Ashtoreth

Ashtoreth (plural Ashtaroth) was the principal female deity of the Phoenicians, corresponding to the Babylonian Ishtar and the Greek Aphrodite/Astarte. As the goddess of love, fertility, and war, she represented the passive principle of nature in contrast to the sun-god Baal. She was worshipped at high places with rituals associated with sexual immorality. Solomon, influenced by his foreign wives, built a high place for Ashtoreth of the Sidonians (1 Kings 11:5, 33), an apostasy that contributed to the division of the kingdom.

Israel's repeated turn to the Ashtaroth—always linked with Baal worship—is a recurring theme of the book of Judges, marking cycles of apostasy and divine discipline. The prophets condemned the cult as fundamental betrayal of covenant loyalty.