṯtartu at ʾInbubu ' ), and the incantation itself is intended to be delivered to Anat's home at ʾInbubu, thus putting ʿAṯtartu on a secondary level compared to Anat. ʿAṯtartu was also mentioned on the side of
2289-578: Is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially between 850 and 550 BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago. The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of
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#17328757548322398-511: Is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of Chinese prehistory . The "Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken to be coterminous with the reign of the Shang dynasty (16th–11th centuries BC), and the Later Bronze Age with the subsequent Zhou dynasty (11th–3rd centuries BC), from the 5th century, called Iron Age China although there
2507-510: The Amazons , who supposedly stopped the forward march of the Amazons at Pyrrhichus, where the Amazons established the cult of Astrateia, but the true meaning of the epithet is unclear. We know of this epithet in ancient sources only from a single mention in the geographer Pausanias 's Description of Greece . The Ancient Greek word astrateia was the antithesis of strateia ("service"), and had
2616-555: The Igeum-dong site . Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and for mortuary offerings until 100 BC. Astrateia Astrateia ( Ancient Greek : Ἀστρατεία ) was a cultic epithet for the goddess Artemis in Greek mythology , under which she had a temple near Pyrrhichus in Laconia , where she was worshipped alongside Apollo Amazonius . This aspect of Artemis was a goddess of
2725-721: The Iranian plateau , centred in Anshan . From the mid-2nd millennium BC, Elam was centred in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in both the Gutian Empire and the Iranian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it. The Oxus civilisation was a Bronze Age Central Asian culture dated c. 2300–1700 BC and centred on the upper Amu Darya ( a.k.a. ). In
2834-641: The Iron Age were the Phoenician city-states of Sidon , Tyre , and Byblos . Coins from Sidon portray a chariot in which a globe appears, presumably a stone representing Astarte. "She was often depicted on Sidonian coins as standing on the prow of a galley, leaning forward with right hand outstretched, being thus the original of all figureheads for sailing ships." In Sidon, she shared a temple with Eshmun . Coins from Beirut show Poseidon , Astarte, and Eshmun worshipped together. Other significant locations where she
2943-629: The Iron Age . Conceived as a global era, the Bronze Age follows the Neolithic , with a transition period between the two known as the Chalcolithic . The final decades of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean basin are often characterised as a period of widespread societal collapse known as the Late Bronze Age collapse ( c. 1200 – c. 1150 BC ), although its severity and scope
3052-516: The Kassite period c. 1500 – c. 1155 BC ). The usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used in the context of Mesopotamia. Instead, a division primarily based on art and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people. Ur , Kish , Isin , Larsa , and Nippur in
3161-568: The Majiayao site in Gansu rather than at Xinjiang . The production of Erlitou represents the earliest large-scale metallurgy industry in the Central Plains of China. The influence of the Saima-Turbino metalworking tradition from the north is supported by a series of recent discoveries in China of many unique perforated spearheads with downward hooks and small loops on the same or opposite side of
3270-561: The southern Levant in cities such as Hazor , Jericho , and Beit She'an . The Hittite Empire was established during the 18th century BC in Hattusa , northern Anatolia . At its height in the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom encompassed central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit , and upper Mesopotamia . After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant , which
3379-537: The 𐎒𐎔𐎗𐎟𐎈𐎍𐎎𐎎 ( Sipru Ḥulumīma , lit. ' Book of Dreams ' ), mentions the horses of ʿAṯtartu, which might possibly be another allusion to her role as a warrior. Possibly due to her role as a goddess of warfare, ʿAṯtartu was sometimes mentioned alongside the god Resheph in Ugaritic texts, such as in administrative documents, with jars of wine for the temples of ʿAṯtartu and of Resheph- gn being respectively mentioned immediately after each other in
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3488-422: The 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in constant contact with Egypt and Cyprus ( Alashiya ). Mitanni was a loosely organised state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia, emerging c. 1500–1300 BC . Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class that governed a predominantly Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kassite Babylon created
