ASHTAROTH, ASTAROTH

ASH'TAROTH, AS'TAROTH. 1. A city of Bashan, east of the Jordan, Deut 1:4; Josh 9:10; Josh 13:31; the same as Beesh-terah, Josh 21:27; probably Tell-Ashterah, in Jaulan. (Ashtoreth, sing.; Ashtaroth, plur. and more usual.) An idol, represented in the subjoined cut, Jud 2:13; called the goddess of the Sidonians. It was much worshipped in Syria and Phoenicia. Solomon introduced the worship of it. 1 Kgs 11:33. The Greeks and Romans called it Astarte. The four hundred priests of Jezebel, mentioned 1 Kgs 18:19, are supposed to have been employed in the service of this idol; and we are told that under this name Figure of Astarte. (Rawlinson's "Herodotus.") three hundred priests were constantly employed in its service at Hierapolis, in Syria, many centuries after Jezebel's time. - The worship of Ashtoreth was suppressed by Josiah. It was simply licentiousness under the guise of religion. The goddess was called the "queen of heaven," and the worship was said to be paid to the ''host of heaven." It is usually mentioned in connection with Baal. Baal and Ashtoreth are taken by many scholars as standing for the sun and the moon respectively; by others as representing the male and female powers of reproduction. Asherah, which is translated in the Authorized Version "grove," was an idol-symbol of the goddess, probably a wooden pillar.