[13] 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;[14] however, known sources do not indicate she was a fertility goddess, contrary to opinions in early scholarship.

This made them role models and mentors, as Anat does in 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.

[34] ʿAṯtart was worshipped at Emar, where, like at Mari, the name of the goddess was written in cuneiform using ideograms and without the feminine suffix -t, in the forms 𒀭𒀸𒁯 (ᴰAŠ-DAR) and 𒀭𒈹 (ᴰINANNA), while also appearing in ritual texts and onomastica there.

[73][72] ʿAṯtart's connection to hunting at Emar in ritual settings is recorded in a text mentioning 𒄿𒈾 𒌋𒐋 𒌓𒈪 𒍝𒁺 𒊭 𒀭𒀸𒁯 (ina 16 umi ṣadu ša ᴰAštart, lit.

[5][74] The line 𒄿𒈾 𒌋𒐋 𒌓𒈪 𒍝𒁺 𒊭 𒀭𒀸𒁯 also parallels the Sabaic hallowed phrase 𐩺𐩥𐩣 𐩮𐩵 𐩮𐩺𐩵 𐩲𐩻𐩩𐩧 (ywm ṣd ṣyd ʿṯtr, lit.

[5][81] Under the 18th and 19th dynasties, ʿAṯtart was depicted either standing or on horseback and holding a sword and shield, and she was sometimes associated to the god Resheph just like she was at Ugarit due to her warrior role, as attested through a stela of Amenhotep II which includes a line mentioning both them together, 𓂋𓈙𓊪𓀭𓂝𓊃𓍘𓂋𓏤𓏏𓅱𓆗𓎛𓂝𓏲𓀠𓇋𓅓𓆑𓁷𓏤𓁹𓏏𓌸𓂋𓂋𓏏𓎟𓏏𓄣𓏤𓆑 (Ršp ꜥstjrtw ḥꜥw jmf ḥr jrt mrrt nbt jbf, lit.

[83][84] During the 20th dynasty, one of the inscriptions of Ramesses III recording his military victories against the Libyans mentioned ʿAnat and ʿAṯtart in a praise to the king, 𓏠𓈖𓍿𓅱𓀭𓃩𓂋𓎛𓈖𓂝𓆑𓐝𓋴𓎞𓇌𓀜𓏥𓎟𓂝𓈖𓍿𓏏𓆇𓆗𓂝𓊃𓍿𓇋𓂋𓏤𓍿𓏏𓆇𓆗𓈖𓆑𓐝𓇋𓆎𓐝𓌲 (Mnṯw Stẖ r ḥnꜥf m skw nb ꜥnṯt ꜥsṯjrṯt nf m jkm, lit.

[5] During the Ptolemaic period, ʿAṯtart was depicted on a chariot in a relief from the Temple of Edfu, where she is called 𓂝𓊃𓍿𓂋𓂧𓏏𓆇𓁐 𓎛𓏌𓏏 𓊃𓐝𓊃𓐝𓃗𓏥 𓎟 𓅨𓂋𓇌𓏏𓆱 (ꜥsṯrdt ḥnwt smsmw nbt wryt, lit.

[90][91][42] ʿAṯtart was still remembered as a huntress goddess during the Iron Age, and she was mentioned as such in a 5th-century BC Aramaic incantation against scorpion stings inscribed in Demotic from the Wādī al-Ḥammāmāt, whose text includes the lines kp-ʾbwy kp-Bʿl kp-ʿtr-ʾmy (lit.

[92][93][94] ʿAṯtart in the Wādī al-Ḥammāmāt text was referred to both as "ʿAttar my mother" and "the huntress", attesting of the continuation of the healer role of this goddess recorded since the Bronze Age at Ugarit, as well as of her pairing with Baal.

[95][57] A Late Bronze Age seal from Egyptian-ruled Palestine discovered at the site of Baytīn represented ʿAṯtart as a warrior, and was inscribed with the name of the goddess, written as 𓂝𓊃𓍿𓏥𓁹𓍿 (ꜥsṯjrṯ).

ʿAštart was also depicted in the form of "concubines of the dead" statuettes placed in burials, as well as in sympathetic magic figurines possessing fertile traits intended to ensure that women desiring to have children would become pregnant.

[104] Although the wooden throne upon which the Seville/El Carambolo Statuette rested had perished, its surviving bronze stool was inscribed with a dedication to 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕 𐤇𐤓‎‎ (ʿAštart Ḥor), that is to the Phoenician form of the manifestation ʿAṯtartu Ḫurri already attested in pre-Phoenician times,[5] or maybe associated with Ἀφροδίτης λιμνησία, Aphrodite of the salt marshes.

