"Astarte was the supreme female divinity of the Phoenician nation and a predecessor to the Greek Aphrodite. She symbolized all which was female with Baal being the corresponding male god who symbolizing maleness. As Queen of the Morning Star, Astarte was considered a goddess of war. As Queen of the Evening Star she was the goddess of love appearing as a beautiful woman in a chariot drawn by seven lions and accompanied by doves, her crown made from myrtle leaves. "

The Phoenician goddess of rertility and reproduction and the principal deity of the port city of Sidon. As Astarte she was worshipped as far west as Carthage, Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus. She was also the sister and co-consort of Baal, sharing this role with their sister Anath. Astarte is also known as Istar in Akkadian and Athtar in Sabaean.

Astarte Syriaca
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Mystery: lo! betwixt the sun and moon
Astarte of the Syrians: Venus Queen
Ere Aphrodite was. In silver sheen
Her twofold girdle clasps the infinite boon
Of bliss whereof the heaven and earth commune:
And from her neck's inclining flower-stem lean
Love-freighted lips and absolute eyes that wean
The pulse of hearts to the spheres' dominant tune.
Torch-bearing, her sweet ministers compel
All thrones of light beyond the sky and sea
The witnesses of Beauty's face to be: That face, of Love's all-penetrative spell
Amulet, talisman, and oracle, -
Betwixt the sun and moon a mystery.

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