{"id":1313,"date":"2021-10-29T18:35:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T16:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2021-10-29T18:58:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T16:58:58","slug":"the-planet-venus-and-the-related-deities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/the-planet-venus-and-the-related-deities\/","title":{"rendered":"The Planet Venus and the related Deities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Planet Venus<\/h2>\n

The planet Venus is the second planet nearest to the Sun. Also due to its reflecting ability, it reflects the Sun\u2019s light so intensely that it appears the brightest natural object in Earth\u2019s night sky after the Moon.<\/p>\n

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Fig. 1: The phases of Venus and evolution of its apparent diameter [Kalyvas]<\/p>\n

Moving around the Sun and with respect to the Earth, the portion of the planet that appears illuminated to an observer positioned onto the Earth surface changes cyclically with time. The <\/span>phases of Venus<\/em> are the variations of lighting seen on the planet\u2019s surface, similar to lunar phases (see fig. 1).<\/span><\/p>\n

The first recorded observations of these phases are thought to have been telescopic observations by Galileo Galilei at the beginning of the 17.th century, but texts from cuneiform literature show that the crescent phases of Venus were also familiar to the early inhabitants of Mesopotamia[i]<\/a>. [Offord]<\/p>\n

The proof from cuneiform literature that it was so is decisive; for instance, Herr Ernst Weidner, reviewing Dr. Carl Bezold\u2019s Astronomie Himmelsschau und Astrallehre bei den Babyloniern<\/em>, quotes an omen text of Assurbanipal\u2019s era as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf on the right horn of Venus a star is visible you will have good crops in the land. When upon the right horn of Venus a star is not visible the land will bear many misfortunes.\u201d[ii]<\/a> [Offord]<\/p>\n

In order for the Babylonians to derive omens from the planet\u2019s horns, they had surely to be familiar with the Venusian phases. This leads up to some important explanations of ancient Semitic mythology and astronomy. [Offord]<\/p>\n

Because of its proximity to the sun, the movements of Venus appear to be discontinuous: it disappears for many days at a time, and then reappears on the other horizon. For this reason, the planet Venus is only visible sometimes shortly after the sunset, in the east, and other times before the sunrise, in the west. This natural phenomenon led some cultures to recognize not Venus as a single entity, but, instead, to assume it to be two separate objects on each horizon: the \u201cmorning star\u201d and the \u201cevening star\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Pentagram of Venus<\/h3>\n

Venus and the Earth have different orbital periods with respect to the Sun: the Earth orbits the Sun in 365.256 days, while Venus in 224.701. This means that in 8 Earth years Venus goes around the Sun about 13 times.[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Fig. 2: Venus “rosette” or pentagram [AnonMoos]<\/p>\n

During this period, Venus \u201ckisses\u201d the Earth<\/span>[iv]<\/a> 5 (i.e., 13 \u2013 8)<\/span>[v]<\/a> times, that corresponds to once every (abt.) 584 terrestrial days, as it passes between us and the Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seen from the Earth, the Sun appears to move around the zodiac while Venus whirls around the Sun, drawing, in 8 terrestrial years, the pattern shown in fig. 2.[vi]<\/a> This figure is called \u201cVenus rosette\u201d, \u201crose of Venus\u201d or \u201cVenus pentagram\u201d (because it has five \u201clobes\u201d).<\/p>\n

 The innermost loops near the center corresponds to the \u201ckisses\u201d of Venus. When the planet reaches the \u201ctip\u201d of one of these loops, to an observer located on the Earth\u2019s surface it seems that Venus changes direction in the sky and starts moving backward with respect to its normal direction of movement for a while (apparent retrograde motion). Each time Venus \u201cexits\u201d one of the loops, it starts moving toward another loop of the pentagram that is 8 \u2013 5 = 3 steps ahead of the last one.<\/p>\n

If we project the crossing points of the Venus rosette onto a plane, we obtain the more \u201cclassic\u201d pentagram, as shown in fig. 3.<\/p>\n

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Fig. 3: Venus “rosette” projected onto a plane [Martineau]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine Ladies of Venus<\/h2>\n

The planet Venus has been linked to more than one deity in the Near East, starting at least from the IV millennium B.C. onwards. The Sumerians and most of the ancient Semitic peoples possessed a Venus deity. It turns out that all these deities were interrelated and underwent, during the course of the time, a process of fusion and intermingling of the respective characteristics.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, all these divinities derive from two different roots: a female Sumerian Venus deity and a male Semitic one (Semitic Venus deities outside Mesopotamia were male, as a rule). [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

With very few exceptions, only one, female Venus deity survived in Mesopotamia, revered under the name of Inanna <\/em>and, beginning with the Old Akkadian period, as I\u0161tar<\/em>. [Selz]<\/p>\n

The recognition of the identity of the evening star with the morning star is prehistoric and precedes the fusion of the planetary and the anthropomorphic aspects of the Venus deities. [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Inanna<\/h3>\n

The foremost female deity in ancient Mesopotamia at any period was the Sumerian Inanna<\/em> (also spelled Inana(k)<\/em> or Inana<\/em>). The oldest documents attesting Inanna\u2019s name are some clay tablets discovered in the Eanna (meaning \u201cHouse of Heaven\u201d) sanctuary, in the Sumerian city of Uruk, but temples and sanctuaries are found in most Mesopotamian cities.<\/p>\n

It seems that Inanna had the functions of a goddess of sex, love, and fertility already in the early stages of the proto-history. [Selz]<\/p>\n

Also from proto-historical times, Inanna was conceived of as a female Venus deity. This is put beyond any reasonable doubt, for instance, by the interpretation of her name as \u201cLady of Heaven\u201d or \u201cQueen of Heaven\u201d and from the existence of separate cults of an \u201cevening Inanna\u201d and a \u201cmorning Inanna\u201d (from the different appearances of Venus as an evening and a morning star). [Selz]<\/p>\n

In the Old Sumerian period (about 3000-2340 B.C.), the planet Venus was known as Ninsi\u2019anna[vii]<\/a>. Ninsi\u2019anna is first attested (primarily as d<\/sup>nin-d<\/sup>si4<\/sub>-an-na) during the Ur III period[viii]<\/a>, but most of our evidence for this deity comes from the Old Babylonian period (about 2000-1600 BC).<\/p>\n

Originally female, Ninsi\u2019anna sometimes appears as male in later texts under the influence of Semitic theology where Venus deities were usually male. Ninsi\u2019anna is associated with illumination and radiance, both in some etymologies of his\/her name, and in titles such as \u201choly torch who fills the heavens\u201d, or \u201cradiant god, whose light fills heaven and earth\u201d. [Heimpel, Stevens]<\/p>\n

d<\/sup>nin-si-an-na literally means \u201cdivine lady, illumination of heaven\u201d. However, early spellings of Ninsi\u2019anna\u2019s name, written with the sign si4<\/sub> (= su, \u201cto be red\u201d), suggest that the original etymology may have been \u201cdivine lady of the redness of heaven\u201d (sometimes rendered as \u201cred lady of heaven\u201d), referring not to the planet itself but to the redness of the morning and evening sky in which Venus is usually visible. [Heimpel, Stevens]<\/p>\n

Ninsi\u2019anna is linked to justice, being described by Rim-Sin, king of Larsa, as \u201cjudge, supreme advisor, who distinguishes between truth and falsehood\u201d. The same inscription also credits Ninsi\u2019anna with delivering the king\u2019s enemies into his hands, perhaps an indication of war-like qualities. A temple to Ninsi\u2019anna, \u00e9-e\u0161-bar-zi-da, \u201cHouse of True Decisions\u201d, is described in a building inscription of Rim-Sin found at Ur. [Stevens]<\/p>\n

Ninsi\u2019anna was syncretized with Inanna, becoming an aspect\/name of the latter, probably by the end of the third millennium (an inscription of Amar-Su\u2019en[ix]<\/a> is addressed to d<\/sup>inana\/ d<\/sup>nin-d<\/sup>si4<\/sub>-an-na), and certainly by the early second, where she appears in Inanna\/I\u0161tar\u2019s circle in god lists. However, to some extent she retains a distinct identity; for instance, in Old Babylonian cultic texts she and Inanna are listed separately. [Stevens]<\/p>\n

A hymn for Iddin-Dagan (1974-1954 B.C.) which celebrates the ruler\u2019s sacred marriage to Inana as Venus is labelled as \u201ca warrior-song of Ninsi\u2019anna\u201d. Here, Inanna\u2019s martial and sexual characteristics are combined with the astral aspect represented by Ninsi\u2019anna. As the evening star Inanna rises \u201clike a warrior\u201d, prompting all living creatures to make obeisance to her, and providing guidance for the traveller. Later in the text, her amorous traits come to the fore as Inanna beautifies herself and takes part in the sacred marriage with her beloved, Iddin-Dagan. At the end, the hymn returns us to the astral plane with the image of Inanna looking down joyfully from the heavens. [Stevens]<\/p>\n

After the Old Babylonian period, Dilbat replaced Ninsi\u2019anna as a name for Venus, becoming the regular term for the planet in astronomical tablets throughout the first millennium B.C. However, Ninsi\u2019anna survives as the name for Venus in Neo-Babylonian copies of the Venus Tablet of Ammi\u1e63aduqa and is invoked as one of the \u201cgods of the night\u201d in a Neo-Assyrian purification ritual. [Stevens]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u0161tar<\/h3>\n

I\u0161tar (also spelled Ishtar), the foremost Babylonian-Assyrian goddess, is a composite deity, partly Semitic and partly Sumerian. When the Akkadians settled in northern Babylonia, they assimilated the culture of the Sumerian inhabitants of the alluvium. While the latter worshipped the female goddess Inanna, the former brought with them the idea of a male deity, that finally merged with the Inanna, changing sex under Sumerian influence. Shortly thereafter, any clear differentiation between their original concepts was lost. [Heimpel, Selz] In this process, the divinity was also endowed with a more aggressive, war-oriented character, so much that in the following millennia the composite, resulting figure was worshipped as both a goddess of sex and war.<\/p>\n

