Ishtar, her ‘strength’ and her iconographic proposal

Authors

  • Valeria degli Abbati Università di Roma ‘Sapienza’

Keywords:

Ishtar, Late Bronze Age

Abstract

A naked goddess with crossed legs is depicted on some Near Eastern artefacts, mostly cylinder seals and seal impressions, dated for the largest part to the Late Bronze Age. Although there are many different and interesting interpretations of this character, here I would propose that this rare iconography may be the representation of the hypostasis of Ishtar named Agushaja and known from her own myth written during the Reign of Hammurabi of Babylon. 

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Published

07/05/2025

How to Cite

degli Abbati , V. (2025). Ishtar, her ‘strength’ and her iconographic proposal. Ash-Sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East – Archaeological, Historical and Societal Studies, 9(1), 173–203. Retrieved from https://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/ash-sharq/article/view/3181

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