Near-East Goddesses Realm Inanna and Ishtar

Astarte (Aschtart)	"Queen of Heaven": Great Goddess of the Canaanites, Phoenician and Assyrian. She was the goddess of love and fertility as well as War. Her representation was the Eveningstar. Astarte has much in common with Ishtar. Her image was shown with two horns and mostly naked. Astarte had a dove as her symbolic animal. If Ishtar and Astarte are not truly one and the same, they are at least two very similar expressions of one goddess-oriented religion which prevailed for several millennia in Western Asia. Other related names are Ashdar or Astar, names that were also used for Ishtar. Both she and Astarte had a brother and lover, by the name of Tammuz a.k.a. Dumuzi, a vegetation-god. Astarte's fame and the religious tolerance of Egypt led to her being officially admitted into the Egyptian pantheon in about c.1500 BCE, though here she was mainly regarded as a goddess of battlefields, soldiers and horses. Elsewhere, her religion embraced sacred prostitution and the Hieros Gamos ritual. Astarte Article from Britannica.com: also spelled ASHTART, great goddess of the ancient Middle East and chief deity of Tyre, Sidon, and Elath, important Mediterranean seaports. Hebrew scholars now feel that the goddess Ashtoreth mentioned so often in the Bible is a deliberate conflation of the Greek name Astarte and the Hebrew word boshet, "shame," indicating the Hebrew contempt for her cult. Ashtaroth, the plural form of the goddess's name in Hebrew, became a general term denoting goddesses and paganism. King Solomon, married to foreign wives, "went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians" (I Kings 11:5). Later the cult places to Ashtoreth were destroyed by Josiah. Astarte/Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven to whom the Canaanites had burned incense and poured libations (Jeremiah 44). Astarte, goddess of war and sexual love, shared so many qualities with her sister, Anath, that they may originally have been seen as a single deity. Their names together are the basis for the Aramaic goddess Atargatis. Astarte was worshiped in Egypt and Ugarit and among the Hittites, as well as in Canaan. Her Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. Later she became assimilated with the Egyptian deities Isis and Hathor (a goddess of the sky and of women), and in the Greco-Roman world with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno, all aspects of the Great Mother.
Agrat Bat Mahalat	A Near Eastern, Semitic goddess known for her role as sexual temptress and seductress. According to the Talmud, she is the "spirit of uncleanness", a designation probably stemming from her association with unbridled, instinctive sexuality.
Anahita	"Immaculate One" : Her name means "Immaculate One." In the Zoroastrian religion, She is a Goddess of the Moon, Fertility and War. She is the Ruler of Water. The ancient Romans and Greeks considered Her the same as Diana/Artemis and Venus/Aphrodite. Her Sister-Goddess was Armaiti.
Anath (other spellings: Anata, Anath, Anit)	The Ugaritic Great Goddess of life and death, and the Canaanite "Lady of the Mountain". Apart from Anat being virgin, mother and whore, she is also famous as an aggressive and ruthless warrior-goddess wading in the blood of her human victims. Anat was introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos and was there partly identified with Hathor, from whom she acquired her symbolic cow-horns. The Egyptians regarded her, together with Astarte, as daughter of the god Ra (the sun), and Pharaoh Ramses III (ruled 1198-1166 BCE) used both goddesses as divine protectors on his battle-shield. Anat, as a goddess of fertility and sexuality, is sometimes depicted together with the ithyphallic god Min. She is said to have given birth to a wild bull that sprung from the union with her brother and lover, the Ugaritic/Syrian god Baal. Other names connected with Anat are Avaris and Aphrodite Anaxarete, and she may, perhaps, be the same deity as Anatu (see Ishtar). "Bloody Mistress": Also known as Anat, She was worshipped throughout Canaan, Syria and Phoenicia. She was a popular Goddess of War and Fertility. She was largely syncretized with Asherah and Astarte (both profiled in this section), and so there is some confusion as to Her myths and relationship to other Deities of the area.
Aschtoreth (Ascherah, Aschirat):	Kanaanitian Goddess of fertility, as well as Sun and Oceangoddess. Source: Old Testament. Image: often naked holding in her one hand a lotus flower and in the other a pair of snakes. She is relative to Ishtar. Often said to be the Hebrew name for Astarte, simply because the Bible uses the term asherah to indicate the wooden pillars associated with Astarte's shrines and sacred places. Originally, however, Asherah was an independent Near Eastern deity and was called "She Who Gives Birth to Gods" and "Wetnurse of the Gods". Her worship included sacred prostitution. Asherah, Lady Tree: Asherah was a Goddess popular with the ancient Israelites, despite their priests' call to remain loyal to Yahweh. Biblical prophets condemn Her repeatedly under the name Ashtoreth; it is the use of this name, a seeming combination of Asherah and Astarte, which has caused so much confusion for modern scholars.
