ATHIRAT

   Athirat is the Canaanite Earth and Mother Goddess, called "Creator of the Gods", who is also known as Asherah. The God El, (the name just means "God") is Her brother and husband; She is famed for Her great wisdom and as such acts as El's counsellor. She is known for Her protective attitude and kindliness towards Her many children, and frequently persuades El to act on their behalf. She was said to be the mother of the seventy gracious Gods, as well as the Gods Ba'al and Athtar the Terrible, the King of the Earth who is perhaps a desert God, Marah, a benevolent Water-Goddess, and Anat, the Maiden Warrior Goddess. She is often confused with Ashtart (better known by Her Greek name, Astarte), as well as Anat, and the three may all represent differing aspects of the same Great Goddess.

Athirat is associated with the Tree of Life, and a famous ivory box-lid of Mycenean workmanship found at Ugarit, dating from 1300 BCE, shows Her as symbolically representing the Tree. She wears an elaborate skirt and jewelry, and though topless Her hair is delicately dressed; She is smiling, and in Her hands She holds wheat sheaves, which She offers to a pair of goats.

When El was young, he came across two beautiful Goddesses washing their clothes in the Sea. They were Athirat and the Goddess Rahmaya, and, after buttering Them up by cooking a meal for Them, He asked them to choose between being His daughters or wives. They choose the latter and became the mothers of the Gods Shachar "Dawn" and Shalim "Dusk". Rohmaya is evidently a double of Athirat, and perhaps these two aspects of the Mother Goddess bear some connection to Ashtart as Goddess of Morning and Evening Stars, i.e., the planet Venus. (Shalim is considered in some lineages to be the father of Helel, the "Light Bringer", in Latin, Lucifer, the Morning Star.)

Athirat is a key player in the 14th century BCE Epic of Ba'al. In this tale, the River-God Yam has been made King of the Gods by His father El; but His rule was harsh, and the Gods begged their mother Athirat to intercede for them. She offers Herself to Yam, but Ba'al Her son will not hear of it; instead He sets out to destroy Yam Himself. After He succeeds, He laments that He has no palace, as befits a son of the Goddess Athirat. He entreats Her to get El's permission to build this house, which She successfully does. In this Epic of Ba'al it is important to note that Athirat, Ashtart and Anat are seperate and distinct Goddesses with their own roles and personalities.

Athirat is a powerful Goddess, and many times the other Gods ask for Her to help Them, or to try to influence Her husband El for Their good. As the keeper of Wisdom She is the one who chooses the successor to Aleyin (an aspect of Ba'al as the dying vegetation God), and after His death She instructs Anat in the proper ritual needed to ensure the fertility of the vines.

She is connected with the Sea, as She is said to live by its shores; and Her sons are called "the Cleavers of the Sea": She was invoked to protect sailors and sea-farers.

She shared El's temple in Ugarit (the modern Ras Shamrah) and many representations of Her are known from that site. She was considered the consort of Ba'al-Hadad in Syria and had a temple there. The Ashtoreth of the Hebrew Scriptures, worshipped along with Ba'al as a divine pair, may refer to Athirat the Mother Goddess, or to Ashtart (Astarte). There is much confusion on the subject, among both ancient and modern sources, and it's likely I'm just as confused, though I have done my best. As "Ba'al" is properly a title meaning "Lord" and was used of differing Gods depending on the location, it is quite possible that what is meant in the Bible by "Asheroth" simply refers to the local chief Goddess as the consort of Ba'al or El, which in some places would be Ashtart, in others Athirat. See Ashtart for the Biblical references.

Like Ashtart, Athirat is associated with the lion. She is generally shown as a nude Goddess with curly hair cupping Her breasts with Her hands. She is also associated with the snake, and an alternate name for Her is Chawat, which in Hebrew transliterates to "Hawah", or in English "Eve"; so She may well be the root of the Biblical Eve. Like the later Carthaginian Goddess Tanit, whose name means "Serpent Lady", Athirat was represented as a palm tree or pillar with a snake coiled around it, and the name Athirat derives from a root meaning "straight".

