A fact about her that most people don’t know is that Aphrodite has been widely recognized by scholars for over a century as a Hellenistic form of none other than the most famous ancient beauty. Sopotamian goddess: Ishtar, originally known as Inanna to the Sumerians. The worship of Ishtar may have been first introduced to the Greeks living on the island of Kypros by the Phoenicians in the 9th or 8th century BC. They worshiped Ishtar as "Astarte".

From there, she was eventually introduced to mainland Greece. The cult of Aphrodite had a number of unique features that were characteristic of Mesopotamia. For example, people worshiped Aphrodite with altars and incense, which is not attested to any other Greek god but was common in Mesopotamia and the Levant.

Similarly, doves were often offered to Aphrodite, unknown to other Greek gods. Dove sacrifices were the main sacrifices in the worship of Inanna/Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia. Additionally, both Aphrodite and Inanna/Ishtar are closely associated with sex, fertility, and reproduction. They all have a close connection with the sky. Ishtar was called "Queen of Heaven" and Aphrodite was called Ο?ραν?α (Ourania; "Heaven").

Like Ishtar, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and war. Although the warrior figure of Aphrodite was suppressed in later texts, the ancient Greek travel writer Pausanias (who lived between 110 and 180 AD) mentions a very ancient cult in Laconia Statue depicting Aphrodite holding a weapon. Aphrodite's sexual relationship with Ares, the native Greek god of war, is mentioned in B-line documents from 2000 BC. This may also be a relic of Aphrodite's image of the god of war. Aphrodite was also worshiped with the title ?ρε?α (Areia; "warlike").

There are also many mythological parallels between Aphrodite and Ishtar. For example, in Book 5 of the Iliad, Aphrodite rushes into battle to save her son Aeneas, who is threatened by the Greek hero Diomedes. This rescue operation resulted in her being injured, but the next scene directly follows Zeus's injury to her and she pleads for something similar to a scene from Tablet VI's The Epic of Gilgamesh in which Ishtar complains about her father Anu, Match between the two scenes with many specific details.

Similarly, the famous myth about Aphrodite and her mortal lover Adonis (a shepherd who met a tragic death) is widely believed to be the ancient Sumerian Inanna and her A direct descendant of the myth of the mortal lover Dumuzi (a shepherd who died tragically). Homer's hymn to Aphrodite was also influenced by this myth.

Above: An ancient Greek red figure vase painting depicting the Greek hero Diomedes attacking the Trojan hero Aeneas while his mother Aphrodite stands behind him