Side by side, from the sources
Astarte vs Ishtar
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Cognate West Semitic and East Semitic forms of the same Venus goddess.
Deity · Canaanite · c. 1400 BCE
Astarte
also called Athtart, Ashtoreth, Astarté, Ashtaroth, ʿAṯtart, 𒀾𒁯𒋫, 𒀭𒀸𒁯𒊏𒀜, 𒅖𒁯𒋫, 𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚, 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕
The West Semitic goddess of love and war, cognate with Ishtar — and the direct ancestor of the Goetic duke Astaroth, who kept the name and lost the gender.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- Goddess of Love and War
- First attested
- The Baal Cycle (Ugaritic Tablets) · c. 1400-1200 BCE
- Named there as
- Athtart
- Texts naming it
- 2
- Powers attributed
- 2
Deity · Mesopotamian · c. 2500 BCE
Ishtar
also called Inanna, Irnini, Ištar, Istar
Goddess of love, war and the planet Venus, whose descent into the underworld is among the oldest recorded narratives.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- Queen of Heaven
- First attested
- The Epic of Gilgamesh · c. 1200 BCE, from older Sumerian material
- Named there as
- Ishtar
- Texts naming it
- 3
- Powers attributed
- 3
90attestedMesopotamian
Where do they actually overlap?
Texts naming both
Powers credited to both
Common questions
Are Astarte and Ishtar the same figure?
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Cognate West Semitic and East Semitic forms of the same Venus goddess. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.
Which is older, Astarte or Ishtar?
Ishtar is the older name: first attested around c. 2500 BCE, against c. 1400 BCE for Astarte. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.
Do any texts name both Astarte and Ishtar?
Yes — 1 text names both. A single text naming both figures is the strongest evidence available here that its author treated them as distinct, whatever later writers did with the pair.