Astarte is the Canaanite/Phoenician goddess of love, sex, war, and hunting who developed from the Mesopotamian deity Inanna / Ishtar. She is usually associated with the storm god Baal but seems to have been much more popular. She traveled to Egypt through trade where she was adopted as a war deity and consort of Set.

Astarte was a goddess honored in the Eastern Mediterranean area, before being renamed by the Greeks. Variants of the name “Astarte” can be found in the Phoenician, Hebrew, Egyptian and Etruscan languages. A deity of fertility and sexuality, Astarte eventually evolved into the Greek Aphrodite thanks to her role as a goddess of sexual love.

Astarte is the goddess of love and beauty in Canaanite mythology. Known in the Bible by the name Ashtoreth, Astarte is the queen of heaven. Idols made in her honor were called astaroth (plural of Ashtoreth). The goddess of beauty wedded Baal Hadad, the god of storms, who later became the supreme deity of Canaan.