Atargatis of Syria is likely a late combination of or confusion with both Athirat and Ashtart/Astarte.

Alternate spellings: 'Athirat, Airat, Asherat, Asherah, Sherah. In the Ugaritic texts She is called Ashertu, and called the unfaithful wife of Elkunirsa, a forerunner of El. The Hittites knew Her as Ashertus or Asertu; to the Amorites She was Ashirta; and to the Akkadians She was Ashratum.

Titles: "Athirat-of-the-Sea", "Lady of the Sea", "Mother of the Gods", "In Wisdom the Mistress of the Gods", "Mistress in Wisdom", "Lady Who Treads Upon the Sea"; Elat or Elath, "Goddess" (this likely makes Her related to the Arabian Goddess Al-Lat); Labi'atu, "the Lion Lady"; Dat ba'thani, "Lady of the Serpent"; Rabat Chawat 'Elat, "Great Lady Eve the Goddess"; Qadshu or Qadesh, "Holy" is a title used of Her as well as Anat. In the Sinai She was given the epithet "Lady of Turquoise", and the Egyptians equated Her with their Hathor.

MARAH

Marah is a Canaanite Water-Goddess, considered benevolent and merciful. She is the daughter of the great Mother Goddess Athirat-of-the-Sea, and twin sister to Anat, the Warrior Maiden Goddess of extraordinarily bad temper. I could find only very little information about Her: I don't know if She is primarily a Goddess of the ocean, rivers, or lakes; I'm not even, in fact, sure what Her name means. The Phoenician language is closely related to both Hebrew and Aramaic; in Aramaic, the word mrh or mrt can give "Mistress", "Best" or "Bitterness". In Hebrew, mar or marah also means "Bitterness", and Marah is used of a place in the Sinai where Moses and the Israelites stopped at a spring of bitter water. The Hebrew word does connect back to the idea of water, though as a "merciful" Water-Goddess I'm not sure how the idea of "bitterness" applies. This Hebrew word has also been taken to be the root of the name Mary.

BAALAT

Baalat, or Ba'alat, is not properly a name but a title, meaning "Mistress", "Lady", or "Queen". She is the main Deity of the city of Gubla or Byblos, the modern Jebeil in Lebanon, a few miles north of Beirut. She is associated with Ba'al-Shaman, "Lord of the Heavens" as His consort and cult-partner. She is most likely a form of Ashtart, the Phoenician Goddess of Love, Fertility and the planet Venus, whose cult is known to have been centered in Gubla.

As the main Goddess of Gubla, Ba'alat watched over and protected the city and its royal family. Her shrine in Gubla, close to the Sea, was considered Her oldest, and indeed it has been dated way back to 2700 BCE. The city of Gubla was a very ancient one, and in Greek legend it is said to be the first city in the world. It probably can't claim to be quite that old, but there is evidence of a settlement there dating back to the Neolithic period, from about 5000 BCE. Gubla had a long history of trade with Egypt, especially in cedar wood, and Egyptian influence can be seen in its art and its religion. The city got its Greek name, Byblos, from its exportation of papyrus paper (called by the same word); later this Greek word came to mean books in general, which is how the Hebrew/Christian scriptures have come to be called the Bible.

At Aphek (Greek Aphaca, modern Afka), a town not far from Byblos, Ba'alat was worshipped in the form of a meteorite that had fallen from the sky in a blaze of fire; the Greeks equated Her therefore with their Aphrodite Urania, "Heavenly" Aphrodite. Aphek is also where the cult of Ashtart and 'Adon was centered, as the river named for the God had its beginnings there. As Ashtart is a Goddess of the planet Venus, which looks like a star from Earth, it is not surprising that a meteorite, or a "falling star" should be associated with Her. The meteorite was said to have fallen into the sacred lake at Aphek, and was later set up in Her temple there. This temple is also said to have been dedicated to the Goddess who is the mother of 'Adon, Malidthu or Myrrha (Her Greek name).

