South Arabian fragment of a stela, depicts a reclining ibex and three Arabian oryx heads. The ibex was one of the most sacred animals in South Arabia, while the oryx antelope was associated with Athtar, 5th century BC; Walters Art Museum.
The son of
AHURA-MAZDA, he was born to foil the plans of the wicked
AHRIMAN.
The plan that most needed foiling was a rampaging three-headed dragon named AZHI-DAHAKA. This had been created specifically to create anguish, cause pain, deal out death and finally destroy the Universe.
After several million years, ATAR managed to corner the dragon and chain it to a mountain. It is still snarling, wrenching and chewing up anything that ventures within reach.
A horrible feeling prevails that the chains won’t last for another million years. Has ATAR taken early retirement?
ʿAṯtar is an ancient Semitic deity whose role, name, and even gender varied by culture.
The name appears as Attar (Aramaic), Athtar (South Arabia), Astar (Abyssinia), Ashtar (Moab), Aṯtar (Ugarit) and Ištar in Mesopotamia. In both genders, Aṯtar is identified with the planet Venus, the morning and evening star, in some manifestations of Semitic mythology. In Ugaritic mythology Aṯtar succeeds to the throne of the dead god Baal Hadad but proves inadequate. In semi-arid regions of western Asia he was sometimes worshipped as a rain god. In more southerly regions he is probably known as Dhu-Samani.[citation needed]
Attar was worshipped in Southern Arabia in pre-Islamic times. A god of war, he was often referred to as "He who is Bold in Battle". One of his symbols was the spear-point and the antelope was his sacred animal. He had power over Venus, the morning star, and was believed to provide humankind with water.
In ancient times, Arabia shared the gods of Mesopotamia, being so close to Babylon, except the genders and symbols of these deities were later swapped around. For instance, the sun god Shamash became the sun goddess Shams, and in southern Arabia Ishtar became the male storm god Athtar. Athtar was a god of the thunderstorm, dispensing natural irrigation in the form of rain. Athtar also represented fertility and water as essential to fertility. When representing water he stood not just for the act of raining itself, but rather for the useful flow of the water after the rain, in the wadi, the Arabian watercourse which is dry except in the rainy season.
ATAR FACTS AND FIGURES
Name : ATAR
Pronunciation : Coming soon
Alternative names : None known
Area or people : Persia
Location : the Middle-East
Gender : Male
Type : deity
In charge of : Heroics
God of : Hero
Celebration or Feast Day : Unknown at present
Good/Evil Rating : Unknown at present
Popularity index : 7427
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