Astarte 82

Astarte in Phoenicia
In the description of the Phoenician pantheon ascribed to Sanchuniathon, Astarte appears
as a daughter of Epigeius (Greek: Uranus) and Ge (Earth), and sister of the god Elus.
After Elus overthrows and banishes his father Epigeius, as some kind of trick Epigeius
sends Elus his "virgin daughter" Astarte along with her sisters Asherah and the goddess
who will later be called Ba`alat Gebal, "the Lady of Byblos". It seems that this trick does
not work, as all three become wives of their brother Elus. Astarte bears Elus children
who appear under Greek names as seven daughters called the Titanides or Artemides and
two sons named Pothos "Longing" and Eros "Desire". Later with Elus' consent, Astarte
and Hadad reign over the land together. Astarte puts the head of a bull on her own head
to symbolize Her sovereignty. Wandering through the world, Astarte takes up a star that
has fallen from the sky (a meteorite) and consecrates it at Tyre.

Ashteroth Karnaim (Astarte was called Ashteroth in the Hebrew Bible) was a city in the
land of Bashan east of the Jordan River, mentioned in Genesis 14:5 and Joshua 12:4
(where it is rendered solely as Ashteroth). The name translates literally to 'Ashteroth of
the Horns', with 'Ashteroth' being a Canaanite fertitility goddess and 'horns' being
Figurine of Astarte with a
symbolic of mountain peaks. Figurines of Astarte have been found at various horned headdress
archaeological sites in Israel, showing the goddess with two horns.[4]

Astarte's most common symbol was the crescent moon (or horns), according to religious studies scholar Jeffrey
Burton Russell, in his book The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity.[5]

Astarte in Judah
Ashtoreth is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a foreign, non-Judahite goddess, the principal goddess of the
Sidonians or Phoenicians, representing the productive power of nature. It is generally accepted that the Masoretic
"vowel pointing" adopted c. 135 AD, indicating the pronunciation ʻAštōreṯ ("Ashtoreth," "Ashtoret") is a deliberate
distortion of "Ashtart", and that this is probably because the two last syllables have been pointed with the vowels
belonging to bōšeṯ, ("bosheth," abomination), to indicate that that word should be substituted when reading.[6] The
plural form is pointed ʻAštārōṯ ("Ashtaroth"). The biblical Ashtoreth should not be confused with the goddess
Asherah, the form of the names being quite distinct, and both appearing quite distinctly in the Book of 1st Kings. (In
Biblical Hebrew, as in other older Semitic languages, Asherah begins with an aleph or glottal stop consonant ‫א‬,
while ʻAshtoreth begins with an ʻayin or voiced pharyngeal consonant ‫ע‬, indicating the lack of any plausible
etymological connection between the two names.) The biblical writers may, however, have conflated some attributes
and titles of the two, as seems to have occurred throughout the 1st millennium Levant.[7] For instance, the title
"Queen of heaven" as mentioned in Jeremiah has been connected with both. (In later Jewish mythology, she became
a female demon of lust; for what seems to be the use of the Hebrew plural form ʻAštārōṯ in this sense, see Astaroth).
Astarte 83

Other associations
Some ancient sources assert that in the territory of Sidon the temple of Astarte was sacred to Europa. According to
an old Cretan story, Europa was a Phoenician princess whom Zeus, having transformed himself into a white bull,
abducted, and carried to Crete.[8]
Some scholars claim that the cult of the Minoan snake goddess who is identified with Ariadne (the "utterly pure") [9]
was similar to the cult of Astarte. Her cult as Aphrodite was transmitted to Cythera and then to Greece.[10] Herodotus
wrote that the religious community of Aphrodite originated in Phoenicia and came to Greeks from there. He also
wrote about the world's largest temple of Aphrodite, in one of the Phoenician cities. Her name is the second name in
an energy chant sometimes used in Wicca: "Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna."[11]

