of
Civilisation_, p. 104 ff.; Breasted, _History of Egypt_, p.
56.; Steindorff, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, p.
29).

[1306] Cf. article "Astarte" (by Ed. Meyer) in Roscher,
_Lexikon_.

[1307] For the cuneiform material see Delitzsch,
_Assyrisches Handwoerterbuch_, and, for various etymologies
proposed for the name, Barton, _Semitic Origins_, p. 102
ff.; Haupt, in _Journal of the American Oriental Society_,
xxviii, 112 ff.; Barton, ibid., xxxi, 355 ff. The frequent
expression _ilani u ishtarati_, 'gods and goddesses,'
suggests that the original sense of _ishtar_ is simply 'a
deity'; it is not probable that a proper name would become a
common noun and have a plural; cf. the treatment of the
title _ilu_, 'a god.'

[1308] As the title _bel_, 'lord,' became the proper name of
a particular god, so the title _ishtar_, 'mistress,' 'lady,'
might become the proper name of a particular goddess; in
neither case is the detailed history of the process known to
us.

[1309] They were probably local "lords"; in Moab Ashtar was
combined with a deity called Kemosh, of whom nothing is
known except that he was a Moabite national god (cf. G. F.
Moore, article "Chemosh" in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_). For a
different view of Ashtar and Athtar see Barton, _Semitic
Origins_, Index, s.vv. _Chemosh_, _Athtar_; he regards these
deities as transformations of the mother-goddess Ashtart.

[1310] Baethgen, _Beitraege zur semitischen
Religionsgeschichte_, p. 66 ff.; Jeremias, "Syrien und
Phoenizien" (in Saussaye's _Lehrbuch der
Religionsgeschichte_).

[1311] Rawlinson, _History of Phoenicia_; Pietschmann,
_Geschichte der Phoenizier_; Jeremias, op. cit.

[1312] Article "Esmun" in Roscher's _Lexikon_; article in
_Orientalische Studien Noeldeke gewidmet_. Of the vague group
known as the Kabiri (the 'great ones,' seven in number, with
Eshmun as eighth) we have little information; on the
diffusion of their cult in Grecian lands see Roscher, op.
cit., article "Megaloi Theoi."

[1313] Wellhausen, _Reste arabischen Heidentumes_, pp. 21
ff., 45 ff.; W. R. Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early
Arabia_, chap. vi, note 8; chap. viii, note 2; article
"Dusares" in the _Anthropological Essays presented to F. W.
Putnam_.

[1314] Mordmann, _Himyarische Inschriften_; Mordmann and
Mueller, _Sabaeische Denkmaeler_; Barton, _Semitic Origins_, p.
127 ff.