After a rather small number of attestations of the Semitic goddess I\u0161tar\/A\u0161tar in the personal names of pre-Sargonitic[x]<\/a> times, she gains increasingly popularity during the Old Akkadian period. [Selz]<\/p>\n

Already in proto-history, the Venus deity was perceived as bi-partite, with both a male and a female aspect attributed to her appearance as the morning star and the evening star. [Selz]<\/p>\n

It is generally agreed that the names A\u0161tar and I\u0161tar can be traced back to a Semitic \u02bfA\u0161tar, the name of the originally male deity, whose grammatical feminine form is \u02bfA\u1e6ftart or \u02bfA\u0161tart. It is possible that both deities were divine manifestations of Venus, differentiated as morning and evening star[xi]<\/a>. [Selz]<\/p>\n

In a list of pairs of gods consisting of an Eblaite[xii]<\/a> and a corresponding Babylonian deity, the Eblaite A\u0161tar is paired with I\u0161tar. Since A\u0161tar is male and I\u0161tar is female, the common characteristic they share and that links them together cannot be the anthropomorphic aspect, so it is most likely the representation of the planet Venus. [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

The change of sex from A\u0161tar to I\u0161tar was complete, but residues of the male deity survived in Babylonia. Halfway between Ebla and Babylonia, in Mari, both deities, the male Syrian A\u0161tar and the female Babylonian I\u0161tar were venerated side by side. The former was called here \u201cmale I\u0161tar\u201d, the latter simply \u201cI\u0161tar\u201d. In northern Babylonia and Assyria the male gender survived as an aspect of the goddess. [Heimpel] It\u2019s worth noting, however, that the name I\u0161tar is masculine, since it lacks the feminizing \u201c-t\u201d found in the regional Semitic dialects.<\/p>\n

An Akkadian astrological text[xiii]<\/a> from the library of Assurbanipal, speaking of I\u0161tar under the name of Dilbat (\u0394\u03b5\u03bb\u03ad\u03c6\u03b1\u03c4, Delephat, in Greek) states that Venus is called male in the morning and female in the evening: at sunrise the star was I\u0161tar of Akkad, a masculine, bearded[xiv]<\/a> goddess[xv]<\/a> (ziqarat Dilbat<\/em>), whilst at sunset she was I\u0161tar of Erech[xvi]<\/a>, a decidedly female goddess (sinni\u0161at Dilbat<\/em>). [Krappe, Offord]<\/p>\n

In a bilingual hymn from 8th century Assyria, the goddess Nanay identifies herself with goddesses from various Assyrian and Babylonian cities, among them the \u201chierodule, I\u0161tar of Uruk\u201d and the \u201cmale\u201d, \u201cbearded I\u0161tar of Babylon.\u201d In a prayer of Assurbanipal the otherwise clearly female Ishtar of Ninive wears a beard. [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

Even if these texts can give the impression that I\u0161tar of Akkad and I\u0161tar of Babylon were male, there is overwhelming evidence from numerous sources that they are decidedly female (also see note 15). The answer for the divergence lies in the connection of the northern I\u0161tar with the morning star, and the southern I\u0161tar with the evening star. The southern I\u0161tar, that is, the female Inanna of Uruk, was typically venerated as the evening star, while the male Akkadian Venus deity was typically venerated as the morning star. The fact that I\u0161tar is female and wears a beard does not mean the deity is androgynous[xvii]<\/a>: I\u0161tar wears the beard only within the planetary aspect, that is, when she stands in the morning sky. [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

However, within the planetary aspect I\u0161tar did actually change sex, a concept which may have spread. The Hurrian deity \u0160au\u0161ka, for example, was identified with I\u0161tar and appears as god and goddess in the rock carvings of Yazilikaya. Further, a clearly bisexual deity, Aphroditos, was venerated in Amathus (Cyprus): Aphroditos was female but wore a beard[xviii]<\/a>. In ceremonies given in its honor, women were required to wear men\u2019s clothes, and vice versa. [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

So, the evening star was conceived as the goddess of love, she who awakens the mutual attraction of the sexes. The morning star, on the other hand, preferred war and battles: surely the morning star presided over the rising of soldiers in camp, but it was also the star aspect that was venerated by the more belligerent Akkadian. In this way arose the notion of an I\u0161tar goddess both of love and of war. [Krappe]<\/p>\n

As a result of being the goddess of love, I\u0161tar was also the tutelary goddess of prostitutes and above all of the temple prostitutes (hierodules<\/em>). The hierodules who served I\u0161tar were almost always called ishtarit\u00fbs<\/em>, i.e., the women who belong to I\u0161tar. On the other hand, I\u0161tar herself is called qadisht\u00fb<\/em>, i.e., the sacred prostitute. In ancient Israel, the temple prostitutes were called qedeshot<\/em>, i.e., \u201choly women\u201d. Originally, the Hebrew word q-d-sh<\/em> meant something like \u201cisolated\u201d, specifically from the profane sphere, and belonging to a sacral one[xix]<\/a>. Orgiastic ceremonies often took place in the service of I\u0161tar. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

The features of Inanna has been inherited, during the millennia, by several deities. One should, however, be very careful not to blur the concept of the various Venus deities too easily with the competing idea of the so-called mother goddesses<\/em>, even though, according to some author(s), in late Mesopotamian theological texts these goddesses merge with I\u0161tar. [Selz]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The \u201cdouble side\u201d of Inanna\/I\u0161tar<\/h3>\n

Inanna\/I\u0161tar personality appears complex, since she possesses divine qualities which are extremely difficult to characterize. First and foremost, she is was a liminal figure, characterized by an extreme ambivalence. Prayers, hymns, myths, festivals, and cultic personnel attest this distinctive aspect of the goddess who was far more than simply the goddess of fertility, of love and war, and the Venus star. [Harris]<\/p>\n

Over the time, the Mesopotamian theologians developed an expanding pantheon and created family ties between individual gods. Originally independent deities were coupled in \u201ctheological\u201d marriages, and other gods were associated to these couples. The case of Inanna\/I\u0161tar is somewhat different, since we can trace her ambivalent character to the beginning of the third millennium. Her bi-polarity is founded on the natural phenomenon that causes the planet Venus to appear twice in its course, as both the morning and the evening star. Inanna\/I\u0161tar was one divine entity, able to embody different, even opposing aspects. [Selz]<\/p>\n

Inanna\/I\u0161tar has both female and male aspects. She combines male aggressiveness with the force of a superabundance of female sexuality, encompassing two forms of potential disorder and violence: sex and war. [Harris]<\/p>\n

The texts reveal both the benign and the horrific sides of the goddess\u2019s personality. Often, her myths reveal her capriciousness. Inanna\/I\u0161tar frequently acts in ways that disrupt the social order. She can be wild and savage, excessive in her sexuality and love of war. Her sexual encounters mingle eroticism with violence. [Harris]<\/p>\n

The hymn of the entu<\/em> priestess[xx]<\/a> Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon, to Inanna highlights the anomalies of the goddess: she is the \u201cLady (who) soothes the reins, the lady (who) gladdens the heart,\u201d but also \u201cLike a dragon you have deposited venom on the land.\u201d She is both a loving spouse to Dumuzi and a hostile wife. [Harris]<\/p>\n

In juxtaposing her masculine and feminine traits and behavior (she can be both compassionate, supportive, and nurturing and assertive, aggressive, and strong-willed), she breaks the boundaries between the sexes. Because of her bi-polar nature, Inanna\/I\u0161tar is above all things: she is who can reverse existing orders and yet unite them as a negative and positive pole of an ordered whole. [Harris]<\/p>\n

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Fig. 4: Land grant to \u1e2aunnubat-Nanaya kudurru [Jastrow]<\/p>\n

Iconography<\/span><\/h3>\n

Iconographically, Inanna\/I\u0161tar was often depicted nude, or as a warrior-goddess, heavily armed. Her sacred animals were the lion and (often) the dove. Alongside these animals, her most prominent symbol was a star (called the \u201cstar of Inanna\u201d, the \u201cstar of I\u0161tar\u201d, or sometimes the \u201cstar of Venus\u201d). The number of its points varies, usually oscillating between six and eight, but most often it is an eight-pointed star, representing the planet Venus (8 is the number of terrestrial years that the planet takes to describe its full path in the sky).<\/p>\n

 On stones and cylinder seals, the eight-pointed star is often shown alongside a crescent moon, symbol of the god of the Moon (the Akkadic Sin<\/em> or the Sumeric Nanna<\/em>), father of Inanna\/I\u0161tar, and the solar disk, symbol of the god of the Sun (the Akkadic \u0160ama\u0161<\/em>[xxi]<\/a> or the Sumeric Utu<\/em>), brother of Inanna\/I\u0161tar (see, for instance, fig. 4[xxii]<\/a> and fig. 5[xxiii]<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Fig. 5: A winged Ishtar, with an eight-pointed star at her left (extracted from [Sailko])<\/p>\n

The rosette is another important symbol of Inanna first and then of I\u0161tar. During the Neo-Assyrian Period, it may have actually eclipsed the eight-pointed star and become Ishtar\u2019s primary symbol. [BlackGreen]<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Astarte<\/h3>\n

