In Ashtoreths worship services, male worshipers had anal sex with priests and priestesses of the goddess. It is best to understand these rituals as a religious act of devotion to the goddess rather than as sex per se. Anyone who reads history knows that various writers in various countries spell names differently. There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus extending its hands, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire.. In the figure of Inanna several traditions seem to have been combined: she is sometimes the daughter of the sky god An, sometimes his wife; in other myths she is the daughter of Nanna, god of the moon, or of the wind god, Enlil. Many gods and goddesses of the Mediterranean and Middle East appreciate gifts of honey and wine, incense, bread, and fresh meat. Easter is celebrated on a day specified only by the Roman Catholic Church, and not the Bible, and is fixed based on the sun and the Spring or Vernal equinox. The Phoenicians portrayed Astarte with cow horns, representing fertility. Astaroth is a grand duke and treasurer of Hell and commands 40 Legions of Demons. The NET Bible, not considered gay friendly by anyone, takes a strong anti-gay position on Leviticus. This reflects the strong anti-gay beliefs of Dallas Theological Seminary (which trained some of the folks associated with the NET Bible). King Solomon got in trouble when he tried to introduce the cult of Astarte into Jerusalem, much to the displeasure of Yahweh. Thus Baal, meaning master, is the title for a spirit named Hadd. At times of crisis, Baal's followers sacrificed their children, apparently the firstborn of the community, to gain personal prosperity. Astarte's cult in the fourth-century bce Kition tariff text likely involved offerings of cakes as did that of the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah . She is everywhere the great female principle, answering to the Baal of the Canaanites and Phoenicians and to the Dagon of the Philistines. The pantheon in Phoenicia was generally ascribed to the Sanchuniathon. The first risk is health related. Baal has also been portrayed seated on a throne, possibly as the king or lord of the gods. The Akkadian Ishtar is also, to a greater extent, an astral deity, associated with the planet Venus. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Hebrews first learned Baal worship from the agricultural Canaanites. What is the meaning of AD, BC, BCE and CE? Could the God who had led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness also provide fertile farms in the Promised Land? The cult of Astarte spread westward from Phoenicia into ancient Greece, Rome and as far as the British Isles. The "Sunrise Service" is still an intragal part of Easter today. HistoryOnTheNet 2000-2019. Plutarch, AD 46-127, senior priest of the oracle at Delphi, gives this description of the fire god. "Who Is Astarte?" The sacrificial use of swine's blood (Isa. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. With Shamash, the sun god, and Sin, the moon god, she forms a secondary astral triad. The God Seth Facts. Phoenician religion was inspired by the powers and processes of nature. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. Molech, fire-god of ancient Canaan Immense knowledge, power, protection from harm (invisibility) and hidden treasures are all within reach of those who form a good relationship with this unique entity. Discover the Bible in light of its historical and cultural context! Phoenician Goddess of Fertility and Sexual Pleasure. They may represent the goddess Asherah and were used, especially by women, in a "popular" form of worship distinct from the official worship of Yahweh. ECUSA recommences Astarte-worship. Answer Asherah, or Ashtoreth, was the name of the chief female deity worshiped in ancient Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan. Eventually, Astarte and Hadad were given the right by Elus to reign over the land. Some scholars have proposed that these figurines were dedicated by women desiring to be pregnant or nursing children. Under the kings, this spiritual battle continued. Hail Astaroth! Molech represented the male principle of life and reproduction while Ashtoreth represented the female principle of fertility. The Torah condemns the worship of false deities, and the Hebrew people were occasionally punished for honoring Astarte and Baal. Pan was depicted as an ugly man with the horns, legs, and ears of a goat. . As mother goddess she was widely worshiped throughout Syria and Palestine, although she was frequently paired with Baal, who often took the place of El; as Baal's consort, Asherah was usually given the name Baalat. This article is part of our larger resource on Mesopotamian culture, society, economics, and warfare. There is evidence that Ishtar and Astarte were worshiped at Paphos in the early Iron Age and were brought, so to speak, to the island by the Phoenicians along with the Egyptian cult of Hathor, who may also have been identified with Aphrodite (see Hatton-Brown, 1997 p.64-6). But this didn't happen immediately. Only the child sacrifice of the Baal cult came to an end with the Greeks and Romans. However, even among those who . Moses met God in a burning bush in the desert, where he learned the greatness of God's name and received his commission to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt. the lady of the mountain. Unique Circular Format see more in less space. She is the counterpart to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar and is one of the oldest Middle Eastern aspects of the Goddess, dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Their names together are the . A Phoenician statuette uncovered near Granada, Spain, dating to the seventh or sixth centuries BCE, depicts Astarte enthroned, flanked by sphinxes. JPS Tanakh 1917 Baal's worshipers appeased him by offering sacrifices, usually animals such as sheep or bulls (1 Kings 18:23). ), Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah thundered that Yahweh alone deserved the people?s allegiance. Much of our knowledge of the origins