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But when this was the case, the necessary result was that the female character of the deity was forgotten. Istar was conceived of as a god, and accordingly on the Moabite Stone Ashtar is identified with Chemosh, the patron-god of Mesha, just as in Southern Arabia also Atthar is a male divinity. The worship of Ashtoreth absorbed that of the other goddesses of Canaan.
Ishtar, or Nana, is the planetary Venus, and in general features corresponds with the classical goddess. Her name Ishtar is that by which she was known in Assyria; and the same term prevailed with slight modifications among the Semitic races generally. The Phoenician form was Astarte, the Hebrew Ashtoreth; the later Mendaean form was Ashtar.
We can thus also explain the male deities Ashtar in Moab and Athtar in South Arabia. None of these, however, attained the eminence of the Babylonian and Assyrian Ishtar; her supremacy in Mesopotamia was due doubtless in part to the political importance of the cities that adopted her.
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