Ishtar



ISHTAR “Ishtar was much to be feared.”— Robert E. Howard, «Black Colossus» 

Pantheon

 * Turanian Pantheon - Turanians living near Koth or Shem have also added Ishtar to their gods, calling her Yenagra.
 * Shemite Pantheon
 * Zingaran Pantheon

Regions of Worship

 * Shem
 * Koth
 * Ophir
 * Nemedia
 * Zamora
 * Khauran
 * Khoraja
 * Turan
 * Zingara

Ishtar is the ivory-bosomed goddess of Koth, Shem, Khauran and the East in general. She is also worshiped in many other lands, including some Hyborian kingdoms. The swollen breasts and belly of Ishtar appear repulsive to the more refined worshipers of Mitra.

Names & Titles
Ishtar, Earth-Mother, Shub-Niggurath, Ishnigarrab, Shupnikkurat, Beltiya (in Shushan)

Divine Relationships
Female Ishtar is the daughter of Anu and his second consort. Sister of Adonis. She is the Queen of Heaven, a goddess of fertility and war. She is also considered to be a consort of Mitra in the Zingaran pantheon. Enemies with Azoth. Ashtoreth is her hand-maiden, but in the Shemite pantheon the two can be interchangeable.

Representation
Ishtar can take any form, male and female, although she is most likely to appear as a young, voluptous woman dressed in white robes, wearing a golden crown. She is usually depicted as having wings. Ishtar wears seven articles of clothing: crown, earrings, necklaces, pins to hold her shawl, a girdle of birth-stones around her waist, bracelets and anklets, and a traditional linen garment, worn as a shawl, leaving her right breast and arm bare. Traditional Shemite dances represent these seven types of clothing as veils. As Ishtar on her descent to underworld, the dancer slowly removes each veil until the dancer is as nude as the goddess at the end of her travel.

Gender representation: female

Symbolism

 * Ram's head
 * Lion
 * Eight or Sixteen pointed star
 * The number 15

Spheres of Power

 * Earth
 * Healing
 * Fertility
 * Seduction
 * Sensuality
 * War
 * Arts
 * Magic

According to Shemites, Ishtar is the daughter of Anu and the sister of Adonis, her lover (or, in Pelishtia, the sister and lover of Pteor). She is the dominant one of the pair, sexually aggressive as befits a fertile war goddess. She is said to have been birthed full-grown from a stone cracked open by a bolt of green lighting cast by Anu on the site where Asgalun now stands.

Anu sends forth rain, his seed, to fertilise the earth at Ishtar’s bidding. In some areas of Shem, Ishtar’s handmaiden Ashtoreth (see entry) and Ishtar are identified as being the same, with both names used interchangeably.

Rituals & Beliefs
Ishtar is a goddess of sexuality, because sexuality governs human behavior (as her priests believe).

Magic, often in the form of charms and celestial horoscopes, and divination are important aspects of her religion, practiced in the courts of Shem. Law, in lands watched over by Ishtar is a form of magic, and the breaking of laws is tantamount to sacrilege. Thus the priests and priestesses of Ishtar work with the kings and queens of Shem, training people to follow the law of their rulers as a religious duty.

Ishtar, the ancient Mother Goddess, is worshipped in rich temples and at lavish shrines with rituals of blood sacrifice and orgiastic frenzy performed before sensuously carved idols of ivory. For those who serve her, Ishtar bestows bountiful harvests and many children in exchange for sacrifice. The voluptous temple prostitutes which are found in Ishtar's temples are well known even outside the lands where the goddess is worshipped. Ishtar’s statues are approached in the nude. Wearing clothes is tantamount to lying or deceiving in her eyes.

Her rites are conducted as languid orgies. Temples have bright decorations, statues are often dressed and painted depending on the ritual needs. Although Ishtar does not ask for human sacrifices, animal sacrifices are often part of her fertility rituals. If the various rituals of Ishtar are not followed, the worshippers fear that crops will wither and the urge to mate by man or beast will dwindle away. Birth of hideously deformed children, as well as drought, are regarded as bad omens from Ishtar.

The Priesthood
Ishtar has both male and female priests. Their ceremonies include the blood sacrifice of animals. The priestess is believed to embody Ishtar during certain sensual rituals; sacred prostitutes aid in the rituals. The priests of Ishtar represent her sons and lovers. If a woman is believed to be infertile, the priests attempt to impregnate her, giving her a divinely-blessed child. In some regions, Ishtar, his second consort and his daughter, is called upon to bring forth Anu’s seed in the form of rain to fertilise the earth. This is often done with a public sexual ritual between the high priest of Anu and the high priestess of Ishtar.

Implementation IC & In-Game
Vanilla Derketo religion as placeholder for pantheon of Shem.

More Information

 * hyboria.xoth.net
 * Faith and Fervour (Conan RPG Book)
 * Shem-Gateway to the South (Conan RPG book)