Ashtoretii. (plur. Ashtaroth; called by the Babylonians Mylitta, by the Assyrians Ishtar, and by the Greeks Astarte, and nearly identical with the Egyptian Athor or Hathor), the great female deity of the ancient Semitic nations on both sides of the Euphrates, and chiefly of Phoenicia. By Ashtoreth was originally meant the moon - "the queen of heaven" - and subsequently the planet Venus. Under her name is supposed to have been worshipped the principle of conception and production, in contradistinction to that of generation, variously represented by Baal, Belus, or Jupiter. According to many critics, she is identical with the Asherah of the Scriptures, the divinity of happiness. In Phoenicia she was at first represented by a white conical stone; afterward with the head of a bull or a cow; and ultimately as a human being with a thunderbolt in one hand and a sceptre in the other. Ashtoreth was sometimes worshipped in groves, sometimes in temples. Cakes made in the shape of a crescent, and male kids, are said to have been the offerings in which she most delighted. Eunuchs dressed in feminine attire, or women, were her favorite priests; and many of the rites in which they indulged at her altars were of the most lascivious character.

The dove, the crab, and the lion among animals, and the pomegranate among fruits, were sacred to Ashtoreth. Statues and groves consecrated to her were very numerous in Syria. In Bashan a town of Og was named from her worship, Ashtaroth Kar-naim (horned Astartes). The idolatry of Ashtoreth was introduced into Israel in the days of the judges, and was not finally extirpated till the reign of Josiah.