Named for the chief goddess of the Mesopotamian pantheon and a principal goddess of the Assyrians and Babylonians. She was a goddess of love, fertility, sex and war. Not only did she rule the moon, but Ishtar owned the morning and evening stars. As the morning star, the goddess arrayed herself in armor and hitched her chariot to seven lions before setting off in the dawn to hunt animals or humans. As the evening star, she was seen as the goddess “whose song is sweeter than honey and wine, sweeter than sprouts and herbs, superior even to pure cream”. (M 29671; M 29691) _ _.