References
[1] Merlin Stone. "When God Was A Woman". (Harvest/HBJ 1976)
[2] K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (http:/ / books. google. com. au/
books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C& printsec=frontcover& dq=Dictionary+ Deities+ Demons& source=bl& ots=aFsyi0kZXx&
sig=7NeCRZZc71dN4J4szNvmVy1eKhY& hl=en& ei=r0osTM36F5SwccrDsLIJ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=3&
ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage& q& f=false), p. 109-10.
[3] (Snaith, The Interpreter's Bible, 1954, Vol. 3, p. 103)
[4] Raphael Patai. The Hebrew Goddess (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=VfAX_wkMM4IC& pg=PA57& dq=astarte+ horns& hl=en&
ei=hwTwTcOpJJKesQOfgo2ZDg& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=2& ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage& q=astarte horns&
f=false). (Wayne State University Press 1990). ISBN 0-8143-2271-9 p. 57.
[5] Jeffrey Burton Russell. The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity. (Cornell University Press 1977). ISBN
0-8014-9409-5 p. 94.
[6] John Day, "Yahweh and the gods and goddesses of Canaan", p.128 (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=y-gfwlltlRwC& dq=Yahweh+
and+ the+ gods+ and+ goddesses+ of+ Canaan& printsec=frontcover& source=bn& hl=en& ei=ZlAsTMPnDYuecfK9pdcJ& sa=X&
oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=4& ved=0CCgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q& f=false)
[7] Mark S. Smith, "The early history of God", p.129 (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=1yM3AuBh4AsC& dq=Mark+ Smith+ Early+
history+ of+ god& printsec=frontcover& source=bn& hl=en& ei=LkssTOSGLsa3cevF_JEJ& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result&
resnum=4& ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& q& f=false)
[8] Lucian of Samosata. De Dea Syria.
[9] Barry B. Powell. Classical Myth with new translation of ancient texts by H. M. Howe. Upper Saddle River. New Jersey. Prentice Hall Inc.
1998. p. 368.
[10] R. Wunderlich. The Secret of Creta. Efstathiadis Group. Athens 1987. p. 134.
[11] BURNING TIMES/CHANT (http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ bos/ bos508. htm), Charles Murphy, in Internet Book of Shadows, (Various
Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com

• Donald Harden, The Phoenicians (2nd ed., revised, London, Penguin 1980). ISBN 0-14-021375-9
• Georges Daressy, Statues de Divinités (http://books.google.com/books?id=OVYPAQAAMAAJ&
printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false), (CGC 38001-39384), vol. II (Cairo, Imprimerie de l'Institut
français d'archéologie orientale, 1905).
• Gerd Scherm, Brigitte Tast, Astarte und Venus. Eine foto-lyrische Annäherung (Schellerten 1996), ISBN
3-88842-603-0.
Astarte 84

External links
• Britannica Online Encyclopedia - Astarte (ancient deity) (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
39661/Astarte)
• Goddess Astarte: Goddess of Fertility, Beauty, War, and Love (http://www.matrifocus.com/IMB04/spotlight.
htm)
• Jewish Encyclopedia - Astarte worship among the Hebrews (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/
2048-astarte-worship-among-the-hebrews)
Aten 89

Aten

Alternative use: the Aten asteroids, named after 2062 Aten

Aten (also Aton, Egyptian jtn) is the
disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian
mythology, and originally an aspect of
Ra. The deified Aten is the focus of the
monolatristic, henotheistic, or
monotheistic religion of Atenism
established by Amenhotep IV, who
later took the name Akhenaten in
worship and recognition of Aten. In his
poem "Great Hymn to the Aten", Aten

Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator,

and giver of life. The worship of Aten was eradicated by Horemheb.

