text: ʿAṯtar is a deity whose role, name, and even gender varied across ancient Semitic religion. In both genders, ʿAṯtar is identified with the planet Venus, the morning and evening star. ʿAṯtar is a prominent character in the Baal Cycle.
  Name
  The name appears in various Semitic languages as:
  the feminine form  () in Akkadian;
  the masculine form  (, ) in Arabic;
  and the masculine form  () in Ethiosemitic.
  Attestations
  Among Amorites
  At Ugarit
  The Ugaritic masculine variant of ʿAṯtar,  (), appears in the Baʿal Cycle.
  The Northwest Semitic feminine form of ʿAṯtar, the Great Goddess  (), is often mentioned in Ugaritic ritual texts, but played a minor role in mythological texts.
  Among Aramaeans
  Among the Aramaeans, ʿAṯtar appears in a masculine form as the god  (), in which capacity he was identified with the baetyl as  (, ).
  Within the ancient Aramaean religion, the deceased ancestors of the clans, called , were worshipped as idealised figures who could become assimilated to ʿAttar, as evidenced by personal names such as   (, ), and  and  (, ).