Star of Ishtar
The Star of Ishtar or Star of Inanna is a Mesopotamian symbol of the ancient
Ishtar. The owl was also one of Ishtar's primary symbols. Ishtar is mostly associated with the planet Venus
, which is also known as the morning star.
History
The star of Inanna usually had
East Semitic counterpart.[1] It seems to have originally borne a general association with the heavens,[1] but, by the Old Babylonian Period, it had come to be specifically associated with the planet Venus, with which Ishtar was identified.[1] Starting during this same period, the star of Ishtar was normally enclosed within a circular disc.[3]
During later times, slaves who worked in Ishtar's temples were sometimes branded with the seal of the eight-pointed star.cylinder seals, the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown alongside the crescent moon, which was the symbol of Sin, god of the Moon, and the rayed solar disk, which was a symbol of Shamash, the god of the Sun.[4][2]
The
Aššur was adorned with numerous rosettes.[5]
Flag of Iraq
-
Flag of Iraq 1959–1963 with the star of Ishtar in the middle -
Emblem of Iraq 1959-1965, during nationalistQasim, based on the ancient symbols of Shamashand Ishtar, and avoided pan-Arab symbolism.
.svg)
.svg)
In Arabic, the symbol is known as (
Arabic: نجمة عشتار, romanized
: najmat eshtar). The stars of Ishtar and Shamash featured on the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq from 1932 to 1959.
A simplified version with red rays and a yellow centre was incorporated into the
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Black & Green 1992, pp. 169–170.
- ^ a b Liungman 2004, p. 228.
- ^ a b c Black & Green 1992, p. 170.
- ^ Gressmann & Obermann 1928, p. 81.
- ^ a b Black & Green 1992, p. 156.
- ^ Black & Green 1992, pp. 156–157.
- ^ Symes, Peter (March 2005). "The First Banknotes of the Central Bank of Iraq". www.pjsymes.com.au. Archived from the original on 2023-06-20. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
- ^ Dawisha, Adeed (January 2003). "Requiem for Arab Nationalism". Middle East Quarterly.
- ^ Amatzia Baram, "Mesopotamian Identity in Ba'thi Iraq," Middle Eastern Studies, Oct. 1983, p. 427.
Bibliography
- Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum Press, ISBN 0-7141-1705-6
- Collins, Paul (1994), "The Sumerian Goddess Inanna (3400-2200 BC)", Papers of from the Institute of Archaeology, vol. 5, UCL
- Gressmann, Hugo; Obermann, Julian (1928), The Tower of Babel, Jewish Institute of Religion Press, p. 81
- Liungman, Carl G. (2004), Symbols: Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms, Lidingö, Sweden: HME Publishing, ISBN 978-9197270502
External links
Media related to Star of Ishtar at Wikimedia Commons