The Association between Anāhitā and Ištar

Goddess is of great significance in various ancient cultures. The discovery of the Mud statuettes of the fertility goddess from different ancient areas denotes this subject. Anāhitā is one of the oldest Iranian goddess. The name of this goddess isnt in Gāhān but in late Avesta, the fifth Yašt belongs to Arədī Sūrā Anāhitā. Though Anāhitā has similar characteristics with Sarasvati, the Hindu goddess of wisdom, her characteristics in Ābān Yašt as well as relics such as her statues shows the great influence of Babylonian goddess, Ištar on characterization of Anāhitā in the Iranian mythologies. In this paper, according to mythological, historical and archaeological resources, similar characteristics between Anāhitā and Ištar and the influence of Ištar on the characteristics of Anāhitā were studied.