3597-430: The 3rd millennium BC. The Bronze Age is characterised by the widespread use of bronze , though the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Tin bronze technology requires systematic techniques: tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore cassiterite ) and smelted separately, then added to hot copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and
3706-766: The 6th century BC attests to knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this. W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels through the Eastern Han period , or to 221 BC. The Chinese bronze artefacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or "ritual bronzes" , which are more elaborate versions in precious materials of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Examples are
3815-500: The BMAC had close international relations with the Indus Valley , the Iranian plateau , and possibly even indirectly with Mesopotamia. All civilisations were familiar with lost wax casting . According to a 2019 study, the BMAC was not a primary contributor to later South-Asian genetics. The Altai Mountains , in what is now southern Russia and central Mongolia , have been identified as
3924-635: The Bronze Age began in the Protodynastic Period c. 3150 BC . The archaic Early Bronze Age of Egypt , known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt , immediately followed the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BC . It is generally taken to include the First and Second dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period until c. 2686 BC , or
4033-526: The Clouds ' ), to hex the god Yammu. Bronze Age The Bronze Age ( c. 3300 – c. 1200 BC ) was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of the three-age system , following the Stone Age and preceding
4142-578: The Early Bronze Age, the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyndepe developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at Namazga-Tepe . Altyndepe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age c. 2300 BC , corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe. This Bronze Age culture
4251-520: The Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia dynasty . The United States National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as c. 2000 – c. 771 BC , a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. There is reason to believe that bronze work developed inside of China apart from outside influence. However,
4360-460: The Greek States advanced the hypothesis that this epithet was a linguistic corruption of the ancient Near Eastern goddess Astarte , and proposes that the connection with the Greek words strateia or astrateia came from a local folk etymology to account for a word the original meaning of which had been lost. Several other scholars have lent their support to this interpretation. As Pyrrhichus
4469-734: The Hurrian goddesses 𒀭𒅖𒄩𒊏 ( ᴰ ʾIšḫara , called 𐎜𐎌𐎃𐎗𐎊 ( ʾUšḫaraya ) in Ugaritic), and 𒀭𒊭𒀀𒍑𒅗𒀀 ( ᴰ Šauška , called 𐎘𐎜𐎘𐎋 ( Ṯaʾuṯka ), and supporters of the interpretation of the name ʿAṯtartu Ḫurri as "ʿAṯtartu of the Hurrians" suggest that this manifestation of ʿAṯtartu was the one identified with the Hurrian goddess Šauška . Other possible manifestations of ʿAṯtartu at Ugarit might have included 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎐𐎄𐎗𐎂 ( ʿAṯtartu ndrg ) and 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎀𐎁𐎏𐎗 ( ʿAṯtartu ʾabḏr ), of still uncertain meaning, with
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4578-621: The Levant and were followed by the Amorite kingdoms , c. 2000–1600 BC , which arose in Mari , Yamhad , Qatna , and Assyria . From the 15th century BC onward, the term Amurru is usually applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes River . The earliest-known contact of Ugarit with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilisation) comes from
4687-452: The Lioness ' ), the latter of which holds the same meaning as the personal names 𒁹𒀴𒀀𒅆𒅕𒋾 ( ʿAbdi-ʿAširti ) and 𒁹𒀴𒀭𒈹 ( ʿAbdi-ʿAštarti ), both meaning "Servant of ʿAṯtartu." Although divine roles were often modelled on human ones, such as masculine gods in relation to patriarchy and kingship being represented like human men, and feminine goddesses in relation to marriage and domestic chores being represented like human women,
4796-700: The Middle Bronze Age and Babylon , Calah , and Assur in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC) became the dominant power in the region. After its fall, the Sumerians enjoyed a renaissance with the Neo-Sumerian Empire . Assyria , along with the Old Assyrian Empire ( c. 1800–1600 BC ), became a regional power under the Amorite king Shamshi-Adad I . The earliest mention of Babylon (then
