Astarte

Great Phoenician goddess of love, war, and the evening-star (Venus); chief goddess of Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos, served by royal priests.

Domains

• love and sex
• war

Powers

• Kindle sexual desire, beauty, and procreation
• Ride armed into battle as war-goddess
• shines as the evening star (Venus) and governs the heavens

Epithets

• ʿštrt šm bʿl
• rbt ʿštrt

Relations

• lover: Eshmun
• spouse: Melqart
• equated with: Athtart
• interpretatio: Aphrodite
• equated with: Inanna
• interpretatio: Uni

Sources

• Sidonian royal sarcophagi (Tabnit, Eshmunazar II); Byblos inscriptions
• Britannica, Astarte