Astarte<\/em> (from the ancient Greek \u0391\u03c3\u03c4\u03ac\u03c1\u03c4\u03b7) was a goddess venerated in the North-Western Semitic area (mainly Phoenician and Canaanite). Her name appears written as \u02bf\u1e6ftrt <\/em>in alphabetically written Ugaritic texts, to be compared with the Hebrew (and Phoenician) \u02bfA\u0161t\u014dret
<\/em>(\u05e2\u05e9\u05ea\u05e8\u05ea).<\/p>\n

In a couple of Ugaritic pantheon lists, Astarte (\u02bf\u1e6ftrt<\/em>) appears grouped together with a number of major Ugaritic goddesses, the maiden warrior Anat<\/em> (\u02bfnt<\/em>), the sun-goddess \u0160apa\u0161<\/em> (\u0161p\u0161<\/em>), Ar\u1e63y<\/em> (ar\u1e63y<\/em>), the \u201cOne of the Earth\u201d, and U\u0161\u1e2bara <\/em>(u\u0161\u1e2bry<\/em>, most likely corresponding to another goddess, I\u0161\u1e2bara). [Schmitt]<\/p>\n

In the syllabic god list RS 20.24.24 Astarte is equated with I\u0161tar, of which the former is usually considered the Canaanite counterpart, even if this correspondence is supported only by some contradicting evidence. For instance, it is contradicted by material from Ebla, from around 2500 B.C., where I\u0161tar is identified with A\u0161tar, and not with the Eblaite A\u0161tarta. [Heimpel, Schmitt, Selz]<\/p>\n

Surely, Astarte and I\u0161tar have much in common, but it is clear, especially from Egyptian (but also Ugaritic) material, that the former, in analogy to her more prominent sister Anat, was mostly conceived as a goddess of war (being, in this aspect, similar to the \u201cmartial\u201d I\u0161tar), apotropaic magic, healing and hunting. [Heimpel, Selz, Schmitt]<\/p>\n

Astarte is depicted as a beautiful goddess, and her physical appeal is indicated in her iconography, where emphasis is on breasts, genitalia and overall beauty. Even if she is considered by many a goddess of love and sex, traces of an explicit sexual role have scarcely been found for her, even in the Late Bronze Age. [Heimpel, Selz, Schmitt]<\/p>\n

Moreover, unlike I\u0161tar, Astarte has no clear connections with the Venus \u201cstar\u201d. There is reason to believe that the Venus deity of Ugarit was not \u02bf\u1e6ftrt<\/em>, but rather a separate goddess, ‘ftr<\/em>. Some indications seem even to suggest that Astarte had no planetary aspect at all. [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

During the 1st millennium BC, Astarte\u2019s character as a female warrior lost its importance in the homeland and was absorbed by the male deities of the local pantheon. In the same period, her figure evolved toward that of a goddess more closely associated with kingship, and she became the major female Syro-Phoenician deity. Nevertheless she merged during the Phoenician west-expansion in the second part of the 1st millennium with other goddesses of the Mediterranean, her function as a goddess of royalty and healing persisted. [Schmitt]<\/p>\n

In the function of goddess of war and magic she was adopted into the pantheon of the Egyptian New Empire. The Egyptians called Astarte the \u201cLady of Heaven\u201d. The same appellative is reported by Herodotus when he designates Astarte of Ascalon as Aphrodite Ourania<\/em> (Historiae<\/em>, i, 105). That the latter was Astarte is beyond doubt, and it is also confirmed by an inscription from Delos, dated after 160 B.C., which was authored by a citizen of Ascalon and addressed to \u201cAphrodite Ourania, Astarte Palaistine\u201d[xxiv]<\/a>.[Heimpel, Schmitt]<\/p>\n

It is often stated that the figure of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sex and love[xxv]<\/a>, derives from Astarte through some process of syncretization. Indeed, Aphrodite was believed to have come to Greece from the east, particularly from Cyprus (according to Herodotus, from Ascalon)[xxvi]<\/a>. [Heimpel] As the author of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite <\/em>describes her in Hymn V, she is the \u201cgolden-throned Aphrodite, of Cyprus, who in deities stirs up sweet desire and who subdues the race of mortal men.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than through a direct derivation from Astarte, more probably Aphrodite evolved on Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age through a mixing of indigenous Cypriot elements with Levantine divine figures, the most preminent of which being that of Inanna\/I\u0161tar (and possibly I\u0161\u1e2bara, represented in Syria by an iconography that is almost identical to that of I\u0161tar). Only secondarily it was influenced by the Canaanite\/Phoenician goddesses Astarte, Anat, and even Asherah. This process led to the birth of a Cyprian goddess, variously known from inscriptional sources as Wanassa\/Anassa<\/em>, Kypria <\/em>or Paphia[xxvii]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, that came to be worshipped throughout Cyprus, being venerated especially at Paphos. [Budin, Serwint]<\/p>\n

When the Mycenaean Greeks settled at Maa-Palakastro and Paphos in the early 12th century, they came into contact with this Paphian goddess and eventually adopted her. During the Dark Age, contacts between Cyprus and Crete introduced this new goddess to the Aegean Greeks, who adopted her as their own goddess of sex. At some point during this process, the name \u201cAphrodite\u201d was coined to represent the goddess (the first inscription with the name \u201cAphrodite\u201d was found in Amathus in the 4th<\/sup> century BC), although, to date, the name has defied all attempts at defining a certain etymology. [Budin]<\/p>\n

So, both Astarte and Aphrodite derived (primarily) from Inanna\/I\u0161tar, almost independently. By evolving separately, the goddesses developed their own, distinct characteristics: Astarte mainly maintained the belligerent aspects of I\u0161tar, while Aphrodite inherited the more erotic traits of the Mesopotamian goddess (apart from some more militaristic qualities maintained only in Cyprus and very early Greece). [Budin]<\/p>\n

In spite of their differences, Aphrodite and Astarte coexisted in Cyprus, both being considered queen goddesses of the island: the \u201cPaphian\u201d reigning over Greek and Cypriot populations, Ashtart over the Phoenicians. A 3rd century BC Phoenician dedication to \u201cAstarte from Paphos\u201d indicate the culmination of the syncretism process between these two goddesses. [Budin]<\/p>\n

There are several affinities between Aphrodite and I\u0161tar, also reflected in the similar votive objects that have been found both in Cyprian and Mesopotamian temples, such as the temple of I\u0161tar in Assur (1350-100 BC): for instance, wheat, objects reproducing sexual organs (both male and female), votive sea shells representing the vulva, and also copper objects[xxviii]<\/a>. The Greeks pointed out in myth the strict affinity of the love goddess with metals: in the mythical tradition, indeed, Aphrodite was the wife of Hephaestus, god of metallurgy. When the betrayal of Aphrodite with Ares was discovered, the goddess took refuge in Paphos. [Roncelli]<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the Greeks did not originally possess a deity related to the Venus planet. Instead, they had two separate deities identified with the evening star and the morning star, Hesperos<\/em> (corresponding to the Latin Vesper<\/em>) and Phosphoros<\/em> (the \u201cbringer of light\u201d, also called Heosphoros<\/em>, the \u201cbringer of dawn\u201d) respectively. Parmenides, or Pythagoras, realized around 500 B.C. that the morning star and the evening star were, actually, one single celestial body[xxix]<\/a>. A little later, Aristotle called it the \u201cstar of Aphrodite\u201d, but originally, the goddess Aphrodite had nothing to do with the planet: the link was probably a result of Babylonian influence in the field of astronomy. [Heimpel]<\/p>\n

Long after the connection of Aphrodite with Venus by Aristotle, the planetary aspect of the Greek deity was also transferred to Astarte, her Phoenician counterpart, as it is documented by Byzantine writers like Lydos, and the lexicographer, Suidas. [Heimpel, Selz]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fig. 6: Ur-Nammu stele (from [Legrain])<\/p>\n

One of the iconographical attributes of Astarte was a horned head-dress. Because of the horns, and led astray by the misstatements of classic authors, such as Lucian and Herodian, many writers have called her a lunar deity. Due to the connection with Inanna\/I\u0161tar, a definitely Venus deity (even if Astarte had not a clear planetary aspect on her own), it is highly probable that this attribute either represents the crescent Venus (see also [Offord]), or rather it is a remnant of the representations of Inanna (i.e., see fig. 4) where the goddess where depicted together with the symbols of Utu (the solar disk) and Nanna (the Moon crescent, see fig. 6). Indeed, many Venus-related goddesses became lunar divinities at a later time (see also [Krappe]).<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if the biblical \u201cqueen of heaven\u201d, whom the prophet Jeremia mentions, has been identified with I\u0161tar (not to mention all the other identification proposed), in fact she was surely a Canaanite deity, most probably specifically Astarte, the \u201cLady of Heaven\u201d of Merneptah, the \u201cheavenly\u201d Aphrodite of Herodotus. I\u0161tar, in particular, was not even worshipped among the Canaanites, or the Arameans, outside of Mesopotamia. Another possible candidate was the goddess Anat [Heimpel, Selz], to which Astarte is so closely connected that the specific differences between the two goddesses are difficult to establish and are subject to much dispute. Indeed, at a later time, both Astarte and Anat goddesses fused into one, revered under the name Atagartis[xxx]<\/a>. \u2018Atar\u2018atah (also written \u2018Athtar\u2018ate) is a composition of two divine names: the first, Atar<\/em>, is a form of the Ugaritic \u02bf\u1e6ftrt<\/em> where the feminine ending -t<\/em> has been omitted; the second, atah<\/em>, may come from the divine Palmyrene name, Athe<\/em>. [Selz]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other deities<\/h3>\n