Under Egyptian influence, Ba'alat is shown on a cylinder seal from Gubla in an Egyptian style—She is seated in a close-fitting dress whose straps cover Her breasts, Her hair dressed Egyptian-style, bearing the sun-disk and cow-horn headdress of Hathor, the Egyptian's Goddess of Love and Beauty. Sometimes She is depicted with two feathers as Her headdress; at other times She wears a uraeus on Her forehead. In one inscription She is labelled "Beloved of Hathor", and in time Ba'alat was completely assimilated to Hathor by the Egyptians.

Also called: Ba'alath, Belit, Baltis, Baaltis, and Ba'alat Gebal, "Lady of Byblos". The Greeks knew Her by epithets of Aphrodite: Kypris, meaning "of the island of Cyprus", and Kythereia, "of the island of Kythera", both places heavily associated with Aphrodite; as well as Aphrodite Aphacitis, "Aphrodite of Aphaca".

QADSHU

Qadshu, "the Holy One" is an epithet of various Canaanite and Syrian Goddesses, Who eventually seems to have become an independent Goddess of Sexuality, Sacred Ecstacy and Fertility.

Qadshu as the Goddess Anat represents Her in Her form as the consort of Amurru ("the God of the West"), another name for Aleyin or Ba'al. (In Egyptian texts this God is called Reshep and is a God of Thunder and Battle.) At the request of the Goddess Athirat, these two Deities perform a harvest-ritual involving the sacrifice of an ass, which is meant to keep the animal from eating the leaves and shoots of the vines.

Qadshu is also used as an epithet of Athirat, the Great Mother Goddess of the Canaanites.

Qadshu's cult involved the ritual of the sacred marriage, in which participants acted out the parts of the Goddess and Her consort, usually as a seasonal rite. The qadashah, (the "holy ones" or "religiously clean or pure ones"), were the women of Her temple, who may have acted as sacred prostitutes, giving themselves sexually to visitors while taking the role of the Goddess as a sacred act. If they did function as prostitutes, then the Canaanites had a very different (and, I would argue as a modern Pagan, far more healthy) attitude towards sex workers than we do today, as the meaning of the name, "the clean ones" implies. But then, they might have been nothing of the sort—the implication that these temple women functioned as "whores" is from the Bible, hardly an unbiased source when it comes to the competing religion.

Qadshu was adopted into the Egyptian pantheon during the New Kingdom under the spelling Qadesh, and formed part of a triad with Reshep and Min, a God of (Very Happy) Fertility. She was usually shown as a nude woman standing on the back of Her animal, the lion (which was an animal also sacred to both Canaanite Athirat and Babylonian Ishtar). In a break with conventional Egyptian artistic style that is indicative of Her non-Egyptian origins, Qadesh was shown in a frontal pose. As emblems of fertility She usually holds flowers (lotus or papyrus) or snakes in each hand. Her hair falls on Her shoulders in two curls, much like the typical hairstyle of the Goddess of Sensuality Hathor, and indeed the two were equated by the Egyptians.

Alternate spellings: Qudshu, Qodesh, Qadesh, Qadashu, Qadesha, Qetesh, Qedeshet, Kedesh

Epithets: in Egypt She is called "Mistress of All the Gods", "Lady of the Stars of Heaven"

RAHMAYA

Rahmaya is a Canaanite Mother Goddess whose name means "the Merciful". She is one of the two wives of El, the grey-bearded old King of the Gods. The story goes that once when El was young and handsome, He happened across two beautiful Goddesses, Athirat and Rahmaya, whom He woos by cooking Them a dinner of roast bird. He then asks if They would prefer to be His daughters or His wives; charmed by Him and His presumably excellent cooking, They agree to marry Him. Athirat and Rahmaya later give birth to the Gods of Dawn and Dusk, Shachar and Shalim, who, though technically half-brothers, are always referred to as twins. Rahmaya is evidentally a double of Athirat in this story.

