with four branches protruding from roof, on the reverse of a Julia Maesa coin from Sidon]]Astarte (from Greek ??????? (Astárt?)) is the name of a goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions, cognate in name, origin and functions with the goddess Ishtar in Mesopotamian texts. Another transliteration is ?Ashtart; other names for the goddess include Hebrew or Phoenician ????? (transliterated Ashtoreth), Ugaritic ??trt (also ?A?tart or ?Athtart, transliterated Atirat), Akkadian ^DAs-tar-tú (also Astartu) and Etruscan Uni-Astre (Pyrgi Tablets). According to Mark Smith's "The Early History of God", Astarte may be the Iron Age (after 1200 BC) incarnation of the Bronze Age (to 1200 BC) Asherah. General discussion Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a sta