The deity In(n)in(a)<\/em> is also of Semitic origin, most probably a deity of war. The resemblance of her and Inanna\u2019s names, as well as the conceptual similarity as deities of war furthered the confusion between her and Inanna-I\u0161tar. Innin<\/em>\/In(n)in(a)<\/em>, also spelled I-nin<\/em>, that is never written with the divine determinative in Sumerian texts, is an (Old) Akkadian deity distinct from the Sumerian Inanna. The names I-nin-la-ba<\/em>, \u201cInin is a lion\u201d, and I-nin-sa-tu<\/em>, \u201cInin is a mountain\u201d, are also attested for I\u0161tar\/A\u0161tar (A\u0161tar-laba<\/em>, \u201cA\u0161tar is a lion\u201d, and A\u0161tar-\u0161ad\u00fb<\/em>, \u201cA\u0161tar is a mountain\u201d). The existence of the same name-types for the two deities points strongly to conceptual overlaps. [Selz]<\/p>\n

d<\/sup><\/em>INANA-An-nu-ni-tum<\/em>, \u201cI\u0161tar the skirmisher\u201d, is a compound name that refers to the \u201cmartial I\u0161tar\u201d. The martial aspect of I\u0161tar is not attested before Sargon of Akkad and can clearly be connected with the appearance of I\u0161tar-Annun\u012btum. It follows that it is doubtful that the Sumerian Inanna was ever a proper war-goddess. [Selz]<\/p>\n

Annun\u012btum<\/em>, earlier merely the epithet of a female war-goddess presumably of west Semitic origin, became more and more the object of independent veneration. Thus, Annun\u012btum developed from a nomen appellativum <\/em>to a nomen proprium<\/em>. In the cuneiform sources, the epithet was originally used to emphasize I\u0161tar\u2019s war-like aspect. By the meaning of her name and by context it is ascertained that the name of the goddess An\u016bna<\/em> is merely a (grammatical) variation of the name An(n)un\u012btum. [Selz]<\/p>\n

Among the five of the goddesses mentioned so far \u2013 namely, Inanna, I\u0161tar, In(n)in(a), Annun\u012btum, \u02bfAnat \u2013 the last four display a particular affinity for battle and strife. In the case of In(n)in, Astarte and \u02bfAnat, their perception of epiphanies of the Venus star remains to be proven. Nevertheless, the sources indicate that all these goddesses contributed to the concept of the Levantine \u201cQueen of Heaven\u201d, which, however modified, is still alive in contemporary religion, [Selz], as well as to the figure of the most \u201cmodern\u201d Greek-Roman goddess related to the Venus planet, Aphrodite\/Venus.<\/p>\n

Northern Arabian people, especially the Safaites, adored Venus as Allat, a female deity. That this was their name for Venus, Herodotus explains when he says (Historiae<\/em>, i, 131) that the Arabs venerated Aphrodite-Ourania under the name of Alitta; and again (Historiae<\/em>, iii, 8) he says her name was Alilat[xxxi]<\/a>. The Sabeans, knowing Athtar as a male deity, sometimes united the two titles of the planet, speaking of Allat-Athtar<\/em>. [Offord]<\/p>\n

Allat is mentioned in Palmyrene inscriptions, but almost always called Athene<\/em>. Thus Zenobia\u2019s son Wahballat <\/em>(\u201cgift of Allat\u201c) is called Athenodoros<\/em>. A relief from Emesa, now at Brussels, shows Athene as Allat. Her robe, nimbus, and sceptre connect her with Astarte and Atargatis, and so we find Allat, as paredra of Melek-bel, sometimes called Astarte and sometimes Atargatis. [Offord]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lilith \u2013 the Dark Side of Venus?<\/h2>\n

Lilith<\/em> is the name of a controversial mythical female being, sometimes depicted as a goddess, more often as a demoness, whose figure is present in several religious and cultural contexts, from the Mesopotamian mythology, through the Jewish religion and folklore and up to nowadays.<\/p>\n

 In myths there are essentially two distinct Liliths, each with her own distinctive characters. The first Lilith is the lil\u012btu<\/em> found in ancient Mesopotamian mythology, which refers to a kind <\/em>of nocturnal female demon (therefore, it denotes a group of beings, rather than a single being) associated with sexual temptation, storms, disease, illness, and death that seduces men and is also believed to abduct and kill babies. The second Lilith (Hebrew \u05dc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9\u05ea) is named for the very first time in the Alphabet of Ben Sira<\/em>, an apocryphal Jewish text that describes her as the original first woman as well as the first wife of Adam (so a single person, not a group of entities). Both Liliths, however, tend to be strongly related to each other, so much that according to several authors (but not all of them), the Jewish Lilith derives from the figure of the Akkadian lil\u012btu<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mesopotamian Lilith: lil\u012btu and the lil-spirits<\/h3>\n

Many theories have been suggested about the origin of Lilith, some of them more or less accepted by scholarship than others, but the most likely seems to be that according to which the name Lilith has its roots in the Sumerian concept of lil<\/em> (, also transliterated as lil2<\/sub><\/em>).<\/p>\n

The Sumerians believed that between heaven and earth there is a substance which they called lil<\/em>, a word that approximately means \u201cwind, air, breath\u201d (therefore roughly corresponding to our \u201catmosphere\u201d), but also \u201cspirit, ghost\u201d. Its most significant characteristics seem to be movement and expansion. [Kramer2]<\/p>\n

The Mesopotamian mythology accounts for a vast number of demonic, ghostly figures, among which some specifically related to the lil<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A fragment of a Sumerian version of the Gilgamesh epic, based on copies which were prepared from an original draft coming from sometime during the Isin Larsa period[xxxii]<\/a> (the original itself must be appreciably older, and it is believed today to date from the 40-th century B.C), reads as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter heaven and earth had been separated and mankind had been created, after An\u00fb, Enlil and Ereskigal had taken possession of heaven, earth and the underworld; after Enki had set sail for the underworld and the sea ebbed and flowed in honor of its lord; on this day, a huluppu[xxxiii]<\/strong><\/a> tree, which had been planted on the bank of the Euphrates and nourished by its waters, was uprooted by the south wind and carried away by the Euphrates. A goddess, who was wandering along the bank seized the swaying tree and \u2013 at the behest of An\u00fb and Enlil \u2013 brought it to Inanna\u2019s garden in Uruk. Inanna tended the tree carefully and lovingly; she hoped to have a throne and a bed made for herself from its wood. After ten years, the tree had matured. But in the meantime, she found to her dismay that her hopes could not be fulfilled. Because during that time, a dragon had build its nest at the foot of the tree, the Zu-bird was raising its young in the crown, and the demon <\/em>ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1-ke4<\/sub> had built her house in the middle. But Gilgamesh, who had heard of Inanna\u2019s plight, came to her rescue. He took his heavy shield, killed the dragon with his gigantic bronze axe, which weighed seven talents and seven minas. The the Zu-bird flew into the mountains with its young, while <\/em>ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1-ke4<\/sub>, petrified with fear, tore down her house and fled into the wilderness.<\/em>\u201d[xxxiv]<\/a> [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

The name ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1-ke4<\/sub> <\/em>refers to a female spirit figure, of which the text also says that is a \u201cmaiden who screeches constantly\u201d and a \u201cgladdener of all hearts.\u201d[xxxv]<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the Mesopotamian tradition, the ghosts of (unmarried) youngsters who died sexually unfulfilled become lil<\/em>-spirits, a kind of \u201cphantoms\u201d or \u201capparitions\u201d that try to satisfy their sexual need with the living, causing, in doing so, suffering and disease; the female ones are particularly aggressive. [Wiggermann]<\/p>\n

According to the Akkadian tradition, there are some different lil<\/em>-spirits: ardat lil\u00ee<\/em>\/kiskil\u012blu<\/em>, \u201cphantom-bride\u201d, e\u1e6del lil\u00ee<\/em>, \u201cphantom-bridegroom\u201d, lil\u012btu<\/em>, \u201cfemale phantom\u201d, lil\u00fb<\/em>, \u201cmale phantom\u201d, and, probably, na\u015d\u015duk\u012btu<\/em>, \u201c(phantom-)kisser (demoness)\u201d. [Wiggermann]<\/p>\n

In Akkadian, ardat\u00fb<\/em> (semantically corresponding to ki-sikil<\/em>) means \u201cyoung woman\u201d, or \u201cadolescent, nubile girl\u201d, so a girl of marriageable age.[xxxvi]<\/a> Lil\u00fb <\/em>is said of him that he attempts to disturb or seduce women in their sleep by night, while lil\u012btu <\/em>appears to men in their erotic dreams.<\/p>\n

The Sumerian names of linguistically unrelated Akkadian demons or spirits reveal the earlier existence of a class of male and female demonic dime<\/em> \u201cfigures\u201d, summarized, in a late third millennium Sumerian incantation, as the \u201cseven dime<\/em>-demons\u201d. Among these, d<\/sup>d\u00ecm(-me) \/ Lama\u0161tu (dime<\/em>-demoness), and d<\/sup>d\u00ecm(-me)-\u011di6<\/sub> \/ lil\u012btu, (\u201cdime<\/em>-demoness of the night\u201d, a type of sexually unsatisfied demon active at night) are the only two members that are both dime-<\/em>demons and lil<\/em>-demons. [Wiggermann]<\/p>\n

So, ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1-ke4<\/sub><\/em>, also written ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1(-en-na)<\/em>, is the Sumerian counterpart of the Akkadian phantom, ardat lil\u00ee<\/em>\/kiskil\u012blu<\/em>, but she also corresponds somewhat to lil\u012btu<\/em> [Wiggermann],[xxxvii]<\/a> therefore being a sexually unfulfilled female (and so, particularly aggressive) spirit that appears to the living in order to satisfy her sexual needs, causing, in the process, suffering and disease[xxxviii]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other Sumerian texts, a further female being, named ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra,<\/em> is mentioned alongside ki-sikil-lil-la-ke<\/em>. The two female figures are so similar to each other that they can be scarcely told apart. Probably, this is nothing more than an alternative designation for \u201cthe maiden\u201d ki-sikil-lil-la-ke<\/em>[xxxix]<\/a> [xl]<\/a>. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