4905-800: The Middle Kingdom. During the Second Intermediate Period , Ancient Egypt fell into disarray a second time between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom, best known for the Hyksos , whose reign comprised the Fifteenth and Sixteenth dynasties. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty, began their climb to power in the Thirteenth Dynasty, and emerged from
5014-579: The Northwest Semitic goddess was present a trait which was also characteristic of the South Arabian masculine hypostasis of ʿAṯtar, in whose honour sacred hunts were performed as fertility rite. This hunter aspect of ʿAṯtartu later faded away by the 1st millennium BC. In the later portion of the text KTU 1.92 , ʿAṯtartu was given clothing, after which she is described as 𐎐𐎌𐎀𐎚𐎟𐎑𐎍𐎟𐎋𐎟𐎋𐎁𐎋𐎁𐎎 ( nšʾat ẓl k kbkbm ), meaning either raising
5123-401: The Osiris funerary cult rose to dominate popular Ancient Egyptian religion . The period comprises two phases: the Eleventh Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes, and the Twelfth and Thirteenth dynasties, centred on el-Lisht . The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties, but historians now consider part of the Thirteenth Dynasty to have belonged to
5232-417: The Second Intermediate Period in control of Avaris and the Nile Delta . By the Fifteenth Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt. They were expelled at the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty . The New Kingdom of Egypt , also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, existed during the 16th–11th centuries BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period . It
5341-481: The Theban kings conquered the north, reunifying Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the Eleventh Dynasty . The Bronze Age in Nubia started as early as 2300 BC. Egyptians introduced copper smelting to the Nubian city of Meroë in present-day Sudan c. 2600 BC . A furnace for bronze casting found in Kerma has been dated to 2300–1900 BC. The Middle Kingdom of Egypt spanned between 2055 and 1650 BC. During this period,
5450-409: The War Host", and consider this a warlike aspect of the goddess, which was fairly unusual for this goddess. The only other warlike epithet for the goddess would have been the also very obscure Artemis Hegemon . It is sometimes assumed that this epithet comes from Artemis's cessation of the Amazons' military campaign, however not all scholars agree. The scholar Lewis Richard Farnell in his Cults of
5559-503: The Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record. The Japanese archipelago saw the introduction of bronze during the early Yayoi period ( c. 300 BC ), which saw the introduction of metalworking and agricultural practices brought by settlers arriving from the continent. Bronze and iron smelting spread to the Japanese archipelago through contact with other ancient East Asian civilisations, particularly immigration and trade from
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#17328757548325668-445: The ancient Korean peninsula, and ancient mainland China. Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools, whereas ritual and ceremonial artefacts were mainly made of bronze. On the Korean Peninsula, the Bronze Age began c. 1000–800 BC . Initially centred around Liaoning and southern Manchuria, Korean Bronze Age culture exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects. The Mumun pottery period
5777-422: The beginning of the Old Kingdom . With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilisation, such as art, architecture and religion, took shape in the Early Dynastic Period. Memphis , in the Early Bronze Age, was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of
5886-453: The brides of Baal, and later sources, such as the role of the Phoenician ʿAštart as the consort of Baal, also suggest that ʿAṯtartu was a consort of Baal, although this evidence is still very uncertain and this pairing appears to have been distinctly Levantine. Another connection between ʿAṯtartu and Baal was through her name 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎁𐎓𐎍 ( ʿAṯtartu šuma Baʿli , lit. ' ʿAṯtartu-Name-of-Baal ' ). This name defined
5995-438: The consorts of Baal might constitute indirect evidence that this might also have been the case at Ugarit. Sacrifice to ʿAṯtartu might have been included in the list of sacrifices for the family of Baal in the Ugaritic text KTU 1.148.16 possibly because ʿAṯtartu might have been regarded as the consort of Baal at Ugarit. Contemporary sources, including Egyptian adaptations of West Semitic myths which feature ʿAṯtartu and Anat as