[5] The temple of ʿAštart at Afqa, in the territory of the city-state of Byblos, was one of the most renowned sanctuaries in ancient Phoenicia, located at the source of the Adonis river, where, according to Melitōn of Sardis, was the tomb of Adonis, whose blood turned the river's water red when he died there; according to Pseudo-Melito, this was the location of the tomb of Tammuz; and this temple was believed in ancient times to have been built by the legendary Cypriot king Kinuras, and it contained a waterpool, as well as pipelines which were used for lustrations linked to the cultic practises, and sacred prostitution, which was a typical part of the cult of ʿAštart, was also performed there.

[108][107] According to Zosimus, a phenomenon would take place at site of the temple of Afqa whereby a bright and fiery star-like object would be shot up from the top of a Lebanese mountain and would fall into the Adonis river.

[110] ʿAštart held high importance in the religious structure of the city-state of Acre, where she was identified with the Greek goddess Aphrodite in Graeco-Roman times, when she was the patron-goddess of the city's public baths.

[111] Under the reign of the Roman Emperor Publius Licinius Valerianus, ʿAštart was depicted coins similarly to a Syrian goddess, with a calathus hat, and seated between two lions like ʿAttarʿatta, with her right hand in a blessing position and her left one holding a flower.

[5] According to the 6th century AD Neoplatonist scholarch Damascius, Astronoë was the "mother of the gods", and had fallen in love with a young hunter, Eshmun of Berytus, who castrated himself to escape her, but whom the goddess resurrected.

The temple of Mount Eryx was initially dedicated to an indigenous goddess named in Oscan inscriptions as 𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌄𐌍𐌕𐌀𐌔 𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌖𐌊𐌉𐌍𐌀 (Herentas Herukina), who was later identified with ʿAštart, and later to the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus Erycina.

Claudius Aelianus recounted a legend, according to which the Veneris fānum possessed an open-air altar from which all the sacrifices offered to the goddess during the day would disappear during the night and would be replaced with dew and fresh herbs, which was similar to some characteristics of the cult of the Cypriot ʿAštart.

[5] Older coins depicted the goddess of Eryx with a dove, which was an attribute of the Levantine ʿAštart, as well as with the Greek Erōs, the son of Aphrodite, and a dog, which was commonly found within Phoenician religion and thus showed the presence of West Asian influences on her.

Sacred prostitution at the Veneris fānum was well known enough in antiquity that Titus Maccius Plautus recorded an old man's advice to a pimp in which he mentioned that courtesans at the shrine would earn large amounts of money.

In the Punic world, she was worshipped at Karalis, in Sardinia, at Carthage, where two inscriptions refer to the ʿAštart of Eryx, as well as at Thibilis, Cirta, Madaure, and Sicca Veneria, which was well known in ancient times for its practise of sacred prostitution,[5] which was performed there by the "Pūnicae fēminae" (lit.

[125] In Carthage and in Phoenico-Punic Africa in general, the goddess Tanit appears to have displaced ʿAštart and taken over her roles, due to which she became called 𐤕𐤍𐤕 𐤐𐤍 𐤁𐤏𐤋‎ (Tinnit panē Baʿl, lit.

[5] The gold tablets from the Pyrgi renowned were engraved with Etruscan and Phoenician-Punic inscriptions recording the dedication of a cult centre to ʿAštart by the king Tiberius Velianas of Cisra, who ruled around c. 500 BC, on "the day of the burial of the god (Melqart)."

[5] The goddess 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕‎ (ʿAštart) appears to have disappeared from most of inland Palestine during the Iron Age due to the ruling classes of the states in the region no longer identifying with the practise of hunting, so that her cult became restricted to the coastal areas such as in Philistia, where it enjoyed high prestige until the Graeco-Roman period.

[5] One ceramic box from the 9th century discovered at the site of Tel Rehov was topped with a leonine figure, suggesting it was the emblematic animal of ʿAṯtart/ʿAštart, with an open mouth and dangling tongue lying in a prone position with its front limbs outstretched and of its paws placed, claws extended, each over a human head.

[129] The worship of ʿAštart might nevertheless have survived as a minor and popular, but not royal, cult among the Israelite population, with the practice of hunting for undomesticated animals to be sacrificed being restricted to the family and local shrines, but not at the state level.

[132] The Hebrew Bible records that the Philistines displayed the armour of the dead Israelite king Saul in their temple of "Ashteroth", due to her role as a goddess of war and as the consort of Baal.

"[135] A different narrative, so-called "Myth of Astarte the huntress" casts ʿAṯtartu herself as the protagonist, and seemingly deals both with her role as a goddess of the hunt stalking game in the steppe, and with her possible relationship with Baal.