312 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babyloniahand, was adapted, though imperfectly, to Semitic modes of
thought. She took upon her the attributes of a Baal, and presided
over war as well as over love. One result of this mingling of
Semitic and Sumerian ideas was the difficulty of fitting her into
the family system of Semitic theology. She could not have a
wife, for she was a goddess; it was equally difficult to assign to
[340] her her shadow and counterpart, which was contrary to all the
preconceptions of the Semitic mind. Generally, therefore, if not
officially, she was conceived of as a virgin, or at all events as a
goddess who might indulge in amours so long as they did not lead
to regular marriage. Even Tammuz was the bridegroom rather
than the husband of her youth, and he too had been banished to
the darkness of the underground world long before Istar herself
had interfered with the affairs of men. She has been described as
the female principle corresponding with the male principle in the
world: but the description is incorrect; she was rather the male
principle in female form.
Istar at the outset was the spirit of the evening star. In days,
however, when astronomy was as yet in its infancy, the evening
and the morning stars were believed to be the same. It was only
in aftertimes that an endeavour was made to distinguish between
the Istar of the evening and the Istar of the morning. Originally
they were one and the same, the herald at once of night and day.
It was on this account that Istar was associated with Ana, the
sky. The sky was her father, for she was born from it at sunset
and dawn; and if other traditions or myths made her the daughter
of the moon-god, they were not accepted at Erech, the centre and
source of her cult.
In virtue of her origin she formed a triad with Samas and
Sin. The sun, the moon, and the evening star divided, as it
were, the heavens between them, and presided over its destinies.
They were the luminaries that regulated the seasons of the year
and determined the orderly course of the present creation. Istar
represents“the stars”of Genesis that were made with the sun and