6104-425: The development of trade networks. A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze was a foil dated to the mid-5th millennium BC from a Vinča culture site in Pločnik , Serbia , although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age; however, the dating of the foil has been disputed. West Asia and the Near East were the first regions to enter the Bronze Age, beginning with
6213-444: The discovery of the Europoid Tarim mummies in Xinjiang has caused some archaeologists such as Johan Gunnar Andersson , Jan Romgard, and An Zhimin to suggest a possible route of transmission from the West eastwards. According to An Zhimin, "It can be imagined that initially, bronze and iron technology took its rise in West Asia, first influenced the Xinjiang region, and then reached the Yellow River valley, providing external impetus for
6322-416: The earliest practical writing systems. Bronze Age civilisations gained a technological advantage due to bronze's harder and more durable properties than other metals available at the time. While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant, the higher temperature required for smelting, 1,250 °C (2,280 °F), in addition to the greater difficulty of working with it, placed it out of reach of common use until
6431-458: The end of the 2nd millennium BC. Tin's lower melting point of 232 °C (450 °F) and copper's moderate melting point of 1,085 °C (1,985 °F) placed both these metals within the capabilities of Neolithic pottery kilns , which date to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures of at least 900 °C (1,650 °F). Copper and tin ores are rare since there were no tin bronzes in West Asia before trading in bronze began in
6540-435: The exact relationship between them to be unclear. The meaning of the names ʿAṯtar and ʿAṯtart are themselves still unclear. The Masoretic Text vocalization ʿAštōret is in dispute: most scholars consider it as an artificial superimposition of the vowels of the Hebrew word bōšet ("shame") upon the consonants of the original name; some other suggest it is a result of the Canaanite shift from /ā/ to /ō/ (despite
6649-409: The exceptional roles of ʿAṯtartu and ʿAnatu as hunter and warrior goddesses signalled them as being at odds with the social norms of the societies where human women were not supposed to hunt of which they were deities. This characterisation is made explicit in the myth of Aqhat, where Aqhat exclaims to Anat, 𐎅𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎕𐎄𐎐𐎟𐎚𐎛𐎐𐎘𐎚 ( ht tṣdn tʾinṯt ), meaning either "now do womenfolk hunt?" as
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#17328757548326758-419: The existence of a manifestation of ʿAṯtart who resided in Mari. At Ugarit , the local variant of ʿAṯtart, 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚 ( ʿAṯtartu ), was devoid of any astral aspects or associations with ʿAṯtar, and she played a minor role in mythological texts, but was often mentioned in Ugaritic ritual and administrative texts, thus suggesting that she was important for the institution of the royalty. ʿAṯtartu at Ugarit
6867-471: The fall of the monarchy. The name "Israel" first appears c. 1209 BC , at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the very beginning of the Iron Age, on the Merneptah Stele raised by the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah . The Arameans were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic pastoral people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram ) during the Late Bronze and early Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia, where they intermingled with
6976-463: The gods. In this text, ʿAṯtartu is mentioned before Anat, unlike most Ugaritic texts where this order is inverted, although the two goddesses are again connected through poetic parallels in the lines 10 to 11, reading 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎆𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎊𐎎𐎙𐎊𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎓𐎄𐎁𐎟𐎐𐎌𐎁𐎟𐎍𐎅𐎟𐎆𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎋𐎚𐎔 ( ʿAṯtarta wa-ʿAnata yamġiyu ʿAṯtartu taʿdubu našabi lêhu wa-ʿAnatu katipa , lit. ' ʿAṯtartu and Anat he approached; ʿAṯtartu had prepared
7085-428: The headwaters of the Khabur River . Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to the Hittites and later Assyrian attacks, eventually being reduced to a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire . The Israelites were an ancient Semitic-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods (15th–6th centuries BC), and lived in the region in smaller numbers after