Atargatis	"Ocean Mermaid": Known to the Romans as Dea Syria, Atargatis was a Goddess of Creation and Fertility. She was usually depicted with a fish tail; hence, Her modern identification as the Mermaid Goddess. Her worship spread to Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt and Rome. Near Eastern Great Goddess (moongoddess) who was worshipped mainly in the Levant, today's Turkey, Syria, Israel and Lebanon. Atargatis is one of the independent virgins and her myth speaks of a union with the archetypal vegetation-god and of incest; Ichthys being her son and lover. She was often worshipped in a more or less public orgy that usually involved sacred prostitution and ritual promiscuity. In her temple at Hierapolis, north-east of Aleppo and close to the Euphrates river, she was worshipped by men performing auto-castration. Names for, and/or aspects of, Atargatis are Derceto (Derketo), in Rome she was called Dea Syria, and among the Hittites, Tarkhu. At some point, this goddess was merged into Ishtar.
Daena	"Lady Guardian": Her name means "That Which Has Been Revealed." In Zoroastrian tradition, She is the daughter of Armaiti (see Creation chapter). She is a judge of the dead, who leads them to either Heaven or Hell.
Geschtinanna	Sumerian Goddess of garpevine/wine. Sister of Inanna's husband Dumuzi (akkad. Tammuz).
Hokhma	Jewish name for the personalised wisdom, that assisted God in the creation.
Husbishag	"Lady of the Book" : This Akkadian Goddess of the Underworld keeps a secret book. In it is written the time of death of all living things.
Ki (Ninki)	"Earth": Akkadian-sumerian Earth Goddess. Her Symbol was the Doublesnake. In her original myth she was one with the skygod An (Anu: "Heaven") or his wife.

Kybele	Great Goddess of the Near-East. She is shown with lions and represents the earth and is the allmother. Her cult reached Rome from Phygia. (see more information in the roman realm)
Nanshe	"Lady of Dreams" : Also known as Nanshebargunu, this Sumerian-Babylonian Goddess was the interpreter of dreams. At the New Year, She judges each person and always shows compassion towards the weak and poor.
Nikkal (Ningal)	Sumerian Moongoddess. Married to Nanna, Mother of Inanna.
Ninhursag (Ninmach, Mami)	Sumerian Mothergoddess. Also spelled NINHURSAGA (Sumerian), Akkadian Belit-ili, in Mesopotamian religion, city goddess of Adab and of Kish in the northern herding regions; she was the goddess of the stony, rocky ground, the hursag. In particular, she had the power in the foothills and desert to produce wildlife. Especially prominent among her offspring were the onagers (wild asses) of the western desert. As the sorrowing mother animal she appears in a lament for her son, a young colt, but as goddess of birth she is not only the goddess of animal birth but the Mother of All Children, a mother-goddess figure. Her other names include: Dingirmakh ("Exalted Deity"), Ninmakh ("Exalted Lady"), Aruru ("Dropper," i.e., the one who "loosens" the scion in birth), and Nintur ("Lady Birth Giver"). Her husband is the god Shulpae, and among their children were the sons Mululil and Ashshirgi and the daughter Egime. Mululil seems to have been a dying god, like Dumuzi, whose death was lamented in yearly rites. (Source: Britannica.com)
Ninlil (sumerian) Belit (akkad.)	Mesopotamian goddess, the consort of the god Bel (Sumerian: Enlil) and a deity of destiny. She was worshiped especially at Nippur and Shuruppak and was the mother of the moon god, Sin (Sumerian: Nanna). In Assyrian documents Belit is sometimes identified with Ishtar (Sumerian: Inanna) of Nineveh and sometimes made the wife of either Ashur, the national god of Assyria, or of Enlil (Bel), god of the atmosphere. The Sumerian Ninlil was a grain goddess, known as the Varicoloured Ear (of barley). She was the daughter of Haia, god of the stores, and Ninshebargunu (or Nidaba). The myth recounting the rape of Ninlil by her consort, the wind god Enlil, reflects the life cycle of the grain: Enlil, who saw Ninlil bathing in a canal, raped and impregnated her. For his crime he was banished to the Underworld, but Ninlil followed. In the course of their journey Enlil assumed three different guises, each one ravishing and impregnating Ninlil. The myth seems to represent the process of wind-pollination, ripening, and the eventual withering of the crops and their subsequent return to the earth (corresponding to Ninlil's sojourn in the Underworld). (Source: Britannica.com)
Schekhinah	"She, who dwells within": Jewish name for the female aspect of God. Some believe she was a goddess of her own and created the world together with God.
Siduri	"Lady of Happiness": Siduri is the Goddess of Wine, Wisdom and Merry-making. She recognizes the reality of death and encourages Her followers to enjoy all the pleasures of life. She was honored by the Babylonians, Sumerians and Akkadians. She plays an important role in the EPIC OF GILGAMESH.
Tashmetu	"Lady Who Listens": Tashmetu is said to posess "a wide ear." A compassionate Goddess, She listens to the prayers of Her faithful, and in turn opens their ears to Divine instruction. Her husband is Nebo, God of Teaching and Writing. She was worshipped by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Sumerians.
Tiamat	Her name means "Bitter Ocean." At the beginning of time there where only two oceans, one was Tiamat and one Apsu (sweet water). By mixing their waters they produced the first gods of Sumer. Later Apsu got killed by Enki, the Sumerian God of Wisdom. In revenge Tiamat tried to kill his son Marduk with 11 dragons and monsters she created. But Marduk slayed all her creations and murdered Tiamat by cutting her in a half, from her corpse he created the earth and the heaven.