"[5] However, due to Ašratum's position in the Mesopotamian pantheon and distinct circumstances of her development, information pertaining to her character cannot be necessarily assumed to apply to Athirat, and vice versa.
[8] An Old Babylonian votive inscription of a man bearing the name Itur-ašdum is considered to be the most significant source for the study of Ašratum's character.
[6] The term ḫili (and its Akkadian equivalent kubzu) denoted a quality of both male and female deities, for example Shamash, Aya, Nanaya and Nisaba.
[17] It has been argued that it might point at an association with the underworld, though it is also possible the term can be understood as a reference to an ordinary steppe, rather than a euphemism for the land of the dead.
[19] Further evidence for Ašratum's possible association with the underworld include the mention of a "corpse star" (múlADDA[20]) in connection with her in a late mystical text and the use of the epithet ekurrītum,[21] which might have such connotations, to refer to her in the god list An = Anum.
[3] Another early piece of evidence for her worship is a limestone slab which a certain Itur-ašdum, apparently a devotee of this goddess and an official in charge of the Silakku canal district,dedicated for the life of Hammurabi of Babylon.
[25] As the inscription mentions the dedication of a protective deity (dlamma), it has been proposed that it was originally a fragment of a figure depicting a lamma goddess.
[27] Ašratum was also still worshiped in Uruk in the Hellenistic period, as indicated by a text enumerating deities partaking in a New Year parade alongside Antu, which also features Amasagnudi, Sadarnunna (the wife of Nuska), Gula, Aya and Shala.
[34] A similar theonym, Nin-gubara (Sumerian: "mistress with loose hair"), is explained as an epithet of Inanna in the god list An = Anum, but it is uncertain if she corresponds to the deity identified with Ašratum.
"[20] It has been proposed Ašratum could be associated with the Sebitti due to their placement next to each other in the Nippur god list and a possible reference to such a connection in a lexical text.
[38] However, Andrew R. George and Manfred Krebernik [de] tentatively suggest that since the former of these two texts is difficult to reconcile with other attestations of her, a different similarly named deity might be meant in this case instead.