7194-604: The identity of the goddess as being in relation to Baal. ʿAṯtartu's role as the Name-of-Baal might also have been connected to the use of Baal's name as a magical weapon, such as in the text KTU 1.2 IV 28 , where one line reads 𐎁𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎚𐎂𐎓𐎗𐎎𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚 ( bi-šumi tigʿaruma ʿAṯtartu , lit. ' By Name, ʿAṯtartu hexed (Yam) ' ), in reference to ʿAṯtartu invoking the power of Baal's name and his titles, such as 𐎀𐎍𐎛𐎊𐎐𐎟𐎁𐎓𐎍 ( ʾalʾiyanu Baʿlu , lit. ' Mighty Baal ' ) and 𐎗𐎋𐎁𐎟𐎓𐎗𐎔𐎚 ( rākibu ʿurpati , lit. ' Rider of
7303-466: The importation of foreign cults there. Phoenicians introduced her cult in their colonies on the Iberian Peninsula . The Proto-Semitic form of this goddess's name was ʿAṯtart . While earlier scholarship suggested that the name ʿAṯtart was formed by adding the Afroasiatic feminine suffix -t to the name of the deity ʿAṯtar , more recent views accept the names ʿAṯtar and ʿAṯtart as being etymologically related while considering
7412-421: The later Canaanite ʿAštart. In the text KTU 1.92 , ʿAṯtartu is called 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎕𐎆𐎄𐎚 ( ʿAṯtartu Ṣawwādatu , lit. ' ʿAṯtartu the huntress ' ) in the lines 2-3, with the next line mentioning her as 𐎚𐎍𐎋𐎟𐎁𐎎𐎄𐎁𐎗 ( taliku bi-madbari , lit. ' going to the desert ' ). The following lines recorded that the goddess saw something whose name is lost due to damage to
7521-410: The latter being affixed with the title 𐎖𐎄𐎌𐎚 ( Qadišatu , lit. ' the Holy One ' ). In in the hymn RIH 98/02 , ʿAṯtartu is called on to "shut the jaw of El's attackers" in the line 𐎚𐎕𐎔𐎖𐎟𐎍𐎈𐎚𐎟𐎄𐎟𐎂𐎗𐎟𐎛𐎍 ( taṣpiq laḥata dā gūri ʾIli , lit. ' May she shut the jaw of El's attackers ' ), which finds a literary parallel in the myth of Aqhat , where
7630-436: The lion, she's associated to the dove and the bee . She has also been associated with botanic wildlife like the palm tree and the lotus flower . A particular artistic motif assimilates Astarte to Europa , portraying her as riding a bull that would represent a partner deity. Similarly, after the popularization of her worship in Egypt , it was frequent to associate her with the war chariot of Ra or Horus , as well as
7739-447: The manifestations of ʿAṯtartu attested in the Late Bronze Age was 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎃𐎗 ( ʿAṯtartu Ḫurri ), whose name has been variously interpreted as ʿAṯtartu of the Hurrians, ʿAṯtartu of the Grotto or Cavern, ʿAṯtartu of the Tomb(s), or ʿAṯtartu of the Window, and was also recorded at Ugarit in Akkadian as 𒀭𒌋𒁯 𒄯𒊑 ( ᴰ ʿAṯtartu Ḫurri ), and as 𒀭𒌋𒁯 𒄷𒊑 ( ᴰ Ištar Ḫurri ). Some Ugaritic texts identified ʿAṯtartu with
7848-464: The name of the lioness. O name, may you be victorious... May you shut the jaws of El's attackers. A mighty panther is ʿAṯtartu, A mighty panther that pounces. The hymn especially emphasizes ʿAṯtartu and her name, with its mention of the goddess as "name" possibly being connected to her role as the Name-of-Baal, and the second line calls her a "lioness" while the fourth and fifth lines liken her to
7957-407: The narrative as applying the components of the cure to cause the healing, thus connecting the two goddesses with healing. Among the Ugaritic incantations mentioning ʿAṯtartu are two where she is invoked to protect against snakebites: in the first incantation, from the text KTU 1.100 , which is part of a sequence addressed to the sun-goddess Shapash to be delivered to a succession of deities, she
8066-545: The native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC. The Mesopotamian Bronze Age began c. 3500 BC and ended with
8175-408: The numerous large sacrificial tripods known as dings ; there are many other distinct shapes. Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be highly decorated, often with the taotie motif, which involves stylised animal faces. These appear in three main motif types: those of demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols. Many large bronzes also bear cast inscriptions that are the bulk of
8284-688: The origins of agriculture. Foothill regions and glacial melt streams supported Bronze Age agro-pastoralists who developed complex east–west trade routes between Central Asia and China that introduced wheat and barley to China and millet to Central Asia. The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in Central Asia, dated c. 2400 – c. 1600 BC , located in present-day northern Afghanistan , eastern Turkmenistan , southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan , centred on
8393-569: The past asserted that she has been known as the deified morning and/or evening star , it has been called into question if she had an astral character at all, at least in Ugarit and Emar. God lists known from Ugarit and other prominent Bronze Age Syrian cities regarded her as the counterpart of Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ištar , and of the Hurrian Ishtar-like goddesses Ishara (presumably in her aspect of "lady of love") and Shaushka ; in some cities,