Pazuzu<\/em> (or Pazuz\u00fb<\/em>), the personified West Wind, is the \u201cking of the evil lil<\/em>-spirits\u201d, who, as such, had the power over his unsatisfied subjects, including Lama\u0161tu[xli]<\/a> (apparently in some respects an unsatisfied lil<\/em>-demon too). [Wiggermann]<\/p>\n

The remarkable and unexplained grouping of sexually unsatisfied spirits under a king cannot be independent from the king\u2019s equally remarkable and unexplained serpentine penis. [Wiggermann]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lilith, a dual-aspect figure<\/h3>\n

In the course of the development of the myth, the character of Lilith changed. By the time of the Talmudic-Rabbinic and Graeco-Byzantine traditions at the latest, the figure had acquired a dual aspect: a seductive divine whore <\/em>(especially when interacting with a man) and a terrible mother<\/em> (especially when interacting with a woman) who tries to harm pregnant women and to steal and kill their newborn children, in order to drink their blood and suck the marrow from their bones. This last aspect of Lilith is already conveyed in early texts, in which she is called \u201cthe strangler\u201d[xlii]<\/a>. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

The figure of Lilith evolves over time through a process of syncretization between several related figures (in primis, ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1-ke4<\/sub><\/em>,\/ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra<\/em>, ardat lil\u00ee<\/em>, lil\u012btu<\/em>, but also Lama\u0161tu<\/em> and Inanna<\/em>\/I\u0161tar)<\/em>, polarizing around the two main \u201cthemes\u201d of seduction<\/em> and danger<\/em>, both already present (at least in seed) in the original contributing characters.<\/p>\n

From this process, Lilith emerges as a complex, bipolar, and liminal figure which, depending on the context, can be either \u201cdivine\u201d or \u201cdemonic\u201d; in any case, \u201cmore than human\u201d[xliii]<\/a> and powerfully, \u201cdarkly\u201d feminine.<\/p>\n

Since the two aspects of Lilith here described have been personified in Babylonian literature[xliv]<\/a> in the two goddesses Lama\u0161tu<\/em> and I\u0161tar<\/em>, we can speak of a Lama\u0161tu<\/em> aspect and of an I\u0161tar<\/em> aspect of Lilith (see also [Hurwitz]).<\/p>\n

Lama\u0161tu share many features with Lilith: both watches the pregnant woman vigilantly, especially when she is in labor, trying not only to harm her personally, but also to steal her newborn child from her and to kill it. On amulets, both goddesses were named together and enjoined to leave mother and child alone. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

The best sources for understanding Lama\u0161tu are the so-called Labart\u00fb texts published by D. W. Myhrman[xlv]<\/a>. In these sources, Lama\u0161tu is always invoked as a goddess. Her father is the Babylonian god of heaven, An\u00fb, and thus she is generally called simply \u201cdaughter of An\u00fb\u201d. She is the \u201cchosen confidante\u201d of Irnina, a goddess who is related to the Sumerian Inanna and the Babylonian I\u0161tar[xlvi]<\/a>. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

The Labart\u00fb texts say[xlvii]<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHer abode is on the mountains, or in the reedbeds. Dreadful is her appearance. Her head and her face are those of a fearsome lion, white as clay is her countenance, she has the form of an ass, from her lips pours spittle, she roars like a lion, she howls like a jackal. A whore is she. Fearsome and savage is her nature. Raging, furious, fearsome, terrifying, violent, rapacious, rampaging, evil, malicious, she overthrows and destroys all that she approaches. Terrible are her deeds. Wherever she comes, wherever she appears, she brings evil and destruction. Men, beasts, trees, rivers, roads, buildings, she brings harm to them all. A flesh-eating, bloodsucking monster is she.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Other texts say that she watches the pregnant woman vigilantly and tries to snatch the newborn child from her. Some time before the birth, she appears in the maternity room so as to tear the child from the mother\u2019s body. Then she begins to torment the child \u201cnow with heat and fire, then with fever and shivering<\/em>\u201d. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

Both the winged demonesses Lama\u0161tu and Lilith are closely connected with darkness and night. For instance, Lama\u0161tu is known as the \u201cdarkener of the daylight\u201d, and in one of the Aramaic magic texts, it is said of Lilith that she comes during the darkness. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

It has even been suggested that the name Lilith is connected with the Hebrew word laila<\/em> (\u05dc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4), that means \u201cnight\u201d, but, even if Lilith is regarded as a goddess or demon of the night and depicted from the Rabbis as either a seductive woman or a winged owl-like nightmare, the derivation form laila<\/em> does not stand up. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

The possible \u201cphylogenetic\u201d (in the mythic sense) derivation of Lilith from Lama\u0161tu puts the former on the same level of the latter, that of a goddess-demoness, rather that simply of a demoness strictu sensu<\/em>. Indeed, some authors maintain that Lilith can be considered as a former, archaic goddess devalued, at a later time, during the development of the myth, possibly with the advent of new religious convictions.[xlviii]<\/a> This aspect is emblematic of the overall liminal characteristic of Lilith\/lil\u012btu<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Within Jewish mythology, Lilith belongs to the group of demons or Shedim. According to some authors, the name Lilith existed in the 7.th century B.C. and she retained her Shed-like characteristics throughout the entire Jewish tradition. The cult of Shedim came from the \u201csurrounding area\u201d, i.e., it was taken over from the Canaanites, who for their part had learned from the Babylonians, who afforded the Shedim great reverence. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

As well as the Lama\u0161tu (i.e, child-stealing and child-killing demon and fearsome devouring mother) aspect, Lilith also exhibits a completely different characteristic. This other trait, which first appeared at a later date and which Lama\u0161tu lacks almost completely, is her role as a seductress who leads men astray. This aspect is personified far more in the goddess I\u0161tar, which, although having the bi-polar characteristic of being the goddess of both love and war, is virtually the prototype of the great seductress[xlix]<\/a>. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

In contrast with Lama\u0161tu, I\u0161tar is not a clear-cut, sharply-defined personality. She is much vaguer, much more enigmatic, and has acquired different features depending on the region where she was worshipped. As the \u201cQueen of Heaven\u201d, she is totally the opposite of the chthonic Lama\u0161tu. Above all, however, throughout the entire Orient, she is the goddess of sensual love, lust and seduction. As a result, she is the tutelary goddess of prostitutes and specially of the temple prostitutes \u2013 the hierodules<\/em> \u2013 who serve her cult. Lil\u012btu, too, is described in a Babylonian text as a divine harlot of Inanna. This particular characteristic is already to be found in older, Sumerian texts, according to which Inanna<\/em> has sent the beautiful, unmarried and seductive prostitute Lil\u012btu out into the streets and fields in order to lead men astray. This is why Lilith is also called \u201cthe hand of Inanna\u201d[l]<\/a>. [Hurwitz, Langdon, Langdon2]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Burney Relief<\/h4>\n

[Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

The Burney relief<\/em> (also known as \u201cThe Queen of the Night\u201d) is a reproduction[li]<\/a> of a terra-cotta relief, whose iconographic interpretation has become the cause of numerous controversies among archaeologists and art historians.<\/p>\n

The relief shows the erect figure of a beautiful naked female figure with two huge wings and two long bird\u2019s feet with the talons of a bird of prey. She wears a three-horned crown (a divine attribute) and stands on two lions which face in opposite directions and is flanked by two night owls. Traces of red pigment still remain on the figure\u2019s body that was originally painted red overall.<\/p>\n

The relief is of Sumerian origin and appears to date from the so-called Isin Larsa<\/em> period (i.e., around 1950 B.C.) A similar terra-cotta was discovered by Elisabeth D. van Buren<\/em> in the Louvre. Here, the goddess is also naked, wears a similar crown on her head, and has the same wings as those on the Burney Relief. Here, too, she has the feet of a bird and her legs are feathered from the knees downwards, but the two owls are missing and the goddess stands on two ibexes (or wild goats), in place of the two lions, again facing in opposite directions.<\/p>\n

Some authors maintain that the Burney relief represents a winged Inanna\/I\u0161tar, also because of the presence of the two lions which are known to belong \u2013 together with the dove \u2013 to the animals sacred to Inanna\/I\u0161tar.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, lions do not belong exclusively among Inanna\/I\u0161tar\u2019s cult animals. For instance, in the Babylonian-Assyrian culture group, lions are also sacred to other deities, such as Ningirsu and \u0160ama\u0161. Moreover, in the Parisian fragment the goddess stands on two ibexes, which are not considered to be animals sacred to Inanna\/I\u0161tar. The night owls on the Burney relief, too, are not among Inanna\/I\u0161tar\u2019s cult animals.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, no Inanna\/I\u0161tar figures have so far been discovered in which the goddess has the feet of a bird with the talons of a bird of prey[lii]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Babylonian-Assyrian culture group, most of the gods and demons \u2013 for example, the Uttuke group \u2013 do not only possess wings but also \u201cZu\u2019s feet,\u201d (that is, bird\u2019s feet). Among the winged deities, we should mention Pazuzu and Lama\u0161tu.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fig. 7: The Burney relief [BabelStone]<\/p>\n

Pazuzu is a half human, half animal creature, with a dog\u2019s head and a man\u2019s body. His feet are covered with birds\u2019 feathers and end in the talons of a bird of prey. However, he has to be ruled out because he appears as a male god in almost all the texts.<\/p>\n

