Astarte

Astarte or Ashtoreth (Greek: Ἀστάρτη, Astártē) is the Hellenized form of the Middle Eastern goddess Ishtar, worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name is particularly associated with her worship in the ancient Levant among the Canaanites and Phoenicians. She was also celebrated in Egypt following the importation of Levantine cults there. The name Astarte is sometimes also applied to her cults in Mesopotamian cultures like Assyria and Babylonia.

Name

Astarte is one of a number of names associated with the chief goddess or female divinity of those peoples. She is recorded in Akkadian as As-dar-tu (𒀭𒊍𒁯𒌓^D), the masculine form of Ishtar. The name appears in Ugaritic as ʻAthtart or ʻAṭtart (𐎓𐎘𐎚𐎗𐎚), in Phoenician as Ashtart or Aštart (𐤕𐤓𐤕𐤔𐤀), in Hebrew as Ashtoret (עשתרת). The Hebrews also referred to the Ashtarot or "Astartes" in the plural. The Etruscan Pyrgi Tablets record the name Uni-Astre (𐌖𐌍𐌉 𐌀𐌔𐌕𐌛𐌄).

Overview

Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. Pictorial representations often show her naked. She has been known as the deified evening star.

Astarte (ballet)

Astarte, choreographed by Robert Joffrey, was the first live, multi-media ballet with a specially commissioned rock music score composed and performed by Crome Syrcus. It received its world premier on September 20, 1967 and was performed by the Joffrey Ballet in New York at the City Center Theater. It was produced by Midge Mackenzie, with sets and lighting design by Thomas Skelton, costumes by Hugh Sherrer, and film created and photographed by Gardner Compton.

Astarte made the cover of Time Magazine in March 1968.

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Astarte (band)

Astarte was an all-female black metal band from Athens, Greece, named after the goddess Astarte.

History

Astarte first formed under the name Lloth in September 1995 at Athens, Attica. The original line-up included Maria Kolokouri (bass, guitar, keyboards), a.k.a. Tristessa (who subsequently took over on lead vocals), Nemesis (guitar), and Kinthia (vocals, guitar). They had Psychoslaughter, the drummer from Greek band Invocation, play for the sessions on their demo, Dancing in the Dark Lakes of Evil, released as Lloth in 1997. Shortly thereafter they adopted the name Astarte, named after the Semitic goddess of sexuality. Their debut full-length album, Doomed Dark Years, appeared in 1998 on Black Lotus Records; two further LPs followed on the label. After lineup changes in which Nemesis and Kinthia left to be replaced by Katharsis (keyboards) and Hybris (guitar), they released their fourth and fifth albums on Avantgarde Music, the most recent of which, Demonized, was released in 2007. In 2003 the band participated in the Celtic Frost Tribute album Order of the Tyrants, released by Black Lotus Records, covering the song "Sorrows Of The Moon".

Mutter

Mutter may refer to:

See also

Mutter (song)

"Mutter" (German for mother) is a song by Rammstein on the album of the same name.

Overview

The song was confirmed by Till Lindemann and Richard Kruspe to be a reference to their unhappy childhood relationships with their own mothers. The lyrics tell the story of a child not born from a womb but in an experiment, thus having no true father or mother. The lyrics describe his plan to kill both the mother "who never gave birth to him" and himself, a plan which he proceeds to carry out. However, he still fails to kill himself, instead ending up mutilated and no better off than before. The child begs, possibly prays, for strength, but his dead mother does not answer. The narrative of the song is similar to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, in that the character takes revenge for his misfortunes on his 'parent', and then ends up no different from before the 'parent' died.

The video for Mutter follows the storyline of the song, whereby the character kills his mother and then dumps her body in a river, ending with the character in a cage or dungeon that is set into the ground.

Mutter (album)

Mutter (German for "mother") is the third album by German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein. It was released on April 2, 2001 through Motor Music. The album's cover image is a photograph of a dead fetus, which was taken by Daniel & Geo Fuchs. Overall the album has spawned six singles which is, by far, the most amount of singles released from any Rammstein album.

Critical reception

In 2005, Mutter was ranked number 324 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Rammstein. 

There are various editions of Mutter, each with different features: