Astarte

In Interpreting Ancient Egyptian Narratives, Martin Pehal applies structural analysis to four New Kingdom narrative compositions. The study explains the strong configurational character of ancient Egyptian (mythological) thought which has the ability to connect various ontological levels of human experience with the surrounding world into complex synchronic structures. These symbolical systems are shown to be mediating between the various cultural paradoxes which were inherent to ancient Egyptian society. Axial role in this process is attributed to the institution of positional kingship represented by the Pharaoh. Its transformative function is also put into relation to the special status of female characters who are shown to play the part of the “powerful powerless ones” further personifying the aspects of the mediating function of myth. Gradually, the study outlines a genuinely Egyptian “structural net” of basic mythemes and explains in what way it was possible for such a system to change and incorporate foreign mythological motifs especially from the Near East.

ABSTRACT Adopting a revisionist disposition and following an interdisciplinary pattern of analysis, this paper attempts to unstigmatize the female profile in the double work Astarte Syriaca (1875-77), often deviously regarded as allusive to evil or to the pagan harlot depicted in section 17:5 from the Book of Revelation. Our inquiries seek to demonstrate that the goddess rendered by Rossetti functions as a positive representation of the mysteric forces bound to sexual intercourse. We will also specify that the painter-poet employed a set of biblical and classical references other than the aforementioned volume as a legitimizing apparatus which would serve his own creative and programmatic tenets: it is within this scheme that the Rossettian woman proves a primary nodal entity allowing the aesthetic message to gather full meaning. KEY WORDS: Women studies, Pre-Raphaelitism, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Jane Morris, Astarte. 06 Jose María M. Villar.pmd 24/01/2008, 11:35 91

Devotion to the goddess Tanit/Tinnit, a permutation of Astarte, took place in Mediterranean cave sanctuaries and on Phoenician ships. Employing both material and textual evidence, it is argued that her worship at sea and at port required a degree of religious competency of seamen that served as crew and combatants on trading vessels and military vessels, respectively. With the Phoenician priesthood centered in cities, coastal inhabitants would have depended on part-time officiants to supervise and perform certain rites. Reasons for the lack of mention in the literature of this non-elite class are proposed.

Zum Geleit (Preface to Wd0 43/2)
Die Herausgeber der „Welt des Orients“ freuen sich, dass mit dem vorliegenden Faszikel über „Permutations of Astarte“ nach WdO 40/2 (2010) bereits das zweite Themenheft der WdO erscheinen kann. Anders als das Themenheft von 2010 (Excavations at Qubur al-Walaydah, 2007–2009) ist das vorliegende Heft religionsgeschichtlich ausgerichtet. Unser Dank gilt
den Herausgebern des Themenheftes Prof. Dr. Mark Christian (Nashville) und Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Schmitt (Münster) für die Zusammenarbeit sowie dem Verlag, vertreten durch seinen LektorHerrn Jörg Persch und Frau Friederike Lonz, für die Unterstützung bei der Realisierung des Heftes.

Mainz, Heidelberg, Berlin undWürzburg am 1. Oktober 2013
Sebastian Grätz, Joachim Friedrich Quack, Bernd U. Schipper
und Daniel Schwemer
DieWelt des Orients, 43. Jahrgang, S. 149, ISSN 0043-2547
© 2013 Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen
"""

The planet Venus has been linked to more than one deity in the Near East, starting at least from the IV millennium B.C. onwards. The Sumerians and most of the ancient Semitic peoples possessed a Venus deity. It turns out that all these deities were interrelated and underwent, during the course of the time, a process of fusion and intermingling of the respective characteristics. Over the time, this led to the birth of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

Tout le monde a entendu ou lu l’expression Allah Akbar que l’on nomme Takbir et que les musulmans prononcent habituellement et en toutes occasions, pour exprimer la grandeur de Dieu, durant la prière, l’émerveillement ou encore par les terroristes islamistes avant de perpétrer un attentat. D’où vient alors cette expression ? De quand date-t-elle ? Que veut-elle dire ? et que recouvre-t-elle ? Il n’est pas facile de répondre à ces questions, car il n’existe pas beaucoup d’écrits sur ce sujet. On peut déjà essayer de la définir et ce que l’on peut dire à ce stade, c’est qu’elle ne signifie pas Dieu est grand ni que Dieu est le plus grand. Elle signifie littéralement : Dieu est plus grand. Si l’on s’en tient à cette définition littérale, on s’aperçoit qu’il manque un bout de phrase et que de ce fait, une autre question se pose : plus grand que qui ? plus grand que quoi ? on peut faire une autre remarque : Allah Akbar pourrait être Allah wa Kobar et là les choses changent. Qui est Kobar ? A quoi le mot faisait référence ?

C’est donc dans les origines de cette expression qu’il faudra chercher des éléments d’explications, à travers les rares écrits concernant les premiers temps de l’islam. Le premier auteur qui a décrit cette période est un théologien chrétien, du nom de Jean Damascène (676-749) qui a vécu au cœur même du système Ommeyade et qui a participé à sa gestion, puisqu’il fut le percepteur de l’impôt de la Jizya que les chrétiens et les juifs devaient acquitter auprès de l’administration fiscale du califat, une sorte de ministre des finances. Il fut donc un acteur privilégié et bien placé pour observer et décrire de l’intérieur, les rouages des débuts de l’islam. D’autres auteurs byzantins, qui ont succédé à Jean Damascène retiendront notre attention et seront évoqués pour tenter d’éclairer le sens de cette expression. Enfin, notre contribution s’attardera sur le mot Kobar  et son rapport avec le culte des peuples du Moyen-Orient et du bassin méditerranéen.

By the end of the Roman Republic the goddess Venus was one of Rome’s most prominent deities: patron goddess of Sulla and Pompey, divine ancestress of Caesar, and after Jupiter the deity with the largest number of sanctuaries within the city of Rome. The enormous success of Venus is often explained with her role as mother of Aeneas, who became increasingly important through the Romans’ intensifying contact with the Greek world during the second century B.C.E. However, Roman Venus possessed qualities which do not correspond with those of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite. Apart from being connected to love and sexuality, she displays healing powers which link her to Italic goddesses such as Mefitis, Cloacina or Libitina, as well as a quite belligerent character. The latter becomes particularly evident in her first temples in Rome: according to Servius, the first was vowed to Venus Obsequens by Q. Fabius Maximus in thanks of her support during the Samnite Wars; the second was dedicated after the Romans had lost the Battle at Lake Trasimene and the Sibylline oracle recommended the importation of Venus Erycina, a temple which was erected in the centre of Rome, on the Capitoline hill.
This paper seeks to explore these very different traits of Roman Venus in Republican times, trying to explain her complexity by analysing not only Greek and Etruscan, but also Italic and Near Eastern influences which may lead to a better understanding of this powerful Roman goddess who was by no means a mere “goddess of love”.

En este artículo se presentan y comentan dos recientes noticias [de 2006] a propósito de los resultados de las últimas excavaciones en este emblemático yacimiento sevillano, verdadero "buque-insignia" de una civilización "tartésica", que resulta ser menos conocida y segura de lo que se cree. En El Carambolo, como ya se apuntó hace unos años desde diversos ámbitos, habría simplemente --pero nada menos-- un santuario fenicio a una de sus principales divinidades, Astarté. Esto era en fin de cuentas lo más esperable, debido a la dedicatoria de la famosa estatuilla asociada al yacimiento, que estaba escrita en fenicio. Una idea más racional y lógica, pero que fue arrumbada durante décadas a causa de la preferencia --muy del Franquismo-- de los mitos nacionales, que en este caso "lo tartésico" satisfacía mejor. Ante las nuevas evidencias arqueológicas, los "tartesiólogos" tradicionales tienen ahora (o desde hace casi 15 años, sería mejor decir) una nueva tarea por delante: aceptar o rechazar estos nuevos resultados y, en caso de aceptación, ver cómo encajan en el nuevo panorama lo que hasta ahora han creído, publicado y enseñado. Como actualizaciones se apuntan e ilustran las nuevas hipótesis (2011-2017) acerca de quiénes (o más bien cuáles) serían  los insólitos usuarios de tan rico tesoro áureo: vacas y toros destinados al sacrificio ritual, así como el reciente análisis físico-químico de una de las joyas (su oro es de procedencia local), las hipótesis celtistas de J.T. Koch, y una noticia fresca de El País (12-1-2020) sobre el triste estado de abandono en el que la Junta de Andalucía tiene (una vez más) el yacimiento.

Lions, wolves, bulls, horses, deer, birds, serpents, sphinxes, griffins, exvotes, offerings and representations of divinity were represented in stone, clay, gold and silver by protohistoric jewelers and sculptors. Their finding in different places of the Northern Oretania allows an approach to the Iberian Cosmogony, where these images were endowed of a strong symbolic power. Shrines and worships places have been described in recent literature. This paper presents a review of sites and sacred icons of northern Oretania, the description of new findings and the reinterpretation of other known.

Conjunto de amuletos fencio-púnicos con figuraciones de Astarté y de Horus/halcón junto con dos escarabeos supuestamente localizados en el núcleo urbano de Mago/Maó, calle de Santa Caterina, aunque falta información sobre este hallazgo de carácter excepcional en la isla de Menorca

RESUMEN: La fundación de Cartago se engloba dentro de la colonización o movimiento migratorio fenicio por el Mediterráneo Occidental y Central. Cartago es la única ciudad fenicia con una leyenda fundacional, pero las únicas menciones que se nos han transmitido es bajo las fuentes clásicas. Así pues, la leyenda fundacional tiene elementos que mezclan lo verídico del contexto político de la ciudad de Tiro con elementos religiosos o rituales típicos del mundo fenicio-púnico. En el relato de Justino aparecen dos de las principales divinidades fenicias, Melqart y Astarté que participan indirectamente, a través de ciertas prácticas realizadas. Por lo tanto en el siguiente artículo se tratará el contexto político y religioso de Tiro, del movimiento migratorio fenicio y como se explica el relato fundacional con ciertas prácticas rituales dentro del mundo fenicio. ABSTRACT: The foundation of Cartago is included within the colonization or Phoenician migratory movement by the Western and Central Mediterranean. Cartago is the only Phoenician city with a foundational legend, but the only mentions that have been transmitted to us are under classical sources. Thus, the founding legend has elements that mix the truth of the political context of the city of Tire with religious elements or rituals typical of the Phoenician-Punic world. In the story of Justin appear two of the main Phoenician deities, Melqart and Astarte that participate indirectly, through certain practices. Therefore, the following article will discuss the political and religious context of Tire, the Phoenician migratory movement and how the foundational story is explained with certain ritual practices within the Phoenician world.

In this essay a clay figurine of a so-called "dea gravida" (pregnant goddess) from Achziv, dating to the 8 th-7 th century BC and preserved in the Museum of the Near East Egypt and Mediterranean of Sapienza University of Rome, is presented, and analyzed in relation to the context of the discovery and to other specimens from the same site and from the Phoenicia, investigating the cult and the rites connected to such a kind of artifacts.

Im vorliegenden Aufsatz wird der phönizisch-punische kultische Ausdruck, mqm ʾlm mtrḥ ʿštrny, gemeinhin als Andeutung eines hohen priesterlichen Amtes verstanden, behandelt. Im Besonderen erhält das dritte Wort mtrḥ eine neue Deutung, wobei dann der gesamte Ausdruck als der priesterliche Agent verantwortlich sowohl für das rituelle Beweinen wie auch die vorgestellte Vergöttlichung eines Liebhabers der Aschtarte verstanden wird, also als ein Hinweis der „Adonis“-Legende in phönizisch-punischer Überlieferung.

Part V of Odysseus' Second Voyage  from Kirke to Ithaka.
Identification Scheria of the Phaeacans as Lanzarote, Canaries, with their Faycáns, on basis of courses, wind directions, distances, surroundings, double harbour, flora and fauna, customs and habits, relative position.

A photo essay on the abundant attestation of the Lion-Throned Goddess in ancient Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Canaan/Israel/Palestine. Phoenician scarabs and  stone thrones, Canaanite ivories, the Lady of Galera.  Cherubim and the Mercy Seat in the Bible.

In May 27-29 1996 the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem hosted the symposion "Capital Cities: Urban Planning and Spiritual Dimensions". It accompanied the exhibition "City of the Bible" held in the same museum. This article features the results of excavations of the royal horse stables (Site QIV) of Piramesses, Capital of Ramesside Egypt, which is situated in the vicinity of and beneath the modern settlement Qantir, approximately 100 km north of Cairo and 80 km west of Ismaelia on the Suez Canal. Piramesses is believed to be identical with the biblical city "Ramesses", due to the Holy Scripture the starting point of the Exodus.

La présente contribution présente une stèle inédite déposée près de l’entrée principale de la casbah qui domine la ville d’El Kef, l’antique Sicca Veneria, en Tunisie centrale occidentale. Il s’agit d’une stèle punique tardive, datable entre le ier s. av. J.-C. et la première moitié du suivant, caractérisée par une scène de banquet entre deux personnages assis, probablement divins ; son iconographie constitue un unicum dans l’Occident punique et punique tardif, tant par ses thèmes que par son exécution, et renvoie à des éléments et des concepts de lointaine origine proche-orientale

Il contributo è dedicato alla presentazione di una stele inedita deposta accanto all’ingresso principale della kasbah che domina la città di El Kef, antica Sicca Veneria, in Tunisia centro-occidentale. Si tratta di una stele tardo punica databile tra il I secolo a.C. e la prima metà del secolo successivo caratterizzata da una scena di banchetto tra due personaggi seduti, solo probabilmente divini; tale iconografia costituisce un unicum nell’Occidente punico e tardo punico tanto per la tematica quanto per la resa e rimanda a elementi e concezioni di antica origine vicino orientale.

Grazie allo studio sulla ceramica inscritta rinvenuta nel santuario dell'Astarte di Malta, si analizzano le tipologie ceramiche e le morfologie dei recipienti utilizzati nel santuario, avanzando una ricostruire sulla provenienza di alcune argille utilizzate per la produzione degli stessi e sui rituali utilizzati, mediante anche il raffronto con lo studio avanzato da altri studiosi.

During the XXV season of excavations carried out by Rome «La Sapienza» University Expedition to Motya, a terracotta mould was found in the Sacred Area of the Kothon. The mould shows a quarter of a silenus bringing the handle of a vase. The iconographic analysis and the stylistic parallels allow to date the mould and to set it in the cultural context of Motya. The iconological analysis suggests the possible relations between the subject of the mould and the deities worshipped in the Sacred Area of the Kothon.

In this paper I try to offer a general overview about Greek and Roman numismatic iconography concerning Oriental Religions. I will pay special attention to the representation of Egyptian Gods and, in particular, to Ammon iconography in hellenistic and imperial coins.

SUMMARY: Lecture 12 discusses the end of Early Minoan period, the rise of Middle Minoan period, and the emergence of palace centres on Crete. This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I provide copies privately).  I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies.  For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the materials were extracted (see syllabus), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders).  The lecture summarizes the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), adding in other data, and furnishing numerous images to clarify information encountered within the textbook(s).  Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily).  I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years.  I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture alongside some of the key sources used for compiling the ppt.  Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture.  These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well.  My apologies for any errors I may have made, and my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources. REVISED: Feb., 2024: Some new formatting, revised text, images, etc.

The papers in this special edition of WdO were coedited by  Rüdiger Schmitt and myself. First presented to the Expressions of Religion in Israel section (M. Christian, chair) of the International Society of Biblical Literature meeting in Amsterdam, July 2012,  the theme was "Permutations of Astarte in Israelite and Mediterranean Religions."
(The theme for the 2011 London meeting had been "The Dark Side of the Gods.")

German preface to this edition of WdO.

Die Herausgeber der „Welt des Orients“ freuen sich, dass mit dem vorliegenden Faszikel über „Permutations of Astarte“ nach WdO 40/2 (2010) bereits das zweite Themenheft der WdO erscheinen kann. Anders als das Themenheft von 2010 (Excavations at Qubur al-Walaydah, 2007–2009) ist das vorliegende Heft religionsgeschichtlich ausgerichtet. Unser Dank gilt
den Herausgebern des Themenheftes Prof. Dr. Mark Christian (Nashville) und Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Schmitt (Münster) für die Zusammenarbeit sowie dem Verlag, vertreten durch seinen LektorHerrn Jörg Persch und Frau Friederike Lonz, für die Unterstützung bei der Realisierung des Heftes.

Mainz, Heidelberg, Berlin undWürzburg am 1. Oktober 2013
Sebastian Grätz, Joachim Friedrich Quack, Bernd U. Schipper
und Daniel Schwemer DieWelt des Orients, 43. Jahrgang, S. 149, ISSN 0043-2547 © 2013 Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen

http://www.v-r.de/en/warenkorb-0-0/download.html?typ=abo&artikel_id=2000014153&artikel_typ=KZ""""

In Near Eastern texts, mention is made of a goddess ‘ttrt ḫr/‘štrt ḥr which is sometimes rendered as the “Hurrian Astarte.” Until now, the second element * ḫr* has not been satisfactorily explained. In this article, a new etymology of the latter word is proffered
and this manifestation of the goddess Astarte is then associated with  Ἀφροδίτης λιµνησία “Aphrodite of the salt marshes.” It would then seem that this avatar of this Greek maritime goddess was borrowed from the Semitic world.

A well-known statue of enthroned goddess from Soluntum might be seen as an example of the persistence of ancient oriental iconography in Hellenistic Sicily. Although in 1831 the finding spot of the statue was clearly indicated by its discoverer, in the 20th  century this datum was forgotten. Scholars suggested that the statue could come from a different place, where the archaic town of Soluntum originally rose. Nowadays the discovery of the statue in a shrine of Hellenistic Soluntum is generally accepted. For reconciling the dating with the finding spot, scholars argue that the simulacrum had been moved to the new Hellenistic city after the destruction of archaic Soluntum.
This paper a) suggests a new hypothesis about the statue; b) underlines some new aspects of the finding spot;  c) proposes a new dating of the enthroned goddess from Soluntum, by introducing it in the Punic context of the Hellenistic age.

Contents:

1. SCIENCE AND SCRIPTURE: 2
1.1  How to resolve contradictions 2
1.2  Why astronomy might be concealed in the Bible 3
1.3  Some key terms to understand of following text 3
2. DECIPHERING BIBLICAL CALENDARS 4
2.1 Three sons of Noah and three seasons of the year 4
2.2 Twelve sons of Jacob and the zodiac 4
2. THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND THE EXPULSION FROM THE PARADISE: 5
    When did it occur and what does it mean? 5
3.1 Primordial Heaven 5
3.2 What happened on the 6th of October 3760 BCE? 5
3.3 What might Eden symbolize? 6
3.4 The meaning of Cain-Abel story 7
3. THE GLOBAL FLOOD AND THE BABEL TOWER: 7
    Where and when were they? 7
4.1 The centuries-old enigma of the Great Deluge 7
4.2 The Babel Tower is found 8
5. THE AGE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE PATRIARCHS: 9
    Precise astronomy, synchronization with neighbors, and the Santorini volcano eruption 9
5.1 Why did the Patriarchs live so long? 9
5.2  Contemporaries of Patriarchs in the neighboring 9
5.3  Seven years of famine after the Santorini eruption 400 years before the Exodus 10
6. REALITY OF THE EXODUS: 10
    From the Plagues of Egypt to the capture of Jericho 10
6.1 The pharaoh of the oppression and the pharaoh of the Exodus 10
6.2  The Egyptian evidence of Moses? 11
6.3  The Biblical evidence of Merneptah? 11
6.4  Forty years from the Egyptian darkness to the eclipse of lunar Jericho: a chronological      key ……………………………………………………………………………..…….…………. 11
7. JUDGES, KINGS, AND PROPHETS 12
    The standing sun, the fiery chariot, the sky circles 12
7.1 When the sun and the moon stood and stones were falling from the heaven 12
7.2  Samson the hero among other Judges 12
7.3  Precise chronology of the first kings Saul, David, and Solomon 12
7.4  The celestial fiery chariot of Elias 13
7.5  Ezekiel the astronomer, a predecessor of Pythagoras 13
7.6. Daniel’s astronomy 14
8.      THE CELESTIAL SIGNS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 14
8.1 Sky symbols of Jesus Christ and the Apostles 14
8.2 Heavenly Signs in the Book of Revelation: 15
9. APOCRYPHICAL BOOKS OF ENOCH: 16
    Manuals of Megalithic Astronomy 16
9.1  What are these books? 16
9.2  Megalithic Observatory 17
9.3  1 Enoch: The Length of Day and Latitude 17
9.4  2 Enoch: Shift of the Sunrise Point and Latitude 18
9.5  The Seasonal Stars 19
9.6  The circumpolar Constellations 19

El reciente hallazgo en el mes de Junio de 2020, en la calle San Juan nº37-39 de Cádiz (en el local de la conocida como "Cueva del Pájaro Azul") de estructuras portuarias fenicias, abre sin duda nuevas horizontes en la perspectiva de la disposición espacial de la antigua ciudad de Gadir. En este trabajo y basándonos en la información que se puede recoger hasta el momento en la prensa, aportamos varias conjeturas en esa perspectiva de la ciudad.

Abstract: The recent discovery in June 2020, at 37-39 of San Juan street in Cadiz (in the premises of the so-called Blue Bird Cave) of an ancient phoenician harbour, undoubtedly opens new horizons in the perspective of the spatial arrangement of the ancient city of Gadir. In this work and based on the information that can be collected so far in the wordpress, we provide several conjectures in that perspective of the city of Cadiz.

IERODULIA A FUMETTI-Scene di vita dal tempio di Astarte Ericina Nel 2020 Entertainment Game Apps, Ltd. ha chiesto a The Phoenicians Aps di rappresentare la cultura fenicia per promuovere Mediterranean, un videogioco culturale sviluppato sulle rotte dei Fenici, all'interno del progetto europeo Trames, per avvicinare i giovani alla storia, realizzato dalla Entertainment Game Apps.

Il mondo meditarraneo antico conobbe, oltre all'iside faraonica ed all'Iside greco-alessandrina, anche un iside semitizzata nata dal sincretismo, avvenuto a menfi pre-tolemaica, fra Iside-Hathor Egizia ed Astarte cananea.
Il commercio semitico( Fenici, Siriani, Ciprioti, Cartaginesi) attraverso la diffusione degli Aegyptiaca, trasmise la  materna figura di Iside Semitizzata attivando nei vari siti religiosi mediterranei nuovi sincretismi con le Dee-Madri locali.

This article has as main argument the research focused on Carambolo Hoard, a liturgic ensemble belonging to the sanctuary of El Carambolo - Tarteso-  (Museo Arqueológico de Seville collection) and its iconographic interpretation. The work has been developed with Concepción Sanmartín - co-author- (Head of Conservation and Research of Archaeological Museum of Seville).

This paper sets out to explore the modes and effects of the interaction between Greek and non-Greek polytheistic religious cultures through the case study of Hellenistic Delos, an insular melting pot in the middle of the Aegean. Sculptural and epigraphical documents from this island attest to combinations of deities of different cultures at cult places, religious ceremonies, and ritual acts such as dedications. This multicultural religious system arises from the acceptance and worship of foreign gods, recognized as different from Greek deities, as much as from the establishment of identifications or equations between Greek and non-Greek gods, a phenomenon conceptualized in modern scholarship as interpretatio or religious translation. From the "Lived Ancient Religion" approach, I shall inquiry into the Delian worshippers' understandings of the nature of the relations between gods of different cultures, who either came to be worship together within a cult place or at a ritual moment, or else were identified through processes of religious translation; these are different modes of multicultural divine combinations. Regarding the first situation, one should wonder why, by whom, and how cross-cultural divine associations were set up in religious practice. As for divine identifications established through interpretatio, the question arises whether gods of different peoples were perceived as identical (the same gods, although differently named and celebrated with distinct rituals), or as separate but comparable supernatural beings. I shall also deal with the problem of "syncretism". As has been theorized in the scholarly literature, for a religious phenomenon to be qualified as a "syncretism", the outcome of a meeting between two initially foreign ingredients should be a new entity with distinctive characteristics coexisting with the original distinct parts. Therefore, the question is whether the association of deities of different cultures within the Delian context resulted in wholly new syncretic gods and cults.

The Atlantic Coastal Plain has long been recognized as a natural laboratory useful for testing hypotheses surrounding the environmental and ecological effects on marine fauna. To conduct these studies in a rigorous manner, a reliable taxonomy must be established for the organisms within this physiographic province. In this study, we focus on the bivalve genus Astarte, which is commonly found in this region, and has many formally recognized species. We test between two competing hypotheses for the unusually high species richness of this genus: 1) taxonomy-the presence of discrete morphotypes represent valid species within this genus; and, 2) ecology-the many recognized 'species' in this genus in fact represent ecophenotypic variants of a smaller number of species, and thus richness is inflated. We test between these two hypotheses using a geometric morphometric analysis of landmarks placed on 646 shells, representing six different taxa from the Pliocene of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. We performed Procrustes transformation and Principle Components Analysis (PCA) on landmark data, allometric residuals, and outline harmonics to fully understand the variability of morphologies present. All PCA results show large amounts of overlap between all species. It is likely some of these species are valid taxonomic groups within the genus but should be classified as sub-species instead of separate species. These results provide strong support for our 'ecology' hypothesis, and suggests the genus Astarte needs revision. Future studies incorporating detailed sedimentological characteristics or ecological information (e.g., drilling frequency) will further elucidate palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental drivers of ecophenotypic variation present in this genus. Further, the accurate identification of fossil species has important implications for our ability to reconstruct biodiversity trends in relation to the emergence of the Central American Isthmus and subsequent changes in ocean circulation.