Rahmaya is also an epithet of Anat, the temperamental warrior Goddess who loves smashing things, especially the skulls of enemy soldiers; in Her case it is a placating name, for by calling Her "the Merciful" it is dearly hoped that She will live up to the name. It is not known if Rohmaya and Anat Rohmaya are to be equated, for Anat is usually said to be the daughter of El, not His wife; but there is much confusion and overlap between the three great Canaanite Goddesses Anat, Ashtart, and Athirat, Who all embody aspects of fertility and sexuality.

Also spelled: Rahmay, Rohmaya.

TANIT

Tanit, or Tanith, is the Great Goddess of Carthage, worshipped there as its chief Deity. She is a Sky Goddess who ruled over the Sun, Stars, and Moon; and as a Mother Goddess She was invoked for fertility. The palm tree is Hers, as the desert version of the Tree of Life; and as symbolic of the life-force of the Earth the serpent is Hers as well—in fact Her name means "Serpent Lady". She is identified with both Ashtart (Astarte) and Athirat, and Her other symbols include the dove, grapes and the pomegranate (both symbolic of fruitfulness and fertility), the crescent moon, and, like Ashtart, the lion.

Carthage was a city of the Phoenician colony in northern Africa, not far from the modern city of Tunis in Tunisia. Carthage, the Roman rendition of the Phoenician name Karthadasht, which means "New Town", was founded in around the 9th century BCE, by Dido ("Giver" or "Grantor [of prayers]", or alternately "Wanderer") or Elissa (from the Phoenician Elishat), the daughter of the King of Tyre in Roman legend. Dido, however, being also used as an epithet of the Phoenician Moon-Goddess, is probably to be considered an aspect of or alternate name for Tanit, the patron Goddess of Carthage. Worship of Tanit dates to the 5th century BCE, and it is unsure whether Tanit was a local deity adapted by the Phoenician colonists or a version of Ashtart/Athirat they had brought with them from Phoenicia.

Tanit was the highest Deity of that city, called "the Lady of Carthage". With Her consort Ba'al-Hammon, the God of the Sky, She watched over and protected Carthage. As a protective Deity She had some martial aspects, and like Ashtart could be depicted riding a lion holding a spear or long sceptre. In Carthage She was said to have an Oracle; perhaps this is connected to Her role as Star-Goddess.

Tanit has Her own abstract symbol, peculiarly Hers (and accordingly called the "symbol of Tanit"): a triangle with a circle at the top, with a horizontal line between the two; sometimes two additional vertical bars come from the ends of the horizontal. This has been interpreted as either a stylization of an altar, or a woman or Goddess in a long dress, Her arms upraised in an attitude of worship or blessing. Some stelae do show a more realistic depiction of the Goddess in this attitude, so my money is on it as an abstract depiction of a woman. This symbol is found all over Carthage, though there is only one example of it in Phoenicia itself.

Carthage was at once time the great enemy of Rome, and three bitter wars were fought between the two powers over the course of more than a hundred years in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The Romans eventually were the victors, and in their hatred utterly destroyed the city; according to tradition the city was razed and the site plowed with salt so that nothing would ever grow there again.

