Ashterot, or sometimes Ashtarot, is a dialect variation of Astarte, whose original form was the Babylonian Ishtar, and who appears in various forms in the Bible, including Ester (Esther) in the Purim story, though Ester has been carefully given an Aleph (א) instead of an Ayin (ע) to enable the link to be denied.
The Phoenicians worshipped her as Astarte, (cf 2 Kings 23:13) before she was taken to Greece. The Beney Yisra-El also worshipped her - indeed, Shelomoh (Solomon) built a shrine for her at Yeru-Shala'im which Yoshi-Yahu (Josiah) later destroyed (1 Samuel 7:3, 1 Kings 11:5/33 and 2 Kings 23:13).
The Pelishtim (Philistines) also worshipped her (1 Samuel 31:10); in their case her worship was as consort to Ba'al (Judges 2:13, 10:6, 1 Samuel 7:4 and 12:10), where elsewhere in the Hittite world Ba'al's consort was usually Anat. It is not uninteresting in the light of the Mosheh story, that the Phoenicians called themselves, not Beney Ashterot (בני עשתרת), but Abd-Astartus, which in Yehudit is rendered as Eved Ashterot (עבד עשתרת) = "slaves", or in this case "worshippers", of Astarte.
Statues of Astarte for worship are noted frequently in the Bible. See for example Judges 2:13, 10:6; 1 Samuel 7:3, 12:10 and 31:10.Note also that Ashtarot/Ashterot is spelt with an Ayin (ע) where Asherah (עשרה) is spelt with an Aleph (א); as with Ester, the alteration is deliberate, and most scholars agree that this is because the two, though they clearly amalgamated as one in some parts of the ancient world, were originally distinct and separate deities.
To the Babylonians Ishtar was primarily the planet Venus; like her Greek and Roman equivalent, she was the goddess of love and fortune. It was from this epithet that the Aramaeans and others gave her the name Asherah ("prosperity").
In Deuteronomy 7:13 "the offspring of your herds" is rendered as Ashtoret Tsoncha (עשתרת צאנך), suggesting fertility connections. This recurs in Deuteronomy 28:4.
Thus Ashterot-Karnayim means literally "the Horns of Astarte"; Tanachic references seem to indicate a town, though a twin-peaked mountain makes more aetiological sense (cf Beit-Horon and Beri'ah). If we read it as "The Horned Astarte", which is plausible, a temple or shrine would be indicated. Karnayim are twin horns, and suggest statues or temples in her honour like the famous Michelangelo "Moses" with twin horns. The Egyptian goddesses Hat-Hor, and the Greek Io (Hittite Yah) were likewise depicted with two horns, and both also served as love and fertility goddesses.
Genesis 14:5 names Ashterot-Karnayim as the place where Kedar-la-Omer (Kedarlaomer) defeated the Repha'im at the start of the War of the Kings.
Deuteronomy 1:4 notes that Mosheh defeated Og, king of Bashan, at Edrey, in the tenth month of the fortieth year of the journey through the wilderness; on the first day of the next month the repetition of the Law (Deuteronomy) began. Og, we are told in the same verse, lived at Ashtarot. Deuteronomy 1:5 sites it in Mo-Av, which is today's Transjordan.
Joshua 13:7/14 makes Bashan the land and Ashtarot a city within it; Yehoshu'a gave it to nine tribes and half-Menasheh to share.
1 Chronicles 11:44 names Uziy'a (עֻזִיָּ֖א) the Ashterati (הָעֲשְׁתְּרָתִ֑י) as one of David's thirty "gibborim" (literally "heroes", but used to mean his personal "bodyguard").
For more detail on the cult, see under ASHER and ASHERAH.
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