In his book titled, Phoenicians, author Glenn Markoe states that Phoenician culture had its “remnants in contemporary religions practiced around the Mediterranean.” During pagan times, the deity by the name of Astarte, which according to Markoe was “the most important Phoenician goddess”, would be worshiped with public processions. Astarte was one of the most important figures in all of the ancient Mediterranean civilizations, including the Greeks and the Romans. According to author Joscelyn Godwin in her work entitled, Mystery Religions in the Ancient World, the alluring Astarte may owe several of her attributes to the deity Ishtar, originally from Mesopotamian as the resemblance in their names suggests. Like Ishtar, Astarte seems to have
