The final similarity, it seems, between the two goddesses is their part in prostitution. Astarte-Ishtar was the goddess of the “Hetaerae”, whom historians today usually define as “companions” or “courtesans” and are distinguished from the more mundane “Pornai” by the fact that the Hetaerae were well educated and they often reserved their services for a select and smaller group of clients, with whom they had longer-term relationships.
