Friday, July 31, 2015

Complex ancient origins: Ishtar Astarte

Ishtar was a Babylonian/Akkadian goddess descended from the earlier Sumerian Inanna. She was famed in Assyria and Egypt as a war goddess whose battle steed was a lion. Pardoxically, she is also a fertility figure. The Ishtar Gate at Babylon (in Iraq), an enormous artistic masterpiece built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, was dedicated to the goddess and fellow deities Marduk and Adad.

Ishtar Gate repro from the foundry







Right image shows the Egyptian Astarte-Ishtar

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