The Babylonian Prototype

In the Babylonian pantheon, Ishtar was the principal goddess, identical with the Sumerian fertility goddess Innanna. Paradoxically, she was both goddess of war and goddess of love and voluptuousness. In his book Les Religions de Babylonie et d’Assyrie (The Religions of Babylonia and Assyria), French scholar Édouard Dhorme said of Ishtar: “She was the goddess, the lady, the merciful mother who listens to prayer and intercedes before the angry gods and calms them. . . . She was exalted above all, she became the goddess of goddesses, the queen of all the gods, the sovereign of the gods of heaven and earth.”

Ishtar’s worshipers addressed her as “the Virgin,” “Holy Virgin,” and “Virgin Mother.” The ancient Sumero-Akkadian “Prayer of Lamentation to Ishtar” states: “I pray to thee, O Lady of ladies, goddess of goddesses. O Ishtar, queen of all peoples. . . . O possessor of all divine power, who wears the crown of dominion. . . . Chapels, holy places, sacred sites, and shrines pay heed to thee. . . . Where are thy likenesses not fashioned? . . . See me O my Lady; accept my prayers.”a

In Rome, Venus was the goddess of love and, as such, corresponded to the Greek Aphrodite and the Babylonian Ishtar. The Romans, however, also worshiped the goddesses Isis, Cybele, and Minerva (Greek Athena), all of whom reflected in one way or another the Babylonian archetype Ishtar.

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Babylon’s ISHTAR personified as a star

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Courtesy of The British Museum