8502-578: The point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon . It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region c. 2000 BC }}, and the ensuing ecological, economic, and political changes, triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China, and southward into Vietnam and Thailand across a frontier of some 4,000 mi (6,000 km). This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in
8611-521: The region laid the foundations for astronomy , mathematics, and astrology . The following dates are approximate. The Bronze Age in the Near East can be divided into Early, Middle and Late periods. The dates and phases below apply solely to the Near East, not universally. However, some archaeologists propose a "high chronology", which extends periods such as the Intermediate Bronze Age by 300 to 500–600 years, based on material analysis of
8720-466: The regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egyptian civilisation attained its first continuous peak of complexity and achievement—the first of three "Kingdom" periods which marked the high points of civilisation in the lower Nile Valley (the others being the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom ). The First Intermediate Period of Egypt , often described as
8829-648: The rise of the Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC. Cultures in the ancient Near East practised intensive year-round agriculture; developed writing systems ; invented the potter's wheel , created centralised governments (usually in the form of hereditary monarchies ), formulated written law codes, developed city-states , nation-states and empires; embarked on advanced architectural projects; and introduced social stratification , economic and civil administration, slavery , and practised organised warfare, medicine, and religion. Societies in
8938-530: The rise of the Shang and Zhou civilizations." According to Jan Romgard, "bronze and iron tools seem to have traveled from west to east as well as the use of wheeled wagons and the domestication of the horse." There are also possible links to Seima-Turbino culture , "a transcultural complex across northern Eurasia", the Eurasian steppe, and the Urals. However, the oldest bronze objects found in China so far were discovered at
9047-603: The sea ' ), suggesting that this incantation alluded to three distinct water bodies. ʿAṯtartu's emblem was the lion, and she was explicitly called a lioness and a panther in the hymn RIH 98/02 , which reads: 𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎖𐎍𐎟𐎊𐎌𐎗𐎟 𐎛𐎏𐎎𐎗𐎟𐎍𐎁𐎛𐎟𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎍𐎁𐎛𐎟𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎚𐎋𐎌𐎄𐎟𐎍 𐎚𐎕𐎔𐎖𐎟𐎍𐎈𐎚𐎟𐎄𐎟𐎂𐎗𐎟𐎛𐎍 𐎐𐎎𐎗𐎟𐎈𐎘𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚 𐎐𐎎𐎗𐎟𐎈𐎘𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎗𐎖𐎕 šuma ʿAṯtarti qāla yašir ʾiḏmara šuma labʾi šuma takaššidu lê taṣpiq laḥata dā gūri ʾIli namiru ḥaṯiratu ʿAṯtartu namiru ḥaṯiratu tarquṣu The name of ʿAṯtartu may my voice sing, May I praise
9156-682: The socket, which could be associated with the Seima-Turbino visual vocabulary of southern Siberia. The metallurgical centres of northwestern China, especially the Qijia culture in Gansu and Longshan culture in Shaanxi , played an intermediary role in this process. Iron use in China dates as early as the Zhou dynasty ( c. 1046 – 256 BC), but remained minimal. Chinese literature authored during
9265-509: The southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production ( c. 700–600 BC ) after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artefacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula ( c. 900–700 BC ). The bronze daggers lent prestige and authority to the personages who wielded and were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at south-coastal centres such as
9374-495: The story of Aqhat, in which she addresses him with the intimate term "my brother" and tells him that she will instruct him in hunting, thus being able to bond with the addressee and be present and active in him development into an accomplished hunter. The episode of ʿAṯtartu performing filial duties by "shutting down the jaws" of the enemies of El was another case of gender inversion where the goddess successfully performed actions which among mortals were reserved for men only. One of
9483-468: The surviving body of early Chinese writing and have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou dynasty. The bronzes of the Western Zhou document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve
9592-438: The tablet on which the inscription was written. In this incantation, the first instance of ʿAṯtartu was that of ʿAṯtartu of Ugarit, while the second one was ʿAṯtartu of Mari. In a second incantation against snakebites, from the text KTU 1.107 , ʿAṯtartu was mentioned after Anat in a pairing of the two goddesses as part of a list also including pairings of Baal and Dagon , and Resheph and Yarikh . A third incantation, from
9701-447: The text KTU 1.114 did refer to Baal as sexually desiring ʿAṯtartu, with possible mention of a bed in line 32 of the text perhaps alluding to these two deities engaging in sexual intercourse. Although the once widespread view that Anat was also a consort of Baal has recently fallen out of favour due to lack of evidence from Ugarit, indirect evidence, such as Egyptian adaptations of West Semitic myths in which both ʿAṯtartu and Anat were
9810-503: The text KTU 4.219 , and in the text KTU 1.91 's mentioning that the Rašpūma ( lit. ' plural Rašpu s ' ). Moreover, the attribute animal of Resheph was the lion, which was analogous to the lioness being the symbol of the warrior goddess ʿAṯtartu. In the text KTU 1.114 , ʿAṯtartu and Anat also went to hunt for ingredients to cure the drunkenness of El, to whose household they belonged, and they are later mentioned in
9919-484: The text KTU 92.2016 , either against fever or for good childbirth, mentioned 𐎁𐎓𐎍𐎟𐎖𐎄𐎌𐎎𐎟𐎁𐎐𐎅𐎗 ( Baʿli qadišūma bi-nahri , lit. ' Baal and the holy ones in the river ' ), followed by 𐎐𐎃𐎍𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎁𐎟𐎗𐎈𐎁𐎐 ( naḫla ʿAṯtarti bi-Raḥbāni , lit. ' the torrent of ʿAṯtartu, in the Raḥbānu ' ), itself in turn followed by 𐎁𐎊𐎎 ( bi-Yammi , lit. ' in
10028-435: The text, and line 5 mentions that the deeps surge with water, which might either refer to a celestial sign or to a possible damp terrain where ʿAṯtartu was hunting. The lines 6-13 described ʿAṯtartu taking cover in the low ground and holding her weapons while hunting, and she finally slew an animal whose name is lost in line 14. Following this, ʿAṯtartu fed the animal she had slain to the gods El and Yarikh . Thus, present in
10137-404: The titular hero Aqhat is instructed to 𐎉𐎁𐎖𐎟𐎍𐎈𐎚𐎟𐎐𐎛𐎕𐎅 ( ṭābiqu laḥatê nāʾiṣihu , lit. ' shut the jaw of his (father's) detractors ' ), thus signaling ʿAṯtartu as performing filial duties by protecting El, the patriarch of whose household she was a member of. Although there is little to no evidence of ʿAṯtartu being explicitly considered the consort of Baal at Ugarit,
10246-462: The unexpected occurrence of the shift in this position), or, with an assumption of an early form * ʿAštārit , as a conventional occurrence of the shift -ā(r)i- to -ō(r)ē- . In various cultures Astarte was connected with some combination of the following spheres: war , sexuality , royal power, beauty, healing and - especially in Ugarit and Emar - hunting; however, known sources do not indicate she
10355-509: The upper Amu Darya (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh ), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Marguš , the capital of which was Merv in present-day Turkmenistan. A wealth of information indicates that
10464-403: The west to Thailand in the east employing the same metalworking technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding. However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and Kazakhstan ( Andronovo horizon) would rather support spreading of the bronze technology via Indo-European migrations eastwards, as this technology had been well known for quite a while in western regions. It
10573-548: The western forms of the name and the eastern form "Ishtar" were fully interchangeable. In later times Astarte was worshipped in Syria and Canaan . Her worship spread to Cyprus , where she may have been merged with an ancient Cypriot goddess. This merged Cypriot goddess may have been adopted into the Greek pantheon in Mycenaean and Dark Age times to form Aphrodite . An outdated argument, however, postulates that Astarte's character
10682-525: The written East Semitic Akkadian language for official use and as a spoken language. By that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use in Assyria and Babylonia, and would remain so until the 1st century AD. The Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in later Assyrian and Babylonian culture. Despite this, Babylonia, unlike the more militarily powerful Assyria,
10791-530: Was Mari , where early texts from her temple pre-dating the city's destruction by the Akkadian Empire record her name as 𒀭𒀸𒁯𒊏𒀜 ( ᴰ ʿAṯtarat ), who appears to have been distinguished from ʿAṯtart's East Semitic equivalent, the Mesopotamian goddess Ištar , at Mari. One text from Mari records that offerings were made to both ʿAṯtarat and the river-god Nārum together. The main cult centre of ʿAṯtart