Lama\u0161tu, whose bird-like character emerges from the Labart\u00fb texts, is equipped with feathers and, according to a magic text, has also \u201ceagle\u2019s talons.\u201d But even the assumption that Lama\u0161tu is the goddess on the Burney Relief cannot he upheld, because Lama\u0161tu is said to have the \u201chead of a lion\u201d and a \u201cterrible appearance\u201d, while the goddess on the relief has a human head which is not in the least terrifying but extremely attractive, even seductive.<\/p>\n

Owls are most definitely night creatures and, therefore, their presence signify that the figure of the Burney Relief must be a goddess of the darkness or the night. Although I\u0161tar has connections with the evening star, she nevertheless has no links with owls.<\/p>\n

All these reasons suggest the idea that the figure represented in the relief can actually be Lilith (who is, of course, a goddess of the night), even though the question is much disputed. The other possible candidates are the already cited Inanna\/I\u0161tar and Inanna\u2019s sister Ere\u0161kigal.<\/p>\n

Lilith, the first woman<\/h3>\n

Whereas the Mesopotamian lil\u012btu <\/em>referred, at least originally, to a class <\/em>of wind-related demons, the Lilith of Judaism represents a singular entity, possibly following from later developments that brought to a singular Lil\u012btu.<\/p>\n

One passage in the Old Testament mentions Lilith. In the prophet Isaiah\u2019s vision of the destruction of the enemies of Zion \u2013 especially Edom \u2013 it says (Isaiah 34:14):<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd thorns shall come up in her palaces,<\/em><\/p>\n

nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be an habitation for jackals,<\/em><\/p>\n

and a court for owls.<\/em><\/p>\n

The wild wolves of the desert shall also meet with the hyenas,<\/em><\/p>\n

And the Sa\u2019ir shall cry to his fellow; Lilith also shall rest there,<\/em><\/p>\n

And find for herself a place of rest.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The term lilith <\/em>or lilit <\/em>(\u05dc\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea), here, has been variously translated as \u201cnight creatures\u201d, \u201cnight monster\u201d, \u201cnight hag\u201d, or even \u201cscreech owl\u201d, either in singular or plural form according to variations in the earliest manuscripts. In the Septuagint (also known as the Greek Old Testament), lilith<\/em> is translated with \u201conocentaurs\u201d, while in some Latin and English versions of the Bible has been translated with \u201clamia\u201d. It\u2019s highly probable that in Isaiah\u2019s vision (and so in the whole Hebrew Bible) \u201cLilith\u201d was not intended as a personal name but rather as a descriptor for a kind<\/em> of creature. Beyond that, the Jewish myth of the first Adam\u2019s wife certainly does not appear in the original creation story of the Torah or the Tanakh, but comes from a non-canonical Jewish tradition.<\/p>\n

The earliest reference to Lilith as the first Adam\u2019s wife comes from the Alphabet of Ben Sira<\/em> (or Alphabet of Ben Sirach<\/em>) an anonymous, pseudoepigraphical medieval composition written between 700 and 1000 AD, so certainly a late addition to the Judaic tradition. Even if the Alphabet of Ben Sira <\/em>is generally considered to be a satirical work, the image of Lilith as the first wife of Adam has survived the centuries as a myth that is possibly linked to a pre-existing Jewish tradition in which Lilith was viewed as a prolific child-snatcher.<\/p>\n

According to the Alphabet of Ben Sira<\/em>, Lilith was created at the same time and from the same clay as Adam, unlike Eve, who was created from one of Adam\u2019s ribs.<\/p>\n

When God created the first man Adam alone, God said, \u201cIt is not good for man to be alone.\u201d So God created a woman for him, from the earth like him, and called her Lilith. They promptly began to argue with each other: She said, \u201cI will not lie below,\u201d and he said, \u201cI will not lie below, but above, since you are fit for being below and I for being above.\u201d She told him, \u201cThe two of us are equal, since we are both from the earth.\u201d And they would not listen to each other. Since Lilith saw this, she uttered God\u2019s ineffable name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Maker and said, \u201cLord of the Universe, the woman you gave me fled from me!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Holy Blessed one immediately dispatched the three angels Sanoy, Sansenoy, and Samangelof after her, to bring her back. God said, \u201cIf she wants to return, well and good. And if not, she must accept that a hundred of her children will die every day.\u201d The angels pursued her and overtook her in the sea, in raging waters, (the same waters in which the Egyptians would one day drown), and told her God\u2019s orders. And yet she did not want to return. They told her they would drown her in the sea, and she replied. \u201cLeave me alone! I was only created in order to sicken children: if they are male, from birth to day eight I will have power over them; if they are female, from birth to day twenty.\u201d When they heard her reply, they pleaded with her to come back. She swore to them in the name of the living God that whenever she would see them or their names or their images on an amulet, she would not overpower that baby, and she accepted that a hundred of her children would die every day. Therefore, a hundred of the demons die every day, and therefore, we write the names of the three angels on amulets of young children. When Lilith sees them, she remembers her oath and the child is healed.<\/em> [JWA]<\/p>\n

The legend of Lilith developed extensively during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadah, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. In the folk tradition that arose in the early Middle Ages, Lilith became sometimes identified with the female partner of Asmodeus, King of Demons.<\/p>\n

Two primary characteristics are seen in these legends: Lilith as the incarnation of lust, causing men to be led astray, and Lilith as a child-killing being, who strangles neonates. These two aspects of the Lilith legends seemed to have evolved separately.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The astrological Lilith<\/h3>\n

Lilith has a bold presence even in astrology. There are three main astrological points associated with Lilith: an asteroid named \u2018Lilith\u2019; the controversial Dark Moon Lilith (also called Waldemath Lilith<\/em> or Sepharial\u2019s Moon<\/em>), said to be the Earth\u2019s second moon; and the Black Moon Lilith, an abstract point in space corresponding to the second focal point of the lunar quasi-elliptical orbit around the Earth (the first focal point corresponding with the Earth itself). The latter Lilith is also sometimes differentiated in two different points: the \u201cTrue\u201d or \u201cOsculating\u201d Black Moon Lilith, and the \u201cMean\u201d Black Moon Lilith, according to which the moon orbit (that is not really describable as an ellipse non in terms of any simple geometric function) is approximated with an osculating, variable quasi-ellipse (that has a fairly good correspondence with the true lunar motion) or with a \u201cmean\u201d elliptic function (that is easier to handle but has the disadvantage of providing a poorer correspondence with the real moon position over time).<\/p>\n

The asteroid Lilith, in fact, is named after a French composer, nicknamed \u2018Lili\u2019, so it has nothing really to do with the mythological Lilith, even though it is observed by astrologers as an \u201caspect\u201d of the latter.<\/p>\n

 The Dark Moon Lilith is not a physical object like the asteroid Lilith, nor it is a calculated point in the space, like the Black Moon Lilith. The Dark Moon Lilith is, indeed, a hypothetical secondary Earth\u2019s satellite that someone told could only be seen on rare dates when it is opposite the Sun or when its silhouette crosses in front of the Sun. Obviously, even if ephemerides have been calculated for this, it has no real correspondence with anything really existent.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most intriguing of the three Liliths, the Black Moon is an abstract, geometrical point, similar in this to a lunar node. It is related to the dark \u201caspects\u201d of the Moon, the ones that \u201cmove\u201d the Moon from behind the curtain of invisibility, influencing, without being seen, the rhythm of the relation between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun. According to modern astrologers, it is seen as a signifier of one\u2019s hidden nature, the unconscious in which psychic demons breed in the darkness of the subliminal. Knowing Lilith\u2019s position in the natal chart is considered to be important to understanding how one can become aware of one\u2019s \u201cdark side\u201d and bring unconscious patterns of behavior to light. But obviously, it also carries with it the particular traits of feminine power and sexual freedom that belong to the mythological Lilith. So, the position of the astrological Lilith in a woman\u2019s chart can be instructive in understanding her sexual power and the way that she comes to terms with the male influence. [RIKB]<\/p>\n

The symbol of the Black Moon Lilith is \u26b8<\/strong> (Unicode U+26B8), a black lunar crescent with the concavity orientated toward the right, surmounting a cross.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/h1>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

[AnonMoos]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

AnonMoos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, retrieved at https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Venus_geocentric_orbit_curve_simplified_Line_(pentagram).svg<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[BabelStone]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

BabelStone (Own work), CC0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=10862243<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Banks]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Edgar J. Banks, \u201cThe Origin of the Crescent and the Star\u201d, The Open Court: Vol. 1908: Iss. 7, Article 2. Available at: https:\/\/opensiuc.lib.siu.edu\/ocj\/vol1908\/iss7\/2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[BishkekRocks]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

BishkekRocks self-made photo: Public domain image, retrieved at https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Karthago_Tophet.JPG<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[BlackGreen]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Jeremy Black, Anthony Green, \u201cGods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary<\/em>\u201d, The British Museum Press ((1992))<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Budin]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Stephanie L. Budin, \u201cA Reconsideration of the Aphrodite-Ashtart Syncretism\u201d, Numen, Volume 51, Issue 2, p. 95-145 (2004); DOI: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1163\/156852704323056643<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Budin2]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Stephanie L. Budin, \u201cBefore Kypris was Aphrodite<\/em>\u201d, in \u201cTransformation of a Goddess: Ishtar \u2013 Astarte \u2013 Aphrodite<\/em>\u201d, Academic Press FribourgVandenhoeck & Ruprecht G\u00f6ttingen (2014)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Capone]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Federico Capone, \u201cLuna Nera \u2013 Lilith: una chiarificazione tra i due significati<\/em>\u201d, Ristampa Ampliata, Ed. F. Capone, Torino (1994)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[De Ryck]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