Overview
The Aten, the sun-disk, is first referred to as a deity in The Story of Sinuhe from the 12th dynasty,[1] in which the
deceased king is described as rising as god to the heavens and uniting with the sun-disk, the divine body merging
with its maker.[2] By analogy, the term "silver aten" was sometimes used to refer to the moon.[3] The solar Aten was
extensively worshipped as a god in the reign of Amenhotep III, when it was depicted as a falcon-headed man much
like Ra. In the reign of Amenhotep III's successor, Amenhotep IV, the Aten became the central god of Egyptian state
religion, and Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten to reflect his close link with the new supreme deity.[1]

The full title of Akhenaten's god was "The Ra-Horus who rejoices in the horizon, in his/her Name of the Light which
is seen in the sun disc." (This is the title of the god as it appears on the numerous stelae which were placed to mark
the boundaries of Akhenaten's new capital at Akhetaten, modern Amarna.) This lengthy name was often shortened to
Ra-Horus-Aten or just Aten in many texts, but the god of Akhenaten raised to supremacy is considered a synthesis of
very ancient gods viewed in a new and different way. The god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine
simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god. In particular, the god
was not depicted in anthropomorphic (human) form, but as rays of light extending from the sun's disk.

Furthermore, the god's name came to be written within a cartouche, along with the titles normally given to a
Pharaoh, another break with ancient tradition. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Horakhty (Ra, who is Horus
of the two horizons), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the
Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible
manifestation was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came
gradually. The real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, especially Amun, and
the debatable introduction of monotheism by Akhenaten.[4] The syncretism is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to
Aten 90

the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu and Aten are merged into the creator god.[5] Others see Akhenaten as a
practitioner of an Aten monolatry,[6] as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from
worshipping any but the Aten.

Royal Titulary
During the Amarna Period, the Aten was given a Royal Titulary (as he was considered to be king of all), with his
names drawn in a cartouche. There were two forms of this title, the first had the names of other gods, and the second
later one which was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself. The early form has Re-Horakhti who
rejoices in the Horizon, in his name Shu which is the Aten. The later form has Re, ruler of the two horizons who
rejoices in the Horizon, in his name of light which is the Aten.

Variant translations
• High relief and low relief illustrations of
the Aten show it with a curved surface
(see for example the photograph
illustrating this article), therefore, the late
scholar Hugh Nibley insisted that a more
correct translation would be globe, orb or
sphere, rather than disk. The
three-dimensional spherical shape of the
Aten is even more evident when such
reliefs are viewed in person, rather than
merely in photographs.
• There is a possibility that Aten's
three-dimensional spherical shape depicts
an eye of Horus/Ra. In the other early
monotheistic religion Zoroastrianism the
sun is called Ahura Mazda's eye.
• These two theories are compatible with
each other, since an eye is an orb.

Pharaoh Akhenaten and his family adoring the Aten, second from the left is
Variant vocalizations Meritaten who was the daughter of Akhenaten.

Egyptologists have vocalized the word

variously as Aten, Aton, Atonu, and Itn.

Names derived from Aten

• Akhenaten: "Effective spirit of the Aten."
• Akhetaten: "Horizon of the Aten," Akhenaten's capital. The archaeological site is known as Amarna.
Aten 91

• Ankhesenpaaten: "Her life is of the Aten."

• Beketaten: "Handmaid of the Aten."
• Meritaten: "She who is beloved of the Aten."
• Meketaten: "Behold the Aten" or "Protected by Aten."
• Neferneferuaten: "The most beautiful one of Aten."

Small Temple of the Aten at Akhetaten

• Paatenemheb: "The Aten on jubilee.Wikipedia:Please clarify"

• Tutankhaten: "Living image of the Aten." Original name of Tutankhamun.

References
[1] Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. pp. 236–240
[2] M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.1, 1980, p.223
[3] Fleming, Fergus, and Alan Lothian (1997). The Way to Eternity: Egyptian Myth. Duncan Baird Publishers. p. 52
[4] Jan Assmann, Religion and Cultural Memory: Ten Studies, Stanford University Press 2005, p.59
[5] M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.2, 1980, p.96
[6] Dominic Montserrat, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt, Routledge 2000, ISBN 0-415-18549-1, pp.36ff.
[7] see Collier, Mark and Manley, Bill. How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: 2nd Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998, p. 29