10900-502: Was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, comprising the Nineteenth and Twentieth dynasties (1292–1069 BC), is also known as the Ramesside period , after the eleven pharaohs who took the name of Ramesses. Elam was a pre-Iranian ancient civilisation located east of Mesopotamia. In the Middle Bronze Age, Elam consisted of kingdoms on
11009-417: Was a fertility goddess , contrary to opinions in early scholarship. Her symbol was the lion and she was also often associated with the horse and by extension chariots. The dove might be a symbol of her as well, as evidenced by some Bronze Age cylinder seals. The only images identified with absolute certainty as Astarte are these depicting her as a combatant on horseback or in a chariot. While many authors in
11118-522: Was associated with the goddess Anat , with Anat usually preceding ʿAṯtartu, and the two goddesses were often connected to each other through poetic parallelism. Both goddesses shared common traits such as perfect beauty, which characterised young goddesses, with the human Ḥuraya being compared to them in the text KTU 1.13 III using the terms 𐎄𐎋𐎟𐎐𐎓𐎎𐎟𐎓𐎐𐎚𐎟𐎐𐎓𐎎𐎅𐎟𐎋𐎎𐎟𐎚𐎒𐎎𐎟𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚𐎟𐎚𐎒𐎎𐎅 ( dāka nuʿmi ʿAnati nuʿmuha kama têsimi ʿAṯtarti têsimuha . lit. ' whose loveliness
11227-461: Was founded by non-native Amorites and often ruled by other non-indigenous peoples such as the Kassites , Aramaeans and Chaldeans , as well as by its Assyrian neighbours. For many decades, scholars made superficial reference to Central Asia as the "pastoral realm" or alternatively, the "nomadic world", in what researchers call the "Central Asian void": a 5,000-year span that was neglected in studies of
11336-614: Was introduced by Phoenician sailors and colonists were Cythera , Malta , and Eryx in Sicily from which she became known to the Romans as Venus Erycina . Three inscriptions from the Pyrgi Tablets dating to about 500 BC found near Caere in Etruria mentions the construction of a shrine to Astarte in the temple of the local goddess Uni -Astre ( 𐌔𐌄𐌓𐌕𐌔𐌀𐌋𐌀𐌉𐌍𐌖 ). At Carthage Astarte
11445-931: Was less erotic and more warlike than Ishtar originally was, perhaps because she was influenced by the Canaanite goddess Anat , and that therefore Ishtar, not Astarte, was the direct forerunner of the Cypriot goddess. However, evidence from Iron Age Phoenicia show that Astarte became a more erotic goddess as opposed to her early Bronze Age worship in Ugarit and Syria, and that early attestations of Aphrodite, were more war-like. Greeks in classical, Hellenistic, and Roman times occasionally equated Aphrodite with Astarte and many other Near Eastern goddesses, in keeping with their frequent practice of syncretizing other deities with their own. In addition, certain aspects of other Greek gods, such as Artemis Astrateia are hypothesized to be heavily influenced by Astarte. Major centers of Astarte's worship in
11554-522: Was located on the Laconian coast, it is not unlikely it may have overlaid some aspects of Near-Eastern influence on the template of an ostensibly Greek goddess, or vice versa. Some scholars, such as Isabella Solima, have gone as far to suggest that Pausanias was simply wrong, and the true epithet was some other name lost to time. As an Eastern-influenced goddess of the Amazons, Astrateia is similar to Artemis Ephesia . We possess some ancient coins depicting
11663-525: Was still the city of Mari during the Amorite period, when her name is attested as a theophoric element in personal names such as 𒀭𒀸𒁯𒋫𒍣 ( ᴰ Aštart-azi , lit. ' ʿAṯtart is my strength ' ). However, her name was otherwise written in cuneiform using ideograms and without the feminine suffix -t , in the forms 𒀭𒀸𒁯 ( ᴰ AŠ-DAR ) and 𒀭𒈹 ( ᴰ INANNA ). A contemporary incantation against snakebites from Ugarit recorded
11772-574: Was the western neighbour of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms , at times a rival and, at other times, a vassal. The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia defeated by the Hittites under the earlier Tudhaliya I c. 1400 BC . Arzawa has been associated with the more obscure Assuwa generally located to its north. It probably bordered it, and may have been an alternative term for it during some periods. In Ancient Egypt ,
11881-487: Was worshipped alongside the goddess Tanit , and frequently appeared as a theophoric element in personal names. Iconographic portrayal of Astarte, very similar to that of Tanit , often depicts her naked and in presence of lions , identified respectively with symbols of sexuality and war. She is also depicted as winged, carrying the solar disk and the crescent moon as a headdress, and with her lions either lying prostrate to her feet or directly under those. Aside from
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