I. De Ryck et al., \u201cAn overview of Mesopotamian bronze metallurgy during the 3rd millennium BC<\/em>\u201d, Journal of Cultural Heritage 6 (2005) 261\u2013268<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Harris]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Rivkah Harris, \u201cInanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites<\/em>\u201d, History of Religions, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Feb., 1991), pp. 261-278<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Heimpel]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Wolfgang Heimpel, \u201cA Catalog of Near Eastern Venus Deities<\/em>\u201d, in \u201cSyro-Mesopotamian Studies\u201d, Volume 4, Issue 3, The University of California, Berkeley (December 1982)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Hurwitz]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Sigmund Hurwitz, \u201cLilith \u2013 The First Eve: Historical & Psychological Aspects Of The Dark Feminine<\/em>\u201d, Daimon Verlag, Einsiedeln, Switzerland (2009)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Jastrow]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Jastrow (2005). Public domain. Retrieved at https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Kudurru_Melishipak_Louvre_Sb23_n02.jpg<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[JWA]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Adapted from https:\/\/jwa.org\/media\/alphabet-of-ben-sira-78-lilith<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Kalyvas]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Statis Kalyvas \u2013 VT-2004 programme, Phases de V\u00e9nus et \u00e9volution de son diam\u00e8tre apparent.<\/p>\n

Lieu: Thessalonique (Gr\u00e8ce). Dates: Du 27\/02 au 08\/06\/2004. Retrieved at https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Phases_Venus.jpg<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Kramer]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Sameul Noah Kramer, \u201cGilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree \u2013 A reconstructed Sumerian text<\/em>\u201d, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois (1938)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Kramer2]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Samuel Noah Kramer,\u201cSumerian Theology and Ethics<\/em>\u201d, The Harvard Theological Review (1956)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Krappe]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Alexander H. Krappe, \u201cThe Bearded Venus<\/em>\u201d, s, Folklore, 56:4, 325-335, DOI: 10.1080\/0015587X.1945.9717790<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Langdon]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Stephen Langdon, \u201cBabylonian Liturgies; Sumerian Texts From The Early Period And From The Library Of Ashurbanipal<\/em>\u201d, Paris, Librairie Paul Geuthner, 1913<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Langdon2]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Stephen Langdon, \u201cTammuz and Ishtar<\/em>\u201d, Oxford, Clarendon Press (1914)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Legrain]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

L. Legrain, \u201cRestauration de la St\u00e8le d\u2019Ur-Nammu<\/em>\u201d, Revue d’Assyriologie et d’arch\u00e9ologie orientale, Vol. 30, No. 3 (1933), pp. 111-115 (7 pages)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Martineau]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

John Martineau, \u201cA Little Book of Coincidence in the Solar System<\/em>\u201d, Wooden Books Ltd (2006)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Offord]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Joseph Offord, \u201cThe Deity of the Crescent Venus in Ancient Western Asia\u201d, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 47, Issue 02, April 1915, pp. 197 \u2013 203; DOI: 10.1017\/S0035869X00048115<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[RIKB]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Frater RIKB, \u201cThe Black Moon Lillith<\/em>\u201d, https:\/\/www.horusset.com\/RIKB\/Lillith.pdf (Retrieved: 30\/05\/2021)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Roncelli]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Marta Roncelli, \u201cIl Santuario di Afrodite a Paleopaphos<\/em>\u201d, Tesi di Laurea in Archeologia, Universit\u00e0 ca’Foscari di Venezia (2015)<\/p>\n

which also cites:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karageorghis Jacqueline, Karagheorgis Vassos, \u201cThe Great Goddess of Cyprus or the Genesis of Aphrodite in Cyprus<\/em>\u201d, in \u201cSex and gender in the ancient Near East: proceedings of the 47.th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale<\/em>\u201d, Helsinki, July 2-6, 2001, Volume 1<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nancy Serwint, \u201cAphrodite and her Near Eastern sisters: spheres of influence<\/em>\u201d, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 334(334):87; DOI:10.2307\/4150115<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Rudwin]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Maximilian Rudwin, \u201cThe Legend of Lilith<\/em>\u201d, in \u201cThe Open Court<\/em>\u201d, Vol. XLIV (No. 9), Number 892, Sept. 1930, p. 513-521, The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Sailko]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Sailko – Own work \u201cAkkadian antiquities in the Oriental Institute Museum\u201d, Created: 29 October 2016, CC BY 3.0, Retrieved at: https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Periodo_accadico,_sigillo_in_calcare_nero_con_ishtar_con_piede_su_schiena_di_leone_e_una_devota,_2350-2150_ac_ca.jpg<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Selz]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Gebhard J. Selz, \u201cFive Divine Ladies<\/em>\u201d, NIN, Journal for Gender Studies in Antiquity 1 (2000), p. 29-62<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Serwint]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Nancy Serwint, \u201cAphrodite and her Near Eastern sisters: spheres of influence<\/em>\u201d, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 334(334):87; DOI:10.2307\/4150115<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Schmitt]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

R\u00fcdiger Schmitt, \u201cAstarte, Mistress of Horses, Lady of the Chariot: The Warrior Aspect of Astarte<\/em>\u201d, Die Welt des Orients, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2013); doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.13109\/wdor.2013.43.2.213<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Stevens]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Katrin Stevens, \u201cNinsi\u2019anna (god\/goddess)\u201d, Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses<\/em>, Oracc and the UK Higher Education Academy, 2016. Retrieved at: http:\/\/oracc.museum.upenn.edu\/amgg\/listofdeities\/ninsianna\/index.html<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

[Wiggermann]<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Frans A.M. Wiggermann, \u201cThe Mesopotamian Pandemonium \u2013 A Provisional Census<\/em>\u201d, SMSR 77 (2\/2011) 298-322<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes<\/h1>\n

[i]<\/a> Dr. Heinrich Gretsohel, Lexikon der Astronomie<\/em>, says the crescent form of the illuminated part shows up beautifully at the time of greatest brilliance, and in the clear atmosphere of Persia and Peru it is said to be seen with the naked eye. [Offord]<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> Orientalistische Literaturzeitung<\/em>, 1912, columns 318, 319: \u201cEnuma Ishtar ina \u1e32ami imitti sa Kakkabu la innamir nuhsu mati (ibashshi).\u201d [Offord]<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> Actually, 13.004 times. 224.701\/365.256 \u2248 0.615187, while 8\/13 \u2248 0.615385, so the Venusian\/terrestrial orbital periods ratio corresponds to 8\/13 for about 99.9%. Interesting enough, the inverse ratio, 365.256\/224.701 \u2248 1.625, is loosely (~99.6%) related to \u03c6<\/em> = 1,618…<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> That is, Venus gets as close as possible to the Earth. When this happens, the planet is exactly between the Sun and the Earth: this is called an inferior conjunction<\/em>. It is a time when the planet gets invisible (at the naked eye) for about one week, because of the greater brightness of the Sun.<\/p>\n

[v]<\/a> Notice that 5, 8 and 13 are Fibonacci numbers.<\/p>\n

[vi]<\/a> The figure shows a simplified plot of the position of Venus with respect to the Earth (i.e., geocentric perspective). For this graphic, Venus and the Earth are assumed to be in coplanar concentric perfect circular orbits around the Sun, and Venus\u2019 and Earth\u2019s orbital periods are assumed to be in an exact 8:13 ratio [AnonMoos].<\/p>\n

[vii]<\/a> It is written, d<\/sup>nin-si4<\/sub>-an-na, d<\/sup>nin-si-an-na, and also d<\/sup>nin-an-si4<\/sub>-an-na. [Heimpel, Stevens]<\/p>\n

[viii]<\/a> Ur III, or the third UR dynasty, was a royal dynasty that reigned over the city of UR during the last part of the III millennium B.C..<\/p>\n

[ix]<\/a> Or Amar-Sin, the third king of the Ur III dynasty (2046-2038 B.C.).<\/p>\n

[x]<\/a> Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire. He was the founder of the \u201cSargonic\u201d or \u201cOld Akkadian\u201d dynasty. His reign dated to ca. 2334 to ca. 2284 BC in the middle chronology.<\/p>\n

[xi]<\/a> The pre-Babylonian Akkadians were a prehistoric people, so we have no sources for their beliefs about I\u0161tar. Any information on the subject must be presumed from the later Babylonian sources or from sources of the nearby peoples (see also [Heimpel]).<\/p>\n

[xii]<\/a> Ebla was a city located in the actual inland Syria.<\/p>\n

[xiii]<\/a> See Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia<\/em>, iii, 53, 30-1:<\/p>\n

\u201cKakkabu sinni\u0161at Dilbat ina ereb \u0161am\u0161i i[zzaz].<\/p>\n

Kakkabu zikarat Dilbat ina \u1e63it \u0161am\u0161i izzaz.\u201d [Offord]<\/p>\n

[xiv]<\/a> As pointed by Morris Jastrow, beard <\/em>is also an astronomical metaphor, transferred from the planet Venus to the goddess in order to emphasize either her strength or brilliancy or the blurred appearance of the star. [Krappe]<\/p>\n

[xv]<\/a> The statement Morris Jastrow points out is that the star<\/em> is male and female. The scribe uses the form zikarat<\/em>, \u201cshe is male,\u201d not zikaru<\/em>, \u201cis male.\u201d (Cf. Sayce in the Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch<\/em>., iii, pp. 106-7, 1872.) [Offord]<\/p>\n

[xvi]<\/a> Uruk<\/em> in Sumerian.<\/p>\n

[xvii]<\/a> Indeed, some authors support the explicitly androgynous character of I\u0161tar. See, for instance [Offord].<\/p>\n

[xviii]<\/a> This goddess corresponds to the Roman Venus barbata<\/em>. In the 5th century BC, there also existed hermae <\/em>of Aphroditos\/Aphroditus, that is, phallic statues with a female head.<\/p>\n

