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The name given in the Old Testament to the old Semitic mother-goddess, called in Phenicia, Ashtarte; in Babylonia, Ishtar; and in Arabia, Athtar. (For her worship among the Hebrews, see Astarte.) Ashtoreth is derived from Ashtart by a distortion after the analogy of "Bosheth" (compare Jastrow, "Jour. Biblical Literature" xiii. 28, note).

Ashtarte was the chief goddess of the Sidonians, among whom she was worshiped as an independent divinity, and also under the name "Ashtarte of the name of Baal," as a counterpart of Baal (compare "C. I. S." i. 3 and "Hebraica," x. 33). A fragment quoted in Philo Biblos connects the worship of Ashtarte with Tyre (compare also Josephus, "Ant." viii. 5, § 3; "Contra Ap." i. 18, who quotes Menander), while Lucian ("De Syria Dea," §§ 6-9) describes in some detail her worship at Gebal (Byblos), in which the wailing for Tammuz was a prominent feature. As a part of this ritual, women were obliged to sacrifice either their hair or their chastity. A shrine of this goddess was found also in the city of Askelon in Philistia (Herodotus, i. 105), in which the armor was hung after the battle of Gilboa (I Sam. xxxi. 10).

The Phenician colonies carried the worship of Ashtoreth into the Mediterranean. In Cyprus she had important temples at Citium and Paphos, and left a deep impression on its civilization (compare "Heb." x. 42-46 and "Jour. of Hellenic Studies," 1888, pp. 175-206). It also left its impress in Malta and Sicily ("Heb." x. 46-49). From Cyprus her cult found its way to Corinth and other parts of Greece, where it corrupted the simple purity of the old Greek family life (compare Farnell's "Cults of the Greek States," xxi.-xxiii.). From Sicily it made its way to some extent into Italy.

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