The utter destruction of the city notwithstanding, remains of a sanctuary to Tanit and Ba'al-Hammon have been found, with a children's cemetery adjacent. The Carthaginians and Phoenicians had a reputation for the sacrifice of children, though many of the accounts of it come from peoples who were not unbiased, such as the Hebrews or the Romans. In Phoenicia, the Hebrews claimed that the Phoenicians burned children to their God "Moloch" (of whom there is little to no other evidence) by burning them alive. In Carthage, the great children's cemetery has been taken as indication of child sacrifice to both Ba'al-Hammon and Tanit, for many of the stelae above the remains are inscribed to those Deities. The cemetery was named in modern times the Tophet, from a Biblical word for "Hell", referring to the place in Jerusalem where the children were allegedly given to Moloch. Much of the evidence for infanticide among the Phoenicians is questionable at best; the accounts from the Bible and Rabbinical tradition especially are subject to mistranslations and biases. Among other ancient writers the idea of child sacrifice among the Phoenicians is not mentioned, even though some of them were avowed enemies of Phoenicia. This issue is still being debated on both sides; my take on it (which is of course subject to my own bias) is to seriously doubt that children were sacrificed, and to attribute most of the stories to propaganda, repeated by different enemy cultures (especially the Romans). Why would people sacrifice children to an otherwise benevolent Mother Goddess? And given the number of remains that have been found—20,000 urns dating from 400-200 BCE—what civilization is going to kill that many of its own children? I suspect that the graves found in the so-called "Tophet" of Carthage are simply the remains of children who died naturally in a time when infant mortality was much higher than in modern times, and during which several wars were fought—tough times when it might be expected less children would survive. That the stelae are inscribed to Tanit and Ba'al-Hammon is not surprising; it does not mean that they were sacrificed to those Deities, rather that they were committed to the safekeeping of the Goddess and God after death.

The Romans, despite their hatred for the Carthaginians, identified Tanit with their Juno Lucina, an aspect of their Great Goddess as Mother and Patroness of Childbirth, a Light-Goddess who brings forth children into the day. As Tanit was also a Goddess of the Sky, the Romans named Her Dea Caelestis, "the Heavenly Goddess", or Virgo Caelestis, "the Heavenly Virgin". On coins of the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE She is occasionally depicted riding a lion and holding a lance; generally She is shown in portrait form wearing a diadem or crown, with wheat sheaves bound in Her hair as a wreath, the crescent moon behind.

In Roman legend, Hannibal, the great general of Carthage, raided a temple of Juno Lacinia near Crotona, a city in southern Italy originally founded by the Greeks (therefore technically the temple is to Hera Lacinia). This temple was famous for having a column of solid gold; Hannibal, to test the story, drilled into the column. Finding that it was indeed solid, he decided he would take it as plunder. That night, however, he dreamt that the Goddess warned him not to despoil Her temple, telling him that She'd destroy his remaining eye if he did. In Juno Lacinia Hannibal recognized his own hometown Goddess, Tanit, so left the column unmolested in the temple. From the filings of the column he had a golden cow cast, which was then placed on the top of the column.

Tanit's worship was spread from Carthage to Spain, Malta and Sardinia, especially by soldiers. The temple on the acropolis of Selinus in Sicily may be Hers, for examples of Her symbol have been found there. Under Her name Virgo Caelestis, Tanit/Juno had a shrine in Rome on the north side of the Capitoline Hill.

Tanit's statue was brought to Rome by the young Emperor Elagabalus, who reigned 218-222 CE, and who was notoriously reviled as a depraved pervert (he was quite obviously gay, though who knows how much of his legend is true and how much is exaggerated). He was murdered at age 18 in a latrine, his body dragged through the streets before being thrown into the Tiber like a common criminal. He was, however, also a big fan of the eastern Deities, and gets his name from his worship of the Sun-God Elagabal. He had a great temple to Elagabal built in Rome, and installed the statue of Tanit there, calling Her Caelestis.

Also called: Tanith, Tent, Thinit, Tinnit, Rat-tanit; Tanis is the Greek version of Her name. She was called "Lady of Carthage", "Lady of the Sanctuary", and "the Face of Ba'al". The Romans called Her Dea Caelestis, "the Heavenly Goddess", Virgo Caelestis "the Heavenly Virgin", and Caelestis Afrorum Dea, "the African/Carthaginian Heavenly Goddess", as well as the assimilated name Juno Caelestis.

She was identified with Aphrodite, Demeter, and Artemis by the Greeks and with Juno by the Romans, especially their Juno Lucina, Goddess of Light and Childbirth. The Romans also associated Her with the Magna Mater, the Great Mother, Rhea or Kybele.

LILITH