and character of these fertility cults remains tentative and widely debated. According to myth, Astarte descended to earth as a fiery star, landing near Byblos in a lake at Alphaca, the site where the original Tammuz is said to have died. The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley Copyright 1989, 1999, 2008 by Visionary Living, Inc. Astarte was worshipped by Canaanites, Egyptians, Hebrews, Philistines, and Phoenicians, but exactly who is she? Solomon is said to have built a high place to her near Jerusalem, which was removed during Josiah's reform (I Kings xi. The Bible called this practice "detestable" (Deut. In the Hebrew scriptures, Astarte was referred to as Ashteroth Karnaim. There is one thing they all have in common: the desire for fast or immediate results through magical means, rather than having to practice for weeks, months or even years before receiving the results through their own practice. Like her Akkadian counterpart Itar, she is an astral deity and is associated with the evening star. 3:6,13; Ezek. An intense battle began for the minds and hearts of God's people. The goddess was worshiped with sexual rituals that were condemned by the prophets of the Old Testament. Ashtoreth was the goddess of war and fertility, called Ishtar by Assyrians and Babylonians, called Astarte by Greeks and Romans and called Tanith by North Africans. Herodotus, a Greek historian, wrote that every Babylonian woman had to attend the temple of Ishtar/Inanna and agree to sex with any male that asked her. The NET Bible on Leviticus 18:21, Note 30, says: "It could refer to either human sacrifice or a devotion of children to some sort of service of Molech, perhaps of a sexual sort (cf. God repeatedly commanded the Old Testament. she is gone up upon every high She guards women's reproductive health. Scholars have called this sacred prostitution, although the rite was essentially performed as a devotion or prayer to the goddess to ensure fertility. In this act, the high priestess of Inanna would have intercourse with either the high priest or the king of the city. more. Dionysus was worshiped in the pagan Decapolis across the Sea of Galilee from the center of Jesus' ministry. Baal, worship, worshipping, idols, fertility, cults, canaan, asherah, pagan, [Hebrew Mind], 1 Kings 14:23-24, 2 Kings 16:4, 2 Kings 17:10, Acts 13:6, Acts 19:35, Deuteronomy 7:5, Deuteronomy 12:2-3, Deuteronomy 12:20, Deuteronomy 12:31, Deuteronomy 18:10, Ezekiel 6:13, Isaiah 65:1-5, Judges 3:7, Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 3:13, Luke 8:31, Matthew 16:18, Numbers 3:11-13. Separating Fact from Myth: Asherah and Idol Worship. 72-91; Budde, "Religion of Israel," ch. The Phoenicians called her Astarte, the Assyrians worshiped her as Ishtar, and the Philistines had a temple of Asherah ( 1 Samuel 31:10 ). Omissions? The power attributed to her in war may have arisen from her connection with storms. In their forty years of wilderness wandering and backsliding, wicked stony-hearted rebellious Israel chose the wrong god and the wrong tabernacle. Inanna was also a fertility figure, and, as goddess of the storehouse and the bride of the god Dumuzi-Amaushumgalana, who represented the growth and fecundity of the date palm, she was characterized as young, beautiful, and impulsivenever as helpmate or mother. For example, when the Peleset (Philistines) killed Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa, they deposited the enemy armor as spoils in the temple of "Ashtoreth.". 105), in which the armor was hung after the battle of Gilboa (I Sam. It's hard to know why Yahweh's people failed to see that he alone had power over these things. The Bible does not actually describe the goddess, but archaeologists have discovered figurines believed to be representations of her. Ashtaroth is mentioned 12 times in the Old Testament. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia tells us Ashtoreth was a. By the eighth century Anglo-Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ's resurrection.". Not until A.D. 325almost three centuries after Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrectedwas the matter settled. Astaroth is the teacher of all the sciences especially skilled in the liberal sciences. Inscriptions from two locations in southern Palestine seem to indicate that she was also worshiped as the consort of Yahweh. , dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Artemis, the goddess of childbirth and fertility, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love, continued the Asherah cults under a new name (Acts 19:35), but with worship practices that were as immoral as ever. And their pagan worship snared some of the children of Israel. Kronos is the north African name for Molech. Astaroth is particularly ambiguous since hes evolved from an ancient goddess, providing him/her with multiple forms of manifestation. We need to learn from Israel's experience and respond to Jesus' command for total allegiance. Her popularity was universal in the ancient Middle East, and in many centres of worship she probably subsumed numerous local goddesses. Because the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, recognized the reality of the demonic world and condemned all of its practices (Deut. Astaroth is a great and a strong duke, coming forth in the shape of a foul angel, sitting upon an infernal dragon, and carrying on his right hand a viper, who also claimed to rule 40 legions, and had to be approached by the conjurer with a magical ring on account of his stinking breath. Rameses III called Anat and Astarte his shields. Among the triad of Semitic sex/love/war goddesses worshipped in Egypt, Astarte was the favourite (over Anat and Kadesh). Astaroth is a demon that evolved from the ancient Phoenician mother goddess of fertility Astarte, and the Akkadian goddess of war and sexual love Ishtar. Astarte is one of the names that was commonly linked with the female divinity of the people during the early Bronze Age. In Phoenicia, several states including Byblos, Tyre and Sidon were among the centers of worship for Astarte.