[xix]<\/a> From this arises the secondary meaning of \u201choly\u201d for the word q-d-sh<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[xx]<\/a> A high priestess.<\/p>\n

[xxi]<\/a> Also spelled Shamash<\/em> in English.<\/p>\n

[xxii]<\/a> This is a Kudurru (stele) representing the King Melishipak I (1186\u20131172 BC) while he presents his daughter to the goddess Nannaya (Kassite period).<\/p>\n

[xxiii]<\/a> Cylinder seal – Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago.<\/p>\n

[xxiv]<\/a> The same Herodotus reports that Ascalon (also known as Ashkelon or Ashqelon) was a city \u201cin the part of Syria called Palestine\u201d (Historiae<\/em>, i. 150)<\/p>\n

[xxv]<\/a> Aphrodite\u2019s dominion over love and sex are distinct from issues of fertility and maternity, in which categories Aphrodite plays minimal roles. [Budin]<\/p>\n

[xxvi]<\/a> It\u2019s quite an interesting coincidence that Aphrodite\/Venus was born in an island renowned, in the antiquity, for the abundant presence and extraction of copper, the Venusian metal par excellence<\/em>. The name itself of the copper comes from Cyprus, starting from the Latin \u201cCyprium aes\u201d (Cyprian ore) passing through the late Latin \u201ccuprum\u201d. The use of native copper goes back in time at least 10,000 years; anyhow, it took until about the 4th millennium BC before metal production really started. During the 4th millennium BC to the late Bronze Age, copper arsenic alloys were produced and used throughout the Near East. It is only more than a millennium later that the development of copper tin alloys (bronze) started. Around 1500 BC the tin bronze replaced the copper arsenic alloy completely. [De Ryck] So, the figures of the Venus-related deities (from which the figure of Aphrodite\/Venus derived) developed during the (long) time when also the \u201ccore\u201d of copper metallurgy developed, in a geographical area that has been considered one of the most important copper production places of the antiquity, and, together with Turkey, possibly the \u201cbirthplace\u201d of the copper metallurgy itself.<\/p>\n

[xxvii]<\/a> These are mainly epithets rather than names: Wanassa <\/em>means \u201cQueen\u201d; Kypria <\/em>and Paphia<\/em>, just like Golgia<\/em> (from the name of Golgoi, an ancient settlement in the Larnaca district on Cyprus, near the modern Ath\u012benou), another epithet of the goddess, indicate the site of veneration. [Budin2]<\/p>\n

[xxviii]<\/a> Another connection between the red metal and Aphrodite.<\/p>\n

[xxix]<\/a> Indeed, in the Roman mythology, Hesperos<\/em> and Phosphoros <\/em>will be identified as a single persona, with the name of Lucifer<\/em>, i.e., \u201cbringer of light\u201d.<\/p>\n

[xxx]<\/a> Perhaps with the further contribution of Asherah (see also [Budin]).<\/p>\n

[xxxi]<\/a> Some scholars have confused Allat-Venus with the Arab female solar goddess, because the Arabs sometimes, when speaking of the sun as a supreme deity, called her al-Ilahat<\/em>, \u201cthe goddess.\u201d Herodotus does not refer to al-Ilahat, but to Alilat, later shortened to Allat. [Offord]<\/p>\n

[xxxii]<\/a> Ca. 1950-1700 B.C.<\/p>\n

[xxxiii]<\/a> Probably a linden tree, according to [Hurwitz]. According to other authors, a willow or alder.<\/p>\n

[xxxiv]<\/a> S. N. Kramer: \u201cGilgamesh and the Huluppu-tree. A Reconstructed Sumerian text<\/em>\u201d in Assiriological Studies of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago<\/em>. Chicago. 1938, p. 1f.<\/p>\n

[xxxv]<\/a> This name has been explicitly translated with \u201cLilith\u201d by Kramer [Kramer], even if not all authors support such correspondence. Kramer was a Jewish author, so it possible that in this translation he was influenced by his religious background. Nevertheless the figure of ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1-ke4 <\/sub><\/em>has a lot of characteristics in common with the figure of Lilith (see further in the text).<\/p>\n

[xxxvi]<\/a> Occasionally, the temple prostitutes at the shrine of I\u0161tar were called ardat\u00fbs<\/em> (see below).<\/p>\n

[xxxvii]<\/a> According to Langdon, lil\u012btu <\/em>appeared in a later period after ardat lil\u00ee<\/em>, and rapidly displaced the latter, passing into the other Semitic languages as a female demon of darkness and lust. [Langdon]<\/p>\n

[xxxviii]<\/a> It is probable that the correspondences reported by Wiggermann have to be intended in the sense of the evolution of the myth in time, as it appears evident from the comparison of ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1-ke4<\/sub>, <\/em>\u201cgladdener of all hearts\u201d, with the definitely more \u201cdangerous\u201d ardat lil\u00ee\/lil\u012btu <\/em>pair.<\/p>\n

[xxxix]<\/a> Wiggermann also reports the following Sumerian\/Akkadian correspondences\/translations: l\u00edl(-l\u00e1)<\/em> \u201cphantom\u201d; l\u00edl-l\u00e1(-en-na)<\/em>, lil\u00fb; ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra<\/em>, \u201cgirl abducted by a day-demon\u201d (ud<\/em>\/\u016bmu <\/em>is the day-demon). [Wiggermann] Langdon also reports that ud-da-kar-ra<\/em> means \u201csuppression of light\u201d, putting the lil\u012btu figure in connection with the idea of night and obscurity. [Langdon]<\/p>\n

[xl]<\/a> According to Langdon, when the Sumerian for ki-el lil-l\u00e1<\/em> (ki-sikil-l\u00edl-l\u00e1<\/em>) is employed for lil\u012btu <\/em>and the scribe wished to write both lil\u012btu <\/em>and ardat lil\u00ee<\/em> in the same line he employed for the latter the Sumerian word ki-el ud-da-k\u0227r-ra<\/em> (ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra). [Langdon]<\/p>\n

[xli]<\/a> Lama\u0161tu is much older than Pazuzu, but the absence of a corpus of bilingual incantations shows that the Akkadian exorcisms did not have a continuous history from the third millennium onwards. The original Sumerian d<\/sup>d\u00ecm(-me) is a member of the group of seven similar demons, and much less individualized than her Akkadian counterpart. Possibly the extant Sumerian material originates from the early second millennium, and was influenced by the Akkadian concept of the baby-snatching demoness. [Wiggermann]<\/p>\n

[xlii]<\/a> See, for instance, the Arslan Tash amulet I [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

[xliii]<\/a> Even in the aspect of the first wife of Adam, she is endowed with wings and able to fly, and relate with demons.<\/p>\n

[xliv]<\/a> The Babylonian was an Akkadian-Semitic civilization born in Mesopotamia between the 3.rd and 2.nd millennia B.C.<\/p>\n

[xlv]<\/a>D.W. Myhrman: \u201cDie Labart\u00fb-Texte. Babylonische Beschw\u00f6rungsformeln nebst Zauberverfahren gegen die D\u00e4monin Labartu<\/em>\u201d, in ZA, Strasbourg, 1902, Vol. XVI, p. 148ff. The texts have been corrected and expanded in certain respects over the last few decades.<\/p>\n

[xlvi]<\/a> Later in the text we will find that, similarly, Lilith, too, was called \u201cthe hand of Inanna\u201d.<\/p>\n

[xlvii]<\/a>This text is a compilation of four different passages.<\/p>\n

[xlviii]<\/a> Hurwitz, for instance, writes that, originally, Lilith was an archaic goddess who, on her very first appearance in the historico-religious tradition, presented just the single aspect of a terrible mother-goddess. With the advent of new religious convictions, she, as as an \u201cold\u201d divine figure, was devalued. [Hurwitz]<\/p>\n

[xlix]<\/a> It is worth noting that even Inanna-I\u0161tar inherits some traits from Lama\u0161tu, the former being the lion goddess (i.e., the goddess who has the lions at her feet), and the latter being a lion-headed goddess.<\/p>\n

[l]<\/a> Langdon explicitly writes \u201cIn the liturgies, as well as in the incantations, both Innini and the divine harlot Lil\u012btu <\/em>are expressly described as virgins, and both are constantly referred to as maidens.\u201d [Langdon2]. Also see the \u201cIncantation in the \u2018House of Light\u2019, against the harlot of Innini<\/em>\u201d, in \u201cBabylonian liturgies<\/em>\u201d [Langdon].<\/p>\n

[li]<\/a> It appeared for the first time in the Illustrated London News of 13th June 1936.<\/p>\n

[lii]<\/a> The author also writes: \u201cEven if it is true that a series of winged male and female demons exists within the Sumerian-Babylonian culture group, pictorial representations of a winged Ishtar are not known.\u201d Indeed, a cylinder seal of the Akkadian Period (reign of Naramsin or Sharkalishari, ca. 2254-2193 B.C.) dedicated to the little-known goddess Ninishkun and belonging to the Mesopotamia Collection of the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago) shows a winged Ishtar that places her right foot upon a roaring lion, which she restrains with a leash. The scimitar in her left hand and the weapons sprouting from her winged shoulders indicate her war-like nature. The real nature of the goddess is shown by an eight-pointed star at her left. See fig. 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The Planet Venus The planet Venus is the second planet nearest to the Sun. Also due to its reflecting ability, it reflects the Sun\u2019s light so intensely that it appears the brightest natural object in Earth\u2019s night sky after the Moon. Fig. 1: The phases of Venus and evolution of its apparent diameter [Kalyvas] Moving around the Sun and … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[164,165],"tags":[178,179,180,181,177],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pianeti_divinita","category-planets_gods","tag-aphrodite","tag-inanna","tag-ishtar","tag-mythology","tag-venus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1366,"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alleanzaverde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}